ROAR!
From all directions, one black giant octopus beast after another let out low roars, eyeing Zhang Yue and Athena menacingly.
Basically, the creatures on this side of the Death Territory were all top-tier monsters of their respective worlds.
Even though this was just the first layer of the Nightmare Abyss, the monsters appearing around were already Level 115 [Giant Octopus Beasts].
That's right, they finally caught up to Zhang Yue's level.
The earlier Level 111 Blood Wolves and Level 112 Dark Gryphins were simply bullying the weak.
Before the battle started, he checked the stats of the Giant Octopus Beasts.
Level 115 Giant Octopus Beasts, 450k attack power, 200k defense, 1.1 billion HP.
Zhang Yue calculated, 'The AOE damage from the Armageddon Black Dragon is around 900 million, not enough to one-shot them.'
"Perfect, Drogo, you can finally take the stage!"
With that, Zhang Yue summoned the Thirty-Six Winged Armageddon Black Dragon on the spot.
Seeing Zhang Yue summon the black dragon, Athena looked a bit at a loss.
She seemed to understand: from now on, Zhang Yue probably didn't need her help anymore.
Just as Athena was thinking this, Zhang Yue suddenly looked at her, "Next, I still need you to help me lure monsters. Are you... still willing to cooperate with me like before?"
Athena smiled gently, "Of course, no problem!"
"Is there a limit on quantity?", Athena asked.
"No," Zhang Yue replied, "No upper limit, the more the better."
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Hearing Zhang Yue say this, Athena immediately released her superior Army Soul on the spot. Using the power of the Army Soul, she instantly attracted aggro from over a hundred Giant Octopus Beasts around them.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Those Giant Octopus Beasts charged toward Zhang Yue with a sky-devouring momentum.
This formation looked like they wanted to devour the two of them!
Zhang Yue remained calm and composed.
He simply waited until the group of Giant Octopus Beasts gathered.
The 30-winged Armageddon Black Dragon soared into the air, opening its bloody maw.
With a loud "ROAR," a scorching breath of dragon fire poured down, instantly engulfing the group of Giant Octopus Beasts around Zhang Yue.
A large-scale 900 million+ damage instantly left all the hundred or so Giant Octopus Beasts with only a sliver of HP.
Next, the Armageddon Black Dragon just needed one more AOE splash attack to easily wipe out this wave of Giant Octopus Beasts.
But in accordance with its master's command, the Armageddon Black Dragon didn't continue attacking.
The next moment, Zhang Yue raised his staff.
Thunder Wrath!
Heavenfire Inferno!
Shattered Thunder!
Thunder Dance!
Voidless: Godslayer Curse!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
One single-target skill after another blasted toward different Giant Octopus Beasts.
Each blow dealt over 300 million in massive damage, instantly killing any target it touched.
And each skill kill triggered five follow-up attacks.
Even by the fifth follow-up, when the damage dropped to 20–30 million, it was still more than enough to kill the Giant Octopus Beasts.
Because after suffering the Armageddon Black Dragon's AOE, these originally 1.1 billion HP Giant Octopus Beasts all had only around 10 million HP left.
Twenty or thirty million follow-up damage was more than enough to kill them.
In an instant, over a hundred Giant Octopus Beasts were all wiped out.
When skills were on cooldown, he simply used basic attacks.
As long as the single-target attack killed the target, it would trigger a follow-up, not limited to skills.
Even Zhang Yue's basic attacks could easily deal 50 million damage, and 60% of that as follow-up was still enough to kill those with only ten million HP.
In the end, of the 125 kills, 101 were follow-ups, totaling 101 EXP points gained.
Right after finishing off one wave of Giant Octopus Beasts, In the blink of an eye, Athena, driven by her Army Soul, lured in another large wave of Giant Octopus Beasts.
Fortunately, Zhang Yue's skill cooldowns were short, plus the Forbidden Spell passive [Arcane: Lightning Summon] reduced all his lightning-type skill cooldowns by 50%.
This made Zhang Yue's Thunder Wrath, Shattered Thunder, and Thunder Dance all have just four to five seconds of cooldown.
After another AOE burst from the Armageddon Black Dragon, Zhang Yue's cooldowns had mostly recovered.
Immediately, he launched the second round of slaughter.
Under endless carnage, the Ghost Eye passive EXP also skyrocketed.
Only three minutes passed...
["Ding~ Congratulations on using 2 minutes and 58 seconds to successfully kill 1000 Giant Octopus Beasts, meeting the under-10-minute requirement. You've completed the Nightmare Abyss first layer challenge. Rewards obtained: EXP +10 billion, Gold +5000, Energy +300 trillion (for those wondering about Energy values, all of the protagonist's Energy is amplified ten thousand times, normal people would only get one ten-thousandth of this), obtained [Nightmare Set Random Box] (Level 110, 20-star) +1!"]
"No grading in Nightmare Abyss?", After completing the first-round challenge, rewards were directly settled. This move left Zhang Yue a bit confused.
Athena on the side had obviously looked up the guide in advance, and explained, "Right. In the Death Territory's Abyss, there's no Normal–Perfect grading system. As long as the challenge is completed per the requirements, it's considered a perfect rating."
Zhang Yue looked slightly disappointed.
This meant... a perfect opportunity to show off was gone.
Oh well, this way it's even easier to fight.
Besides, the reward is actually amazing.
Just the first layer's rewards already exceeded the perfect-rating reward from the 10th layer of Endless Abyss in the national territory.
And the normal equipment box directly upgraded into a Nightmare Set box.
The 20-star Nightmare Set was much stronger than the 18-star Sovereign Set on the Armageddon Black Dragon and others.
Thus, Zhang Yue now had a new goal.
That was to get Nightmare Sets for the Armageddon Black Dragon, Ice-Sealed War God, and Apex Predator in the Nightmare Abyss.
As for Cherry.
She had the 19-star Ice-Sealed Set equipped.
Though the stats were definitely not as good as the 20-star Nightmare Set, the Ice-Sealed Set's skill effects were super friendly for Cherry's ice-type playstyle.
Unless there's a 22-star or higher-tier set, Zhang Yue had no intention of replacing Cherry's Ice-Sealed Set.
After clearing the first layer, Athena suddenly chuckled and said, "My father meant for me to come protect you, but it seems like I'm just here leeching your EXP..."
"There's no need for protection, but you really helped me a lot," Zhang Yue smiled, "Let's call this mutual cooperation."
As he said that, a panel suddenly popped up in front of Athena.
["Ding~ You received 1 trillion Energy gifted to you by the class holder [Zero]!"]
Because the panel showed the amount in Arabic numerals, Athena couldn't immediately tell how many zeros were behind the 1.
Last time it was 100 billion, this time 1 trillion.
Athena's clear eyes showed a look of disbelief.
1 trillion Energy, for a normal Level 100+ class holder, it would take at least a year or two to accumulate.
Little did she know: to Zhang Yue, it was just a drop in the ocean.
Just now, the Nightmare Abyss first layer reward alone gave 300 billion Energy.
Plus the total 600 billion contributed by 1000 Giant Octopus Beasts, it was already close to 1 trillion.
Not to mention, Zhang Yue's accumulated Energy total was nearing 10 quadrillion.
Athena didn't know where Zhang Yue got so much Energy from, nor how it was even transferable.
"At Level 120 and 4th advancement, skills will evolve to SSS-grade, and reforging 20-star+ gear will consume much more. The need for Energy will keep increasing," Zhang Yue told Athena, "If it's not enough, just let me know."
Athena was utterly stunned, 'Could this be his class ability, unlimited Energy?'
While she was thinking this, Zhang Yue had already opened the portal to the second layer of the Nightmare Abyss.
He looked back at Athena, "Ready for the second layer?"
"Didn't you say the elite forces of the seven great nations were all concentrated on the 42nd floor? Let's hurry up and get to floor 42 and give them a surprise."
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