It was a heavy hit! Vlad takes 999,999 damage!
Vlad was in a sorry state, as everything from his neck up had been turned into chunks of meat. He had been thrown straight out of another window, breaking it as he was blown outside. He spun through the air, not coming to a stop until he crashed into an island on the other side of Mjolnir’s territory.
The headless vampire picked himself up from among the resultant cloud of dust as his head slowly regenerated, silent.
This was thanks to the true ancestor Vlad’s unique skill Life Stock. It was a skill that allowed him to store “life,” and as long as he had stock left, he would just revive. It was a powerful skill, but he needed to reduce his remaining HP to 1 in order to create a stock, and no methods like items or heaven-arts could do anything about this loss of HP. He could only rely on his regeneration abilities to recover it.
After his loss to the Fairy Princess Pollux, Vlad learned that no small amount of life stocks would be enough for her. Therefore, he waited ten thousand years to continuously build up stocks. His current amount was 66,666. However, Benetnasch’s blow had just expended twenty of his lives.
“Huh?” he said after remaining silent a long while. “What was that...just now...?”
For a while, Vlad was confused, unable to understand what had just happened. Eventually, he came to realize that he had been brutally killed with a single punch, and he slowly spawned a river of sweat.
No. Wait a second. Just wait. Wait. This is weird. I am the king of all vampires, right? I’m the true ancestor! So why was I done in by a single punch from a little girl?
“Rather...what was truly strange...was that damage number...!!!”
Since a single punch rid him of twenty lives, simple math told Vlad that if he were punched 3,334 times, then he would truly die. That was enough to make any normal person think they had some leeway, but Benetnasch would easily be able to hammer out that many blows, so there wasn’t actually any leeway at all. Rather, even if there were another two or so digits, Vlad would probably still be killed in around ten seconds.
The Vampire Princess wasn’t to be underestimated, given that she was able to keep up with Lufas in terms of speed.
“Heh... Heh heh heh... J-J-J-J-J-Just what I would expect from a vampire. I-I-I-I seem to have gotten a little rusty, s-so I think I’ll let that go.”
Even though no one was around to listen, Vlad put on a strong front before leaving the island.
I’m not leaving because I’m afraid if I stay that scary vampire will come. Definitely not. Right. Now that I think about it, there’s no need for us to fight as fellow vampires. We’re all vampires in the end. We’re friends. Nay, family! I am not giving up the fight because I cannot win. I am a very kind and forgiving person, so I am just choosing not to punish a fellow vampire.
Vlad flew towards Alfheim as he fed himself these excuses.
That’s right. I should be fighting that hateful Fairy Princess instead. I waited ten thousand years in order to defeat her, after all.
＊ ＊
“Huh? What do you think you’re doing, dragging your muddy feet through here? Huh?!”
“If you keep acting cheeky like this, we’ll just have to take you down a peg, trash!”
After entering Alfheim, Vlad was greeted by the Fenix/Hydras pair, a combination famous for being vulgar and uncouth. Though they were a step below the Twelve Stars, they were still level 1000 and undoubtedly of the strongest class of monster. On top of that, Pollux’s heroic spirits continued coming out of the woodwork, multiplying like a swarm, and the quality of those spirits could not be compared to those of the past.
Two hundred years ago, many high-level spirits ended up being produced, thanks to Lufas inflating the levels of many people who then perished in that past fight. Thanks to that, Pollux’s forces had been strengthened many times over.
Level 1000. Level 1000. Level 1000. Level 1000. Everyone was level 1000. It was as if there had been a bargain sale on max-level spirits...
“I’d heard someone had invaded the forest, but...” Pollux paused. “What a nostalgic face you are. I believe it’s been ten thousand years.”
Vlad hesitated before speaking. “Um, Fairy Princess? Isn’t there something strange going on with your army? There are way too many level 1000s...”
“A lot happened... By the way, are you feeling all right? You’re talking strangely.”
“Oh, shut up! Of course that’d happen when I’m surrounded by so many monsters like this!”
Vlad wanted to cry. What were those ten thousand years even for?! he thought. This is impossible. Totally impossible! Not even a hundred million lives would be enough!
Each and every heroic spirit was strong enough to kill Vlad several times over, and there was a mountain of them. On top of that, they could be spawned indefinitely as long as Pollux was around. Stop cheating! No, wait. It’s not over yet. Pollux is weak. She still has that flaw.
As soon as that thought crossed Vlad’s mind, Pollux started to faintly glow.
“Um, Pollux?” Vlad asked after a moment’s hesitation.
“What is it? It’s not like you to sound so meek.”
“Is it just me or have you gotten a lot stronger?”
“It’s not just you. I’ve inherited the powers of the Ouroboros of Wood...” She paused. “I am no longer weak.”
In the final battle, Pollux had been given the powers of the Ouroboros of Wood. After that, the scuffle between Lufas and Alovenus had been so over-the-top that the phenomenon of inflation itself could have died from overwork, so the power that Pollux had received had been of no use at all. However, Pollux had still gotten stronger.
Yes, Pollux was no longer her own biggest weakness. In fact, she was now the incarnation of the Ouroboros of Wood herself, and she had higher combat potential than the Sword King Alioth.
“Are you prepared?” Pollux asked.
Without a word, Vlad immediately ran away. Others may have cursed him for being a coward, but it was a smart decision. Taking on an impossible fight was not bravery. Sometimes retreating was what took real guts, so he was in no way being cowardly. This was a brave retreat!
“He ran!”
“After him!”
“You bastard. I’ll kill you!”
“Hold up!”
The heroic spirits all chased after Vlad with furious looks on their faces.
Vlad ran, his face dripping with tears and snot.
After this, he was killed several times over, reducing his stock of lives by about half before he finally managed to get away.
＊ ＊
“What is wrong with this era?”
Vlad’s will was broken, snapped clean, and left in pieces. It wasn’t breaking or almost broken; it was already gone completely. Of course it was. It hadn’t been specifically noted yet, but in the process of running away from Alfheim, he’d been killed more than 33,333 times. Unable to do anything, he had just been beaten on over and over and treated as a weakling as he tried to escape even while being killed. In the end, he’d turned to ash and could do nothing but cry, “WRYYYYY!” as he was thrown flying by wind and scattered into particulates. The fact that the heroic spirits had thought Vlad was dead after that and hadn’t checked further had been his saving grace.
“Could it be that I’m actually just incredibly weak...?” Vlad said weakly as he slumped to the ground, starting to lose all confidence.