[The 356th attempt was successful! Some permissions have been regained!]
[Endless extraction of SSS-level skills has been restored!]
[SSS-level skill sword array has been restored!]
Although only two skills had been restored for now, these two alone were enough to give Zach hope for survival. It was time to fight back!
Meanwhile, the Devil, hit by the laser cannon, began its recovery. Flesh and blood, like writhing tentacles, emerged and fused together as though alive. The entire recovery process was completed in mere seconds.
This series of events had pushed its anger towards Zach to its peak. The Devil's breathing was heavy—Zach could hear it even from a distance.
Gripping the sickle handle with both hands, the Devil charged forward without hesitation.
Zach didn't consider dodging or fleeing. He summoned a blue sword, which hovered vertically before him.
Boom!
The Devil's sickle struck with immense force, but Zach stood motionless, as unyielding as a mountain. The blue sword barely trembled, like a pebble sinking into water before it stabilized.
The Devil, undeterred, lifted the sickle again and swung it down with all its might.
The blue sword split and shifted.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each blow from the Devil caused the sword to split and replace itself. More than thirty swords surrounded Zach, forming a formidable sword array. In an instant, the azure light turned blood-red, suffused with immense pressure.
The sword array shifted from defense to offense.
Zach raised his hand and brandished his sword. Like a dragon lifting its head, he thrust forward. The long sword shot through the air with a roar!
Devil reacted swiftly, holding the sickle in one hand and blocking with the other.
Boom! Boom!
The red sword struck with such force that the Devil was thrown backward, sliding nearly a hundred meters before regaining its stance. Both hands had been pushed back, but Zach's relentless assault didn't stop there.
Puchi! Puchi! Pfft...
The red swords struck one after another, tearing through the Devil's chest, abdomen, shoulders, head, and legs, each blow shattering bones and leaving the Devil on its knees.
It could no longer hold the sickle. Its massive tail, once used to support its weight, was also controlled by Zach, who swung it upwards and severed it.
With a final effort, the Devil flew seven or eight meters away, its form shattered.
Using the power of the enemy against them felt remarkably satisfying.
[Successfully killed the Sickle Rat! Congratulations to the host for receiving 200 killing points!]
"Two hundred killing points?" Zach chuckled. "Is this really comparable to the bosses on the top floors of the Tower of Trials? And no skills allowed? How much do you want me to die?"
Zach recalled all the red swords, transforming them back into blue swords that surrounded him, forming a protective sword formation with no gaps.
Approaching the Sickle Rat's body, Zach reached out to claim the fallen four-bladed sickle.
[Congratulations on obtaining the four-bladed sickle!]
"Can I really claim the weapon dropped like this?" Zach swung it a couple of times, but its sheer size made it difficult to wield. Even with the boost from his strength attribute, the sickle was unwieldy.
Zach remembered the second restored permission—endless extraction. Reaching out, he placed his hand on the Sickle Rat's body and muttered in his mind, Extract!
[Extracting...]
[Extraction successful! Congratulations to the host for obtaining 10 strength and 8 speed attributes!]
"Is this all?" Zach kicked the Sickle Rat in frustration. "I nearly died to kill this thing, and this is all I get?"
Nevertheless, 18 attribute points was a considerable reward—enough to change the course of a weaker player's progress.
The Sickle Rat's body was stored in Zach's system backpack. Although the infinite backpack skill wasn't yet restored, he had accumulated enough slots to store it for now. He intended to turn it into cans later once his cooking skills unlocked.
The sound of hard objects scraping against the ground once again echoed in his ears, but this time, it wasn't just from one direction. It came from all around.
Zach stood up and looked around, his eyes widening in realization.
A series of miniature blood-red vortex doors opened, each one spitting out a Sickle Rat, dragging its scythe as it emerged. From what he could see, there were at least seventy or eighty of them.
"It seems they really want to play me to death." Zach smiled grimly.
The vortex doors continued to open, more and more Sickle Rats flooding out. The sheer number was overwhelming, but Zach wasn't without progress.
[The 543rd attempt was successful! Some permissions have been regained!]
[SSS-level skill Killing Intent Shock has been restored!]
[SSS-level skill Knight Summoning has been restored!]
[SSS-level full-level dodge has been restored!]
Three more SSS-level skills had been restored, including the Knight Summon, which Zach had been eagerly awaiting.
The ground cracked open, and a series of formation symbols appeared, forming a gateway to another world. From it, knights in shining armor, swords in hand, emerged and surrounded Zach, their blades pointed outward.
Zach now had the numbers to stand his ground.
For him, this was no longer just a survival game—it was an opportunity for a great harvest.
Each Sickle Rat had been worth 200 killing points, and with endless extraction, it was as if the monsters themselves were delivering rewards on a silver platter.
Though the Sickle Rats carried scythes, in reality, Zach was the one holding the sickle now, ready to reap the harvest!
"Kill!" Zach commanded. His knights surged forward, blades flashing as they struck the Sickle Rats. The sound of armor clashing filled the air.
There was a clear disparity in strength, of course—these monsters were worth 200 killing points each—but Zach's overwhelming numbers and the formation map's support gave him an undeniable advantage.
The healing abilities of the Sickle Rats seemed powerless against the relentless barrage of attacks. Each slash from the knights only deepened the wounds, cutting through flesh and bone, and preventing any chance of recovery.
[Successfully killed the Sickle Rat! Congratulations to the host for receiving 200 killing points!]
[Successfully killed the Sickle Rat! Congratulations to the host for receiving 200 killing points!]
[Successfully killed the Sickle Rat! Congratulations to the host for receiving 200 killing points!]
...
Zach stood still, protected by the sword array, watching the chaos unfold. Reward prompts flashed across his screen, each one more satisfying than the last.
The number of knights under his command surpassed a thousand, with more pouring in to join the fray.
With no limits and no consumption, Zach was unstoppable. The harvest had only just begun.