The Spearmaster and the Black Cat

Chapter 373 Blood Messaging with Viine

I finished my day of training in the bath. However, not stark naked. Im still wearing a combination of dark green underwear and overcoat.

As always, Im replenishing my mana as Im smoking a magic cigarette, blowing the smoke out through the window at the roof. I focus on the mana flowing from my torso to the point below my navel.1

Then I adopt the stance of the Evil Fishing Palm Blade, a stance resembling the Heaven and Earth Palm Push Kisara taught me.

Haahhits a cold wind, but refreshingI think Ill lie down for a bit.

While letting my mana circulate, I dive atop my brand new bed with movements as if walking across a water surface, and lie down.

Using my palms as a replacement for a pillowugyaah!

Right above me, as if overlapping with the rooftop, floats the ghost Lash-san. That gave me a fright.

However, her transparent chest and her nice bodystill, since I felt like Id get scolded by Quiche, if I stared at her chest too muchI turned over.

Alright, time to contact Viine through a blood message. I think shes exploring the Whirlpool Forest of Demonic Fog while training at the same time.

Yoo, Viine! Are you doing fine?

A Second Advent!?

Whoa, whats with this reaction?

W-What is it all of a sudden?

Hauuu, Im sorry. Just as I was thinking of you in the light of Chrissmas, I suddenly received your blood message

Haha, surprised her, huh?

Second Advent is about that, isnt it? If its about Christmas, she must be talking about Jesus Christ? If it comes to Hoffmannit feels like hed give me a long-winded sermon as Christian, though

Now then, leaving that aside, I have to inform her about the situation. First off

I guess I should start from around the time of me running into the battle between Higlia and the {Servant Leader} Yuo after heading out from Quiches village to search for the children while using {Blood Chain Search}. Lets also inform Viine about Nora who was present at that battle.

I sent her a message about all of this.

Noras family, the vampire hunter family which has continued living in Zamalias Opperheimann region, got me interested

I can fully understand. Theyve been extending their lives through some kind of magic time, or maybe they actually extracted some vampire power. Well, if its according to what shes told me, its obvious that theyre anything but a normal family

A family of vampire hunters. Im sure curious about them, too.

A family of vampire hunters, they do sound strong. If Nora were to tell her family about our existencethey might start to seriously monitor us

I doubt shes going to do that. Noras gramps seems to be strongit sounded like hes {Throwing} around cross pieces, but

I dont think theyre going to monitor me. Theyll be curious though

Nora possesses a skill that can drive away vampires. In such a case, I wonder what kind of abilities her other family members possess? They might be beings like the single digits of the 8th Demon Extermination Agency. Master, please be careful

Beings like Mad Knight, was it? Ive heard about them from Tsuan, but you should worry about yourself more than about me

Sorry. So about Noras little sister. I hadnt expected it to be Angie, Paulsens servantquite the strange fate

Strange fate. Haha, thats quite sarcastic. Viine, you, me, and everyone else who became the bloodkin of a Lucival are bound by strange fates

Mamani, Bia, Fuu, and Souther. They all have their own pasts.

Hehe, you have a point there. Everyone is burdened with some sort of past

Yep, Nora is heading for Pelneet to meet with her sister. If she goes through Hekatrail, I think itll take her quite some time. By boat shed be there in no time, butif she goes across land, she might pick up some adventurer requests at Holkerbaum and post towns

True. Have you still not informed Eva, Rebecca, and Veronica-senpai?

Not yet. Ill contact them later

Either way, it sounds like itll cause troublesand the Sea of Trees seems to be in the process of becoming more chaotic in regards to power distribution than the Whirlpool Forest of Demonic Fog

No kidding, all kinds of things are going on over here. This place might also be somehow connected with the Whirlpool Forest through the underground

Death Butterfly people, Tree King of Wonders, Ancient wolfmen, underground goddesses, ancient godsits chaos.

Its very likely. From a distance I could confirm many places looking like historic ruins

Figures. Cursed gods, ancient gods, and so on

I wonder whether Koko-sama is doing fine.

Theres still many places I couldnt explore as of yet, though. And, a swarm of Goblin Telka has been sighted in the Whirlpool Forest, too. It doesnt look like the number of adventurers working near Hekatrail is going to decrease anytime soon either

The Whirlpool Forest is close to elven domain, Oseberia, and Leften. Places needing adventurers exist all over the lands, including FaDykes Indomitable Lion Tower Come to think of it, its not just Quiche, but also Nora, Red Tiger Storm, Eris Faffnard of Eight Girls, the dwarves in charge of dragon killing; all of them are superb adventurers working with Hekatrail as base.

Anyway, back on topic. The location {Blood Chain Search} indicated was a large-scale base of vampires, butas a matter of fact it had been destroyed

Eh?

Two Death Butterfly women, one with a white moths body and the other with a reddish-violet butterflies body, had gone on a rampage

Death Butterfly women? For them to possess butterfly bodiesthey sound like yet another weird, mysterious beings

Right?

I explained Viine my battle against one of them as detailed as I could. Next I told her about Golgonshura, the god worshiped by the Death Butterfly people, and their reaction when they heard about me possessing Golgonshuras key.

After listening to all of it, Viine expanded on her own considerations that anticipated a connection with underground gods and ancient gods.

But, It doesnt seem like its related to Kokodoysuzuin-sama whom you started to worship the other day, she sent me a blood message while misspelling the name of Cursed Goddess Kokobruuundozuu-sama.

Thats unusual for Viine. Then again, its a pain to remember such a long name. I just memorized it because Im her believer. Abbreviated, Cursed God Koko-sama.

Ive offered the Priest Necklace to Koko-sama, butI wonder how much time shes going to need to store her power in that necklace.

Koko-sama mentioned an Ancient Halmodella era or something, butif you compare the time span with Earth, itd have been around the age of the dinosaurs? Assuming that to be true, storing power in that necklace would require thousands, if not tens of thousands years?

As Im pondering about this

..But, it sounds like its been a rich experience

Actually, this was just the beginning

I continue to tell her about our invasion of the vampire den, the meeting with Moga & Nemus, and the rescue of many prisoners, including Arry and Taack.

Ohh! The ones from the labyrinth! That small animal swordsmanand the steel tree giant

Yep, Gnter Moga and Nemus. So after joining up with them, we escaped to the outside, and traveled to Quiches village while chatting

Next I told her about the encounter with Schmihazar, and the following battles.

To turn Evil Spirit Spear Iglued and Demonic Marquis Adombraly into your subordinates

Nah, thats not set in stone yet. Ive still left them in Gramp Tons care

He sure is a strange, nut-loving grandfather. But, I wonder whats going to happen to the Demonic Marquis life-form and the stone who are enclosed by treesits something to look forward to

Guess so

And you also rescued Kisara who wielded the witch spear, didnt you?

There are many reasons why I saved her, but Shes quite amazing

I told Viine about Kisaras backstory and that I had made up with her after duking it out with our spears, but only earned myself a long silence from Viine.

After a while, Hoffmann who manipulates a huge coffin that houses an abnormal world. Ive heard that hes a {Head Servant} of the Valmask family, but its predictable that hes quite strong.

She ignored the story about Kisara without probing any further. Instead, she asked me about Hoffmann who had sent Schmihazar over.

True. I think theres a big difference to a {Servant Leader}. It might be just Hoffmann, butI wouldnt be surprised if the other {Head Servants} were to be quite strong as well. As might be expected of one of the twelve founding families. The queen standing at the top must be powerful, too. Her not having using the familys name as queen is strange, though

Yes, the queens name is different in the Valmask family. However, her and Hoffmann havent been able to keep going for such a long time for show, just as Spirit-sama mentioned in the past

Veronica did well to have managed to escape theBlood Court of the Great Tomb. Then again, she had wild god Magitora with her. I guess that white cat played a big role in the escape.

While pondering about Veronica, I added some information about Hoffmann.

Hoffmann is a reincarnator. So hes probably somewhat different from the other vampires

Reinkarnator, reinkarnasthose are the people you warned us to regard as dangerous race, requiring special attention, didnt you Master?

Indeed. Hoffmann stole an ability from Kisara by cutting her skull open and extracting it from her brain. And it looks like he can also share the stolen abilities with his subordinates or bloodkin

Hes able to steal abilities and grant them to others. What a terrifying opponent

Certainlyalthough he can steal them, I doubt he can make the abilities his own so easily. But, Id think that its possible for him to get used to the abilities over hundreds or thousands of years.

Kisara had been fused with the witch spear in a state of having the skin at her chest opened up as if having done an autopsy on her. Even Schmihazars beloved Demonic Spirit Armament or whatever might have been a part of the ability to fuse with a weapon Hoffmann had granted Schmihazar

I cant hear the gasp, but since she hasnt sent a blood message right away, I can easily imagine that Viine must be looking quite surprised.

So he had such a strong subordinate like Schmihazar, an opponent that could be brought down because it was you, die in vainjust to measure your strength. Moreover, hes careful enough to stick to observation without joining the battle himself. He gives me the impression of being a truly strong fighter. At the same time, behind his actionsI can sense the wish of not wanting to turn you into his enemy, Master

She had been able to read all that through nothing more than blood messaging?

Strictly speaking, I havent been the one to take down Schmihazar, butRollos fireas well as Kisara and Rotalz

But Hoffmann is quite superb, yep. I want to meet him as quickly as possible. But, Ill need to hold back for now

Schmihazar had passed on Hoffmanns words of Its for the sake of realizing the peaceful, millennial kingdom ruled by the one and only god. And its also possible that he deliberately made me, who combines light and darkness, clash with Kisara, a Four Heavenly Witch who believes in gods contradicting light and darkness, by sacrificing Schmihazar

Youre say Kisara is his present to you, Master?

Ultimately its just a possibility. Otherwise I could guess that it became difficult for the hougu on Schmihazars shoulder to suppress the witch spear that contained Kisara, but well, I guess we wont know the truth until I personally ask Hoffmann about it

Afterwards I told Viine about Puyuyu, our safe return to Quiches village, that it was already embroiled in a fierce battle by the time we arrived, and our fights against the semi-transparent orc and the troops of the Tree King of Wonders.

Master, setting aside the matters with Higlia and Puyuyu, you do trust Kisara and Quiche quite a lot, dont you?

Her blood message floats in front of my eyes.

Yes, I do. I plan to invite Kisara and Quiche to become my {Head Servant Leaders} eventually

Okay. Umm, if you win over the ancient wolfwoman Higlia was it? as chosen bloodkin, the strongest power in the Sea of Trees

Have you become influenced by Helme?

Excuse me, I cant forget the wonderful idea of a Great Holy Lucival Empire

If Helme were to hear this, shed be delighted, Im sure. Right now shes not in my left eye. Currently I cant see her from where I am, butearlier Helme created many puzzle-ring-like water sprays from her feet while saying, Puyuyu-chan, I wonder what would become of you if I let it eat a seed of Millennium-chan, to Puyuyu who was clinging to her as if sandwiched between the valley of her lower boobs.

Puyuyu answered, Puyuyu! Puyuyu?, ignoring Helmes words.

It was pointing its small wand with the weird decorations towards Rotalz who was carrying Kisara.

Aaahh! Dont make that strange thing fly at Rotalz! Kisara yelled while covering her bulging boobs with one handIt looks like her memory of how Puyuyu exposed one of her nipples is still fresh in her mind.

The small dinosaur, which had torn the chest area of her nun garb, no, magic attire open, was clinging to Rotalzs forehead. Just like that, Helme and Puyuyu continued their skywalk with Kisara running away from them.

Below them Muu was looking up to the sky, wasnt she? Though I think that its also related to Moga being nearby.

Anyway, Ive been digressing.