Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

”Right, that silver light purifies the corrosion caused by nether instead of destroying it, so if you get rid of the influence of the Lords before we deal with them, they’ll gain nothing”, said the sky-blue haired girl.

Under normal circumstances, the Lords could gather nether as long as they placed the respective magic formation in a place where situations related to violence, lust or death, developed, just like their other halves had done back at the castles controlled by the races that were created to serve them, like those women of the black night race that worked for Reed.

Of course, without them participating one way or another, the amount of nether that will be generated would be small, but over time there will still be significant gains for them, however due to the restrictions of the Blood Prison realm where the original Lords are sealed, they can only obtain nether if black blood specters, or nethereals are involved and the amount is really insignificant even in such cases.

Which was a headache for those three, now imagine what their faces will be like when they realize that they are losing pawns and mediums to generate nether, and are not receiving even that small benefit in exchange for it, because of Daimon.

Just the thought of it made Lyn giggle to her insides, in comparison Claire was simply horrified, she had supposed it already, but having it confirmed by Lyn, was much more impactful.

’What the hell kind of lineage can get rid of nether corrosion caused by those three, without having even surpassed the mortal realms, even if currently restrained, Byron’s lineage had taken a step into the King rank at his prime, and yet you are telling me that in terms of purifying capacities, he can overwhelm the corrosion caused by his nether, not to mention that Aslan probably cooperated to plant those trees as well… damn monster’, she thought.

She was starting to believe that she being defeated and ending up as a prisoner was actually for the good, she was siding with the Lords or Dian, so she would have been on the elimination list of the masked silver haired youth, and the sole thought of it, was enough to deprive her of sleep.

Anyway, before even going into the jungle area, they had to sort out the obstacle in front of them, namely the human sized black scorpion that was blocking their path, it was a peak Lord rank blood specter by the way.

Unfortunately for Arianna who had the words ”I’ll take care of it” written all over her pretty face, which made Daimon chuckle to his insides, because that junior sister of his was really eager to give a try to her newly acquired power, Lyn was faster than her this time.

”Crack!”, a blue energy ring landed on the scorpion blood specter, making cracks appear all over its exoskeleton before its body exploded, killing it on the spot, which of course earned her a glare from the werewolf girl.

”Done, let’s get out of this damn desert already”, said Lyn as she used her right hand as a fan to blow a bit of air towards her face, as someone with a water magic beast related lineage, she didn’t feel comfortable when staying in such an arid place.

Yesterday there was not much of a problem, because the storm combined with the drop in temperature that came at night, were present, but now the red sun was shining on the sky and it was getting really hot.

”Humph”, with a soft snort, Arianna decided not to bicker with Lyn, still she didn’t forget to gaze at Daimon as she mumbled.

”I’ll fight the next enemy”, she was cute acting like a child that wants to play with a new toy, so Daimon casually agreed to it.

”Sure, you are the only Arch rank in the group as of current, so I’m planning to make full use of those werewolf powers of yours”, he said, speaking of which Daimon found himself in a slight predicament.

There are other feline and canine type blood specters, so the little tiger girl and Arianna should be able to enjoy more benefits thanks to the silver light, in the incoming days, but because of the Lord’s interference there are no water blood specters in sight.

Lyn has confirmed that the Lord focused on corroding till the last one of them from the very beginning, jut for the sake of venting their anger, since until Daimon’s appearance, defeating blood specters that shared some relation to the lineage of the ones in the Blood Prison realm, didn’t bring any extra benefits.

The energy they had, progressed regardless of that since that is the dynamic for the ones participating in the challenge in the Blood Prison realm, but it takes more time for it to happen the normal way.

Badr still has it not that hard, because instead of blood specters, killing nethereals from the Violence faction should give him the extra benefits, based on what Daimon knows, the problem is Lyn, water type blood specters and more specifically dolphin type ones, are all peak Arch ranked black blood specters and the Lords are keeping them out of sight.

The only one Lyn has ever seen, was that one which popped out after the nether farm managed by Claire, was destroyed.

’Oh well, it’s not like Lyn needs the extra benefits, just like Badr, her original realm was way higher than the Arch ranks, so once their energy reaches that level, they will have it way easier to excel all the strength that comes with it, unlike those that are only experiencing it for the first time, like Arianna’, thought Daimon.

Anyway, and after having a quick lunch at Daimon’s suggestion, since those trees are known to attack anything in the vicinity according to Badr, meaning that they will likely have to be on guard at all times, the group walked past the remaining black sand desert in less than an hour, so that they should still have from five to six hours more of daylight in a rough calculation.

Which Daimon thought should be enough to at least locate where the nethereals are sealed and investigate their status.

”How deep into the jungle are those two guys, sealed?”, asked Daimon to Claire, to which the former Narwhal princess shook her head in response.

”I don’t know the exact location, it’s not like those three guys shared that information with me, I took the decision to investigate their generic positions on my own, since I was able to somewhat feel it through my nether, of course it will be a different story if… you lighten the restrictions on me”, she said, being really careful with the words she used.

As in she didn’t ask for the restrictions to be lifted, but lightened, so that she could use just a small amount of nether.

”That’s so nice, coming from someone that tried to kill us yesterday”, sarcastically said the sky-blue haired Lyn, making Claire inwardly grit her teeth, here she was trying to be as cooperative as possible, in order to be able to sleep without the fear of not waking up again and Lyn didn’t miss a single chance to kick her now that she was down.

Still, she didn’t dare to say anything against her, because as arrogant as she is, even she can understand the difference in her position when compared to Lyn, with a single world from the masked silver haired youth, her head will be exploded by Lyn on the spot, so why would she try her luck.

”No need, I see some marks on those trees that don’t align with the traces that would be left behind by the thorns of other trees, in other words there are other people inside the jungle and they could be alerted by a half-baked detection method”, said Daimon.

Of course he wasn’t going to completely lift the restrictions on Claire, no matter how cooperative she was, so her detection method using just a part of her nether, was too risky to use in a situation where Daimon preferred to keep the surprise element.

”Others won’t think that someone would willingly enter such a risky place, so they wouldn’t be expecting us anyway, we’ll deepen a bit into the jungle, but if there is no place to pass the night when there are less than two hours left of daylithgt, we’ll return to the desert”, said Daimon as he snapped his fingers.

Silver light slowly cladded the bodies of Arianna and the others, truth to be told it never faded to begin with, that was the training Daimon did the past night, he kept supplying the silver energy to not only himself but also the others, in order to control the output in real time, rather than just ”charging” it up before the battle.

Imagine the possibilities, with a single thought Daimon could suddenly add a large amount of his silver energy to the attacks of his teammates, in the middle of their clash with an enemy, or use it to protect them from a strong attack, it was an incredibly useful application to keep control of the battlefield, that is if the one using it could keep up with it of course.

”This should be enough to keep most of the trees away without provoking them”, said Daimon as he toned down the amount of silver light cladding their bodies.

Based on what his instincts were telling him, not all the trees were equally ”aggressive”, some attacked only the other trees close to them, until they had secured a certain territory only for themselves, while other’s thorns could be seen simply attacking everything.

”Let’s follow the path of the trees that have just cleared their vicinity, if you get attacked parry the attack but don’t retaliate, the silver light will keep the death nether away from affecting you”, said Daimon to which Badr added.

”In that case, let me walk in the front of the group, I specialize in defense after all”, Daimon agreed with the scarred nethereal’s idea, he was the right choice for the job, though Claire felt like cursing, because she’ll also be in the front line, as Badr is the one carrying her.

”I’ll stay at the back and cover our way of retreat then”, said Arianna, which again was a good idea, if needed, the giant red wolf could envelop the whole group to protect them after all, so ambushing them will be really hard to accomplish.

And with that sorted out, the group set foot in the dense jungle of bone covered trees, it’s worth mentioning that besides those trees from the nethereal kingdom, there was no other ”vegetation”, just smaller versions of those trees that were in the process of growing as of current, besides that, the ground was the usual black soil, without any grass or anything of the like.

”And here I thought the normal ground of the Blood Prison realm was already bad enough, but the soil here has decayed due to the death nether being forcefully injected into it, so it has gone bland, disgusting”, said Lyn as she changed the area where she was about to step, to avoid a soft spot, to prevent her foot from sinking into the ground a bit.

”Well, considering this jungle area didn’t exist until a couple of days ago, this wasn’t in those three’s original plans, but was instead a counter measure to a certain someone escaping, Aslan is trying to earn some quick gains, so he didn’t put any thought to the efficiency or sustainability of this place”, said Daimon.

Based on what he has seen, unlike the nether farm that Claire used to manage which had formations to generate, gather and store nether which was then sent to the Lords in specific intervals of time, in order to not destroy the area where it was built, this jungle was more of a single use kind of thing.

The idea was simple, Aslan wanted to amass a one-time large amount of death nether with a minimal ”invest” and to do that, he was making those trees multiply as much as possible to then kill them all, alongside the land where they were planted.

’Knowing those guys, there should be more places like these that had appeared, they surely have gotten anxious, not that I blame them, since that’s what I have been working for from the very beginning’, thought Daimon.

Contrary to what they expected, the group easily advanced through the peripheral area of the jungle without any tree attacking them, the more they deepened into it, the more single paths appeared for them, because trees that had destroyed all the competence in their vicinity became more common.

And while that sounded like a good thing, that wasn’t the case, because while the main body of the trees remained a single one, their branches which were full of thorns grew more and more, narrowing the open space that Daimon and the others could use to navigate.

”Mm?”, Daimon frowned at the sense of hostility that he perceived out of nowhere.

”Badr”, just by calling the name of the tall nethereal, he knew what to do, a transparent-black nether wall appeared above the group, just in time for branches that extended from one tree to land on it.

The result of the previous were sparks and a solid colliding sound as the bone thorns on the branches of the tree tried to break through the defensive wall created by Badr, but the real problem came after that.

”We didn’t mess with them, so what is happening?”, asked the little tiger girl as she saw that the branches from all the trees in the vicinity suddenly were aiming at them.

”Gate of Protection”, Badr raised his right hand upwards, as he injected more nether into the previously simple wall he had created, making it project a barrier around the whole group.

”Clang!”, continuous metal colliding sounds were produced as the many thorned branches lashed at the barrier created by the tall nethereal.

”Stop advancing”, the group stopped advancing at Daimon’s request, even if they stood still the thorned branches continued attacking them and while Badr’s barrier was perfectly blocking their attacks, the thorns left shallow scratches all over the barrier, which under normal circumstances wouldn’t be worth mentioning.

The problem is that there were so many branches attacking them, and they were strangely attacking the same areas, which did thin out the protective barrier.

”Hssss!”, with a snap of Daimon’s fingers, the barrier projected by Badr was reinforced by his silver light, but as he expected, despite the thorned branches being harmed due to his energy burning away their nether with each exchange, the things continued lashing at the barrier.

”I thought it was strange that instead of attacking the tree that made the first move against us, all the others followed right behind of it, they aren’t attacking us, something is targeting us through the trees”, said Daimon.

Even if they fed on death nether and corpses, not to mention their violent nature which led them to attack even their own species, that didn’t mean the trees sought death themselves, plus since they are somewhat sentient living beings, as in they had wild instincts similar to magic beasts, it meant they could feel pain.

So, if they were just attacking Daimon’s group for the sake of it like they would usually do, after suffering a few setbacks due to the silver light, they would have focused on another target, but that wasn’t the case, even as their thorns were releasing smoke due to the direct contact against Badr’s barrier which was reinforced by Daimon’s silver light, they continued attacking without any sign of hesitation.

And the only instance in which the previous would happen in the wild, is when they are being controlled by a superior, the same applies for magic beasts, if the leader has a strong enough dominion over their subordinates, ordering them to fight with their lives on the line is very possible, though it is possible to resist if they are really on the verge of dying.

The very moment Daimon finished his sentence, the ground below their feet trembled, Badr’s pupils contracted like needles as he pressed his palms together, the barrier instantly shrank so that it barely covered the area around the group, in exchange the thickness of the protective field being projected, doubled its size.

It’s worth mentioning that this wasn’t another technique, Badr simply adjusted the one he had already used, not because he was that confident, but because he actually had not enough time to cast a new technique as he would have liked to.

”Booom!”, the reason to the tall nethereal’s hurry, were a dozen of tree roots covered in thorns that emerged from below where the group used to be standing, yes, in past tense because those thorned roots came out with so much force that the really heavy barrier projected by Badr was sent flying upwards, alongside the people being protected inside of it.

”Crack!”, and that wasn’t all, the thorns on the roots, were strong enough to make the barrier crack with just a few lashes, of course in exchange for the previous, the group had gained enough time to properly react, as in Arianna who has been eager to give it a try to her new powers, nodded at Badr who let her out of the barrier, while he was repairing it.

Arianna’s previously partially red colored hair, completely dyed of the same color in a fraction of a second, her wolf ears and tail followed right away and then a giant red wolf appeared midair, since both the barrier which was sent flying and Arianna were still in the process of descending to the ground.

In response the group of thorned roots that attacked them a second ago, entangled together, and then to everyone’s surprise, compressed to take a humanoid form, well, just in shape, it would be more accurate to call it a genderless wooden doll, covered with bone thorns that acted as ”armor”, and a thorned whip as its weapon.

And while Daimon wondered how the hell did a tree, suddenly had the idea of taking the form of a ”knight”, Arianna softly snorted as she saw the wood thorn knight pointing its whip at her, making other roots to come out of the ground, ever since she manifested the giant red wolf, she felt the hostility of that thing towards her, skyrocket.

Seeing the thorned roots charging at her direction, the werewolf girl’s eyes burned with fighting spirit, which made the red giant wolf’s blood ”boil” not literally of course, as it doesn’t have flesh or blood, but given the fact that it’s composed of vitality and energy and because it’s originally perfectly defined shape, became ”vaguer”, making it look as if it had burst in flames, the previous was the perfect way to describe it.

”Crescent Clea…”, just as the thorned roots were enclosing on Arianna, and the werewolf girl as about to finish her sentence, they were interrupted by a voice coming from afar.

”Wait!”, though the voice sounded worried and completely lacked hostility, Arianna didn’t outright recognize it, so she of course ignored it and planned to continue with her attack, until she heard Daimon’s one.

”Arianna”, with that, the werewolf girl actually stopped her attack, not without thinking.

’Oh, come on!’, she was interrupted right at the fun part, on the other hand she also realized that the moment that voice reached them, the thorned roots that were previously charging at her stopped, though only after she stopped her own attack, did they retreat to then disappear back into the ground.

The thorned wood knight which had stopped paying attention to Arianna kneeled towards the direction from which the previous voice came, moments before the origin of said voice, became visible for all the presents.

A tall girl wearing a white dress with detached sleeves, her hair was a mix of blond which covered three quarter parts of it and black for the last remaining part, she also had honey toned eyes, and as if that wasn’t enough to identify her, she had long ears that slightly pointed upwards, who else could it be but the alfear princess, Tessa.

Daimon had already guessed that he was going to meet her in the Blood Prison realm, because besides Mellie and Aisha, Tessa and Femi were the only other two in the group which he hadn’t encountered before.

”Sorry about that, I rushed all the way here as fast as I could, I hope there was no real harm done”, apologetically said the alfear princess, to which Daimon shook his head in response.

”Besides spoiling the fun of a certain someone, everything is fine, I’m more interested in catching up with what is happening here”, he said.

The moment Tessa passed near those trees, they ”bowed” at her, by lowering their thorned branches, not to mention that the wood thorn knight which was strong enough to damage Badr’s barrier, directly kneeled in her direction even before she arrived here.