Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 167: It Only Gets Harder

“This seems so broken,” Cordellia muttered as they continued to plow their way through the first floor. “You all really have no idea how fast we are going compared to most, do you?”

Fowl shrugged and grunted. “We don’t talk about that anymore. That’s so pre-tower day stuff.”

Tanila started to laugh and gave Batrire a gentle shove as she groaned.

“Seriously though,” Cordellia continued. “We are destroying this place.”

“Maybe it's the new bow,” Tanila stated, their archer nodding.

After gathering the yellow gems, Max pointed at the spot on the map Everett had given him. “There might be a rare spawn up here around that bend in the stone cliffs. I’m pretty sure there will be at least two or three more packs before we reach it.”

“We taking bets if it's up?” Fowl asked as he moved next to Max.

Chuckling, Max shook his head. “Let’s just see what we find.”

“That seems ominous,” Max stated as he pointed at the pack right before the bend in the wall. “Four lizardmen holding staves with skulls and two warriors guarding them.”

“Those casters are a pain,” Cordellia said as she bent down, drawing her finger across the ground through the thin layer of dirt covering the stone. “The ones we faced earlier are weaker than these. Most people don’t come here unless they're looking for the rare spawn and they have a rogue.”

“Why a rogue?”

She looked up at Fowl, who had asked the question, and frowned. “They cast ice and fire magic pretty quickly. If you have to get close as a tank or warrior like Seth, you can end up dead without enough healing. The rogue can usually slip in and kill one or two while everyone else tries to take out the rest of the casters.”

“What kind of odds do we have with our group?” Tanila asked.

Cordellia drew lines in the dirt with indicators for each caster and the lizardmen warriors, making marks above each one.

“You and I can take out one each without too much trouble.” She chuckled for a second before continuing. “With my new bow, I’m certain I can one-shot the one on the left. That would then allow me to focus on the one next to it. You’d have to root the two warriors while Seth and Fowl charged, drawing their attacks. That leaves the one on the far right for you to burn down. Two spells, maybe three, and it should die.”

She stood up and shrugged. “After that, it would leave one caster left with two warriors unable to help.”

“So doable,” Max said, noticing Tanila staring at him.

“Easily. Batrire will just have to manage the healing.”

Max held his hand up in the air, opening and closing his fist a few times.

Tanila rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“Am I missing something?” Cordellia asked, glancing between the two.

“Yes, but you’ll find out soon enough,” Max replied, grinning at Tanila, who was scowling back at him.

“Charging!” Fowl shouted as he raced forward, shield ahead.

Max followed a few yards to the right of Fowl, using his shield as well. He had considered sneaking up to the mages but all the other ones in the dungeons had spotted him when he had tried.

The lizardmen shrieked, and as the two warriors started to rush forward roots began to ensnare the one on the right.

An arrow blazed past Fowl’s on the left, and connected with the caster’s head as its hands began to glow, causing it to explode in a shower of gore.

“Shite!” Fowl cursed as he ran.

The second warrior found itself encased in ice a moment later.

“Incoming!” Max shouted as three spells came toward them.

Two ice spells hit Fowl’s shield, shattering upon impact and slowing down the warrior's approach.

Max held his shield out as a fireball raced toward him. He felt the heat of it wash over him and was thankful for the lack of hair on his head that could be burnt away from it. The pain was minimal, not nearly as bad as Cordellia had led Max to believe it would be.

An ice spear passed Max, headed toward the mage on the far right.

He could see the last caster on the left struggling against Cordellia’s arrows, getting hit each time it stopped dodging to try and cast a spell.

Max raced past Fowl and leapt over the rooted lizardman, closing the distance in a flash to land in front of the last caster, who had almost finished casting a fireball.

His shield slammed into the lizard as the spell went off, bathing both of them in flames.

The caster was knocked on its back and slid a dozen yards before finding a blade in its chest.

[ 129 Hit Points Consumed ]

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Max couldn’t help but smile as he turned, seeing the other two casters both down. Fowl was braining the frozen warrior with his new weapon, no doubt smiling at getting to kill something.

Turning, Max ran back while storing his shield. Coming up behind the immobilized warrior, he struck its head off in one blow.

“Yeah, that’s not even funny,” Cordellia reiterated for the hundredth time.

“Let’s just stop bringing it up, then,” Batrire said. “We’ve already worked through this on our own. I’m not sure I can handle another twenty floors of that statement.”

Grunting, the elf nodded and handed Max the two gems she had picked up.

“So tell me what you see over there,” Max asked as he pointed at the pack of lizardmen in the opening they had fought their way to.

“Nothing that I haven’t seen at least once.”

“So no rare spawn?”

Cordellia shook her head.

Grunting, Max pointed at the last spot he had marked on the map. “Guess there’s one last spot to check.”

“Well, I’ll be an ogre’s uncle,” Fowl muttered. “Everett is going to blow a–”

A grunt from Batrire cut Fowl off.

“A… yeah, I got nothing if I can’t say that,” Fowl stated after trying to be funny.

“You four realize no one has confirmed this spawn actually being here for a hundred years?”

Max nodded, ignoring Cordellia’s expression as he studied the rare spawn standing within another long section of rock walls. The stone canyon was about a hundred yards wide and three hundred yards deep, but even from the entrance the rare spawn was so tall there was no question of whether it was present.

“Does anyone have any idea what it is?” Batrire asked. “I can’t make it out from here.”

“It’s a caster,” Cordellia informed her. “At least as big as the other rare spawn we faced and carrying a staff just as tall as itself.”

“You can see that?” Batrire asked her, squinting as she tried to make out what Cordellia described.

“Our archer is right,” Tanila stated. “Whatever it is, it’s going to be casting something nasty. I can’t imagine what magic it has, but that boss’s spells will probably be close to mine in strength.”

“Give me options then. What can we do against it, and the three casters with it?”

Tanila and Cordellia both stood there silently, each considering possible options.

“I’m not sure my arrows will bother it enough to stop it from casting. The other mages will cause problems if we don’t do something to stop them.”

“So you focus on the mages, and we’ll focus on the rare spawn?”

“You seem awfully unconcerned about what that is,” Cordellia said as she pointed at the massive lizardman. “I mean, do you really have a plan?”

Max’s face revealed a devilish grin, and Fowl cursed when he saw it. “Gods protect me. I already know where this is going,” he grumbled.

“Tanila, you willing to use it now?”

The red-headed mage frowned as she nodded and began summoning her familiar.

Cordellia’s jaw almost hit the ground as she saw the ball of fire begin to float near Tanila.

“You… have an elemental… how…” Catching herself, Cordellia shook her head. “Never mind… I wouldn't be surprised if you pulled a wand out of your–”

Tanila’s glare cut off the archer, whose cheeks turned red for a moment.

“Okay, here’s the plan. Fowl charges and Cordellia kills one of the casters at the start. Tanila will cast a fireball and tell us when to go. From there, you two get the last casters dead and leave the rare spawn for Fowl to taunt.”

“What about you?” Fowl asked, frowning at being used for bait.

“You’ll see. Telling you now would ruin the fun.”

“Go!” Tanila shouted.

Fowl took off running, and after a few yards, Max began racing toward the boss with no weapon or shield in hand.

“Now!” Tanila told Cordellia, who used her skill, and fired an arrow that killed the caster on the left in a single shot. By then she was already sending an arrow at the one in the middle beginning to cast.

The fireball that was growing over Tanila’s head roared toward the rare spawn, emitting an orange light as it flew across the rocky terrain.

Fowl was pumping his legs as fast as he could, trying to prepare for what looked like something awful coming from the boss’s hands.

Max passed him on the right, a good thirty yards away, and Fowl tried to ignore the fact that his friend still had no weapon out.

The fifty yards between them and the boss disappeared quickly as Tanila’s fireball crashed into it. An explosion of fire erupted all around it, bathing both casters near it in flames.

Max couldn’t help but grin, seeing the boss struggle from the attack. The spell it was casting was not canceled, but it appeared to be delayed from being finished, the magical light shrinking for a moment.

Max began turning sideways, his mind and body already telling him what he needed to do as he pulled the massive spear from his inventory.

He held it at the very end, his right hand gripping the base and his left hand supporting as much of the shaft as he could.

Over eighteen feet of spear stuck out before him, and the angle at which he held it looked preposterous. He skipped a few steps before planting his left foot and letting his body rotate over it. The spearhead lined up with the boss, and as it did, his throwing skill combined with his weapon mastery skill told him exactly when to thrust with his right hand at the base of the spear.

It wasn’t as fast as the arrows Cordellia fired, but the massive weapon flew from his hand, angled perfectly toward the rare spawn to travel right into its chest.

Max smiled as he took two more steps to regain his balance, watching as his attack was about to impale the boss.

The spear impacted a glowing shield that suddenly became visible around the boss and exploded into pieces.

The spell it was casting took off, flying over their area and blanketing the sky above for fifty yards.

Massive chunks of ice, each one as big as a sword and just as sharp, began falling from the clouds in droves, raining down upon Fowl, Max, and the others.

“I need to get closer!” Batrire shouted, trying to dodge the frozen swords coming down around them. “I can’t heal from this far away!”

Max pulled his shield out and held it over his head, running through the downpour of ice that didn’t seem to be letting up while watching the boss begin to cast another spell.

Fowl reached one of the mages, bashing the one on the right as he ran by, crushing its leg and causing blood to come from its burnt skin.

Grabbing his halberd from storage, Max ran, trying to close the last twenty yards between him and the boss.

Reaching the boss’s legs, Fowl swung his hammer, aiming for its feet, but his weapon bounced off whatever barrier was there. Thankfully, his weapon did not break as the spear had.

He swung once more, getting the same results, ignoring the massive blades of ice that assaulted him in his armor.

A smile appeared on the rare boss’s face. It was the first time Max had ever seen a creature in the tower smirk like that.

Fowl cried out for a second, and then his body was encased in ice.

“FOWL!” Batrire shouted from across the field. The pain in her voice ate away at Max’s soul.

Their dwarven warrior’s health bar began to plummet.

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