Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1714: Blackie’s New Strength

-----

"Huh...?"

Her eyes twitched in disbelief as little Nyx suddenly transformed into a gigantic black dragon. The scaled man who resembled them shifted into a radiant white dragon, while the white-haired girl became a colossal black spider. All three shot into the sky and began slaughtering everything in sight.

"They’re getting closer, Lady Vesperine!" the male vampire beside her hissed.

"Please, bless us with your strength...!" the sect members pleaded, bowing their heads.

"Hah, looks like my army alone can’t handle the heavy hitters yet," she sighed. "Fine. Exhaust them. I’ll pour my Blood Soul Specters into your bodies. Let’s see how many you can take now."

A wicked smile spread across her lips as dozens of Blood Soul Specters flowed into the Murim Alliance warriors, flooding them with power far beyond their current Realms.

This was exactly why they had formed so many alliances with Vampires: their Blood Arts, Abyssal Magic, and Blood Manipulation meshed perfectly with traditional Cultivation. They offered tempting shortcuts to higher realms, even if only temporary, which was priceless in a world where climbing the ladder of martial arts and cultivation was brutally slow and exhausting for most.

FLUOSH!

"Now this is power!"

"Hahaha! Yes! YES!"

"I’ve broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm! I can’t believe it—guhahaha!"

The rush of Vampire power was like a drug to these cultivators and martial artists. They craved the sensation of strength beyond their natural limits.

Their skin paled as they absorbed the energy, the Cursed Blood Runes tattooed across their bodies glowing crimson in perfect resonance. Small physical changes followed: ghostly pale skin, blood-red eyes, and snow-white hair.

Even their cultivated techniques and martial arts temporarily evolved, fusing with the vampiric gifts into terrifying new abilities.

"The same trick those White Mist bastards used..." Maria’s voice echoed calmly across the battlefield.

"What?!" Vesperine’s eyes widened. Maria was...

Right behind her?!

"When...?!"

There had been no movement, no ripple of presence. Maria had simply decided to be there, and reality obeyed.

"Girl, I can warp through space and bend reality itself," Maria said quietly, though her Aura radiated cold, controlled fury. "Struggle all you like. It only makes the moment I rip you apart—limb by limb—so much sweeter."

"Begone!"

The duchess roared. Her aura exploded into a colossal maw formed from thousands of writhing Blood Soul Specters.

"{Blood Soul Spectral Jaws}!"

CRAAASH!

The monstrous jaws tore through Maria’s aura and sent her hurtling downward.

The empowered sect members immediately dove after her family while the rest swarmed the duchess’s army.

The male vampire at Vesperine’s side stayed put.

"Go, you idiot," she snapped. "I grant you permission to transform. You are my weapon, just like that fool down there who got too arrogant and is now getting crushed. What a disgrace."

With a flick of her fingers, the binding runes on both male vampires flared bright red. They threw their heads back and roared as their bodies began a full, monstrous transformation.

"Fufu... awaken your Blood Beast Soul Auras, my loyal hounds!"

"GRUOOOOHHHH!"

"RAAAAAHHHH!"

Down below, the vampire Wu Lieng’s group had nearly finished off suddenly erupted with power. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

RUMBLE!

A violent explosion of blood energy burst from his regenerating body. Dark red fur sprouted across his skin. Massive claws replaced hands and feet. Enormous bat wings ripped from his back. In seconds he towered over five meters tall, his face twisting into a nightmarish bat-like abomination.

"GRYYAAARRR!"

His gigantic claws slammed into the mountain, shattering stone and earth. He ripped a massive boulder free, infused it with Blood Energy, and hurled it at Little Black with terrifying force.

"Little Black, dodge!"

Wu Lieng shouted, but the cat was already moving, racing across the sky as the boulder crashed behind him and exploded into hundreds of deadly fragments.

BOOOM!

"We made it!" Kim Hua exhaled. "I’m not sure my shield could have stopped that!"

"Blackie, you’re insanely fast!"

"Hell yeah!"

"Keep moving!"

Sheng Mei, Liu Nan, and Qin Hao cheered, clinging to their guardian’s soft fur.

The transformation had been sudden. Everyone had assumed Little Blackie would choose peaceful rest when given the choice.

But the cat could not leave quietly. He carried the fierce spirit of the Blood Demon Sect in his soul. He would not fall without a fight.

Though he was gentle and loving, he also possessed a ferocious side, now fully unleashed in his new demonic form.

When Maria offered him two paths, he had hesitated only a moment before memories of his master and his sect family flooded back. He chose the sphere of darkness, and it reshaped his tiny soul into something monstrous and magnificent.

Wu Lieng still didn’t fully understand what Maria had done, but Little Black had risen from a simple soul into a colossal vengeful demon beast.

And the thing Wu Lieng had feared most never came to pass.

Little Black stayed sane. He remembered them all. He was still the same affectionate cat beneath the terrifying exterior.

Maria explained it simply:

"The memories he holds of all of you, and of everyone he lost, fuel this new form. I’ve infused him with my phantasmal powers and the essence of nightmares, something he’s remarkably compatible with. I used System Points to evolve him into an SSS-Rank monster. With all of you at his side, his strength can grow even further."

"Little Black..."

Wu Lieng closed his eyes briefly, mourning his fallen sect once more, only to snap them open at the thunderous roar closing in.

"GRAAAAHHHH!"

The transformed vampire, now a bat-like monstrosity, pursued relentlessly. Its speed only increased, its Aura manifesting as countless Blood Beasts, the only true monsters that are native to Umbralheim.

It opened its jaws and unleashed searing beams of blood energy. Little Black raised a blazing Phantasmal Flame Barrier to protect his riders, but the onslaught was wearing it down fast.

"We can’t just keep running!" Wu Lieng shouted. "We have to fight and finish that thing!"

"I agree! Blackie, take my shield’s power!" Kim Hua called.

"GRAAOOO!"

Little Black roared like a demonic tiger-panther and charged downward. Kim Hua’s Dream Weapon, his massive shield, materialized in front of the cat’s face, growing three times larger and blazing with phantasmal flames.

"Whoa, it changed!"

"It got huge... and way tougher!"

"Amazing!"

The disciples stared in awe as Blackie dove straight into the barrage. Blood beams exploded against the reinforced shield again and again, yet they held.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

-----