Demon VS Demon ①

I use an Appraisal Stone to appraise the girl in front of me.

It's been quite a while since I last used Appraisal.

The last time was on the Ice Dragon, and apart from that, I hadn't felt any need to use it.

I could intuitively tell that I could win without Appraising.

But this girl is different.

『Human race Vampire LV3 Sophia Kelen Status HP: 14271/14271 (Green) MP: 12893/12893 (Blue) SP: 12655/12655 (Yellow) SP: 12661/12661 (Red) Average Attack Capability: 12738 Average Defense Capability: 13226 Average Magic Capability: 12755 Average Resistance Capability: 13219 Average Speed Capability: 12774 Skills 「Higher Vampire LV8」「Undying General LV8」「Heavenly Scale LV10」「HP Ultra-Fast Recovery LV3」「Magic Power Perception LV10」「Formula Perception LV10」「MP High-Speed Recovery LV10」「MP Consumption Great Reduction LV10」「Magic Power Precision Operation LV2」「Demon God Art LV10」「Magic Power Enchantment LV8」「Great Magic Power Strike LV10」「SP High-Speed Recovery LV10」「SP Consumption Great Reduction LV10」「Sword Hero LV2」「Martial Arts Genius LV9」「Destruction Great Enhancement LV2」「Blunt Great Enhancement LV1」「Slash Great Enhancement LV3」「Pierce Great Enhancement LV1」「Impact Great Enhancement LV1」「Water Flow Enhancement LV10」「Freeze Enhancement LV10」「Darkness Enhancement LV9」「Wind Enhancement LV9」「Earth Enhancement LV9」「Lightning Enhancement LV5」「Strong Acid Enhancement 8」「Status Abnormality Enhancement LV9」「Battle God Art LV10」「Spirit Power Enchantment LV6」「Great Spirit Power Strike LV10」「Water Flow Attack LV10」「Freeze Attack LV10」「Strong Acid Attack LV10」「Poison Synthesis LV10」「Medicine Synthesis LV10」「Psychokinesis LV10」「Throwing LV10」「Shooting LV10」「Spatial Movement LV10」「Cooperation LV2」「Command LV3」「Servant Domination LV6」「Concentration LV10」「Thought Acceleration LV4」「Future Sight LV4」「Parallel Will LV2」「High-Speed Calculation LV10」「Record LV10」「Long Distance Communication LV10」「Accuracy LV10」「Evasion LV10」「Probability Great Correction LV10」「Stealth LV10」「Concealment LV10」「Silence LV10」「Odorless LV10」「Emperor」「Presence Perception LV10」「Danger Perception LV10」「Motion Perception LV4」「Heat Perception LV8」「Spatial Perception LV1」「Appraisal LV10」「Source of Calamity」「Fire Magic LV3」「Water Magic LV10」「Water Flow Magic LV10」「Blue Sea Magic LV7」「Ice Magic LV10」「Freeze Magic LV10」「Ice Prison Magic LV8」「Wind Magic LV10」「Storm Magic LV1」「Earth Magic LV10」「Great Earth Magic LV1」「Lightning Magic LV9」「Light Magic LV1」「Shadow Magic LV10」「Darkness Magic LV10」「Dark Magic LV4」「Poison Magic LV10」「Healing Magic LV10」「Demon King LV8」「Jealousy」「Physical Great Resistance LV5」「Fire Resistance LV5」「Water Flow Nullification」「Freeze Nullification」「Storm Resistance LV2」「Earth Resistance LV2」「Lightning Resistance LV6」「Light Resistance LV4」「Darkness Resistance LV4」「Gravity Resistance LV3」「Acid Resistance LV10」「Corrosion Resistance LV7」「Stun Resistance LV7」「Status Abnormality Nullification」「Fear Great Resistance LV7」「Heterodox Great Resistance LV6」「Pain Nullification」「Pain Sensation Nullification」「Dark Vision LV10」「Clairvoyance LV4」「Cursed Grudge Magic Eye LV3」「Stasis Magic Eye LV3」「Five Senses Great Enhancement LV10」「Perception Range Expansion LV10」「Divinity Range Expansion LV5」「Heavenly Fate LV10」「Heavenly Demon LV10」「Heavenly Motion LV10」「Rich Heaven LV10」「Fortitude LV10」「Fortress LV10」「Heavenly Way LV10」「Heavenly Guardian LV10」「Idaten LV10」「Taboo LV2」「n%I=W」』

I can't quite make sense of this.

Level 3?

A human race vampire?

Aren't there way too many skills?

In raw stats, I outclass her.

But in skills, I lose in both quantity and quality.

I have Fantasy Weapon Alchemy as a trump card of my own, but this girl named Sophia's skills are abnormal.

She might genuinely be my equal, or even above.

But that's only if I don't activate Wrath.

I don't intend to activate it, but if I'm pushed to the brink of actual death, all bets are off.

Wrath might activate regardless of my will.

No—if it comes to that, it definitely will.

The question is how far I can suppress it with my willpower.

That will be the turning point of this fight.

Either I die, or she dies.

She might end up dying without even being able to corner me.

Once my mind shifts to combat, I lose all ability to hold back.

The girl swings a massive sword with a single hand—far too large for her small frame.

It's about as tall as she is, with a broad, weighty blade.

It doesn't seem to have any special properties, but it's a sturdy, well-made sword.

In an instant, she closes the distance and brings it crashing down.

I catch it with the Flame Sword in one hand.

Unable to fully absorb the blow, I quickly cross the Thunder Sword with the Flame Sword to brace myself.

Heavy!

I wasn't underestimating her—I knew my stats were higher and thought I could block with one hand.

And while I'd planned to counter with the other Thunder Sword, I was forced into full defense instead.

Her stats have been boosted.

The power of two skills—Battle God Art and Demon God Art.

And probably the power of Higher Vampire as well.

『Higher Vampire: A special skill possessed by vampires. Stats increase by consuming blood. Consumed blood is stored within the body. Additionally, it grants special effects at certain levels. LV1: Moon Guard, LV2: Strong Blood, LV3: Blood Mist, LV4: Shadow Demon, LV5: Demon Shift, LV6: Servant Summon, LV7: Mist化, LV8: Resurrection』

Moon Guard amplifies power based on the phases of the moon.

Blood Mist allows the user to freely manipulate their own blood in a mist form, and Mist化 merges the user with that mist.

Shadow Demon summons familiars from shadows, and Demon Shift lets the user transform into those familiars.

Servant Summon calls forth servants.

And the most troublesome of all is Resurrection—a blatantly overpowered effect that fully restores HP and revives the user once per day even after dropping to zero.

But what's immediately relevant is the Strong Blood ability.

While active, it trades stored blood stockpile for a stat boost.

That's what produced those unexpectedly heavy sword strikes just now.

I activate Battle God Art and Demon God Art as well.

That restores my stats advantage.

However, while Battle God Art is at the same level, her Demon God Art is higher than mine.

The gap is smaller than in our unenhanced states, but it's still there.

I activate one of my own trump cards: Dragon Power.

Dragon Power raises stats and disrupts the opponent's magic construction.

When I was attacked by that elf-like group, I'd used this skill to nullify their magic.

Battle God Art, Demon God Art, and Dragon Power.

This is my first time activating all three simultaneously.

"Heh, hehehe."

The girl laughs.

"You blocked it. You blocked my attack. Hehehe!"

Dangerous.

This girl is dangerous.

She's getting carried away.

Not that I'm one to talk.

"This is—combat! For the first time since I was born! Fighting with everything I've got!"

A chill runs down my spine.

It's not just from being overwhelmed by her intimidation.

It's simply cold.

Cold air radiates from the girl's center.

At the same time, red mist begins to billow outward.

The effect of a vampire's Blood Mist.

And this sudden temperature drop—is it from her ice-type skills?

She's getting serious too, huh.

Then I will as well.

I pull out multiple magic swords from an extradimensional space via Spatial Storage.

I use Psychokinesis to float them in the air around me.

And so, the real battle begins.