Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 118: Manor Vampires (2)

"SKREEE!"

"SKREEE!"

"SKREEE!"

The sound erupted from every corner of the room.

The slashed paintings on the walls began to bleed profusely, green mist pouring from the canvas wounds like arterial spray. The shadows under the stairs elongated, birthing tall, skeletal shapes.

They poured out in anger, a legion of starvation.

⸢Multiple Hostiles Detected⸥

⸢Manor Vampire (Lvl 45) x 12⸥

⸢Trait: Incorporeal | Life Drain | Mist Form⸥

The temperature plunged. The garlic scent was assaulted by the ozone-stink of chaos and the cloying sweetness of necrotic blooms.

Percival took a few steps back to regroup. This was a truly terrifying sight.

Manor Vampires. They were emerald nightmares of aristocratic decay. Tall, elongated forms clad in tattered vestiges of finery.

Their faces were smooth, pale ovals dominated by mouths that split too wide, lined with needle-sharp fangs of solid green light. Their hands ended in long, spectral claws.

A dozen of them solidified, their burning green eyes fixing on the living heat behind the wall of bone.

Percival could tell from their eyes that were intelligent. But that didn’t stop them from being loud. In unison, they let out a psychic screech that vibrated in the teeth and soul.

"SKREEEEEE—!"

The swarm flickered forward, but rather than running towards Percival and his Skeletons, they attacked with disorienting, teleportive bursts.

The first Vampire materialized inside the skeleton line, bypassing the shields, aiming directly for Percival’s exposed neck from behind. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The reek of garlic hit it like a wall. It recoiled, hissing in confusion and disgust, its form shimmering.

Percival turned around, watching the visceral reaction from the Vampire. ’So the garlic does work,’ he thought with relief.

The tactical hesitation was a second. One of the Skeleton Soldiers with simple armor pivoted and drove its blade through the creature’s back. The steel passed through, doing nothing.

Percival looked at the bone Summon who looked at him, wondering what to do next. Percival turned to the other Skeletons. "Furnace Steels! Focus on attack! Others, try to draw the attention of the Vampires to give opening for the Furnace Steels."

This was because the Skeletons wielding the Blazeforged Blades had Soulfire coating their weapons which would allow damage on the Vampires.

"Soulfire affects them!" Percival barked. "They are spiritual parasites! Use Soulfire!"

The Skeletons exploded into attack, executing Percival’s orders.

Him on the other hand, spun the War-Scythe, the garlic-smeared black iron a blur. He didn’t put strength into the swing; he poured ⸢Soulfire⸥ into the blade.

Cold blue flame wreathed the crescent edge.

The confused Vampire turned from the skeleton back to him, and at that moment, the scythe finished its arc.

Rather than simply cutting the mist, the Soulfire-laden edge sheared the cohesive energy holding it together.

The vampire’s shriek was cut short as its upper torso dissolved into dissipating green motes, the rest collapsing into inert vapor.

⸢You have slain a Demon, Manor Vampire⸥

⸢+500 EXP⸥

Soon enough, the Vampires adapted. They swarmed the Skeletons, not to drain, but to disable.

Claws of solid green energy raked across bone, chipping, cracking. A new recruit’s arm was sheared off. It fought on, stabbing with its remaining hand. The Vampires learned they couldn’t feed, but they could break.

They evaded Percival because of the revolting smell of garlic. However, they were only buying time, waiting for the smell to fade away so they could feast on him.

Percival didn’t let that happen.

The earlier vanguard had died, not because these Vampires were more powerful than them, but because they had no idea what they were getting into.

They hadn’t prepared.

Percival was more than prepared. He was basically immune to their attacks, coated by both Soulfire and garlic.

He headed into the chaos, the scythe a whirlwind of death. Each sweep was economical, a precise harvest.

Forced to attack, a Vampire lunged for his flank; he dropped low, the scythe hooking upwards to catch it under the jaw, Soulfire blazing as he ripped its essence out.

The garlic aura around him created a disruptive zone. The Vampires striking near him faltered, their attacks becoming sluggish, mist-like claws failing to fully solidify.

But there were too many.

A Vampire phased through a skeletal shield and landed on Percival’s back.

He felt an agonizing, soul-deep cold as spectral fangs sought his neck but scraped against the garlic-smeared, newly upgraded armor.

The fangs cracked against the neck armor, but the draining chill seeped through, sapping his stamina.

Grunting, he slammed himself backwards into a pillar, crushing the Vampire between obsidian and stone. It dissipated with a wail.

"Newbies, compress! Furnace Steels, on me!" he commanded his Soldiers, mapping the fray.

The Skeletons tightened their circle, presenting a solid wall of bone and enchanted steel. The Vampires, frustrated by the tasteless, unyielding Skeletons and repelled by Percival’s garlic-shield, concentrated their attacks on him.

That was his plan.

He let them come. He became the vortex.

A Vampire leader, larger, with a tattered crown of green energy, gestured. Six Vampires converged on him in a coordinated blink, ignoring the skeletons entirely.

Percival’s eyes narrowed. Now.

He didn’t try to block all six. He focused on the leader. As the others’ cold claws raked at his Bone Armor, draining him, chipping the white plates away, he unleashed a skill he’d barely used:

⸢Entropy Wave⸥.

Channeling it through the scythe, he slammed the butt into the ground. A visible wave of necrotic, violet energy rippled out from him. It didn’t harm the vampires physically, but it corroded the chaotic mana that bound them.

Their forms flickered, becoming translucent, unstable. Many of them dissipated into nothingness.

⸢You have slain a Demon, Manor Vampire⸥

⸢+500 EXP⸥

⸢You have slain a Demon, Manor Vampire⸥

⸢+500 EXP⸥

⸢You have slain a Demon, Manor Vampire⸥

⸢+500 EXP⸥

In that moment of disruption, he exploded forward. ⸢Reaper’s Veil⸥ activated. He became a blur of blue mist and black iron, slipping through a claw strike. He appeared before the stunned leader.

He swung the War-Scythe, targeting the high mid-section of the emerald demon.

The Soulfire-drenched blade passed through the vampire king’s chest. There was no resistance, only a silent, spiritual conflagration.

The creature’s eyes of green fire widened, then imploded into darkness. Its body unraveled from the inside out, a cascade of extinguished emerald light that sucked the stability from the lesser vampires around it.

⸢You have slain a Demon, Manor Vampire Leader⸥

⸢+800 EXP⸥

The remaining Vampires shrieked, their forms wavering. The Furnace Steel Skeletons pressed the advantage, their weapons burning with Soulfire.

They became lethal, cutting down the disoriented demons.

The green mist in the room recoiled, streaming back towards the portraits and the upper floors, leaving behind the scorched, bone-littered marble and the fading stench of garlic and ozone.

Percival stood panting, taking in air that tasted like a kitchen because of the garlic. His Skeletons were all untouched, not a single ounce of HP had left them.

Percival stared. Could it be that this Demon Gate was the best Dungeon for his Summons to grind?