Chapter 76: I’ll get you next time Hema- Hero!

After pulling the sword out of her hand with her teeth her palm quickly regenerated in front of the eyes of Hiro’s party causing them to widen as she just mumbled to herself.

“She told me to not make use of my first bloodline if I want to resist *yawn*… That. Yet I don’t think regeneration counts since pretty sure uncle Sword God Emperor would also have quick regeneration wouldn’t he? They are meant to be able to survive everything but a broken heart after all fufufu~.” <Eel>

Glancing at Eel once more they tried to find some sign of ‘what’ she was rather than who she was now. They knew she was a dragon however the only dragon that they knew was the Drake bloodline of dragons who cared about their physical endurance with that being about that. The first detail Hiro noticed were of course her elongated ears and pupiless eyes – add onto that she had very vibrant purple hair a certain type of elf came to mind.

As if putting all the points together Hiro’s (the fake hero) eyes widened in surprise. Soon that surprise turned into greed and then became a contorted version of conviction. Turning such a gaze upon Eel he crawled backwards till pushing himself back onto his feet where he would point towards the girl. Speaking out with righteous tone as he challenged the little  girl who sent him on the arse with basically no effort.

“Are you one of those royal high-elves that worship that jumbo titted fake goddess who both the elves and beasts worship?! No, it makes perfect sense, you look just like that royal captured a decade back. If that is the case you must have made some illicit deal with the demon lord. I’ll take you down which will mean you can’t give payment thus causing the demon lord to retreat before it can create any more problems!” <Hiro>

“Hm~?” <Eel>

Of course Eel was paying no attention to the fool as he had completely lost her interest as soon as he fell for such an obvious trick. He wasn’t terrible with his sword, it could possibly be said to be more skilled in the moment than her, yet his experience shone through. Anyone who was competent could tell that Eel could’ve killed him there and then so obviously Eel knew that.

Thus instead of focusing on him she glanced at her hand as it healed before retrieving the handle of the ‘mithril sword’ from her mouth. Weighing it in her right hand until the dumb knight in literally shining armour called out to her with such a silly comment. Looking towards his now empty right hand then her own which held his sword.

“Oh~ and how exactly are you going to do that – I don’t suppose you have some claws of a female dragon you seduced then killed in bed like you do with that succubus~?” <Eel>

Hearing that the ‘hero’ who was reaching into a bag on his belt trembled slightly at Eel’s words while looking at her in shock.

<Heh~ so momma Alexis was right and that piece of trash relies purely on such methods to take away Emily’s aunt? I wouldn’t mind if he was simply proud of managing to kill a strong opponent yet he acts so righteous about it while pretending it was some kind of battle. Even a hunter like me dislikes people who lies about their methods so blatantly so I guess I’ll just kill him since he’ll just escape if we try to capture him~!>

Her unconscious thoughts quickly turned to spreading his blood across the walls as her smug grin turned into a ferocious toothy smirk. Those gray eyes of hers slowly formed a golden cross with a crimson ring encasing it all as she released her intimidation. Being looked on like prey made the ‘brave hero Hiro’ promptly release a cold sweat as he stepped back unconsciously while hiding behind his shield.

Seeing what would come of this the strong bodied barbarian wanted to stand up to prevent his coin purse bitch from dying.

However, just as he was about to do that a certain artificial lover released a sliver of her very own abyssal dark aura which she too had inherited. Unlike Eel’s who was born from intent the aura of Promicarus’ was based on profoundness so could only be sensed by those gifted. It only made Fuka feel unnerved while to the bloodthirsty hero this just made her grin as if a question she’d been wondering was answered.

<As expected of the one I think of as my rival, she is indeed far stronger than she’s been letting on but I’ll catch up then surpass her~!>

Though those two were far more passive than the last person in the room who reacted. Despite being in the sham hero party the Sage was truly just that; a person who had obtained the rare powerful Sage title due to his magical prowess. This required having [Magic Accume] which in turn allowed hints to clearly recognise who that little girl was. With that he tightly gripped the loin cloth of the barbarian while in a cold sweat while blood flowed out like tears from his eyes.

“D-don’t, we don’t stand a chance against that thing! It wasn’t even trying yet it’s aura is so overwhelmingly dark and gluttoness that it felt like it would rub my eyes from just catching that single glimpse! I won’t be surprised if that girl is the Demon Lord…” <Sage>

“Don’t shout at me bitch meat!” <Barbarian>

With that the strong man backhanded the cheek of the fairy like sage sending him into the floor yet despite his harsh treatment it seemed to instead calm down the sage.

Well calmed down in one fashion yet more excited in others…

“Merely don’t move and I have no quam letting thou keep thine pitiful lives. Thou may even continue having duff coitus both thine boy toys should the hybrid lose their duel though I must warn thy keep thine expectations tapered. I also recommend leaving this blight of a country if thine wishes to continue with thine’s treasured lives.” <Promicarus>

In typical fashion when everyone turned to look at her propper she had a cup of steaming tea placed in front of her while she held her right hand up. Those metallic black nails were being filed with a beautiful metal nail file that had a black cat surrounded by brambles depicted upon its backside. She even refused to glance at the people she was talking to as her full attention was on her nails just like the first time she fought Eel.

While that was happening the window to the room was pulled open from outside causing it to creak due to the quality of the thing. Turning back to see who it was, the ‘fake hero’ team only turned even more white. A certain [Nine Tailed Kitsune] who was supposed to be dead stood right there with a warm motherly expression upon her face as she gazed at spear wielding Eel.

“Weren’t ya meant to be guarding the exits?” <Fuka>

“Oh~? There was only the front door and a hidden exit leading a bit outside the village so I let those two cover them so I could watch over the little cub~!” <Alexis>

“Ah… I see…” <Fuka>

She immediately decided that if a conversation begins between those two, for her own sanity, she shall refrain from intervening thus looked to the two party members as if she was helping.

“Dear~ you should use this as a chance to try a different sword. As it stands you’ve only used the highest quality of blade there is available, which is fine, but you may rely on the quality of your weapon a little too much. Such a thing can hold you back in the future so use this chance to use a low quality weapon which can’t handle your intent without fine control~.” <Alexis>

“L-low quality?! That sword has the highest content of mithril of any blade thus is the strongest weapon on this cont-” <Hiro>

“*Pff*- s-sorry that was quite improper of me. Still your claims are quite the pitiful cry for attention considering that Chaos brat who is recognised as the greatest artisan in all the realms is apparently on this continent right now. Saying that such a low quality weapon is the best with him around is rather humorous~.” <Alexis>

Based on the shade Hiro’s face went as he turned to confront the mature lady it was amazing he didn’t blow a blood vessel; Eel didn’t care about him though.

Tilting her head, Eel lifted her right hand up once more to gaze at the silverish blade that had sparkles of green mixed in like grains. It seemed to at least be stronger than steel and from swinging it a few times it was at least sharp enough to puncture scales with enough momentum behind it yet just testing it with her sword intent did indeed make it tremble. This made Eel slowly tilt her head the other way while thinking before nodding along – if Alexis was fine with her playing around Emily wouldn’t mind right?

With that in mind she twirled her spear around in her offhand before slamming the head into the floor as she faced her opponent. Noticing the change Hiro quickly turned around as Eel took a basic stance with spread feet with the sword pointing away from her. They slashed it a few times while Hiro watched intently before finally making her move – a move from a bloodline she had hardly used yet.

“[True Blood – Heart Seeking Fangs]~!” <Eel>

Thrusting her sword with the crimson intent caused a pair of bloody ‘fangs’ to leave the tip of her blade to curve outwards then back to its heart. Like the bite of a vampire seeking to suck up every last drop of blood yet the hero could only say he was lucky to have seen such an attack before since he knew how to react. Stepping back while holding his shield up caused him to slide backwards as the fangs punctured through the shield yet his heart was intact.

Despite that he still felt blood drain from his arm causing it to fall for a second thus leaving his torso open which the little bloodsucker obviously wouldn’t let up on. From the thrust she tilted forward before vanishing and appearing once more. Hiro reacted just in time by tilting his torso yet that still led the mithril blade to puncture through his ribcage, straight through his lung and out the otherside causing him to split out some blood.

Still he wasn’t as brave as he was before as he looked down on the girl who used [Flash Step] with nothing but fear ingrained deep inside.

“Y-you are a vampire just like that one from before! A proper vampire not like the thralls we were hunting but a full on blood demon if you can make use of their sword arts! W-why is a monster like you here in the {Mortal Realm} when you could be living it up!” <Hiro>

Eel ignored his complaints as she turned to the side to spit out some blood while twisting her blade – the knight groaned due to the pain of being skewered through the chest by his own sword.

“Tasted pretty disgusting but at least the sword style was good; just something I picked up from the {Noble Blood Sword} job after I awakened since it had pretty good stats. Though I thought it would be pretty trash.” <Eel>

Hiro’s shock and fear was obvious yet also understandable.

To demons, undead as well as even the wild monsters vampires were something akin to noble existences which demanded allegiance above self-preservation. Beings born from the second world war who were known for their graceful yet absolute power as figures representing the ruling class of the demon realm. Although vampires certainly weren’t all the equal since bloodline was a huge thing for them (something that in turn became true for humanity who seemed to want to mimic them) while only the vampire royalty could enhance bloodlines. Even Mother likely wouldn’t know as much about that as them.

Hiro as well as his party ran into a [Vampire Baron] a while ago while dealing with an undead outbreak on the northern side of the country. As they went further into the area of the outbreak they discovered [Vampire Thralls] who were beings changed into monsters after being bitten by a vampire; having their minds also influenced to become just as monstrous. Still they were instantly put into a fierce battle against the Thrall.

After a long drawn out fight they managed to beat the monster thanks to their old female tank taking the agro of the thing while the healer supported them all. That along with a fair amount of holy water with silver coating on their weapons… When they defeated the Thrall they just heard the clapping as a noble man walked out with a glass filled with blood.

His blood red eyes pierced through his mind as he felt himself slipping into obedience and likely would have if not for the items he gained from killing that succubus. Still after finding that his party resisted his hypnosis he merely clicked his tongue with annoyance as a dozen Thralls walked out from the tattered buildings to look down upon them. The monster didn’t even seem to care about their fear as he simply sipped his blood before flicking his other hand to create a sword out of blood.

One thrust later and everything went red. All he or his party remembered was waking up the next day in a bed they didn’t own in a manor located in the border of the {Indigo Stratos Empire Colony} in a rather… Unheroic state.

Since that day the party has never dealt with undead.

Gritting his teeth he lifted his right gauntlet to deliver a punch to Eel’s face which she surprisingly took while stumbling backwards. Furthermore she was going to take the sword with her but the hilt & guard parted due to the force of her previous attack taking its toll. Still she didn’t seem to be affected as she tilted her head while taking in the result of her attack while her left hand stroked her chin.

“Still I think it quite suits me now that I think about it. Sure it’s not as over the top as the dragon stuff but it makes up for it with speed and the bloodsucking attribute is rather handy if that fake piece of crap didn’t taste just like s***. Honestly if I incorporate my spear I think it may work really well with my momentum. Though I guess… Alexis is right about me needing to perfect my control since he survived that while the sword didn’t fufufu~!” <Eel>

It was clear that Eel couldn’t care less about his trauma as she considered the result of her attack which he managed to survive. If she was able to control her power a little better Eel reckoned she could’ve pierced right through his arm to hit its original target. Then again the purpose of the move was to suck blood and it accomplished that so maybe it was simply because it achieved its original goal even if it was the wrong target.

<Maybe it’s because I didn’t  use it as efficiently as I could’ve, which led to this mix up that saved his life? Even then it’s not like I want to drink his blood again since he tasted kind of bad all things considered – very impure. I wonder if Lord S***’a is going to taste even worse than that or better since he’s at least got dragon blood running through his veins?>

Very quickly she got distracted by the prospect of food though.

“I’ll get you next time, fake hero!” <Hiro>

Seeing the girl was distracted Hiro gritted his teeth leading to a sudden influx in the mana located in his mouth. With that influx his figure suddenly vanished from sight and upon seeing that the Sage stood up once more if shakely. Pouring mana into his staff onto the ground to activate an enchantment upon it which resulted in both him & the barbarian vanishing.

Eel noticing the sudden disappearances looked around with clear confusion before her cheeks puffed up.

“Those guys ran as soon as I took my eyes off them… Wait, did that cowardly trash tasting piece of s*** just call me the fake?!” <Eel>

A short time after that a donation fund was instituted in the village to help rebuild the village chief’s house.