Free Web NovelChapter 9: [9]: Phantom Step, Crimson Aegis Arrives
Levi walked down the spiral stone staircase, leaving the first floor of the Ashen Crypts behind him. The air grew significantly colder the deeper he went. Frost began to form on the edges of his virtual breath. The heavy stone walls were lined with unlit iron torches, making the descent feel like he was walking into a giant freezer.
At the bottom of the stairs, a pair of massive, heavily rusted iron doors blocked his path. They were covered in deep scratch marks and dark, dried stains. Levi didn’t need a quest marker to tell him what this was. In Starfall, giant doors in dungeons meant one thing: a boss room. Or in this case, the floor’s mini-boss checkpoint.
He pushed the doors open. The rusted hinges let out a loud, shrieking groan that echoed through the dark chamber ahead.
The room was shaped like a massive rectangle, lined with crumbling stone pillars. Standing dead in the center, waiting patiently for an intruder, was a towering mass of armored bones.
[Skeletal Centurion] [Level: 9 | Mini-Boss] [HP: 2,500 | ATK: 60 | DEF: 40]
The Centurion looked like a medieval tank. It wielded a massive, rectangular tower shield in its left hand that covered almost its entire body, and a jagged, two-handed broadsword in its right. Its eye sockets burned with a menacing, deep orange light.
Levi stopped a few yards away and quickly ran the numbers in his head. He was Level 7 now. Fighting a Level 9 mini-boss meant the game’s level suppression penalty had dropped from 20% down to 10%. That 10% was still annoying, but it was incredibly manageable compared to when he first walked into the crypt.
He gripped his Arachnid’s Fang Scythe and broke down the math. The Centurion had 40 Defense. His Silver-tier scythe’s passive ignored 15% of that, effectively dropping the boss’s defense down to roughly 34.
Levi’s current Total Attack was 95. Subtracting the 34 Defense left him with 61 raw damage. After applying the 10% suppression penalty, his basic physical strikes would hit for exactly 55 final damage.
For his Reaping Arc skill, the calculation was a bit heavier. 95 Attack multiplied by the 1.8 skill modifier gave him 171 raw damage. Minus the 34 Defense, that left 137. Minus the 10% penalty, a clean skill hit would deal 123 final damage.
"Fifty-five on a basic, one-twenty-three on a skill," Levi muttered, cracking his neck. "And the thing has twenty-five hundred health. This is going to be a sweaty one."
The Centurion noticed him. It banged the flat of its broadsword against its tower shield, creating a deafening metallic clang, and started walking forward. It didn’t run. It didn’t need to. It just marched with a heavy, rhythmic stomp.
Levi didn’t wait for it to take the initiative. He sprinted forward, his 18 Speed making him incredibly light on his feet. The Centurion raised its broadsword, winding up for a massive, overhead cleave.
The attack was slow. Hilariously slow. The boss was heavily armored, but that armor severely penalized its agility. Levi saw the swing coming a mile away. He waited until the blade started to drop, then easily sidestepped to the left.
The heavy broadsword smashed into the stone floor, sending chips of rock flying into the air.
Levi immediately punished the miss. He swung his scythe, letting the silver blade catch the gap between the Centurion’s ribcage and its shield.
[-55]
He quickly followed up with two more rapid strikes before the boss could pull its sword out of the floor.
[-55] [-55]
"Reaping Arc!" Levi called out, dumping 10 Mana.
The scythe flashed red, and he carved a wide horizontal cone directly across the Centurion’s chest piece.
[-123]
The mini-boss staggered backward, its health bar taking a noticeable chunk. But the fight was far from over. The Centurion recovered its footing and instantly retaliated with a wide shield bash.
Levi ducked, feeling the wind of the heavy iron shield pass directly over his head. If that hit him, it would have hurt. The boss had 60 Attack. Against Levi’s miserable 10 Defense, a clean hit would deal 50 damage and probably stun him. With 200 Max HP, he could only afford to make three mistakes.
He wasn’t going to make any.
For the next four minutes, the boss room turned into an intense, hyper-focused dance. Levi utilized a strict hit-and-run tactic. He stayed just out of range of the sweeping broadsword, baiting the Centurion into making a heavy strike. The second the boss committed to an attack, Levi used his superior 18 Speed to slip inside its guard, land two or three basic strikes, and back out before the shield bash countered him.
Whenever his 5-second cooldown finished, he unleashed a Reaping Arc. The scythe’s passive bleed constantly ticked, chewing away at the boss’s health pool and completely ignoring the level suppression penalty.
It was grueling. His virtual stamina bar was constantly dipping into the red, forcing him to pace his breathing inside the NerveDive helmet. The boss was an absolute sponge.
Finally, the Centurion’s health dipped to 50 HP. It raised its broadsword for one last desperate overhead swing.
Levi didn’t dodge this time. He stepped directly into the attack range, swung his scythe upward, and caught the skeleton right under its jawbone.
[-55]
The Centurion’s head snapped backward. The orange light in its eyes flickered and died. The massive skeletal frame froze for a second before completely collapsing into a pile of dusty bones and rusted iron.
[System Notification: You have slain the Level 9 Skeletal Centurion. Gained 1,500 XP.]
Instantly, a dense, dark crimson aura violently ripped itself from the pile of bones and shot across the room, slamming directly into Levi’s chest. The golden notification chimed loudly.
[Supreme Harvester triggered.] [Skeletal Centurion’s primary stat is VIT (80).] [You have plundered 5% of its core stat.] [Gained +4 VIT permanently!]
Levi let out a long, heavy exhale as the raw Vitality rushed into his system. He checked his stats. His Max HP instantly jumped from 200 to 280. That was a massive chunk of survivability for a glass-cannon build.
He walked over to the loot pile. The boss had dropped a small stack of silver coins, which he pocketed, and three identical, glowing bronze skill books.
Levi picked them up and checked the tooltip.
[Dash] [Rarity: Bronze] [Effect: Consumes 10 Mana. Quickly propel yourself 3 meters in a straight line. Cooldown: 20 seconds.]
"Dash is garbage," Levi muttered. "Linear movement without invincibility frames just gets you killed against AoE bosses."
He immediately opened his UI and pulled up the Boundless Fusion tab. He dragged the three Bronze [Dash] books into the empty slots. The system prompted him for a basic copper fee to fuse skill books. He paid it without a second thought.
The three books dissolved into a blinding golden light, the runes swirling together into a dense, shadowy vortex. A moment later, a single, sleek silver tome materialized in the air.
[Phantom Step] [Rarity: Silver] [Effect: Consumes 20 Mana. Instantly teleport up to 5 meters in any direction. Cooldown: 15 seconds.]
Levi grinned. A true blink skill. Instant teleportation meant he could bypass physical obstacles, dodge undodgeable AoE attacks, and reposition instantly behind enemies. He selected the book and clicked ’Learn’. The silver tome shattered into light and absorbed into his chest.
He checked his mana pool. He was currently sitting at full 50/50 mana after using a potion during the fight.
As he was admiring his new mobility skill, the distinct sound of heavy, armored footsteps echoed from the staircase behind him.
Levi turned around. A fully equipped, 5-man party was walking down the steps and fanning out into the boss room. They wore matching tabards. black cloth with a golden shield emblem on the chest. The ’Crimson Aegis’ guild.
Their leader, a Level 5 warrior named Garret, stepped to the front. He was wearing an entire set of cash-shop iron armor and held a polished steel broadsword. He took one look at the dissolving boss corpse, the silver coins Levi hadn’t picked up yet, and the pile of 50 Undead Cores Levi had strapped to his belt.
Greed immediately flashed in Garret’s eyes. He nudged the rogue next to him, and the party slowly formed a semi-circle, intentionally blocking the only staircase out of the room.
"Well, well," Garret sneered, resting his sword on his shoulder. "Looks like someone beat us to the guild’s objective."
Levi didn’t say anything. He just stared at them.
Garret puffed out his chest, clearly assuming Levi was a solo player who had barely scraped by the mini-boss fight and was currently completely out of health and resources.
"Here’s the deal, solo," Garret said, his tone incredibly condescending. "This entire crypt is locked down by Crimson Aegis. You’re trespassing. Drop the cores, drop the scythe, and empty whatever silver you just picked up. Do that, and we’ll be nice enough to let you walk out of here without PK-ing you and taking your XP."
Levi looked at Garret. Then he looked at the four players behind him. A secondary warrior, a rogue, a mage, and a cleric. All Level 5.
"You guys really need to get some original material," Levi said, shaking his head.
