Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 497: Return of Dwarves on Ice

Chapter 497 - Return of Dwarves on Ice

“Dwarves aren't meant for this!” Fowl shouted as he slid down the ice.

Max laughed as he watched his friend almost crash into another one of the columns that ran the length of the room from floor to ceiling.

“Fowl’s right!” Batrire exclaimed from his back. “Still, I can’t help but laugh at this.”

The other two women laughed as Fowl bounced along the floor. The caves they were in continued their descent, and he was their best tool right now as over a hundred small furballs gave chase.

“You better hurry!” Max cried out. “They’re gaining on you!”

Using his wind magic, he carried himself and the three women through the thirty-foot-tall cave, dodging the pillars and watching as every dozen feet or so, another two or three of the creatures that lived here stirred and chased after Fowl.

Each was the size of a dwarf’s head and had big eyes and a mouth full of metal teeth.

“Who creates creatures like that?” Cordellia asked as she sent an arrow at a straggler behind them. “I mean… they are so cute.”

“And almost tore your arm off,” Batrire replied. “Rule number 742: Never pick up anything cute in the tower.”

Max couldn’t help but grin as he kept pace with their dwarven warrior.

Part of him felt guilty for sending Fowl skidding down the ice, while the other part was impressed with how well he had managed to stay on his stomach. His shield easily took out both creatures and ice columns.

Tanila and he were careful as was Cordellia, only using stone magic to create tiny spears that skewered the little balls of fur behind the growing horde of fluff that raced along the ice after Fowl.

“There has to be almost four hundred,” Tanila said as the slope began to lessen and a flat area up ahead appeared.

“Uh, guys! I see something!”

Fowl’s voice sounded a bit nervous or perhaps he would puke again, but Max darted ahead, finding the area opened up into a giant cavern.

In the middle of it was a fifteen-foot version of the small creatures they had faced since entering the tower floor.

As Fowl slid into the area, it moved, rising on two legs, and a pair of skinny arms poked out from its fur.

“What in the gods is that?” Cordellia asked.

It roared, sending flecks of saliva and bits of flesh flying onto the ice floor, and Max groaned.

“Rides over!”

He flew to where Fowl was and grabbed their warrior by the back of his armor, ignoring the smell of vomit on his friend.

“I’m going to hurl again,” their warrior muttered.

“Not yet! Be ready to fight!”

An empowered boss arrow connected against the boss’s left eye, sending out a gush of fluid and blood. It howled, covering the injured area and appeared to be clawing the offending injury.

“Sending another!”

Their archer repeated the process, destroying both eyes on the oversized fur ball and staining it with green blood.

“Incoming!” Tanila shouted. “Fire nova in ten!”

Max spun slightly, still holding onto Fowl who groaned as he was flung around like a rag doll, turning to see the avalanche of fluff.

Each of them clattered and squeaked, their sounds almost cute, except for the bite that could pierce anything but Fowl’s armor.

Max began to cast his own Fire Nova, timing it to go off with Tanila’s as he zoomed near the front of the pack, watching as their spells rolled out from the two of them.

A heavenly scent of burnt meat came quickly, overpowering the stench of burnt hair.

“Five seconds!” their mage called out.

They repeated the process, burning down the multitude of creatures until only the larger one remained. It moved around the two-hundred-yard cavern, crawling along the floor.

“Uh… put me down?” Fowl asked. “I really need to vomit.”

Without waiting any longer, he summoned a wall of stone and ice and dropped his friend upon it. Then, he took a moment to undo the harness, setting the trio of women onto the stone wall.

“I’ll deal with this one. You just keep an eye out,” Max said as he moved toward the injured creature.

“At least there isn’t a pink one this time,” Fowl said as he moved away.

His blade carved the creature up into bits and a Fire Nova ended its life without any real problem.

Flicking off the green blood onto the ice, Max stared at the cavern, wondering what would come next like the other four times.

“MAAXXX!”

Their healer’s shout wasn’t needed but he moved toward them quickly, noticing the dome roof of ice starting to fall apart, chunks of death now falling toward the floor.

“Shields and walls!” Max shouted as he stood between Tanila and Cordellia, a shield in each hand covering the pair and himself.

Fowl mimicked his stance, holding a shield above him and Batrire.

He and Tanila sent stone spears at the chunks that fell upon them, causing them to break apart and bounce harmlessly off their defenses.

In less than twenty seconds, the floor was littered with boulder-sized chunks of ice, replacing the smooth surface with a jagged one.

“There it is!” their ranger called, pointing at the creature now falling from the ceiling.

“You had to jinx it!” Batrire exclaimed. “Fowl Hammerfall, I swear I’m going to hurt you!”

“It’s not my fault!” their warrior shouted as he jumped off the stone wall and onto the textured floor. “We both knew something was coming!”

Max didn’t get involved, storing his gorgon shield and pulling free his weapon as the forty-foot pink ball of fluff landed on the floor, sending a shockwave out from it.

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“I’ll get agro!” he yelled as the creature turned. Its black eyes locked upon the party, and its gigantic mouth opened up and roared at them.

[ Intimidation Resisted ]

Smiling to himself, Max sent a flaming spear at the creature, knowing it wouldn’t do much damage, needing to get its attention for now.

At least Fowl doesn’t freeze up anymore.

The spell did nothing, striking the pink fur and barely leaving a singed mark as Max flew near its face.

Both clawed hands came at him, and he easily dodged as he weaved through the attacks, using his smaller size to get close and jab his weapon into the creature.

[ Power Strike ]

He had transformed it into a gutting hook, driving the sharp tip into the thick hide and then angling the weapon where the long shaft was at his hip.

Like a farmer working in a field, he raced across the surface of the boss, his weapon slicing open the beast as he dashed around it.

Over and over he went in a circle, cutting an X around its front and back.

Torrents of green blood flowed, staining its pink skin as the creature attempted to swat at him with both hands, unable to do anything as he skinned it alive.

“NOW!”

With his weapon having done what he wanted, Max flew away, the giant, blood-soaked ball of fur facing him and turning its back to the party.

An enormous stone spear struck where he had made the X and it sank deep into the beast.

It howled, staggering from the strike that evaded its thick hide.

Max immediately used his Stone Mastery skill, forcing the spear deeper into its body.

It would have been comical to watch if they had not been facing a creature capable of sending Fowl flying across the entire cavern with a single strike.

The first one they had faced had wrecked them as they attempted to pierce its hide.

Now, it was over before it started, and Max sighed. The only cold sensation he received was his mana being refilled as the beast fell dead on the floor.

“That was too easy,” Fowl muttered at his return. “I mean, you sliced it open like an orange.”

“Hey, it was your idea, so take credit for it.”

A smug grin covered their warrior's lips as he puffed out his chest. “You’re right, I should get credit for it.”

Groans came from Cordellia and Batrire as they climbed down from the air wall they were still on.

“Thank the gods, a portal,” Tanila said as she pointed at the one that had just appeared in the cavern's center near the corpse. “I was growing tired of this.”

Smiling, Max moved to where she was and helped her down.

“You did great with that spear. You probably almost killed it yourself.”

“Sure… lie to me. I’m okay with that,” she replied with a wink. “Stil,l you owe me ten gold.”

“I’m not sure he threw up four times,” Max replied, ignoring the finger being wagged at the two of them. “I only counted three.”

“It was four, I kept count!” Cordellia chimed in. “Pay the lady.”

Laughing, Max started counting gold coins into Tanila’s outstretched hand.

“You do realize you’re all a bunch of bastards,” Fowl muttered as he pulled his beard out from between his chest and armor. “Nothing funny about a dwarf sliding across ice.”

His comment only made them laugh harder as they crossed the tower floor, ready to move on to the 78th floor.

***

“What in the world are these things?” Cordellia asked as Alfreda held one of the furballs in her hands, inspecting it from all sides.

“Never seen one, but they sure are cute!” the older elf exclaimed. “I can see that its bite would indeed be painful. Look here and you’ll notice the serrated side that works like a saw. Sharp and deadly.”

“Uh, I’ll pass. Almost lost my arm to one,” their ranger replied.

Everett shook his head at the pile of corpses they had collected until they realized no one needed over two hundred of them.

“And you say there were larger ones?”

“The pink ones were forty feet tall,” Max said as he pointed at the stone table. “That’s the hide over there that I stored after we defeated the first one. Surely that should be useful for something.”

“Oh, I’m certain Alfreda will find a use for everything here. If we’re not careful, she’ll sell some of these to a food merchant and soon we’ll have on our hands another hit. All courtesy of your party and the reagents your team keeps bringing back.”

Tom yelped as he shook his left hand, waving it in the air as the tip bled.

“Uh, I told you those were sharp,” Fowl stated. “I mean why would you do that?”

“I was just testing the surface and the tip,” the trainer replied. “This claw is a lot denser than most of the others we’ve seen, and it has a sharpness not often seen on one this size.”

Max watched as Tom held the four-foot claw out to Everet,t who shook his head.

“No thanks. I’m smart enough not to test that out after seeing what it did to you.”

“Men,” Batrire grunted as she healed their trainer. “Can’t help but touch everything.”

“And you're certain they’re not useful for weapons?”

Max shook his head at Everett. “My weapon skill doesn’t give me a single idea on something it could create from them. Everything I’ve considered comes up blank, as the material will snap and can’t be forged. Using it as a handle or anything else is also worthless. There’s no magic in it.

“No magic,” the Faction leader whispered as he tapped his chin. “What kind of place would have something that big and as strong as this without any magic?”

“I think that’s the point,” Tanila said as she shifted the pink pelt on the stone table. “Watch.”

She summoned a gout of fire that continually shot outward, striking the hide and beyond the scent of some burnt hair, but it didn’t affect it.

“The only spell that worked against it was my stone one, after Max had created an opening. Part of me thinks these were designed to stop magic. Imagine a creature that couldn’t be pierced except by weapons. We all know they’re out there, but to see one this size… It’s a tad frightening.”

Max nodded as he pulled out his weapon, shaping it like a gutting hook and then withdrew a piece of hide he had kept for himself. Holding the curved edge up to it, he prepared to demonstrate how easily it sliced open.

“But a normal weapon –”

“That’s not a normal weapon,” Tom stated, cutting him off.

“True… then use your sword and see what happens.

Without waiting, their trainer had the weapon he had created, quickly cutting through the exposed hide. Tom used two other swords before the fourth cut the hide.

“So it has to be at least rare quality… that’s good to know,” Everett said as he watched the demonstration.

“You all done messing with my materials?” Afreda asked as she began storing the corpses laid out on the tables. “If so, some of us have work to do and can’t be caught playing in the tower.”

Both older men chuckled and began to move toward the door.

“Please, we all know you’d go if you could.”

“Aye, I would, but someone didn’t ask me.”

Seeing how her eyes fell upon him, Max almost groaned as Tanila laughed.

“Busted!”

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