Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

The darkness affinity guy looked at his surroundings trying to discern where did Chris disappear to, just to realize that he couldn’t find any traces of her.

’Where the hell did that unrefined bitch go, there is no way an earth affinity mage can hide from me!’, he inwardly cursed, as a darkness affinity mage, his senses were way more developed than those of other affinity mages.

It’s normal, considering that darkness has a natural hiding property, meaning that darkness mages are used to pay details to small details that can work as traces and yet here he was not being able to find a ”savage” that simply punched the ground really hard to fight him.

That being said it’s not like he was going to stay put and wait for the enemy to attack him, in fact he took a page from Chris’s tactic from earlier.

”Dark Mist”, a wave of corrosive dark fog was released with the enemy as the center, covering everything in the vicinity.

”Let’s see you approaching without having your skin melted away…”, just as the darkness affinity guy was smirking, a sizzling sound interrupted him, he turned around just in time to see a pretty fist a few millimeters away from his face.

”Demolition”, Chris honey toned eyes glowed in a dark brown light as her earth mana coated fist passed through the corroding mist to land on the enemy’s face.

”Booom!”, a loud energy explosion followed by a dark flash that flew at high speed to then crash at the ground was the result of the previous.

”Humph!”, Chris who saw the enemy being flown away by her punch, softly snorted as she saw the bits of dark nether that were stuck to her knuckles, the thing which was trying to eat away at her skin but was blocked by a thin layer of brown mana.

”I guess that someone who openly despises an enemy stronger than himself, just based on a less common affinity has to have a thick face”, said the honey eyed girl.

A teeth-gritting sound loud enough to be heard by the ones observing at the resting area, came from the hole in the ground that was produced due to the dark flash that crashed at high speed earlier.

The darkness affinity guy whose eyes were slightly bloodshot floated out of the crater, the right side of his face had turned red due to the and his cheek was slightly swollen, naturally that meant that he had blocked most of the force behind Chris’s punch.

Otherwise, that same attack which destroyed the solid ground in more than a hundred meters around Chris, would have blown that guy’s head away, on the other hand his face was burning both figuratively since he was humiliated by Chris and literally because his darkness couldn’t corrode the attack enough to completely negate it, luckily the both the dark mist and the darkness coat allowed him to diminish the impact while also counterattacking the enemy.

Now imagine how his anger surged to a new level when the voice of the enemy queen reached his ears.

’What the hell are you doing you damn fool, forget about the enemy I’ll kill you myself if you bring shame to the Lord like those two did!’, yelled Erika at him, she was given the liberty to pick her subordinates from the options selected by her Lord, so if her choices ended losing, the demerit would be hers.

”Shut up!”, the darkness affinity guy directly shouted back at Erika, he didn’t even bother to answer in secret, that was the level his anger had reached, he then glared at Chris who had landed on the ground a few dozens of meters away after her attack from earlier.

”And you, I dare you to try and try to punch me again!”, he poisonously said as he mobilized his darkness nether through his body to then pull at his belt separating a decoration which then enlarged turning into a black inked two-meter sized spiked chain with a weight on one end and a bodkin at the other.

It was a rather strange weapon, which seemed like something an assassin would use had it not been for the fact that such a thing might make metallic sounds which would be a fatal flaw for an assassination, however for darkness users who have talent in making their attacks weird and hard to foresee, it was a good choice.

Also, Chris frowned at the fact that the despite the enemy making the end with the weight on it roll at high, there was zero sound being produced by it.

’A weapon which is visually flashy but produces no traces and can meld into his coat and the darkness he radiates due to its color, perfect for surprising others out of nowhere, cheap tricks… nothing like him’, thought the honey eyed girl as she was reminded of the overwhelming both strength and wit shown by a certain masked silver haired youth.

Chris’s horizons had broadened above and beyond ever since that day when Daimon after destroying both pirates and magic beasts while outnumbered, also casually uncovered a scheme from traitors at her own team, which now she knew was probably either Ereth or Arlion’s work, all in less than thirty minutes.

And such situations had repeated more times than what she can count, which naturally but left quite the deep impression on her, it’s not like she hasn’t seen talented people nor like she isnormal herself and she wouldn’t accept if someone claimed Daphne to be inferior to anyone, but it’s for her, Daimon is on a league of his own.

It’s not a matter of strength since among those whom he personally declared are ”like him” most are many realms above him, and yet they have been losing at the bigger picture in all the fronts against him, she won’t say it out loud but she has grown to admire Daimon not to mention she is grateful towards him for helping her childhood friend.

”Mm?”, Daimon who was observing the fight in a slower motion thanks to his infinity eyes, felt a curious sensation coming from his body, it was slightly similar to what he noticed back when he met and sparred with the lioness girl Aleah.

’A reaction from my lineage, but not because she is from a predator that is the apex at its natural environment, but while that lioness strongly triggered my Apex Predator constitution, this time the reaction is smaller but… all of them are reacting’, thought Daimon.

Aleah’s lineage whatever it might be, apparently comes from a magic beast that is at the peak of pyramid at its place of birth and is high ranked enough to be noticed by Daimon’s Apex Predator constitution, that doesn’t mean her lineage is stronger than let’s say the Revy or the Argent families it’s more of a matter of innate mindset and instincts, which is why Aleah had quite the fun when she fought Daimon which she felt was similar to her.

However, this time it was different, Daimon didn’t feel such a strong resonance from Chris but in exchange, it wasn’t just his Apex Predator part the one reacting, but the other lineages he has assimilated as well, including the Dracolevia, vampire and even the one who remains unknown as of current, that’s why it was quite an interesting situation.

’Now that I think about it, despite her blood concentration not being inferior to the most talented nobles, besides her ”unique” way to use her earth affinity which was supposedly developed to complement Daphne or more accurately Ophelia’s race innate ability, she had nothing else to show thanks to it, so the reward she obtained was probably…’.

Back to normal speed, the moment the darkness affinity guy took out that chain, he turned into a black mist stream that moved in circles around Chris, while taking strange twists and turns, one couldn’t see the spiked chain inside of it, but the thing was sure to be accumulating strength to land a strong hit, it was like a snake stalking its prey.

”Battleground Heavy Chain!”, with a loud shout that seemed to come from every direction, the darkness affinity guy jumped out of the darkness nether stream that was undulating around Chris, and appeared behind of her.

’Let’s see you block this’, he cursed in his heart, as he saw the enemy turning around according to his prediction, the chain which should have been lashing at Chris’s back, where her chest was facing now since she turned around, had actually enlarged quite a few more meters than before and it made a weird turn to aim at her back.

Not to mention that the weight at its end had turned into something similar to the spherical head of a morning star, it had no spikes though but its purpose was clear, to break through strong defenses like the ones of earth affinity knights or mages.

But then contrary to what the enemy expected, a wild smile appeared on Chris’s face as her body radiated amber colored mana while she mumbled a few words that were barely hearable by others.

”Backside Wall”, compared to her calm voice despite her clearly excited expression, the result of her words was quite violent.

”Booom!”, the heavy weight of the chain was stopped in cold by a solid looking four-meter-tall dark amber brick wall that appeared seemingly out of nowhere, since let alone the darkness affinity guy, but even Daimon couldn’t feel the activation of any spell.

”What!”, that wasn’t all, but the wall didn’t even crack in the slightest despite the heavy impact caused by the darkness affinity guy’s spell, which caused the latter to exclaim in disbelief.

That being said, his attack hadn’t ended since the other end of his black metal chain, like a stealthy snake appeared at Chris’s left side, with the bodkin that was exuding a black ominous liquid, aiming at the area right below the ribs which naturally has a weaker defense.

’Battleground Sharp Spike!’, inwardly screamed the enemy, he had practiced this spell enough to use it at the same level as he would with casting, without the need to do so and this was also his real attack, since the other was used as a distraction.

That being said his expression soured when a familiar looking wall appeared next to Chris.

”Left side Wall”, with a simple command, the same wall which had blocked the previous attack, blocked the corroding bodkin just in time.

”Hsssssss!”, sizzling sounds were produced by the clash between the enemy’s nether and the amber brick wall which had an ethereal glow akin to mana, the bodkin did corrode through the ethereal glow and reached the brick wall, in fact it did dive a few centimeters into it, but that was it, the wall didn’t even tremble.

And the darkness affinity guy felt the urge to retrieve the chain, which he did just in time to prevent it from suffering an unknown destiny as the wall disappeared into thin air.

”What kind of damn magic equipment is that”, he slowly said while gritting his teeth, unable to understand how did such a tall wall ignored his senses and manifested to then disappear the same way.

It reminded him of the fact that the ”unrefined” woman in front of him was also able to move through long distances without him noticing how, both cases lead him to the most logical conclusion.

’Space affinity, this bitch has a space affinity which so strong at the early stage of the middle mortal level, I was tricked!’, he thought.

Everything suddenly made sense for the darkness affinity guy, how he was losing against a common earth affinity lowly mortal, turns out she was hiding one of the affinities which not even a natural darkness user like him could look down upon.

’Damn it, they must have foreseen the fact that the first fight was used to test them so this time they didn’t use their strongest fighter to initiate the battle unlike before… the white queen surely is a strong commander as one would expect from the supposed daughter of the Lord’, he thought.

After Sarah made sure to convey the fact that they were the daughters of the Lords to the now deceased Sheilla, informing all the others who were participating or watching the fights in the process, the remaining Balax Lord updated his queen piece about a few things and Erika then did the same with her subordinates.

However, unlike Sheilla, while she was indeed shocked to know that her Lord somehow had a daughter who was also an enemy, her faith in her Lord didn’t wave in the least, since unlike Sheilla her admiration for her Lord had nothing to do with lust, she revered his strength, meritocracy ideologies and his demeanor, so she simply believed that if she wasn’t informed about this previously it was because she had no need to know, she had her orders and she will follow them through properly.

That being said, she would happily tend to her Lord at night if the opportunity ever presented itself, but she considered herself to be still too low in rank for such an honor and her Lord hadn’t shown that kind of interest in let alone her but anyone ever since she had use of reason.

Which also made Erika and her subordinates realize that while that young blond girl was supposedly their Lord’s daughter, she wasn’t recognized as such and thus they had no need to show her any kind of reservation, she was simply an enemy who they were ordered to capture and if that wasn’t possible, kill.

As if Chris could tell what the darkness affinity guy was thinking she snorted.

”Just so you know but in terms of battle prowess I’m not as strong as let alone the young spear but even that blue haired assassin from earlier”, said Chris referring to Lance and then to Michael, who had fought two enemies at once.

There was of course Calvin who also dealt with two enemies at once, but no one could properly calculate how strong he was in a realistic way, since he has never taken a let alone a fight but practically anything fight-related in a dead serious way until not too long ago, unlike the crazy girl who is chaotic and unpredictable but likes to crush any obstacles in her way in every aspect, the desert coyote young master is… lazy.

Perhaps only Michael somewhat knew how strong was Calvin and he developed that third spell for him, so one should put an all-out Calvin at a similar level even if it would be a temporary spike in power, just like it was for Michael.

Seeing the twisted expression on the enemy’s face upon listening to her words, Chris rubbed salt on the wound by adding.

”My energy reserves are indeed bigger than the latter though”, it wasn’t a lie, since the mage and knight paths in Neptune were strangely twisted, it was easier for them to advance, which gave the vast majority larger reserves in terms of stamina, mana and battle aura due to their higher realms but in exchange their battle prowess suffered.

So, it was natural that in terms of energy reserves, Chris who is an early-stage Mage Lord could perform better in a prolonged fight than Michael who is still a star ranked mage, but even then, she wasn’t at Lance’s level, as he is a middle stage Lord rank.

Not to mention, there were exceptions like those winged sisters who somehow can use the mana of not only someone who isn’t them, but ”him”, in other words Chris didn’t let her newly acquired strength blind her, she knew she still had a long way to go, but she didn’t belittle herself as well, being fully convinced that she doesn’t lack in terms of both talent and potential when compared to the others.

The darkness affinity guy on the other hand refused to believe what the honey eyed girl just said.

”Bullshit, there is no way you could have blocked a ”Battleground” spell without at least using an especially strong defensive spell, or something that could negate the attack like… space affinity for example, it’s either that or some kind of annoying magic treasure!”, he roared, to which Chris simply said a single word.

”Pathetic”, she said, Chris’s mindset was simple but solid, why waste time in deluding yourself into a fantasy or developing an inferiority complex by comparing yourself to others, when you could use that energy to become stronger by setting said others as your goals.

And there is nothing she despises more than those who believe themselves to be the strongest, while being really weak.

’Mm, those who are really strong don’t have to go out of their way to show it, even if they don’t want to, it is impossible for others not to notice, just like him’, she thought to then charge towards the enemy who was in the middle of cursing as of current.

”Every single one of you… fine I’m done with this”, mumbled the enemy, black mist leaked out of his body, the darkness coat which was acting as an elemental boosting spell, slowly changed its form, turning into dark metallic looking light armor that covered everything below his neck.

”Special Operations Armor”, he said, the design was different than the defensive martial art used by the earth affinity knight that fought against Michael, in part because this was a spell and in part because the purpose of this armor was different.

It wasn’t meant to be used to defend but to attack, as the oppressive sensation that radiated out of it suggested, naturally the darkness affinity guy wasn’t a knight so it didn’t make sense that he gained the ”physical pressure” of a knight for free, and that wasn’t the case indeed, the moment the armor appeared though short, his face twitched in pain.

Which was understandable as the armor had spikes that were sinking into his flesh, the thing was using his blood as a source of energy, let’s not forget that battle aura is created by a combination of mana and one’s life spark which is a special agglomeration of battle aura.

So, while obviously not at the same level, this armor reinforced the darkness affinity guy’s physical strength in a similar way as a martial art would do for a knight, using the vitality in one’s blood, it was a rather advanced spell and it was also not what one would expect from a corrosion type darkness affinity mage, which also aligned with the strange and hard to predict properties of the darkness element.

”You like unrefined brawling right, let’s do it your way then!”, with slightly bloodshot eyes, the enemy blurred producing a shockwave due to his newly acquitted speed.

”Dark Charge”, appearing in front of Chris, the enemy had his fist which was covered in the gauntlet of the armor, explode in darkness nether as he aimed at her face, clearly it was a petty revenge for how she punched him earlier.

”Humph, Frontal Wall”, with a small snort and simple order, that same wall from earlier manifested out of thin air blocking in front of Chris, however this time the result was indeed different.

”Crack!”, the punch of the enemy heavily landed on the brick wall bypassing the ethereal mana layer and directly pushing through the solid layer, even then the enemy’s fist broke through it, though it ended up stuck midway it didn’t take a fraction of a second for the enemy to follow through with a kick this time.

”Booom!”, this time the attack went through producing a whole in the forty centimeters thick brick wall, making Chris’s pretty honey toned pupils contract at the sight of the chain’s end with the weight wrapped around the enemy’s leg.

He actually used his chain in a way that it would increase the power of his attacks without the need for a spell, after gaining driving force with one, it also meant that despite throwing a fit earlier and the red tone that his eyes had gained, he hasn’t lost his reason in the slightest.

”I bet you didn’t expect it, use a spell properly so that I can destroy it!”, he did grow cocky, but his barrage of attacks didn’t stop, as the incoming nether cladded fist suggested.

Which made Chris smile, unfortunately the enemy didn’t have the chance to look at that expression on that pretty face of hers, since the hole that opened on the brick wall was blocked by… another brick wall.

”Mobile Stronghold, Double Layered Frontal Wall”, with a longer sentence this time, the honey eyed girl did cast a spell just like the enemy wanted.