Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 209: Not Every Tower Floor is Easy

Batrire cried for almost half an hour after Everett gave her the staff Max had made the next morning.

Even through tired eyes, both Tanila and he had smiled and cheered with her, seeing the excitement.

Once they were done, they spent the rest of the day farming different levels in the tower, collecting gems on the first and second floors.

The lizardmen on the first floor fell faster than any of them had thought they might, and they were now able to easily use Max’s special farming technique of pulling a hundred at a time.

After clearing the first floor and being sad that no rare spawns were there, the party reached the second floor and found it to be filled with demonic dogs.

Max had hoped he would acquire souls, yet none came. Before two hours had passed, each of them was now level ten in the tower.

When dinner ended and everyone headed to their rooms to retire, Max moved back to the crafting area of the Faction, working on completing his list so he could focus on his next item.

After finishing three and having four started, he went to bed and found Tanila waiting for him.

“Why did you stay up?”

“My usual furnace wasn’t next to me, and I couldn’t sleep. Besides, I have a few things on my mind since you shared with me what your skill told you. I’ve been researching and will visit the Elvin library the next day we have off. Only once in my life can I recall my father ever mentioning an artifact. I also tested the binding stone, and your skill was right. I can’t remove it.”

Max chuckled as he moved to the bathroom to get clean.

“You didn’t believe Bob,” he mouthed silently, earning a chuckle from his favorite elf.

“I was just thinking that if it worked, we could decide who gets it. Why would one item be different from the rest? My real fear is what an artifact really would be like?”

Max had spent many hours wondering about that same thing, and his skill never gave him an answer. The only thing he knew was that it was apparently strong enough that people would kill their own mother or child for them.

“From what I’d assume, something stronger than the top item in the tower,” Max replied. “Even better than the chest Fowl had got for a few floors. And most likely permanent.”

She nodded and dozed until Max returned, and they slept till morning.

“We’re ready,” Fowl said with a grin. “Floor level ten.”

Moving through the portal, each of them found themselves standing in a hallway with massive walls rising up and almost out of sight. A fog covered the worked stone with overgrown weeds, and the space between the walls was about yards. Darkness was above, and stones in the wall glowed with a soft yellow light, illuminating the path just enough to provide a few feet of darkness between the light of the next stone along the way.

“What the heck is this?”

Max glanced at the hallway and saw how it ran forward, then came to a T, with one path going right and the other going left.

“Maze?”

Cordellia winced and hissed.

“Those do take place, and some have been known to take weeks to get through, just trying to find the path out.”

“A maze,” their mage said, tapping her chin. She glanced up and then at Max. Do you think you could reach the top if there is one?”

“Maybe. I have time and can come down if I can’t reach it. Batrire, can I get some rope?”

Nodding, their healer grinned. She held her new staff in one hand while pulling out pouches of rope and tossing them to Max with the other.

Secretly, inside, Max couldn’t help but smile, seeing how excited she was about the gift Everett and Tom had given her. One day, secrets wouldn’t be needed anymore, and they were on that path right now.

Storing the rope, Max moved to Tanila and gave her a quick kiss before activating Sider Walk.

In a moment he was running up the wall and soon disappeared out of sight in the darkness.

Moving at full speed and letting his sonar guide him, Max traveled for almost a minute before reaching the top of the wall. Slowing down, he climbed on top of it and found it was only about four feet wide, and there was still no light. Everything was pitch black, and his sonar revealed a few of the other hallways from up here.

Pulling out a lightstone, he held it up, feeling the oppressive blanket of darkness that kept the light from reaching more than a few yards.

Something suddenly came toward him from above and to the right, traveling fast as it pierced the outer edge of his sonar.

Storing his light orb and pulling out his new weapon, Max felt the flying shape of what he wanted to call a bird but wasn’t sure what it was turn, gliding along the edge of his fifty-yard range before heading back toward the area Max assumed was the main section of of the maze.

The creature had feathers, three heads, and long wings that were at least five feet long. Overall, it was hard to imagine what it could be, as it had never looked like anything he had seen before.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Six thin legs with three sets of claws on each foot had been aimed in his direction.

With time ticking down and the chance of them being able to actually cheat and use the top of the maze looking impossible, Max got his feet set on the side he had climbed up and ran down.

“So cheating isn’t an option. How about going through the walls?”

Pulling out a pick axe, Max swung with everything he had, causing a small two-inch chip to appear.

“That would be a lot of mining,” Max told Fowl. “I’m pretty sure the only way to do this is the hard way.”

Grumbling, Fowl nodded, and after everyone decided to give it a go, they went to the right.

“Every turn, we go right. Eventually, we’ll have to find ourselves back here or the exit,” their mage informed them. Max marked each turn with a chip on the corner of the stone.

Hours passed, and no monster appeared as they traveled, finding nothing but weeds and gravel on the worked stones.

“Is this really just a maze? I mean, without monsters? How boring is that?”

Max grunted at their warrior, putting a pickaxe strike to the corner as Fowl slowly continued leading.

“This is what makes mazes so difficult,” Cordellia stated. “Even if you don’t have monsters, you’re stuck trying to get out. Once you commit to it, the only other option is to go back the way you came.”

After twelve hours everyone was mentally exhausted.

Setting camp in a corner, Max took the first watch, and Fowl started building a fire with materials he had taken from his storage.

“I need a hot meal,” Fowl muttered as he stoked the flames that Tanila started for him with her magic.

About ten seconds after the fire started, Max sensed an object coming toward them through the hallways from above.

Casting an Earth wall immediately, he shouted, “Air wall!”

Tanila didn’t hesitate, immediately casting one above the earth wall he had formed off the side of the bricks over their heads.

Fowl’s shield was out and over his head as a massive stone fell against the spot where everyone was gathered around the fire.

“Put it out!”

Max shouted as another rock came hurtling toward them. He cast an air wall, and Tanila quenched the fire with her ice magic.

“To me!”

Everyone raced toward the spot Max was at, leaving their tent they had pulled out and the chairs as a dozen more rocks streamed down every ten seconds or so. Each one was the size of a dwarf and clacked and clattered against the stone and the walls.

Finally, when the boulders stopped coming, everyone glanced up at the dark expanse above.

“What was that?!” exclaimed Batrire as she looked at where her chair was crushed beneath a pile of boulders.

“That’s my fault,” Max replied. “I didn’t even think about them being attracted to a fire or a light. I guess the stones on the walls don’t bother them, but whatever type of birds they are, they attack any other light.”

“If you couldn’t sense that, I would have been a dwarf pancake,” Fowl said slowly. “What are we going to do now?”

“Let’s move one more hallway and find another dead end. We can set up camp there with just the tent I have. After that, I’ll stand guard, but no fires. Just jerky and water.”

Sighing, Fowl nodded, and everyone prepared for battle, not knowing if something might come from where the monsters had attacked.

When everyone woke up after about six hours, Max was tired but still able to function. He read books, letting his sonar help him protect what he loved, knowing a night's sleep wasn’t worth losing his friends if something attacked no one else might notice.

“Let’s go,” Max said, storing his tent and yawning.

“You sure you don’t need a nap?” Tanila asked, biting her lip afterward.

“I’ll be fine. Tonight, I’ll take a turn sleeping.”

“Tonight,” Fowl huffed. “I’m not sure what time it is.”

Seven days passed, and the group looked ragged.

Max had facial hair growing, and Batrire definitely needed waxing.

The smell of their clothes and outfits reminded the rest, unlike Cordellia, who had ten pairs of clothes in storage, that they needed to bring more outfits.

A low hum came from ahead, and it took everything in their power as they wanted to race down the hallway they were in.

“The portal!” Fowl exclaimed as he pointed at it and started to run.

Max dashed forward, grabbed him by the back of his plate armor, and stopped him.

“Wait… just wait.”

Groaning, Fowl let himself be pulled back as they stared at the room that opened up from the end of the hall. It went from the ten-yard-wide hallway to a massive fifty-foot-wide and hundred-yard-long room.

Bricks of light were scattered around the floor in a seemingly random area, creating shadows and lighted areas.

“What are you thinking?”

Max moved as close as he could to the edge of the room, stretching his sonar. He could see a hallway coming off the other side of the open space and wondered if there had always been two paths.

Nothing felt off. No hidden monsters of any kind.

“We go slow. I’ll lead, keep your shield ready, and be prepared to cast defenses.”

Glancing at everyone and ignoring their bag-laden eyes, he saw them nod.

In a moment, everyone had refocused on the task of being prepared for what might come.

Each step felt excruciating as they inched closer to the portal, wondering if rocks or birds might attack from above. Nothing came as they reached the halfway point between the portal.

The bubble his sonar created in the room showed nothing above or around, and Max wanted to relax, but he couldn’t.

Finally reaching the edge of the portal, he motioned for everyone to run in, and once Cordellia had gone in, he went through himself.

Sunlight hit their faces, assaulting their eyes as they appeared outside the tower on the pad everyone came out on.

Covering their eyes, they blinked and let their vision return slowly, sighing and feeling the warmth of the sun.

“I’ve never wanted to strip naked and let every inch of light touch me,” Fowl said, standing there now in just a pair of leather pants.

“Please! Remain clothed!” a guard shouted as they ran over toward them. “We are in public, and I will fine you!”

Fowl looked at the woman who didn’t appear to appreciate his hairy chest and toes, squinting through his eyes as he held a hand over them.

“How much is the fine?”

“What?” she asked, confused for a moment. “It’s five gold!”

Nodding, Fowl smiled and held out his arms, closing his eyes, and lay on the ground.

“Seems worth it,” he muttered, laughing when the guard growled.

“Forgive us, please,” Cordellia said quickly. “We’ve been in a maze for so long I’m not certain how many days it has been. It was dark, and we couldn’t even light a fire without monsters coming.”

Snorting, the guard frowned and nodded.

“Five minutes, and then I’ll fine him for twenty gold! What if a child came here and saw that? They’d have nightmares for life!”

Fowl sat up, scowling at the guard who was grinning, as the rest of the party nodded.

“She’s right,” Batrire said. “Somethings are best not to ruin a child's innocence.”

After a few minutes, everyone decided that since the day was half over, a walk through the city would be better than climbing into a cramped carriage.