Kumo desu ga, Nani ka? 250

There’s two battles going on here. One between a vampire and an oni… and another between Shiro and obscure references.

250 – Tag with Oni

Vampire girl has activated Vermilion Sea. What vampire girl has developed is a composite magical skill, or rather technique, that joins together skills and magical power. That red fluid which moves completely under the control of vampire girl’s will, dissolves everything it touches without limit. The Blood Mist from her vampire ability, Strong Acid Attack and Water Magic have been combined.

When I saw it for the first time, I was amazed. Anyhow, three different skills were combined and a totally new technique was developed. That had never even occurred to me.

To be blunt, vampire girl is smarter in the way she uses skills than I am. Though I have activated skills simultaneously, I’ve never actually thought of combining them. While the solitary example of my Poison Thread could be described that way, that was still nothing beyond the specifications of Poison Attack.

It’s not like I never attempted to combine two skills at all. For example, trying the Evil Eyes with Poison Attack. However, I couldn’t do it. Thus, I decided that not being able to do so was part of the System’s specification, so I didn’t investigate any further. But then, after vampire girl investigated even deeper, she actually achieved it. What I had given up upon, vampire girl has accomplished. In that sense, vampire girl can be called a genius.

Well anyway, she wouldn’t even remotely be a match for me currently, and even before my apotheosis I wouldn’t have lost I’m sure. If I felt like it I could fully mobilise Parallel Will to activate massively parallel magic and simply bulldoze over her I’m sure. Heh, it’s not like I ever needed to develop new techniques. I’m not a poor loser or something. I’m not, okay!

In comparison, oni-kun, I want to ask which one-man-army you think you are. Arnie? Or if not him then Gilgamesh?

Oni-kun’s strategy, is to fire missiles? He’s takes swords that explode out from another dimension, shooting them like that. To all appearances it’s the Gate of Babylon.

On one side a tsunami of liquid that instantly vaporizes on contact. On the other side pummeling by both a battleship and deadly missiles. Isn’t this basically a war already? For the war I experienced before apotheosis, did it also have this haphazard impression when seen from outside? Or rather, the forest has gotten totally messed up you know.

If vampire girl uses Vermillion Sea to guard against oni-kun’s attacks, then oni-kun avoids the wave from Vermillion Sea. The battle seesaws between offense and defence. Stop it! The forest’s HP has already reached zero!

Vampire girl has summoned Shadow Demons. There are eight of them, born from the shadows with the shape of dark red wolves. Those rush at oni-kun all at once.

Not even the formidable oni-kun can avoid them, and while he’s preoccupied with the Shadow Demons, Vermillion Sea completely engulfs him. However, it doesn’t seem to be that effective. There’s not much visible damage. It’s not just his dodging ability, his natural defense is also high.

Humph. This is a mudslinging contest. Neither of them have a trump card.

Though it currently looks like oni-kun is battling equally, in truth he’s being slowly cornered. While he may appear to surpass vampire girl in status values, vampire girl’s skill diversity looks to be putting him consistently under pressure. He’s actually disheartened.

Vampire girl in comparison, doesn’t really have the upper hand either. She’s continuing with the long distance combat and using her Demon Eyes to shave off oni-kun’s HP, but if it continues at this rate it’s going to take forever.

Hmm. It’s kinda like, both of them are surprised at the strength of the other and are being cautious? While vampire girl appears to be in high spirits, I guess there’s a part of her head that is cooly targeting victory? The unknowns are more on oni-kun’s side huh. I had thought that his sanity had been completely blown away, but on carefully looking at his fighting style there’s hints of planning in his movements. Does he still have his sanity then?

Oni-kun makes a move. While prepared to take some damage, he tries to close the distance. Vampire girl counter attacks with Vermillion Sea, Shadow Demons and various other magics. While counter attacking she attempts to increase the distance, totally focused on finishing him with long distance combat indeed.

That being said, oni-kun is also doing pretty good. His body is infused with Dragon Power I guess? It looks like vampire girl’s magic isn’t too effective, so it probably is. Even after taking so many of vampire girl’s attacks, he’s still so lively. Normally it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d been reduced to nothing.

Oh. Did he get impatient from never being able to get close perhaps – oni-kun makes a bold move. Swords appear from the other dimension. Too many to count.

I interfere with oni-kun’s other dimension a bit and try to peek inside. Yup. It’s been emptied. Just a few remain. It appears that oni-kun is intending to put all his efforts into his stock of remaining swords.

Unsurprisingly, even vampire girl becomes a bit flustered. If that huge number of swords explode together, not even vampire girl would be able to avoid it and would receive heavy damage. Not that it would kill her though.

Countless swords swoop down on vampire girl at once. Sunny with the occasional rain of swords. That’s pretty nasty weather. Now then, what will vampire girl do I wonder?

Vampire girl activates her magic. It’s ice magic. Also, it’s a considerably sophisticated type. A shining mist fills the area, tinged with red as well. This is… not something I’ve seen before.

The red shining mist and rain of swords collide. The swords shatter, the shining mist disperses. That was amazing. It’s red and shining, so let’s christen it “Heinz” I guess?

The Heinz swallows up the rain of swords. Even the resulting shock wave is frozen and dissolved.

Net result, the rain of swords is completely neutralised, and on top of that the remaining Heinz approaches oni-kun. Having seen his all-out attack using almost all everything he had in stock being easily neutralised, oni-kun stares in blank amazement. It’s not like I don’t understand his feelings, but doing that in the middle of battle is a basic no-no, right?

The Heinz, as if sneering at oni-kun’s hasty defence, takes his right arm. He countered by creating a wall of soil and using flames, but even then it had enough power to still take his right arm. That sure is fearsome. That girl… she sure has developed something else. Furthermore, she kept it secret from me. Is it that? Did she intend to use it against me someday? Scary!

!! Oh shit. What’s with this timing!?

Oni-kun has activated Wrath. Well, whatever. The thing that’s alarming me, is something else entirely.

The seal on Kuro… has broken.

Translation notes:

“Arnie” – in Japan, his nickname is actually “Shuwa-chan”, which is what Shiro uses here. For Gilgamesh, she also uses the fan nickname AUO – it sounds like the Japanese for king of heroes, “eiyuuou” (ei yuu ou).

“Heinz” – this is a bit frustrating to translate. The Japanese equivalent of Heinz tomato sauce is 輝赤 (Kiseki) which literally means “shining red”.