Ultimate Level 1 - Chapter 195: The Biggest Bull

“The stairs end down below and there is a massive amount of gems at the bottom,” Max informed everyone after climbing back up the stairs to where they were waiting a few hundred yards off.

“And?” Fowl asked. “I can tell by your face there is more.”

Nodding, Max pointed in the direction he knew another room was in.

“Two large doors, easily twenty-five feet tall, are down there. The bottom of the stairs ends there, and then it’s just those waiting to be opened.”

“Let’s go then,” Batrire said. “I’m closing in on my next level, and I know Fowl is probably nearing the edge of it as well.”

Cordellia snorted, and their healer turned to see what she was grinning about.

“Sorry, I hit level fifty-seven a floor ago, and after the second set of minotaurs on the stairs, I may be halfway to fifty-eight by the time we finish.”

“I just can’t believe I’m almost level fifty-five,” Fowl said. The experience has been beyond what I imagined, and I’m certain that, based on the number of crystals, I’ll be tower level six also.”

Everyone smiled as they descended the stairs, knowing they were still achieving the impossible: leveling faster than most could ever dream possible.

“That isn’t what I wanted to see,” Tanila said as they stared at the black metal doors that were at the bottom.”

Everyone nodded as they studied the design etched into the door. A single huge minotaur almost as tall as the doors stood etched in the metal. Half of its body was on each door, and a huge club rested on its shoulder.

“It almost feels like the tower is letting us know what’s behind the door,” Cordellia stated. “Dexic mentioned that it happened a few times and often that the boss was harder than usual.”

Fowl groaned and rolled his eyes, looking at the ranger, who just shrugged at his complaint.

“Better to tell you now,” she replied.

“Well, let’s prepare,” Batrire said as she cast her buff again. “Thoughts on a plan?”

Max glanced at Fowl and Tanila, waiting to hear what they might offer.

“I’d say not die, but that’s obvious,” their dwarven warrior joked. “I’ll taunt and make sure it’s on me. If I’m honest, I feel we should be fine. Unless it’s broken beyond measure, with my new item, the stats I have, and everything we can throw at it, we just need to be smart and kill it.”

“The room and space we have will determine a lot,” Tanila added. “The tighter the room, the harder it will be, but as our brave warrior, Fowl stated, we got this.”

Nodding, Max waited for Batrire to give him the go-ahead and moved to where the doors were. Putting his hands against them, he pushed with everything he had, watching as they swung open slowly.

Torches started igniting along a long tunnel and down into the darkness as the doors moved apart. Wind from nowhere came behind them and rushed down the tunnel, causing the torches that had just ignited to flicker and move.

“That’s creepy as hell,” Fowl muttered. “Okay, I’ll go first. Max is next. Everyone else, stay close to Batrire. She can shield if needed.”

The dwarf took the lead, and after all five of them had made it about twenty yards into a tunnel that seemed to stretch, the doors behind them suddenly slammed shut, sending a shockwave through the worked stone floors they were walking on.

The tunnel stretched on for about a third of a mile, and then a large open room appeared. As they got closer, they could see that standing on the far end of the seventy-five-yard wide circular room was a minotaur that matched exactly what was drawn on the door. A huge beast with a club that was ten feet long rested upon one shoulder as it held it easily with a single hand. One of its two horns was broken off, leaving a jagged edge. Chain armor hung from its shoulders and down past most of its legs. Each breath that it took sent a small amount of steam from its nostrils, and the darkest pair of black eyes watched as they moved toward its domain.

“The floor, it’s dirt,” Fowl said as he glanced back for a second at the group. “The room is what, fifty meters high? Solid walls. There’s nowhere to hide or run.”

Max nodded, his eyes scanning everything. He saw the stone they were about to move across and grunted, pointing at it.

“This will rise up, locking us in. No way to turn back after that.”

“We didn’t come here to run,” Fowl replied, his sudden lack of fear coming from his fondness for the chest piece he wore that would soon be gone in a few more floors.

True to Max’s thought, as soon as the group had moved past the stone tunnel and stood on the dirt of the area, the wall behind them moved quickly upward, sealing them in with the beast.

Once the sound of the stone wall connected with the ceiling, the boss roared, and its massive club ignited with fire.

“Oh shite!” Fowl cried when he saw the flaming weapon. “Be ready!”

Pawing at the ground with its cloven hooves, the boss began to lean forward slightly.

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“Spread out! Move forward!” Max shouted as he prepared for what was going to come next.

As Max winced, Fowl jogged ahead, shield and weapon at the ready.

The choice of weapon or using a shield was hard. His damage was always more when using two hands, but seeing the massive club the boss carried sent a few concerns through his mind.

An ear-splitting roar came, and the boss raced toward Fowl, covering the distance in seconds as its body flashed yellow.

“Bulkwark!” Fowl shouted a second before impact, his body glowing with the activation of his ability.

The boss’s head was lowered so low its nose almost drug in the dirt as it slammed into Fowl’s shield.

A pained grunt came as both impacted, neither moving for a moment, and blood gushed from the head of the boss.

Even Fowl groaned, his hit points decreasing a third from the single attack that was reduced from what would have been immediate death, leaving him gasping for air.

“Healing!” Batrire called out as her hands began to glow.

No one waited; with that much damage the boss had received from Fowl’s thorn aura, there was no doubt how pissed it was at the tiny warrior.

Dashing forward, Max cast Frost Nova, not sure how much it was going to help, but every second mattered.

A massive ice spear formed in the air above Tanila, and if someone was paying attention to Cordellia, they would see her arrow glowing.

Destruction rained down upon the boss as the spear connected to the creature’s shoulder. As it stood upright, the creature lifted its club to prepare to start attacking with it.

The arrow slammed into the boss’s head, knocking it backward slightly but causing a gash across the cheek that it had hit in its hide.

Max got to the boss, ran behind it, and activated Stealth.

He swung with everything in his body and went for the minotaur’s flesh right above its hoof of the left leg.

[ Power Strike ]

His weapon sliced into the thick skin, and with the armor not descending this low, it cut about a foot deep, causing the creature to roar. Blood sprayed out along the dirt, and the boss backed up a step on its injured leg, stepping over Max.

The minotaur suddenly shimmered yellow, and then the right leg rose up and descended so fast that Max could only track it with his sonar skills.

Waves of force radiated around them, causing the ground to rise and fall, just like when the earth elemental had used such an attack.

Fowl’s armor kept him standing somehow, rising and lowering as he stepped toward the right leg and slammed into it with his mace.

Tanila fell down, as did Batrire, yet Cordellia saw the waves and was able to jump up and down, timing them and avoiding the falls the others seemed to be struggling with.

Being at the center of everything, Max was left mostly unaffected, precariously perched underneath the beast.

He cast an air wall under Tanila as she started falling backward when the soil fell from the four-foot rise.

She gave him a nod as she climbed onto it, glad the wall had given her a place to stand.

Turning, she waited for the same thing to happen to Batrire and cast a wall of air under her, suspending their healer above the undulating ground.

“Holy elf tits!” Batrire shouted as she began casting small heals on herself and their mage, both having taken damage from the attack.

Max’s weapon swung from the safety of his spot and connected again with the same wound, barely doing anything, telling him all he needed to know.

“It’s stronger than me and tougher!” We need to–”

His words cut off as the boss lept backward, freeing itself from the annoying gnat between its legs. As it landed, the flaming weapon was finally in position and ready to be used.

It came forward, striding with steps that didn’t seem bothered by the damage he had done. It brought the flaming club down toward Fowl, roaring in anger and hate.

Dodging to the side, Fowl raised his shield at an angle to prevent a head-on collision. The strike hit the dirt, spraying it everywhere and blanketing the area in a cloud of dust.

Max used that distraction to attack again, running and aiming at the same wound, trying to find a way to bring down the beast or limit its mobility.

As he got close, the creature lifted its leg, taking the designated target out of his range.

Cursing, he spun, delivering a strike to the other area above the ankle, finding the axe blade of his halberd barely cutting off a few hairs against its skin.

His sonar told him a kick was coming from the injured leg, and Max rolled to the side to avoid the attack. Without missing a beat, the boss was using the momentum to step and bring its club at Fowl again, swinging low along the ground and right into a path where the dwarf couldn’t dodge or do much to deflect it.

The club clanged against the metal, and flames washed over the dwarf, blackening the dirt to his side as the two met again. Fowl slid across the dirt about two yards but was still upright, his chest piece doing most of the heavy lifting as the root skill kept him from being sent flying across the room.

Batrire cast two heals in rapid succession, trying to get her man’s life back up past the two-thirds point. Each blow caused more damage than one might believe was possible.

The boss leaned back its head, roaring as it lifted its club. Another salvo of arrows pierced its neck and face as Cordellia unleashed everything she had at it.

Still, the creature seemed more upset that none of its attacks were working as it expected, and each time it struck the dwarf, blood started seeping from its body.

Each arm had red streaks coming from under its chain armor and was beginning to soak through. A little bit of blood was sent spraying from its snout each time it breathed heavily.

A massive barrage of three attacks with its club, each short but powerful, came down upon Fowl, who did everything in his ability to block the blows and deflect them.

“Special!”

Batrire had to use her powerful heal, bringing the dwarf back to full health after he suddenly dropped almost to one-third of his hit points.

As the minotaur lifted its arms, preparing to strike at Fowl again, the largest ice spear Max had ever seen Tanila release streaked forward toward the boss, impaling itself in the creature’s left eye.

Stumbling backward, the boss’s attack slammed into the ground, missing the dwarf as it let go with its right hand and reached for the chunk of ice sticking out of its eye socket.

Yanking it free, the beast howled and glanced around the room with its one good eye until it found the one who had done that.

Roaring, it charged toward her, its weapon flashing green as it began to grab it with two hands.

“TAUNT!” Max shouted as he cast an air wall before the creature’s chest, trying to slow it down.

For the briefest moment, the boss turned toward the dwarf warrior when his taunt went off. The minotaur’s direction and gaze shifted, and then its body flashed black.

The next second, its eyes were on the mage once more, moving toward the one that had just pained it the most.