Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1713: Against Umbralheim’s Vampires

-----

"I only feel shame as I hear what happened here. To think I ever trusted the Murim Alliance... they’re all scum. Trash! Rulers of Heaven? My ass! They’re all monsters!"

As the old man complained, Partner looked into the distance, noticing the two other Vampires and the sect members beside them struggling to force the barrier against the Void Aura.

But they couldn’t do it. Maria’s Void Aura seemed to nullify it completely.

"They extracted the souls of these people. Most of them had their souls forcefully taken before they died," Emeraldine sighed, choosing not to mention the children—it would have been too much.

"Oh... so that’s why there weren’t any souls!" Nyx said.

"Yeah, we know who did this. We just have to find them now," Maria replied. "But behind it all, it was planned by the Murim Alliance. And look what we have here—an ambush. They easily guessed we were coming back, right?"

"That seems to be the case..." Yoomyung said. "They brought three Vampires this time...! It seems they are deeply invested in this ordeal. But why care so much as to even send their own kindred here?"

"Maybe because this problem concerns them too," Maria said. "One of their kind infiltrated this sect, stole its greatest treasure, and took the souls of everyone here..."

"They’re coming," Lucifer warned.

Crack, crack...!

CRASH!

The formation shattered completely as the Vampires descended alongside nine sect members—three each from the Poison Sect, the Sunshine Castle Sect, and the Iron Fist Sect.

Each trio had a single Golden Core Expert, while the other two were Core Establishment Experts, overflowing with potent Ki Auras.

"We had to shatter the formation to reach you. What kind of power is this?!" one of the Vampires demanded—a short woman with long white hair tied into a ponytail, sharp red eyes, tight black leather pants, red heels, and a white blouse.

"It seems capable of nullifying the formation’s power... but it’s gone now?" the second Vampire said. He was a tall, muscular man with short white hair, red eyes, and a large scar across his face. His chest was mostly exposed, showing his muscles and countless scars.

Vampires had incredible regeneration, so scars were impossible to accumulate. These were most likely wounds he had before turning into a Vampire, meaning he was once a seasoned human warrior—or perhaps even a Player.

"They must be the ones who overthrew the White Mist Sect!" said one of the Golden Core Experts, a muscular giant with steel-covered fists from the Iron Fist Sect.

"One of them defeated the White Mist Immortal somehow," said the second Golden Core Expert, a woman with long red hair wielding a blazing katana from the Sunlight Mountain Sect.

"Someone who defeated an Immortal must be as strong as one..." said the third Golden Core Expert, an assassin cloaked in black robes, carrying knives and daggers, from the Poison Sect.

"Thankfully, you have me," the Vampire woman smiled, her Aura surging. "A Vampire Duchess such as myself possesses power that far surpasses your Immortals, doesn’t it?"

Her Aura was truly enormous.

Maria could feel millions of living beings devoured by her. Not only their blood, but their very souls had been consumed, making her Aura the composition of every single being she had taken.

They roared in agony and despair. Vampires revealed their power to intimidate opponents and assert dominance among their own kind.

But above all...

"Surprised? This is my Blood Soul Aura—the power a Vampire Duchess possesses," laughed the woman, her Aura flickering as it summoned thousands of crimson specters made of red flames, blood, and phantasmal energy. "And this is the power of someone who refined it to the extent of achieving Blood Soul Manifestation. My personal army of every single being I’ve ever consumed! Hahahaha!"

RUMBLE!

In that instant, thousands—no, hundreds of thousands—of beings emerged endlessly from her Aura.

Maria finally realized why Vampires were worshiped and held in such high regard in Murim, a world of harshness.

It was because they were absurdly powerful. Those who reached the Realm this woman had attained were literally one-person armies.

With power surpassing Immortals, a Vampire Duke could annihilate an entire sect if they wished.

"W-Woah! Mom, she’s like you!" Nyx said, stepping back as she saw hundreds of thousands of beings covering the skies in red. "T-This is ridiculous!"

"So many?!" Celes gasped. "What...?!"

"This is the power of Vampire Dukes?" Lucifer asked. "Then we were lucky we only fought weaklings back then..."

"Indeed," Maria said, admiring the sight. "It’s quite impressive."

"I will tell you my name, so you remember it as you die," the woman declared. "I am Vesperine Lucarion, a Duchess of the Lucarion Family, one of the ten Families that form the Crimson Order. We govern ten Floors in the Tower and are slowly expanding our influence across many worlds. Murim, in particular, is a rich source of powerful techniques and unique resources, so we cannot easily give it up. Forgive our rudeness, but you must die."

She pointed her arms forward as hundreds of thousands of Blood Soul Specters surged, rushing down toward Maria and her family.

"They’re coming!" Lucifer said. "Let’s destroy them all!"

"Yes," Maria nodded. "But even with these numbers, it’ll take a while. So..."

Maria’s shadows expanded hundreds of meters into the sky. Vesperine watched as gigantic skeletons, zombies, and ghosts emerged, overflowing with mysterious, nightmarish energy.

"This is the perfect time to put my army to good use!" Maria said. "Destroy those Blood Soul Specters!"

"OOOOHHHHH!"

Tens of thousands of Undead roared, clashing against the Vampire Duchess’ army. Explosions of blood energy and phantasmal flames erupted everywhere. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"So she is a Necromancer...!" Vesperine muttered with annoyance. "I hoped she would only have a few, but she has tens of thousands...! Even then, my numbers are much higher!"

As she spoke, her group’s eyes widened. Maria and her family rose into the skies, tearing through her summoned creatures by the dozens every second.

"Huh...?"

Her eyes twitched in disbelief as she saw little Nyx transform into a gigantic black dragon, while the man with scales over his body turned into a radiant white dragon.

"What?!"

Then she saw the two other girls transform into different beasts—a black dragon and a giant spider.

"What are these things? Monsters?!"

-----