Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 188: Melting Flesh

The voice told him it was bad, yet Max’s mind didn’t want to give in. The pain was excruciating, and for a few more seconds, his berserker buff and armored warrior would run out. He knew the plan, and he had to trust Batrire and his regeneration.

You fool!

The voice was so distant. It was barely there, lost in the fury of battle as Max continued to cut a line of destruction inside the boss. Its own acid was beginning to break down its flesh. The lining that normally kept it safe was gone. Instead, its own body beneath the thick, rubbery skin was cut almost to its outer protective shell.

A few seconds ticked by, and Max’s mind knew the moment was coming when pain would overwhelm him. With one last slash of his weapon, Max focused and cast a spell, fighting the rage that wanted him to give in.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

The world shifted, and Max was outside on the sand. Pain wracked his body, and he felt himself struggling to move. Pulling a potion from his storage, Max could sense the skin under his armor was gone. His sonar revealed the horrible truth. His regeneration was struggling to keep flesh on his bones.

With no time to waste, Max slammed the potion into his mouth. There was no tongue to cut, no lips to worry about. His face was like a skeleton; barely any muscles were still attached.

Liquid rolled down the almost-gone tube that led to his stomach.

Max felt the power of the potion kick in and hit points that had been steadily plummeting went back up. His mind was racing, and he felt his flesh fighting against an acid that was still there.

The voice was right. He willed his entire outfit into his storage, unable to think about his friends and what they were doing or how the fight was going. His life was on the line, and there wasn’t a moment to lose.

Naked, he fell on the sand, writhing around it, letting the rough pieces absorb part of the green goo.

It was then that Max realized he was blind once more. His eyeballs were melting, fighting back through the pain of it all.

Time seemed to stretch on as he fought to make a ball of water, knowing that his mastery must have some sort of that. Ice and water were similar… they had to be. Nothing came, so he formed an ice spear, struggling with the magic as his body writhed in pain.

With it summoned, he held his arms around it, wrapping his legs as best as he could, ignoring the pain that assaulted every sense that he had.

Max created a ball of fire and held it over the ice, feeling it start to melt. The water ran along his arms and body, bringing a sense of relief Max had never known was possible. Slowly, as the water ran down, the acid’s strength was reduced, and his regeneration was able to keep up with the damage the acid was causing.

What felt like an eternity was less than a minute as the heat of his fireball melted the ice spear he had been holding.

Warmth and healing washed over him, and Max felt his eyes and ears finally growing back together. For a brief moment, the ability to use his sonar had been gone as the acid had eaten away the part inside his ear responsible for it.

“SETH!”

He could begin to sense his allies rushing toward him, the fuzzy and weird sensation as his body reformed parts and muscles. Batrire had healed him, helping his hitpoints to go back up while the brunt of the repair to his body came from regeneration.

Agonizing pain continued after the brief moment of bliss when he had been healed ended, and the fact both eyes grew back along with his tongue, and more left him trying to breathe and finding it wasn’t any better, the acid having damaged his lungs.

His mind swirled in agony and pain from the noise of their shouting and the steps that they took on the sand. Everything was louder, and it felt like his head was going to explode from the pain inside.

Another heal washed over him, one that Max knew meant the fight was over. His body came together at once, skin starting to cover every inch of his muscles after Batrire used her heal, which was on a twenty-four-hour cooldown.

Gasping for air, Max rolled over, staring at the group who were wincing, faces turned, and a pile of vomit at Fowl’s feet.

Standing, Max shook his head, letting his mind clear. He saw Batrire and Cordellia trying to look in every direction but at him. Tanila’s face was flushed as she motioned to his midsection.

Max glanced down and finally noticed the warm breeze blowing between his legs.

Carefully, he selected a different outfit, but he was not sure what would happen to his armor or if any of the acid would be on it.

“I guess some things do grow back bigger,” Fowl said as he wiped his mouth. “Gods, you are ugly without any hair.”

Filling his lungs once more, Max turned and saw the worm they had fought was gone. Turning more, he could see a massive chest far off in the middle of the sand.

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“We did it?”

“It seems like a stupid question,” Batrire replied, finally returning her gaze upon Max. “But if you’re standing naked in a boss zone, I guess you and Fowl have been hanging out too long.”

A few chuckles came and Max shrugged.

“What happened?”

“Did you get the kill?” Tanila asked.

Glancing at a notification, Max realized that he had missed everything while his body was dissolving.

[ Consume has Successfully Consumed Bonus Stats ]

[ 10 Strength Consumed ]

[ 10 Constitution Consumed ]

[ Consume has successfully Consumed a skill ]

[ Skill does not match beings body type ]

[ Consume is adjusting skill ]

[ Consumed has Upgraded Sonar to Epic ]

Max realized why it had all been so painful when they first arrived.

“I did,” he nodded slowly.

“How does he know that?” Cordellia asked.

“It's a perk of a skill,” Max replied. “It usually only matters on really big ones.”

The elf frowned and furled her eyes in confusion, but she saw Tanila give her a look and shake her head. Nodding once, Cordellia let it go and immediately smiled.

“Well, I appreciate the job well done and the show you gave, yet you’ll have to forgive me if I point out the obvious,” their archer said gleefully. “There is a massive fricking chest over there because we won!”

As one, everyone began to smile and came together, hugging and clapping, finally able to celebrate that Max had survived.

“Are you okay?” Fowl asked as he gave Max a gentle punch to the stomach. “That looked painful, to say the least.”

Nodding as he squeezed Tanila's waist, who was next to him, Max tried to contain the news he wanted to share, knowing he needed to wait until Cordellia was gone.

“What happened? I mean, after I obviously killed the boss.”

Fowl started to laugh, and Batrire joined in, both of them stroking their beards in unison.

“Well, that’s the weird thing,” Tanila explained. “Whatever you did really upset the boss, and it forgot all about us. The moment the shield broke, it ripped its head up into the sky, thrashing in agony. It took us a moment to find you over the noise it made. It flopped to the ground the opposite way you were and thrashed for maybe half a minute and then just stopped. What did you do?”

Max snorted and grinned. “I gave it a taste of its own acid. I guess the lining of its stomach and body is able to handle the acid inside, but once I cut through and reached the outer shell, the acid must have spread throughout the body, eating itself alive from the inside.

Fowl made a retching sound and stopped, holding a hand over his mouth.

“Sorry… just that image after watching you a moment ago…” Fowl turned, making a few more gagging noises while Batrire sighed.

“He’s able to drink a tavern dry, but he sees one person begin melted alive with acid, and he can’t hold his food,” their healer teased.

After Fowl had regained his composure, the five of them trotted off, excited at what lay inside the chest. It was the same tan color as the sand, the standard size of a raid chest, and had a massive worm etched around the entire side of it. There, at the bottom of it, were five people also etched into the stone.

“Is that supposed to be us?” Fowl asked, running his fingers over the engraving.

“I doubt it,” Max replied. “If it were, you’d be much smaller.”

Fowl extended a hand and gave Max the middle finger. Max wasn’t paying attention to his dwarf friend; instead, he saw Cordellia standing on the edge of the chest, trembling, knowing she had finally conquered not just the boss but also her fears.

“Why don’t you open it, Cordellia?”

She turned and saw that the four members of her party were smiling at her. Each of them had taken a step back, giving her full access to the chest.

“You’re… you’re sure that’s ok?” She asked, stammering at the thought of getting this honor. “I didn’t do a fraction of what you all did.”

Max moved to where their archer was standing, he put a hand on her arm and squeezed. “You did more than you know. We could tell you were afraid, and yet you pushed through it. Every part of you wanted to run and try again, but you didn’t give in to that fear. You stood on a stone platform with us, facing down the largest foe any of us would face, and didn’t flinch. Our plan succeeded because each of us believed in the other and did our part. So don’t downplay your part. You deserve this just as much as the rest of us.”

A single tear escaped the archer’s right eye, and she nodded, wiping it away quickly with her hand.

“Thank you… more than you’ll ever know.”

Nodding once, Max backed up and gave Cordellia the space she would need.

Taking a deep breath, the archer put her hands on the massive lid and thrust it open, thankful that the act of lifting it didn’t require any real strength.

As the lid moved, everyone stepped close, excited to see what lay inside.

“Well, I’ll be an ogre’s uncle,” Fowl said with a chuckle. “I guess that only seems fair.”

Max couldn’t help but grin as he saw the items in the chest.

An elixir like the one each of them had received was there, locked for only Cordellia to take. There was also a bracelet for Max and Fowl and a ring for Tanila and Batrire. Four larger gems than usual rested in the chest and two items that continued to shift between robes, plate armor, a leather-like tunic, and a ring chest piece.

“So, who should go first?” Batrire asked, winking at Cordellia.

“Is that… really what I think it is?”

“Yup!” Fowl exclaimed. “Now hurry up and drink it so we can hear what you get!”

Their archer stared in disbelief at the four of them. She could tell from their expressions that none of them were jealous of what she had been given. Legends and stories abounded about fights that broke out, kingdoms that had warred, and lives ended over one of these elixirs.

Her eyes trembled, tears coming down in streams as she saw that her group was different. They were truly a family; apparently, she was part of it.

After taking a few deep breaths and steadying her hands, Cordellia took the elixir out and held it in her hands. A few seconds passed as she gazed upon its beauty and felt the warmth inside.

“Bottoms up, I guess,” their archer said as he took the top off and swallowed it all in one big gulp.

Everyone held their breath as her body became rigid, her arms and legs straight, and a beam of light shot from her mouth.

Cordellia’s mouth never closed, her eyes trembling as she recovered from the ordeal.

“So what did you get?” Tanila ask.

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