"Woah, that's...," I blurted out in surprise.

"Wha-!? H-hey, stop staring!" Exclaimed Fuo, swiftly turning around red-faced.

​​

The back of her pants was completely gone...giving me quite the eyeful as I landed. Looks like the floor here is wet...no, wait, that's my venom, though it's lost pretty much all its potency, it's just a harmless puddle of gunky liquid now.

"Hold on, what happened?" I inquired, struggling not to laugh.

"You didn't use enough water to wash away the acid! And thanks to that, my pants melted!" She snapped, her face bright red.

"Oops, my bad...but, hey, if it makes you feel any better...you have a really nice ass."

"Grr, shut up, I already know that!"

Huh, not the response I was expecting.

"Need healing?"

"No, my skin is fine."

She then took off her jacket and tied it around her waist to cover herself while grumbling irritably. I'd been wondering this the whole time, but how was she wearing a jacket in this heat? Her outfit consisted of a light blue tank top under a white jacket with a black outline and black trousers...it wasn't a very thick jacket, but still, this savanna was really hot and humid.

And it wasn't any better here underground. I was just wearing a regular t-shirt and knee-length shorts, and even with that I found the heat and humidity bothersome. Well, whatever, it doesn't matter.

Hey, Lazarus, where's the Were King?

"Twenty meters straight ahead."

Through this wall, huh? I have all my Mana intact, so I'll use Earth Magic instead of my acid venom...I formed an opening and stepped back, gesturing to Fuo to go in first...this is going to be her fight, after all. She nodded and walked through, before I followed in after her.

"I was wondering who was causing all that ruckus so close to my lair, but this is unexpected...do my eyes deceive me, or are you a pair of humans?" Came a rough, growly voice from inside.

At the back of the space was a tall creature covered in fur, seated on the ground. As he stood up with a wary look, I saw that he was about two meters tall, with a mix of gray and brown-spotted fur...he looked like a cross between a wolf and hyena, though there was definitely more wolf in his appearance.

"Hey, I've got a question for you. Why do you monster kings all hide in places that could collapse in a fight? I mean, if you use your howl attack in here, this entire space will almost definitely cave in," I remarked in a mockingly friendly tone.

"You're a patronizing little shit, aren't you? Humans never change, they're either cowards or too foolish to be cowards, there's no in-between. No matter, I'll just kill you both," He growled threateningly, standing up and extending his claws.

"Damn, you hear that, Fuo? He just called you either scared or dumb, you gonna take that from him?" I remarked, in an effort to rile her up.

"...he said it to you too, you know."

"Yeah, but I'm so strong that stuff like that doesn't bother me, but you're-."

"I'll stop you right there. Now, then, I'll fight him," She declared, stepping forward and entering Vampire Mode.

"What the-!?" Exclaimed Kanine, as she zipped towards him with a fiece roar, forming a red ice spear in her hands, "A Vampire!?"

He narrowly ducked under the swing of her spear before driving his left claws up and shattering it, and then swinging his right claws up at her face.

"Too slow!" She exclaimed, ducking under it and spinning around before grabbing his arm and throwing him over her shoulder, as he slammed onto the ground and skidded away painfully.

Her hand to hand combat skills had definitely improved after training with me, her moves were a lot more efficient now.

"Hey, careful, don't hit the ground or walls with any major impact, I can't promise that I'll be able to save you if this place comes down!" I warned her, as some dust from the ceiling fell down to the ground.

She didn't say anything, but from the look in her eyes, I think it's safe to say that she had taken that to heart. She began to chase after him, before halting as he summoned about a dozen Werewolves and Werehyenas.

"Buy me some time!" He instructed them, before a strange, dim glow shone out from his right palm.

All the summoned monsters shot towards her, as she swiftly unfolded her bow and formed ice arrows, firing them in a rapid successive barrage at the monsters that were barreling in towards her. She managed to kill seven of them with perfectly aimed headshots, before switching to a pair of ice blades as they closed in.

She slashed off two of their heads before driving one of her blades through the chest of another, letting go of the blade and forming another one as she slashed one of their throats. That just left one more, and as it leapt at her with its fangs bared, she flicked one of her ice blades at it, slashing it's head straight down the middle.

Meanwhile, looks like Kanine was done buying time for himself...the glow in his hand formed into a sphere of dim light, which floated up towards the ceiling and continued to glow...huh, it almost looks like moonligh-...ohhh.

"Now you're finished...my power triples when there's a full moon, doubles during regular moonlight, and during the day, I can create pseudo-moonlight once every twelve hours that lasts from five to ten minutes, and the darker the surroundings are, the longer it'll stay glowing!" He exclaimed, as he shot towards Fuo rapidly, "Let's see if you can handle this...my own power and the sheer numbers of my subordinates!"

The instant he summoned his monsters, ten Werewolves, I countered by summoning five Abominable Snowmen...woah, close one, they're taller than I remember, this space is just barely tall enough for them.

"I wasn't planning on interfering, but if you're gonna summon your monsters, then I'm going to summon mine...and I can assure you this, I have far more monsters at my command than you do," I warned him coldly, "Dispel the summon, and I'll do the same."

"Those monsters, they're Titan's-...how can you summon them!?"

"Oh, I killed him."

"That can't be possible...!" He growled, stepping back uncertainly, before trailing off, gritting his teeth and relenting, the summoned monsters vanishing.

I undid my summoning of the Snowmen as well...if I summon a monster, I can undo the summon and send them back to the spot they were in before I summoned them, so long as less than five minutes had passed since they were summoned.

Fuo then swiftly flew up and swooped down at the Were King, swinging a large blade of ice down at him, which he countered with a swing of his claws, the blade shattering as they clashed. Fuo's eyes began to glow red as she quickly flew back to get out his reach, a frown on her face...did she just try to use her Cross? Why didn't it work? Reflective eyes, maybe?

At any rate, it had been forty seconds since this fight began, she could only maintain her Vampire Mode form for another fifteen seconds. But she knew that better than I do. She shot towards him rapidly, firing a barrage of arrows at him which he countered using his claws, deflecting them all, before letting out a cry of pain as he missed one, an arrow that split into two after being fired, each half piercing into him, his left shoulder and the right side of his chest.

He let out a fierce snarl and swung his right arm at her, his left arm unable to move, she ducked under up and fired an ice needle from her mouth, which struck his right eye, eliciting a yelp of pain from him as he stumbled back. He furiously raised his right arm, but in his rage, he left himself wide open, which Fuo used to get in close, forming an ice blade and flicking it up, slashing off his right arm.

He desperately sprang away with a stifled cry of pain as blood burst out of his shoulder, looking to escape. She wasn't going to let him get away though...she fired an arrow at him, which he just barely evaded by springing away to the left.

Unfazed, she swiftly formed another arrow, one with a flat end, and fired it at the back of the first arrow, deflecting it towards the Were King as he dodged and piercing the middle of his back at an angle, right along his spine. He let out a howl of agony as he lost movement in his legs and collapsed onto the ground.

"You're finished," Declared Fuo, walking over to him as she returned to her normal state.

Right, I'll go transfer his life force into her now.

"If this is where I die...then you will die with me!" He snapped fiercely, opening his mouth...don't tell me he's going to use his howl!?

Not good...!

I swiftly entered Soul-Eater Mode and used Teleport as fast as I could, just barely making it in time as I appeared in front of him and grabbed his throat, crushing it before he could blast out his howl attack, his blood running down my hand as he let out a strangled cough, blood pouring out of his mouth.

No gonna lie...that was close, if he'd fired that in here, we'd have been buried alive...not sure if even I can claw my way out of a hundred meters of earth. Yeah, okay, I probably can, but I'd rather not test that out. The thought of being buried alive wasn't very appealing.

"That wasn't a very nice move, don't you know that no one likes a sore loser?" I inquired, as I ran lightning through him to make sure he couldn't move, "Alright, Fuo, ready for your power-up?"

"Yes!" She exclaimed, not even trying to hide her excitement.

Huh, if she wasn't so grumpy all the time, she'd actually be pretty cute. Too bad she's, you know, grumpy all the time.

"Alright, raise your arm near my fangs," I instructed, biting into her forearm as she rolled back her sleeve and held up her arm.

"N-no, stop, I-...!" Began the Were King, but his pleas were quickly silenced, as I drained his life force and transferred it into Fuo.

As I pulled back my fangs and returned to my original state, letting his corpse hit the floor, she began impatiently pacing in anticipation.

"Come on, hurry!" She urged, looking giddy and antsy.

"Talking to Atticus?"

"Yeah, he's spreading the life force throughout me or something, he's saying my body can just about barely handle taking in this amount in one go, though there shouldn't be any problems so long as he evenly distributes it...but he's taking too long!"

...it's not even been twenty seconds since I pulled my fangs out of her arm. Well, I guess I couldn't blame her. After about a minute had passed, at which point she looked ready to burst with impatience, her face suddenly broke out into a wide grin. Looks like he must be telling her what her new powers are.

"Well? What are your new abilities?" I inquired curiously.

"My eyes! I can see in the dark now!" She exclaimed giddily, her eyes darting around excitedly.

Right, I guess that makes sense for a monster that rules over Werewolves.

"Anything else?"

"My body feels more flexible, and I feel stronger and faster too...and just like he said, it looks like I can double my strength when exposed to moonlight, tripled during a full moon, as well as create orbs of artificial moonlight during the day that double my strength, each orb lasts five to ten minutes, and I can create them twice a day. Oh, and I can summon Werewolves and Werehyenas too!"

Huh, a multiplier that relies on moonlight...pretty cool, but being dependent on an external factor makes it a bit too unreliable for my liking. So, besides the moonlight power, everything else was just as I expected...yeah, I was fine with letting her have this king's life force, especially since I already have night vision. So it'd probably have been wasted on me anyway, like pouring a cup of water into a river.

"You're welcome. Let's head back up, we can fly through the hole."

"Oh, right, thank you...and I used up my time limit, so I can't fly right now."

"It's too narrow for me to carry you on my back...oh, I know, you can hold onto my ankles while I fly up."

"Yeah, okay. Hey, by the way...you often consume life force using your claws, you don't use your fangs as much...how come you used them today?" She inquired curiously, as we headed back to where the hole was.

"Huh, good question...haven't really thought about it, I just go with whichever one I feel like, I guess. Hm...well, now that I think about it, most of the times when I've used my fangs instead of my claws, while not exclusively so, it's usually with girls..."

"Tch, pervert."

"Yeah, that's fair."

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