Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 504: Making a Statement

Chapter 504 - Making a Statement

Shouts continued coming from the halted army as Max sat on the throne he had set up in the field.

He easily summoned stones from under the ground, creating a base over ten feet tall. It attached itself to the throne he had taken from Mylho Alora and used it as a seat.

All around him, the ground was covered in arrows, almost like someone had planted them in hopes that more would grow.

Holding the gem Everett had given him close to his lips, Max channeled a slight amount of magic into it, watching the yellow stone light up.

“Savantus Gilmenor, I’ve already taken your throne and your daughter. Have you come to let me take your life as well?”

His voice boomed across the open area, the gem doing its job.

From the back of the Elven army, it began to part.

Easily there were at least 15,000 troops, and it proved Tanila was right.

He summoned every guard and warrior in their kingdom. He plays with most of his people's lives in one battle.

Max was poised and ready, leaning forward on the throne, fully dressed for battle.

His armor had been dyed black, a symbol he wanted the army to understand.

He was death, having come to reap their lives.

Now only a little over a quarter of a mile away, Savantus stood before the army, his gold hair moving in the wind that raced across the battlefield.

A pair of golden eyes burned with a power he knew was beyond anything Tanila had ever shown him. Dressed in a simple red robe with runes that shimmered anytime he moved, Savantus looked almost unassuming if one discounted the color of his hair and eyes.

The King stood taller than most of the warriors around him and carried a small staff in his hand. Twisted branches, one black and one red, were entwined around a ball that changed color like a rainbow.

“It appears the boy has come… You were not supposed to be here… yet it won’t matter. Surrender, child, and I shall spare you so that Thuyja herself may do what she wishes.”

Power seemed to roll off the elf; Max could sense the aura even from this distance.

Rising, Max stood from the throne and motioned to it with one hand while holding the yellow gem close to his lips.

“We both know that isn’t going to happen,” he replied. “Still, it’s a shame what happened to your throne.”

Max used his Metal Mastery as he spoke, causing the chair to buckle and warp. With the palace's enchantments removed, his power was enough to manipulate it now.

Gasps and outrage were heard from across the distance as he quickly turned the throne into nothing but a ball of metal.

“That… was a mistake.”

As Savantus spoke, the clouds above him erupted with lightning, bolts streaking downward.

The question of how fast lightning was compared to him was answered as Max flew from his spot to the ground, able to run faster and use his abilities to maneuver better than in the air.

Stone walls rose, providing him a place to jump off of when needing to change directions quickly.

Had he had hair on his head, Max would have felt it standing on end. The air crackled with the amount of electricity in it, and for thirty seconds, the spell never ceased to end.

Only once did a bolt hit him, the pain of it coursing through his body.

Regeneration had quickly healed him, but one spell told him that Savantus had a legendary rank in whatever power he used.

As the elvish army charged, a wave of green, red, and brown bodies surged toward Max.

He could see a smile upon the Elven King’s lips.

Something tickled the back of his brain for the slightest moment, and he hesitated, wondering why a King would send so many of his people to face a person they couldn’t defeat, let alone challenge.

Two elves came quicker than the rest, armed with a sword and shield, their chain armor dyed red.

Max summoned his weapon, turning it into a large sword that most men would have to use two hands, yet he only needed one.

A single swing cut through the shield and armor, bisecting the elf in half.

Light filled his vision, and the elf exploded. Flames and magical energy covered him.

[ Regeneration ]

The pain was bearable but the surprise at what had just happened left him in shock.

An attack from the second elf came, easily parried, and Max frowned as he cut down the second warrior.

Once mor,e the second fighter erupted in a dazzling display of some sort of magical spell, and only then did he notice faint traces of blood from each of the elves flowing along the scorched ground toward Savantus.

What in the…

Not wanting to waste another moment playing like this, Max took to the sky, summoning ice storms and sending a fireball into the army below.

Everywhere his spells hit, magic erupted, leaving a blackened spot on the soil the elf had been standing before it died.

What made things worse was that, somehow, none of those around the one who died suffered injury from the magical energy.

A burning sensation began appearing, and Max glanced down at his forearm where a little bit of his skin wasn’t covered by any armor.

There, the outer layer was bubbling, burning away slowly, only to be replaced by his healing ability.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Spells came from areas in the crowd; every element was summoned and sent his way.

Hovering a hundred yards above the chaos, Max stared at the King, who wasn’t moving. He held both hands out as if waiting for rain to wash over him from the dark clouds.

Sending a stone spear at Savantus did nothing, bouncing off a wall of air or some other protective barrier, not eliciting a response at all from the elf.

Tanila told me it was bad… even still she couldn’t overcome the pain to tell me anything about her father’s real power…

Knowing the King was holding back so much and not showing it, the worst part was the army running past where he was, charging an undefended city because he had sent the guards away.

Goblin shite…

Flying downward, Max raced across the front line, setting up fire walls, causing the ground to open into holes, and calling down ice daggers and bolts of lightning.

Each death brought another explosion of magic.

Each death made him hunger for another.

In moments, the ground lit up like a firework show as he rained down destruction, keeping an army at bay, trying to resist the sirens' call that came.

[ Consume is Locked ]

The message rolled by hundreds of times, and Max groaned inside, wondering what he might be missing out on. Beneath him was a field of barley, and he was the thresher.

Yet with each swing of his scythe, the power that rushed into him seemed like nothing compared to the figure of Savantus.

Each death made the elf’s hair glow brighter.

He even appeared to have grown over a foot or two taller, now towering above his own men and women.

Arrows bounced off Max’s body as he ignored the attacks.

He struggled to stop the army below, not because killing them was hard but because he was changing.

Inside him it became harder to focus on Savantus.

Below were easy lives to claim and power to make his own. That knowledge drew him like a thirsty man to a bucket of water.

Even the truth that the water might be poisoned didn’t matter. All he wanted to do was quench the thirst he felt.

And that is what Max did.

He drank deeply from that bucket, sending stone and ice spears that tore through rows of men and women.

Wind blades took down dozens or more with each cast.

A small tornado was moving in one section, causing bursts of magical energy to appear in the air as elves died above the ground.

Every life caused the thread to Bob to swell and grow. It seemed impossible to imagine that it hadn’t burst from the size it had grown to. Before the battle, it had felt like the size of a horse and was now approaching the size of Rakonath.

Yet below him came laughter, and Savantus still stood there, his hair shining like the sun, arms still held outward. Max saw the tendrils of blood that ran to the King’s fingers.

From all over the field, it came.

Every spot an elf had died, blood raced toward the one they obeyed.

His shoulder felt the impact of an arrow, and Max watched it being pushed out of his body with his healing skill.

In the army below was an archer. She sent another arrow at him just like the one that had struck him.

She had drawn blood and so he returned the favor.

Lightning arched from his fingers, striking her and traveling through dozens of elves around her.

Each bloomed like a puffer flower, its seeds scattered from a simple breath.

Magical energy like nothing he had ever imagined replaced their bodies.

And the laughter grew louder.

When another minute passed and more than half of the army was dead, Max realized he had heard two men laughing, and he was one of them.

Every death filled his mana reserves and there was no end to the spells he unleashed.

When he sent something at Savantus, the elf didn’t even bother to dodge it; he just laughed louder as it struck a barrier and dissipated.

Now the King had grown to about seventeen feet, his eyes like light beams.

No longer did he grow, but his skin began to turn red.

Flying near the king, Max saw that Savantus’s skin was not changing color; instead, blood was beginning to cover it.

He felt it cautioning him in the back of his mind, and the Elven King snapped his fingers once as that sensation grew.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

A lance of blood raced through the air, penetrating the space he had just been.

It was so fast.

Max flew further away, chasing down the elves that continued to race toward the city, ignoring the death of their allies.

The only ones who stopped were those armed with bows or spells. Every other elf continued to charge toward their deaths.

Summoning a large boulder, Max sent it rolling across the front line, using his skill to direct the growing ball of stone.

The world was beginning to go dark, even with the bright lights that shone around him.

Max! What is wrong? I can sense… something evil.

Rakonath’s voice seemed hollow in his soul. The connection was muted, struggling to endure the hunger that couldn’t be satisfied.

Beneath him was everything he needed to grow stronger. He just had to take it and claim it as his own.

MAX!

The voice called out to him repeatedly, and Max activated a skill in desperation.

[ Berserker ]

Under the shadows of the clouds, the world became a dark red color.

The hunger he had been struggling with lessened slightly as the urge to kill the elf he looked at took over.

Stones rose from the ground, forming daggers and flew, cutting down elves with surgical precision.

Each death sent a wave of cold.

Every so often, the same message came.

[ Consume is Locked ]

Yet his skill continued to refresh, and Max fought not to give in to the Berserker rage he so easily had overcome for so long and the hunger that called out to him.

Rakonath… I…

The world shifted as another hundred souls perished in a second.

Light bloomed in his mind, and his body was filled with power.

[ Consume is… ]

‎