Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

Chapter 706 - 706: Challenges, Dwarf Princess version (part 4)



Seeing those dangerous brown-red sparks, Ridge gritted his teeth he actually continued his charge while glaring at the dwarf princess, whose eyes showed absolute calmness.

“Booom!”, after a stare contest that seemed to last way more than it actually did, the violence nethereal ultimately changed his aim at the last second, making his spear heavily land on the ground, creating a large crater while also making debris and nether fly all over the area.

Ridge didn’t dare to land his attack on Femi when he saw those sparks cover her back, so he forcefully changed the direction of his attack to then put some distance between Femi and himself.

“See, coward, but one that puts a lot of effort to hide it”, the mocking voice of the dwarf princess coming from the dust veil created by the previous explosion, made the violence nethereal see red.

He swept her spear and blew away the curtain of dust, revealing a Femi who was perfectly standing in the same position as she was before, in other words she never doubted that Ridge would cower midway.

“Damn it!”, angered due to embarrassment but secretly relieved after realizing that those dangerous sparks were nowhere to be seen, Ridge pointed his spear at the dwarf princess to then shot a stream of flaming dark-red nether at her.

“War Devil Shattering Meteorite!”, that was a martial art supposed to be used at long range and yet Ridge launched at close range, which would indeed produce a stronger impact.

“Clang!”, Ridge’s attack fully landed on Femi who used crossed her arms in front of her to protect herself, the collision of her grey energy armor with the enemy’s nether produced sparks and the sounds of metals clashing against each other, for the vast majority that the collision lasted at least.

“Crack!”, but after blocking most the attack while enduring the flame aspect that burned through it, Femi’s defense naturally collapsed and she was forced backwards after her body took dispersed the remaining impact.

That being said, let alone suffering any wound, the dwarf princess kept a calm expression on her pretty face, the violence nethereal on the other hand looked frustrated, for a good reason though.

After that exchange he had basically confirmed that the only way he could actually suppress the dwarf princess, was close combat, she didn’t need to rely on those brown-red sparks to block his long-range attacks, even if he “cheated” by launching them closer than what they are supposed to.

‘To break through her defenses and actually make her bleed, I have to fight up-close even with the risk of that technique sending my own attacks back at me’, thought Ridge as he charged at Femi.

“Clang!”, his spear which was cladded in dark red and dark yellow flaming nether clashed against Femi’s right fist, he didn’t break through her defense with that though.

Because that was a probatory attack, he wanted to see if Femi was going to use those brown-red sparks right away, or more accurately if she could command them at will, how long could she maintain them and the like.

Unfortunately, while the idea of studying your opponent is something that someone as wise as Daimon would support, he has also stated that you might only do so, if you are able to overwhelmingly play the opponent in the palm of your hand, and Ridge can’t do that to Femi, as the dwarf princess who smacked the violence nethereal’s spear aside to then punch at Ridge’s chest.

The violence nethereal immediately flashed backwards, avoiding Femi’s pretty fist like the plague, which only earned him a disdainful glare from the dwarf princess who of course chased him to continue her attacks.

“Screw it, War Devil Mountain Cleave!”, seeing Femi going as far as to chase after him, after disdainfully looking at him, Ridge threw caution out of the window and instead answered with an attack of his own.

‘Even if reinforced Lionel was ultimately a mage, even if she returns my attack to me, so what!’, he thought as he saw his spear slashing at the dwarf princess.

“Crack!”, but then to Ridge’s surprise, those brown-red sparks didn’t appear, and since he was going with direct contact this time, as expected his attack directly broke through Femi’s energy armor.

In exchange, the layer of condensed energy that directly covered the dwarf princess’s skin was what stopped the sharpness of the spear, and only the blunt heavy impact reached Femi.

Similar to before, the dwarf princess was sent backwards, leaving a trail of destruction in her way, because her feet didn’t leave the ground at all, there was a difference though, a slight reddish impact mark was left in the pale white skin of her left arm with which she blocked the attack.

So, Femi now had a shallow cut which wasn’t bleeding on her right arm and a bruise on her left one, her fighting spirit remained the same though, because the moment Ridge appeared above her, she directly punched at the incoming spear, after replenishing the energy armor of course.

“Booom!”, the descending spear clashed against the raising fist, creating a loud thunderous sound as they clashed in the middle, as usual, Femi’s energy was weakened due to the flame aspect of Ridge’s nether, before the spear broke through her defenses, making the dwarf princess step backwards due to the impact, a slight red mark was left in her knuckle this time.

‘I knew it, that damn reflecting technique must either have a long cooldown or she might be unable to use it at will, it’s probably something that activates when she is in grave danger’, concluded the violence nethereal, seeing Femi being forced backwards twice in a row.

“War Devil Battle Focus!”, not wanting to let go of this chance, Ridge’s eyes lit up in a dark pink flame, like previously stated, the lust nether of Lionel was used to enhance his senses thanks to the altar spell, and now he even used a martial art to further stimulate them.

The intention was simple, pummel the dwarf princess at high speed with attacks which he considered wouldn’t count as “gravely dangerous”, after all he was interested in those brown-red sparks and if he incapacitated Femi, he might be able to use her as a sacrifice as well.

Unconsciously, Ridge has become greedier, he might have awakened to a second type of nether naturally, but the altar had made the small amount of greed nether he would have obtained, increase way too much, so, naturally there were some side effects, just like with Lionel, though they were less obvious, for Ridge at least.

With a “Swoosh”, Ridge turned into a blur as he unleashed a barrage of non-martial art, slashes and thrusts of his spear as he moved at high speed around the dwarf princess.

“Grey Shinning Step”, in response Femi used her movement technique and thanks to the extra speed she gained, she was able to keep up with the enemy’s attacks and answer to them.

“Clang!”, the dwarf princess countered with her fists, stopping the vast majority of the incoming attacks while radiating more and more of her grey energy, replenishing her armor as fast as Ridge burned and destroyed it.

“Crack!”, of course given the intensity with which the violence nethereal was attacking her, some flaws in the armor were bound to appear and Ridge’s further enhanced battle senses immediately detected them, so one attack here and there managed to bypass Femi’s defense and land on her.

“Humph!”, Ridge’s senses warned him just in time for the dwarf princess to expand and sharpen her energy armor, allowing the violence nethereal to flash away, perfectly avoiding it.

The result of the previous clash, was a Femi whose pale white skin had quite a few shallow cuts and slight bruises, not to mention that her energy armor has dimmed down a bit.

“I originally thought that technique of yours was really something, but it seems like it will only help you in a really dire situation, so I if I just…”, before Ridge who was all smiles as of current could continue his monologue, the dwarf princess whose face even now, remained calm, directly interrupted him.

“Dear Gaia, you guys really feel the urge to brag whenever something seems to slightly be going your way”, she said, which offended the violence nethereal, but more importantly, there was something about Femi’s sentence that bothered him more than that.

“What the hell do you mean with “seems”, my strategy perfectly worked, I just have to…”.

“Slowly wear me down”, once again, Femi interrupted Ridge, this time by finishing what he was going to say, and that wasn’t the only thing the dwarf princess took from the nethereal’s book, she even took the initiative to be the one speaking this time.

“The word “seems” is perfect, considering I made you use that so called strategy, after all, I was missing just a few attacks, but I for the love of mana couldn’t bear you two’s yapping, so I thought it would get better if there was only one enemy left, but even after you got rid of your companion as I wanted, things didn’t improve”, she said to then add.

“I don’t know how that guy has the patience to orchestrate all those perfectly calculated movements, with specific goals, as I thought, straightforward approaches are my thing”.

‘Well, I do admit that making the enemy contribute has its perks, perhaps I’ll ask Daimon to teach me a thing or two about it, later, just enough to not fall for that crazy one’s tricks so easily’, thought the dwarf princess as she stretched her body.

Then, under Ridge’s gaze of disbelief, all the hard-earned wounds he had left on Femi’s skin, disappeared in a fraction of a second, alongside her energy armor one must add.

“Crack!”, cracking sounds came from Femi’s body and hen from the ground below her.

“Do you think, I’ll just calmly wait for you to make your move, go to hell, War Devil Mountain Cleave!”, after being told that he is a yapper, straight to his face, even someone under the influence of a “villain” type system user, the violence nethereal directly flashed at Femi while slashing his spear at her with the intention of cutting her in half.

“Clang!”, or at least that’s what he expected, unfortunately reality is often different than what people expect, like in this case, where the descend of Ridge’s nether cladded spear was stopped in cold by Femi’s pretty index finger, which like previously stated, is not covered by the energy armor since a moment ago.

“Gaia Forge, Copper Skin”, alongside sparks metal clashing sounds coming from the tip of the dwarf princess’s index finger which was blocking Ridge’s spear from advancing even a single centimeter, Femi called out the name of the new power she had obtained.

And here we must make a small pause to clarify something, Tessa and Femi might be besties who share many things in common, but at the same time they are also really different in other important aspects.

For example, while Tessa had no idea how the whole thing with the giant tree came to be, until the last stage of the final fight required for her to pass her challenge, Femi was the complete opposite.

Ever since she obtained the energy granted by the Blood Prison realm, she learned its real purpose, but contrary to Tessa who learned all those applications for her energy as easy as breathing, Femi had to plan and squeeze her brains to determine the best steps to reach that.

Why their situations were different you might wonder, well, because in case you have forgotten, the challenge is meant to turn their weak areas into opportunities to grow.

So, the alfear princess who always has her end goals stablished, was deprived from that and just handed the steps instinctively, while the dwarf princess who enjoys simple things was given the end goal with no simple way to reach it, both overcame these difficulties with flying marks by the way, but enough of praising those two for now.

‘No way, let alone those brown-red sparks, she is not cladding her body with the energy armor even!’, inwardly screamed Ridge, not matter how much he tried to push his spear downwards, Femi’s index finger didn’t budge at all.

“Besides fighting, you guys also suck at making conclusions, first you dared to affirm that my energy is metal type and then based on what I heard, you seemed to believe that I obtained some kind of technique to reflect your attacks”.

“Such an overly complicated theory, just because your arrogance didn’t allow you to right away tell that, you were hurting yourselves by attacking me, because my defense was stronger than your offense”, casually said the dwarf princess, as if she could read Ridge’s mind.

“N-Nonsense, both Lionel and myself saw those brown-red sparks appear when strong attacks were about to land on you!”, exclaimed the violence nethereal, refusing to accept Femi’s conclusion.

“Ugh, that’s why I can’t stand people who don’t know a damn thing about the how the weapons and equipment they depend so much on, are made, when you are forging something, sparks of course will be produced, you are hitting a piece of material with a hammer after all”.

“And that’s not all, “impurities” are also expelled in the process, forging does all that and of course the less impurities there are, the harder is to get rid of them, but if you can do it, the finishing result will be an exquisite masterpiece”.

Just as the name stated, Femi’s technique worked like a forge, the energy “armor” that was cladding her body, was actually the material, the enemy’s attacks acted as the hammer.

So, every time she took an attack head on with her energy armor, she was actually “forging” her body with it, slowly but surely integrating said energy into her skin, eliminating the “impurities” in process.

One had to admit it, despite the Blood Prison realm putting focus in the weak areas of the challengers, it still accommodated to their wishes, after they surpassed the initial hardships that came their way of course.

Amusingly enough, that sole time in which blood was drawn out of Femi’s skin, that wasn’t caused by the attack of the enemy, it was her skin expelling the really scarce impurities that it had.

“That’s why you can’t feel or see any energy around me anymore, it has now perfectly integrated with my body, so I don’t need to use it to “defend” anymore, and in case you wonder why am I breaking one of the taboos of a good fighter by explaining things to my enemy, there is also a proper reason for this… no matter what you do, you can’t pose a threat to me anymore”.

And with those words, the dwarf princess closed her pretty right hand to form a fist, which then exploded in grey energy, she didn’t need to use the energy clad for defensive purposes anymore, but that doesn’t mean she can’t use it to increase her attack power.

“Booom!”, before Ridge could react, Femi’s fist landed on the shaft of his spear, creating a huge energy explosion as the nether cladding it was blasted away by the dwarf princess’s energy, then Femi’s bare fist reached the main body of the spear and… directly broke through it.

“Crack!”, that wasn’t just the sound of Ridge’s spear breaking, but also the sound of the dark-yellow scales covering the violence nethereal’s body being destroyed as Femi’s fist reached him.

“Aghhhh!”, and that was Ridge screaming due to pain as he was sent flying into the distance, until he was smacked against a giant rock far from his previous position.

“Grey Shinning Step”, Femi vanished from plain view and the next second she was in front of Ridge whose body was stuck that giant rock, the nethereal’s eyes had rolled backwards, he actually lost consciousness due to that single punch from the dwarf princess.

But then, just as Femi punched at him in order to finish him off, since she had no more use to an enemy, for the time being, Ridge actually regained his consciousness just a second before Femi’s fist landed on his face.

“Stop!!!”, of course the dwarf princess paid absolutely no mind to his words, but the dark-red and dark-yellow barrier that separated his face from Femi’s fist at the last second was a proof that he wasn’t speaking to her.

“Clang!”, like it happened with Lionel earlier, the barrier prevented Femi’s fist from blasting Ridge’s head away on the spot.

“Boooom!”, however there was also a difference this time, Femi’s attack actually managed to somewhat bypass the barrier, or more accurately Ridge was a fraction of a second too late when he activated the barrier, so while he was saved from dying on the spot, Ridge’s body was forced through the rock where he was stuck a second ago.

And now, there he laid a proud warrior in a disgraceful state with his body covered in dust, on the ground like a clown that has fallen on the stage, the scales that were covering his body were disappearing since he used the nether to activate his altar spell a second time, but he was smiling to himself.

‘So, what if you fulfilled your goal, I can just wait inside the barrier until you can’t sustain that damn nonsense technique anymore, I have Arch rank nether reserves and I’m not in a bad state like Lionel, the moment you deactivate it to rest, I’ll fucking kill…’, it has become a habit, but the dwarf princess once again interrupted Ridge’s monologue, though it was an inner one this time.

“Ah right, before I forget it, I don’t know what will happen after leaving this place, but while we are here, this change is always active and I don’t need any energy to sustain it, my skin has been perfectly forged”.

“And my teammates can deal with their respective opponents without any problem, so if you want to become a fish in a barrel that’s fine by me, I’ll just sit here and wait until you run out of nether, to then crush your skull, I have just learned how to be patient after all”, casually said Femi as she slid her finger through the surface of the barrier, producing sparks due to friction.


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