Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 78: Draconian Slaughter

The Leader struck his face with a clawed slap, then grabbed him by the head and slammed him through a root, shattering the heavy thing and dragging his body through the mud.

Percival felt so light in its hand. So light that the Draconian Leader couldn’t even feel the weight of its own hand.

’...’

"Ngyaaahhh!!!"

That was because its hand—the one it’d been using to drag Percival through the mud and root-covered earth—had been sliced right off.

Suddenly, the wolf-haired Swordsman leaped right in front of the Leader’s face. It let out another shriek, this one of terror rather than pain.

Holding its wounded arm, it turned on its heel and began to run away.

Click-CLACK! Click-CLACK! It cried, a subsonic pulse that vibrated in Percival’s teeth.

It was calling for help.

From behind roots and under the mud, more Stalkers arrived.

Some dropped from above, others from the barks of the trees. They surrounded him, giving the pack leader time to escape.

The six Skeletons fought off as many as they could, but more still came.

Percival waited, knowing that he could save mana if he executed them all with one Skill rather than use a Skill for each one.

He waited a little longer as his world narrowed into a circle of scales and spears. He breathed, centering himself. Calculate.

One Stalker lunged, then another, and then all of them.

⸢Whirlwind Cut⸥

Percival executed the Swordsman move with perfect timing and expedition, infusing ⸢Soulfire⸥ into the blade.

Blood and heads flew, turning the circle of lizard men into torn scales and scattered limbs.

But even then, more Stalkers attacked from everywhere. One appeared from his right, lunging as Percival advanced for the leader.

He parried the lunge, stepped inside its reach, and drove his pommel into its throat, crushing its windpipe.

The lizard man staggered backwards but Percival didn’t wait for it to fall. He twisted his blade and stabbed the beast right through its chest.

He drew his sword out and the Draconian collapsed with a thud, the puncture in its heart leaking the blue ichor of ⸢Soulfire⸥.

⸢Draconian Stalker killed (×14)⸥

⸢+2660 EXP⸥

⸢Title Bonus: +3900 EXP⸥

A huge boost. With his Skeletons battling other Stalkers, he was likely to leave this Encounter Zone at Lvl 30.

But first, he would have to survive the Zone first.

His eyes caught a movement and Percival spun around just in time.

CLANG! CLANG!

He somersaulted over the head of his attacker. It was the leader, now wielding a pure black dagger and even more interesting, having both of its hands.

⸢Rapid Regeneration: Draconian Stalkers regenerate severed limbs and tails in seconds⸥.

Percival’s brows creased. ’Must’ve missed that.’

Ngyaaahhh!

The Leader shrieked as it attacked. It was faster with the dagger. Its strikes were fluid, brutal, and precise, proving that it was the apex of this land.

The master hunter.

However, Percival was a master Swordsman.

He matched the beast at every attack.

Percival was faster but the Draconian was stronger. Both of them had mana fueling their every moves, by even though Percival fell the lizard beast with just one Skill, he preferred spending HP at the moment rather than MP.

So, their blades continued to meet in a staccato rhythm of sparks.

Clang-clang-clang-CLANG!

He gave ground, letting the Draconian Leader push him toward the edge of the root.

Others joined in, closing in on Percival.

But the Swordsman didn’t panic. He simply waited for the opening that he knew would come.

And it did.

A young Stalker, overeager, charged his flank.

Instead of dodging, Percival grabbed its spear arm as it thrust, yanked it forward, and used its body as a shield against the Leader’s dagger strike.

The obsidian blade sank into its own kin’s chest. Percival kicked the dying creature into the Leader, creating a split-second of imbalance.

Now.

He didn’t use a Skill. He used raw, honed Speed.

He dropped low, under the Leader’s retaliatory swing, and swept its legs. The beast fell backward. Percival was on it in an instant, his knee pinning its weapon arm.

The Leader’s free hand shot up, claws aiming for his eyes. Percival caught the wrist, straining against its monstrous strength.

He could feel its hot, fetid breath.

The Leader was enraged, furious. But heck, who wouldn’t be? It was about to die to an Awakener who was ranked too low to even challenge this Gate World.

Percival eyed his Necromancer mana.

⸢Mana: 693/1800⸥

Ngyaaahhh! The Leader yelled again, straining up against Percival, rising to its fist.

Percival glared at him. ’Your stronger than I expected.’

He released the wrist, but before the Draconian could strike back, he headbutted it square in the snout.

Scales cracked. The beast shrieked, dazed while in pain.

Percival rolled off, snatched Lightpiercer from where it had fallen, and flooded it with every drop of death mana he could muster.

⸢Soulfire⸥ erupted along the blade, not just coating it, but causing it to scream with a silent, soul-rending frequency.

The Leader scrambled up, shaking its head, its camouflage flickering wildly.

Rather than charging, Percival stood and waited.

The Leader turned to him, yellow eyes filled with rage. It hissed, ignoring the defense set up by its kin and launched itself in a furious vertical blitz.

Straight through the air the lizard beast went, a purple bullet aimed to tackle Percival off the edge.

Percival moved at the last possible microsecond.

Rather than stepping aside, he stepped in, spinning on the ball of his foot.

Everything became a blur. The Leader’s outstretched claws passed over his shoulder, its momentum carrying it past him.

In the heart of that spin, Percival reversed his grip and thrust Lightpiercer backward with such precision it could have been the work of a surgeon.

The Soulfire-engulfed blade met the Leader’s descending back.

It punched through the dense purple scales, through the spine with a sickening crunch, and exploded out of the creature’s sternum in a burst of blue flame and splintered bone.

Percival completed his spin, now standing behind the impaled Leader, his hand firmly on the hilt of the sword that transfixed the beast mid-air.

The Leader shuddered, a wet, gurgling hiss escaping its maw. It looked down at the blue-tipped steel protruding from its chest, its yellow eyes dimming with shock.

Percival twisted the blade once, viciously, snuffing out the last of its life.

He withdrew the sword. The massive body slumped to the root, dark blood pooling in the grooves of the ancient wood.

⸢You have slain a Draconian Stalker Leader (Lvl. 58)⸥

⸢+250 EXP⸥

⸢Title Bonus: +375 EXP⸥

Almost at that same time, a silence slowly descended on the Mangrove. Percival could hear the sounds of dying battles at every corner.

He checked his Summon Map.

His Skeleton teams had prevailed, but they were battered. HP averaged: 45%. Two were critically damaged.

Percival activated ⸢Soul Draught⸥.

Numbers of corpses all over the expanse exploded into blue flames and died off. The health bars of his Skeletons trickled up to full.

⸢Skeleton Summons HP: 100%⸥

⸢Congratulations! You have leveled up!⸥

⸢Lvl 28 → Lvl 29⸥

Percival let out a sigh, the adrenaline ebbing.

His Necromancer Mana was 640/1800.

He had done a perfect job of managing the magical energy, but he knew the job wasn’t done yet.

Not even in this very Encounter Zone.

He needed more elixirs.

But as he moved to start looting, a new sound froze him.

CAAAAAW!

The leaves shook. The trees shuddered. This new sound echoed through the cavern of roots.

It was answered by another, and another, from above.

CAAAAAW! CAAAAW!!

Percival looked up.

Through the thick canopy, he saw vast, leathery wings blot out the faint light.

They were here already. The Swamp Wyverns.

Those monstrous lizard birds with mossy and scaled hides. And perched on their backs, holding the reins and spears, were more Draconian Stalkers.

The leader was dead, but the pack had just summoned the cavalry.

Percival hurriedly called the rest of his Skeletons to his position.

"Archers!" he shouted.