Reincarnated With The Van Helsing System

Chapter 565: Challenges Thea’s version (part 1)

The moment Daimon's body was dragged into that strange black vortex, everything went dark, or at least that was the case for less than a second before Daimon's eyes shone in a mysterious amethyst light behind his mask and then it was as if light had returned to the world.

Here an interesting fact about Daimon's infinity eyes, up to a certain extent Daimon has no need to have knowledge regarding the things he is looking at to understand about them, that is because one of the two skills that conforms infinity eyes is "Sixth Sense", a sensory kind of instinct that allows Daimon to see things that others can't.

And then we have the more refined side of the infinity eyes, which comes from the "Truth Seeker Eyes" the skill granted to a novice appraiser by the system, which unlike the instinct-driven Sixth Sense, relies on knowledge attained by the appraiser to see, recognize, identify, classify and find materials, components or basically anything they know about.

It is for the combination of the previous that Daimon was frowning right now, because the black haze that extinguished any kind of illumination within the dimensional tunnel that was taking Daimon to his next stop, is something he has seen before the global raid started but only after it happened, he managed to understand.

"It's not as intense as the condensed black fog that assaulted Sarah back then… but this is definitely the same kind of "pure" nether", concluded Daimon remembering the black wind that escaped the space rift at the basement of Thea's castle, which was absorbed by Sarah.

After seeing that strange event Daimon kept wondering what the hell was that nether, the only thing that resembled it was the black mineral layer that covered the core of the original Nethereals he caught, but that was until he got to know about the arrays placed in the mansions of the Nethereals inside the area designated for the global raid.

But there was still a difference, the nether used by Nethereals and the one produced by those arrays had a thing that the one which was floating in this dimensional tunnel, didn't, it was linked/related to a certain emotion, a theory Daimon had which was pretty much confirmed thanks to the information he got from Agrak's memories.

The Belliel for example were related to greed more specifically to "corrupted gains", which is why Agrak's den was a casino, in comparison the nether that surrounded Daimon now was in "blank", just like the element less mana that naturally exists practically everywhere.

'Though I don't know why is there nether in this dimensional tunnel, at least I know who is next', thought Daimon as he saw the exit of the tunnel and could already feel something familiar from it.

The scenery suddenly changed from non-gravity and darkness to a marvelous and clean starry sky that could be seen from the bottom of the deep canyon in which Daimon was thrown out by the dimensional tunnel.

"Hshhhhhhh!", the moment Daimon set foot on the ground a black shadow surged from one of the many small rifts on the walls of the canyon aiming at Daimon's neck like an arrow while screeching out something that sounded like a mix between a hiss and nails scratching a chalkboard.

Daimon whose eyes were shinning from the very beginning, casually extended his hand and caught the thing that tried to attack him, naturally since before he exited the dimensional tunnel, he was already scanning what the other side looked like, imagine his surprise when he saw countless small energy firms "waiting" for him.

Ignoring the thing in his hand Daimon observed the walls where there were a lot of strange snakes of different sizes and species, sleeping, eating and the like.

"I guess this wasn't prepared beforehand, which means that this is normal here", concluded Daimon, considering the snake that attacked him was quite weak, a mere star ranked magic beast, his presence was of that of a star ranked knight as well though.

"Still, not all of them give of the same aura and this fellow is rather more aggressive than the others", said Daimon as he inspected the strange snake in his hand.

Black scales with yellow patterns and irregular bone formations on its body, also its eyes were bloodshot and even now that its attack had failed it kept trying to bite Daimon, until he casually broke its bones by tightening his grip on it, to then send the corpse to the inventory.

To his surprise there was actually a notification appearing in front of him, which normally wouldn't make sense, a mere star ranked magic beast wouldn't give him a new skill, there were three possible exceptions, first that snake was worth the attention of his Apex Predator body, second for some reason the system had a reward for killing it, or third and the correct answer this time… there was a problem with it.

*Ding*

[You have successfully slayed "Madness Infected Shadowfang Viper", no skills attainable due to unstable genes]

'This should be a hatching ground of some kind and yet only that snake attacked on sight, which means that not all of them had that problem, also it isn't "genetic damage" but "unstable genes" this time', thought Daimon.

His previous actions showed his killing intent which made all the nearby baby snakes cower in fear, most magic beasts in their infant years aren't excessively aggressive, that doesn't mean they are docile or tamable, but they won't attack unless provoked or hungry of course, it's a survival instinct since they hadn't grown enough to hunt by themselves, also they aren't intelligent so they are completely instinct-driven at this point, which is why Daimon didn't bother to use the Hollow Suit when he killed that snake, these baby snakes didn't pay him any attention to begin with, they just felt a horrifying sensation spread like wildfire and nothing else.

"That was the only unstable one here, it doesn't seem to have been a coincidence", mumbled Daimon as he walked through the canyon, the other baby snakes completely stopped moving as a sign that they didn't want to attract the attention of the "Predator" that had broken into their nest, displaying the normal behavior of a magic beast of which Daimon knew about.

Putting the matter at the back of his mind for the time being, Daimon instead focused on that familiar sensation which he could feel since he entered the dimensional tunnel.

And as if discussed beforehand, his mirror plate received a message, the emblem of the sender had a crown and a spear, so it was easy to guess from who was it.

"Daimon is that you, sorry I couldn't make it in time for the global raid", Thea's guilt filled voice could be heard coming from the mirror plate, the empress took pride on her word, she promised to help but didn't do it, it was a major insult for her.

"Well, you indeed missed the royal ball but made it to the global raid", answered Daimon, he was registered as "Gabriel" on her mirror plate, but she called him Daimon to prove that it was her and not someone who stole it, not even a second later he received another message from Thea.

"I guess that explains the difficulty of this damn place, where are you?", she asked.

"A canyon with a lot of baby snakes, would you care to explain what is going on", said Daimon as he climbed the wall, he was still analyzing whether it was safe to use blink or not, because the atmosphere of this place was rather "special", there was actually space element mana floating around like it was normal here!

As rare as this situation is, it's not the first time that Daimon has seen space mana outside of a dimensional tunnel, back at the Maelstrom Sea when Vincent and the other Maximum Stellar ranks fought, there was a momentary breach on the space from which space element mana flowed, which is why he didn't use blink as he was unsure if the space was too unstable for it.

"I think it would be better to discuss it face to face, there is a lot I want to tell you, you are in an incubator, leave as fast as you can and look for the closest water body, I'll arrive at your position at that moment, also don't worry about the state of the atmosphere, it's safe and easier to travel through space here, even I was unable to track your spatial move skill, so there won't be any problem… Daimon, be careful".

Listening to Thea's worried voice, Daimon couldn't help but softly smile.

"No problem, see you soon".

"Mm, remember as soon as you see a water body don't hesitate jump into it and I'll be there", repeated Thea, making Daimon wonder what she meant with that, but still, she seemed to be in a hurry so he decided to trust her and not waste time, there shouldn't be too much time before the disappearance of that unstable snake was noticed after all.

And with that said, Daimon's image flashed upwards, the canyon had a height of around two kilometers, so it took Daimon a few uses to finally get out of it.

"Of course it would be like this", said Daimon as he observed the surrounding area, it was a damn rocky wasteland, a completely arid zone, with few spiked vegetation and no water bodies on sight, still as good as his eyesight and mana sense is, there is someone far better at it than him, happily swimming inside his shadow.

'Rita, please', with a simple pair of words, the undead head maid who is ready at all times to comply with anything that Daimon might need, immediately spread her mana sense in all directions.

'A nearby water body and traces of that snake woman, I'm on it, Daimon!', she said with an enthusiastic voice.

Daimon's eyes shone behind his mask as he observed the invisible and undetectable for everyone else but him, thin black dome that extended all over the place.

'It's as amazing as the first time I managed to see it', he thought, normal mana sense works in a similar way as sonar, basically one radiates really small and thin waves of mana that forms a virtual map of one's surroundings.

It might sound simple but it is not something to look down upon, as it can't be replicated manually, it's an ability that comes with being either a mage or a knight, even Joanna mentioned that having mana sense was part of being a "true" Stellar rank.

But then, Rita's mana sense was completely different, since others couldn't detect her presence as long as she remained within Daimon's shadow, instead of those thin waves of mana she deployed a thin dome that thoroughly scanned everything as it expanded, ignoring any kind of obstacles, including even arrays, even when she is outside of Daimon's shadow she can do the same, with the only downside that her range diminishes, in a sense Daimon's shadow works like an amplifier of some kind for her, it is also her happy place.

You might think that it's a dynamic she developed with time, but no, since the first time she became sentient, her mana sense worked like that as if she was meant to live in Daimon's shadow.

Leaving aside the marvelous spectacle that Daimon was able to see since not too long ago, after almost thirty seconds of silence, Rita's voice came from within his shadow.

'I found two routes, this place seems to be a massive island of some kind, 500 kilometers northeast there is the entrance to an underground river, there are groups of magic beasts every 10 kilometers as if they were stationed on purpose, the other route is the shore of the island at 2500 kilometers southwest, the magic beasts on that way are scattered randomly', she said.

Daimon nodded as he contemplated the two options, he could move by himself using the first route and arrive at his destination in an hour or so by using blink repeatedly and gliding, he will be able to recover the mana used following that strategy since he ascended in diagonal to then fall in diagonal as well, achieving twice the result with half the effort.

The other option was only viable if he asked Rita to use the spatial movement skill she obtained back at Kerrol to transport him all the way to the shore of the island, because the distance was too big for him to cover it in a short period of time, but there was a catch, it would take Rita more time to recover the mana used for that, while if he chose the other route, he will be completely recovered by the time he arrives at his destination.

'Well, she said any water body not specifically the ocean, besides this atmosphere…', thought Daimon for a second before saying.

'I'll choose the first route, there might be some magic beasts sensible towards people like me, so guide me through the gaps on their formations, let's be prepared just in case'.

'Mm, leave it to me', confidently said the undead head maid, to which Diamon softly smiled before he blinked upwards to gain height.

As Daimon ascended into the sky, he realized that using blink was easier than ever, the process was so smooth that the mana needed for the skill was directly cut in half without reducing the current maximum distance he could cover with a single use, which was still a hundred meters.

After blinking around twenty times, Daimon stopped using the skill and allowed his body to freely fall, back when he moved with the Risha sisters he couldn't do this and had to use blink all the way to their destination because the fast change of pressure would be harmful for them.

Anyone whose physical body wasn't at the peak of the Lord rank would most likely faint and remain unconscious for quite a few hours and that is if they had someone to prevent them from crashing against the ground to die in a horrible way.

But for Daimon this was a walk in the park, after Aura made, him get used to have tons weighting down on him, this was nothing.

'Rita, you said this place is an island, right?', to pass the time Daimon decided to have some small talk with the undead head maid.

'Based on the terrain that should be the case', happily answered Rita.

'A wasteland on an island, which is not only surrounded by water but also has underground rivers, it doesn't sound natural', casually said Daimon which made Rita immediately reply.

'I-I didn't find environment changing arrays, besides detection and alarms around that canyon I didn't see anything else, even at the entrance to that underground river'.

Listening to Rita whose voice had a tinge of panic thinking that she failed to fulfill her job, Daimon chuckled to then say.

'Calm down, that ancestor of Thea came from a higher ranked place than us, so it's normal that there are things of which we don't know here, perhaps the array I think was used to change this island's environment is outside of even your detection range, so don't think too much about it'.

'Mm~', Rita limited to happily nod and then putting that matter aside, she took the initiative to ask Daimon some unrelated things, like his favorite color, clothes, food and the like, according to her she wanted to know personally and also, she felt it would be somehow beneficial for her, so Daimon didn't mind to answer her.

It was also helpful for Daimon but in a more immediate way, before he noticed he had covered a lot of distance and now he could see from afar a strange rock formation carved on a huge mountain near the entrance to the underground river which was his destination.

'There are a couple of middle stage Stellar rank energy firms coming from inside that mountain and also a ton of Arch rank ones surrounding the whole area', thought Daimon after a quick scan with his infinity eyes.

Just like back at the canyon there were detection arrays and alarms but not defense or offense type arrays, a rare set up for what Daimon concluded was an outpost of some kind.

"I didn't feel any unstable auras all the way to here, so that snake was indeed not supposed to appear here", after a moment of contemplation Daimon's plan took form, he descended on a nearby giant rock and then took out the corpse of that snake from earlier.

'Rita, hide this thing's presence until I give you the signal, but be sure to completely erase your mana from it', he inwardly said, Daimon didn't want to leave any energy traces, considering that Thea's ancestor found a way to identify system users through their mana, which is why he killed that snake purely with physical strength as for him using blink, Thea had confirmed that it's not traceable before, she herself couldn't tell from where would he appear when he used it, also there was too much space element mana in this place's atmosphere and that would cover any residual energy from the usage of blink.

'I'm ready', a shadow veil appeared all over the corpse of the snake along with Rita's confirmation.

His arm tensed as he used his monstrous physical strength to throw the corpse of the snake as hard as he could without turning the snake into a blood puddle.

Thanks to Rita's mana the snake silently flew all over around a kilometer before it crashed head on against the sides of a fifty-meter-long red snake which was eating the corpse of a lizard looking magic beast.

"Hsssssss!", an angered hiss came from the snake as its lower half was brutally pushed sidewards due to the impact, not only that but a fraction of a second before the clash, Rita dispelled her mana and then blood, flesh and bones spread on the side of that red snake as well as the lizard that it was eating.

"Hsssss!", as if a bucket of molten lava and bait was thrown over the nearby snakes, their eyes became bloodshot as they started quarreling among themselves, at first it was just angry noises and aggressive stances, but then a bite happened and with that a full fight broke out.

Seeing the snakes that were previously somewhat tolerating the presence of each other not too long ago, suddenly become aggressive and agitated Daimon confirmed his previous theory, that those unstable snakes were the enemies of the others, the baby snakes back at the canyon didn't notice the presence of that snake because they were too afraid of Daimon to care.

'Those two are coming Daimon', with Rita's announcement, Daimon smirked as he used blink in the direction the entrance of that underground river, from the sides he saw two humanoid figures flying at a slow speed from that mountain which was carved to look like a castle of some kind.

'Heh, now that's interesting', thought Daimon as he rushed towards the entrance of the underground river, his first objective was to reunite with Thea, everything else would come after that.