Ultimate Level 1

Dropping the sword in his left hand, Max felt his hand shaking as he reached for the shaft he could see with his right eye. Grabbing it, he hesitated. He saw Fowl fighting one of the archers, and the other, which must have shot him, was nocking another arrow.

Bending down, he grabbed the sword he had just dropped and sprinted toward the archer. It fired a shot, but he used his sword to deflect it to the side as he closed the distance.

He didn’t want to kill it yet, so he came at it, feinting for a chest attack and changing his swing to cleave off its arm at the elbow.

The cat hissed in pain but was unable to prevent the second sword that took its opposite knee off, sending it to the ground.

He noticed Fowl had the other archer down and was braining it with his hammer.

As the creature he fought tried to move and get up, Max cut off its other arm at the shoulder with one quick swipe, sending it crashing back to the ground face first.

Stepping over it, he drove his sword into its spine near the hips. The cat flopped on the ground, one arm barely attached, unable to turn over.

Turning around, Max saw Fowl looking at him. His face couldn’t hide the horror of the sight of Max with an arrow sticking out from his eye socket.

“Seth, stop moving!”

He felt Batrire in his sphere of detection and knew she was coming over on his left side. However, he couldn’t see her as his left eye throbbed with pain. That area of vision was gone.

Fowl bashed his enemy's head with his shield and turned, joining the other two who had arrived.

“Is it–”

“Don’t move,” Batrire said again, cutting off Fowl, who couldn’t bring himself to move closer to Max.

“How bad is it?” Max asked, seeing the look on her face as she moved into his field of vision for his right eye.

“I don’t think I can fix that,” she replied, stopping a few feet from him as she looked at the injury. “What about your skill?”

Max started to shake his head but stopped when he saw her open her mouth.

“No. It told me it couldn’t fix this injury.”

He could see the look of pain on Batrire’s face. She was biting her lip, and her nose was more wrinkled than usual. She had held her breath after asking her question, hoping his skill might fix this. He heard her let it out slowly after his reply.

“I guess this means I need to pull it out and kill that thing when I do?”

“No… I need to cut it out, or you might pull the eyeball out, and that would be even worse. I can use my special heal right after, and you can kill that archer simultaneously. Perhaps those two will help with the pain, but… this will hurt a lot.”

Max grunted and stepped back, not needing to turn around to see where the archer was bleeding out and moving less.

“Let’s hurry up then. This thing won’t last much longer.”

Batrire nodded, pulling a knife off her belt and casting something that made the blade glow momentarily.

“Bend down. Fowl, you sit on that creature and keep it still. Tanila, hold Seth’s head.”

Everyone moved, not waiting, as they knew the nature of this injury was horrible.

It surprised Max after it was over. The pain had been horrible, different than when he had actually been shot in the eye.

Batrire had been quick, sliding her knife along the shaft and splitting the eye from top to bottom. She had pulled the arrow out, keeping her fingers on the eyeball to prevent it from coming out. Blood and liquid had poured down his face, and had Tanila not held his head, Max wasn’t sure he could have kept it still. The pain was horrible. Worse than any he could remember, even what he could remember of the fire from the last boss fight.

And then she had the arrow out and cast her heal. Immediately, the pain subsided, and he felt his eyeball coming together, but no sight returned.

Driving his sword into the archer's heart, he felt no cold rush of relief.

Instead, the same message came again.

[ Consume has detected an injury it cannot heal ]

“Are you ok?” Tanila asked, letting go of Max’s head.

Turning slowly to the left and right, Max nodded and tried to smile.

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“It’s not something I want, but at least I have my sonar skills. I can still detect everything as before. I just can’t ‘see’ like thirty percent of what I’m used to seeing. I know there are trees, bushes, and more over there, yet… without my left eye there is this blank spot that I know isn’t there.”

No one said anything for a few minutes.

Max eventually put his swords away and pulled out his knife. “We need to harvest these things and keep hunting.”

“What? No, that's not–”

Max turned to Tanila, who froze when she saw the look Max was giving her.

“I’m not crippled. I can still tell what is going on around me. We all know that we need to press on. For now, our options are limited. A dungeon is the only way to get you all to level twenty-five. Once there we can try a different dungeon, but for now we need to fight.” He paused, closing his eyes for a moment. Max took a deep breath and let it out. “I need to fight. If I don’t, I may give up, and I have seen what someone looks like with that life. I won’t be that person.”

When he opened his right eye, he saw Tanila wincing but giving him a nod.

“Want me to lead?” Fowl asked.

“No, I still got this. I’ll just use a shield and a sword for now. I’m not blind, and you all know that. It’s just different.”

Once the corpses were harvested they set off in silence. Everyone was still determining how the rest of their time would go.

Max was like a caged animal. Rage filled him. A hunger also filled him, but he played it safer. They stayed away from the thick, tall shoots and worked their way through the forest, using trails he found and areas that required less chopping. Even if he was unable to see creatures standing on his left side, his sonar skill helped him in every fight as he only had to keep an eye out for the archers.

The fights took a little longer, and Tanila provided more magical damage but, as the hours wore on, they eventually reached the portal to the second floor. Eight more groups had died by their hands, and no other significant injuries were sustained.

When they came to the second floor, a breath of relief was released by all that the hot jungle floor was no more, replaced with a wide-open grass-filled plain.

“Do we keep going or…” Fowl asked, trailing off as he saw Max rolling his shoulder and stretching his neck.

“We didn’t come just to go back home,” Max answered. “I’m fine. Really. I won’t win any beauty contests, and I see the looks you give me.” He didn’t turn back to face them, knowing that they couldn’t help but cringe each time they saw his eye must look. He had been tempted to try and see his reflection in his sword but, right now he needed to ignore it. He needed to learn to fight without his left eye.

“If I wasn’t injured, would we even ask that question?”

Silence hung for a few seconds, and then Max sensed Batrire start to cast her buff. As she did, he cast the fire enchantment on his sword.

“Ready when you are,” Batrire replied.

Nodding, Max moved out into the second floor. Right now, killing was the only thing on his mind.

The first four packs were easy for them to handle. Two cat warriors and two cat archers were nothing for them. With Fowl leading and Max using stealth, they became even more straightforward as he cut down the first warrior, and then he and Fowl blitzed the archers as Tanila rooted the second warrior.

“We need to stop, Seth. This is too risky.”

Max shook his head no and pointed at the group of six before them. “Fowl, you’re wrong. That is actually not that different than the others. Four archers are no big deal. They can’t do much to us with our shields, and they are clumped together. Once I get close, I’ll cast an area of effect spell and make it even easier.

Fowl turned and looked at Tanila and Batrire, trying to get them to see the folly in Max’s plan.

“He’s right,” Tanila said. Fowl gave a slight sigh as she spoke. “Seth can do all of that, and we can easily win. I’ll ensnare one warrior, ice bolt one of the archers, and you two deal with the other three.”

Max snorted, seeing Fowl’s face go slack at Tanila’s comment.

“I know what you are thinking, and please stop. I’m not weak, and neither are you.”

Fowl spun on Max and glared at him. “You are hurt. You’re angry, and every one of us can see that. You’re not thinking straight!”

“I am thinking straight,” Max countered, not letting the rage or anger fill his face. “Imagine being in my boots. You can give up and head home, and the question is, how many days will you give up in a row? How many times will you say not today, until so many days have passed that you never go adventuring again? Would you let the fear keep you from doing what you are built for?”

Fowl opened his mouth and shut it. He could see that Tanila and Batrire knew this already. They understood immediately what was going on. “But why risk it? This isn’t a group we need to fight.”

“We do, and we will again. How many days will we come here, face a similar group, and give up?”

Fowl realized Max had stopped, wanting an answer. Grunting, he shifted and then finally sighed. “I don’t know. Can you promise me that you’re not rushing in blind… I mean–”

“It’s ok, Fowl. I’m not blind. Everyone here knows it. My left eye can't see, yet I can still use my sonar and my right eye. Part of all this is learning to adapt. All I can think about is what would have happened if I suffered an injury like this before, and we got to the last dungeon, and I hadn’t practiced. Imagine how badly that might have gone.”

Max moved over to where Fowl was, putting his sword in storage. He gripped his friend's shoulder and stared at him, smiling as softly as possible.

“I get it. You’re angry. I know you don’t want to admit it but as warriors, we both know how it feels when someone in our group gets hurt. Trust me, though. I’m doing this for all of us.”

Fowl’s chest shook a moment as he fought back his emotions. A single tear rolled down his wrinkly face, and then a smile appeared on Fowl’s lips.

“You’re right. I did blame myself. I’m sorry.”

Punching Fowl in the shoulder, Max shrugged and pulled his sword out.

“If we’re done crying, we need to move on before our buffs expire. Besides, we got this. I know we can do it.”

Rotating his shoulders, Fowl chuckled and then nodded. “You’re right, we do.”

Laughter behind them made both turn and look at the two women standing there, arms crossed.

“We were wondering if you two would kiss and make up. Glad to see it finally happened,” Tanila said as she moved away from Batrire. “Now, if you are ready, let’s finish this dungeon. I’m hungry and don’t want to eat some jerky.”

Chucking, Fowl made some kissing noises as he puckered his lips.

“Gods, no,” Max said with a grunt. “I have no clue where that mouth has been, and I don’t want to know.”

Fowl started to say something before a loud grunt cut him off. Seeing the look Batrire gave him, he smiled and shook his head.

“No… no you don’t.”