Moving on...
Things had changed, not only did the Knight have souls enough for four cycles, but it also had gained 10 levels. Which would be nothing in this harrowing dungeon but for the Knight this happened to also increase the strength of the vessels of the Knights followers. This also meant if the Knight increased in level in the future the vessels would follow, making the Knight wonder what levels the followers in the vessels are. This meant that the Knight could take a level 140, since one of the vessels was already 145, and another 142. So, for now, it would hunt off the remaining monsters weaker than level 150, which was just twenty or so.
Things did not go well though. The Knight had not been arrogant, but it had expected some degree of ease, after all it slaughtered every monster from level 130-139, in one fell swoop, and there were a hundred, in two months. But the monsters that were comfortably above level 140 were extremely strong. Not only did they master the use of their skills, but they had massive amount of physical prowess. The level 135 Nared hunter used teleportation to move around instantaneously, but these monsters were moving so fast that there was barely a difference. They would move fast enough for the enemy's skill to not phase them. So much overwhelming power that its skills are marginally useful to the opponent. They also had heightened senses, the subtleties of teleportation could be felt, presence could be detected, this made up for the delay in speed between them.
This was not even their best. Just like the two monsters that the Knight had managed to fell, the level 142 and level 145, the skills had taken domineering levels of power. The level 145 monster had a skill that always allowed it to balance any battle that had its numbers against it. The monsters above level 140 had evolved their skills above the monsters beneath making then walking disasters. The thing about special skills that the Knight learned, was that on every 10 levels a being evolves their special skill. That is why the Knight was feeling glad that the first monster it met was a level 119 Retcher. Sure, the whole thing was nothing close to being lucky, but at least it was not level 120, or else it would have evolved its skill. So, the Knight had wiped out all the monsters beneath level 150, even the last horror, the Ninked. It was capable of stopping the movement of beings around it, the Knight had to be creative. While powerful, the immobilisation takes a split second to stop things, and the area of effect was a kilometre around it, making it hard to even see the thing that will eventually kill it.
The feather did not cancel out the power of the area by casing it twice, it just immobilised the monster too, and when the feather returned it would move, but the vessels would not. Then was trying to teleport in and out, with sudden attacks put in, but the thing was too fast to let the second affect it. Then there was trying to overwhelm it with numbers, the space has no capacity. Arrows didn't make it deep enough fast enough. The Knight had almost given up when it used the void. It seems the void itself is far more harrowing, with that figured out the next thing to do was bait it. The Knight this time used itself as bait and trap, this was because the vessels could not summon the void.
The thing approached to feast on the Knight, then the Knight realised, this immobilisation, immobilises everything, including space itself, thus their void could not be stopped, but it could not be released. The Knight was stuck in the space, immobile, the void had no way to exit the Knights soul, since it would have to occupy an area of no place, but that space already existed. The Ninked was slowly approaching, ready to rip the Knight to shreds, so the Knight had to find a way to escape and then come back but this time already surrounded by the void.
That was when the Knight had to bait it into following the other monsters the other side and come up with a new trap. The Knight did the same plan once more, but this time it only pretended to be still, by covering itself with the fear that knows no bounds, thus creating a pocket of safety, once the monster got close it realised something was amiss, there was a section that was not under its control. Then it approached it, wishing to know what is capable of threatening its authority. Then as they say, 'curiosity killed the cat', that is if it was a detestable, humanoid, with black wings and a rusted crown. The skin was rotting but the flesh beneath was almost at its best condition, the bat wings were also in prime condition, which is until the Knight noticed the groves, meaning it used to be covered by feathers. It happened to be the first monster the Knight encountered that actually smelled well. Maybe the bacteria had been stopped from ravaging the thing, and possibly the reason the skill was always active, stopping the flesh from rotting.
Next part the Knight summoned a tide of void darkness and then used a guided strategy of teleportation attacks. Now that it was actually moving in a predicted direction the strikes landed. The thing is that the monster was avoiding the void, not the Knight, but moving away from the Knight, who was still too weak to fatally injure the monster, it moved to the direction of beings able to leave enough wounds to eventually defeat it. The battle had lasted for 18 months. That is also why five years after the collection of human souls, the Knight had finally finished all the monsters weaker than level 150. They were each truly devastating adversaries. The Knight did not even want to imagine what would happen to the skills of the level 149 monsters, that the Knight had barely managed to kill. And the battles with the level 140 and above monsters were each so dangerous that the Knight had not managed to replace any of the lost vessels. It had lost the level 145, along with its numbers balancing skill, disillusion, at least the Knight had not relied on this skill.
The Knight had kept the vile hunter away from the monsters too strong to defeat, of course this one was level 139, but losing the teleportation skill was not worth it. The other monster that survived was the level 135 Vixer. Its skill allows the Knight to know the weakness of a monster. Another was a level 137 Alluga, not the first one the Knight had met but, another that was hunted down. The last was another level 139, the assassin monster that the Knight had made the knife from, the Kill seeker. Its skill was about delaying the response time of things the first time the Knight had met it, but this one was not level 125, it was 139, the vessel of one anyway. The skill allowed it to now increase its reaction speed by the delay of the opponents, and for fighting weaker opponents, this skill would continuously increase the gap. But now that the Knight wanted to challenge stronger monsters, this skill was slowing it down.
The Knight had not fought a single level 150, and they had evolved their skill to a higher level. The Knight had four vessels left, and not only that but it was going to face even stronger foes. Thus, the Knight had decided to destroy the vessels of the Kill seeker and the Alluga. Unlike the last time at an impasse the Knight had prepared for this eventuality thus it needed these two slots to be erased. So that it can make eight new vessels. Then it posted the Vixer and the Vile hunter at the gate since all vessels shared skills, they both teleported back there with less leaps than last time, since now they were 10 whole levels stronger, thus the teleport skill had become the way the Knight had faced in battle. The Knight wanted them safe so that it does not accidentally lose skills during the fight.
The other two vessels had been destroyed because their skills were too weak to even help the Knight slow down the monsters weaker than level 150. And they were distracting when used in plans. The Knight had gained 10 knowledge points, which made its mind able to understand situations easier. So, the Knight foresaw that they would not even do anything against a level 150, and the Knight had to face seven hundreds of those monstrosities. They were also wasting space in the void connection. The Knight was going into battle once more alone, a little stronger but no different from how hopeless things were at the start. The monsters that were purged were all about three hundred, but they did not even give the Knight a false sense of safety. The Knight had two vessels, but they were placed on the sidelines.
Why was the Knight going in alone then? Suicide?
You have encountered a level 150 monster, No-end. Type-Hunter.
"A knight without an army, huh? Well that simply will not do. I will have to find new recruits amongst these retches. They should be grateful."
The monster was a kilometre tall. It had pristine white fur; its eyes were milky.
'I didn't know monsters could be blind, what is there to see in the darkness anyway.'
It had a long winding tail, covered with scales instead of fur. It had mighty paws, A black and thick underbelly, A scar moving across two of its hind legs. It had a massive jaw, with rows of diamond shattering teeth. It reeked of rot, but it was probably because of diet, its body was almost made of stone, with how solid it stood. It could move like a beast on all fours, but also stand upright, its arms and legs were long as an ape, but the thing resembled something closer to a grisly. Around it was ten more, all with an inverse of colour between the underbelly and the fur. They had a white underbelly and lustreless black fur. They were slightly smaller than the white one, but mostly the same size. The grain of darkness resounded, announcing them all.
You have encountered a level 150 monster, Ender. Type-Hunter.
You have encountered a level 150 monster, Ender. Type-Hunter.
You have encountered a level 150 monster, Ender. Type-Hunter.
You have encountered a …
The Knight was a merely level 115, and only three metres tall, tiny next to these Behemoths. Yet… it was staring them all down. The monsters might be mad, but each seemed so confused, this thing in front of them was nothing and yet it believes that it is the hunter and they the prey, antic of a honey badger, but the Knight was barely a cockroach.
The Knight looked at them for a second and then ordered the Vile hunter to kill the Vixer. Its skill could not peer any weakness in these monsters, thus it will not be able to with any other monster from now onwards, and the Knight was not going to waste a follower on such a vessel. The Knight felt the follower teleport onto its skin.
'I guess you heard that.'
It had teleported back before the vessel was destroyed and attached itself to the Knight like the rest of its kin.
The monsters seem to have written off the look of defiance in the Knights face as nothing but pure façade. They were preparing to fight, but this was just one weakling, so first they just sent the two who were nearest, the black ones. Two was already too much. The Knight focused on all its senses and released all unnecessary thoughts. The human habits, greed, and similar things that could have been clouding the Knights judgement. It had been fighting like a desperate human. Maybe because the Knight had not spent enough time in the void conversing with others of the void, but the Knight had not noticed it. Talking to those feeble humans made it even clearer. There Knight had not really allowed itself enough time to introspect itself.
Now it that the Knight had come to terms with not being human, it was time, to come to terms with being a being of the void.