Chapter 70: [70]: Commander Vorn, The 80% Suppression
The rumbling of the massive siege engines shook the volcanic dirt outside the Harvester’s Exchange.
Levi stood in the center of the completely cleared courtyard, tapping the haft of his Sovereign’s Deathknell against his Gold-tier boots. He watched as the heavy wooden towers, plated in dark iron and rolling on massive spiked wheels, slowly came to a halt about fifty yards from the keep’s gates.
The ranks of the remaining Abyssal Gargoyles parted like a curtain.
Stepping out from behind the central siege tower was the general leading this specific incursion force.
Levi immediately noticed the sheer size difference. This wasn’t a standard mob. The creature stood fifteen feet tall, clad entirely in heavy, spiked obsidian plate armor that radiated a suffocating aura of dark magic. The monster held a massive, jagged halberd that looked like it weighed more than a small car. The blade of the halberd dripped with corrosive green energy.
The system pushed the boss’s stat block directly into Levi’s UI in bold red letters.
[Commander Vorn]
[Level: 45 | Elite]
[HP: 200,000 | ATK: 2,000 | DEF: 800]
"Level forty-five," Levi said, shaking his head. "The game really doesn’t want anyone surviving this event."
He didn’t run. He just stood his ground and methodically ran the combat math in his head.
He was Level 29. Commander Vorn was Level 45. That was exactly a sixteen-level gap.
Sixteen multiplied by five meant Levi was staring down the barrel of a brutal 80% damage reduction penalty. It wasn’t the 85% wall he faced against the World Boss, but it was close enough to make his life miserable.
’Alright, let’s break down the armor,’ Levi thought, his eyes tracking Vorn’s heavy footsteps. ’Vorn’s Defense is 800. My Gold scythe ignores 20% of that. Twenty percent of 800 is 160. That drops the Commander’s effective Defense down to 640.’
Subtracting the Defense and applying the suffocating 80% suppression penalty, the system rounded his raw damage per swing down to exactly 67.
’Sixty-seven Final Damage per basic strike,’ Levi calculated, letting out a heavy sigh. ’Against two hundred thousand health. This is going to be incredibly tedious.’
He quickly ran the math for his [Hollow’s Guillotine] skill, multiplying his Attack by the 3.5 modifier and subtracting the effective Defense, applying the 80% penalty meant his massive Gold-tier nuke was only going to hit for exactly 555 Final Damage.
He checked the defensive side of the equation, and the numbers were terrifying.
Commander Vorn had an Attack of 2,000.
Levi’s current Defense was 283, meant a raw hit would deal 1,717 damage.
But Levi was wearing the [Heart of the Chained]. The Diamond-tier necklace granted a permanent 50% Damage Reduction passive from all sources.
’I’m taking roughly eight hundred and fifty-eight damage per hit,’ Levi noted.
His Max HP was 5,160. He could comfortably tank almost exactly six direct hits from an endgame Elite before dying. That was a massive safety net, but against a boss that swung a halberd the size of a car, six hits could happen very fast if he got sloppy.
Commander Vorn didn’t bother with a villain monologue. The massive demon locked its glowing green eyes on Levi, raised its corrosive halberd, and charged.
For a massive armored giant, Vorn moved with terrifying speed.
"Hollow’s Traverse!"
His body dissolved into a tunnel of dark light, completely bypassing the massive halberd swing that crashed into the dirt exactly where he just stood. The impact created a small crater, kicking up a shower of ash and rocks.
Levi reappeared thirty meters to the right, creating a massive gap.
"Hollow’s Guillotine!"
The scythe erupted in a blinding, dark-gold aura. He ripped the blade in a ten-meter cone that smashed directly into Vorn’s heavy obsidian armor.
[-555]
The Commander staggered slightly. The broken shield debuff triggered, shredding 20% of Vorn’s remaining defense.
Levi didn’t wait for the boss to recover. With his 336 Speed, he was a complete blur. He dashed right back into melee range and unleashed a relentless barrage of basic physical attacks.
[-67] [-67] [-67] [-67]
The damage numbers were absolutely pathetic compared to the massive health bar above the boss’s head, but Levi didn’t care. Every single hit triggered his scythe’s 10% Lifesteal, keeping him topped off, and more importantly, it triggered the bleed passive.
The tiny teardrop icon popped up over Vorn’s helmet, ticking for 5 true damage per second.
Vorn roared in fury. The Commander spun the massive halberd in a wide, 360-degree horizontal cleave.
The attack was too wide. Levi couldn’t physically run out of the hitbox in time, and his Hollow’s Traverse was on a 10-second cooldown because he hadn’t killed anything to trigger the instant refund.
He raised the haft of his scythe and braced for impact.
The heavy iron shaft of the halberd slammed directly into Levi’s side.
The VR pain engine sent a violent, blunt-force shockwave through his ribs. The kinetic force actually lifted his boots off the dirt, throwing him backward.
The system processed the hit.
[-858]
Levi’s health bar violently chunked down from 5,160 to 4,302.
"Okay, that definitely woke me up," Levi grunted, his boots sliding against the ash as he recovered his balance.
He didn’t panic. The 50% damage reduction from his necklace had saved him from taking a lethal blow. Immediately, his [Siphon Aura] pulsed, floating a green [+15] above his head. He dashed right back into the pocket, swinging his scythe.
[-67] [-67] [-67]
The 10% Lifesteal fed a tiny amount of health back into his pool. It wasn’t the massive burst of healing he got against the Gargoyles, but combined with the aura, it stabilized his health bar.
The fight turned into a grinding, hyper-lethal marathon.
Levi couldn’t just face-tank Vorn. Taking 858 damage a hit was too steep to out-heal with basic attacks that only hit for 67 damage. He had to rely entirely on his 336 Speed and perfectly timed dodges.
He treated the fight like a rhythm game. Dodge the overhead slam. Slash three times. Duck under the horizontal cleave. Cast Guillotine. Backpedal away from the corrosive aura.
Minutes dragged on. The VR helmet’s stamina engine screamed at him. His real-world arms ached from the sheer volume of swings. But his focus never broke.
Because Vorn was technically classified as an Elite and not a Boss entity, Levi didn’t have to chew through the entire 200,000 HP pool. He just had to get the monster down to exactly 20%.
He watched the red health bar slowly melt under the constant pressure of the 5 DMG/sec bleed and the endless Guillotine casts.
150,000. 100,000. 60,000.
Fifteen grueling minutes of flawless combat passed. Levi’s mana was running low, his health was floating around 3,500, and he was completely drenched in digital sweat.
Finally, Commander Vorn staggered. The boss’s massive health bar dipped to exactly 41,000 HP.
Levi landed a final barrage of basic strikes.
[-67] [-67] [-67]
Vorn’s health dropped to exactly 40,000.
Twenty percent.
Levi stopped swinging. He lowered his scythe and looked up at the towering, armored demon.
"Checkmate," Levi breathed.
Updated Stat Sheet:
- Name: Levi | Level: 29
- Class: [Herald of the Hollow (SSS)] | Talent: [Supreme Harvester (SSS)]
- HP: 3500/5160 | Mana: 2060/2060
- STR: 337 | AGI: 316 | VIT: 253 | INT: 201 | LUK: 175
- Attack: 976 | Defense: 283 | Speed: 336
- Core Skills: [Hollow’s Guillotine], [Hollow’s Traverse], [Siphon Aura], [Soul Harvest], [Hollow’s Ward].