Wolf of the Blood Moon: A Blood Magic

Scarlet

I can’t help but skip along the floor into the hallway while whistling very quietly, happy to have finally ditched that creepy Guardian lady, Alex. And not only did I manage to do that, but I also got back at her for stalking me! And gave the kid over to her as well.

“Did you give up on trying to stop calling him a kid?” I hear Tar’s voice resound in my head as I slow down and stop whistling, focusing on the demons on the floor.

Maybe.

Judging by the sounds of it, the other party started clearing out floors of demons from the thirty-fifth floor and on. But they did clear out two floors before that. Floors twenty nine and thirty two. Strictly because there were people on them outside of the bunkers that needed saving.

I can’t help but grin at the thought of having the remaining eight floors to myself, without a single human being on them to interrupt my hunt.

“Your instincts as a blood lycan really are powerful, aren’t they…” I hear Tar mutter seemingly more to himself than to me.

Ignoring the tanuki, I walk into a room before locking the door and sitting on the closest bed while opening my status. Then I quickly allocate my free points before leveling up Blood Thirst once to level 5, using up 11 SP in the process.

[Skill ‘Blood Thirst’ has leveled up to level 5.]

I focus on the ellipses at the end of the active skills to extend it to show Blood Thirst.

Name: Scarlet AsgerSpecies: Human/Blood Lycan HybridMagic: Blood Age: 19Level: 22SP: 61 Stats: Physical: 62Mental: 60Magical: 60 Physical/Level: 2Mental/Level: 1Magical/Level: 2 Free Points: 0Mana: 349/1800Free Points/Level: 2 Active Skills: Blood ClawsSkill Level: 5Description Blood SiphonSkill Level: 4Description Life DrainSkill Level: 4Description Blood BoilSkill Level: 2Description Blood BankSkill Level: 1Description CleanSkill Level: StaticDescription RepairSkill Level: StaticDescription Passive Skills: Blood ThirstSkill Level: 5Description Predator IVSkill Level: StaticDescription

Without any hesitation, I immediately focus on the description of Blood Thirst.

{Blood Thirst -On account of the user’s absolute blood thirst and utter lack of a self-preservation instinct, you have learned to grow stronger through each kill. This skill passively increases all of the user’s statistics by a flat 0.6% bonus for each enemy slain for a period of one minute and twenty-five seconds after their death. This effect is stackable.}

“Now that’s exactly what I was hoping for,” I say out loud with my grin stretching even wider across my face as I lie on my back on the bed.

This should help me a lot. An entire tenth of a percentage per kill higher! And an extra five seconds too!

“Well, it is a legendary skill, after all,” Tar adds his two cents in. “It’d be weird if it didn’t have powerful gains from leveling it.”

Well, yeah, that makes sense. But it’s still nice.

Also, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.

I close out of my status, following which the tanuki appears in the air above me.

“What is it?” he asks while floating down and landing on my chest as if this were some sort of routine.

Are other demons able to identify me? Since I’m clearly able to identify them.

The tanuki blinks at me before answering, “Yes and no. Remember when I said you can’t identify something that is the same species as you?” I nod my head. “Well, technically a ‘demon’ isn’t the same species as you. A blood lycan is. Meaning you can identify any creature that isn’t a blood lycan, and any demon that isn’t a blood lycan can identify you.”

My eyes widen in shock at that, and I begin to sit up, only for him to quickly add, “But don’t worry! The System isn’t designed to handle identifications of a hybrid, so whenever a demon that isn’t a blood lycan tries identifying you, all they will get is your human side!”

I stare at him, half sitting up as he clings onto my jacket’s collar so as to not fall off. Then, after a few seconds, I lower myself back down onto the bed again with a sigh.

Should’ve started out with that.

“It’s your fault for not asking the right questions in the right order,” Tar mutters, making me lift my head to stare at him. But he just goes silent, so I lie my head back down on the pillow again.

I unconsciously reach up to pet the furball – this being the only reason I let him use me as a bed – before muttering, “So I have to be cautious if I ever get stuck in a Class V Fracture?”

The tanuki nods his head, “Indeed. Because a blood lycan will be able to tell something’s up just from trying and failing to identify you. And that’s only if it wasn’t stupid enough to recognize the ears on your head and your eyes.”

Ears? Eyes?

“Blood lycans have a unique tail, along with unique eyes and ears. They are one of the only shapeshifting creature that has some of their beast features shown in their humanoid form, and the only one with some human features in their beast form. Such as their humanoid shape when transformed into their other form,” Tar explains, making my eyes widen again. “Putting aside the exact abilities and biology of a blood lycan, their eyes are special in that they have very little, sometimes even no black pupil in the blood red of their eyes. And their eyes are able to track whatever they deem their prey through walls for dozens of meters. Although they are only able to designate one creature as their prey at a time. Also, their tails are not made out of flesh and are instead made of pure blood solidified into metal by magic.”

I can’t help but focus on his words as he speaks. Because exact information on Class V demons is generally difficult to find. And the ‘spirits’ – from what I’ve heard – are rather tight lipped about it. So this may be my only chance to learn more about blood lycans.