Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

Seeing those sparks being produced by the barrier, over Femi doing something as simple as just scratching the barrier with her index finger, without adding any energy nor using a technique alongside it, made Ridge nearly lose it.

‘I know that I offered less nether to the spell this time, but the barrier is supposed to not even react towards the enemy’s attacks at all, according to Lord Marcus!’, he inwardly cursed.

That wasn’t all that weighted in the violence nethereal’s mind, if what Femi said was right, then he couldn’t outlast that technique which reinforced her skin, no matter how great were his nether reserves as an Arch rank, because she didn’t need to use any energy to maintain it.

As if the dwarf princess could read Ridge’s mind, she casually added.

“My forged skin is permanent, even if I get wounded it will heal and return to this state so long as we are in this place, can you say the same about this barrier?”, naturally Femi wasn’t just trying to annoy the violence nethereal, her pretty right hand formed a fist with which she punched the barrier the next second.

“Boooom!”, Femi’s fist which was cladded in grey energy landed on the barrier protecting Ridge, and the explosion unleashed due to the clash, actually made the whole frontal part of the barrier shake, just a bit though.

But the fact that she could create ripples on the energy barrier, created by Ridge’s altar spell, was enough to make the violent nethereal not dare to drag his next move, as he was originally planning to.

“Damn it, War Treasury Devil Altar!”, with a loud shout, a black bone altar emerged behind of Ridge.

Just like its name, this altar was different from the altar spells that either Lionel or Ridge had used so far, to begin with, its name contained words that referred to more than one type of negative emotion.

The word “War” was used to relate to violence nether, and then we have the word “Treasury” which related with greed nether, but aside from that and more importantly, instead of a skull placed in the center of the frontal part of the altars used so far, this one had… a full black skeleton.

What’s more, the skeleton was wearing black armor with dried blood stains, and held a small dark yellow and dark red treasure chest with his left hand.

“Crack!”, just by being summoned, the projection of the altar made the ground around both Ridge and the barrier surrounding him, crack on the spot.

Not like Femi cared about that, since she continued to throw those heavy punches all over the barrier, producing continuous thunder-like explosions, which was giving Ridge a headache both literal and figuratively.

It took a couple of seconds before the eyes of the black skeleton lit up, one in a dark red flame while the other in a dark yellow one, if you haven’t guessed by now, this altar was obviously of a higher level when compared to the ones we have seen before.

And as a proof of it, the barrier darkened, completely isolating Ridge from the outside, though the thing still trembled from time to time due to Femi’s attacks, she could no longer see nor hear what was happening inside, only then did the black armored skeleton spoke.

“State your request”, the voice of the armored skeleton sounded much more natural when compared to the ones that the giant skulls in the previously seen altars, and as if to confirm it, the way Ridge communicated with it, was also way different.

“Esteemed Treasury Officer, I want an overall minor realm boost without side effects”, as one would expect from someone that has awakened to greed nether, Ridge went beyond what Lionel did.

In other words, Ridge’s greed for victory exceeded Lionel’s lust for power, not like that’s necessarily a good thing though.

“You are quite a greedy fellow, in this restricted atmosphere, you are asking for a complete boost without side effects, it can be done but it will cost you”, said the black skeleton.

As you can see, the dynamic is somewhat similar to that of the forbidden altar, but apparently the process is much more complete in this case, at least it didn’t seem like Ridge would outright die if what he asked for is too much, unlike Lionel’s case.

“A fifth part of my current lifespan in exchange for a temporary boost, I only need it to last until I defeat that woman, of course I’m willing to compensate the esteemed officer with another fifth part for the troubles”, said Ridge as he saw barrier violently shake all of a sudden, which reminded him of the urgency of the situation.

“Lifespan is one of the most preferred payment methods, given the fierceness of your enemy, I’ll approve your request right away, the boost will last twenty-four hours and as a small advice, offer your defeated enemy later, I’ll refund you the previous payment and you won’t even suffer the backslash of having used the boost”, said the skeleton as he nodded at Ridge.

This altar was quite advanced in comparison to the other ones, the skeleton was even able to express the emotion of greed, after all, he accepted right away after being bribed by Ridge, well, it’s not a surprise that where there is a “person” in charge, there is corruption.

The black skeleton acted as some kind of logistics officer who was bribed with cigarettes by a soldier, to “smooth” the process of his request for specific supplies, quite the funny dynamic between a greedy nethereal and a greedy altar.

“War Seizing Devil Sacrifice!”, the command for the spell was the same as before, but there were no chains this time, instead, the small dark red and yellow treasure chest on the hand of the black skeleton opened to reveal a spike-toothed mouth inside of it, which then created a black vortex that started draining the violence nethereal’s life.

“Ack”, though as the black skeleton stated, Ridge didn’t suffer any pain nor any side effect, the sensation of having his life force stripped out of him, was anything but pleasant.

But he forgot about it the next second when a strong surge of power circulated through his whole body.

“Booom!”, just as Femi was about to descend and use the momentum, she had gained to punch the barrier in a try to break it, the roof of the thing exploded from the inside, as a pillar of dark red and dark yellow nether raised into the sky.

“War Devil Champion Banner”, Ridge who emerged from within the pillar of nether, calmly called the name of the boost he had gotten from the altar as he descended in front of the dwarf princess.

“No external sign of a spell nor martial art, middle stage Arch rank energy firm”, said Femi after inspecting the violence nethereal.

“Though restricted, proper middle stage Archknight realm, to be more accurate”, casually said the violence nethereal, dark-red and dark yellow nether battle aura exploded out of his body to then condense into a fifty-meter tall… battle avatar.

In case you haven’t noticed, the battle avatar was obviously small, but it was for a good reason, the restrictions of the Blood Prison realm, even the Devil Tree General at his ultimate form, was unable to use the definitive trait of an Arch rank.

But Ridge could, thanks to the half dark red and half dark yellow flag which was floating behind of him, that was though temporarily, diminishing the restrictions he was subjected to.

That being said, the dwarf princess’s response to all the previous was her right fist bursting in grey energy, in other words she didn’t care about Ridge’s boost at all, on the other hand, she didn’t forget to say.

“Impressive, but I wouldn’t give up a part of my life to some shady altar, for a temporary boost”.

Though Femi didn’t know what happened inside the barrier since Ridge was isolated, she could still somewhat tell that the enemy’s vitality has diminished, even without any obvious signs of it, and it wasn’t hard for her to know that Ridge must have used that to pay for that flag spell.

The response that the dwarf princess got however, was Ridge’s battle avatar punching her way, she preferred it that way though, Femi’s legs slightly bent, the ground cracked below her feet as she jumped to meet the enemy’s giant fist with her own.

“Clang!”, as funny as it might seem to see the dwarf princess’s small pretty fist clash against one that’s larger than her whole body, the collision was anything but comical.

First a deafening metal against metal sound echoed through the vicinity, and then both Ridge’s battle aura and Femi’s energy exploded creating a shockwave which separated those two.

“Booom!”, the first exchange ended with Ridge taking a step backwards, while Femi retreated a few dozens of meters, not like it mattered since the point of direct contact between herself and the enemy’s battle avatar, in other words her right fist, was completely fine.

“Tsk, again!”, Ridge aimed to punch at the dwarf princess again, he still had to get used to using his Battle Avatar for the first time in quite a really long time, so that was a test attack.

However, the same could be said of Femi, because instead of charging towards Ridge’s attack, she shot herself towards the battle avatar’s shin.

“Grey Shinning Step”.

“Booom!”, the dwarf princess with her “small” stature in comparison with Ridge’s battle avatar, but her incredibly tough defense, combined with the movement technique she used, basically turned Femi into a bullet.

“Crack!”, the dwarf princess’s fist landed on Ridge’s battle avatar and she drilled a hole through its shin, and directly passed through it, the impact combined with the disruption in balance, made Ridge’s battle avatar kneel down.

Just in time for the dwarf princess to repeat her assault, this time aiming at the heart area of the battle avatar from the back, where Ridge was positioned.

“War Devil Shattering Spear!”, feeling the danger coming for him, Ridge accelerated his plan, even before he had gotten used to this battle avatar, he had to use a martial art.

And so, Ridge’s battle aura condensed into a spear which he used to block Femi’s advance.

“Booom!”, using the strength of the battle avatar and adding the densely condensed battle aura of the spear, was enough to stop Femi in cold and with a swing of the spear, the dwarf princess was sent down to the ground.

“Crack!”, despite how it looked as if Ridge had gotten one over Femi, the dwarf princess who heavily landed on the ground, was unscathed.

“Damn it, War Devil Battle Focus!”, with a loud roar, the eyes of Ridge’s battle avatar lit up in dark pink flames, apparently, he still had command over lust nether, because the banner actually increased everything, he had no restrictions, a fair reward for the price he paid, but at the same time that’s also why he had to go slow and then start using everything he had, unfortunately Femi wasn’t giving him the chance to play it like that.

‘Damn it, how the hell is she getting out unscathed after clashing against my battle avatar, is her skin so stupidly tough that she can go head on against the battle avatar of a middle stage Archknight with three types of nether!!!’, inwardly cursed Ridge.

As much as he hated to admit, he needed a weapon type martial art to suppress the dwarf princess, instead of simply relying on his battle avatar, so he enhanced his reaction time, he had time on his side technically since the boost lasted for a day, but if his battle avatar kept taking damage and he kept being forced to patch it up, then he’ll run out of nether too fast, thus he had to rush himself to reach an advanced state of battle.

With a “swoosh”, the battle avatar jumped, taking advantage of its bigger size to reach high into the air, to then descend like a cannonball.

“Hammer Fist”, this time without moving, the dwarf princess with a wild smile on her pretty face, punched upwards with her right arm cladded in grey energy.

“Boooom!”, Femi’s little fist clashed head on against the giant spear descending from above, it was as if earth and the sky collided, the ground surrounding the dwarf princess was instantly turned into a disaster zone, debris flew in every direction like shrapnel even destroying large parts of the nearby trees in the process.

That being said, Ridge frowned at the fact that he felt his spear only advance a couple of meters after the moment he clashed with the enemy, once the curtain of dust caused by the impact was dispelled, the scene of Femi whose body and the ground in around twenty meters of her, had sank a couple of meters downwards, when compared to the vicinity, was revealed for him to see.

Interestingly enough, though the dwarf princess and her surrounding area was forced into the ground a couple of meters due to the previous clash, the soil kept its integrity, there wasn’t even a crack near Femi’s feet, which despite being bare, had no dirt stains even on her soles.

“War Devil Piercing Charge!”, while still in contact with Femi’s fist, Ridge’s battle avatar’s spear exploded in dark red nether, the violence nethereal was using a thrusting type martial art as a propulsor, the idea was to crush the dwarf princess to pieces.

“Humph, Gaia Forge, Gaia Smelting Palm”, with a calm demeanor but a fierce light burning in her eyes, Femi opened her right hand which was clashing against the enemy’s spear, changing from a fist to a palm, a palm which by the way lit up in dark brown-light orange flames the next second.

“Hssssss!”, the sudden increase in temperature around the dwarf princess’s right hand, resulted in steam and a sizzling sound being produced and that wasn’t the only result, Ridge’s pupils contracted like needles, the enemy was using fire energy out of nowhere.

“What, don’t tell me you believed yourself to be the only one capable of using more than one element, if so, you more of a fool than what I thought”, said the dwarf princess as she was reminded of a certain silver haired youth whose affinities defied every supposed “absolute rule” she knew about, to then close her left hand to form a fist.

“Gaia Smithing, Hammer Breaking Fist”, grey energy gathered around Femi’s left hand, effectively confirming that she was able to use more than one type of energy, however Ridge had other things to worry about as of current.

“Crack!”, the moment Femi’s punch landed on his weapon type martial art, a loud cracking sound echoed through the sky.

“What!”, under Ridge’s expression of disbelief, cracks appeared all over his spear before the thing… crumbled apart on the spot, both the spear and the thrust martial art he was using were cancelled, and now he had no weapon to block the grey meteor-like stream of energy which was shot by the dwarf princess, that was the same technique, but Femi released it instead of keeping it around her fist.

“Boooom!”, in a familiar and amusing situation, it was Ridge the one that had to cross his arms in front of his body in order to defend himself this time, the dwarf princess’s attack landed on his battle avatar.

The deafening explosion shadowed Ridge’s scream as his battle avatar was sent flying backwards, heavily landing on the ground a few hundreds of meters away from Femi.

“As I thought, you can’t fly while using that battle avatar, perhaps you also obtained that guy’s stupidity when you drained him for the altar, considering you asked for a power that you can’t control”, said the dwarf princess as she flashed, appearing in front of Ridge’s battle avatar the next second.

“Lust Devil Victory Cape!”, with the first martial art, a neon pink cape extended on the back of Ridge’s battle avatar.

“War Devil Blood Spear!”, the second one created a dark red spear for the battle avatar to wield with his right hand.

“Greed Devil Seizing Shield!”, the third one resulted in a dark yellow round shield appearing on the battle avatar’s left forearm.

As if his life depended on it, which was indeed the case, Ridge directly activated three different martial arts, using the three types of nether that even if temporarily, he had access to, just in time for Femi’s right fist to reach him.

“Clang!”, using the shield, Ridge managed to stop Femi’s fist which was supposed to tear a hole through the battle avatar’s chest, before he used the spear to attack her.

“Hammer breaking fist”, Femi’s left arm exploded in grey energy as she met the incoming spear with a punch, very much to Ridge’s displease, sure she destroyed his martial art earlier, but she used two techniques for that, so he felt as if he was been looked down upon, and that was the case considering Femi’s disdainful gaze as their attacks collided.

“Crack!”, now imagine Ridge’s expression when his blood spear basically exploded into broken pieces of solidified battle aura after colliding against Femi’s small fist.

“I needed two techniques to deal with your martial art that contained more than one type of nether, but in a fair 1v1 clash, your nether is no match for me”, casually said the dwarf princess which finally made Ridge lose it.

“Why, how the hell are you doing all this!!!”, he roared to the sky, before wildly charging, shield first towards Femi, in his rage, he started releasing a whole bunch of battle aura in every direction.

“Boooom!”, Ridge had basically turned into a mobile disaster, destroying everything in his path as he attacked in all directions, throwing whole pieces of land far into the distance in his rage.

A giant curtain of dust was raised due to the previous, but Ridge didn’t care, if anything he was protected while inside his battle avatar, even if the enemy’s attack reached him, at most he would receive a wound, but he won’t die, that’s why he was using it, even though it costed him the ability to fly as he wasn’t used to this power.

“Ha!”, gasping for air after turning the vicinity into a disaster zone, Ridge tried to sweep away the dust to see where did the enemy run to, since he didn’t feel any strong impact opposing his attacks, only to see that the dust in the air… didn’t disperse.

Using the large hands of his battle avatar, Ridge tried to dispel the dust but though the hands passed through the dust, it returned to its previous spot a second later.

“What the hell”, cursed the violence nethereal, only for a disdainful voice to come from every direction, within the curtain of dust.

“Pathetic, someone that can’t keep his cool under pressure is not fit to be a warrior”, after saying that line, the sound of fingers snapping echoed through the sky, expanding with the battlefield as its center, and the next second the dust instantly fell to the ground, revealing a Femi who was calmly standing in the same spot as earlier.

However, the interesting part wasn’t that, but the fact that all the pieces of land which Ridge had destroyed and sent flying in his fit of rage, flew back from every direction to then… reintegrate into the ground.

In a matter of seconds, the disaster zone created by Ridge was no more, in fact every trace of this place being a battlefield, besides the trees which were destroyed, was now gone.

“Gaia Forge, Restoration”, mumbled the dwarf princess whose body was covered in dark brown energy.

“So, what if you can use also earth element energy, are you so eager to brag that you wasted it in something as useless as fixing a place that is going to be destroyed in a few seconds!”, shouted Ridge to which Femi softly snorted in response.

“One must always show gratitude to those that help you, this is a sacred rule for those that believe in mother Gaia, this land has provided me with many gifts and even protected me so I returned the favor, not like I expect someone like you to understand”.

“As for why I did now, that’s easy, the fight has ended…”, said the dwarf princess as she pointed her left hand towards Ridge.

“Gaia Forge, Iron Bones”.

“Heavenly Hammer Smite”, before Ridge could react, the upper part of his battle avatar was covered by a square shaped shadow, and then, a one-hundred-meter brown and grey energy hammer which appeared out of nowhere was swung frontwards, making everything above the waist of Ridge’s battle avatar to… disappear.