Upon meeting the living armour, Kurushimi immediately thrust her polearm forth. Aiming for the living armour’s head, Kurushimi hoped to get a good first hit on a vital this time. But even as the polearm’s blade rushed towards it, the living armour didn’t let go of the greatsword to block it. The living armour suddenly bent forward and clamped down onto the blade, using the fragmented metal pieces around its mouth.

Kurushimi was surprised by the action. The living armour had now suddenly locked her weapon still. The living armour began moving again and before Kurushimi could realise what was happening, the living armour had lifted her polearm along with her with its mouth alone.

Refusing to let go, Kurushimi was flung away by a flick of the living armour’s head as it threw her and the polearm. Kurushimi crashed into a nearby tree, causing the tree to dent inwards. Kurushimi inhaled sharply, the shock hadn’t injured her greatly but it was still damaging.

But the living armour didn’t allow Kurushimi to have a breather. The living armour, hastened by its berserk mode, instantly closed the distance between it and Kurushimi. Opening its mouth wide, the living armour was moments away from clamping down onto Kurushimi’s face before suddenly biting something else.

The living armour pushed angrily against the side of the polearm. Kurushimi struggled against the living armour with all her might. Before the living armour could bite her face off, Kurushimi had thrown her polearm in front of herself. The living armour’s spit flailed about in Kurushimi’s face, much to her displeasure.

ROAR-!!

Unable to bite Kurushimi, the living armour roared angrily as it lifted an arm in an attempt to hit Kurushimi with it. But with the living armour now off-balance, Kurushimi was able to knock it over and push it off herself. The living armour cried as it fell back. Kurushimi quickly hurried to stand up.

KREEE EEE-!!

And just as Kurushimi had stood up and gotten back to even ground, the shrieking of a nearby canisfang interrupted her. Previously, the canisfangs had been scared off by the living armour, allowing Kurushimi to fight the living armour without any interventions. Although, it seemed this time she wouldn’t have that luxury.

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 3』!》

With the canisfang to her left and the living armour swinging its greatsword towards her at her right, time began to slow down. Her processing sped up rapidly as the two monsters got closer. Kurushimi needed to come up with something in the short amount of time ‘Evade’ would give her. Kurushimi looked towards the canisfang to her left and her eyes briefly shook.

-Ah, I have an idea!

As Kurushimi began moving again, time went back to normal. Kurushimi raised her polearm and stabbed it downwards into the back of the approaching canisfang. Quickly swinging her right leg behind her left, she flung the impaled canisfang to her right. The living armour was hit by the canisfang mid-swing of its greatsword.

The living armour was only momentarily stunned by the canisfang but that wasn’t all Kurushimi had in mind. Kurushimi proceeded to stab into the canisfang once more, deepening the wound and stabbing into the living armour at the same time. Then, as she began conjuring mana, the large volumes of blood suddenly shot out and impaled the living armour.

《Used skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 5』!》

The living armour roared as it was impaled by a multitude of bloody spikes. As it began to fall back, Kurushimi chased forward and shoved the blade of her polearm into the vulnerable living armour’s head. Immediately she retracted the polearm, only to then slash at the neck of the living armour. With the loss of its head, the living armour was finished off by the attack.

THUD.

The living armour’s head dropped to the ground. Kurushimi stood her polearm beside herself, using it to lean on as she breathed out. Kurushimi really found the living armour to be a formidable opponent. Even when she was a higher level than it. The ‘berserk’ skill made it a menacing fight but also allowed her to take advantage of its lack of intelligence. Kurushimi wondered what it would be like fighting the living armour without it going berserk. She felt that would be an interesting fight.

《You have leveled up!》

《You have leveled up!》

《You have leveled up!》

Kurushimi stepped on over towards the living armour. She bent down and bit the living armour with her fangs, sucking up its blood. Any HP she had lost quickly was replaced as Kurushimi drank the refreshing blood.

《Used skill: 『Fangs Lvl. 3』!》

《Used skill: 『What’s yours is mine Lvl. 3』!》

《You have gained +10 HP, +10 STR, +10 END, +10 SP, +10 AGI, +10 MP!》

Kurushimi seemed to be getting the most stats so far from the living armour. With a hefty 10 bonus stats in every stat. Curious as to how much HP, and whatever else she could see, the living armour had, Kurushimi focused mana into her eyes as she looked down at the headless living armour.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

----------------------------------

Living Armour

Lvl. 25

HP: 0/200

MP: 100/100

SP: 143/200

---------------------------------

“Well, I can’t say much about it right now. I need to have a look at my own stats and compare them.”

Seeing the living armour’s stats, Kurushimi couldn’t determine much with that alone. Wanting to compare her own stats to it and wanting to see her own stats, Kurushimi opened up her status menu.

HP: 194

STR: 195

END: 171

SP: 127

AGI: 177

MP: 109

Skipping over the other information on her status menu for now, Kurushimi focused on her stats. Surprisingly, despite being 9 levels over the living armour, she still had less of some stats. Although, Kurushimi sadly couldn’t see a lot of the other stats to compare with them. Some of her other stats might be higher as she could see she had higher MP for example.

But Kurushimi still felt she was quite weak for her level. Whether it was because vampires were weak early, whether it was because of her status as a ‘lesser vampire’, or because of some other reason, she didn’t know.

“Well, with an overpowered skill like ‘What’s yours is mine’, it only makes sense that I’d have a weak early game.”

Kurushimi nodded and decided to just accept how it is. With the living armour dead, Kurushimi decided to head on over to the scorched land after she took out the rest of the canisfangs and stole their stats.

. . .

Kurushimi walked along with her polearm beside her. Unable to put it on her hip as easily as she did with her katana, Kurushimi decided she would just hold it to her side and use it like a walking stick. As she walked forward, Kurushimi finally was met with the glaring sun as she entered the scorched area.

Although it was a bit late to mention, Kurushimi realised she wasn’t burning up in the sun. Despite being a vampire, it seemed that this world’s ‘vampire’ wasn’t as closely aligned to her idea of a vampire than she had initially thought. Kurushimi was glad that she didn’t have to hide during the day. Despite spending most of her time indoors, she actually did like the sun quite a bit. It just happened that she chose video games over the sun beforehand.

Hiss-!

Kurushimi lifted her hand to cover her eyes from the sun so she could look forward and identify the one suddenly making noise. A salamander hissed angrily at her from a distance. Kurushimi got deja vu, thinking this had happened before, until she remembered it had happened before. It seems the same angry salamander had appeared to stop Kurushimi from trespassing on its territory again. Kurushimi laughed slightly at the reunion with the funny lizard.

《Used skill: 『Appraisal Lvl. 2』!》

《Salamander Lvl. 20》

Confirming by its level that it was the same salamander, Kurushimi approached the salamander. Unhurriedly, she walked up to it and got into its range. The salamander opened its mouth and a bright light began to appear at the back.

-Wait…

-...

《Used skill: 『Evade Lvl. 3』!》

Kurushimi continued walking forward towards the salamander, waiting for the perfect moment. Then, as time slowed down and ‘Evade’ activated, Kurushimi quickly stepped to the side. Out of the fire’s area of effect, Kurushimi stepped forward and stabbed down into the head of the lizard.

Blood splattered out as the salamander’s head was pierced through. But the salamander didn’t die instantly. Kurushimi conjured mana into the wound and caused the blood to drill further into the salamander’s head. The salamander finally died with that action.

《Used skill: 『Blood magic Lvl. 5』!》

The salamander seemed to survive the first attack due to its extra HP. Kurushimi had seen that it somehow had more HP than its max before. Though it wasn’t a problem now and then, against a large pack of salamanders, Kurushimi may have trouble if she needs to take extra time to kill every single one. With their flames, Kurushimi needed to stay nimble. It was even more reason to avoid fighting a large group of the salamanders.

“I would have spared you but I can’t miss free XP and stats, y’know?”

《You have leveled up!》

On que with Kurushimi’s remark, a message notifying her of a level-up popped up. Kurushimi bent down to bite into the salamander’s skin. Kurushimi grabbed the salamander, drinking up its warm blood. Finally, she pushed herself off of it and wiped her mouth.

《Used skill: 『Fangs Lvl. 3』!》

《Used skill: 『What’s yours is mine Lvl. 3』!》

《You have gained +6 HP, +6 STR, +6 END, +6 SP, +6 AGI, +6 MP!》

Hiss-! Hiss-! Hiss-!

The hissing of more angry salamander’s filled Kurushimi’s ears. Looking over at them, she saw a few salamanders crawling out of whatever holes they came from. Counting them and confirming there weren’t too many for her to handle, Kurushimi smiled and brandished her weapon.

“I guess I can tussle with a few more of you before I go~”