Chapter 70 - Separation

The shock wave from the explosion threw Max back a few yards. He lost over 200 Health from that, bringing him to uncomfortably low in the red bar department. Before he had finished sliding on the stone floor, Slassekhsnas was upon him, wrestling him down and hissing profanities at him.

Max knew he was short on time. He cast [Alter Gravity] on his foe and kicked her off him. She attacked again, but Max used [Tether] to slide away. Only to hit another trap. This one rigged with falling rocks.

Max got out of the way and started running. Slassekhsnas was still on his tail and he could hear the distant shots of Maverick getting sparser behind him.

Defeated Level 15 [Ishkarassi]

You gained 510 experience points

Good job, Mav.

For all her prowess in traps, Slassekhsnas was fast. Maybe a Dexterity based build. Max had no time to guess, only to dodge the knife attack.

Wait, why am I dodging?

“[Tether]”

The knife got pulled to the ground. Almost. Slassekhsnas fought it. It was clearly difficult to wield the knife now, as if it weighed like a sledgehammer, but she was still in charge of the weapon.

She has decent Resistance.

She snarled and attacked, but Max used another [Tether] on the knife and it stuck to the ground. Then he ducked away from a tackle performed by his opponent and picked up some rubble. He quickly whispered to make them heavier with [Alter Gravity] and tethered them with Slassekhsnas’s face. The makeshift shrapnel struck the lizard and she shrieked. Max picked up some more rubble and continued his assault.

A lightning bolt exploded next to Max. He took some damage. All his bars looked dangerously low. Slassekhsnas was panting too. But she had help. Max didn’t even have [The Maverick] right now. He cursed to himself.

Slassekhsnas backed away as Max kept shooting rubble towards her. Then he cast [Alter Gravity] on himself and ran. Another lightning bolt exploded next to him, crackling in the air and sending rubble flying. Max covered his head and hoped he wouldn’t spring another trap.

He was lucky enough. Slassekhsnas had only had time to set up a few. Max turned a few corners before he used [Tether] to climb up to the roof. Therein he found the deepest shadow he could find and he huddled and waited.

*

The enemy searched for him for a long time, torch in hand. They seemed to be  checking for the roofs too, as they weren’t completely foolish, but Max had found a nice spot. On one hand he was extremely pleased to have caused such a commotion. Max had a higher Cultivation level and he had rested before this. He could see that some of the lizards were extremely tired. He considered taking them out as they moved in pairs or groups of three.

But on the other hand Maverick was in the hands of the enemy. Max could feel him faintly. He knew in which direction and how far Maverick was as well as he knew his own name. But to get him back would be an ordeal. While the enemy couldn’t use his trusted revolver against Max, they sure as hell would keep the weapon under lock and key. As far as the lizards were concerned, there wasn’t anything more dangerous down here than Max.

Max thought about that. He thought he had ran past a stairway leading down to another floor at one point, but it was impossible to be sure. There could be monsters down there. He could lure them up here and tether himself to the roof. The lizards would then have to deal with these foes.

Right now it seemed like the best plan that was available to Max.

Well I could go back to the dwarves. I’ve dwindled down these lizards by a chunk. I still don’t think the dwarves can take them on, even if I support them with spells. The lizards have a lot of ranged fighters and the dwarves are squishy.

Max tried to gauge how many lizards were left. Around ten sounded about right, but it was hard to say. There were two distinctly dangerous foes. The lightning bolt mage and the [Trapper], Slassekhsnas. That combined with the couple of archers and probably a few melee warriors would make it a suicide mission for him to try to get back [The Maverick] without some kind of a plan.

Max felt a pulse of emotion through their bond. It was something along the lines of “Goddamn it, Max.”

“Agreed…” Max whispered.

Another pulse. This one a warning. A mortal one. Maverick thought it would be dangerous to come.

Yeah, no shit. That Slassekhsnas is going to set up a thousand traps around the camp in hopes of me coming back for my prized weapon.

Max knew he needed to get an alternative weapon. He could collect some rocks and rubble, but that wouldn’t go far. A spear would be great. He could do some serious damage with a spear and [Tether]. But the lizards were no fools. They picked up what their comrades left when they died.

Okay, inventory. Leaving Mav behind is not an option. Need a plan. And a weapon. Going back to the dwarves is useless. I can’t go back to Durum for reinforcements. For all I know, the lizards are already ready to pack and head home. If they take Maverick to some camp or town, I’m done for.

That left Max with one option. He needed to delve deeper into the ruins and try to find something useful there.

As Max hung from the ceiling he listened for the sounds of the lizards patrolling. They had been going at it for a while now. That was good. Every minute they spent searching for Max was a minute they spent not resting. Max wouldn’t need rest for a while. But he needed to act fast. So with care he slid down the wall and made sure to stop himself before he was on the ground. He hadn’t seen Slassekhsnas set up anything in this corridor as he had been hanging from the roof, but you never knew.

After double and triple checking for any traps, Max gently placed his feet down. He oriented himself. He had a good idea of where the stairway down should be, based on where the enemy camp was. There wasn’t much of a distance, only two intersections, if memory served. That was good, but Max needed to be mindful. With silent and steady steps he crouched around from shadow to shadow, stopping to listen every few yards.

Finally he found the staircase. It was a simple downwards descending hole with stairs tucked away in an alcove. After Max looked around himself one last time he started to ascend. After he took a few steps down he heard faint gunshots.

Defeated Level 17 [Ishkarassi]

You gained 645 experience points

Max smirked to himself.

How the hell did you pull that off, Mav?