Ultimate Level 1

“Fight in the tunnel. Fowl stays near the back in case it can get to you from behind somehow. I’ll shout out the spells and help needed. You can keep your eyes on the ground but make sure that you don’t look up no matter what.”

Everyone nodded and moved toward the opening they planned to use.

“This isn’t a good fight,” Tanila said as she walked next to Max, keeping her head down while weaving between the statutes. “I’m not certain how much damage fire will do and I only have one other spell that might work but it will piss the gorgon off.”

Max shook his head and gave her arm a quick squeeze.

“It shouldn’t take that long. You use your spell, I’ll get in close and dispatch it. Right now all I need to do is keep you four alive.”

Cordellia laughed and her voice echoed off the stone floor.

“You’re strong but it’s a gorgon. They eat parties with ease.”

“That’s because most people can’t use their eyes,’ Max replied. “I don’t have that problem. Besides, with you using your bow on its body, any damage done will distract.”

Their archer nodded and went back to looking at the ground near her feet.

Max grunted, having already known that.

“Hard to use when you can’t see it. I don’t want to risk using and finding out my eyes open on their own.”

He leaned over and kissed her quickly on the cheek before walking a little further forward.

“We need to hurry. I have no doubt it knows where we are, and I don’t want to have to fight in this–”

A crashing sound from the tunnel they were headed for snapped everyone’s attention to the tunnel.

“LOOK DOWN!” Max shouted as his sonar picked up the creature, rounding the corner and glaring at them.

As one, the four shifted their sight to the ground.

“Group up! I’ll advance!”

Max didn’t wait for a grunt or acknowledgment of their understanding.

Pressure began to push against him, a longing and a desire to open his eyes and see what it was that moved with tremendous speed in his direction.

With his sonar ability Max sensed the gorgon charging at him, smashing statutes in its path.

The long serpent's tail moved quickly along the floor and some ability had to have been used to reach that speed so quickly.

Forming an ice spear, Max sent it at the creature’s face when they were within twenty yards, sensing it dodging to the left with ease. As it moved in that direction, he swung his polearm, planning to catch it mid-dodge with his blade.

The snake part of its body shifted on the floor, moving just as quickly back to the right, bending and twisting, avoiding the attack with just a few inches to spare.

“Ice storm!”

Max moved as he shouted, swinging his weapon again and again, trying to slice some part of the creature that was dodging him and laughing. In its hands were two long swords, and for some reason, the boss hadn’t chosen to use them yet.

He had been preparing Frost Nova, and when the spell went off, the creature's speed slowed down enough that he almost managed to land a strike, only to be stopped when the gorgon parried the attack with its swords.

It hissed, spitting venom at Max, barely missing as his evasion ability and sonar worked together, allowing him to twist just in time.

Ice spears began to rain down upon the boss and the area where Max was fighting it. The positioning wasn’t perfect, but a few of the ice weapons sliced off some of the snakes that hissed and watched him and the party.

Casting a stone wall, Max blocked the creature's dodge as he swung again, this time his strike catching the back part of the tail.

Scales cracked and broke, only an inch cutting through as the gorgon slid back and to safety from him and the deluge of ice spears.

Rising to its full height the gorgon was over fourteen feet tall and at least twenty feet long. Moving to get back between it and his allies, Max squared up with the creature, summoning another ice spear and preparing to send it toward the monster.

Every snake that was facing him reared back and thrust forward at the same time, a volley of purple acid coming toward him.

Leaping into the air, Max landed on his ice spear and sent it toward the boss, using it as a quick ride toward the gorgon.

There weren’t going to be many chances to do any real damage and Max didn’t want to waste the abilities he had, knowing if he missed, it could mean the difference between life and death.

With the ice spear coming at the boss’s chest, Max swung down and across, wanting to see what it would do.

Like a snake, it coiled and rose, moving from the spot he had aimed for with the spell while putting its weapons in a path to not just defend but attack him.

Leaping again, Max moved to the side, the sound of his weapon clanging against one sword while the other whiffed through the spot his feet had just been.

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Rolling after landing on the ground, he was up, leaping again to the side when the creature charged without a moment lost.

“Be ready! Ice and Empower!”

The game of mouse and snake was moving quickly, and Max didn’t have time to waste. Scales were forming at the spot of his first strike, and it appeared the gorgon had some kind of regeneration effect like his.

Finally, he had the boss’s back turned from his friends. He could sense the spear of ice on the outer edge of his sonar and knew it was time.

“Now!”

Both Tanila and Cordellia looked up just enough, sending their attacks at the boss.

The ranger's arrow struck, as the gorgon tried to dodge both attacks. Tanila’s ice spear roared past its head as the monster leaned to the side.

As it dodged, Max rushed it, swinging his blade at the spot where scales turned to flesh.

Like a contortionist, the gorgon moved again and Max was getting pissed, his second, third and fourth attack all missing no matter how fast or from where he attacked.

The hissing of the snakes filled the air and he realized what was causing the problems.

“Fireball the floor! Don’t aim to hit, just to explode!”

He began casting Fire Nova and stayed close, keeping the dance going, parrying and attacking, rolling and striking.

His spell went off, sending flames out and around him, racing up the body of the gorgon, who let out a scream.

Tanila’s fireball came a few seconds later, larger than he had expected. It missed hitting the part of the body she had aimed at. Still, when the spell hit the floor and exploded, the fire went everywhere, striking the gorgon's face and writhing hair, burning the ever-moving ball of snakes.

The monster cried out in pain as Tanila’s spell burned off a few of the lower snakes.

“Keep it up!”

Max continued his assault with his weapon, summoning a fireball. After deflecting the gorgon’s sword attack, he let it go aimed at the creature's face.

Knowing the boss would dodge, Max summoned an air wall right behind the spot the head had been, getting to sense the fireball hit the wall and erupt into flames, cascading its rain of fire down upon the weaker area of the boss.

The boss’s tail whipped at him suddenly, and without his eyes to know if a skill had been used, Max wasn’t able to dodge it.

[ Bulwark ]

Choosing to take the hit, he positioned the tip of his weapon in the path of the attack, impaling part of the creature’s tail on it.

The entire length of the tip, all fourteen inches, punched through the scales and into the boss's tender flesh inside. The force of its attack made Max’s arms ache, but the other scales around the point of entry also suffered damage from the force they struck into the blade and hammer portion.

[ Regeneration ]

Seeing his mana getting low, Max didn’t want to use any more offensive spells, knowing the drain would be his biggest problem.

As the pain in his arm began to disappear, the boss yanked its tail free, spilling blood all over the stone floor as it wiggled back and forth.

“Tanila! Ice Wall it on the right right on 3!”

Two attacks came quickly at Max, and he got into position, dodging and parrying as he prepared for a final assault. He needed to find a way to end this sooner rather than later.

Frantically, the gorgon stepped up its attacks, spewing poison. Its swords moved with speed and precision but not with the same skill as he had.

Each strike was easy to read and the hardest part was the constant barrage of poison coming from the snakes that were still not dead or burnt beyond use.

He had to dance with the creature for a while, luring it into position again, getting it to finally turn its back once more to the party.

“3!”

There wasn’t a chance to count down like he hoped but Max knew Tanila was always ready.

Casting his ice wall on the creature's right, both walls moved into position, wedging it in between.

Max rushed forward, ready to end this.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

[ Magical Strike ]

His attacks came faster than the boss could block, as his halberd cut through the flesh and scales, a massive hole opened up in the front, sending out a putrid smell and blood in his face.

Burning pain came as Max felt the poison from a few snakes above land on his arms and begin trickling through the armor.

His body immediately started to slow down as he felt the poison come in contact with his skin.

Kill it now!

Sensing the anxiety of the way his skill had shouted, Max delivered attack after attack, having cut through half of its chest.

The head! Cut off the head!

Max’s arms were getting heavy, and swinging felt incredibly hard. He could feel the poison spreading through his body and knew that there was a reaction taking place.

He was turning to stone.

A wall of earth appeared at the boss’s chest, trapping it between all three walls.

The snakes hissed and spit at him, sending more poison his way, but Max didn’t care. His choices were slim, and he felt the fear of what might be the end if he didn’t hurry.

His blade cut into the area near the boss’s neck, hacking off the snakes that tried to bite him. Their slithering bodies fell toward the ground and Max could tell he wasn’t going to make it in time. His attacks were not hitting with the power he needed.

The blade struck again, cutting through the neck an inch, yet there was too much flesh to get through before he would make it.

Take this and use it!

[ All Cooldowns Refreshed ]

Max used everything he had without wasting a second, knowing that his arms and torso were about to become stone and he wouldn’t be able to move again.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Demonic Magic ]

[ Weakness ]

The attacks felt slow, even though he knew they weren't, and when they struck, the head fell free.

Max’s chest was tight, and breathing was impossible.

A cold wave of power still went through him, and Max wanted to smile as he saw the stats roll by.

[ 10 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 10 Constitution Consumed ]

[ Skill Consumed is Equal to Rank of Current Skill ]

[ Power stored for future use ]

[ Consume has Consumed a Higher Rank Skill ]

[ Evasion - Uncommon has been upgraded to Evasion - Rare ]

[ Consume has Consumed a Higher Rank Skill ]

[ Consume has successfully Consumed a skill ]

[ Would you like to learn [Poison Immunity]? ]

[ Yes / No]

His mind raced to accept it, but before he could, the notification clicked yes for him.

The power of the new ability swept through his body and his chest fought back against the poison. His muscles and organs were locked in a state of half stone, half flesh, and the pain was impossible to describe. When Max had been melted by acid, his body didn’t suffer like this because all of his nerves were destroyed. Here, it was a fight that raged across every one of them.

Slowly the poison was expunged, his regeneration helping to heal what had been injured as the process was halted.

That was not as close as I would like to see death come.

Max wanted to reply but he was too tired. All he wanted for a moment was to rest.

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