novelraw Chapter 85: Level 21
Chapter 85: Level 21
As Leonardo moved, one undead stepped forward to block him. It was larger than the others and carried a bone axe.
It was even faster than Leonardo.
Just its movement alone generated a powerful burst of air.
Even with his body drastically strengthened, Leonardo somehow still felt pressured.
It seemed this level of defense was indeed quite difficult for him and his monsters who were only at Level 17. Perhaps this cave was basically designed for Level 20 Awakener with high strength. Of course, not just one Awakener. After all, there were five rewards.
Clang!
Leonardo blocked the axe with his knife.
His hand trembled, and the knife failed to fully stop the axe, which then struck his shoulder.
But instead of crushing him, the axe bounced off as his shoulder—and even his entire body—suddenly appeared to be coated with thick diamond.
Clang!
The axe-wielding undead staggered after striking something too hard, the force rebounding back at it.
Even on his shadow, the power of Diamond Bone could activate.
The reason Thomas was able to destroy his shadow earlier was only because he did not activate the Diamond Bone power.
Otherwise, Thomas could stab him a thousand times, and the result might just be the destruction of his own spear.
Leonardo then counterattacked, slashing his knife toward the undead’s neck.
With the sharpness of an S-Class weapon, the blade easily cut through the undead’s neck.
However, even with its head severed, the undead still swung its axe at Leonardo.
It did not die at all—its arms and legs needed to be cut off, even its entire body if necessary.
Leonardo did not dodge.
Clang!
The result was the same as before. This time, the axe was even knocked out of the undead’s hand.
Leonardo continued to push forward, relying on his impenetrable defense.
But suddenly, dozens of undead blocked him and formed a formation, stacking their shields to trap him.
He couldn’t be more surprised.
Without being able to use teleportation or Invisible Mode, this was quite troublesome.
But there was something he wanted to try.
He stepped forward and punched the shield directly with his fist, coating it with diamond.
BANG!
Boom!
Instantly, all the shields were blown away along with the undead holding them.
Leonardo chuckled, realizing how reliable his physical strength was.
Because of that, his real body also began to move.
Now he knew he could force his way in.
However, as his real body joined the fight, some of the undead fighting Ellie and Liam split off to confront him.
Numbers—when there were too many, he would struggle—but this also made things easier for Ellie and Liam.
The battle reached a point where all undead were fully engaged.
At that moment, Leonardo added another shadow, which immediately flapped its wings and flew into the cave.
All obstacles were gone, but dozens of bone spears were thrown at him.
He didn’t care.
Clang! Clang!
They bounced off upon impact.
He entered the cave, but the undead immediately began chasing him.
At the same time, his other selves, Ellie, and Liam also managed to enter.
Aoooo!
Liam kept howling as he fought, to the point Leonardo even found it noisy.
But he used his agility, becoming the closest to the stone table.
When he got close, he opened his mouth.
Whoosh!
A powerful suction force erupted, and the five bottles on the stone table flew into his mouth.
Several undead tried to stop him.
They grabbed at the bottles, but one made it into Liam’s mouth—he swallowed it along with the bottle.
This was Devouring Maw, his consuming ability.
Buzz!
Light radiated from Liam, and his body grew even larger.
DING!
(With the help of Ascension Potion Level 21, Liam has directly reached Level 21!)
Aoooo!
Liam’s howl became twice as loud, extremely intimidating.
His level increase naturally raised Leonardo’s level as well.
He gained 74 Evolution Points as a result.
This was a jump of four levels at once.
With a single thought, all Evolution Points were distributed, and he immediately felt an incredible surge of power.
(Name: Leonardo Anderson!)
(Level: 21)
(EXP: 0/22,000)
(Class:)
(Beast Tamer)
(Knight)
(Beast Capacity: 3/4)
(Power Resonance: 4)
(Bone: Diamond)
(Heart: Holy Tree Heart)
(Knight Talent:)
Apex Overdrive (SS Class)
(Knight Skill: None)
(Strength: 4.3)
(Defense: 20.2) +8
(Agility: 20.4) +5
(Intelligence: 35.6) +11
(Vitality: 20.3) +7
(Stamina: 35.6) +11
(Mana: 45.5) +17
Even after gaining many points, he still did not increase Strength.
Even with the Knight Class, the gap between Strength and his other attributes was too large. Without activating Apex Overdrive, his knight talent, he truly felt unbalanced.
But it didn’t matter for now.
BANG! BANG!
After leveling up, combined with Leonardo’s buffs, Liam became incredibly powerful.
With a single strike, he destroyed at least five undead, especially those holding the remaining potions.
"Ellie, collect them!" Leonardo ordered.
Ellie quickly gathered them. She also drank one herself.
"Boss, there’s a drawer under this table!" she said, surprising Liam.
Was there another reward?
"Finish them all first," Leonardo replied.
Who knew whether the drawer could even be opened while undead were still active.
"Yes..."
Ellie moved as well.
Her black flames could turn some undead into ashes when they were directly hit.
Soon, all undead were completely wiped out.
The drastic level increase changed everything.
Liam stopped behind the stone table.
As Ellie said, there really was a drawer.
He knelt and pulled it.
Since it was made of stone, it was very heavy, producing a grinding sound as it moved.
It opened, revealing a book with a black skull cover.
(Undead Knight Transformation Skill, S-Class Skill!)
Leonardo read the title.
A skill to transform into an undead knight.
Like those undead?
He lost some interest—it was only a skill. After all, he could request skills from the System, possibly even better ones.
Maybe he could even get an Undead King Transformation later.
"Oh..."
Leonardo realized it didn’t end there. The drawer could be pulled further.
He continued pulling until a sword emitting a death aura was revealed.
DING!
(You have obtained Sword of Death, an S-Class weapon that drains the life of enemies when you successfully strike them!)
The sword had terrifying power, even if it lacked control features like his knife.
These were worthy rewards. The S-Class skill alone could be sold.
He stored everything.
The best reward was still the Ascension Potions Level 21.
Three bottles remained.
They were extremely valuable assets.
"It seems it was pointless for you two to grind EXP to Level 18," Leonardo said to Ellie and Liam.
Both felt embarrassed, realizing their boss was subtly mocking their slow leveling.
"Since we’ve passed the maximum level of Floor 2, there’s no point staying here. We need to go to Floor 3 to face stronger monsters. Ellie, go ahead first and hide yourself!" Leonardo ordered.
"Yes, boss..." Ellie nodded and flew away at high speed.
Liam remained, waiting for instructions.
"You’ll go with me," Leonardo said.
Ellie had Invisible Mode, so she could move unseen.
But Liam was too conspicuous. Leonardo didn’t want him targeted upon entering Floor 3.
"Let’s go!"
Leonardo climbed onto Liam’s back, directing him toward the nearest gate.
Floor 3, the number of its layers is much fewer.
Fewer Awakeners are able to reach this floor, so its coverage is far wider.
For example, Layer 13 is connected to half of the United States—namely, the Eastern United States.
With such a vast coverage, even though fewer Awakeners can enter it, the total number of Awakeners on Floor 3 is naturally very large.
However, it is also extremely vast, having 21 Gates that are far apart from each other.
Leonardo chose Gate 12.
He had heard that Awakeners from City Z mostly chose this gate.
Appearing from that gate together with Liam, he felt air that was not too hot, yet somewhat stifling.
His legs immediately felt wet up to his knees, and when he looked down, he found that his ankles were submerged in shallow water filled with aquatic plants.
A swamp.
The entirety of Floor 3 was a vast swamp.
All of its land was submerged by swamp water, except for certain areas where piles of dead plants had accumulated in large amounts.
Compared to a desert, a swamp was naturally a harsher environment.
Many monsters hid beneath the water and mud, preying on Awakeners from below.
Even though those who came to Floor 3 possessed considerable strength, the death rate here was higher than on Floors 1 and 2.
Leonardo did not see many people around the gate. Most of them seemed to be like him, coming to Floor 3 for the first time.
The complicated terrain made many of them think carefully before exploring.
Perhaps it would be easier if one brought a boat here.
He observed someone who started walking forward.
At first, the water was indeed shallow, but suddenly the person sank deeper until it nearly reached his neck.
It seemed that only the area near the gate had shallow water. Further ahead, the water was no longer shallow at all.