Chapter 84: [84]: The Dread-Plains, 100% Suppression
The spectral scythe didn’t care about the knight’s 2,000 Defense. It completely ignored the 100% Level Suppression penalty that was choking Levi’s standard attacks.
The giant blade slammed straight down.
It cleanly decapitated the Level 60 Elite in a single, brutal motion. The Dreadknight’s massive body stood frozen for a half-second before collapsing onto the obsidian floor and violently shattering into millions of glowing blue polygons.
[System Notification: Target Executed. Movement skill cooldowns reset.]
Levi let out a massive, ragged exhale. He rested the heavy Gold-tier scythe against the ground, his chest heaving. "That took way too long."
Before the polygons even settled, a blinding, incredibly thick crimson aura ripped out of the spot where the knight had died. It was the densest harvest aura Levi had seen so far. It shot across the plains and slammed directly into his chest.
[Supreme Harvester triggered.]
[Obsidian Dreadknight’s primary stat is STR (1,500).]
[You have plundered 3% of its core stat.]
[Gained +45 STR permanently!]
Levi gasped as the raw physical power forced its way into his avatar’s code. Plus forty-five Strength from a single kill. That was the equivalent of nine entire level-ups worth of stat points just handed to him. He felt his virtual muscles tighten, a surge of heavy, dense strength making the scythe in his hand feel noticeably lighter.
A second later, the experience points dropped.
[System Notification: Slain Level 60 Elite Obsidian Dreadknight.]
[Maximum Level Gap Multiplier Applied. Gained 30,000,000 XP.]
Thirty million experience points.
The golden pillar of progression light crashed down from the sky like a localized orbital strike. It hit Levi, washing away the twenty minutes of agonizing physical fatigue. His lungs stopped burning. His mana and health pools snapped perfectly back to full.
But the light didn’t fade. It flashed again. And then again.
[System Notification: Level Up! You are now Level 39.]
Levi didn’t even have time to open his menu before he noticed the ambient noise around him.
The massive XP explosion had drawn attention. About fifty yards away, a massive pack of ambient trash mobs—Level 50 Shadow-Stalkers and lesser skeletal warriors—were swarming toward the bright leveling light. There were easily thirty of them.
"Isolde, we’ve got company," Levi said, cracking his neck.
"Targeting," Isolde replied, raising her wooden staff.
But Levi raised his hand. "No. Save your mana. Let me test these new numbers."
Levi dashed forward. With his newly boosted stats, he didn’t need Isolde to break the suppression wall for these weaker mobs. He was Level 39 now, shrinking the gap against the Level 50 trash mobs to eleven levels. The suppression penalty dropped to 55%.
"Hollow’s Guillotine!"
The scythe erupted in dark gold light. He ripped the blade through the front line of the charging pack. The damage was devastating. The trash mobs didn’t have the massive defense pools of the Elites. His skill tore through them, instantly dropping five skeletons into the red.
He didn’t even use Soul Harvest. He just blurred into motion, his Speed allowing him to dance around the panthers and skeletons. He hacked them to pieces with basic attacks. Because his base Strength was so much higher now, his basic strikes easily chewed through the 55% penalty.
He turned the obsidian plains into a meat grinder. He spent the next hour just slaughtering the ambient trash mobs that kept funneling toward them. He grouped them up, shredded their armor, and cut them down. His 10% Lifesteal kept his health permanently locked at 6,480.
The steady stream of XP from the lesser mobs quickly bridged the remaining gaps in his progression bar.
The golden light crashed down twice more.
[System Notification: Level Up! You are now Level 40.]
[System Notification: Level Up! You are now Level 41.]
Levi executed the last Shadow-Stalker and let out a long breath. The area was finally clear. He toggled off his Siphon Aura and opened his status menu to assign his massive backlog of rewards.
Going from Level 38 to 41 gave him 15 free stat points.
He didn’t hesitate. He was fighting a massive suppression wall against the Elites, so he needed pure, unadulterated attack power. He dumped all 15 points directly into Strength.
His new permanent Strength stat hit exactly 450.
His Offensive Damage is now 1,040.
Finally, the 20% class passive from the Herald of the Hollow applied.
"Twelve hundred and forty-eight attack," Levi smirked, closing the translucent screen. "That is going to make the next one a lot easier."
He turned around and walked back to Isolde. She was standing patiently near the scattered loot drops, her gray cloak completely still.
"Your damage output has increased by thirteen point two percent," Isolde stated, her blank eyes scanning his avatar. "However, your survival probability against the Level 60 Elites remains mathematically suboptimal without my suppression override."
"I know," Levi agreed, resting the scythe on his shoulder. "But we’ve proven the loop works. We just need to repeat it."
Isolde looked out across the vast, dark expanse of the Dread-Plains. "Based on your projected statistical requirements to defeat the Night King, you need to execute exactly forty-nine more Obsidian Dreadknights."
"Forty-nine," Levi repeated. It was going to take days of grueling, repetitive combat. But every single kill was going to push his Strength closer to the absolute maximum limit of the game.
He looked at the towering, dark silhouette of the Midnight Spire in the distance.
"Alright," Levi said, a ruthless smile spreading across his face. "Let’s go find the next one."
-
Levi stood on the polished black glass of the Dread-Plains, the massive Platinum-tier Mantle of the Long Night draped heavily over his shoulders. The first successful execution of a Level 60 Obsidian Dreadknight was all the proof he needed. The strategy worked.
The plains stretched out in front of him like an endless, frozen black ocean. Dotted across the dark expanse were dozens of heavy patrols. Towering undead knights sitting on skeletal warhorses, leaving trails of eerie blue ghost-light against the obsidian floor.
Levi knew his objective. He had just executed one. He needed exactly forty-nine more of those specific Elites to hit his theoretical Strength target for the upcoming boss.
He turned around to look at Isolde. Her plain gray cloak hovered just a fraction of an inch above the glass floor. Her eyes were blank, staring back at him like twin camera lenses.
"We need a system," Levi said, resting the haft of his Sovereign’s Deathknell against his boot. "We’re going to be out here for a while, so let’s get a strict loop going."
"Ready to receive parameters," Isolde stated.
"You are the artillery," Levi instructed, pointing his scythe toward the dark plains. "I am the executioner. You do not stop casting your True Damage blasts until the target hits twenty percent health. Don’t worry about aggro. If they target you, I will intercept them. Just keep firing."
Isolde’s head tilted slightly. "Understood. Artillery protocols locked."
"Alright," Levi smirked. "Let’s go to work."
He didn’t bother trying to sneak around. He walked out across the glass, intentionally stepping heavily to let his boots click against the smooth surface.
About sixty yards away, a patrol of two Level 60 Obsidian Dreadknights noticed him. Their glowing blue eye slits narrowed. The skeletal warhorses let out a hollow, rattling neigh and charged.
He was Level 41. The Dreadknights were Level 60. That was a nineteen-level gap, 95% Level Suppression penalty. It was basically a brick wall made of math.
’Okay, let’s look at their armor,’ Levi calculated, tracking the two massive knights as they closed the distance. ’Dreadknight Defense is 2,000. My Gold scythe drops their effective Defense to exactly 1,600.’
He checked his own offensive numbers. Thanks to his recent level-ups and the massive plunder drop, his Total Attack was sitting at 1,248.
1,248 Attack trying to punch through 1,600 Defense.
"My basic attacks are completely useless," Levi sighed. "I can’t even scratch them with physical hits. I have to use my skill just to register on the damage meter. I think I need to fuse something very soon"
His massive Gold-tier skill was only going to hit for exactly 138 Final Damage.
"One hundred and thirty-eight damage against a hundred-thousand health pool," Levi muttered. "I really hate this game’s scaling sometimes."
The two Dreadknights reached him. The first one pulled back on its reins, forcing the skeletal horse to rear up, and brought its massive, jagged greatsword crashing down toward Levi’s head.
"Hollow’s Ward!" Levi shouted.