Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 126: Blind As A Bat

In another Gate World, in a province not too far from the Neverglades, Percival was preparing against a new surge of threats.

"Awake."

With his dark command, the rotting carpet of the hallway took up in blue flames as the bone figures formed, wielding their swords and shields.

He had twenty of them summoned. Seventeen Skirmishers and three Rangers. This time, Percival planned to use a more passive approach.

He wasn’t completely certain what these Demon Bats were capable of, so he couldn’t simply throw himself into the fight.

With the Manor Vampires, he had some information because of his ⸢Spectral Memory⸥ Skill. In this case, he was as blind as the Bats themselves.

So, his Skeleton Soldiers were to become expendable. First, he would see how the Demon Bats attacked them, then, he would decide on his own form of attack.

"Create a defensive arc!" Percival ordered. "Skirmishers in front. Rangers, find a height and shoot the Bats from there."

The twenty skeletons moved with a synchronized clatter, snapping into a tight phalanx around their master.

More green mist burst out of corners, adding to the swarm of Vampiric Demon Bats. Their mouths burst open and they let out echoing screeches that carried green aura.

The sound was a spiritual assault.

When the Skeletons raised their shields, Percival saw that the devil shriek bypassed physical armor and rattled them.

For a person, it would have caused a migraine, a burning sensation in the chest, and even soul energy reduction.

But for the Percival’s Skeletons, it was agony.

Soul energy was the lifeform of the Skeletons. It wasn’t just an energy that empowered them like it did mortals, it was life itself for them.

And unlike the Manor Vampires, the Bats didn’t need to bite to attack the soul. Their shrieks did it for them

This meant that the Skeletons were now in a heavier threat than before. If care wasn’t taken, these Bats could kill them all.

When the green shrieks struck them, the blue soul-fire in their eye sockets flickered violently. Their bones vibrated, threatening to unknit.

A Skeleton to Percival’s left buckled, its knee joint shaking as the sonic waves destabilized the mana holding it together.

Percival gritted his teeth. He felt it too. It made him wonder; if he could feel the vibration in his own chest, then how hurtful was it for his Skeletons?

The response came with multiple damage reduction in all twenty undead standing before him.

Percival thought fast. He pushed his hand forward and activated ⸢Radiant Guard⸥.

The Swordsman defensive Skill burst forward in the form of a semi-translucent, golden barrier. It manifested a dome of protective mana.

Since it wasn’t a physical construct, the dome could take the devil shrieks and spread it across its curved form, absorbing the energy until it eventually shattered itself.

The Demon Bats crashed against the ⸢Guard⸥. Others used their shrieks constantly to try to destabilize and destroy the solid magical entity.

Percival had enough Stamina to keep the Skill good for a long time. But its cooldown was fast approaching.

Rather than allow the dome to implode on itself, he turned it into an offensive Skill.

This could simply be done by expanding the ⸢Radiant Guard⸥, using the kinetic energy gotten from the shrieks and collisions, then outblasting it to the outside threat.

Percival clenched his outstretched fist, then released.

The golden dome compressed for a second, then expanded with sudden speed and exploded at the same time.

The Demon Bats were all caught in the blast. They became disoriented, wings fluttering aimlessly as the mana distorted their systems.

Percival narrowed his eyes. His Skeletons were reanimated by soul energy, death mana. However, these Demons were completely created by mana and from mana.

Attacks that affected mana were going to cause way more damage.

"Attack now that they’re destabilized!" Percival ordered from within his sanctuary. "They are mindless Demons! You are soldiers! Show them the difference!"

The Skeletons, bolstered by their master’s will, regained their footing. The shaking stopped. Their eye-flames roared back to a steady, cold blue.

As the Bats spun around in the air, trying and failing to gain control of themselves, the Skeletons, all wielding Blazeforged Blades attacked mercilessly.

The blue burning swords pierced through their green smoking bodies, dissecting them into halves, others into several halves.

Soon, the Demon Bats were all dead. Percival’s EXP rose closer to completion for Lvl 50. He eyed the gloomy nest; the Demon Source.

However, he decided to wait. After this next wave of Demon Bats, when he reaches Lvl 50, he’d destroy the Demon Source.

"Take your positions again," Percival ordered them. "Like I taught you. Now that we know how that they’re completely vulnerable to your Blazeforged Blades and other mana attacks, we use it to our advantage."

SHRIEEEEEEKKKKK!

Another cry of Bats pierced into the air. Percival’s brows creased with concentration. "Follow my lead."

Percival watched as the next wave of Demon Bats burst forward from the ends of the corridor. He eyed the ⸢Radiant Guard⸥ Skill waiting to be activated.

However, it was still on cooldown with 6 seconds left.

He waited, watching as they got closer and closer.

5 seconds left.

4... 3... 2... 1!

⸢Radiant Guard⸥!

Just as the Bats opened their hideous jaws and ejected the devil shrieks, the dome of translucent gold covered Percival and his Undead.

The green sound waves crashed against the ⸢Guard⸥. A dozen of the Bats also crashed into the shield wall, their needle-teeth gnawing at the magical energy with a sound like scratch metal.

Leathery wings beat against the dome, venom-drool sizzling where it dripped onto the floor. The Skeletons waited for the order of the master.

Like they had been told, they held the line, bone fingers locked on shield grips, feet planted in the carpet.

The bats recoiled for a second strike, wings coiling back.

That half-second was all Percival and his Skeletons needed.

He immediately detonated the ⸢Guard⸥ once again, sending the Bats on a spiral.

Three of the Skeletons in the front row thrust their swords upward through the now open space. The timing was perfect—the bats were mid-swoop, mouths open, throats exposed.

SHUNK. SHUNK. SHUNK.

The blades punched through soft mana-made tissue and out the backs of skulls. The Bats’ screeches cut short, replaced by wet gurgles as their bodies dissolved into streams of grey ash mid-air.

"Switch!" Percival ordered.

The front row of Skeletons immediately dropped to one knee in unison, shields tilting forward but staying high.

The row behind them stepped into the gap, blades already swinging in wide, disciplined arcs that covered every blind spot. S

Steel met mana, fur and fang with Swordsman-level precision.

It was a meat grinder. The Bats, driven by nothing but chaotic hunger, threw themselves against a wall of calculated violence.

Each attack against the shields, and each time, the swords found their marks. Ash piled on the carpet. The green ichor of the dead made the marble slick.

Without ⸢Radiant Guard⸥ however, they did suffer significant damage, but their perfect sword strikes killed each mammal bird instantly.

Percival was not idle.

Whenever a bat managed to loop over the shield wall—exploiting a momentary gap created by their shrieks or the sheer chaos of numbers—the War-Scythe was there to meet it.

He moved through the edges of the formation like a shadow, using ⸢Grave Step⸥ like a dancer. A murderous dancer.

The massive black iron blade was always in motion.

One Demon Bat, larger than the rest, peeled away from the swarm and dove straight for Percival’s exposed neck.

Its mouth was wide, neon-green venom dripping from fangs that could punch through plate. It came fast, faster than the others, a blur of leathery mana and hunger. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Percival could sense the Bat’s movement even though he wasn’t looking. Even though he was concentrated on killing the smaller, more annoying ones, his Perception revealed everything to him.

He could feel the displacement of air, the shift in pressure. The trajectory was basically painted in his mind.

He spun the scythe behind his back in a fluid, contemptuous arc.

The black iron blade caught the Bat mid-dive, the creature’s own momentum driving it onto the edge. With a single, effortless tug, he sliced it clean in half.

⸢Critical Hit!⸥

The two halves fell on either side of him, dissolving before they hit the ground.

"Too slow," Percival muttered, stepping sideways to avoid the falling entrails that hadn’t yet turned to ash.

He couldn’t risk the possible effects that came with those things touching him.

⸢You have killed the Demon Bat King (Lvl 48)⸥

⸢+700 EXP⸥