Ultimate Level 1

[ Leech has attempted to drain Strength ]

[ Consume has resisted attempt ]

[ Leech has attempted to drain Dexterity ]

[ Consume has resisted attempt ]

[ Leech has attempted to drain Intelligence ]

[ Consume has resisted attempt ]

The impact Max had expected from the kick seemed to vanish. The foot that struck his arm passed through his torso as pain, like someone ripping nails across his flesh, matched its movement.

Its foot appeared out the other side of its body, coming around and leaving its back once again open.

The shock Max felt was gone. Inside him, something was angry and driven.

He thrust his spear out, striking the boss again in its leg. It stumbled as his spear tip buried itself in the back of its leg, staggering as Hanna and the other warrior both managed to land a hit on it, and more fire spells connected against its chest.

It turned, ignoring the warrior and mages behind it, its black eyes focused completely on Max.

Both swords came, coming at him from either side as it attempted to bring them together through his body.

Max read the attack, his knowledge of swords now showing him his only chance.

Lunging to his left, he used his shield to block the first strike while allowing the impact to spin him just enough to catch the second sword on the edge of his shield.

The strikes knocked him back again, the boss pressing its attack, locked solely on him.

Over and over, the two swords came at him in a set of combo attacks.

Each time Max saw the pattern, knew where to move, how to hold his shield and allowed the warriors to continue their assault on the shade.

Max couldn’t attack as each strike sent him back a step. Every combo it unleashed drove him away from the group.

Max didn’t have time to see what was taking place, but he trusted his party and the others.

Something was shouted, but the swords hitting his shield drowned it out.

Max barely saw the flames that erupted over the boss's back.

There was no time to attack or even risk glancing at the casters. The shade was a black tornado of death, each strike coming with enough force that his arm hurt from the constant blows.

Suddenly, the attacks stopped, the shade falling to the ground to his right.

Max took a few steps back as the boss tumbled in the dirt and realized its head was missing.

“Seth! Stop!”

Sound returned, and Max saw Fowl moving toward him while a man on a horse was turning and coming back in his direction.

“Are you ok? Did you get hit?”

“Of course, he didn’t get hit, you moron. Seth is still full health!”

Max heard them talking. He knew they were talking about him, but there was a weird feeling inside him. A hunger that was angry in some way that he hadn’t killed the shade.

A hand slapped his face, and Max turned, shocked to see Fowl looking at him.

“What? Why did you hit me?”

Fowl chuckled and pointed at the dead boss.

“It’s dead, you fool. Snap out of it.”

Bobbing his head, Max saw the man on the brown horse coming toward him.

“What’s your name?”

Realizing the man was looking at him, Max started to speak and found his voice croaking.

Coughing and clearing his throat, he saw Fowl smiling, amused at his misfortune.

“Seth Pendal.”

As if making a mental note, the man nodded and then pointed his silver sword at Max, which Max now realized the man had in his left hand.

“Give him the head. I’m sure you all played a part but I expect to hear he got the reward.”

The man, dressed in black leather and wearing a very dark green cape, turned his attention back to Max and gave him a nod.

“Most would have died to that onslaught. You have done well. Make sure to reward those who fought with you.”

With those words spoken, he turned, riding off to the north, his horse a blur as it ran.

“Holy elf tits,” Fowl cursed as they all watched the rider disappear.

“Who was that?”

“One of the B-tier adventurers.”

Max turned to see Hanna holding out the boss’s head that had fallen and giving him a weird look.

“Ah. First time seeing one for me.”

She snorted and tossed the trophy to him.

As the head flew toward him, Max put both his shield and spear into storage and caught the trophy in both hands, seeing Hanna’s face change even more.

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“Who the hell are you, Seth Pendal?”

“He’s in our group and not looking to join another,” Tanila said, having moved closer to him and Fowl. “So don’t think about poaching him.”

Hanna turned, crossing her arms and snorting. “I’m not here to poach him; I just want to know how in the god's name he managed to survive so long against that thing attacking him like that. I have never heard of a shade so enraged to ignore us as we threw everything we had at it. I know I couldn’t have lasted that long.”

“That’s because you’re a–”

Batrire stopped Tanila’s comment when she put a hand on the elf's shoulder and turned her around, shaking her head.

“None of this matters. We are alive. The B-tiers are here. It is time to return to town.”

Max saw the look Batrire gave him and then the head. He nodded and placed it in storage.

“I’ll gladly buy drinks for everyone a few times over. It’s the least I can offer.”

Max sat in the corner of the Two Headed Ogre, watching everyone drink, laughing as they told stories of what had happened that day. Other adventurers who hadn’t been in their group had come, and he knew his bar tab was going to be larger than he had expected.

“You ok? You seem lost.”

Turning, Max saw Tanila smiling at him, doing her best to cheer him up.

“Yeah, it was just weird. When that shade touched me…” Max couldn’t help but shiver as it ran through his mind. “It was hard to describe. Hurt in a different way than anything else.”

“You bet your ogre nuts it hurts,” Fowl declared, slamming his mug on the table and sloshing ale out of it. “When it kicked me, it felt like my life was being drained. I got weaker and slower. Once it was dead, I felt fine again.”

Max nodded, not wanting to talk about his skill and how it had given him those notifications.

Leech… what kind of skill is that and could I have consumed if it I had killed it?

“Seth, that is why those things are so dangerous. As they land hits, they steal stats from people. If they kill you, sometimes they keep those stats.”

Batrire slowly shook her head, and then a shiver that shook her whole being consumed her. “There was a shade that slaughtered a village once. The adventurers who showed up were not ready for it. In the end, it took three A-tier adventurers to kill it.”

Max nodded, deciding it would be better to worry about his skill and that boss later and instead focus on the now.

“How much do you think we will get for the head?”

Fowl and Tanila laughed, looking at each other before picking up their mugs and tapping them together.

Batrire groaned, cursing under her breath.

“You can pay up later,” Tanila teased. “We had a bet if you would ask how much you will get or we will get. Someone at this table believed you would say I.

Max smiled and saw Batrire shrug as she gave a grin. “I’m just saying I would have said ‘I’.

“Well, how much?” Max asked again, tipping his cup toward the sulking healer.

“At least ten gold,” Fowl said with a massive smile. “She won’t tell you, but she expected us all to die. That is her problem. Always committed, even if it means dying.”

Batrire held up her stubby middle finger and waved it in the air at Fowl.

“Ignore them,” Tanila said, grinning at Batrire. “Soon, they will be back in their room, making me thankful that the walls have wards to prevent me from having to listen to them all night.”

For the briefest of moments, Max thought he saw Fowl’s cheeks go red before he lifted his mug to his mouth and took a very long and slow drink.

“I guess tomorrow we will find out. I’m just glad we all managed to walk away.”

He felt a hand on his and turned to see Batrire give his hand a squeeze and a smile.

“Everyone here knows they owe you their life, Seth. You don’t realize how long you and that shade were fighting, do you?”

Max saw his entire party leaning forward and looking at him intently.

“Like maybe a minute?”

Fowl shook his head first, holding up five fingers.

“Five minutes or more, Seth. You held that thing off for five minutes. Every mage was out of mana, having used up every drop. Each healer was prepared to heal you, yet Batrire never said that you needed it.” Fowl motioned to Hanna, who Max saw was staring at him. “She was right. She couldn’t have done what you did, which amazed her the most. She was prepared to die. Prepared to hold it off as long as possible until a higher-tier adventurer showed up and defeated that thing.”

Pausing, Fowl pointed at Tanila and then at Batrire. “We all know you are strong. We won’t ask you to share because we see you are different than most. You could have ignored the plight of that [Baker] girl, and still you didn’t. You didn’t have to be the one to end that man’s suffering, and yet you stepped up, doing something each of us would have struggled to do. Whatever you need, we are here.”

“Seth, we owe you our lives. Each of us was like Hanna, expecting to die. You saved us.”

Max sat there, seeing their faces and the expressions each wore. They were serious and committed to what they had just said.

“I wouldn’t ask that,” he whispered, almost unable to hold their gaze. “I just want friends who want to help each other get stronger. Not someone who feels they owe me.”

Max suddenly laughed when a thought entered his mind.

“Besides, one day I might almost die, and I’m sure you would save me, and then I want to be able to tell you thank you and not feel you did it because you owed me.”

“Ogre’s piss,” Fowl cursed as he winked at Max. “It looks like you’re stuck with us then.”

“Are you sure you want to do that, sir?”

Max nodded for the third time. “We share this equally. They are my party, and I won’t accept it otherwise.”

Their female dwarf attendant, Rosy, shook her head but smiled as she watched the four of them standing there side by side at her counter.

Behind Max and the others were clusters of adventurers motioning and pointing at the four of them and the shade’s head on the counter.

Whispers and shock filled many of them as the story of what Max had done spread like wildfire through a dry field of grain.

“Then, if you will give me a moment, I must take all your tokens to my advisor and figure out exactly how this will work out.”

“Take your time, dear,” Fowl said, giving a wink to Rosy before an elbow caught him in the ribs.

Their attendant snorted and winked at Batrire, who nodded as she deftly collected their tokens and walked off with their trophy sitting on a tray.

“Seems like we are going to be the talk of the town. By how you are acting, it appears you aren’t excited about it.”

Max grunted and leaned on the counter, well aware of the stares and looks they were getting.

“If I said I hadn’t planned on this much attention?”

“I’d say you’re stuck like an elf between two orcs.”

Tanila leaned over and bopped Fowl on his head, causing Max and Fowl to chuckle.

“That is such a crass statement, and you know it!”

Fowl nodded and turned to lean against the counter, watching everyone stare at them. “I could get used to this even if you can’t, Seth.”

“The points for this trophy have been added to your rank, which has put the four of you on a very fast track to D-tier.”

Rosy gave each of them their token back and then put a coin purse before each of them.

“In each of those is three gold and fifty silver coins. On top of that, you four have been listed as getting a ten percent discount on all items purchased through this adventurers guild hall. Know that–”

“Ten percent!” Max exclaimed, interrupting Rosy. Realizing what he had done, he winced and motioned her to continue with his hand.

“As I was saying,” she continued after clearing her throat, “this discount will only be given here and not at any other adventurer hall in any other city.”

Each of them reached out and took their coins, excited at the money they had earned.

“Anything else?” Rosy asked.

“No, ma’am!” Max replied first. “Thank you again.”

As they walked away, Tanila narrowed her eyes at Max, seeing the smile on his face.

“Are you planning on doing something?”

Chuckling, Max nodded his head. “I’m about to go see a particular elf about some more equipment.”