Ultimate Level 1 - Book 6 - Chapter 322

Max couldn’t help but run his hand through his shaggy hair. It had grown longer, and often he had considered cutting it off, but something inside wouldn’t let him.

How many days… how much more?

[ 2 Strength Consumed ]

[ 2 Constitution Consumed ]

I mean, this never ends. Surely it has to end at some point.

Keep pressing on. If you want, I can deal with it again. You can rest.

[ 3 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 1 Wisdom Consumed ]

No… you fought for seven days… I didn’t realize it had been so long. The rest had been wonderful, but that was not right.

Somehow, you keep forgetting that time doesn’t work like that for me.

[ 4 Dexterity Consumed ]

Max nodded, his blade having just taken off the head of one of the fast-moving insects who were nothing but claws and teeth.

Another ice storm rained down as Bob managed it, and occasionally the notification of more stats came.

[ 1 Strength Consumed ]

[ 1 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 5 Intelligence Consumed ]

Some of these are getting stronger again.

Are they? I mean… they are stronger, but still they are nothing to us. Like wheat before a thresher…

Bob chuckled as dozens more fell to the spells he cast.

You are beginning to understand… part of me wishes you had given in… a place like this… a place where I could be free to consume everything… none would have stood before us.

Another three bodies fell, the power of his weapon in a berserker rage impossible for any to stand against him.

Still no skills in a while.

None that you can use or are strong enough. The messages bother me, so I have them silent. Could you imagine hundreds of thousands of messages?

Is that how many we have killed?

No… we have slaughtered so many more.

[ 3 Strength Consumed ]

Each gain only brought death faster to those he faced.

For a while Max had tried to focus on what stood before him, but the fact was Bob was right. He knew they had killed over a million, potentially closing in on that next million over all this time.

How far he had gone, the number of miles they had traveled, was no longer something he was concerned with. All that had done was frustrate him.

It didn’t matter if he struck down an insect, a humanoid, crazed dwarf, armored skeleton, crazy lich, or anything else.

Everything in here was just something between him and revenge.

Fine… you win. Take over for another day, but do not go so long as I try to sleep. My mind… it gets harder to stay focused. If you weren’t here… I would have probably lain down and given up.

But you’re not alone. Dream. Think of your friends. 

Before Max handed over the reins, he paused for a moment, feeling the stinging of a small wound as a blade slashed against his thigh when he didn’t dodge.

Why did you do that?

The offending attacker was dead, the wound healed, both Regeneration and his skill taking back the health he had lost, all nothing more than a scratch to his growing pool of hit points.

I needed to feel pain… physical pain for a moment. You told me to think of my friends… I have no doubt you are different, Bob, from when we first spoke. I can sense that you aren’t the murdering hobo… well, right now you are but the crazed one as before. I needed… to remember what it felt like when it hurts.

Because it has been so long you have forgotten anything but the hatred inside you have for Ezreal, Igarra, and Aimee.

Exactly…

[ 2 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 1 Dexterity Consumed ]

One day, Bob… no more than that. Promise.

I promise. Now rest.

Max let go, his body never stumbling as Bob took control, moving his limbs like a master marionettist. No one who might have been watching would have noticed any change in the death that came from his weapon.

Smiling, Max closed his mental mind and dreamed about his friends. He dreamed about the woman he loved. Somewhere, deep inside was a longing that he had to return, and he couldn’t shake it. No matter what, he would return.

***

Up ahead! You see it?!

Max didn’t reply again, his weapon a blur as he danced and weaved through the pressing horde of monsters.

It didn’t matter that they were twenty or thirty feet high.

Each body served as a spring board as he jumped off one like a wall, slashing and cutting a head in half, running down its back as it fell and leaping to the next one behind it, driving his weapon through its eye as the shape shifted.

With endless mana, it never stayed the same long, becoming a true tool of destruction.

I do… is it real?!

Light, a glowing bright light came from down the purple tunnel, bright enough to show up over the glow of the ceiling.

Perhaps it is the end? A portal? A crystal?

[ 6 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 2 Wisdom Consumed ]

I don’t know, but I pray it’s real… I can’t take this much longer. Forty days… we’ve been in here forty days.

Don’t lose hope, Max. Whatever it is, we are within striking distance. Maybe a few miles at best.

Then let us cut a path of destruction like this tower has never seen.

***

Monsters and creatures poured out of the white portal at a pace that never slowed. It was like a river, flowing nonstop, and each second another creature appeared to replace the one that had just stepped out. 

Max couldn’t contain the excitement, and neither could Bob as they worked together in tandem, spells flying, weapon slicing, and monsters falling to the ground.

These are the same level as the last ten minutes.

Yes… I think I can tell it takes longer now for them to ramp up in strength.

But would they continue forever growing stronger? I mean… not that I want to stay here any longer than possible, but would you say that in time, there would be no limit to how strong they became or eventually the tower would be unable to increase the strength of what we face?

I do not know, but we need to get you out of here. To entertain that thought tells me you are surely crazy.

Both of them laughed, one voice ringing out amidst the cries of pain and death groans as they ended the life of everything the tower threw at them.

Max jumped from the two-headed snake he had just beheaded, a wall of air forming perfectly under him, and he dashed forward and to the side, his sword now a spear, penetrating the single eye of a cyclops that had begun raising its club to attack.

It’s the end… I can see the wall over the brightness of the portal.

Do I just run through it? Touch it?

There are no other options. I cannot sense or see anything else. No switch to turn this off or close the portal. Either way we will find out if this is the end we were hoping for.

Four hundred yards.

Three hundred.

One hundred.

Like a sun now, the white portal shimmered, almost hurting Max’s eyes, but he didn’t care, butchering everything he had to draw closer as Bob continued his rain of deadly spells.

Two feet.

Touch it.

Max’s left hand trembled as he slowly reached for the portal that was forty feet tall. Ignoring the attack that was coming, knowing Bob had just sent an ice spear through its head.

Three inches from the shimmering light, Max felt tears on his face.

You need to try.

But… what if it doesn’t work?

Only if you try will we find out. If it doesn’t, I promise you, I will ensure that no matter what, we will escape, and I will bring revenge upon the three. I will also never hurt those you love. But if you quit now and never go, in time you will change. You will become what I was, and then everything you say you believe in will be gone.

Forever.

His fingers ached, less than an inch away, but Max knew Bob was right.

If this didn’t work, everything would be lost.

He would never see Tanila again.

More bodies fell as Bob held back the tidal wave of creatures, and Max took a deep breath and barely grazed the portal with his middle finger, feeling himself shifting.

Gone were all the creatures and monsters. No longer was there a wall or floor like he remembered as his Sonar skill gave him the layout of his new position.

“Interesting… someone has made it.”

The voice he heard rumbled through the area he was in, and as Max’s eyes began to work, he saw what had made it.

A dragon.

Blinking a few times, Max fell to his knees, not caring that he stood in a stone arena-like area that was easily a few miles around and half a mile high with a large silver dragon looking at him.

We’re free… we did it.

We are. Now stand up and prepare for what comes next.

Clearing his throat, Max wiped the tears he knew ran down his cheeks, and studied the gaze of the beast that was studying him.

“Are you the champion?”

A loud thrumming sound echoed around the room, and the dragon sat up, shifting some as it cracked its neck.

“A champion? I am nothing more than a prisoner. Forced to sit here and face anyone who might make it. You should know, you’re the first.”

Max took a deep breath and blinked, moving a little closer to the beast, holding his weapon, which was currently a spear, as non-threatening as possible.

“How can you be a prisoner? Did Igarra capture you?”

Gone was the thrumming, and a growl came, the dragon shifting on its feet and lowering its head at Max.

“Do not say that name… it is nothing more than a lie… she bound me with this!”

It raised a claw and wiggled a silver necklace that Max immediately recognized.

With his left hand he reached up and ripped the stone away with his skill, revealing the collar around his own neck.

“I know how you feel.”

The dragon moved back slightly, a gold eye studying the binding around his neck.

“Did she capture you?”

“No… another tower climber. One like me. Named Ezreal.”

The dragon spit, a glob of saliva creating smoke and steam as it sat on the purple-tiled stones.

“She does not like that one, and neither do I. He is a trickster and very dangerous. Tell me, how did you manage to escape?”

Should I tell him?

I’m guessing he is bored and lonely. At some point we must fight, and right now you can relax, eat that last bit of food, and drink those last few drops you had been saving. That way when we do fight, you will be at your best.

Can we win?

Bob didn’t reply, and Max motioned to his backpack.

“Do you mind if I grab a drink and a snack real quick? It’s been a long forty days.”

“Forty days,” snorted the dragon. “That seems impossible… you survived that long?”

“Yeah… let me eat and drink something, and then I’ll tell you the story. I’m guessing at some point we’re going to fight, but surely you wouldn’t mind a conversation beforehand.”

The dragon snorted, smoke drifting up from its large nostrils, but it nodded.

“For a human you are smarter than most. Go ahead and get a snack. I will wait. Just do your best to ensure the telling of this tale makes me feel waiting to fight was worth it.”

Chuckling, Max nodded and dug into the backpack.

“Oh, trust me, it’s well worth it.”