Chapter 109: Hunting And Gathering

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A pair of red, sharp eyes glanced through the windows of a large black castle. These eyes, belonging to a woman who was as powerful as she was beautiful, seemed to be glowing particularly brightly this night.

"The presence of a Celestial in that small, ruined town… What is the meaning of this?"

The beautiful Vampiress, with long silvery-white hair and pale white skin, glanced with great confusion and concern into the distance.

Although she could not see her, she could sense the presence of this mysterious new being that had landed in the Ruined Demon Realm.

She then glanced back at the knights wearing red armor that lined up in front of her throne. Two of them stepped forward as she moved her hands.

"It can't be a Celestial though; its presence feels too weak to be one of those monsters that left our world in ruins." She said. "Investigate who it is. If you think you can kill them, eliminate them quickly and bring me their corpse. You two should be enough, whatever it is."

"Understood, Lady Blednica." The two Blood Knights nodded, suddenly disappearing into the mist and disappearing from the scene.

"The rest, go down that village. I need some more fresh blood…" She smiled, her eyes glowing brighter as she licked her red lips. "I will soon achieve the necessary Blood Energy for my Ascension into a Death Apostle… And then… T-Then, I might be able to finally meet my big brother again…"

A smile filled with fascination could be seen spread across her flawless face, distorting her beauty and making her look completely mad.

"Big brother Belial… I can't wait to see you again…"

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(Anna's POV)

As the Blood Thrall Pack Leader roared, I swiftly unsheathed Gram, wielding him with both of my hands for better control and strength. They wasted no time; even before the gleam of a Holy Sword, the beasts were too bloodthirsty to think straight.

"GROOAR!"

With a furious roar, the Pack Leader remained in the back, commanding the rest of his pack to attack me all at once. The smaller ones ran towards my sides, trying to surround me and attack me from behind; the other muscular ones, the Warriors, decided to charge forward without any sly tactics.

"{Holy Decapitation}"

However, I didn't waste a single second. Swinging Gram with all my strength and unleashing a devastating Holy Decapitation technique, three Blood Thralls were sliced into halves, while the rest were blown away by the shockwave generated by the attack, burning by the holy light.

SLAAASH!

The shockwave wasn't just light, though, as it generated a huge explosion that ended two more Blood Thralls. The Pack Leader glanced in sudden shock, although he had yet to decide to escape.

"GROAAR!"

The five Blood Thrall Warriors attacked me at once, even as their bodies were covered with terrible burn wounds, weakening them severely. Their giant claws were much deadlier than the normal Blood Thralls.

CLASH!

Honestly, five at once was a bit too much; my body was much smaller and lighter than theirs, so their blows had enough strength to push me back quite a lot.

"GRUAAAH!"

One of the largest Warriors raised both of his claws at the same time, making them overflow with a dark, demonic energy and unleashing a slashing wave of darkness against me.

BOOOM!

The attack was powerful; the areas where my armor couldn't cover completely got a bit roasted, but my natural high-speed healing factor worked wonders at dealing with this kind of damage, and because of the Celestial Body Skill, I resisted most of the damage.

"Now's my turn."

I stepped forward, and with a single step, I flashed through the terrain and faced the strongest of the five Blood Thrall Warriors. He swung his claws in response to my rapid movements, attempting to push me away, but it was futile.

"{Twin Slashing Sunlight Blade}!"

SLASH! SLASH!

With a single swing of my sword, two slashing waves of holy light cut off his arms, and the beast immediately roared in agony, madly trying to kick me away.

"{Sunlit Arc}!"

However, I didn't stop my movement, constantly changing from one stance to the next as I swung my sword while spinning in midair, the spinning attack slashing the beast's torso and cutting its entire body in two perfect halves!

SLASH!

"Gryyyaaaeerggh…!"

With a pitiful shriek, the beast perished, and the other four Blood Thrall Warriors did not hesitate to avenge their larger companion, rushing to my side and attacking my back all at once.

CLASH!

Due to the momentum, I was caught off guard and blown away. I noticed my health points going down severely, and that blow hurt more than I thought.

However, I wasn't blown away without leaving them a small prize, as my daggers found themselves stuck in the chests of two of them, overflowing with my Mana through the connection between their handles and my hands. Thanks to Violet's silk, their magical powers erupted. The two Blood Thrall warriors blew up into flames and frost, killing the other two that were too close to them to evade the explosions.

[You have slain [Blood Thralls (B+ Rank)] x9 and [Blood Thrall Warriors (B++ Rank)] x5!]

[You earned 400.000 EXP.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

Two levels out of these B-rank monsters, not too shabby. However, the EXP requirements are getting a bit too high now. Well, I can't complain; my Class is really strong.

"Now, are you going to stand there watching or fight me? I need to pick up some roots." I said, pointing my sword at the Blood Thrall Pack Leader as I stored his pack's corpses inside my Inventory.

"GRRRHHH…! GRAAAAHHH!!!"

The Pack Leader seemed completely furious, his blood-red aura suddenly turning deep black, as his red eyes turned black as well. His claws grew even larger, and he even grew a tail with several sharp spikes!

[The [Blood Thrall Pack Leader (A Rank)] is furious with you for having slain his entire pack in such little time!]

[He has activated his [Wrathful Transformation] Skill! All Stats have increased by +50% and Physical Attacks have become +25% stronger.]

[His fury has made him go completely mad; his senses are dulled!]

"RAAAAAAH!"

With a tremendously fast speed, the Pack Leader rushed towards me, resembling a blur of black light as his gigantic claws reached my body from above, descending like a pair of deadly guillotines.

CLASH!

Barely, I managed to block the blow using my Bastion Shield; its durability instantly went down a few points; that's how high this monster's attack power was!

I was pushed back several steps, and the momentum was swiftly utilized by the Pack Leader to administer another series of crazy attacks, even using his sharp, spear-tipped tail to attack!

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

Each strike was stronger than the previous one, gaining more and more speed. This bastard was different from the Liches and the Death Knights, who had precise movements and strong blows, balanced defenses, and sacrificed everything for offense and speed.

"GRUOOOOHHH!"

With a crazed roar, the Blood Thrall Pack Leader leaped off the ground, and by using its two legs, it kicked me away at full strength.

BAAAM!!!

Its movements were so fast and powerful that I was having a rather hard time catching up to them and trying to find an opening, to the point that I was overwhelmed already.

"SHAAAAH!"

And as if the bastard couldn't let me have a rest, it ran towards me faster than the speed at which my body was flung away, its sharp claws reaching my face!

However…

"{Celestial Mode}!"

FLASH!

Combining Gram's Celestial Move's holy light with my Sunshine, I created an incredibly bright, blinding shockwave of light that forced the beast to step back, its skin burning horrendously.

"Shyaaaagh!"

It started covering its face in agony as I gained some momentum. I quickly activated several buffs at the same time, from my necklace, ring, and shield!

[The [Bastion Shield] has taken a large quantity of damage, and the [Bastion's Fortress] Ability has been activated. User's DEF has increased by +20% and all foe's ATK has decreased by -15% for 5 Minutes.]

[The [Warrior's Necklace] Ability [Warrior's Stigma] has been activated, 50 Durability has been sacrificed, and the wearer's HP, STR, and VIT Stats have increased by +30% for 10 Minutes.]

[The [Sylph's Tear] Ability [Wind Spirit's Blessing] has been activated; by imbuing Mana into the Ring, the user's DEX and AGI have increased by +100% for 5 Minutes, and can only be used thrice a day.]

[The [Holy Sunlight Charm] Ability [Sanctifying Light] has been activated, 25 Durability has been sacrificed, and a small fraction of the true Sunlight that shines upon the Realm of Heaven, that can deal great damage against Demons and Undead-type Monsters has been summoned!]

[The Sunlight that shines upon the Realm of Heaven is encompassing your body and weapons! Your physique is reacting to it, slowly beginning to grow stronger! All Stats have increased by an additional +10% for 5 Minutes.]

Several colorful auras started surging from my body one after another, while my foe only grew weaker. The effects of my Death's Little Sister Privilege were also weighing on its stamina; as an Undead, its stats were always reduced by -30% when fighting against me, while my damage increased.

"GRAAAAHHH!"

However, fearlessly, the Pack Leader ferociously leaped towards me, swinging his giant claws and unleashing a barrage of attacks with claws and tails, attempting to slash and pierce my defenses.

I stored my shield back inside my inventory after getting the buff; I didn't want it to end up breaking, so I used the buffs I acquired to evade the beast's attacks swiftly while changing the stance of my body while wielding Gram.

"{Sunlit Arc}!"

Right as the beast gave me its exposed chest as I evaded one of its deadly swipes, I leaped into midair and spun my entire body, slashing its stomach open!

SLAAASH!

"Gryyyaarrgh!"

Its tail quickly reacted, wrapping around my left leg as the beast tried to lift me up and throw me down onto the ground.

However!

"{Holy Decapitation}!"

While being flung like a ragdoll, I concentrated my mind on the sword, imbuing it with Mana and Ki as I swung it vertically, utilizing a decapitating ability to cut the Pack Leader's tail off!

BOOOM!

With the force of the explosion of holy light, the Pack Leader ended up being thrown away several steps, giving me the time to stand back up and block the next series of attacks it had prepared for me.

"You're such a persistent bastard; even after all the debuffs and buffs I got, you're still kicking!" I roared, furious, as both of my daggers suddenly appeared behind me, piercing his shoulders as I moved them through midair using Violet's silk threads.

"Gryaarrgh?!"

"I would love to continue our battle to hone my skills, but I can't waste my time."

Black flames and white ice quickly started emerging above the Blood Thrall's shoulders, expanding rapidly, and then blowing its shoulders off with an eruption of elements from both daggers.

BOOM! BOOM!

With an agonizing scream, the Blood Thrall Pack Leader fell to the floor, vomiting blood but still somewhat alive, crawling towards me with a furious face.

"Sorry."

I swung my sword and slashed its head off cleanly, killing the beast instantly and ending this rather anticlimactic battle.

[You have slain [Blood Thrall Pack Leader (A Rank)] x1!]

[You earned 200.000 EXP.]

[Level Up!]

"Phew…"

["Well, that was intense; that guy really pushed you a bit, huh?"]

"It wasn't as hard as Solomon, but yeah, he packed quite the punch."

Without wanting to waste my time, I instantly started searching near the Miasmic River. Using my Eyes of Truth, I spotted a few black-colored herbs, and after pulling them out.

"GRYAAAHH!!!"

They started to scream very loudly!

"Yep, Screaming Roots, alright."

Ding!

[You have Gathered [Screaming Roots (C Rank)] x11!]

[Oh? What luck! The gathered items have gone up one Rank!]

"The last thing I need is the Fiery Wasps… Ah, I can hear their buzzing already."

I walked to the north of the village and finally found them. They were all gathered around gigantic monolith-shaped, black-colored hives; the wasps were as big as dogs and were C-Rank monsters on their own.

And there were hundreds of them! The recipe said that two or three are enough to make enough medicine for over a hundred people, and if I kill them all for EXP I'll just make them go extinct, so…

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

[You have Gathered [Fiery Wasp Corpse (C Rank)] x4!]

[Oh? What luck! The gathered items have gone up one Rank!]

After slashing four into pieces and storing them, I started running as fast as possible from the furious swarm!

BBBZZZZTTTT!

"Ugh, are they going to follow me all the way to the village?!"

["They're more persistent than the Blood Thrall Pack Leader, aha!"]

"I just killed four workers! Why are you so angry?! Forgive me!"

I didn't want to kill them because they were a precious resource; they even made honey, so slaying them all would be stupid.

But seriously, they were already catching up to me and attacking me with their fiery stingers, though they dealt no damage to my armor.

CLANK! CLANK! CLANK!

"Sigh… Once I'm done with this whole thing, I'll make sure to take a warm bath and-"

SLAAASH!

However, interrupting my wave of thoughts, a gigantic slash of red energy emerged, slashing apart over fifty wasps, as the rest instantly escaped from the menacing aura that unleashed such an attack.

"Hmm? Oh."

I glanced at the origin of the devastating attack. Two knights swearing heavy red armor stood right behind me, wielding a huge sword and an axe.

"A human?"

"So is this girl the entity that Lady Blednica was so afraid of?"

"I don't know how a human even got here, but we won't go easy on you."

"Ah, so you serve that crazy bitch." I sighed, preparing myself for battle. "Alright, no need for introductions; come."

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