Ultimate Level 1

It took about ten minutes of exploring to find the first pack of monsters, and Max immediately understood why so many people talked about this dungeon difficulty.

Four hobgoblins, all as tall as him, stood around an easily ten-foot ogre. Two hobgoblins held bows with small quivers of arrows on their backs while the other two carried scimitars. The ogre had a log that was almost as tall as it was.

“Holy–”

“Elf tits,” Fowl cut him off and finished Max’s curse. “That is one nasty group.”

“We sure we can take them? I’m not trying to sound pessimistic, but those are some horrible odds.”

Max and Fowl glanced at Tanila, who simply shrugged after voicing her doubts.

“You should be able to root the ogre, right?” Fowl asked.

Tanila winced and shook her head from side to side momentarily. “It should root him, but I won’t know until I try. The levels we gained from the undead horde helped with my magical power. I’m far stronger than when we fought the lizardmen; the magical items have also helped. My biggest fear is the archers, as they will focus on Batrire and me.”

Fowl made clicking sounds with his tongue and teeth as Batrire finished casting her buff spell.

“What do you think, Seth? Up for trying?”

Max nodded as he looked at the group and the lay of the land. The group was in some shallow water, only up to the ankles of the hobgoblins. It wasn’t as deep here as the starting area had been.

“Let’s try. Worse case, we run or try to use those two trees to keep the ogre off us. I’m not sure how fast it is, but I don’t want to get hit. I’ll stealth as you engage, Tanila can cast root, and I’ll go after one of the archers. Hopefully, they won’t notice the water moving from my feet. If they do, I’ll sprint and try to get to them.”

Fowl nodded and rotated his shoulders, signaling he was about ready to go.

When Fowl got their attention, Max activated stealth and moved as quickly as possible, trying to ignore the small water trail he made with each step.

The hobgoblins shrieked and charged, running right at Fowl as the ogre roared, lifting its massive log weapon as if it was nothing more than a stick, and took a step forward.

The second its foot hit the muddy water, roots and vines came out of the ground, these were much thicker than the ones Max had seen in the lizardman dungeon and wrapped all around the creature's foot. It roared, angry and upset as it tried to break free, only to find its second foot soon ensnared like the first.

The hobgoblins in the back nocked arrows, aiming them at Taniila, who cast a wind wall that blocked both arrows after they had been shot, sending them ricochet off harmlessly.

Max didn’t see that as he focused on closing the distance between himself and the hobgoblins.

He was within striking range when the one on the left that he had targeted first finally noticed the water moving near it after firing a second arrow that did nothing against Tanila’s air shield.

Max appeared as the hobgoblin looked down at the water, his spear thrusting impaling the creature in the chest as he appeared out of nowhere before it.

Jerking his spear free, it fell with a splash and turned to see the archer on his right aiming its bow at him.

He ran with his shield ready to block the attack, and as he splashed through the water, movement out of the corner of his right eye caught his attention.

His mind told him what was coming. The ogre’s log was long enough to reach him as he ran toward the last archer. It swung, off balance as it couldn’t move its feet, but it was still coming toward his head in a wide arc.

Dropping to his knees, Max slid across the muddy ground, water and mud splashing everywhere as he leaned backward, the log passing over his head. It had so much force that the wind from its swing sent the water Max had splashed spraying ten feet away.

The archer fired, its arrow impaling Max in the side as he slid.

It wasn’t a bad shot, but Max knew, with his improved health and Constitution, that the arrow had barely managed to pierce his armor and stomach. Only an inch of the tip actually penetrated.

He slid close to the archer, who was surprised at how quickly he had gotten there, and leaped to his feet, his Dexterity allowing such movements to be easily made.

“Four!”

Not wasting time, Max thrust his spear at the hobgoblin, sending the tip into the creature's stomach, piercing all the way through.

His momentum made him slam into the archer, driving it down to the ground. Max slammed his shield into its throat as it scrambled to move, almost taking its head off.

Cold power rushed through him, his body tingling and making him smile.

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[ 1 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 19 Hit Points Consumed ]

He felt the arrow being pushed out of his stomach and quickly yanked the arrow out of his armor, leaving his spear impaled in the dead archer’s stomach.

“FREE!”

Max heard the shout and the sound of a massive splash of water behind him.

Dropping the arrow, he grabbed the spear’s shaft, ripped it from the hobgoblin's corpse, and turned, seeing the ogre charging him, its club prepared to swing.

Its massive shape blocked his view of the others, and seeing the opportunity as he rolled to the side, a gigantic splash of water exploding from the spot he had just been, Max cast his fire enchantment.

The ogre roared, pulling its log back up, a good foot of it gone, the tip of it now a mess of splinters as the force from its impact had damaged its weapon.

As his enchantment spell finished Max began casting his ice area of effect spell, needing the assistance it offered to help slow down this beast.

Another attack came and Max read the movement, lifting his shield and angling his body and feet, sending it slightly off its original attack path.

The force sent him sliding backward in the muddy water about five feet, but it gave him the time to cast the spell.

A shimmer in the moving water flashed briefly, and then Max dashed forward, thrusting his spear into the beast's massive quad on its right leg.

It brought its log down and across at him, its right hand a blur of motion.

Max rolled under the strike, his spear coming free from the momentum.

The momentum of the ogre’s swing carried it to the left, and Max came up from his roll, driving with both feet and thrusting the spear deep into its quad again.

The ogre stumbled as it tried to gain its balance, and a massive hole appeared in its leg where the spear pierced it. Had he not been used to how much damage he seemed to do, Max might have stood there like a fool, appreciating that he had just skewered the ogre's leg.

Instead, with just the tip of the spear sticking out the other side of its leg, Max dug his feet in and pressed against the shaft, acting like a lever on a fulcrum. He drove with everything he had, all twenty-four of his Strength points causing the ogre’s weight and momentum to create a tearing sound as he ripped the hamstring free from the beast, sending it crashing to the ground.

It flopped face-first into the muck, dropping its weapon as it reached for its leg, which was flayed open with blood pouring out from the gaping wound.

Seeing the opportunity, Max turned and ran at the ogre, putting his shield into storage and placing both hands on his spear as he leapt into the air, driving the tip down in the middle of its back, a few feet from its head.

A crack and crunch came as his spear pierced clean through its back and out its chest.

The roar that started to come was cut off, replaced by a cough as the ogre tried to move and could not do much more than shake its shoulders and head, still planted in the mud and water.

It took Max planting his feet and wrenching his spear up with both hands to get it to come free, pulling flesh and bones with it as it burst from the hole he had created.

The smell of burnt flesh filled his nose, and he knew the ogre was suffering from the piercing damage and the magical enchantment.

Glancing at Fowl, he saw that one of the melee hobgoblins was down, and Fowl had the other one on the ropes, Tanila assisting with it.

Consume it…

Max almost missed a step as a voice he had finally convinced himself he had never heard spoke in his mind.

Shaking his head, he didn’t hear it again but knew what he needed to do.

No, he knew what he wanted to do.

Driving his spear into the back of the creature's skull, the bone shattered as the tip punctured the thick skin and skull, finding the brain and ending its life.

Max was grateful for the shaft he was holding on to as the world spun for a moment when the power rushed through him.

[ 2 Strength Consumed ]

[ 2 Constitution Consumed ]

He tried to not stumble as his body adjusted to the points as they made him stronger.

Pulling his spear free, he started to run toward his group, not even halfway back before Fowl delivered the killing blow to the hobgoblin, sending it crashing into the mud.

Fowl smiled even as he panted, looking at Max and then at the three corpses behind him.

“Gods… are you ever going to leave anything for us to kill Seth?”

Max laughed and shrugged, putting his spear in storage as he started to wipe the muck off his pants and chest piece.

“I can’t help it if your stubby legs don’t make you move faster.”

Tanila snorted, and he heard a slight chuckle from Batrire, who was casting a heal to top off Fowl.

“Why… I… I guess you are right. My legs are stubby,” Fowl said with a chuckle. “I guess this answers if we can take a group like this. How bad was the ogre?”

Shaking his head from side to side, Max finally grunted and shrugged. “I don’t want to get hit unprotected, but even blocking a strike wasn’t too bad. I’m guessing its strength is at least a seventeen.”

Fowl coughed, clearly surprised by Max’s random statement. “Why do you guess that?”

Realizing he had just made a comment that most wouldn’t know, Max activated his storage, pulled out his backpack, carefully held it up out of the water, and dug into it. A few seconds later, he pulled out the book he had gotten from Sam and smiled.

“Some of us do this thing called ‘research’ before just running into a fight.”

“First, we would have to teach Fowl to read something more than just an ale menu,” Tanila teased.

Fowl just grinned and nodded. “No point in worrying about reading when I got you three.”

Putting everything back into storage, Max made a mental note to not be so specific about stats again.

“Yeah, I remembered reading that it was believed ogres had strength starting at seventeen and going up from there. I have no clue how high they can go, though, as no one has mentioned that.”

“Seth, can I ask a personal question?”

Max turned to look at Tanila, who was looking at him, her head cocked slightly to the side.

“Is this where you ask me if I’m single and interested in elves?”

Tanila’s face turned redder than Max could have imagined, and both Fowl and Batrire stood silent for a moment before roaring with laughter.

“No… I…” words failed Tanila as she stammered, caught off guard by Max’s question.

“I’m kidding,” Max said, realizing how much he had embarrassed her. “Sorry if that was too much.”

She took a few deep breaths and ignored Fowl and Batrire, who had tears forming in their eyes from how hard they were still laughing.

“I wanted to ask a question about your skills. I know it's very personal, but I’ll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours.”

Max froze as Fowl and Batrire both stopped laughing immediately when Tanila spoke.