Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 92: No Good to Die

He had used up most of his Swordsman mana on high grade Skills in the name of efficiency. Even with the Elixirs he looted in this Zone and the ones prior, he ran out of the magical energy in no time.

Not only did Elixirs increase MP meagerly, the mana quality was inferior compared to ambient mana gathered during sleep.

He was running on fumes and still couldn’t find where the damned Beast Source was.

More threats came.

The Ice Gators (Lvl 75) awaited in the deeper, frozen channels. Semi-aquatic, they used the ice itself as a weapon.

With a concussive tail-slap, they could trigger ⸢Fracture Lines⸥, causing massive sheets of ice to calve and flip like monstrous traps.

Percival saw one of his Skeleton Soldiers vanish under a thousand-ton slab of blue ice.

With his Swordsman mana as low as it was, the only High-Grade Skill he could afford was ⸢Monarch’s Tread⸥.

He used it to find footing as he battled his way through the Ice Gators.

To make matters worse, more of the earlier beasts kept coming. The Frilled Lizards and the Evil-eyed Saurs.

The battle became brutal. More and more of Percival’s Skeletons died. Numbers reduced from his attributes, his mana and even his Health that he was saving to use on Blood Sacrifice later.

But good news came at last.

Finally, he saw on his Summon Map that the Skeleton Soldier had found the Beast Source.

Percival didn’t waste a second. He activated ⸢Summon Swap⸥, trading places with the Undead Soldier.

He appeared instantly on the narrow, frost-bitten ledge.

High above a jagged ridge, hanging precariously from the cavern’s vaulted ceiling like a frozen, sharp tooth, was a large, thin pyramid of ice.

With such a form, it made sense why it had been difficult to find it. Only the sickening, geothermal heat that distorted the mist around it, made it stand out from the other ice pyramids.

Not wasting a second, Percival swung his sword to the heart of the Beast Source.

It changed, shocking his wrist.

Percival huffed. Lightpiercer was B-Grade, so it would take a while for it to destroy an A-Grade Beast Source.

He had noticed the same thing back in the Mangrove Battlefield.

Nevertheless, he struck the pyramid of ice a few more times until his sword struck through it.

It detonated into a million diamond-like shards, the corrupt heat within it vanishing into the frigid air.

Percival looked down from the ledge.

Below, his Skeleton army—now including the Soldier he had just swapped—was being ripped apart. The Frilled Lizards and Evil-eyed Saurs were closing in on the survivors, unaware that their lifeline had been severed.

Percival was about to leap down to finish the battle, but he felt something right at that moment. Something terrifying.

He spun around to see a giant being made of ice. A monster with crooked ice heads, giant ice hands and tail made of the same frozen water with ice spikes jutting out of its end.

It was the final beast of this Encounter Zone.

A Frozen Ankylosaurus (Lvl 90)

Percival tried to move, but the cold had seeped into his marrow, slowing his usually fast reactions.

Even worse, his Swordsman mana was a flickering candle, and he was still desperately hoarding his Necromancer mana for the final stand.

He raised Lightpiercer, trying to trigger a defensive stance, but the damned beast was too fast.

The Ankylosaurus swung a giant ice hand. Percival caught the blow on his blade, but his depleted Strength couldn’t hold back the beast’s.

It sent him skidding across the ledge, his boots failing to find purchase as ⸢Monarch’s Tread⸥ which he tried to activate, flickered out from lack of mana.

⸢Swordsman Mana: 102/5000⸥.

Before he could stabilize, the spiked tail whistled through the air. Percival threw himself to the side, but an ice spike grazed his ribs, piercing through his armor and leaving a trail of frost-bitten flesh.

He coughed, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. His attributes were depleted, his muscles screaming under the weight of the G-force and the biting cold.

He swung Lightpiercer in a desperate arc, but the blade merely chipped the beast’s frozen hide.

The Frozen Ankylosaurus roared from all its crooked heads, a sound like grinding glaciers. It slammed both giant hands into the ledge.

The stone shattered. Percival was tossed into the air like a ragdoll, his vision swimming as he hit a sharp spire of ice.

"Nghhh!" he groaned, falling into ice.

He wasn’t going to die. He knew that. His HP was too large. But he had almost no numbers left in his Attributes, which meant he was too weak.

He was so weak that he would actually die.

Because he couldn’t do anything but allow himself to beaten till his massive well of HP finally trickled to that fatal ⸢0⸥.

He tried to reach for his sword. The move now was to spend his Necromancer mana. Saving it would do him no good if he died.

Once he used ⸢Blood Sacrifice⸥, he could spend whatever was left of his HP for all he cared. As for now, just survive that giant ice monster.

His fingers caught purchase on the hilt of his sword and he slowly wrapped them around it. Grunting, he pushed up to his knees, glaring at the Frozen Ankylosaurus as it marched towards him.

To the ice beast, he was easy prey. And Percival couldn’t argue with that fact.

If his Necromancer mana wasn’t enough to take down this monster, then what was next?

Even now, it was slowly trickling away, sustaining his Skeletons battling the Evil-eyed Saurs and the Frilled Lizards below.

’...’

His Skeletons?

Percival squinted his eyes, searching through the haze to see what was happening in front of him.

The few remaining Skeletons had already finished off the beasts in the channel below. Somehow, they had scrambled up the crags and were throwing themselves at the Ankylosaurus.

They were defending their master.