Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 148: Psychic Battle

Percival immediately used the Skill to his advantage. He swung his blade and shot the flames, killing the Demons faster than he would have with Soulfire.

He summoned his Skeletons to help with the numbers, and as effective as they were, being empowered by mana made it easy to cause them damage.

Lewis, following Percival’s words, was starting to get an idea of what he was capable of.

When a Manor Vampire lunged at him, he shot his staff forward, filtering away the ambient mana of the room and capturing the mana of the Demon.

Then, exerting Strength and Dexterity, he tore the mana apart, and at the same time, ripping the Vampire into bits.

He was shocked by it. Percival? Not so much. He knew that an Arcanist at that level was strong enough to do something like that and was only being held back by people who didn’t want him to use it against them.

Mercius, meanwhile, stood at the center of the battle. He used the Paragon Blade to execute the Vampires, and especially the Revenants who desperately wanted to flee from him.

A being that could not die, yet could kill them with his holy magic. They were terrified. Percival and Lewis were easier targets in their demonic opinions.

Green sparks erupted from everywhere as Mercius murdered them. Demons after Demons detonated to ash as the Brackenbutcher welcomed them to his slaughterhouse.

Percival pivoted on his heel, his hand locked onto the hilt of the Basilisk. The Swordcase on his back served as a counterweight as he spun, the blade screaming as it sliced the face of a Vampire—fangs wide and everything.

Without the reach of his scythe, he relied on the sword’s efficiency. It was what he was used to anyways. It was faster, sharper, deadlier in close quarters such as this.

Two Vampires advanced on his flank, their claws elongating into green energy spears. Percival’s slash caught them both.

The blade cut deep into their mana-flesh, through ribcage and spine, and they dissolved mid-stride, their shrieks swallowed by the detonations of their own forms.

But the girl... She wouldn’t stop screaming.

"WHY WON’T YOU HELP ME?!" she begged.

The psychic force of it struck Percival like it was material. His vision spun as the room twisted into visions... memories it seemed.

But they were not his own. They were hers. Her life. Her suffering. Her disgrace in the hands of villagers. Someone like her didn’t deserve this fate, not after all she went through.

He had to save her.

The ⸢Despair Aura⸥ radiating from the Revenants added to this psychic suffering. Percival felt his resolve cracking, the girl’s pain pressing down on his shoulders.

He bit down on his lip. Hard.

The sharp spike of pain—copper tang of blood, the grounding sensation of his own flesh—cleared his head for a fraction of a second. He forced his eyes open, forced himself to see the battlefield, not the visions.

Three Vampires closing from the left. Two Revenants floating near the ceiling, their spectral blades dripping with energy. Another Vampire reforming from mist near the wardrobe.

The girl in the center, pressing that silver dagger against her throat, a single ruby droplet trailing down her pale skin.

His eyes drifted to his side and he saw Lewis walking. He was going to the girl again.

"Lewis, DON’T!"

Percival lunged, grabbing the boy’s shoulder and hurling him backward with all his strength. Lewis crashed behind the wall of Mercius’s shield, the impact snapping him out of the trance.

A Revenant struck at Percival and he quickly parried with his Blade, calculating as he did.

’I need to use ⸢Enslave⸥. But they’re way too many of them! Even with my Skeletons. And their levels are high. Level 70 and 80. My Charisma and Constitution aren’t high enough to dominate a swarm this size. If I try to bind them all at once, the mana backlash will hurt my cores’

He looked down at his Anchor Ring after cleaving down the Revenant. "Purple. I definitely can not handle it."

Still, he knew that these Demons: the Vampires and Revenants were useful. Getting them into his Summons meant he had more warriors to weaponize.

But first, he would have to cull the herd. To reduce them to a manageable number that could be enslaved.

"We have to thin them out!" Percival said as he realized his Skeletons were failing and the numbers of the Demons were not reducing.

He exploded forward, his movements fueled by pure, desperate agility. The Basilisk Blade in his hands became a hurricane of black death, each strike was calculated, economical, brutal.

Vampires and Revenants died. But more replaced them.

"PLEASE!"

The girl’s shriek came again as she drove the dagger a fraction tighter against her skin.

Another drop of blood—ruby red, impossibly bright—traced a path down her neck. The sight of it increased the compelling magic again, drawing Percival and Lewis into her aid.

Lewis screamed in frustration. But Percival grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to stay still.

Vampires dove at him to suck his blood. "I can’t! I can’t anymore. The mental toll is too much. Why is it calling me to save her and telling me I can’t? Why are these Vampires so terrifying?!"

The Arcanist hit the ground hard, groaning in frustration while Mercius protected him from the blood-sucking Vampires and sword-swinging Revenants.

Percival stood there, chest heaving, sweat stinging his eyes, the ⸢Despair Aura⸥ relentlessly sapping his stamina. The Swordcase on his back felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Every breath was a battle.

He looked at the room—the lavish chamber, the canopy bed, the velvet curtains, the endless swarm of green constructs crawling from every shadow.

Where the hell was the Demon Source?

No matter how many they killed, the room replenished them. The mana-flesh reformed. The swarm persisted.

The kills gave EXP, but how long could they keep going until they burned out? How long until they surrendered to the seduction and was killed by the aura surrounding that girl?

What kind of Encounter Zone was this? What kind of Gate World was this?

He took a deep breath, finding his calm as he used ⸢Blade Rain⸥ to kill numbers of the Demons, turning the ground to demonic ash.

"Get up!" he shouted, pulling Lewis from the ground. "As long as the Source is active, they’ll keep coming! We have to find the DEMON SOURCE!"