Point-of-View: Shiro Blanc

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  Interesting……I think my Wind Magic is getting a bit stronger. I'd consumed the life forces of about two hundred Elves, and excluding those, I'd also killed an additional three hundred to three fifty more. Not a bad body count, I should clear six hundred kills soon enough.

  These Elves are definitely stronger than humans, but so far, none have been strong enough to threaten me in my Vampire Mode form. Though they might be able to do some serious damage if they ganged up on me, which is why I've been mostly sneaking around and taking them out silently.

  Initially, I'd run into multiple small to medium sized groups, there was no need to sneak around against those numbers, so I fought them openly, though as I started getting into more densely populated areas, I had to adopt a more cautious approach.

  I was currently in an area that was filled with different food stands, though it wasn't exactly appetizing since all the food appeared to be vegetables, plants or fruits. Guess Elves are vegetarians, huh.

  And more importantly, it looks like they've realized what's going on. Well, they'd have to be complete idiots to have not realized……faint echoes of explosions and screams were ringing out every so often, from multiple directions.

  The Elves in the area I was in looked pretty wary and had their weapons drawn, some of them standing defensively in front of the food stands, while the rest were spread out and keeping an eye out.

  I was silently hiding behind a bush, considering my options. Let's see now……picking them off one by one like I had been doing all this time is going to be tough with them on guard and alert like this. With the previous groups of Elves I came across, they were either totally off-guard or all panicky, but these ones have organized nicely.

  A couple of them look like they really know what they're doing……they must be combatants that weren't sent to the front lines. But even the non-combatant Elves aren't pushovers, I'd say that even the weakest Elf I've encountered so far would be considered strong enough to be on par with an average S-Ranked Adventurer from before monster power ups became so prevalent.

  There's gotta be more or less a hundred Elves in this area right now……even in Demon Mode, I might have some trouble. On the other hand, my stamina is basically full thanks to the life forces I consumed, I haven't used much Mana, and this might be a good challenge for me.

  Let's see, I've got about four and a half minutes left in Vampire Mode, and I haven't used Demon Mode at all yet, so I still have the full time limit of two minutes available. Alright, then, let's do this. Let's start by testing out just how much more powerful my Wind Magic is now……

  I charged Mana into my mouth and took a deep breath, before letting it all out in a massive blast of fire and wind, sending out a roaring wave of scorching, violent flames blazing towards the Elves. Tortured screams began ringing out as the scent of burning flesh and hair filled the air, when suddenly, a barrier wall appeared, stopping my flames from advancing any further.

  An enclosed barrier then formed around the flames themselves, which quickly petered out as the oxygen within the barrier got burnt up. Not bad, I think I was only able to kill about ten of them before the rest reacted and put up those barriers to stop and then extinguish my flames.

  "Who's there!? Come out and show yourself, coward!" Exclaimed one of the Elves.

  I walked out from behind the bush I was hiding behind with a smirk, entering Vampire Mode as I did.

  "What are you!? Why do you attack us!?" Demanded another Elf, as they eyed me cautiously.

  "Oh, it's nothing personal or anything, I'm just doing this for fun," I replied with a laugh, "And as for what I am……I guess I am primarily human, though I've got elements of some other beings in me too……actually, I'm technically a copy of a human, so."

  "Tch, he is a human!"

  "How dare a human enter our forest, you will pay for this!"

  "This fiend has likely slain many of our brethren, absolutely unforgivable!"

  "We shall kill you!"

  Wow, they really do hate humans, huh? I said that I'm human to provoke them, but I didn't expect it to be this effective.

  "You, kill me?" I scoffed in an arrogant tone, before adding with a malicious smirk, "I'd like to see you try."

  I began to approach them, when suddenly, my body froze……literally, I was paralyzed, unable to move a muscle. Tch, one of the Elves had his hand pointed at me, must be a General Magic spell……damn it, I should have had Belia cast that anti-infliction-spell enchantment on me.

  Right as the Elves fired out a barrage of wind-enhanced arrows at me, I broke free of the paralysis spell and used Teleport to slip behind one of the Elves, who began to spin around in alarm, before dropping to the ground as I slashed through his neck with my tail, killing him instantly.

  Two more Elves sprang up on either side of me with furious yells, I swiftly pointed my hands at them and fired out Repulsion, sending them both flying back, one crashing onto a food stand and the other breaking his neck as he landed, his head hitting the base of a tree at an awkward angle.

  I then flew up as a wind slash came slicing towards me, and the moment I went up, several wind blasts and arrows were fired up at me, which I responded by using Teleport to get out of the way, going up higher. The Elves were quick to follow, using Flight to chase after me.

  I fired down streaks of lightning out of my fingers, which struck some of them and sent them plummeting back down towards the ground. Suddenly, one of the Elves teleported right above me with a sword raised……it was one of the ones that looked like he had combat experience, looks like his General Magic skills are a cut above the rest of these rabble.

  I quickly formed a bone sword and blocked his slash as he swung his blade down at me, he swiftly pointed his free hand at me, right as more Elves appeared on either side of me and took aim……the instant that they all fired out their wind blasts at me simultaneously, I quickly used Teleport to get away, reappearing right as their attacks all converged onto the spot I'd just been in, a shockwave-like explosion bursting out upon impact.

  As an Elf flew towards me with her bowstring drawn and an arrow aimed at me, I used Teleport to dodge as she fired the arrow, when suddenly, my body froze again, and I began to plummet……damn it, another paralysis spell!? How annoying!

  Right as I broke free from the spell, that Elf who could teleport appeared right above me and drove his blade straight towards my chest with a roar of fury, striking above my heart and piercing through my skin……before hitting my ribcage and stopping, as my back slammed onto the ground with a resounding impact, the Elf above me and pressing his sword down onto my chest.

  But my bones were too dense for him to break through, as his blade shattered without leaving so much as a fracture on my rib, his eyes widening in shock. I swiftly fired out a blast of Repulsion at the Elf, as a look of alarm appeared in his eyes, sending him flying back.

  I then quickly used Teleport as couple of Elves fired arrows at me, and the instant I reappeared back up in the air……another paralysis hit me, as several Elves surrounded me and fired out wind blasts at me from every direction. I struggled in alarm and broke free of the paralysis, but I was too late, as the wind blasts all struck me at the same time.

  I felt several bones crack as the multi-directional impact traveled throughout my body, rattling me. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground, having fallen down again. The Elves were swooping down on me, their weapons poised to strike me……enough, they've had their fun, time for me to get serious.

  I quickly evaded by splitting myself in two using Quintuple, before swiftly rejoining with my clone high up in the air. I'll end this in a matter of seconds.

  "Well done, you lowly Elves, you put up a good fight……let me show you my appreciation by putting you all out of your misery painlessly……maybe!" I sneered, as I entered Demon Mode and split into five clones with a smirk, activating a large dome-shaped Absolute Defense barrier to keep the Elves from escaping, before my clones and I fired down a barrage of Obliteration Magic blasts at the Elves, as I chuckled gleefully and viciously, "Hahaha, what's the matter!? I thought you were going to kill me!? What happened to all that confidence, huh!?"

  The Elves below were desperately scrambling to try and get away from my barrage of pure destruction, screams of agony ringing out as they got vaporized, some of them avoiding taking the blasts full on and ending up losing large chunks of their bodies instead.

  Fools, the best they can hope for right now is to be insta-killed by my blasts, because otherwise, they're in for extremely painful, slow deaths by blood loss, there's no escaping this, they can't break through my Absolute Defense barrier, and I'll be done blasting them well before I reach the time limit for the Cross.

  I then ceased my attack and rejoined with my clones as the screams began to die down, and I could see no movement below. Looks like I got them all. I then descended down to the ground, reverting to my base form as I landed, looking around for any survivors.

  Ah, a few look like they're still just about clinging to life……might as well end their suffering, right? I walked over and absorbed their life forces one by one, until not a single one was left alive. Well, then, I'm still good to keep going for a while yet, so I suppose I might as well go look for more Elves to slaughter.

  Still, I can't help but wonder……if regular, non-combatant Elves can put up this much of a fight, I can only imagine how formidable the Elves that were sent to the front lines are……

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  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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