Ultimate Level 1 - Chapter 183: Tanking Like a Boss

Fowl rushed toward the giant skeleton, and when he got within twenty-five yards, the creature roared and came running at him. Its massive red feet shook the ground as it raced toward Fowl, kicking up clouds of dirt.

It swung both swords in a combo attack, and Fowl blocked and parried them as they came from both sides.

Max had watched, wondering what kind of damage it might cause. Other than the roar the skeleton let out as their weapons collided, Fowl was still in full health.

Attack after attack came as the boss slashed, swung, thrust, and kicked at Fowl, each one getting blocked or parried.

He’s doing really well.

Max smiled and moved to help when he saw black and red flames begin to appear around the giant skeleton.

“Look out!”

Still, twenty yards away from the boss, Max moved back a few steps, unsure what was about to be cast.

A wave of fire rolled out from the boss, engulfing Fowl, who tried to hide behind his two shields. He had quickly swapped out his weapon for the added protection. The fire almost reached Max before stopping a few yards away.

Their dwarf’s health bar went down about twenty percent, and Max watched as the boss began to attack again, not pausing for a moment other than when the fire had poured out.

Slowly, Fowl’s hit points began to creep up, and Max moved forward again, ready to help.

A massive ice spear came from Tanila and slammed into the skeleton’s red chest piece.

It shrieked. A tiny hole had appeared in the armor, but it didn’t appear fazed at all. Kicking at Fowl, the boss then slammed one of its swords into the dirt, and a wave of power went out around it.

Dirt began to shift, and Max dodged a skeleton hand clawing from underneath the ground, slamming his weapon on it and shattering it.

For twenty meters, dozens of other hands came up from the soil, pushing aside the black dirt.

“We got adds!” Max shouted, changing his focus from the boss to the smaller skeletons now a third of the way out of the ground.

Each of them was red like the boss, and when Max shattered the top half of one, a gout of flame rose up, burning him slightly.

[ Regeneration ]

The fire hurt enough that Max knew he needed to keep his regeneration skill activated as he cast Ice Nova, preparing for the onslaught of more skeletons.

“Tell me if I need to taunt!” Fowl shouted. Now, back to using a hammer and shield, he landed blows against the skeleton’s armored legs.

No matter how hard the boss seemed to hit Fowl, no damage beyond its original spell seemed to be done, and the chest’s Unmovable ability kept him right up against the boss towering over him.

It stomped downward on Fowl, and the dwarf warrior held his shield over his head at an angle, taking the force of the blow and directing it to the side. His hammer hit the bone foot, and a small chip came out.

Max’s ice spell garnered the attention of the skeletons, who had now dug themselves free and turned to face him.

They had no weapons, just red bone fingers that tried to grasp and hold onto Max as he weaved and dodged around them, slamming the hammer portion of his weapon into each one that came close.

Between the slow effect of his frost nova and his dexterity, Max had killed over half a dozen, avoiding most of the fire that came when they died.

Still no stat gains… what the hell gives?

Ignoring that thought, Max was halfway through the two dozen-plus red skeletons when the boss let out a roar far greater than before.

Max felt the power of an intimidation shout attack his mind but easily shrugged it off.

Fowl, on the other hand, stumbled and stopped moving, his shield held slightly before him.

The red skeletons Max was fighting turned brighter, almost illuminating in some way, and began to move faster, keeping up with him now.

His evasion skill was working overtime as his sonar told him where attacks came from, clawed hands reaching for him and trying to grab hold.

Fowl’s health bar began to dip, and he was no longer able to stop the onslaught of swords that began to slash against his armor.

A giant ice spear plunged through the horde of red skeletons pressing against Max from all sides, sending up plumes of fire when they exploded. Max knew Fowl was in trouble, yet he couldn’t get through these minions to help his dwarf friend.

Arrows began to rain down around him, giving Max a small breather as he whirled around like a top, letting his hammer smack into everything nearby and feeling the heat of the flames of those skeletons that had died.

His sonar told him a stone ramp was to his backside, giving him a perch to get from out of the group of ten-plus skeletons.

Racing toward the stone ramp, Max saw that Tanila was using her air wall to try and stop the attacks.

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Casting his stone wall, Max attached it to the portion Tanila had created, angling it at the boss and gaining about fourteen feet of height in the air between the two of them stacked together.

The boss didn’t pay attention to Max. Its focus was completely on the dwarf it kicked, slashed, and stomped on. Fowl’s health was below fifty percent, and Max wondered how much longer his friend had before he broke free from the boss’s intimidation.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Rampage ]

No part of the skeleton was really exposed. The back and head were covered with plate armor, yet each time it swung, a small piece of its spine was exposed for just a moment near its head.

Letting his skill and sonar direct him, Max lept toward the boss, slamming the hammer portion of his halberd into the neck as it slashed both swords against his disabled friend.

A crack sounded as his weapon connected with the first attack, the second and third hitting right after, as bone fragments shattered from the combination. The boss staggered forward, moving past Fowl, and dropped a sword as it went to its knees. The free left hand grabbed the back of its neck.

Max spun, attacking the horde of skeletons still coming at him as he sensed a massive boulder falling from the sky, landing on the bent-over boss.

Fowl’s hit points were going back up, and Max cast another ice nova, his sonar telling him the boss was almost pushed against the ground from Tanila’s spell.

Swinging his halberd, two red skeletons died, their flames burning him slightly as he ran toward the boss.

The left arm’s armor fell to the ground, and bones from the arm were now reinforcing the boss’s neck.

“Hit it with everything!” Max shouted as he began to draw mana into an ice spear.

Slamming his hammer over and over into the back of the boss’s neck area, trying to bash through the armor that was protecting it, Max watched as it started to rise, using its right hand to push itself off the ground.

As its helm rose from the dirt, Max changed directions of his swing and slammed the weapon upward, sending the boss’s head snapping backward and exposing its face.

His spear and Tanila’s both struck the exposed bones, a charged arrow from Cordellia impacting at the same time.

“Taunting!” Fowl shouted, back to normal, gaining the attention of the remaining red skeleton minions and the boss.

It turned to look at Fowl, overcome by the magic of the ability.

Max didn’t let the chance pass, delivering blow after blow against its exposed face as it struggled to turn toward Fowl and get up.

Another boulder came from Tanila, and Max saw it land on the boss’s legs, pinning it to the ground as he continued the assault on the boss’s head.

Fragments and chunks of bone fell as he rained destruction upon it. After a four-hit combo, he focused on the right hand and arm, trying to help it rise. The boss fell facefirst into the dirt again.

Jumping onto its back, Max cast an air wall, pinning the boss’s helm to the earth.

Seven strikes later, its neck shattered.

Breathing heavily, Max turned and saw as the remaining red skeletons all exploded in a pillar of fire, encircling Fowl with flames.

“Gods, that’s hot!” the dwarf warrior shouted from the middle of the circle of fire.

Sighing, Max tried to figure out what to grab from the boss. After storing his weapon, he jumped down and grabbed the head still in its helmet.

Lifting it from the ground, Max grinned as it vanished into his storage.

“That wasn’t fun at all,” Fowl muttered as he watched Max stick the three yellow crystals from the chest that had appeared into storage. “Why is it I can’t withstand that ability?”

“Because you’re weak-minded,” Batrire replied. “Don’t worry though, I still love you.”

Cordellia chuckled and tapped her head. “I’m in the same boat. How you three always seem to resist boggles my mind. Eventually, we can find items that prevent it, but we’ll need to go higher for those.”

“Or ask Everett,” Fowl muttered.

“He won’t do that,” Tanila said. “From the beginning, he told us that we needed to learn to climb on our own without depending on their magical gear.”

Sighing, Max frowned at not getting any stats or skills from the kill. “Are we ready to finish looking for the portal?”

“What if another boss is around? Maybe it will have something nice,” Fowl said. It seems unfair that we didn’t get any drops besides crystals.”

“Says the dwarf in a golden chest plate,” Batrire replied.

Max motioned to some mausoleums that were barely noticeable on the tower floor. “Let’s stop complaining and just see what we can find. In the end, we’re not really worried about this zone. It’s the next one that we need to focus on.”

With a grunt of acknowledgment from Fowl and a thumbs up from Tanila, the group began moving toward the buildings Max had pointed at.

“Nothing… not even another boss,” Fowl muttered as he stared at the portal, ignoring the others who were picking up the gems from the last fight.

“I’m sorry,” Max said as he motioned to Fowl. “I now know what I must have been like.”

Everyone laughed and nodded, getting a groan, however, from Fowl.

“I’m just saying…” their dwarven warrior said.

Max stood in the room they always turned in items gathered during their tower runs. The others had already headed back to their rooms to clean up and change.

“That’s an impressive helm and skull,” Tom said as he carefully inspected it. “This metal isn’t one we’ve seen before that I know of.”

Everett nodded, making a note on a clipboard. “That boss sounds pretty awful. I guess the real question is, are you five ready for the next level?”

Nodding, Max motioned to the three crystals on the table near the helm. “How many more till we can get another ability upgraded?”

Tom chuckled, and both men watched Everett as the older man frowned.

“That’s not really a fair question,” Everett replied. “I mean, technically, we could offer it. The power your group has gained is well beyond the curve of typical parties in the tower. We had to trade one for some items from another faction, but getting our crafting area fixed was a top priority.”

“What did happen? You never mentioned what caused that explosion.”

Everett’s face looked pained as his eyes scrunched, and another frown appeared on his face. “We lost two of our alchemists on top of a few others,” Everett replied a shift in his tone at the end. “They were brewing something for a higher level in the tower. The nature of it was more explosive than expected, and even with the airflow system we had in place, a build-up of unexpected proportions of fumes ignited and…” Everett trailed off, wincing at the thought of what had happened.

“Are you actively looking for new crafters?”

Tom started to laugh and shook his head. “Every Faction is looking for new crafters, son. Finding one’s worth having is something else. We could try to poach a few, but that leads to bad relationships and problems later in the tower.”

“If I knew someone looking for a crafting position, what kind of deal would that be worth?”

Everett lowered his clipboard, now interested in the conversation at Max’s question. “Like a reward for finding someone? We’re talking epic or higher skilled, and those aren’t just walking around the world without a place to call home.”

“Holy ogre nuts,” Tom cursed, studying Max as Everett spoke. “You know someone!”

“Maybe, but what’s in it for me?” Max replied.