Swordsman's Regression: Reawakened as a Necromancer-Chapter 93: Triple Level Up

As uplifting as the sight was, it was ultimately useless.

The Ankylosaurus didn’t even acknowledge them. Using its tail, it slapped the ground with a concussive force that triggered a localized fracture.

It sent three Skeleton Soldiers flying backwards, crashing into ice hills and snow mounds. A Skirmisher managed to leap onto its back, only to be crushed by one of the giant ice hands as if it were made of dry twigs.

Percival watched, trapped in a haze of pain and exhaustion, as his army was systematically erased.

He knelt there in the slush, his breath coming in ragged, bloody gasps. He could barely lift his sword to fight, and even if he could, he had been so focused on saving his Necromancer mana that his Swordsman mana was now gone.

He looked up as the beast continued to kick and smash the numbers of Skeletons that surrounded it.

The bone warriors were relentless. They kept climbing on the frozen beast, dodging and leaping over its tail and claws as they hacked their swords at it.

Only six Rangers remained, but even them fought diligently, shooting soul burning arrows at the frozen form of the Ankylosaurus.

Percival knew he had to do something. His Skeletons were only taking away trickles of HP from the beast. They would be shattered to the dust of his cold world if he didn’t intervene.

But there was little he could do.

Little was better than nothing.

His fingers began to glow. The glow turned to flames of ⸢Soulfire⸥, and then warped into something more eerie.

It was a greenish color. Not merely green, but sickly. The hue of rot.

Percival suspected that this Skill was better done with his scythe. But at the moment, he was too weak to reach over his shoulder and withdraw the heavy blade.

His hand would have to do.

He stretched out a trembling arm, the sickly emerald warping around his fingers like a rotting evil.

Then, aiming at the Frozen Ankylosaurus on his line of sight, he unleashed the Skill.

⸢Entropy Wave⸥

⸢Description: A mid-range wave of concentrated necrotic energy. Instead of dealing direct physical damage, it accelerates the molecular decay of the target. Bleed damage of 2%⸥

⸢C-Grade⸥

It blasted out of his hand like an eruption at first, a ripple of distorted, green light, then it extended, forming an arc that sped rapidly towards the Ankylosaurus.

It hit the frozen beast full in the chest.

At first, the monster paused, its craggy head tilting as it wondered what had just happened. Then, the results began to manifest.

The brilliant blue ice immediately began to dull, turning a sickly, translucent grey. Cracks formed where the wave touched, spreading like a virus across the beast’s giant hands and crooked heads.

The beast roared, but the sound was weaker, muffled by the sudden softening of its vocal cords.

Percival glanced at his Necromancer mana.

⸢Mana: 405/2250⸥

He could afford another ⸢Entropy Wave⸥.

He pushed a burst of mana from his Core once again, activating the skill, and blasting the ⸢Wave⸥ at the giant ice monster.

Again. Again. And again.

Each Entropy Wave stripped away another layer of the boss’s Level 90 defense, turning its impenetrable ice into something as fragile as wet sand.

Its health began to plummet and Percival’s Skeleton Soldiers—unrelenting as they were—kept on slashing and striking the beast, contributing minimally to the reduction of its HP.

Finally, the Ankylosaurus stumbled.

First, one of its giant ice legs burst into ice shards as the structural integrity of its body failed. It tried to swing its tail, but the spiked end shattered upon impact with the ground.

Because of ⸢Entropy Wave⸥, its entire body had become waste, rot, an aged, weathered form carrying a fierce, young spirit.

Now, its own body was too weak and too heavy to execute what its spirit willed. The ice had become too brittle to hold its own weight.

With the Ankylosaurus’s end near, Percival’s Skeletons lunged forward with renewed vigor.

Shockingly, the beast hadn’t given up on its pursuit of Percival. Even as its health trickled down to the abyss.

⸢300⸥... ⸢275⸥... ⸢200⸥... ⸢160⸥...

It crawled on the frozen earth, dragging its body closer and closer to Percival who merely watched. It was an almost eerie thing to witness; the giant ice beast pulling itself closer to him.

But his Skeletons didn’t let it reach him.

Their burning blades sunk deep into the decayed, softened hide of the beast.

With the boss weakened and its armor turned to white dust, the summons’ basic strikes found purchase easier and caused higher damage.

Just when the Frozen Ankylosaurus was two feet away from Percival, its hand reaching his unmoving face, two Skeletons struck their Blazeforged Blades onto the head of the beast.

NGRAAAAAAHHHHH!

It let out a loud disturbing roar as it shattered into a thousand grey, spiritless fragments. First the head, then the hand reaching out to Percival’s face, and finally, the rest of its frozen body.

Ding!

⸢Frozen Ankylosaurus has been killed (Lvl 80)⸥

⸢+5000 EXP⸥

⸢Title Bonus: 7500 EXP⸥

Percival let his hand drop into the snow, his eyes closing as the silence of the zone finally returned.

He collapsed frontward onto the snow. His face sinking in the white softness, his body shivering, snowflakes resting on his black wolf mane.

Ding!

⸢Congratulations! You have leveled up!⸥

⸢Lvl 31 → Lvl 32⸥

⸢Lvl 32 → Lvl 33⸥

⸢Lvl 33 → Lvl 34⸥

⸢Rewards: ⸥

⸢+1000 Mana⸥

⸢+ 600 Attack⸥

⸢+ 350 Defense⸥

⸢+ 700 Health⸥

⸢All Attributes Increased by +30⸥

⸢+5 Skill Points | +1000 EXP | + 10 Summon Space | + 10,000 Mana Coins⸥

The rewards flooded his vision. It was bountiful. So bountiful that it made everything worth it.

Nevertheless, the only thing he felt was the sense of accomplishment. He didn’t feel revived or strengthened.

The increase in Mana and Attributes only meant that the wells had expanded. He needed rest to refill them. Or maybe a Power Up.

Power Ups were exceedingly rare rewards. They happen spontaneously when one spends the last of their Mana, Attributes or Health to successfully topple a beast.

In his mind, Percival cursed this Gate World for refusing him a Power Up. It was as though the damned place truly wanted him to die.

Maybe it was because his HP was still exceptionally high.

The bell sound sang in his mind again.

⸢Crucible of Frost cleared successfully⸥

⸢Proceed to the final Encounter Zone.⸥

Grunting, Percival pushed himself up to his feet. First, he looked around.

What was left of his Undead Army was standing before him.

⸢Skelton Soldiers left: 19⸥

⸢13 Skirmishers and 6 Rangers⸥

Percival sighed. He sent them back into their Summon Space and made his way around the Zone, interacting with the dead beasts and claiming his loot.

⸢Beast Cores (x20)⸥

⸢Shifting Hides (x13)⸥

⸢Ice shards (x30)⸥

⸢Frozen Lizard Claws (x25)⸥

⸢3000 Mana Coins⸥

⸢6 Health Potions | 7 Elixirs⸥

He drank all seven Elixirs.

After the last vial, he felt his Necromancer Core fill up with a lighter density of mana.

⸢Mana: 190/3450⸥ → ⸢Mana: 995/3450⸥

He ignored his Swordsman Mana. For what he was about to do, his first Class was unnecessary.

He claimed the loot from the dead Frozen Ankylosaurus.

⸢Frozen Ankylosaurus Icestone (A-Grade)⸥

⸢Beast Core⸥

⸢Ice fragments (x20)⸥

Time trickled by.

As Percival made his way out of the Crucible of Frost, he felt hollowed out.

His Attributes were shadows of their maxima. His mind was a burnt-out circuit. His body was a collection of protests.

He wasn’t used to this much suffering when clearing an A-Ranked Gate World.

This was a lesson. He had to become stronger so he could be more efficient—and then, in turn become even stronger.

But to stop was to die. To go back was impossible. The only direction was through.

Driven by a will that had outlasted a world, he staggered into a tunnel that opened after the wretched world of ice.