Free Web NovelChapter 47: [47]: Steed of the Abyss, Crimson Steppes
Levi walked out of the massive iron gates of Valerius Citadel and immediately turned east. The paved stone roads of the military hub quickly gave way to rough dirt, and the environment shifted. The normal green grass of the mid-game plains turned into jagged, blood-red blades that crunched under his boots.
The system UI updated in the corner of his vision: [Crimson Steppes].
This was a Level 22 zone. It was a notoriously brutal area designed to punish players who thought they were safe just because they reached the mid-game. There were no trees here. No rocks to hide behind. Just wide-open, red plains crawling with highly aggressive elite monsters that hunted in packs.
Levi didn’t care about cover. He had three Gold-tier [Hollow’s Domination Shackles] sitting on his quick-belt, and he was here to do some very specific shopping.
He walked for about ten minutes before he spotted his target.
Grazing on the jagged red grass about fifty yards away was a massive, terrifying horse. It was easily twice the size of a normal stallion. Its coat was iron-gray, and its hooves looked like solid blocks of dark steel. Spikes jutted out of its mane, and its eyes burned with a violent orange light.
[Elite Ironhoof Destrier]
[Level: 22 | Elite]
[HP: 18,000 | ATK: 350 | DEF: 150]
"Eighteen thousand health," Levi muttered, resting the heavy Sovereign’s Deathknell scythe on his shoulder. "This is going to be a fun durability test."
He stopped and ran the math in his head. He was Level 20. The Destrier was Level 22. That two-level gap meant he was only dealing with a minor 10% Level Suppression damage penalty.
’Alright, let’s break it down,’ Levi thought. ’The horse has 150 Defense. My Gold scythe ignores 20% of that. Twenty percent of 150 is 30. That drops its effective Defense down to 120.’
He checked his own offense. His permanent, unbuffed Total Attack was sitting at a massive 496.
496 minus 120 meant his raw damage per swing was exactly 376. Now, he just had to apply the 10% suppression penalty. 376 multiplied by 0.9 resulted in 338 Final Damage per basic strike.
He also needed to test his brand new Gold-tier skill book. [Hollow’s Guillotine] had a massive 350% multiplier.
’496 Attack times 3.5 gives me 1,736 raw damage,’ Levi calculated. ’Minus the 120 effective Defense leaves 1,616. Apply the 10% penalty, and a clean skill hit will deal 1,454 Final Damage. Plus, it shreds their remaining defense by another 20%.’
Levi grinned. "Yeah, I can work with that."
He stepped heavily onto the red grass, intentionally snapping a dry branch.
The Elite Ironhoof Destrier snapped its head up. It didn’t hesitate. It let out a terrifying, metallic neigh and instantly charged.
The system flagged the attack as [Trample]. The massive beast crossed the fifty yards in a fraction of a second, lowering its spiked head to completely crush Levi into the dirt.
But Levi’s Speed was sitting at 88. He didn’t even need to use Phantom Step. To him, the charging horse looked like it was moving in slow motion. He waited until the steel hooves were a foot away from his chest and casually sidestepped to the left.
The Destrier blew right past him, entirely missing the attack.
"Hollow’s Guillotine!" Levi shouted.
He dumped 100 Mana. The Sovereign’s Deathknell erupted in a blinding, pitch-black and gold aura. He swung the massive scythe in a brutal, ten-meter cone, catching the horse right on its heavy iron flank.
[-1,454]
The massive red number exploded into the air. The Destrier shrieked as the sheer kinetic force of the Gold-tier skill staggered it, forcing it to slide across the red grass.
The skill’s debuff triggered instantly. A broken shield icon popped up over the horse’s head. Its effective Defense of 120 was shredded by another 20%, dropping it straight down to 96.
Levi didn’t stop moving. He closed the gap and unleashed a rapid flurry of basic physical attacks.
With the horse’s defense shredded, his basic strikes hit even harder. 496 Attack minus 96 Defense equaled 400. Minus the 10% suppression penalty, he was now hitting for exactly 360 damage per swing.
[-360] [-360] [-360]
Every single hit triggered the Sovereign’s Deathknell’s 10% Lifesteal passive. Thirty-six health instantly flowed back into Levi’s pool with every strike.
The Destrier recovered from the stagger and wildly kicked its back legs out. The heavy steel hooves slammed into Levi’s Obsidian Carapace armor.
The hit registered for around 200 damage, but Levi didn’t even flinch. He just kept swinging. His massive 1,320 Max HP absorbed the blow, and his relentless Lifesteal instantly patched the hole in his health bar. He was literally face-tanking an Elite mob without dropping below 90% health.
He just hacked away. It took him a solid minute of relentless swinging to chew through the massive 18,000 HP pool.
He watched the red health bar carefully. 5,000. 4,000. 3,500.
"Stop right there," Levi said.
3,500 HP was less than 20% of the monster’s maximum health. The threshold was met.
Levi stepped back and pulled one of the glowing, pitch-black [Hollow’s Domination Shackles] off his quick-belt. He threw it directly at the bleeding horse.
The heavy chains expanded in mid-air, wrapping tightly around the Destrier’s legs and neck. The beast thrashed wildly for a single second before the chains glowed with a blinding gold light. The massive horse completely collapsed, shrinking and compressing until it turned into a small, glowing iron token resting in the red grass.
Levi walked over and picked it up.
[Mount Token: Elite Ironhoof Destrier]
"One down. Two to go," Levi smirked.
For the next four hours, Levi turned the Crimson Steppes into his personal hunting ground. He didn’t care about experience points right now. He just ran across the open plains, isolating Elite Destriers from their packs.
The combat loop was incredibly satisfying. He used [Hollow’s Ward] whenever two horses accidentally aggroed at the same time, letting the 755 HP dark-matter shield absorb the extra trampling damage while he focused down his primary target. His 10% Lifesteal kept him healthy, and his top-tier mana potions kept his fuel tank full.
He battered down a second Destrier to 3,000 HP and threw another shackle.
[Mount Token: Elite Ironhoof Destrier]
An hour later, he found a third one grazing near a rocky outcropping. He shredded its armor with Hollow’s Guillotine, face-tanked its kicks, and slapped the final Gold-tier shackle on its neck.
[Mount Token: Elite Ironhoof Destrier]
Levi stood in the middle of the red plains, wiping virtual sweat from his forehead. He had all three tokens.
He didn’t want to do this out in the open. The Crimson Steppes were too dangerous, and he didn’t want some random roaming boss to interrupt him. He found a small, shallow cave carved into the side of a nearby hill. He ducked inside, making sure the area was clear of mob spawns, and opened his UI.
"Let’s see what a mutated Elite mount looks like," Levi said.
He pulled up the Boundless Fusion interface. The glowing golden slots materialized in the dark cave. He dragged the three identical Elite Mount Tokens into the slots.
A massive, urgent red system warning flashed across his vision.
[Warning: Fusing living entities or Soul-Bound items requires a massive catalyst. A raw currency fee of 1,000 Gold Coins is required to proceed. Do you accept?]
Levi checked his wallet. He had plenty of cash left from the Blood Moon event. He dumped the 1,000 Gold into the payment slot and slammed the confirm button.
The inside of the cave exploded with a violent storm of pitch-black and crimson lightning. The digital grinding sound was deafening, like massive iron plates being crushed together in a hydraulic press. The three iron tokens melted and fused, expanding outward.
The light faded, leaving a single, heavy obsidian token floating in the air.
Levi grabbed it. The system chimed loudly.
[Behemoth of the Hollow]
[Rarity: Gold Mount (Soul-Bound)]
[Effect: Grants +200 Speed while riding. Immune to basic stagger effects.]
[Passive: Grants the rider 10% of its base stats permanently when equipped in the mount slot.]
"Ten percent of its base stats?" Levi whispered, his eyes going wide. "Are you serious?"
He quickly checked the mount’s base stat block attached to the token. The Behemoth had 100 Strength, 100 Agility, and 100 Vitality.
Because of the Gold-tier passive, equipping this mount meant he passively gained +10 to STR, AGI, and VIT. It was literally free stats just for owning the horse.
Levi instantly dragged the token into his character’s mount slot.
A heavy, dark energy pulsed through his avatar. He opened his stat sheet to run the math.
His Strength jumped from 137 to 147.
His Agility spiked from 83 to 93.
His Vitality bumped from 61 to 71.
He recalculated his derived stats immediately.
With 71 Vitality, his Max HP expanded. 71 times 20 equaled 1,420. Add the 100 HP from his Obsidian Carapace, and his new Max HP was exactly 1,520. His base Defense jumped to 101.
His new Base Attack calculation was absurd. 147 Strength times 2 gave him 294. Add the 140 Attack from the Sovereign’s Deathknell, bringing it to 434. Multiply by his 20% class passive, and his new Total Attack hit exactly 520.
His on-foot Speed was now 98.
But his mounted speed? 98 plus the flat 200 from the Behemoth meant he would travel at 298 Speed.
"I am going to break the sound barrier," Levi laughed.
He walked out of the cave and triggered the mount summon. A massive pool of dark shadows erupted from the red grass. Stepping out of the darkness was the Behemoth of the Hollow. It was a terrifying, muscular beast that looked like a warhorse crossed with a nightmare. It had pitch-black fur, glowing red eyes, and wore jagged obsidian armor plates that matched Levi’s own gear perfectly.
Levi grabbed the heavy leather reins and pulled himself up into the saddle. The VR engine simulated the massive height advantage. He felt like a king looking down at peasants.
"Let’s go buy a castle," Levi said.
He kicked his spurs into the Behemoth’s sides. The massive dark horse exploded forward, tearing across the Crimson Steppes so fast that the surrounding landscape literally blurred.
