The next wave of threat appeared the very moment Percival stepped into the Chapel of Forgotten Bloom.
⸢Threats:⸥
⸢10 Bramble Wolves - Lvl 5⸥
⸢7 Corrupted Vinebeast - Lvl 8⸥
⸢2 Briar Boars - Lvl 10⸥
With the number of threats, Percival knew his Skeleton Soldiers wouldn't be able to handle this. And regardless of his new Skills, his Necromancer Class also wouldn't be enough.
He withdrew his sword with a sharp sling.
He'd entered this Gate alone relying on his Swordsman Class. Any Lvl 150 Awakener could easily clear a D-Rank Gate World.
But here was the plan;
Percival would use his Swordsman Skills to kill a few beasts, just enough to provide corpses for his ⸢Soul Draught⸥ Skill.
That way, he could sustain his Skeletons' Health, until they killed the rest of the beasts.
The chapel before him was greatly vast, with robbed vaults that soared, broken and splintered.
The stained-glass windows were not shattered, but grown over from the outside by a dense lattice of thorns.
It allowed only slivers of sickly, colored light to pierce the gloom, painting the interior in hues of jaundiced yellow and gangrenous green.
Pews of petrified wood were pushed haphazardly against the walls, overgrown with a carpet of phosphorescent moss.
And at the far end, where an altar should be, was a massive, pulsating heart of a flower.
⸢The Beast Source⸥
Beast Sources appeared in one out of three Encounter Zones. Destroying one reduced the amount of beast threat one would encounter.
At least, until venturing into another Beast Source.
It throbbed slowly, releasing puffs of sparkling, hypnotic pollen into the air.
Though destroying Beast Sources was necessary in order to clear a Gate World, Percival wasn't in any hurry to do so.
More beasts only meant more EXP… and more rewards.
The Bramble Wolves which he was already familiar with.
The Corrupted Vinebeasts. Headless walking thickets with thorned long clubs as arms and snake-like roots as legs.
Then, the Briar Boars. Giant rams with backs armored in a continuous plate of fused, bark-like thorns, and curved tusks of sharp bramble.
"Follow my lead," Percival commanded his minions as he charged slowly towards the monsters.
He activated ⸢Bladewave⸥.
⸢Bladewave: A short-range crescent-shaped projectile of compressed air created by a powerful swing and empowered by mana⸥
⸢D-Grade Swordsman Skill⸥
The arc of mana sliced through the air, instantly killing the Boars.
Knowing they posed the greatest threat to his Skeletons, he'd taken them out first.
Percival straightened and pointed his blade at the remaining beasts. "Kill the rest."
The skeletal ranks met the thorned beasts with a dry clatter.
Percival watched, his sword held loosely at his side, as his minions engaged.
The Bramble Wolves were no longer much of a threat for his Skeletons, but the Corrupted Vinebeasts were a different problem.
Their thorned clubs swept out, wide and powerful, striking his Skeletons repeatedly.
Their Health bars drained rapidly, but Percival revitalized them using ⸢Soul Draught⸥ on the corpses of the Briar Boars.
However, the longer he watched, the more frustrating it became.
Only three Bramble Wolves had been killed so far, and the reason became clearer to him.
One of the Skeletons, when it attacked, favored a wild, overhand chop that left its ribcage completely exposed.
Another lunged at a Vinebeast with both arms up high, only to suffer a spiked club to the chestbone.
Surely, it made sense that Skeletons would be flawed in combat.
But these flaws seemed familiar.
Percival recalled that the Bandits had fought in a strikingly similar manner. The same stances, the same mistakes.
It seemed the Skeleton Soldiers still carried signatures of their former bodies' habits.
He saw another Skeleton, this one also facing a Vinebeast.
It held its rusted axe sword too high, its bony elbows flared out.
It was a stance for intimidation, not for killing. The stance of a thug who'd never had formal training.
Percival grimaced. 'He's not any better with the axe than he is with the sword.'
He saw the Vinebeast's club-arm whistle down, and the Skeleton, bound by its ingrained habit, tried to block instead of evade.
The blow struck the Skeleton flat on the ground.
Percival's brows creased. This was infuriating.
When the Skeleton found its feet, it saw the Vinebeast now headless, green sap dripping down its severed neck before it collapsed backwards to the ground.
"Why would you block rather than evade?" Percival, his sword dripping with green blood, asked the Skeleton.
"You're the lighter one, so you have to create space for yourself whenever you can. Sidestep and slice! Use its momentum against it."
The Skeleton tilted its skull at him, its eyes hollow, glowing with blue flame.
Percival rubbed his nose and sighed. "What am I even doing? It's not like you can understand me."
Suddenly, another Vinebeast attacked with a similar club swing.
The Skeleton moved.
But it didn't mimic its own previous failure.
It mimicked Percival.
It shuffled its feet in a poor imitation of Percival's own footwork, sidestepping the crushing blow by inches.
Simultaneously, it sliced inward, its bone-fingers gripping the axe-handle as it drove the blade through the Vinebeast's center
Sap burst like green blood. The creature toppled to the floor.
⸢Corrupted Vinebeast defeated⸥
⸢+20 EXP⸥
Percival stared down at the fallen beast. 'Did it just…'
A ding echoed in his mind.
⸢Hidden Quest Completed!⸥
⸢Quest: Tutor of the Dead⸥
⸢Objective: Instruct and train your Undead in live combat⸥
⸢Rewards: +2 Summon Space | +1 Skill Point | +100 Mana Coins | +100 EXP⸥
Percival froze at the notification. "A Hidden Quest?"
He had only shouted in frustration, but apparently it counted as training as well.
He glanced at his Skeletons still battling the remaining beasts. "So I can… teach them?"
The shock was a physical thing. Cold and electric.
Like a revelation.
This meant he could instill everything he knew about swordsmanship and combat on these Skeletons.
He doubted how much they could learn.
But anything was better than nothing.
He could overwrite their clumsy, inherited flaws with disciplined, lethal efficiency.
This was him.
A Swordsman. A Necromancer.
One who summoned weak undead soldiers, only to train them into fiercer warriors.
Maybe this was it. The answer to his question before.
Maybe this was how he fused his two very different Classes.