At the academy, there are expeditions to places where monsters lurk nearby, which double as level-grinding trips.
Up until now, my Master had forbidden me from joining expeditions, but this time I finally received permission, so I signed up.
The destination was a forest about two days' walk from the Demon King's castle.
The forest was teeming with low-level monsters, making it the perfect hunting ground for the students.
Of course, since this was real combat, casualties could happen—you couldn't let your guard down just because the enemies were low-level.
Standing before the forest, I felt troubled by my inability to hide my excitement.
I have no fond memories of forests.
After all, during my traveling days, I had spent the vast majority of that time in forests just like the one before me.
Painful memories from that era came flooding back.
And yet, at the same time, something about it felt oddly nostalgic.
But above all, what truly excited me was the fact that I could fight.
Just being conscious of that was enough to make my vision turn red with excitement.
Since the day I was born, I had never fought a proper battle.
Being put through the wringer by Master, mock battles at the academy—that was the extent of it.
What Master put me through couldn't even be called a fight, and the academy's mock battles were nothing more than play.
They didn't even come close to a real life-and-death struggle.
Fighting.
Blood washing away blood.
Just imagining it made my heart pound.
This feeling had to be because I was a vampire.
The instinct of a vampire, yearning for blood and battle.
And so, the moment we entered the forest and I actually started mowing down monsters, the disappointment hit hard.
Weak.
Brittle.
This was nothing but a massacre.
It wasn't a fight.
But I did earn Experience Points for the first time and my Level went up.
When I told the handsome squad I'd been with that I'd reached Level 2, they looked at me with absolute shock.
Had I said something surprising?
The strange thing was that the instant my Level rose, my body flashed for a moment and my SP recovered.
Unlike HP and MP, the ways to recover SP were extremely limited.
Apparently, SP recovers when you Level up.
When I mentioned this to the others, they told me that normally, SP doesn't recover just from leveling up.
Was I the only special one? How strange.
"
That was Ziglis-sensei, one of the teachers, stopping me.
My Level had reached 3, and there was no point continuing this one-sided slaughter, so I accepted the proposal.
"I didn't even get to do anything this time."
"Don't worry. Me neither."
"We came here to level up, but we couldn't level up at all."
"It's Sophia's fault for hogging everything."
The boys seemed kind of down, but I couldn't care less.
They were fine as friends, but as fighting partners, they were sorely lacking.
They couldn't satisfy this craving of mine.
Or rather, over the past few years, I had come to realize that my strength was quite abnormal.
Was there anyone out there who could actually fight me on equal footing?
Master had mentioned the Great Ello Dungeon—if I went there, would I finally be satisfied?
My thoughts kept spiraling in increasingly dangerous directions.
Maybe I was losing my sanity from the smell of monster blood.
I couldn't believe I was a battle junkie. This was the first time in my life I'd learned that about myself.
And just as we were about to pull back, the incident occurred.
A scream, heard from a short distance away.
The only ones who should have been in this forest were academy students.
Which meant the screamer had to be one of the students.
The boys moved quickly.
Toward the source of the scream.
I thought it was admirable how they could rush to rescue someone without hesitation in moments like this, but at the same time, I could feel the situation spiraling in a bad direction.
I'm sorry, but I couldn't let them go.
I knocked them out with a surprise attack from behind.
Forgive me.
But if they went, they would surely die.
The screamer was already dead, too.
I had confirmed that with my Sense Presence.
And the strength I detected from that presence was something that reminded me of Master or
I hid the boys in an inconspicuous spot and laid them down, then headed toward the source of the presence.
I knew this was wrong, even by my own standards.
The opponent was strong enough that my Sense Presence could clearly tell.
And yet, a grin had spread across my face.
Oh, I could fight.
Facing a crisis, and the only emotion welling up inside me was excitement.
And then I came face to face with it.
Surrounding us was an obscene amount of blood.
The mangled remains of bodies so destroyed you couldn't even tell how many people there had been to begin with.
Some of them might have even been people I recognized, and yet my heart danced with joy.
"Ogre — Level 49 — Name: Lars Status HP: 16,077/16,077 (green) (details)
MP: 19,899/19,899 (blue) (details)
SP: 15,755/15,755 (yellow) (details)
: 15,791/15,791 (red) (details)
Average Attack: 15,888 (details)
Average Defense: 15,823 (details)
Average Magic: 17,760 (details)
Average Resistance: 17,808 (details)
Average Speed: 15,773 (details) Skills "HP High-Speed Recovery LV8" "MP High-Speed Recovery LV10" "MP Consumption Great Reduction LV10" "Magic Power Perception LV10" "Magic Power Precision Control LV2" "Demon God Arts LV2" "Magic Power Infusion LV10" "Magic Infusion LV2" "Great Magic Strike LV1" "SP High-Speed Recovery LV1" "SP Consumption Great Reduction LV2" "Battle God Arts LV10" "Spirit Power Infusion LV10" "Skill Infusion LV2" "Great Spirit Strike LV1" "Sword God" "Slash Great Enhancement LV10" "Strike Great Enhancement LV1" "Penetration Great Enhancement LV3" "Impact Enhancement LV9" "Destruction Great Enhancement LV1" "Flame Enhancement LV1" "Lightning Enhancement LV2" "Heterodox Attack LV5" "Dragon Power LV8" "Flame Attack LV5" "Lightning Attack LV6" "Psychokinesis LV7" "Throwing LV10" "Projectile LV10" "Spatial Movement LV2" "Focus LV10" "Thought Acceleration LV8" "Foresight LV2" "Parallel Will LV1" "High-Speed Computation LV5" "Memory LV8" "Accuracy LV10" "Evasion LV10" "Probability Great Correction LV1" "Tyrant LV3" "Appraisal LV2" "Sense Presence LV4" "Yama" "Curse LV3" "Fire Magic LV10" "Flame Magic LV6" "Lightning Magic LV10" "Lightning Magic LV6" "Healing Magic LV8" "Heterodox Magic LV10" "Spatial Magic LV8" "Demon King LV4" "Pride LV4" "
Skill Points: 0 Titles "Ally Slayer" "Blood Kin Eater" "Wrath Dominator" "Master Slayer" "Human Slayer" "Merciless" "Human Slaughterer" "Demon Slaughterer" "Monster Slayer" "Bringer of Terror" "Demon Slaughterer" "Dragon Slayer" "Overlord" "Humanity's Calamity" "Nation Destroyer" "Monster Slaughterer" "Sword God" "Demon Race's Calamity" "Fairy Slayer" "Monster Apocalypse"
What stood before me was an Oni.
Its appearance was nearly indistinguishable from the Demon race, but the two horns sprouting from its forehead—and above all, its dense killing aura—proved it was something monstrous.
Oh my?
For some reason, its face seemed familiar. But I must have been imagining it.
My blood was boiling.
Facing an enemy for the very first time in my life.
This one could be my match.
Even, or perhaps slightly out of my league.
And yet, I couldn't hide my exhilaration.
I wanted to defeat this thing and drink every last drop of its blood.
Yielding to that desire, I challenged the Oni to battle.