Chapter 92: [93]: Testing the Platinum Shield
Levi and Isolde stepped out of the dark cave and back onto the polished black glass of the Dread-Plains. The eerie blue flora glowing against the canyon walls cast long, sharp shadows across the ground.
Levi wasn’t looking to avoid patrols anymore. To guarantee they were prepared for the Ashen Labyrinth and whatever nightmare was waiting in the Midnight Spire, he needed to stress-test his new defensive capability immediately.
He looked out across the glassy expanse until he spotted exactly what he wanted.
About eighty yards away, moving in a wide, aggressive sweep, was the largest patrol in the canyon. It was a massive, mixed group of high-tier mobs. Four towering Obsidian Dreadknights rode their skeletal warhorses in the center, surrounded by three hyper-fast Shadow-Weaver Assassins wrapped in tattered purple silk.
Seven Level 60 Elites all grouped up together.
He was Level 47. The Elites were Level 60. The 13-level gap meant the game was enforcing a 65% Level Suppression penalty on his damage output. It was a massive wall, but his 2,892 raw Total Attack. He could punch through it.
He turned his head to look at Isolde. She was already raising her basic wooden staff, her robotic eyes locking onto the targets.
"Do not attack," Levi ordered sharply.
Isolde paused, lowering the staff an inch. "Query. Your instruction contradicts established artillery protocols. Engaging seven hostiles simultaneously without True Damage support reduces your survival probability to—"
"I don’t care about the probability right now," Levi interrupted, spinning his scythe. "I need to know exactly how much punishment I can take. Do not fire a single spell until I say so. Stay back."
"Acknowledged," Isolde stated flatly, taking a step backward and lowering her weapon completely.
Levi didn’t wait. He kicked off the obsidian floor. He crossed the eighty yards in roughly two seconds. He didn’t bother using a teleport to sneak up on them. He intentionally dragged the heavy blade of his scythe across the glass floor, creating a loud, screeching noise that echoed off the canyon walls.
All seven Elites instantly snapped their attention to him.
The Dreadknights roared, spurring their skeletal horses into a charge. The Shadow-Weavers shrieked, blurring into motion as they sprinted ahead of the heavy cavalry.
Levi stopped dead in the center of the plains and waited for them to close the distance.
"Platinum Ward of the Abyss!" Levi shouted.
He felt a massive 500 Mana chunk out of his pool. The air around him physically dropped in temperature. A thick, swirling vortex of pitch-black abyssal matter erupted from the ground, wrapping around his avatar and locking into place. It didn’t look like a standard magical bubble; it looked like a localized black hole.
The 7,060 HP Shield was active.
The three Shadow-Weaver Assassins reached him first. They leaped into the air, plunging their dark daggers directly into the abyssal shield. A split second later, the four Obsidian Dreadknights arrived, swinging their massive, jagged greatswords down in heavy overhead crashes.
Levi just stood there and took it.
The VR pain engine sent a series of heavy, vibrating impacts through his boots, but he didn’t feel a shred of actual damage.
The Dreadknight had 4,000 Attack. Levi’s current Defense was 379.
The massive sword slammed into the Platinum Ward. The shield absorbed the damage perfectly.
But the new Platinum passive triggered the exact millisecond the blade connected.
The shield captured 20% of the unmitigated 4,000 physical attack.
A violent, dark-purple shockwave erupted from the shield and slammed directly back into the Dreadknight.
[-800 True Damage]
The red corrupted text popped up over the knight’s head. The massive undead monster actually staggered backward, its attack animation violently canceled by taking 800 True Damage passively.
The Shadow-Weavers hit the shield next. Their 3,500 Attack strikes bounced off the abyssal matter, and they were immediately blasted backward by 700 True Damage reflections.
"Oh, this is absolutely beautiful," Levi laughed loudly over the sound of clashing metal.
He just let them beat on him. He stood perfectly still in the middle of the seven raging Elites. The massive greatswords and daggers rained down on the shield.
[-1,810] [-1,575] [-1,810]
The 7,060 HP shield held like an absolute fortress. It absorbed three massive, direct hits from the Dreadknights and two dagger thrusts from the Assassins before it finally cracked. The black vortex shattered like broken glass, the remaining damage bleeding through and barely scratching Levi’s actual 6,680 health pool.
Having gathered his data, Levi went on the offensive.
He gripped the Sovereign’s Deathknell with both hands.
"Hollow’s Guillotine!"
The scythe erupted in a blinding dark-gold aura. He twisted his hips and ripped the heavy blade in a massive, ten-meter-wide cone that completely engulfed the staggered pack of Elites.
[-2,982] [-2,982] [-2,982] [-2,982]
The heavy red numbers exploded over the knights’ heads. The Shadow-Weavers took even more damage due to their lower armor stats.
The skill’s debuff triggered instantly. The broken shield icon appeared over all seven monsters, shredding another 20% of their remaining defense.
Levi didn’t even need Isolde’s True Damage. With their defense shredded and his Total Attack sitting near 3,000, his basic strikes hit like runaway trains.
His Speed allowed him to swing the scythe so fast it created afterimages in the dark air. He carved through the pack, landing basic attacks that hit for over 1,000 damage a swing.
[-1,024] [-1,024] [-1,024]
His weapon’s 10% Lifesteal instantly healed any of the minor chip damage that had bled through his shattered shield. He kept his health locked perfectly at 6,680. He just danced between the skeletal horses, hacking at their legs and severing the Assassins’ arms.
It took him exactly four minutes of relentless, hyper-fast combat to drop all seven Level 60 Elites down to the 20% execution threshold.
"Now," Levi grunted.
He didn’t hold back.
"Soul Harvest."
The pitch-black spectral guillotine materialized and slammed down, decapitating the first Dreadknight.
[Movement skill cooldowns reset.]
He instantly burned 20 Mana for Hollow’s Traverse, blinking two meters to the left.
"Soul Harvest."
Execute. Blink. Execute. Blink.
It was a terrifying, flawless chain. Levi flashed across the black glass in a chaotic web of teleports and giant spectral scythes. He chained seven consecutive executions in less than four seconds.
The seven Level 60 Elites violently shattered into millions of glowing blue polygons at the exact same time. The deafening sound of breaking glass echoed across the entire canyon.
Levi landed on his boots, the dark aura fading from his scythe.
Seven dense crimson auras ripped out of the empty space and slammed heavily into his chest.
[Supreme Harvester triggered 7 times.]
[You have plundered +120 STR and +180 AGI permanently!]
Levi let out a long, satisfied breath as the massive stat injection flooded his avatar. Plus 120 Strength and 180 Agility from a single pull. It was officially broken.
A second later, the experience points dropped. Killing seven Level 60 Elites with a thirteen-level gap applied a massive underdog multiplier.
[System Notification: Gained 105,000,000 XP.]
The golden pillar of progression light crashed down from the sky, washing away his simulated fatigue and fully restoring his health and mana pools.
[System Notification: Level Up! You are now Level 48.]
Levi opened his status menu, dismissing the prompt. The 105 million XP easily cleared the 90 million threshold, leaving him with 31,500,000 XP carrying over.
He had 5 new free stat points to allocate. He dumped them all into Vitality, padding his base health slightly.
He quickly checked his derived stats. With the plunder and the level-up, his Speed stat had crossed a completely absurd threshold. It was sitting at exactly 1,011.
He was moving at over a thousand Speed.
His Platinum Ward of the Abyss cooled down in the background, the timer resetting to zero.
Levi closed his interface and looked back at Isolde. She was still standing in the exact same spot, her staff lowered.
"Math checks out," Levi smirked, throwing the heavy scythe over his shoulder. "I’m ready for the Spire."
Levi placed his hands flat against the colossal iron gates. The metal was freezing to the touch. He pushed. The massive hinges shrieked, a horrible grinding noise that echoed into the pitch-black sky of the Midnight Continent. The gates gave way, revealing the entrance to the Ashen Labyrinth.
He stepped inside.
The walls weren’t made of stone or brick. They were constructed entirely out of calcified bone. Skulls, ribs, and massive femurs from unknown monsters were fused together, towering over a hundred meters high and twisting into a maddening, pitch-black maze. There was no ambient wind here. No rustling leaves or screeching monsters in the distance. The labyrinth was entirely devoid of sound.
The only noise was the low, electric hum of Isolde’s wooden staff as she floated over the floor right behind him.
"This place looks like a developer’s edgy phase," Levi muttered, his voice sounding entirely too loud in the dead silence.