Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 512: Floor 79

Max laughed as Tanila let out a groan.

“Hey, share the bed!”

“Please,” she replied as her arms and legs reached out to the four corners, taking up most of the mattress. “You try carrying a child and see how well you sleep. Especially when they decide to dance all night long.”

Sitting up, Max leaned over and kissed her bare stomach where their child was causing her skin to occasionally rise from its movements.

“Be kind to your mother, little one. Someday, you’ll find out she’s the greatest person in the world.”

He felt Tanila’s nails gently rub across the top of his head, and he gladly lay there for a few more moments, enjoying her touch for a bit longer.

“You need to get up and get dressed. We’re due back at the Faction house.”

“Does this mean we can’t take one more dip in the ocean?”

Chuckling, Max raised both eyebrows at her playfully.

“For you, absolutely, but only if you promise to do it like we did the first time.”

***

“Seems like you two had a great honeymoon,” Cordellia said as she smiled at them. “And do I detect a hint of sea salt?”

“One last dip in the great waters before we came home,” Max replied between bites of the biscuit and gravy the faction had served up this morning for breakfast. “I almost had to carry her to get her out of bed.”

“Bah, you could go anywhere for three days, and you two choose the ocean,” Fowl muttered. “Plenty of good caves and mountains to visit instead.”

“Not all of us are fond of dark places,” Tanila stated as she ate oatmeal. “Still, we are grateful for the adventurer hall using their teleporter to send us that far away.”

“I’m sure if they could, they would have sent you to the other side of the great waters,” Batrire said. “We’ve had to return to wearing our disguise rings as walking through town without getting mobbed has been impossible. Rumors have it we’re all going to have statues made for the hall here in the capital.”

Unable to help it, Max grunted as he shook his head. “The gold one is bad enough. Now they want another?”

“Hey!” Fowl exclaimed, pounding the table with his hand. “Some of us need love too.”

Everyone started to laugh as Max rolled his eyes.

“Dear Ockrim,” he said pleadingly, “show me that you love me.”

All three women started to turn red, and they laughed so hard that Fowl gave Max a two-handed finger gesture.

***

Each nodded and smiled as the other adventuring parties stepped aside, allowing them to enter the tower without waiting.

“Thank you!”

“Gods be with you!”

Others called out their praises for how they had defeated the army that had threatened to end the lives of everyone in the city.

Only a few elves were present, but each quickly dropped to both knees, bowing low as Tanila passed.

“Rise, you need not bow to me,” she said, stopping before one of them.

“But princess… you–”

“I am not my father. You need not fear me as I will not use the bond that compels you.”

It took a few seconds as the elven mage looked upward, her green eyes struggling to look at Tanila’s face.

“If you want to honor our people, continue to climb the tower and support your friends. Show the others that we are no different.”

A nod and sniff came from the woman as she hesitantly took Tanila's hand.

Max watched as she helped the elven woman stand and gave her a gentle squeeze on her arm.

She then turned and moved toward the tower portal, the rest of the party joining in behind her.

“Good luck today, and may the gods bless you,” one of the guards called out.

Max nodded and touched the shimmering surface, selecting the seventy-ninth floor as their destination.

The world shimmered and he felt a dry warmth against his skin.

His sonar detected nothing but flat areas around and when his eyes worked, they widened immediately.

“What in the gods…” Fowl muttered.

Each party member made a comment or sound as they took in the sight before them.

“Why… why does it have to look like this?” Cordellia asked.

Max shrugged as he stared at the walls, giant black caprices, each twenty feet long, fused together to form the outer area of the place where they had appeared.

They flowed upward to the ceiling, an absolute black color that would have plunged them into darkness if not for the rest of the tower floor.

Hundreds of glowing veins ran along the rocky base and Tanila bent down, examining the glowing orange substance.

“Amber… I think it’s amber.”

In the center of the dome, the boss floor was a glossy black rock of some kind.

“That looks like obsidian,” Max said as he frowned. “And those amber veins come from it but they’re a different color.”

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“Red,” Cordellia answered. “They’re a darker red.”

“Lava?” Fowl asked. “It might explain the dry heat.”

A cough came from their healer as she tapped her staff against the hard rock. “Is it just me or does it feel like everything is… vibrating?”

Max nodded, knowing that their healer was right.

And the question is where is the boss?

It will likely come from the center of the floor, but I would be careful. There is an energy here that is… stronger than usual.

Stronger than what you’re used to because you’ve missed so many tower floors?

Frustration flowed through their bond and Max almost smiled at pointing out the obvious.

Perhaps… yet it seems… different.

“So what’s the plan?” Fowl asked as he cracked his neck and rotated both shoulders. “You going to go out there and see what big bad awaits us?”

“Only if you don’t want to. I mean… according to Aerthen, you’re the greatest dwarf she’s ever met.”

“Bah. You say that like it’s not true!”

Glad they could always joke in moments like this, Max gave his friend a gentle pat on the shoulder before equipping his new shield, turning his weapon into a long spear.

“Be ready, I’ll be back.”

Every step he took as he walked away made a crunching sound, and as he stepped on the amber, Max could sense some sort of magical power from it.

What is that?

I’m not certain but it is giving off magical energy. It differs from those crystal lines on the other tower floors.

Wondering what else they might have to contend with as the spiderwork pattern of amber covered so much of the boss floor, Max continued moving toward the center of the room, ready to dash back to his friends if something appeared near them.

A hundred yards away from the completely black circle of stone in the middle, he realized it was jagged and not connected, and a rumbling began to take place.

The whole dome shifted and buckled, dust falling from the ceiling as the center of the floor separated. A long black object began to rise from it.

Slowly, a shape appeared, and Max started backing up. Finally, a black beetle arose completely, easily three stories tall and three times as long.

At the front of its head was a fifteen-foot-long pincer clacking together like a flat saw. Each time it closed, the sound was like thunder.

Thick chitin covered every bit of the creature as the horn on its head dipped down near the opening of its mouth.

That does not look like an easy nut to crack.

It turned slowly, locked its coal colored eyes on Max, and shrieked.

The entire room vibrated and Max covered both ears as waves of sound washed over him, making his intestines feel queasy.

As it took its first step towards him, the thick black leg crashed into the rock, shaking the nearby area.

I’ll try to bash it, you hit it with spells!

Leaping into the air, Bob propelled them toward the insect, and Max easily flew past it. Thrusting his weapon against its outer shell, he watched as his spear bounced off.

Wind blades crashed against the same side, and soon an ice spear struck, neither of them doing any noticeable damage.

The boss turned in his direction, sending out shockwaves along the tower floor as it moved, causing another cloud of dust to descend from above.

Over and over, dozens of attacks bounced off as Max continued to assault the beetle.

He changed his weapon every few strikes, finding that no matter what kind he used it didn’t do any damage.

An arrow ricocheted off near him, his sonar detecting it and hoping that the empowered boss arrow from Cordellia was just as useless.

Giant shards of ice began to fall from the storm Tanila had summoned and though each one was as big as Max, they broke against the outer shell.

What are we missing?

It’s slow. Try hitting from beneath it. Use all your offensive skills, I’ll reset them if need be.

With Bob’s blessing to go all out, Max flew under the creature, easily avoiding its tree-like legs and used everything he had.

[ Ultimate Form ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

His body grew, and the power he struck with barely chipped the underside, leaving only a few small flakes of its shell.

He repeatedly pounded the same spot with a two-handed hammer, changing it to a pickaxe and then a spear, hoping to find a way to pierce and break through the section.

MOVE!

Max sensed the boss lowering itself to the ground as Bob called for him to escape.

He easily escaped the bulk that fell to the rock floor as it struck, seeing his friends all falling over from how the room buckled and shook due to the impact.

Racing to where they were, he helped them up and shook his head.

“What should we do? Everything is bouncing off it!”

“My arrow did nothing,” Cordellia said. “I didn’t even bother bringing out my summon after watching nothing work.”

“Both of our spells aren’t doing anything,” Tanila added. “It’s not fast, but I’m certain it will hurt if it does hit us.”

Watching the insect rise, Max frowned, unsure how he could hope to do anything to such an armored creature.

Let’s try the new spell. See what it does.

“Stay safe. Fowl, be ready. We might need you to take a hit and see what kind of damage your thorn aura might do,” Max called out as he moved away.

“You want me to let it hit me?!” Fowl shouted. “Didn’t you just hear Tanila?!”

Waving away the concern in his friend’s cry, Max lured the boss away from his friends.

[ Heaven’s Storm ]

Max almost choked upon seeing a fifth of his mana pool vanish as storm clouds gathered above the boss.

Seconds passed and then a boom came as it unleashed lightning strikes upon the top part of the beetle.

A small screech came from the insect but Max couldn’t see any damage as he flew over the boss after the spell ended.

Some spots looked scorched, but the outer shell was fine.

Flying higher, Max easily dodged the lumbering beast as it tried to rise, snapping at him with its long jaw appendage.

I guess we cast it again. Does that mean I’ll lose 20% of my total mana or current mana?

Well, it was almost 5%, so quadrupling it would mean 20%. Perhaps a few more points in intelligence would help with math problems. Still, only casting it again will tell us.

Max snorted at Bob joking during a moment like this. He could sense his skill was just as anxious as he was, unsure what kind of damage their new spell might do.

Well… here goes nothing…

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