Ultimate Level 1
Chapter 516: Praying Something Works

Chapter 516 - Praying Something Works

Max grunted as the boss let out a salvo of attacks, the giant sword moving so fast it was almost a blur for even him.

Twice now the barrier had broken, his shield stopping the attack as it rained down strikes that would crush most people.

Another attack came, and as the blade was about to connect with the bone shield, the image of the boss blurred, its weapon passing through his defenses.

The golem’s blade passed through his torso, cutting him in half.

Pain flared up as the attack wounded him in a way that Max had never experienced.

[ Regeneration ]

As soon as the attack connected, Bob threw up every barrier they had, renewing the Personal Barrier one.

More strikes came, each hacking Max into pieces as his left arm was removed. The blade of the boss looked like a faded image as it slashed.

Pieces of him fell to the sand and stone, and as quickly as it started, six more attacks had been sent, two of them taking off both arms.

Unable to cry out as his hitpoints plunged two-thirds, Max couldn’t believe what came next.

Where…

A heal came, and the agony of organs and bones regrowing with muscle was blocked out as his overgrown body began regrowing everything from the waist down to both arms.

“Max!” Fowl shouted, running toward him.

Flesh and bone rejoined, and as it did, he found himself naked below the belt. His protective chest had repaired itself, covering his arms as before.

“Uh…”

Not concerned about his attire, Max spun, and his new arms and legs lifted him to his feet.

Able to turn, he saw the boss standing where it had started, light radiating off it as the sand in its chest spun backward.

“I thought… You were going to die!” Fowl exclaimed, coming to stand beside him. “How–”

Grabbing his cleaved-off bottom half, Max stored it and felt the items appear in his inventory. A moment later, he was fully clothed. Another second had both arms placed inside, and Max’s shield and rings returned to their original position.

“The weapon passed through my shield like it wasn’t even there,” Max replied. “We need to think fast. What can we use on it?!”

Seconds later, he was back to full health and shrugging off a wound most would have never recovered from.

“You got that hammer!” Cordellia shouted. “Try it?!”

Grunting, Max shrugged as he watched the swirling orange vortex of magic radiating around the boss begin to lessen.

“I’ve got to be able to hit it and not have it blinking around!”

A few seconds of silence followed, and Batrire shouted, “Use the anchor? See if it will hold!”

After retrieving the anchor from storage, he studied it with the attached twenty-yard chain. Small rings no bigger than his hand were connected to an anchor about four feet long.

It might work… It depends on the magic of all this.

Max grunted and inspected it.

[ Inspect Item ]

*****

Anchor of Grounding

Retrieved from the famous pirate, Dirk the Pirate, this anchor can hold any object in place.

*****

That is the stupidest description ever.

Blame the tower, not me. And who is Dirk the Pirate?

Beats me.

“Uh, Max,” Fowl said, backing up. “Whatever’s happening, we need to be ready! If this works, I’ll taunt and try to buy you an opening!”

Nodding as his friend moved away, Max began pouring mana into an air spear. Bob started to form wind blades, making them grow larger than usual.

The ground shook, and everyone saw dust rising from the island's edges.

“Did part of it just fall off?!”

Unable to answer Batrire's question, Max focused on the boss as it ran forward like it had the first time, sword out and ready to attack.

[ All Cooldowns Reset ]

[ Ultimate Form ]

It’s not even damaged. All the wounds we inflicted are gone. This… might be a time golem.

Tons of questions raced through Max’s mind, and he had to ignore them as the boss closed the gap in just a few seconds, sword coming at him again. The sand in its chest changed direction momentarily, and it vanished.

Like before, his sonar notified him that the boss had blinked again, attacking from behind.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

Having guessed right, Max appeared next to the golem’s back leg, swinging the anchor around the thick stone leg and watching as the chain lengthened, connecting with itself.

A long metal spike appeared on the end of the chain and without hesitating, he slammed it into the ground.

[ Blink ]

The boss’s sword came where he had been, barely missing him, but its left leg was stuck as it tried to move.

Max pulled out his sword, preparing to charge the boss, when he saw the sand reverse course. Yet nothing happened.

It raised its weapon, preparing to attack the chain around its leg but the massive blade changed course as Fowl called out.

“TAUNTING!”

A loud clang of metal upon metal sounded, and chunks of rock and glass fell from the boss as its sword struck their warrior.

Fowl stood there, health dropping only ten percent.

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Go! Its chest!

The wind blades and the ice spear slammed into the back of the golem’s stone head, taking off a few more chunks.

Faster than the blink of an eye, Max was at the boss’s chest, hovering as he swung, his weapon transformed into a giant pickaxe.

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Rampage ]

His modified weapon struck one of the cracks caused by Fowl's reflective damage, shattering the thick defenses as the weak point grew.

Before him, the sand spun clockwise, turned orange, and continued to injure itself, delivering blow after blow at their warrior.

Each strike was masterfully deflected and blocked by Fowl, his shield skill allowing him to negate a large portion of the damage that would usually be transferred.

Chunks of white stone flew from the impact as the sword raked off the shield and into the ground.

He had to dance with the boss as it swung its sword, staying close enough to strike without getting caught in its attack.

Each attack caused its own body to splinter and crack more. The glass section Max was chipping away at began forming a large crevice, and a few pieces of orange sand began to spill out from it.

[ All Cooldowns Reset ]

Again!

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

Max attacked the growing fissure, sand now spilling out like a bucket full of water with multiple holes in it.

Arrows constantly struck the other sections of the boss’s chest, targeting weak points near his chest, and a giant ice spear appeared in his sonar, causing Max to dodge right to avoid being caught in its path.

Shattering glass rang out as the spell connected and the wedge of ice lodged itself in the fissure.

“BIG HEAL!”

Fowl’s health had dipped to less than 50% as the boss had picked up speed, its sword coming quicker and quicker.

Inside the golem's glass chest, Max could see an orange glowing shard at the center of where the sand had been swirling.

Hit it!

[ All Cooldowns Reset ]

Knowing Bob was spending power like it wasn’t anything, Max didn’t hesitate.

His weapon transformed into a long spear, able to penetrate through the fissure of its chest.

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

It connected against the glowing shard, causing an explosion of force and magical power in every direction.

[ Personal Barrier ]

Glass and stone impaled his body, the power that was unleashed was able to penetrate and destroy a section of his new ability.

[ Regeneration ]

Shards and chunks of the boss fell to the tower floor, gashes and chunks taken out from the golem’s attacks.

Breathing heavily, he turned and saw that his friend was still standing. The area around Fowl was littered with stone and glass.

Tanila and the other two were all hunkered down behind barriers, pieces of the boss having been sent further past his friends.

Landing on the ground, he went to Fowl and gave his dwarven brother a pat on the shoulder.

“Nice work. Way to take one for the team.”

“Bah… even with Batrire healing me, I can’t imagine the pain you felt when it… tore you apart. Even with all my skills, every blow still made my bones and joints hurt.”

The other three started moving toward them.

“So… what skills did you get?” Fowl asked.

Blinking, Max realized there hadn’t been a sensation of cold.

“Mother of a goblin humpin ogre,” Max cursed. “I didn’t get anything.”

All that power spent and nothing in return. Perhaps the tower is playing with us, having the first boss be one that gives us nothing for our troubles.

“What’s wrong?” Cordellia asked as the three women arrived. “You two look like you sucked on a whole barrel of lemons.”

“The boss… I didn’t get anything from the kill.”

He saw each of the women wince as they heard his statement.

“Still… that does look like a pretty good size chest over there,” Batrire said, pointing behind him and Fowl.

Max spun and saw where she had motioned, laughing when Fowl let out a whistle and immediately sprinted toward the glass chest.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Cordellia shouted, easily catching up with their warrior as the two raced across the white sand and stone floor, appearing to have forgotten about the fight less than a minute ago.

“Those two,” their healer muttered. “We better hurry up and see what’s there or they might roll on something without us.”

Nodding, Max took Tanila’s hand and lifted it, kissing it once.

“You okay?” she asked. “Cordellia's right; you look a bit upset.”

“It’s just all that power Bob used to keep us alive… and nothing in return.”

“Nothing? Have you seen the size of that chest?!”

Unable to help himself, Max smiled as Tanila winked at him.

“You’re right. We all know how much I love–”

“Stop…”

Tugging her gently, Max laughed, pulling her toward the glass chest the other three were already inspecting.

Up close, it left him in awe of how the tower had managed to carve and etch the boss in the side, an immense floating island and a speck of orange at the center of the golem's chest.

“It’s bigger than any of the others,” Cordellia stated. “I mean, by at least three feet.”

Fowl and Batrire already had a stool out next to it, the edge at about five feet from the ground.

“I might need to borrow one of those,” Max joked as he motioned to his friend. “Why don’t you give it a go and see if you can lift it.”

“Bah!” Fowl replied, smiling as he shoved upward with both hands, revealing a new color inside.

“It’s grey,” their healer said.

“Who cares! Look at all that loot!” Cordellia exclaimed.

Peering inside with the rest revealed that their ranger was right.

There were five items to be rolled on, three large grey crystals and a stat potion for each of them.

What had all of their attention though was the glass colored equipment for each of them.

All three women had a pair of earrings waiting for them. Fowl had a glass ring, while Max had a glass belt.

“What, no princess shoes?” Fowl asked as he winked at him. “Surely every princess needs a pair of glass shoes.”

A low thunk sounded as their healer smacked their warrior in the head, yet the grin on Fowl’s lips never vanished.

“So… how we want to do this?” Max asked. “Everyone goes at the same time or…”

“I think that works,” Tanila replied. “The real question is, what about the five things we all need to roll on? They’re all blacked out.”

Nodding, Max pointed at their warrior.

“Fowl can go first. If someone gets something better, we can tease him about it later.”

Laughter came as their warrior reached in and touched one of the five random objects.

“You all laugh now, but I’m not waiting if that’s the case.”

‎