Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1802: Confronting The Family Head

-----

"Nnnggh?! S-STOP! AAAGH!"

She shoved him back with desperate force, her neck gushing blood as she gasped desperately for air. But then a radiant red glow enveloped her, and her wounds began to regenerate faster and faster.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

She lunged forward, slamming him to the ground and grinding his face into the jungle dirt again and again. Yet even with half his face torn away, Gray struck back, driving his claws deep into her stomach multiple times.

"GUH?!"

Blood sprayed from her mouth. In an instant Gray leaped skyward, then plummeted with ferocious momentum, channeling every ounce of strength into his legs and smashing her head into the earth.

CRAAASH!

"NGAACK?!"

The Archduchess staggered, losing her balance. Her chains snapped around his body in retaliation, hurling him away once more.

Gray roared in fury, ripping the chains apart and charging again.

He was utterly relentless.

"Who is this guy?! How can he possibly keep up with me?!"

Shock gripped her as they clashed through jungles, skies, and earth in a brutal, unending storm.

RUMBLE!

Gray grew stronger with every passing second, drawing deeper on Anubis's powers to bridge their vast difference in strength.

"I WILL END YOU NOW!"

The woman conjured a colossal formation from thin air. Relics materialized around Gray, ensnaring him in a nightmarish world of endless blood.

The crimson tide pierced his flesh, greedily draining his life away.

"{Blood Draining Formation}!"

"AAAAAHHHHH!"

Gray's agonized scream echoed as more and more of his blood was siphoned.

"Hahahaha! Yes! Suffer! You're nothing against me! NOTHING!"

"Nnnggh...! No...! I am not just myself...! I AM ALL OF THOSE YOU'VE MADE SUFFER!!!"

Gray's unbreakable will surged, overpowering the formation.

In the next instant, she witnessed hundreds of vengeful spirits pour into his body.

Anubis served as their gateway, granting him the full might of every soul he carried.

His claws shredded the formation apart. He appeared before her in a blur.

"Nnnghh?! AAAGH!"

She screamed as Gray's claws plunged into her chest, seizing her heart and crushing it right in front of her eyes.

"A-Ahh...! H-How... could this happen...?!"

She collapsed to the ground, staring up at the furious warrior who now radiated an entirely new, terrifying power.

A power once forbidden among the tribes.

"I won't stop... until you're all dead..."

His claws tore into her face, ripping it from her skull before Anubis's Flames of Death consumed her in searing black fire.

Maria watched the scene unfold with a solemn nod, then turned her gaze toward the fortress. She raised her sword.

{Spectral Ghostly Fist Art: Ninth Form – Dream Chasing Star Blade}!

A single, devastating slash.

BOOOMMM!!!

The northern walls crumbled in an instant.

Maria stared into the distance. They were close now.

She could feel his overwhelming, monstrous presence.

A Family Head Vampire was already a terrifying foe.

But this man had devoured dozens of divine beast spirits—even their king—claiming every ounce of their combined power.

His strength had grown so immense that he was reshaping the world itself to suit his will.

Umbralheim had already claimed this floor among their conquered domains.

But that reign was about to end.

"Let's go. No time to rest."

Her family was extraordinarily resilient anyway; they could push forward a full day without sleep.

With Gray at her side, they shattered three more fortresses, cut down hundreds of vampires, and liberated dozens of innocents.

Burying the fallen, freeing the captive, slaying the oppressors.

For nearly an entire day they fought without pause.

Until finally, after a grueling march soaked in blood and suffering...

A colossal black-and-red castle floated high in the sky, encircled by four towering crimson spires.

From within, an oppressive spiritual presence erupted, spreading like dark rivers of malice across the land.

"We have slaughtered your vampires, destroyed your cauldrons of elixirs, and freed every soul you planned to refine into pills. Now we stand before you, and still you refuse to face us, Varn Velcrith?! You're a coward, and I will tear that castle apart!"

Maria swung her sword forward with bold defiance.

Hundreds of vampires swarmed out like locusts, merging their power with their Family Head's spirit energy to shield the fortress.

And yet...

"Don't make me laugh."

Maria's sword soul danced. Her long-range strikes rained down on the castle as though she were performing a deadly waltz right in its midst.

A perfect fusion of her attack techniques, Dream Soul Spheres, and Dream Ghosts.

A revolutionary new form born from a single sweeping long-range slash...

Maria was evolving before their eyes.

{Spectral Ghostly Fist Art: Thirteenth Form – Spectral Dream Ghost Carnival}!

It resembled a macabre carnival, a frenzied festival of ghosts whirling with spectral blades.

Hundreds of vampires perished in moments.

The entire castle, battered by countless relentless attacks...

Began to crumble.

BOOOMMM!!!

"I-Incredible...!"

Gray stared, mouth agape, at the breathtaking destruction.

As the castle collapsed, a tall figure emerged from the rubble: long white-blonde hair, a neatly trimmed blonde beard, and weary crimson eyes glaring at Maria.

Red pants, white shirt, black jacket.

His aura exploded outward, a chaotic fusion of dozens of corrupted spirit beasts now steeped in his darkness and blood energies.

"..."

The wicked Family Head of the Velcrith Household.

Alchemist-Lord Varn Velcrith, the Hemoglyph.

He looked faintly annoyed and let out a tired sigh.

"Maria, right?"

"..."

"Nice to meet you. Until the very end, I truly wished you could have become our ally instead... Such a pity. Hah... I'm so exhausted. I've been performing alchemy without rest."

"..."

"After all... with millions of fresh ingredients scattered everywhere... how could I possibly stop?"

A faint, chilling smirk crossed his lips.

In that instant Maria vanished from her position.

She reappeared directly in front of him, the sharp buzz of dragonfly wings trailing in her wake.

"How about we make you suffer everything they endured?"

"Hm?!"

His eyes widened as her sword descended like judgment.

But he transformed into a heartbeat into a massive blood spirit, a towering lion.

"GRAAAOOO!"

The lion held her blade at bay for a precious second, then lashed out with a devastating kick to her stomach.

BOOOM!

Maria was hurled backward.

"Truly."

Varn Velcrith sighed again.

"The power those spirits granted me is remarkable. I was never this skilled in combat before."

He shifted into a gigantic blood eagle spirit, closing the distance in an instant and diving toward her.

"But I might as well put these gifts to use and discover just how strong I've become!"

CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!

A barrage of vicious beak strikes hammered down!

Thousands of blood chains followed, coiling tightly around her body.

Her family surged forward to help, but titans of crystallized blood rose one after another—Varn Velcrith's Blood Crystal Golems, forged through alchemy.

"Don't worry, Maria! This is just between you and me!" he laughed.

As he pressed his assault, Maria slowly extended her hand.

SLASH!

"Ngh?!"

Varn Velcrith stared in disbelief as both his wings were severed.

He transformed back into the lion form, desperately trying to overpower her.

Claws raked across her clothes and skin, tearing to rip her apart.

But.

SLAAASH!

Another devastating strike cleaved through his body, splitting him into two.

"W-Wha...?!"

-----