Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 213: Puzzles and More

“I remember the last one,” Tanila said, breathing hard from running around the circle and looking at the runes.

“So we know the first, maybe the second, and then the last. That’s like, what? Ten thousand or more combinations?”

Tanila frowned and glanced at Batrire.

“I’m able to keep healing for now thanks to these new items.”

Fowl had to stay close to the golem. Otherwise, if he moved out of the attack range, the guardian would stomp on the torch, extinguish the fire, and attack the closest target.

Only when the torch was lit, and someone was within attack range did the golem not move.

“You’re certain about this? Do you think you can find out enough of the combination in time?”

“Any is better than none, and as long as we start to figure them out, we can eventually get them all. The problem is we need to move. She only has so much mana.”

Tanila nodded and shrugged.

Nodding, Max got into position.

“Everyone take a step away from the barrier. Give me just a little more room.”

After each of them had moved a yard away from the invisible wall, Max took a deep breath and focused.

[ Haste ]

In a blink, he was on the torch, gone before the sword had even made a move toward him.

Racing around the room, the torch never went out, even with all the air whipping at it.

Like a cyclone, he hit the first rune, watching it ignite. Then, the second one Cordellia had pointed out ignited, and he started the pattern of testing.

The third didn’t work and before the torches could hit the ground, he had relit the first two again.

Not taking his eyes off of what he was doing, his sonar gave him the show of his life.

The guardian was trying to move and follow him, unable to keep up with the speed, standing there, not attacking or moving.

Five tries later, the third rune was found, and each circuit took less than a second.

“Goblin!”

Max shouted the runes because he was moving so fast. He wasn’t sure if Cordellia could keep up with the changes that took place in less than a second. They had named them, and she jotted them down as he shouted.

“Water!”

“Snake!”

“Dragon!”

Five were solved within fifteen seconds, and with only half of his ability remaining, Max tried to pick up the pace.

“Fish! Tree! Rat! Dwarf!”

Luck had been on his side, with the seventh, eighth, and ninth ones all hitting in a row.

“Sun!”

Four seconds remained as every one he tried after the last failed, requiring the other only one remaining to be the eleventh one.

“X!”

“Moon!”

With three to go, his Haste ability ended, and his speed returned to normal.

Touching the next one, Max figured the pattern might end a certain way and was right, at least for once.

“Grapes!”

There were three runes left, and the rock was the last one. The bucket and fire rune were the only remaining ones.

Fowl moved to engage as the golem came toward Max, moving faster than before.

Without waiting, he tossed the torch into the middle near their dwarf and ducked as the sword whistled from the attack coming toward his head.

“Bucket or fire! Which one?!”

No one wanted to guess, knowing that if they were wrong, all the runes would have to be lit again.

“Fire!” Fowl shouted before taking a hit from the guardian’s sword and getting knocked down to his knees.

“It’s hitting harder!” Batrire yelled as she healed.

The sword was moving faster, and Max saw that as this ended, it was going to get worse.

“Tanila! Get to the bucket! Cordellia to the fire!”

They were almost in a triangle, each of the runes equally apart.

Moving sideways, Max raced so that the angle was right and, as the weapon started to fall, blew the torch toward Cordellia to buy her as much time as possible.

His aim was better, and she got the torch. Touching it down to the rune, it ignited. Leaping to the side, she sidearm tossed the torch to the middle. Cordellia avoided a crushing blow from the boss's sword by just a few feet. It was a lot faster now, and it had covered the twenty yards in just a moment.

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“Push it toward me, and then I’ll push toward you!”

Tanila lined herself up and sent a gust of wind, knocking the torch two-thirds away from her. Max had his shield out and his skills ready as he sent the torch back to her as the golem came toward him and the light it had to protect.

His aim was off, and as Tanila moved to get it, she cast air walls, and he cast a stone wall trying to slow the guardian down.

It easily crashed through both, and Tanila had to retreat, leaving the torch where it was.

“Reset!”

Batrire was at a third of her mana, the damage being done to Fowl requiring more heals now to keep him standing.

It took both of them pushing the torch twice to get it in the same spot as before, and this time, Max focused more, timing the attack again, and sent the torch right to Tanila.

She grabbed it, touching the rune, and tossed it toward where he would need it.

The boss glowed red and Fowl glowed green, both of them activating skills.

No time was left to waste and Max raced forward, using all of his skills for defense.

[ Evasion ]

[ Bulward ]

[ Armored Warrior ]

He grabbed the torch and felt a blow from the boss that he couldn’t dodge hit his shield, the power behind it almost knocking him down through those abilities.

Another attack came faster than the previous one, and a cracking sound filled his ears.

Unsure if it was his arm or the shield, as the pain hurt either way, Max lunged for the rune, touching the torch to it and watching as it lit up.

His sonar told him an attack was coming, and his arm was raised on its own, preparing to block it.

Four inches away, the blade stopped, and runes began to appear on the guardian's sword and body.

Cracking and popping sounds came as lines appeared all over the golem. Rolling to the side and out of the way, Max stood up and found that the barrier was gone.

Chunks of stone fell to the floor, and when the cloud of dust settled, a single glowing orb, brown in color, rested in a massive crack in what used to be the guardian's chest.

“We won,” Fowl muttered. “We actually won!”

[ Regeneration ]

The feeling in his arm answered the question that it was his bone that had broken. His shield had withstood the blow.

“What in the world was that?” Fowl asked as he moved near the glowing orb but didn’t touch it.

“That is an earth core,” their mage replied. “You can touch that, but next time you touch something without getting permission, I’m going to cut your manhood off, do you understand?!”

With the torchlight back, Max was pretty sure Fowl had turned red and that it wasn’t just the glow around them.

A portal appeared back at the center of the circle, and everyone took a deep breath and let it out.

“So… I’m not sure what I prefer: bosses who just need to be beat up or puzles like that,” Cordellia said. “I can’t imagine beating that without you all.”

“Maybe there was a way to skip it,” Batrire replied, “but we’ll never know since Fowl likes touching things he’s not supposed to.”

A few chuckles came, and their dwarven warrior groaned.

“Someone else grab that orb then. I don’t want to get in trouble and be blamed in case something else pops out.”

Tanila moved forward and pulled it free, laughing when nothing happened.

“Let’s get out of here,” Batrire said. “I’m tired of having to work so hard.”

“Puzzles… already?” Tom asked as he and Everett listened to the report of what they had just faced. “That’s typically something not till the twentieth floor, maybe the twenty-sixth. However, what you described is not completely uncommon. There are lots of puzzles that require you to think your way out instead of fighting.”

“And an earth core… you all are going to be in for a fun time, I’m afraid, as you continue going through the tower.”

Max nodded at Everett, who had said fun instead of trouble. He knew exactly what was happening, and that was what scared him.

“You all can take that one,” Max said. “Earth isn’t really what we need right now.”

“Need right now,” scoffed Tom in a mocking tone. “Oh, to be their level and choose to pass up something like that. Back in our day, we gladly used whatever we could come across.”

Everett chuckled and nodded.

“It’s okay. The day they show up with a fireforge bar and turn it down, remind me to retire.”

Tom groaned at that comment.

“What’s a fireforge bar?” Max asked.

“Something rare and powerful,” Fowl chimed in. “Dwarves will basically do anything you want for one of those. The weapons or armor that can be made from them is legendary.”

Max pulled out his book and made a note.

“Ok, so something to keep our eyes out for.”

“Blast me, I need a drink,” Tom muttered and stood up. “You five need anything else or are we done?”

Looking at the items on the stone counter they had deposited from all the golems, Max shook his head.

“Then I’m headed to the mess hall, and tomorrow, I expect the five of you outside in the morning for some training. I guess the perk of you having to wait on a cooldown is you can’t get away from me that easily.”

Max glanced up from the book he was reading while reclining on the padded chair in their room. Tanila, who was just a few feet away, was on the other, reading a book, her finger moving along the paper.

“Is this what we’ll be like when we’re older? Sitting in a room, reading together?”

She looked up at him and smiled, but Max immediately saw that it wasn’t a real one.

“Why are you smiling like that? Prefer not to grow old with me?”

Closing her book, she sat a little bit more upright in her chair and sighed.

“You realize I’m going to live a lot longer than you are. So when you talk about being old in sixty years, I’ll barely be a quarter through my life.”

Max realized he hadn’t considered that and saw how she bit her lip for a moment.

“Does that bother you? Knowing I won’t live as long as you?”

She shook her head and got up, moving to where he was. She took the book he had, stored it in her inventory, and sat down on his lap.

“It doesn’t. I just don’t want you to get upset when you’re wrinkly and bald… oh, wait, you’re already bald.”

Both of them laughed as she ran her fingers across his head.

“I could grow it out if you want. I’m pretty certain no one is looking for Max Hoste anymore.”

Smiling, she leaned forward and kissed the top of his bald head.

“No, I prefer it now. For a while, I wasn’t certain but your face isn’t so bad to look at and luckily, your skull isn’t deformed. It’s almost perfect in shape.

Faking a mock gasp, Max ran his hand through her unbraided hair and then began to slowly massage her back.

“Are we okay? Something has been bothering you, and even if you don’t want to tell me, I want you to know that I’m here no matter what.”

She nodded, chewing on her lip.

He could feel her heart beating faster slightly, and his sonar told him how different veins were throbbing from the anxiety she felt. Max always resisted telling her that he could read her so well, especially when they were alone, and nothing was there to distract him.

“You really don’t know much about elven royalty, do you?”

“Besides the fact that one of them wants to kill me, the other likes to kiss me, and I’m currently praying the King and Queen don’t know I exist? Nope, I don’t got a clue.”

She nodded as she rubbed the wrist he knew the bracelet was on that hid her identity.

“You don’t have to tell me. Just know, nothing you say will ever make me not love you.”

Groaning, she rolled her eyes and then pulled him close, kissing his lips.

“You’re a bastard, and I hope you know that,” she said after they pulled apart. “Using all those brains to get me to share what I don’t want to.”

“What can I say?” Max replied. “I’m not like Fowl. I actually put points into intelligence.”

Both of them chuckled, and she leaned against him, trying to decide how much to tell him.

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