Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 140: Blood Lake

The black spiral staircase seemed like a throat of some giant creature trying to strangle the trio.

Every step Percival, Lewis, and Mercius took away from the Library of Midnight Echoes made the cold, dead air down there turn thick and wrong. Humid. Sticky.

The silence, however, was the most terrifying.

"Did you hear that?" Lewis whispered behind the dead Knight.

Percival stopped on a stone step and tilted his head.

The vibration created by the rhythmic pounding of a huge machine somewhere beneath the floor of the house was felt in his boots. He stared at the massive stone wall which was preventing him from discovering the source of the noise.

THUD...THUD...THUD.

It sounded like very large machinery rumbling with urgency and desperation, like someone was working hard and fast on something.

"Keep moving," Percival said emphatically.

When they reached the top of the staircase, a huge archway stood before them: two large, heavy iron doors that had been adorned with beautifully intricate Roman numeral clock face images.

The clock numbers appeared to have been cut by the craftsman in a crazy manner, all over the door, making it obvious that he had gone insane at that point in time.

Percival then stepped forward and pushed.

Thedoors creaked open slowly, as their edges scraped against the stone floor beneath them, and they stepped onto a narrow grating made from iron.

⸢Encounter Zone: The Clocktower of Regret⸥

As soon as they entered, they could feel the instant size of the room; it made them dizzy.

They stood at the base of an enormous hollow tower whose upper reach disapeared into an indefinite void of darkness.

The interior of the tower resembled a nightmare made of frantic construction. Colossal wheels made of brass and iron noisily chomped away at each other in that tower; their teeth were interlocking and working like some sort of dying god’s mouth.

Massive chains that were the width of a tree were suspended in the upper portion of the tower; swinging from them were enormous scythe-shaped pendulums that swooshed back and forth through the open void at terrifying, whistling speed.

Following the outer wall of the tower, there was a deteriorated spiral staircase of fractured stone and corroded grating that wound its way to the top of the tower.

"By the Gods..." Lewis breathed, gripping the railing of the platform. "What is this place?"

Percival studied the Encounter Zone quietly. "This Zone feels different," he muttered, his blue eyes scanning the wheels.

"You can say that again," Lewis said. "The mana feels really weird!"

SLAM!

Without warning, the heavy iron doors behind them violently slammed shut, the locking mechanism engaging with a sound like a thunderclap.

Immediately, the ambient lighting in the tower shifted. The dim, natural gloom was replaced by a harsh, pulsating crimson glow that bled from the bottom of the pit below their platform.

BOOOOOOOM.

A massive bell tolled from the very apex of the tower, sending a physical shockwave down the shaft that rattled Percival’s skin.

"Look!" Lewis pointed high.

Percival and Mercius raised their heads and saw a gigantic clock suspending high in the center of the grinding gears.

The clock face was made of translucent glass that had suddenly lit up. However, it didn’t tell the current time. It only glowed emphatic numbers in red.

⸢03:00⸥

TICK. The numbers shifted.

⸢02:59⸥

"A timer?" Lewis asked, his voice spiking with panic. "A timer for what?!"

Answering his question, a horrifying sound bubbled up from the depths of the tower. It sounded like a massive geyser erupting.

Percival looked over the railing. Fifty feet below their starting platform, the stone floor was cracking open. "Something is coming."

Lewis’s eyes widened, fear crawling through his skin. "I really wished you let me leave, Hero!"

From the fissures, a thick, violently boiling sea of crimson liquid surged upward.

Percival squinted. That was blood. Undeniably, it was. He could tell from the density that it was. But it was boiling blood, steaming and popping.

And it was rising fast.

"What in Azrael’s name?" Lewis swore.

The searing heat instantly hit them, smelling like copper. The boiling blood touched the lowest tier of the iron grating beneath them, and the metal immediately began to hiss, melting and warping under the corrosive, supernatural heat.

"It’s flooding the tower!" Lewis screamed, stepping back from the edge as a spray of red steam blasted past his face.

TICK. TICK. TICK.

⸢02:45⸥

Percival looked up at the clock then down at the rising blood lake. He had been right; this Encounter Zone was different, but this was not at all what he had anticipated. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

In a standard Encounter Zone, the goal was simple: kill the enemies to unlock the door. But this wasn’t a standard zone.

In these type of Zones, rather than physical threats in the form of Beasts or Demons, the environment as well aimed to kill the challenger.

"This is a Survival Zone," Percival said.

Lewis looked at him. "What?"

Mercius didn’t react.

As with other survival-type Encounter Zones, their damage output wasn’t being tested here. Instead, their endurance, their speed, and their ability to perform under extreme, lethal pressure.

Even though Demons would eventually show up, the objective wasn’t to fight. The objective was to survive.

Percival looked up, noticing that there were circular holes on the wall just before the clock. That meant the boiling blood would never reach the clock.

Ding!

⸢Reach the clock before it hits zero or be boiled by the blood of the Vampire King’s enemies⸥.

Lewis stared at the notification, then at Percival. "What do we do?"

Percival returned his scythe in his weaponhold. "You heard it. Climb!" He pointed to the crumbling staircase. "Don’t stop moving, and don’t fall."

"Master, above!" Mercius suddenly warned, stepping in front of Percival and raising his Paragon Blade.

The grinding of the gears and the bubbling of the blood were suddenly drowned out by a deafening, unified screech that tore through the tower.

From the shadows of the massive cogs, hundreds of green eyes snapped open. Then they burst out of their hiding places, revealing themselves.

Demon Vampire Bats.

Percival grimaced. Of course the Zone would only make it more difficult for them.

This time, the Bats were to act as the tower’s defense mechanism. They weren’t meant to kill the intruders outright; they were meant to stall them. To knock them off the narrow stairs. To drag them down into the rising, boiling sea.

⸢02:38⸥

"Let’s go! Get to the stairs!" Percival commanded, his voice cutting through the noise with absolute authority.

"What about them?!" Lewis shrieked, casting a frantic Arcane Bolt that exploded against a swooping Bat.

"Ignore them!" Percival yelled, sprinting toward the first flight of the rusted stairs. "Mercius, keep them away from us!"

"Leave it to me," Mercius said coldly. The Knight charged up the stairs ahead of them, his greatsword leaving ribbons of golden light in the air, instantly cleaving through three Bats that tried to block the narrow ascent.

Behind them, the boiling blood surged higher, violently consuming the platform they had just stood on. The iron melted into slag, sinking into the red depths.

A massive, bladed pendulum swung down from the darkness above, slicing through the empty air just inches from Lewis’s face with a whistling SHHHWK, forcing the Arcanist to throw himself flat against the curving stone wall.

"Isn’t the Bats enough!" Lewis cried.

"Shut up and move!" Percival barked, hauling Lewis up by the scruff of his neck without stopping once.

The heat was blistering. The loud ticks of the clock echoed in their skulls. The Bats were determined to stop them.

The three minutes had begun.