Chapter 121: The 500-Ship Massacre
Levi scowled. Even while the real world was falling apart, these guys were still trying to monopolize grinding zones.
"They think they own the sky," Levi said.
Before he could spur the Behemoth forward, a loud, screeching feedback noise echoed across the entire sky. It sounded like a microphone being plugged into a massive amplifier.
A voice boomed out from the largest flagship in the center of the fleet. It was a massive dreadnought painted in gold and white.
"Attention all Coalition forces!"
The voice belonged to Ovidia, the Guild Master of Solar Lance. She was using a server-wide megaphone item. Her voice echoed off the floating islands, loud enough for every player in the zone to hear.
"The Harbinger has breached the cloud layer!" Ovidia shouted. Her voice was laced with pure panic and aggressive authority. "Target acquired at grid sector four!"
Levi watched as hundreds of players scrambled across the decks of the floating ships. They were pointing directly at him.
"I received a direct mandate from the Celestial Pantheon!" Ovidia’s voice boomed again. "The Gods have spoken! If we destroy the anomaly and the Harbinger, the Pantheon will spare our strongholds! They will grant us sanctuary during the final merge!"
Levi stared at the massive flagship. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
"They sold us out," Levi said. His voice was dead flat. "They allied with the descending Gods to keep their digital clubhouses safe."
Isolde’s grip on his waist tightened. "Their survival logic is heavily flawed. The Pantheon’s eradication protocols do not allow for human sanctuary. They are being manipulated."
"I know," Levi gritted his teeth. "But they’re too stupid to see it."
Across the fleet, the massive Aether-cannons mounted on the sides of the galleons began to turn. The mechanical grinding of heavy artillery echoed across the sky. Five hundred ships were adjusting their broadsides, aiming directly at the lone guy sitting on a dark horse in the clouds.
"They’re locking onto us," Isolde noted calmly.
"Let them," Levi smirked.
He didn’t pull back. He opened his status menu with a quick thought command. He needed to check his numbers before he jumped into the meat grinder.
His Shared HP pool with Isolde was sitting comfortably at a massive 105,980. His base Attack was 7,464. His Speed was 1,636.
He was Level 60. Most of the players on those ships were sitting between Level 65 and 70. There was no Level Suppression penalty working in their favor. To the game engine, Levi was basically a walking raid boss.
"You know," Levi said, slowly standing up on the saddle of the Behemoth. "They brought five hundred ships to fight one guy. They really think numbers equal power."
Isolde let out a soft, highly relatable scoff. It was the most human sound he had ever heard her make.
"Their mathematical variance is negligible," Isolde said, a faint smirk crossing her face.
"Exactly," Levi grinned.
He didn’t pull a potion. He didn’t cast his shield. He just materialized the massive, Platinum Scythe of the Eclipse into his right hand. The dark blade hummed aggressively in the open air.
He looked at his skill bar. The ultimate ability he had unlocked in the trial room was sitting right there. It was time to show the mega-guilds what real power looked like.
"Abyssal Overdrive!" Levi roared.
The system instantly registered the command.
[Abyssal Overdrive: Activated]
[Cost: 50% Current HP, 1,000 Mana]
Levi’s health bar violently plummeted. Half of their 105,980 Shared HP was instantly deleted, dropping them to roughly 52,990. A massive chunk of mana vanished from their pool.
But the buffs triggered instantly.
A terrifying, towering aura of pitch-black flames erupted from Levi’s Obsidian Carapace armor. The fire whipped into the air, burning so intensely it distorted the digital light around him.
[Speed +100% Active]
[Level Suppression Nullified]
[Final Damage +150% Active]
Levi felt his character model completely detach from standard physics. His Speed stat didn’t just bump. It doubled.
1,636 multiplied by two. His new Speed was 3,272.
"Stay up here and give me some covering fire!" Levi yelled to Isolde over the roaring black flames.
"Artillery protocols engaged," Isolde replied, raising her wooden staff.
Levi didn’t wait for the cannons to fire. He bent his knees and launched himself directly off the back of the Behemoth.
The sheer kinetic force of his jump actually cracked the solidified cloud beneath the mount. Levi shot forward like a black comet.
He crossed the massive gap between the clouds and the fleet in a fraction of a second. The wind didn’t even have time to register his movement.
"Fire! Fire!" players screamed from the decks of the ships.
Dozens of Aether-cannons fired, but they were shooting at empty air. Levi was already moving at over three thousand Speed. He blew past the incoming artillery blasts, his eyes locked onto the nearest Ironclad dreadnought.
He raised his scythe high above his head, the black flames trailing behind him like a meteor.
"Let’s see if your ships can float without a crew!" Levi yelled, crashing straight down toward the wooden deck.
***
Levi crashed onto the deck of the Ironclad dreadnought like a tactical missile.
The heavy, enchanted wooden planks instantly splintered and caved in under his boots. A massive shockwave of black fire exploded outward from his impact crater, knocking the nearest players right off their feet.
The deck was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with Level 65 players wearing heavy iron armor and holding glowing staves. They had been preparing to fire their cannons, but now the target was literally standing in the middle of their ship.
"He’s on the deck!" a tank screamed, scrambling to his feet and raising a massive tower shield. "It’s just one guy! Kill him!"
The players panicked. They didn’t coordinate. They just started mashing their skill buttons.
"Fireball!"
"Shield Bash!"
"Piercing Arrow!"
Dozens of low-tier spells and physical attacks flew toward Levi.
Levi didn’t even bother dodging. He was covered in black fire, his Speed sitting at an impossible 3,272. To him, the incoming attacks looked like they were moving in slow motion.
He casually stepped to the left, letting a fireball sail past his ear, and gripped his Platinum scythe with both hands.
"Hollow’s Guillotine," Levi said quietly.
He swung the massive blade in a wide, horizontal arc.
The dark-gold energy of the skill flared to life, expanding into a massive, ten-meter-wide cone that ripped directly through the crowd of players in front of him.
The math calculated in a fraction of a millisecond.
Levi’s Base Attack was 7,464. The Guillotine skill multiplier was 3.5. That gave him a base skill damage of 26,124.
The average Level 65 player on this deck had roughly 2,800 Defense. 26,124 minus 2,800 left 23,324 raw damage.
But Abyssal Overdrive was active. His final output was multiplied by 2.5.
23,324 multiplied by 2.5.
[-58,310] [-58,310] [-58,310] [-58,310]
The red numbers were so large they physically overlapped, creating a solid wall of red text on his UI.
A Level 65 player with decent gear had roughly 15,000 to 20,000 Max HP.
They were completely vaporized.
The heavy dark-gold cone tore through their armor, their shields, and their health bars in a single frame. Exactly fifty players were instantly deleted from the server. They shattered into millions of glowing blue polygons all at once, leaving behind a massive pile of dropped loot and common weapons clattering against the splintered wood.
The Platinum Scythe of the Eclipse had a 25% Lifesteal passive.
Twenty-five percent of 58,310 was 14,577 HP.
Because he hit fifty players, the game engine tried to force-feed over seven hundred thousand health back into his pool. His Shared HP bar instantly shot from 52,990 straight back to its absolute maximum of 105,980. The 50% health cost of activating his ultimate was erased in one swing.
The remaining players on the deck froze in absolute horror.
"What the hell is that damage?!" a mage shrieked, dropping his staff. "He just one-shot the entire vanguard!"
"Focus the magic!" a guild officer yelled from the back of the ship. "Physical defense doesn’t stop spells! Hit him with everything!"
A coordinated group of twenty mages in the backline finally synced their casting bars. A massive barrage of concentrated lightning and ice lances shot across the deck, homing in on Levi.
Levi tried to sidestep, but the sheer volume of projectiles covered the entire width of the ship. The spells slammed directly into his chest plate.
The VR pain engine hissed as localized freezing and burning sensations hit his avatar.
The math didn’t lie. Magic damage in Starfall largely bypassed physical Defense scaling.
[-500] [-500] [-500]
Twenty spells hit him at once. He took exactly 10,000 points of raw magic damage.
His Shared HP pool dropped from 105,980 down to 95,980.
High up in the clouds on the back of the Behemoth, Isolde flinched.