Ultimate Level 1

‎Chapter 228 - Pounding Metal

The fighting had gotten easier by the fourth encounter as the party made their way through the town. Scattered groups of dwarves and goblins were far enough away from others that none joined in during a fight.

“Frozen!”

Max’s shout wasn’t needed, but he said it anyway as ice formed up around the second goblin.

Tanila’s ice spell had encased one of the rifle dwarves and Cordellia’s first shot had hit her target in the face, causing it to drop its weapon while the second goblin tossed a potion at it.

Two dwarf warriors were charging Fowl, both oblivious to Max, who appeared behind the goblin right after it had managed to get the healing potion in the air.

With its head separated and unable to use the potion to enlarge the last rifle user, Max quickly ended the ranged dwarf’s life before working his way through the two popsicles near him.

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 4 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

[ 8 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 8 Wisdom Consumed ]

Max smiled as the stats continued to come in, his dexterity no longer increasing when he killed the ranged dwarves. They were fast and one from the second pack had run away as he chased it until his frozen spell locked it in place.

Dozens of skill notifications about storing power had originally spammed him and were now no longer appearing.

“Save me some warriors!” Max shouted as he turned and saw that once again Fowl and Tanila had taken out the last two.

Fowl’s grin told him everything he needed to know.

“You’re doing that on purpose.”

“Maybe,” Fowl replied. “Regardless, I’m just happy to be able to kill something. Besides, we both know you’re going to get a chance to kill some, eventually. Should I ask how much you’ve gained?”

Max knew Cordellia was out of range as he and Fowl looted the corpses furthest away.

“No… but after we’re done with the tower floor, I’ll tell you then. Only because I know you’ll ask again.”

Chuckling, Fowl nodded, storing the potion belts he pulled free from the goblin.

“How much further till we hit that wall?”

Sighing, Max did some math in his head and easily came up with the answer.

“If nothing changes and the packs stay the same, we’re probably two hours from those walls. I haven’t seen a gate, so I’m not sure if we’ll travel around it and find one or if we’ll need to scale it.”

“That would mean fighting those automatons,” Fowl replied.

“It would.”

Max watched as his friend scowled and shook his head.

“Never a dull moment.”

“Nope. Then again, we didn’t sign up to be tower climbers for a simple life.”

***

“I can’t see a door or gate,” Cordellia said as she stared off at the wall to the right. “We’ve gone a mile, and this thing doesn’t have an opening yet.”

Max nodded, sensing that somewhere had to be a gate or some puzzle that would open one.

“We can cheat and I can get us up the walls. They're only about seventy feet tall.”

“And you’re certain we should fight those creatures up there?”

Nodding, Max motioned to the metal buildings that were behind them.

“We could spend days or weeks trying to go through every house, killing every creature on this floor. The problem is there is no guarantee we could find the mechanism to open a gate if one isn’t around the other side of this city. I’d rather just climb up. We can always use a rope to get down on either side.”

No one argued against it and soon everyone piled upon Max’s shoulders and in his arms as he raced up the metal wall.

Stolen story; please report.

Reaching the top, he scanned and found that the nearest automaton was about three hundred yards to the right, slowly moving along the forty foot wide wall. On the other side of where they were was another metal city that led to a courtyard of sorts.

“Is that another tower?” Cordellia said as she peered across the mile of the town that led to the center. “I mean, it looks like one possibly.”

“Like the werewolf floor?” Fowl asked, straining to see what the elf saw, his voice higher than usual.

“Yes.”

Everyone tried to make out the object in the distance, but the truth was it was impossible to know for certain what kind of building it was.

“Let’s focus on the automaton over there,” Max said, pointing at the large metallic monster. “We need to take it down. I’d rather know what we’re getting into and if we can even stop it.”

“What is your plan if we can’t?” Tanila asked.

“If we aren’t able to overpower it with force and spells, we should try to use stone walls to lift a leg off the ground, then use some air and ice walls to keep it off balance before trying to send it over the edge. I mean, if that works, maybe the fall would help take it out.”

Tanila’s frown was the one she showed she wasn’t certain about his plans, but she nodded anyway.

“If Fowl can hold its attention and not die, I’ll come up from behind and use my one attack, seeing if I can get through its armor.”

“I love when he says that like I’m not here,” their dwarven warrior said. “Almost makes me feel like I’m part of the team.”

Everyone chuckled and started moving toward the dwarven creation from stories, unsure just how well this was going to go.

***

“Go!” Max exclaimed before he stealthed, letting Fowl take the lead.

As they raced toward the twenty foot tall automaton, its waist turned a full one hundred and eighty degrees, its crystal eyes a dark red, locked onto Fowl.

“Intruder! Activating Defense Protocol C! Charging!”

“What does that mean?” Fowl shouted as Max went past him even though he was hidden.

Both red eyes glowed and a buildup of some kind was causing the creature to shake slightly.

Its metal body hummed and gears turned and creaked on the outside as it raised both arms, pointing its palms at Fowl.

A metal plate in each hand slid up, revealing another red gem in each hand that was glowing a bright red.

“SEEEETTTTTTH!!!”

Seeing the sight before him and knowing Fowl was about to be hit with something that might blow the whole wall off for all they knew, Max deactivated his Stealth and raced toward the golem, seeing its head and hands start to track him instead.

Bright red beams came from its eyes and hands, scorching the metal wall and melting it behind Max as he ran toward the automaton.

Its movements were too slow or perhaps Max was too fast, but either way he reached the leg and swung.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magic Strike ]

His weapon streaked through the air, connecting with the metal leg of the golem.

Max couldn’t help but smile as he realized that for the first time in a while his strength, combined with the Power Strike, put him well over six hundred. With an idea on the stats for these creatures, he watched as the axe cleaved through the metal like paper, sending out sparks, a spray of different colored liquids and causing the automaton’s leg to creak before buckling, sending it crashing on top the metal wall.

A loud clang of metal on metal rang out, making Max’s head feel like it was going to pop as the noise assaulted his sonar skill.

It took a few seconds to recover, having dodged the falling automaton and gotten a few yards away. Spinning around, he saw the mechanical monster was no longer sending red beams out, instead, its left arm was attempting to spray the left leg where he had cut it with something from its fingertips.

Foam was covering the broken area, putting out a fire that had ignited.

“Defense Protocol G activated!”

The sound of metal sliding upon metal filled the air, and Max could sense the automaton was rebuilding the broken area of its leg. He wasn’t sure, but it appeared the metal was coming from inside the creature.

Sounds of arrows plinking off the metallic body and ice spears colliding with the mechanical monster did nothing.

A giant boulder appeared above it and Max smiled as he raced toward the fallen automaton’s head, swinging his hammer portion at it.

The clang of metal on metal rang out, and a large metallic hand came near him, trying to swat at him.

More sounds of metal on metal came as Fowl started attacking its side, making the area they were in sound like a blacksmith's shop.

The magical stone boulder fell, striking the automaton in its chest, buckling some of the metal plates that covered it.

Its right arm came up, knocking the boulder free and tried again to swipe at Max with its left hand, who was continually pounding its head, leaving large dents in the metal that appeared to be reinforced.

“Its leg is almost reformed!” Fowl shouted. “What now?”

Using his trump card wasn’t something he wanted to do and Max decided to see if last night's discussion would actually pay off.

Can you refresh my Power Strike?

A half dozen more blows connected, causing one of the metal plates on the head to break free from the others as Max waited to hear a response.

Finally after about two more seconds a notification made him smile.

[ Power Strike Cooldown Refreshed ]

Without waiting, he set his feet and swung, aiming for the same spot he had hit a dozen times.

[ Power Strike ]

The hammered portion squished the massive metallic head like a lemon getting hit with a hammer.

A geyser of liquid sprayed out from all around the top of the automaton’s head and the mechanical monster began to shake, its arms twitching in the air.

“Seth?! What did you do?!”

Like a blacksmith with only a single task of pounding metal, Max never answered, instead delivering blow after blow upon the same spot as wires and tubes lay exposed.

Forming an ice spear, Max poured mana into the spell as he continued his assault. When a two-foot gap was created from the twisted and flattened metal, Max sent the spear into the opening, forcing it as deep as possible.

A pealing sound came as both arms fell against the metal wall.

“It’s dead! I just got experience!”

Fowl’s announcement allowed Max a chance to catch his breath and stare at the enemy they had just defeated.

“Start ripping it apart! I want to take back what we can!”

Thank you. I mean it.

Having said what he felt was owed, Max went to work again, pounding and hacking off areas of the automaton’s body, pulling metal sheets free with his bare hands and storing them. Wires, hoses, tubes and more were put into storage and he ripped out both of the massive eight inch red gems the automaton had used for eyes.

“Tell me that was worth it,” Max said when the metal corpse began to dissolve, dropping a dozen red tower experience gems in a neat pile.

“Very much so,” Fowl replied with a grin. “The experience alone was over five or six groups. Though I’m not certain we could have won without you taking out its head. On that note, I’m also wondering why you didn’t use your ability to teleport up to the head and attack it there the first time.”

Groaning, Max realized Fowl was right. He had been an idiot and was so focused on immobilizing the automaton that he went for the leg. If they had to fight another one of these, going for the leg was worthless.

Tanila came up and gave him a nudge, pointing at the city they had yet to enter.

“Looks like we’re about to climb down and see what waits for us there.”

Snorting, Max nodded, grinning like a kid in a candy store. Everything was going well, and he felt amazing.

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