Wolf of the Blood Moon - Book 3 - Chapter 25 - Demonic Instinct and Rewards (Patreon)

Scarlet

I wake up to the sound of shouting. The shouting isn’t in the room I wake up in though, which is the bedroom I was using on the Garden. No. It’s coming from Ava’s office, where I hear a slight static sound accompanied by Allen’s voice as he most likely shouts at her through a video call.

And just hearing his shouting makes me wince.

Yeah, it’s probably gonna be my turn when I get back.

“It’ll definitely be your turn,” Tar comments, bringing my attention to the ball of mostly black and red fur with some white and a little brown mixed in currently sitting curled up next to me.

Good morning.

“It’s evening,” Tar comments without any amusement in his tone.

Right.

What day is today, by the way?

“Today was the last day of the internship,” Tar says while getting up and stretching. Then he walks up to me and smacks me in the face. With a paw. So I barely feel it. “Don’t do that ever again. Okay?”

Before I can answer, his face twists slightly and he slumps, saying, “Never mind. I know it was the curse that caused your actions, not entirely you.”

I blink at that.

Curse?

“I have since learned from King Oberon that the ‘demonic instincts’ are a curse placed on the demon race as a whole,” Tar drops a bomb on me that has me sitting up. “He wouldn’t tell me the exact effects, outside of that they force the demons to be bound to the seven sins, but he did give me a brief explanation of the curse as to how it affects blood lycans.”

That has me staring at him, waiting for the response as he pauses for a second.

“Blood lycans feel the instinctive need to prove that they’re the strongest species there is, and if that pride is tarnished in any way, they feel a driving need to fix it,” he explains, not looking me in the eye.

So… when my prey was taken from me twice, even if I didn’t have any chance at beating them…

“Right,” Tar says, finally looking me in the eye. “Your Demonic Pride wouldn’t let you turn away again. You simply had to fight it to at least prove you were superior, even if you didn’t kill it.”

Hmm.

I lean back against the pillows at the end of the bed while glancing up at the ceiling.

A few minutes pass in silence, the only sound in my room being that of my own breathing and heartbeats. Since the tanuki doesn’t actually have a heart in his artificial form.

“So…” I eventually mutter before bringing my eyes to the tanuki who I find staring at me. “Do you think this excuse will work with Allen?”

Tar’s mouth drops open in shock. Then it closes. Then it opens again. And closes once more.

“You…” he starts, only to sigh. “Probably not.”

I let out a sigh of my own at that answer before leaning my head back again.

That’s unfortunate.

A few seconds of silence pass.

Then my stomach growls, so I push the sheets off of me and swing my legs over the edge of the bed, briefly noticing – to my surprise – that I’m wearing my typical tank top and shorts despite not having changed into it.

“Uh, who changed me?” I ask, directing my gaze to Tar, who immediately answers, “White.”

Oh. I guess I can tolerate that. She did give birth to me after all, so it’s not really the first time she’s seen me without clothes.

“Um, well… about that,” Tar says, making me look at him, my eyes narrowed. “That poison the taracht used against you kind of burned away most of your clothes and armor before Ava repaired them. So…”

I blink at that.

How much did she see?

“Enough,” Tar answers, making me frown.

Well that’s… yeah, I think it’s best to act like that didn’t happen.

At least she’s a woman. And over a century above my own age. Would’ve been much worse if it were a guy.

That aside, I reach up to the amulet to find it safely sitting on my chest. So I move over to the wardrobe to change into a black shirt and black pants before activating my armor and walking back to my bed.

Time to see what I almost killed myself for.

Tar snorts at that.

{Level 252 Demon Vanguard defeated. A massive EXP bonus is awarded for killing a creature over one hundred levels above your level. Almost all of the EXP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in killing a demon.} x9

…

{Level 291 Demon Vanguard defeated. A massive EXP bonus is awarded for killing a creature over one hundred levels above your level. Almost all of the EXP has been extracted as a penalty for barely assisting in killing a demon.} x9

{Level 251 Demon Vanguard defeated. A massive EXP bonus is awarded for killing a creature over one hundred levels above your level.}

{Sixty Skill Points are awarded for killing a demon one hundred or more levels above you without any assistance. You push even further beyond the bounds of sanity, taking on prey that should be considered predator instead. You face risk and push it aside, instead charging straight ahead. How much longer can you push before you’re pushed back? Or will you continue on to eternity? Only time will tell. }

{Fifty Skill Points are awarded for killing a Demon Vanguard while under level one hundred and fifty.}

{Thirty-five Skill Points are awarded for killing a being of Class III while you yourself are Class II.}

{Twenty Skill Points are awarded for taking enough damage to kill most people your level five times over and surviving.}

{Twenty Skill Points are awarded for having your heart or hearts cut or destroyed at least five times. This is not a safe habit. It is suggested you stop.}

{Ten Skill Points are awarded for pushing through enough pain to make most people pass out through sheer willpower.}

{Ten Skill Points are awarded for having a limb cut off and then regenerated.}

{Five Skill Points are awarded for surviving being sprayed by the poison of a Taracht.}

{Five Skill Points are awarded for killing your first Demon Vanguard.}

{One Skill Point is awarded for killing a demon.}

{Congrats, you have leveled up to level 150. Three Free Points have been awarded to you and your stats have been updated.}

…

{Congrats, you have leveled up to level 182. Three Free Points have been awarded to you and your stats have been updated.}

[Skill ‘Pain Diffusion’ has leveled up to level 10.]

[Skill ‘Null Magic Field’ has leveled up to level 9.]

[Skill ‘Metallicized Blood Claws’ has leveled up to level 16.]

[Skill ‘Life Drain’ has leveled up to level 16.]

[Skill ‘Blood Chains’ has leveled up to level 7.]

[Skill ‘Blood Regeneration’ has leveled up to level 12.]

{You have earned the rare inherent skill, ‘Sanguine Effect’.}

By the freaking stars that’s a lot!

Without any hesitation, I open my status and immediately assign my free points. Then I check out the skill descriptions of all the upgraded skills, finding Pain Diffusion being the only one with a different effect. Which is that it can diffuse up to fifty percent of my pain, and I can spread it out over the next five days instead of three.

Very nice additions.

But what I really want to know the description of is the new skill. So I look for it, surprisingly finding that it’s a passive skill before I open its description.

{Sanguine Effect – This skill grants all attacks of the user dealt through blood magic a life draining aspect, absorbing a small sliver of the target’s life energy into the user of the skills. The life energy drained cannot be controlled and it cannot be put into other targets.}

My jaw drops open.

Okay, I like this skill. I like it a lot.

After admiring the skill for several more seconds, I focus on my status as a whole.

Now that is a whole lot of SP to spend.

“You should probably deal with the whole Allen problem before you get absorbed in shopping,” Tar comments, making me frown for a moment before nodding.

Yeah, guess you’re right.

Looks like it’s time to see just how pissed off Allen is.

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Table of Contents

For those of you who can't view the image:

Name: Scarlet Asger

Human/Blood Lycan Hybrid

Magic: Blood

Age: 19

Level: 182

SP: 219

Stats:

Physical: 514

Mental: 514

Magical: 514

Physical/Level: 2

Mental/Level: 1

Magical/Level: 2

Free Points: 0

Mana: 224,566.6/224,566.6

Free Points/Level: 3

Active Skills:

Pain Diffusion

Skill Level: 10

Description

Null Magic Field

Skill Level: 9

Description

Beast Form

Skill Level Static

Description

Metallicized Blood Claws

Skill Level: 16

Description

Blood Pull

Skill Level: 15

Description

Life Drain

Skill Level: 16

Description

Partial Shift

Skill Level: Static

Description

Blood Chains

Skill Level: 7

Description

Blood Diffusion

Skill Level: 12

Description

Blood Shadow

Skill Level: 10

Description

Blood Retribution

Skill Level: 7

Description

Blood Armor

Skill Level: 7

Description

Blood Manifestation

Skill Level: 10

Description

Blood Sacrifice

Skill Level: 10

Description

Blood Boil

Skill Level: 10

Description

Blood Bank

Skill Level: 10

Description

Passive Skills:

Blood Regeneration

Skill Level: 12

Description

Sanguine Effect

Skill Level: Static

Description

Blood Thirst

Skill Level: 10

Description

Predator V

Skill Level: Static

Description