Chapter 49: [49]: Ash and Iron, The 50% Suppression
Levi rode the Behemoth of the Hollow straight up the volcanic slope, the massive dark horse easily clearing the jagged rocks and bubbling magma streams. The heat radiating off the Ashen Peaks was ridiculous. Even with his VR helmet settings adjusted, Levi could feel a suffocating wave of hot air hitting his face.
The Ruined Keep of Ash sat right at the top of the incline. Its black iron gates were completely blown off their hinges, lying in pieces on the scorched earth.
Levi pulled the reins and slowed his mount to a stop right outside the entrance. He looked into the massive courtyard. It was crawling with monsters.
They didn’t look like normal undead or beasts. They were hulking, humanoid figures made entirely of charred rock, with thick veins of glowing orange magma flowing through the cracks in their bodies. They held massive swords that looked like they were forged out of cooling lava.
Levi pulled up an Inspect scroll.
[Charred Fiend]
[Level: 30]
[HP: 20,000 | ATK: 550 | DEF: 250]
"Level thirty," Levi muttered, resting his hands on the saddle horn. "I am Level twenty. A ten-level gap means the system slaps me with a flat fifty percent Level Suppression penalty. It’s literally going to cut my damage in half before I even hit them."
He didn’t panic. He just sat there and ran the math.
The Fiend’s Defense was 250. His Gold-tier Sovereign’s Deathknell ignored 20% of enemy armor. Twenty percent of 250 was 50. That dropped the monster’s effective Defense down to 200.
Levi’s unbuffed Total Attack was sitting at an absurd 520.
520 Attack minus 200 Defense left 320 raw damage. Now, he had to apply that brutal 50% suppression penalty. Half of 320 was exactly 160.
"A hundred and sixty damage per basic strike," Levi calculated, shaking his head. "Against twenty thousand health. That’s a lot of swinging."
He checked the defensive math. The Fiend’s Attack was 550. Levi’s Defense, thanks to his base Vitality and Obsidian Carapace, was 101.
550 minus 101 meant he would take exactly 449 damage per hit. With his 1,520 Max HP, he could survive three direct hits, but a fourth would kill him.
"Good thing I brought a shield," Levi said.
He dismissed the Behemoth. The massive dark horse dissolved into shadows, dropping Levi onto the scorched dirt. He drew his Sovereign’s Deathknell. The heavy Gold-tier scythe pulsed with the shadowy energy of his SSS-Rank class.
"Hollow’s Ward," Levi commanded.
He dumped 150 Mana. A swirling, pitch-black shield of dark matter instantly materialized around his avatar. The math was solid: scaling off his Intelligence, the shield gave him a 755 HP buffer.
He toggled on his [Siphon Aura]. The green light wrapped around his boots, and his mana began ticking down by 2 points every second.
Levi walked right through the broken gates and into the courtyard.
He didn’t bother trying to pull one at a time. He intentionally kicked a chunk of iron debris to make noise. Four Charred Fiends immediately snapped their glowing magma eyes toward him. They let out a sound like grinding boulders and charged, dragging their heavy lava swords across the stone floor.
Levi didn’t run. He just gripped his scythe and waited. His Speed was sitting at 98. These rock monsters were heavy and slow.
The first Fiend swung its magma sword in a wide horizontal arc.
Levi ducked under it perfectly, the burning blade completely missing his head. He popped up right in the center of the four monsters.
"Hollow’s Guillotine!" Levi shouted.
He burned 100 Mana. The scythe erupted in a blinding, pitch-black and gold aura. He ripped the blade in a massive, ten-meter cone that smashed directly into all four Charred Fiends.
The skill math processed instantly. 520 Attack multiplied by the massive 3.5 modifier gave him 1,820 raw damage. Minus the 200 effective Defense, he hit for 1,620. Apply the 50% suppression penalty, and his final skill damage was exactly 810.
[-810] [-810] [-810] [-810]
The Fiends staggered backward, dropping chunks of cooling rock onto the floor. But the damage wasn’t the best part. The Gold-tier skill applied a brutal debuff. A broken shield icon popped up over their heads, shredding another 20% of their remaining defense.
Their Defense dropped from 200 down to 160.
Levi didn’t stop moving. He unleashed a rapid chain of basic physical attacks, weaving his scythe through the staggered monsters.
With their armor shredded, his basic strikes hit harder. 520 Attack minus 160 Defense equaled 360. Cut in half by the suppression penalty, his new basic attacks dealt exactly 180 Final Damage.
[-180] [-180] [-180]
Every single hit triggered the 10% Lifesteal from his Gold-tier weapon, feeding 18 HP back into his pool. Combined with the 15 HP per second from his Siphon Aura, the ambient heat damage of the volcanic zone was completely erased.
A second Fiend recovered from the stagger and slammed its sword down.
Levi tried to use his 98 Speed to side-step, but the courtyard floor was uneven. His boot caught on a cracked stone. He couldn’t dodge it entirely. He threw his shoulder up, turning a direct hit into a glancing blow.
The massive sword slammed into his dark-matter shield. The VR pain engine sent a dull ache through his arm.
Because it was a glancing hit, the incoming 449 damage was cut in half.
[-224]
His 755 HP Hollow’s Ward dropped to 531. His real health bar didn’t even flinch.
"Not today, rocky," Levi smirked.
He completely locked in. The combat became a slow, methodical grind. He relied heavily on the 5 DMG/sec true damage bleed from his scythe, keeping it active on all four mobs while spamming his basic strikes.
He had to manage his mana perfectly. Between the 100 Mana for Guillotine, the 150 for his shield, and the constant aura drain, his 560 Mana pool was a tight budget. Every time he dropped to 50 Mana, he popped a top-tier potion from his belt, letting the blue liquid instantly refill his tank.
It took him five exhausting minutes to drop the first four Fiends down to the 20% threshold.
"Soul Harvest."
Levi spent 50 Mana. The massive, spectral black guillotine materialized and slammed down, decapitating the first Fiend. It shattered into a pile of cooling rocks and blue polygons. He reset his Phantom Step, blinked to the next one, and executed it.
He chained the executions flawlessly until all four monsters were dead.
[System Notification: Slain 4x Level 30 Charred Fiends. Level gap bonus applied. Gained 36,000 XP.]
Levi stared at the XP drop. The base experience for a Level 30 mob was probably around 3,000. But because he was fighting enemies ten levels above him, the game applied an absolutely insane 300% level-gap multiplier.
He was getting 9,000 XP per kill.
"Nine thousand," Levi breathed, looking at his progression bar. He needed 1,000,000 XP to hit Level 21. "That’s roughly over a hundred of these things. Let’s get to work."
Levi turned the Ruined Keep’s courtyard into a sweatshop.
For the next six hours in the real world, he did nothing but grind. The sensory simulation of the volcanic heat was awful. He was practically cooking inside his Obsidian Carapace. His virtual stamina constantly dipped into the red, forcing him to pace his dodges and strictly regulate his breathing.
But he didn’t stop. He grouped the Fiends up, dropped Hollow’s Guillotine to shred their armor, and hacked away with basic attacks until he could execute them.
His Lifesteal and Siphon Aura meant he literally couldn’t die to environmental damage, and his Hollow’s Ward ate the occasional glancing blow from a magma sword.
He killed twenty Fiends. Then forty. Then sixty.
The pile of dropped copper, silver, and useless volcanic rocks stacked up in his inventory. His thumbs were completely numb inside his haptic gloves from mashing his attack commands.
Finally, he executed the eightieth Charred Fiend. The magma monster shattered into pixels.
A blinding, glorious golden pillar of light crashed down from the dark, smoky sky. The progression light washed over his avatar, instantly clearing away six hours of agonizing physical fatigue. His health and mana pools snapped back to 100%. The oppressive heat suddenly felt totally manageable.
[System Notification: Level Up! You are now Level 21.]
Levi dropped his scythe onto the stone floor with a loud clatter and let out a massive, relieved sigh.
"Thank god," Levi muttered, rolling his shoulders.
He opened his progression menu. His massive six-hour grind had yielded exactly 720,000 XP. Added to his previous 390,000, he easily shattered the 1,000,000 requirement. He had exactly 110,000 XP carrying over into his next bar, which now required a stupid 1,500,000 XP to fill.
He looked at his 5 free stat points.
He was about to walk into the Keep’s throne room to face the area boss. Against a boss, he needed every single point of raw damage he could get to combat the suppression penalty.
He dumped all 5 points straight into Strength.
His STR bumped from 147 to 152.
He ran the new offensive math. 152 Strength times 2 gave him an unarmed base attack of 304. Adding the 140 Attack from his Gold-tier scythe brought it to 444. Finally, applying the 20% class passive shot his permanent Total Attack up to exactly 532.
"Five hundred and thirty-two attack," Levi noted, dismissing the menu.
He picked his scythe back up off the floor. The courtyard was completely clear of mobs. The only thing left was the massive, half-melted iron doors leading into the inner sanctum of the Keep.
Levi checked his potion belt. He had plenty of mana potions left. He cracked his neck, the sound loud in the quiet, hot air, and walked toward the doors. It was time to clear the boss and officially claim his real estate.
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