Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 147: Compelling Charm

"Please..." the young suicidal woman in the Demon Gate World begged. Her voice drifted into Percival’s and Lewis’s minds, sweet and broken. "I can’t bear it anymore... someone, save me from this..."

"Stop!" Lewis cried out, his voice raw as he stepped forward, raising a hand toward the balcony. "Don’t do it!"

Percival immediately threw his arm out, catching Lewis rigidly across the chest and hauling him back.

"Stop that," Percival hissed, his eyes locked on the woman. "She can’t hear you. She can’t see you. She can’t even see the Demons crawling all around her."

Lewis struggled against Percival’s grip, confused and panicked. "What are you talking about? Isn’t the goal of this Encounter Zone to stop her from killing herself? To save her? It’s the Suicide Manor!"

"No," Percival said, eyeing the room analytically. "If we interfere, we are likely going to die."

Percival pointed a gauntleted finger toward the balcony. "Look closer. Look at the air around her."

Lewis squinted, channeling a fraction of his mana into his eyes. He gasped.

The space immediately surrounding the weeping princess wasn’t just air. It was a violently distorted pocket of space, thickly laced with a swirling, invisible vortex of lethal dark magic.

It was a spatial curse so dense that if Lewis even brushed it, his physical body would be instantly vaporized, or aged into dust within a millisecond.

"Our purpose is the exact same as it was before the clocktower," Percival explained, his blue eyes sweeping over the hissing Vampires and the lumbering Revenants. "We kill the Demons. That woman, the dagger, the tragedy... we cannot interact with it."

He drew the Basilisk Blade from his Sword Case, the snake steel gleaming in the pale light.

"Everything else around us," Percival muttered, "is just a story being told."

Ding!

The Gate World arrived with a notification, revealing the Zone’s quest.

⸢The Suicide Chamber⸥

⸢Kill the threat, then follow your gut⸥.

Lewis, panting with confusion and fear, looked around the room. "There’s so many of them. So many Demons. Their levels are really high too. Can we handle them all?"

Percival narrowed his eyes. Lewis was right. There were so many Demons crowded up in the unnaturally vast room. He scanned the titles floating above their shoulders.

⸢Threat Detected:Manor Vampire (Lvl 70)⸥

⸢Skills: Blood Drain | Life Siphon | Physical Immunity⸥

⸢Threat Detected: Manor Revenant (Lvl 80)⸥

⸢Skills: Despair Aura - Passively drains stamina and willpower of targets within 10 meters | Dark Cleave - Powerful sword strikes that affect mana and mental energy⸥

Percival poured Soulfire from his grip and it spiralled around the Basilisk Blade. Mercius tightened his grasp on the Paragon, his blue eyes burning with preparation. Lewis summoned his long golden staff.

They glared at the Demons, and the Demons glared back. But rather than attacking as they mindlessly did, they were watching, waiting.

But waiting for what?

A silence immediately engulfed the room. Then, they heard the girl speak again.

"Save me..." she sobbed, the dagger trembling at her throat. "Help me."

Percival’s eyes shot open. Following her words were rays of pinkish, hypnotic mana that was radiating from her. Or the energy around her.

Despite his armor’s Aspect that protected him from environmental defects, the magic still struck Percival. He felt it everywhere, but especially in his chest. His heart.

It was a sudden, unexplainable and overwhelming urge to drop his sword and run to comfort her. It didn’t feel like mere magic; it was more of a pull, an assault on human empathy.

Beside him, Lewis actually dropped his hands and staff. He took another step toward the center of the room where Demons awaited, tears welling in his own eyes. "She’s just a girl... I have to..."

"Mercius, stop him!" Percival roared.

The massive undead Knight stepped right in front of Lewis. With no human heart to manipulate, the Brackenbutcher was completely free from the Encounter Zone’s spell.

Mercius raised his greatsword, blocking the boy’s path just as a Vampire materialized from the shadows in a burst of green mist.

CLANG!

Mercius caught the Vampire’s claws on his blade. Sparks flew, illuminating the monster’s fanged sneer.

Percival grabbed Lewis by the collar of his shirt and yanked him backward so violently the Arcanist stumbled.

"Snap out of it!" Percival snarled, shaking him. "She is the trap! The compulsion is an Area-of-Effect charm! If you step into her circle, they will butcher you while you’re crying over her!"

Percival couldn’t completely blame Lewis. If he with an Aspect that defended against such things, and a high Intelligence and Constitution, could still get compelled, then Lewis barely stood a chance.

Lewis blinked, shaking his head rapidly as the illusion broke. He looked at the Vampires swarming Mercius. Panic set in. "There’s too many! What do I do?!"

"You’re an Arcanist," Percival said, preparing to fight. "These creatures are completely composed of mana. Can you not see it?"

Lewis trained his eyes, then exclaimed. "I... yes! It’s not my mana vision, but it’s something else. I can actually feel them. They’re chaotic. Very."

"Then disrupt them," Percival said. "If they are mana made flesh and you can control mana, then you should be able to control their forms. To distort it."

Lewis stared. "That seems more complicated than just seeing them, Hero."

"You’re an Arcanist," Percival deadpanned. "Your entire power is complicated."

The Demons got past Mercius, realizing he was dead, and swarmed towards Percival and Lewis. Percival spun the Basilisk Blade and swung as a Revenant attacked with his own blade.

Its sword would have phased through Percival’s weapon and armor if not for the Soulfire coated around the Blade, creating a blast of death energy that pushed the zombified knight backwards.

The Revenant twisted its grip and swung at Percival from the side. Just then, a Vampire appeared in Percival’s safe spot, forcing him to ⸢Grave Step⸥ out of the way.

He used the momentum to his advantage however, blinking behind the Revenant and beheading it with his Soulfire-coated blade.

With a snarl, the Manor Vampire lunged at him, but Percival shot out the blue flame from his free hand, hurling backwards.

A fierce roar escaped the Necromancer and his eyes suddenly took a new color: Purple. And so did the flame in his hand.

⸢New Skill Unlocked: Soulscorch⸥

- ⸢Soulscorch: Stronger form of Soulfire that causes 20% more damage⸥