Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 465: Another Floor, Another Fight

“So this is how they did it,” Cordellia said as she tossed the empty potion bottle and let it break against the ground. “Getting potions like this for placement.”

“I’m guessing they only counted the tournament kills,” Tanila added as she finished drinking her rewards. “Otherwise it would be pretty impossible that everyone killed exactly the same amount of Kraken.”

Max nodded, staring out across the volcanic zone at a mountain surrounded by thick black smoke. So many tendrils of lava were flowing down it that he wondered where the path up it would be.

“What’s on your mind?”

He shrugged and pointed toward the path from where they stood.

“It should be a boss floor, and that’s how we’re supposed to go. We need to wait a few days for everyone's cooldowns to refresh before we can attempt it.”

“Do we?”

Looking down at his friend, Max was confused.

“Uh… yeah I mean we just fought, and I know we all used abilities and skills with long cooldowns. Unless you’re planning on us going in there without everything.”

“Oh, no I know that. I was just thinking that if we went to Dagon’s training area and died, would our cooldowns reset?”

The sound of glass shattering behind them caused them to turn and see what had happened.

Batrire held her hand over her mouth, an empty potion bottle broken at her feet.

“Are you okay babe?”

“Did… did your potions give you a bunch of intelligence because that’s an incredibly smart idea,” she replied.

Grunting, he held up his middle finger at her and frowned.

“You all and the concern over intelligence. Sometimes you can’t see the keg because you’re so focused on the cup in your hand.”

“Okay, that made no sense,” Max replied. “Still that’s a great idea. I guess we can go try.”

***

Dagon chuckled as he unlocked the door.

“Seems someone is smarter than you all realized. I don’t actually promote that it can do that because it drains some power, but since it’s your first time, you can use the secret feature of this room.”

Fowl gave everyone a quick nod as he swaggered in first, his chest out the entire time.

“Gods I’m never going to hear the end of this moment,” Batrire muttered.

“Still, it was a good idea. We need to credit him for it,” Tanila replied.

“Oh, I will, after I stick a dagger in him.”

Less than an hour after leaving the tower floor, they were back in it, ready to head out.

“Same formation as always. Call out if I miss something, and let’s see what we've got.”

For well over two hours they moved along the obsidian pathway. Max was trying to understand how the whole area around them was made of this stuff.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you need water to make obsidian?”

“Typically… I mean… it’s the tower floor. Why would we expect stuff always to work the way we know,” Tanila replied. “Why?”

Waving his hand around the area, Max shrugged.

“This just seems more than normal. So yeah, I’m a little anxious. You know me, I always like to be prepared.”

He ignored the scoffs and continued focusing on around him.

Eventually, they came to an opening a third of the way up the mountain and stopped, having not faced a single foe yet and only occasionally needing to cross over a lava flow.

“This is worked stone,” Fowl said as he touched it. “Well… worked obsidian.”

“Yeah, nothing like what we’re used to. Part of me wishes I could use my Stone Mastery skill on it but it doesn’t even react.”

“That’s because obsidian isn’t a rock,” Tanila replied. “Well… not technically.”

“And you know this how?” Fowl asked.

“Books and a lifetime without friends.”

Their warrior winced and turned his attention back to the entrance.

“Guess we’re going in.”

***

Everyone was breathing hard as Max set them down, looking at the large opening. That was the first time they had been in a hallway that wasn’t ten feet wide and fifteen feet tall.

“Traps… so many traps… and lava…” Cordellia stated between gasps. “Next time… just put me in storage.”

Chuckling, he waited for them to catch their breath.

“We were running non-stop for what? Two hours? I thought it was kind of fun,” Max said.

“Says the warrior who didn’t get burnt,” their archer replied. “You shrugged that lava off like it was nothing. Only Batrires' heals kept me from being roasted alive.”

Grinning, he motioned for them to stay put. “You all stay here. I’m going to scout ahead and see what might be up there.”

“What if you set off a trap again, and suddenly, the floor falls away like the others.”

“Tanila has an air wall. You’ll be fine. Besides, this is the first tunnel that’s different, and I can smell something that isn’t Fowl.”

A chuckle came from inside his head as he moved forward in stealth.

She is right. You completely failed to spot that trap.

The whole thing is filled with traps I can’t detect! Besides, I can easily get to them if I need to.

Bob didn’t respond, but he could sense some amusement at that statement.

Slowly, the tunnel widened more, and soon, it was easily fifty yards high and about half that wide, coming to a stop where he could see a gigantic room beginning to appear.

Unlike the obsidian tunnel he was in, which did not have the typical worked stones he had seen before, the area of the floor at the opening had the same bricks again.

Laid out in a circle, he could see the pattern and glance around the edge, feeling his eyes widen.

That’s a massive… fire wolf?

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Sure. Go with that. But it does appear you’ve found the boss.

The creature in the middle of the quarter-mile-wide circular room was easily fifty feet tall, and every bit of its fur was on fire.

Watching it was difficult as flames continually moved over every inch of it.

Its breath was small gusts of fire, and its eyes were a red so dark he had never seen anything like it.

Without waiting, he quickly returned to the others.

“Alright, I’m certain it’s the boss, and this is one for Tanila.”

“Me?”

Nodding, he grinned.

“It’s a fire boss, so pull out that ice familiar and get ready to take it out. We’ll go down the tunnel slowly and both of us will prepare an ice spear ahead of time.”

“You think that will work?” Fowl asked. “I mean… I guess it can, but what if it doesn’t?”

“Then, we try not to get cooked.”

Groans and eye rolls were all Max got for his joke.

Tanila summoned her familiar, and the two walked side by side, each pouring mana into the spells growing above them.

“It’s almost like a date,” she told him. “A ‘let’s go kill a boss together’ kind of date.”

“I always knew I picked the right one.”

Nearing the corner, both turned simultaneously, the red eyes of the boss fixated upon them.

“Go!”

Bob sent air blades at the boss, and Max’s ice spear streaked above the worked stone floor.

Having aimed for the chest, he smiled as the boss jumped upward, dodging the attack as it flew beneath it.

The only problem for it was that Tanila now had a target that couldn’t jump again.

Her larger spear flew faster than Max’s, catching it right in the chest. The forty-foot-long shard went halfway in, causing the wolf to roll and tumble along the floor as it landed, letting out a yelp.

Not hesitating, Max rushed in, sword out—this time in a long, two-handed style—and cleaved at its head.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

All three blows hacked off sections of the boss’s head, but no cold snap came.

Not waiting, he continued to chop at it, flesh and blood, flames splattering all around him.

It’s dead. She killed it.

Pausing mid-swing, he realized Bob was right.

“Argg…” freeωebnovēl.c૦m

“Is it dead?” Fowl shouted from the opening.

“Yes! Tanila killed it!”

A whoop came from his party as they made their way toward him.

“Wait, what?!”

He turned and waved for his friends to hurry up.

“She killed it! One hit!”

Laughter came as they hurried toward him and the corpse.

“You’re certain she did it and not you?” Cordellia asked pointing to the remaining part of the head. “That’s… disgusting.”

“Oh, I’m certain. I didn’t get my usual notification, and it’s very much dead.”

“Sorry about stealing the kill.”

“You’re fine,” he replied, waving off her apology. “I guess I should have considered how much stronger you are now that you aren’t holding back.”

Their mage’s face lit up slightly, and she pulled a braid over her shoulder and waved the golden hair at him.

“It’s your fault. You helped me get past my problem with it.”

“Yup! Not a bad problem to have. A perfect shot, waiting to see what it did when I sent mine.”

“Uh, I’m not touching that thing to harvest it,” Fowl muttered as he watched the flames die down on the corpse. “Still looks hot enough to burn ya.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get much of a chance anyways,” Max said as he motioned to the part up at the top that was beginning to dissolve. “Looks like we missed out.”

Once the last remaining part of the boss had vanished, a flaming chest appeared in the middle of the room.

“Want to open it?”

Tanila smiled and nodded.

“I believe I earned that right.”

As she moved toward it, Fowl leaned over and gently elbowed him.

“Two gold says she burns herself,” he whispered.

“I’ll take that bet.”

Their mage stood next to it, an actual chest that looked like it was on fire, flames flickering a few inches from every part of the surface.

Without giving it another glance, she took her staff and lifted the lid, causing the flames to die down immediately and the whole chest to turn into obsidian.

“Mother of an ogre…” Fowl muttered, fishing out two gold coins and handing them to Max. “How did you know?”

“She’s a smart one.”

“Stop betting on me, and get over here!” Tanila called out. “And learn to whisper next time!”

Laughing, the pair caught up and arrived after the other two.

“Uh… that seems… unusual,” Cordellia stated after looking in.

“What is it? Let me look,” Fowl muttered as he jumped a little, realizing the chest was just a little taller than he had expected.

“Need a lift?”

“Bah, go away!”

Max laughed as his friend produced a step stool and set it down, finally able to look inside without jumping.

“Uh… what in the gods… three of them?”

“That’s not a bad sign at all,” Tanila said as she pulled out one of the escape gems they already had. “I mean, I’d almost rather have an empty chest than three of these.”

“Batrire, Cordellia, each of you should take one. That way we can spread them out if needed.”

Both women did as Max said, and soon all that was left was a single blue crystal for the Faction.

“Why no loot? I mean… did we take to long? Did we set off too many traps?”

Max shrugged at Fowl who kept looking inside, eyes almost like a puppy hoping for another treat.

“I have no idea. Maybe the next floor will tell us something when we reach it.”

***

“ Maybe the next floor will tell us something when we reach it ,” Fowl said, impersonating Max. “Yeah… I do not like the looks of this already.”

Once more, they found themselves inside a large gold room. Sitting on the same gigantic chair was the being who had welcomed them to the 60th floor.

“Where’s the crystal ring?” Cordellia asked.

“I don’t think we get one, here.”

The entity turned its large mirrored head in their direction.

“Come, sit. It is time to judge how you have done.”

“Goblin nuts,” Fowl cursed, glancing behind him and seeing no portal to escape from. “Should we break one of those gems now?”

Shaking his head, Max pointed at the five chairs that had appeared.

“No. Let’s see what the tower thinks of us.”

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