“Woman!”
Half an hour after Sora entered the Icy Mt. Hakobe, a snow-white gorilla-like monster suddenly jumped out from the roadside.
It was none other than the monster described in the mission—Vulcan. Its appearance bore a striking resemblance to the beast Sora had encountered in the forest before, the only difference was the color of its fur, likely an indication of a subspecies from a different region.
As soon as Vulcan appeared, it lunged straight at Sora, like a starving man pouncing on bread.
“…” Laxus watched quietly, making no move to interfere.
His mission was not to drive Vulcan away but to ensure the safety of the newcomer, Sora.
Vulcan was incredibly fast and immensely strong, a formidable magical beast. If an average mage were caught in its grasp, they would be nothing more than meat on the chopping block, helpless against its strength.
However…
Sora was no ordinary mage.
Her eight wings spread out behind her, and with a slight flap, she lifted herself into the air, easily evading Vulcan’s attack.
“Wow~” Vulcan looked up at Sora in midair, utterly mesmerized by the view from this angle. Its nostrils flared, releasing two puffs of white breath, as it resolved to claim this beautiful woman as its own.
Though it lacked long-range magic power, its sheer strength was overwhelming. It grabbed a fist-sized rock from the snow and hurled it at Sora like a catapult.
Whoosh!
Sora lightly shifted to the right, effortlessly dodging the rock.
“I want the woman!” Seeing its attack miss, Vulcan grabbed two more rocks, one in each hand, and threw them at Sora.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sora elegantly dodged, taunting with a playful smile, “So close, just a little closer! Your aim is terrible. For such a big guy, you’re nothing but a weakling. A weakling, a weakling~”
Her evasive movements looked like a dance as if she were flaunting her figure.
“Ahhh!” Vulcan, both flustered and enraged, became even more frantic in its stone-throwing, desperate to knock Sora from the sky.
“Such awful woman…” From a distance, Laxus twitched at the corner of his eye, realizing that despite her angelic appearance, Sora had a rather mischievous personality.
That said, it was an effective tactic. By provoking Vulcan’s anger, she could exploit her aerial advantage, and no matter how strong Vulcan was, its stamina was finite. If she could keep making it throw stones, exhaustion would eventually set in, leading to an effortless victory.
If Laxus hadn’t been present, Sora might have continued with this strategy.
But precisely because she had Laxus as backup, she had the confidence to employ a more aggressive approach.
“Full Takeover: Vamdemon Soul!”
As Vulcan panted from exertion, Sora activated her Take Over Magic.
A cloak appeared behind her, her clothes turned deep blue with skull patterns, and her boots transformed into black leather with red soles…
The once-holy angelic aura vanished, replaced by a cold, captivating presence—the Queen of Blood in the night!
“Oh! From angel to demon now?” Laxus chuckled softly, a hint of anticipation in his gaze.
Sora moved at incredible speed, closing in on Vulcan. With a flick of her right hand, a crimson whip emerged from her palm.
“Demonic Blood Whip!”
The scarlet whip slithered like a serpent upon contact, coiling tightly around Vulcan, binding its massive arms and rendering it immobile.
Seizing the opportunity, Sora flashed behind Vulcan, opened her mouth, and revealed two sharp fangs before biting down.
Her fangs pierced Vulcan’s fur and sank into its flesh, draining both its blood and magic power.
Precisely, the magic power was her true target; the blood was secondary.
“Ah! Stop!”
“No! It’s… it’s all gone!”
Vulcan, a magical beast that parasitized human bodies through Take Over Magic, could not sustain itself once its magic power was drained.
Within mere breaths, the Vulcan was fully depleted of magic and disappeared.
All that remained was a middle-aged man with a gaunt face. He appeared to be a villager from a nearby settlement, showing signs of having been beaten before being knocked unconscious and possessed by Vulcan.
Without a host, Vulcan was effectively dead.
“Does this have something to do with blood?” Laxus murmured as he observed the scene.
Sora wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, ‘After absorbing Vulcan’s magic, my own magic power increased by about ten percent…’
That was no small gain. Even with Angewomon assisting her and doubling her training speed, increasing her magic by ten percent would still take a month of focused training.
“I wonder how many more Vulcans are in this ice mountain?” Sora licked her lips, cracking her knuckles.
She was a hunter!
A hunter of magic power!
She reverted back to her normal form, returning to her standard Angewomon state.
However, the excess magic power inside her body felt somewhat uncomfortable, like an upset stomach.
Sora murmured, “Why does it feel like this?”
Angewomon explained, “Probably an incompatibility issue. You should inject the absorbed magic into your Holy Ring and let it refine it into a form suitable for us.”
“…The Holy Ring can do that?” Sora followed Angewomon’s advice and channeled the excess magic into the Holy Ring.
The discomfort vanished immediately, the magic extracted from Vulcan was purified by the Holy Ring and converted into a clean and storable energy source.
It became a reserve power source, ready for her to draw upon whenever needed.
‘I need more Vulcans!’ Sora thought, releasing Healing Light to treat the villager who had been freed from Vulcan’s possession.
Once the villager regained consciousness, she questioned him about Vulcan’s whereabouts.
Unfortunately, the villager had no memory of his time as Vulcan’s host and could provide no information on their locations. All he could recall was where he had been attacked.
After escorting the villager down the mountain, Sora set off for the attack site, encountering groups of Vulcans along the way.
Using her beauty to sow discord, she made them fight amongst themselves for her favor, depleting their strength before finishing them off with the Vamdemon’s Soul to drain their magic.
Over and over again, her power grew… Magic power, increasing, increasing, increasing!
Sora scoured Mt. Hakobe, hunting down and eliminating thirty Vulcans, absorbing their magic to quadruple her power from when she first arrived—an increase equivalent to two and a half years of training!
Laxus, assigned as her bodyguard, had merely watched from start to finish.
Recognizing her capability, he decided to extend an invitation on the way back: “Sora, for this year’s S-Class Promotion Trial, be my partner.”
During the trial, participants were allowed to choose an assistant.
Laxus believed that Sora, with her healing, flight, and binding abilities, was the perfect choice to support him.
With her, success was guaranteed!
Sora was indifferent to the idea, “When does the trial start?”
“At the end of the year, six months from now.”
Sora pondered, “I see… If I’m still here by then, I’ll help you.”
‘Still here?’
Laxus was momentarily stunned, ‘Is she planning to leave?’
Sora only knew that in half a month, she would be transported to another world. Whether she could return was an uncertainty, so… this was the only promise she could make.
— The end of the Chapter–
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