Chương 171: Good Luck With That

Before pulling Varkesh, Meno had one more Sinforged Trinity test. Quadrillionator never said corrupted weapons were invalid components. If the corruption was just part of the item, combining Sinforged Trinity into a new Massive weapon should wipe it along with the other modifiers. Meno selected Sinforged Trinity, Drazhul's Crucible, and Vervenzal's Verdict, then activated Quadrillionator. All three merged without complaint.

[Quadrillionator] Type: Two-Handed Massive Weapon Damage Tier: Legendary V Durability: Indestructible CORRUPTION WASHING MACHINE so cooldown reduction is back? VANILLA LEGENDARY V QUAD scientific achievement everything about Tyrant EX is broken good"Huge, it works, but it's suboptimal. That ghost mod does have crazy potential."

"You are about to ruin it anyway, aren't you." Meno ignored him because the ghost was useful, but Damage Tier was still better. He split the weapons apart and pulled out his second Cursed Divine Teardrop (Diluted). If it could push Sinforged Trinity straight from Legendary V to Legendary VI, he kept the ghost and saved both Drazhul's mace and Verdict for later combinations. He selected Sinforged Trinity. [Corrupted items cannot be modified.]"Well, that's that. Mace dies."

"Don't do it, man. It's not worth it. We can beat this, and the next weapon drop already gives you a better combination."

"This boss counters our whole setup. If we don't dump as much damage as possible into Mush, what's the plan?" Karmabeast had already swapped Gorvath's Reprisal into his glove slot.

"I have a plan. I am big on PvE now. I go full parry tank mode. My damage is low either way without trash, so I rotate my abilities to keep Venom Tyrant up through Avoidance and focus on keeping you clean."

"You can't hold aggro. I have +500% Threat on an item, and I'm doing more damage than you without trash feeding Multi-Strike. Your Lifesteal is going to struggle too."

"I don't need aggro." Karmabeast brought one linked Massive blade across his chest.

"I am not shield-brained. If Varkesh swings at you, I get between you and the attack and parry it myself. Counterattacks give me 5% HP back. You stay behind me and use that stupid glaive reach to hit around me instead of jumping all over the place." PARRY TANK KARMABEAST if this works tanks will uninstall PBG cannot stop jumping ACTUAL STRATEGY WHAT HAPPENED THEY HAVE DISCOVERED FORMATIONS"Good. Only pop Mush when he starts to actually Avoid."

"Yes. I can only purge bleed once every 30 seconds. A lot of rogue finishers have cannot-be-parried, so that's going on most likely."

"I will pop the stored mage boss, then combine the weapon into a fresh Quadrillionator. That way I can purge a bleed every 5 seconds and might even get a second use of Mush. When you see Bleed coming, step back hard as a signal and let me tank it. We need to rotate our position around it." The Divine Teardrop stayed in Meno's inventory. Legendary VI could wait; Varkesh could not. Before combining the weapons, Meno activated Sinforged Trinity's corruption one last time.

Zhaerith appeared on the platform in a wash of purple light and immediately scattered Arcane Sigils around the Level 100 boss. Varkesh dropped off the rim and dashed through the first pattern. One Sigil caught it mid-movement and detonated for roughly 4% Maximum HP, but the Executioner avoided the rest. Not incredible, but still free damage. Meno activated Quadrillionator immediately afterward, combining Sinforged Trinity, Drazhul's Crucible, and Verdict into a clean Legendary V Massive glaive.

The corruption disappeared and Aurastone came back online. Crownmind dropped to a 5-second cooldown, while Mush fell all the way to 3 minutes. They approached together, but Varkesh moved first. Varkesh dashed across the platform and appeared behind Meno, both short blades already cutting toward him. Karmabeast stood half a step forward and to Meno's left, close enough to rotate across the attack instead of chasing Varkesh after the dash. One linked Massive blade caught the strike. Parry.

Gorvath's Reprisal turned the successful defense into a Counterattack, restoring 5% Maximum HP when Karmabeast's return strike connected. Meno stayed behind his shoulder and used the Massive glaive's reach to attack around him. That became the formation: Meno held Threat while Karmabeast played a shield that refused to stand still. Whenever Varkesh dashed behind Meno, Karmabeast crossed the shortest angle and intercepted the attack.

Meno rotated the opposite direction instead of chasing, keeping his glaive in range without tangling their movement. Venom Tyrant helped a lot. Against a boss, its Action Speed reduction capped at 25%, but that was enough to stretch Varkesh's attack animations and let Karmabeast read the blades instead of guessing. Every Parry fed another Counterattack and another 5% heal from Gorvath's Reprisal while Meno kept building Chain behind him. For the first 15 seconds, the setup almost felt comfortable.

Then Varkesh stunned Karmabeast. The effect would have locked him down for 5 seconds, but Venom Cloak purged it before Meno had to abandon the formation. A few seconds later, both of Varkesh's blades turned red. That telegraph was easy enough to read. Karmabeast stepped back, Meno took the front position, and Varkesh dashed through the gap between them before carving across Meno's chest. The first Bleed landed.

[Executioner's Bleed | 15 seconds] The Bleed would cost Meno 50% Maximum HP if he let the full 15 seconds tick. He purged it with Crownmind, and they slipped back into formation without giving Varkesh much free time. At 30 seconds, Meno had still pushed Chain into the low 3, 000s through all the dashes. Then Varkesh's outline slipped out of sync with its body. Faint copies trailed every movement, leaving the real blades half a step away from where they appeared to be. Avoidance had kicked in.

Meno and Karmabeast answered with Mush. Both tripled in size, and for 6 seconds Varkesh lost every defensive answer that mattered. Meno unloaded. Sinforged Trinity tore back and forth through Varkesh while Karmabeast flooded it with dual hits from the front. Venom Tyrant never dropped, and with every attack guaranteed to connect, Meno's doubled attack rate sent Chain rocketing past anything he had built during the first 30 seconds.

[Chain: 5600 | Damage: +56, 000% | Total: 561x] Mush ended with Avoidance still running. Meno immediately stopped attacking and milked the 3-second Chain timer for everything it had. At the last possible moment, he swung. Afterimage. Defiant caught the Chain break. [Defiant EX: Chain Break Prevented] Chain cannot break for 6 seconds. Its 6 seconds covered almost the entire remaining phase, then refreshed Meno's normal 3-second upkeep window as it ended.

Varkesh turned solid before that final timer ran out, and Meno landed the hit. One Avoidance phase survived, but Defiant was gone. For the next 30 seconds, the fight returned to normal. Karmabeast kept screening Varkesh's attacks while Meno stayed on its back and fed Chain whenever the Executioner stopped long enough to hit. Then Varkesh blurred again, and Mush was nowhere near ready. Meno waited until Chain forced the first gamble and swung. Miss.

[Chain Broken | Chain reset to 1000] Indignation: Chain has no effect for 3 seconds. His 5% Avoidance Pierce from Kharvek's Skybreaker gave every swing a chance, but Chain demanded more than luck eventually landing one. He needed a hit inside every 3-second upkeep window for the full 15-second phase. Sooner or later, the math collected. The Level 100 wall had found exactly where to hit his class. Karmabeast dropped Venocide around Varkesh.

The boss could ignore the escape restriction, but the green sphere kept Venom Tyrant online through part of the Avoidance window. That slow mattered because blurred Varkesh shut off their sustain. An Avoided hit gave Meno no Lifesteal and Karmabeast no Counterattack heal, so those 15 seconds became survival until the boss turned solid again. Karmabeast tracked the real blades through the afterimages, stepped into their path, and parried whatever he could.

The pattern was clear now: 15 seconds to hit, 15 seconds to survive. Varkesh's Stun complicated it. Its own 30-second timer often lined up with the end of Avoidance, stunning someone right when they needed to start attacking and healing again. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. Meno could purge it with Crownmind, but that left a 5-second window where a bleed could force Karmabeast to take the hit.

Karmabeast could answer with Venom Cloak, once every 30 seconds. Whoever spent the cleanse changed who could safely take the front. Varkesh always targeted Meno, so Karmabeast stopped trying to stand directly between them. He stayed off one shoulder instead, ready to cut across whichever side Varkesh dashed to. Meno rotated the other way, and the two stopped chasing the boss around the platform. They turned around each other instead, rebuilding the formation after every dash.

The formation kept rebuilding into the same line: Varkesh, Karmabeast, Meno. Whenever Varkesh dashed behind them, Karmabeast crossed the shortest angle while Meno rotated the other way, rebuilding the line from the opposite direction. When the blades turned red, Karmabeast broke away and Meno took the front so he could purge the Bleed. If Crownmind was unavailable, they reversed the roles and Karmabeast took it instead. There was no room for greedy movement.

False Wings gave Meno more than enough speed to fly around the platform, but leaving the ground separated him from Karmabeast and opened free dash angles. His mobility would make the fight harder, so he stayed grounded. Around the 2-minute mark, the cleanse rotation finally slipped. A Stun forced Meno to use Crownmind, then Varkesh's blades turned red before the 5-second cooldown returned. Karmabeast intercepted the Bleed attack, but Venom Cloak was still cooling down from the previous Stun. The Bleed stuck.

Karmabeast fought through the drain with Counterattacks and the Lifesteal he could squeeze out while Varkesh remained solid. Then the Executioner crossed both red blades. The Bleed detonated in a red shockwave that ripped 37% Maximum HP from both players. Meno crashed from the seventies into the thirties, while Karmabeast dropped into the low twenties. Both stayed above 10%, barely. They gave up several seconds of damage and rebuilt the formation with zero greed.

Meno kept Varkesh occupied while Karmabeast waited for Venom Cloak to return and purge the remaining Bleed before Execution could turn the next mistake into a death. That was the only threshold that mattered now: above 10%, they could recover; below it, Varkesh ended the run. At 3 minutes and 30 seconds, Mush returned exactly when Meno needed it. Varkesh blurred, and Meno transformed alone. For 6 seconds, Avoidance stopped mattering.

The divine burst rebuilt Chain, refilled Meno through Lifesteal, and tore another chunk out of Varkesh while Karmabeast focused entirely on keeping the attack pattern clean. Mush expired with 9 seconds of Avoidance still running, and Defiant was already gone. Meno gambled on his 5% Avoidance Pierce anyway. He missed, and lost Chain again. That became the fight. Meno built several thousand Chain during each solid phase, then risked losing the entire ramp when Avoidance returned.

Sometimes a lucky 5% hit bought another upkeep window. Once, he connected with less than half a second left and carried the ramp all the way into the next solid phase. Chat celebrated it like a boss kill. 5% PIERCE CLUTCH CHAIN SAVED BY GAMBLING HE HIT THE BLUR DO IT AGAIN TOTALLY RELIABLE It was not reliable, and the next Avoidance erased his Chain anyway. At 6 minutes and 30 seconds, Karmabeast's Mush finally came back and lined up with Meno's.

Both Tyrants transformed during another blurred phase, buying 6 full seconds where Varkesh could not Avoid a single hit. Karmabeast's Divine form kept Venom Tyrant active through the entire burst while Meno rebuilt Chain from another reset. They unloaded, ripping one of the largest chunks off Varkesh's HP bar all fight. More than 6 minutes in it was still above 50%. FIRST BOSS 4.

57 SECONDS BTW WELCOME TO LEVEL 100 KARMA IS ACTUALLY MAIN TANKING 15 SEC AVOIDANCE IS DISGUSTING Karmabeast tried another answer during a later Avoidance window. He used Venom Shade, vanished, then broke Stealth with a Massive hit meant to apply Suppressed and disable Varkesh's abilities and Avoidance. The boss ignored the debuff through Boss immunity, killing the shortcut before it started. Back to parrying. The fight became cleaner as it got longer, but never easier.

By 9 minutes, both players were reading the red-blade telegraph before Varkesh committed. Karmabeast stepped out before the Dash landed, Meno took the Bleed and purged it with Crownmind, then rotated behind him again without giving up much uptime. The Stun was what kept complicating everything. It landed every 30 seconds, and if the wrong player spent the wrong cleanse, the next red-blade attack forced the other to take the bleed.

Crownmind and Venom Cloak had stopped being personal defensive buttons and become shared party resources. Meno tracked Karmabeast's Cloak timer almost as closely as his own Chain, and Karmabeast did the same with Crownmind. They barely needed to call it anymore. A Stun landed, one cleanse answered, red blades followed, and whoever still had the safe response stepped forward before they swapped back. Near the 11-minute mark, Varkesh dashed behind Meno three times in quick succession.

Karmabeast crossed after the first attack, used Venom Step to catch the second angle, then reached the third through raw Movement Speed before the blades came down. Meno never chased. He rotated around Karmabeast each time, using him as the center point and letting Threat bring the boss back into glaive range. The formation bent without breaking, and that was the real skill check. At 12 minutes and 30 seconds, both Mush cooldowns aligned again just as another Avoidance phase began. Both Tyrants transformed.

Six seconds of burst damage ripped another major chunk from Varkesh while Meno pushed Chain past 5, 000. When Mush ended, Varkesh stayed blurry. Meno gambled and punched through on his 5% Pierce. [Chain: 5700 | Damage: +57, 000% | Total: 571x] The lucky Pierce carried Meno's upkeep timer through the end of Avoidance, and ramp survived into a full solid phase. They cashed it in immediately.

Karmabeast kept Venom Tyrant on Varkesh, parried the normal attacks, and screened Meno long enough for Chain to climb through uninterrupted Massive hits. The next Avoidance erased it in 3 seconds. [Chain Broken | Chain reset to 1000] Indignation: Chain has no effect for 3 seconds. Back to 1, 000. By 15 minutes, Varkesh was picking apart their builds one mechanic at a time: Avoidance broke Chain, Bleed attacked Lifesteal, Execution punished low HP, Stun burned cleanses, and dash pulled at their formation.

Each problem was solvable. Surviving all five on repeat for twenty minutes was the real boss. Crisis arrived shortly after Meno's 15-minute Mush window. Karmabeast spent Venom Cloak on a Stun, then caught the red-blade attack. The bleed stuck and started draining him. This time Varkesh never detonated the bleed, but the full 15-second duration still stripped half of Karmabeast's Maximum HP. He barely kept his HP above 10% by landing Counterattacks, each successful Parry restoring another 5%.

One bad Avoidance window left him at 11%. Meno pulled the boss away immediately. Varkesh stayed locked on the higher-Threat target and followed him, giving Karmabeast room to retreat and avoid the next blade without messing up their positioning too much. One hit below 10% would trigger Execution, and 11% was close enough. At 18 minutes and 30 seconds, both cooldowns aligned for the third time. Varkesh blurred, and both players activated Mush. They unloaded. By now, moving around each other was automatic.

Even tripled in size, Karmabeast held Varkesh's front edge while Meno worked the longer glaive from behind. Every attack connected, every defensive layer failed, and 6 uninterrupted seconds dragged the boss below 20%. Varkesh came out of the burst swinging harder. It dashed behind Meno and followed with a Stun. Crownmind cleared it just before the blades turned red, and Karmabeast crossed into the attack and parried before the bleed could land. The Counterattack restored 5% HP. Varkesh dashed again.

Meno rotated around Karmabeast instead of chasing, and the next red-blade strike cut through empty air. Clean. Thirty seconds later, Avoidance killed Meno's latest Chain ramp anyway. Fifteen seconds was 15 seconds. No amount of skill changed that, so they focused on staying alive. At the 20-minute mark, Varkesh still had 13% HP while Meno sat around 40% and Karmabeast hovered near 30%. Another Avoidance phase had just started, leaving neither of them with reliable Lifesteal to climb back up.

Karmabeast used Venocide on the boss and turned the center of the platform into green mist again to keep it slowed. Varkesh tore through the haze. A dagger hissed past Meno with a shwissh, Karmabeast's Massive blade caught it with a click, and the successful parry immediately fed his Counterattack. Shwissh. Click. Counter. Varkesh reversed. Shwissh. Click. Counter. Another Dash snapped it to Karmabeast's opposite side.

He followed with a fast side-swap, planted his blade where the next dagger had to extend, and knocked it away before answering with another Counterattack. Then the routine started again. Varkesh dashed behind Meno, Karmabeast crossed and parried, Meno rotated around him when the boss reversed, and the moment red blades appeared, Karmabeast cleared out so Meno could eat the bleed and purge it with Crownmind. A few seconds later, the 30-second Stun landed on Karmabeast, and Venom Cloak stripped it off.

Both important cleanses were now unavailable. Varkesh slashed at Meno with its right dagger. Karmabeast stepped across and caught the blade on one linked Massive weapon. The boss shifted left and brought the other dagger around, but Karmabeast did not chase it. He swapped sides, planted his second blade where the attack had to extend, and knocked it wide. Both took a step back and reset. Varkesh came again.

Karmabeast parried the first dagger, then the second, pushing each strike away just far enough to keep Meno clean. The Executioner vanished and dashed behind Meno. Karmabeast did not turn. He stepped backward past Meno's shoulder, leaned until his upper body nearly folded beneath the incoming blades, and raised one Massive weapon over his head. The first dagger crashed into it.

He twisted at the waist and caught the second above him too, then rolled through the movement into a side step that put him back between Varkesh and Meno. PARRY GOD that was sick do it again he didn't even look lol DO NOT FAIL NOW clip clip clip finish it cowards Meno rotated with him, settling behind Karmabeast again while the glaive's reach kept Varkesh inside his attack range. When Avoidance ended, Meno went straight back to damage. Two Massive hits landed, and Lifesteal dragged his HP upward.

Karmabeast followed with a successful Counterattack for another 5% Maximum HP, then squeezed in enough normal hits for his own Lifesteal to start helping again. Varkesh dropped to 11%, then 10. 6%. The next Avoidance phase started before they could finish it, with Mush still 14 seconds from ready. Terrible timing, but they did not gamble the run. Meno accepted another Chain reset while Karmabeast went back to parrying. Varkesh dashed behind Meno, and they rotated.

Red blades followed, but both cleanses had recovered by then, letting them run the sequence cleanly without either player falling into Execution range. Twenty-one minutes had gone by, and the boss was still alive. Vaelkor had lasted less than 5 seconds, and Meno's brain felt cooked. Every dash still demanded the right step. Every red-blade attack still needed the right player. Every Stun still needed the right cleanse.

Karmabeast had to parry a boss that could kill him for one bad low-HP trade, while Meno had to ignore every instinct telling him to jump, chase, and turn the fight into a movement contest. They kept doing it anyway. Varkesh became solid just as Mush came off cooldown, but Meno did not need it. His first clean Massive hit pushed the boss below 10%. Meno moved before the next dash.

His full-health Movement Speed bonus was gone, Chain had reset so many times it barely mattered, and one mechanic or another had spent the entire fight attacking his class. Titan still worked. Meno crossed the short gap and kicked Varkesh in the chest. The Executioner died instantly. [Boss Defeated: Varkesh, Crucible Executioner] [Level Up! | Level 95] [Level Up! | Level 96] Karmabeast reached Level 94 from the clear. 21 minutes, 52. 16 seconds.

Meno had lost Chain so many times that he no longer wanted to think about the number. Their brains had melted, but they had done it.

"Let's gooo!" Karmabeast shouted and started throwing backflips across the platform. TWENTY ONE MINUTES LEVEL 100 WALL CONFIRMED THAT FORMATION WAS ACTUALLY CLEAN KARMA PARRY GOD ARC PBG LOST MORE CHAINS THAN THE BOSS HAD HP BARS NO HEALER DUO BTW NEVER RUN THIS AGAIN PLEASE [World First: Balveth Crucible Cleared] Reward: +50, 000 Reputation Final Boss Loot: +1 Drop Two Ancient loot beams rose from Varkesh's corpse, and a second notification followed before Meno could touch either one.

[World First: Level 100 Dungeon Boss Defeated] Reward: +200, 000 Reputation Then the rest of his UI dimmed beneath a global announcement. [Global Announcement] Delfor stirs. In a party of 2 players or fewer, overcome every kill-speed record PrayerBeadGod and Karmabeast established within The Balveth Crucible to manifest Delfor. Those who draw Delfor's attention may be offered a Divine Class Evolution. While wielding Excrino's power, PrayerBeadGod and Karmabeast cannot draw Delfor through this challenge.

Vaelkor, Veil Hierophant: 4. 57 seconds Kharvek, Crucible Bombardier: 39. 42 seconds Gorvath, Crucible Bastion: 2. 49 seconds Drazhul, Crucible Forgemaster: 5. 81 seconds Zhaerith, Crucible Arcanist: 4 minutes 18. 73 seconds Varkesh, Crucible Executioner: 21 minutes 52. 16 seconds Delfor's attention will fade in 7 days, ending this challenge. Exceptional feats within dungeons may draw his attention once more. DIVINE EVOLUTION SPEEDRUN GORVATH 2. 49 GOOD LUCK VAELKOR 4.

57 IS EVIL VARKESH IS THE FREE RECORD LMAO DELFOR PATH FOUND EVERYONE IS COMING HERE NOW Meno looked over the six records.

"Good luck with that."