Ultimate Level 1

Max cursed as he slid down a metal incline the moment he stepped through the portal.

Unable to stop the descent without summoning walls, he saved them, unsure at first how far this smooth tunnel that was narrowing was going to continue.

A shout from behind announced Fowl had just entered as the curse echoed off the metallic walls.

“ELLLLLLFFFFF TIIIIITTSSSS!”

Shrieks came next as he continued his descent down the metallic tube that was about eight feet wide, slowly angling up and slowing his plummet through the darkness.

Light appeared from ahead and when the tube leveled out, Max could see there was an opening about thirty yards from where he had finished his slide.

“Look out!”

Fowl’s shout came as the dwarf slid face first down the tube, his plate armor scraping along the metal, leaving a trail of sparks.

The other three came quickly, cursing and complaining.

Some grunts and murmurs of acknowledgement were heard from each as he lifted them and set them on their feet.

“What in the gods' arse is that for an entrance?” Fowl muttered as he glanced at the opening ahead and back up the way they had come.

“Nothing good,” Max stated. “Getting back up there would mean we need to wait for my boot's ability to refresh. Otherwise, I doubt we could climb up that.”

“Which means we’re stuck facing the boss,” Cordellia said as she pulled out her bow.

The entire party acknowledged that truth as each of them focused on the opening behind Max.

“I’ll scout while everyone else gets ready.”

As Max stealthed and moved toward the entrance, Batrire cast her buff as Fowl rotated his shoulders.

Outside of the entrance, what Max could see opened up and before him was an enclosed, metallic colosseum. A huge fifty-foot wall off patch worked metal plates created a wall, with a lattice of welded and meshed metal parts that created a dome over the two hundred yard wide metal floor.

Every row that was outside of the area they would fight in was empty, and Max wasn’t sure if he was happy about that, especially after spotting the creature they would face.

Like a hodgepodge version of multiple monsters, a metallic and flesh monster sat on all four legs. Rising over twenty-five feet tall, the creature had metal and flesh-like front legs like a tiger with a pair of massive back haunches that looked like a bear. A wolf’s head, with metal teeth inside its robotic jaw, opened and closed every few seconds as its red eyes stared at the tunnel they were in.

A third of the head was covered in sick, green looking hair, part of the patch covering one eye while the rest of the head was mostly metal with the occasional exposed area of flesh. Different colors of fur and type of flesh covered the rest of its body as purple and black goo occasionally dripped from random areas of it. Each pile on the metal floor hissed, a small cloud of smoke appearing a moment as it made contact with the ground.

On its back was a weird box contraption that seemed out of place on the creature's body.

“Is that a goblin's head?”

Cordellia’s question came from inside the tunnel and Max moved back inside, glad she had stayed back a way from the entrance.

“Yes,” he replied as he appeared next to her. “Two heads actually on that box like thing. Whatever this is, it's going to be nasty.”

“What are we going to do against it?”

Fowl’s question had no easy answer as the five of them stood there, slinking in the shadows as they considered the monster before them.

“You have two of your special arrows?”

Cordellia nodded at Max, tapping the spot they were resting inside of her quiver.

“You focus all of your shouts on its eyes. Try to make sure at least one of them hits with an empowered shot. I’d go ahead and enchant the arrow with fire as well. Tanila and I will use fire as it seemed to have hurt the other things we fought the most. Fowl will need to be ready to taunt and use his skills.”

Turning to their healer, Max grimaced.

“Until this thing actually hits Fowl, you’ll have no idea how much damage it does but what really scares me is the stuff on its back. You’ll have to be ready for anything, even the use of your shield.”

Batrire nodded, biting her bearded lip slightly.

“No matter what happens, I’ll keep you all going.”

Nodding, Max turned toward the boss and frowned.

“I’m going to stealth and try to hit its head from the start. We ready?”

Grunts came and Max summoned his fire familiar, the light of his and Tanila’s casting shadows of them against the tube.

“Let’s go then.”

Fowl raced out of where they had been, shield and weapon ready as he charged.

After he was twenty yards from the entrance, the rest of the party moved out, the three staying close enough to Batrire that if her shield was needed, they would be safe.

Max ran right behind Fowl, invisible as he watched the boss rise up on its back haunches before slamming into the ground. Right before it did, both of the front claws crackled with electricity upon hitting the floor that arched across the entire area.

Stealth failed as the spell jolted him and the others.

Each person suffered some damage, though it appeared less reached where Tanila and the other two were.

Fowl’s stride faltered for a moment as the lighting arced off his plate armor.

The boss then lowered its head, the large box like contraption on its back opening at the top.

“What the–”

Fowl stopped talking as a barrel both he and Max recognized was ejected from the top, coming toward the spot where Fowl was.

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Without asking, Max stored his weapon and grabbed his friend, bolting off to the side and escaping the barrel that impacted against the ground, flames spreading out immediately.

The boss turned, following Max and Fowl as he darted a bit away, another barrel coming from the box.

“How do we get close and not face those?” Fowl shouted as Max zigged and zagged, trying to draw the aim of its attacks away from the other three while also not allowing them to be boxed in.

“I don’t know!” Max yelled back as he evaded the fifth barrel, glancing back and seeing how much of the enclosed space was already getting covered with fire. “I need to get closer! Give me a second!”

Dashing in the direction of the boss, Max waited, his mind counting the time between each of the attacks.

Like clockwork, the sixth shot came, three seconds after the fifth one.

Summoning an air wall right above the open spot, the barrel collided, igniting and dropping the flames on top of the boss, spilling into the open section of the box.

Less than a second after the fire entered the weird structure, it exploded, flames igniting and covering the boss and twenty yards past it.

Roars and howls of pain came from the beast as it danced around inside the area before running out of it, slamming into one of the metal walls and sending flames and flesh everywhere.

“Goblin shite! That was amazing!” their warrior exclaimed.

Max ran back toward where the others were, avoiding the middle section of the floor where flames covered over fifty yards.

“Now what?” Tanila shouted as they drew close and he dropped Fowl.

“I have no idea! We can’t get close while it burns and it appears to be in a lot of pain.”

For ten seconds the boss ran along the wall towards the opposite end.

As it drew close an opening appeared and huge nozzles came out, shooting a foam that covered the flaming beast, immediately extinguishing the flames.

“That’s cheating!” Fowl exclaimed as the fire was snuffed out.

The stench of chemicals and burnt flesh and hair was overpowering, and Max watched as the boss stayed near the opening.

“It’s healing! Look!”

Robotic arms came from inside the hole, some running tubes into the boss while others carried a new object.

Unable to get the party safely across the floor due to the flames, Max ran across on his own, summoning a fireball as he moved.

Black and purple goo were dripping from the boss as four hoses that had been thrust into its back sent liquid inside the beast. Its burnt flesh was beginning to regrow and its red eyes were pulsing‌.

A backpack-like item made of metal was being strapped onto the creature, and not wanting to wait, Max unleashed his fireball as he got close, sending it into the opening.

Another pair of robotic arms reacted to the attack, racing out of the opening in the wall to try and block his spell.

Without missing a beat, Max pulled a barrel out of his storage, tossing it with all his strength at the opening, right behind the spell this dungeon floor was attempting to stop.

The boss roared, ripping itself free from the hoses and racing from the spot it was at, the backpack it had been getting screwed into its back only partially secured.

The flames washed over those arms appeared to have some sort of shield, but the cask connected, sending a wave of flames that went past the arms and into the opening.

Another loud explosion came as the liquid fire made it inside the hole in the wall, setting off a chain reaction of some kind within it, popping out sheets of metal for about forty yards in each direction.

The boss came toward Max who took off running back toward his allies, dodging the still burning puddles of flames.

“Fowl!”

His dwarf friend came toward him, dashing across the floor.

As he moved, Max sensed five objects racing toward him and summoned an earth wall, dodging to the right.

The sound of the wall being destroyed and metal upon metal came as Max’s Sonar revealed that five harpoons had come from the metal backpack bouncing up and down as the boss ran. Each had a metal wire connected and was now being retracted toward the top of the boss.

Cursing at the new item that was going to make this whole fight worse, Max waited till he passed Fowl, turning immediately, and charged at the boss.

“Now!”

He had seen Cordellia holding her bow ready, one of the special arrows drawn back. Tanila’s fireball was above her, prepared to be set free when the moment came.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Weakness ]

[ Rampage ]

Appearing right on the boss’s charging snout, Max unleashed everything he could on the left eye.

His halberd shattered the crystal that was there, tearing through the metal. Gears, pistons and armor sections were gone in a moment. The other two strikes punched deeper, revealing a glowing section within.

As he tried to swing again, the boss jerked its head upward, sending him airborne.

Harpoons came again from different openings at him and, summoning an air wall, Max was pushed off of it, bringing his shield out as he twisted, blocking the two that would have impaled him had the shield not appeared.

The impact sent him soaring through the air, toward the wall.

Spinning like a top, Max heard another roar come as the boss reacted to the arrow that plunged into its other eye, shattering it and leaving it hopefully blind.

Tanila’s fireball erupted over its face, burning the flesh that had regrown.

All in a span of just a few seconds, their attacks had connected as Fowl shouted out.

“Taunt!”

Turning in the air, Max got his feet into position, absorbing the impact with the wall and dropping to the ground.

This new constitution bonus is paying off!

Fowl was going two shields now, obviously having used a skill as the boss swiped at him with a metallic claw, purple and black liquid squirting with every lucky strike that hit the dwarf.

“SHOOT THE EXPOSED AREA!”

He moved to help Fowl as the boss swiped and missed again.

A blazing object raced across the metal area and struck the opening he had created.

It appeared as if a lightning spell struck the boss, jerking randomly before dropping to one knee.

“Get away! Into the tunnel!”

Max grabbed Fowl and sprinted toward the women, clearing the space in just seconds.

Both warriors stood at the opening to the tunnel, holding their shields out as a wall and watched as the boss began to smoke, shuddering more and more.

Smoke that had been drifting upward from the boss started moving downward back toward it.

“All walls!”

Ice, earth and air walls covered the opening, each of them stacked before the other and seven seconds later, the loudest explosion any of them had ever heard came forth.

The walls buckled and creaked as everyone struggled to stay standing.

Max and Fowl both felt objects striking their shields, barely managing to keep from being knocked back by the force.

As quickly as the eruption had taken place, the only sound any of them heard the next moment was the ringing in their ears.

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