Ultimate Level 1

Max couldn’t help but smile as neither of the men moved.

Unsure if it was from being called out from stealth, his lack of concern at knowing they were there, or the steady stream still flowing, Max lowered his hands and finished up, quickly pulling his chain pants up.

Behind him, Max sensed another person coming toward him. Feeling a grin appear, he put his spear up and pulled out his two swords.

It had only dawned on him a few days ago that things put in the dimensional pocket did not experience time as usual. He could enchant his weapons and store them, and, after checking a timer, the enchantment would last over a week before it was even halfway gone.

The two he had initially spotted dropped out of stealth, a dwarf and a man, each holding a dagger. The moon provided enough light to see they were in black leather, but he didn’t need it. He could see the shape of their faces, the frown each wore, and the way their hands trembled slightly.

As the two men moved slowly toward him, Max could feel the one behind him creeping closer. He realized it was a woman, lanky and tall.

“You seem awfully sure of yourself,” the dwarf said with a growl. “Pissin in the woods at night away from your wagons. You haven’t even called fer help.”

He could tell what they were doing, drawing his attention and keeping him focused on them. The woman was only five yards away, moving quickly to be in position for a three-person attack.

It was then that Max noticed the aura around the man and the dwarf. It was faint but there.

A hazy red outline hung around them. Not enough to cause problems but enough to tell everyone who saw them that the system recognized them as murderers. They had to have attacked someone in the last three days to still be flagged.

Max nodded, lowering his stance a little and preparing for what was about to happen.

Casting his area of affect ice spell, he waited till it was one second from going off and then dashed toward the man on his left.

He had been ready, but his dagger did nothing to protect him from the spinning sword attack Max unleashed on him. Both swords came across in a high-low pattern, Max’s feet twisting as his hips spun him around, bringing both blades circling back to his target.

The man wasn’t slow, but there was nothing he could do. His dagger parried the first attack before the other sword came and sliced his left leg to the bone. The second salvo of attacks took off his left arm and sent a sword into his body, piercing his chest.

The momentum and movement of the attacks never slowed him as Max continued sliding right, swords out toward the dwarf who had rushed to join the fight only to realize it was over before it had started.

He tried to stop, glancing toward the woman who was still stealthed and now only three yards away.

“She can’t help you,” Max said, showing his teeth.

The dwarf flinched, and the woman froze.

A dagger flew from the woman. Max saw it coming, lifting a sword and deflecting it as she came out of stealth.

“Who the hell are you?” the dwarf hissed, glancing between him and the woman covered in black leather from head to toe. Only her silver braid hanging against her back.

A goddamn female elf…

She stayed low, pulling a pair of daggers out from behind her back, and then whistled.

Movement came from the forest, and Max felt more people entering his field of perception.

Suddenly, a cold sensation washed over him.

He had hoped for it.

In truth, he longed for it.

The moment the two men showed up within his sonar skill, the hunger he sometimes felt roared inside him. When he saw they were red, realized they could be engaged with no worry of the system listing him as an attacker or murderer, it had almost consumed him.

[ 2 Dexterity Consumed ]

[ 20 Magic Points Consumed ]

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[Would you like to learn [Backstab]?]

[ Yes / No]

Max couldn’t help but grin, even knowing there were half a dozen people now in his sphere of perception.

He ignored the choice for now. He didn’t want to possibly stumble as he sometimes did when learning a new skill. His body already felt alive from growth in dexterity.

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Kill them all. Take their power. We need it.

The voice was back, and Max knew what it wanted. The same thing he wanted.

They continued to surround him, each staying on the outer edges of his detection area, but now Max counted eight. Each of them had that same red glow.

Permission to take what they had.

“This feels like a fair fight,” Max declared, cracking his neck and focusing on the female elf. He could see she was different. How she moved and flowed, everything about her screamed danger.

She laughed. Her soft voice carried across the open field.

“You sure are full of yourself. I’m impressed that you knew we were here, and that attack on poor Mizar shows you have some skill with swords. But let’s be honest,” she paused, her voice turning hard and gaining an edge, “do you really expect to walk away from here alive?”

Motioning with his sword at the others around him, Max gave a slight shrug.

“The real question you should ask yourself is how many, including you, will die.”

He felt the change on her face. She frowned, put off by his lack of concern for the situation and the fact he had not tried yelling for help yet. Bravery and stupidity were common enough, and there was no way someone strong enough to deal with all of them could be here.

As the woman paused, Max realized there was one with a bow. An arrow nocked but not pointed at him. Three of them had swords, and another two had axes. That just left the woman and the dwarf with daggers.

She was the closest, and Max believed he needed to take her out first.

Even if she had offered to let him walk away, he would have said no. He needed this.

Casting his ice spell again, he waited, knowing when it would go off and the shimmer around his feet would appear.

Once more, he darted forward, racing toward the elf, as his spell activated, and played his trump card.

There was no time to play games.

[ Berserker Activated ]

The color shift at night would have reminded him of that battle against the wolves if he could have remembered the way it had looked.

He would have noticed the woman’s expression as he reached her before she could react. His swords were a blur as his ice spell extended around him, slowing her movements and reactions. She flickered green for a moment, and the strikes he swung at her crashed against her two daggers that blocked them. Her knees gave out and she was crushed to the ground under the strength of his attacks. The only reason she could still hold her arms and daggers up was the skill she had activated.

The flurry of blows he sent was blocked for two seconds, then she flickered green again. The following two strikes shattered her arms, the strength behind his attacks too much for her to handle. Without the ability to defend herself and unable to move in time, she could do nothing as Max swung again, one blade slicing her left arm off at the shoulder and the other cleaving her body diagonally.

He felt a pain in his back but ignored it. Pressure increased for him for the briefest moment, and with the light in the woman's eyes fading he spun, blades whirling around like a tornado, catching the dwarf who was not expecting the speed or power of that strike, in the face.

His face was gone in less than a half second, making the second sword that came at him moot, even though it almost cut him in two.

A man with a sword was charging him, unable to believe what he had just seen. Two of them were struck down so quickly.

Max’s eyes locked on the attacker lunging at him, as he pulled his sword free of the dwarf, releasing a spray of blood as the blade came free.

His attacker tried to block and dodge, but it was futile as the one-eyed man came at him with a fury and aura that froze him to the bone.

Max ran past him, his combination strike having decapitated the attacker.

Spinning, he found the archer ten yards away, having just fired an arrow. Max didn’t notice it in his rage. All he could see was the archer.

Four strides carried him to the man, cleaving his bow in half as he tried to protect himself and ending his life a moment later.

Screams were coming from all around him. Screams that Max couldn’t hear or recognize. His mind wouldn’t allow it.

Two more men fell before the last two turned to run.

The sounds of their feet sprinting in different directions didn’t matter as Max turned on the one closest to him. Running after the man, he chased him down. He had only taken eight seconds to find and kill that target.

Max scanned the area, spinning around, wanting and needing something to hunt. He couldn’t sense anything in his skill range, and the vision in his right eye was blurry. Blood had run down his face and into it, but Max couldn’t figure that out.

Shouts came from the south of him, beyond the trees he was in. Running as quickly as he could, he saw a few torches and a light.

He saw a man he should have recognized. A dwarf running toward him.

Four steps later, Max stumbled over his own feet.

A massive shock hit his system as awareness of his surroundings sank in.

There was a look of terror behind Fowl’s eyes as the dwarf held his shield and hammer ready, Tanila holding her hands out at him, a spell waiting to be cast. Fear in Batrire’s eyes as she took in the blood-soaked figure of a man they called a friend.

“Seth! Seth, it's us!” Fowl shouted.

Shaking his head and realizing his situation, Max held up both hands and dropped his swords.

“Sorry… I…” Max paused, seeing the men from the wagons coming toward them. They stopped further behind his allies. “Bandits… they tried to attack me, but I…”

Max shook his head and finally understood why he couldn’t see well from his right eye.

He tried to wipe away the blood with his hand, but it didn’t help. He was drenched in it.

“Let me,” Tanila said, rushing across the gap between Max and them, letting the spell she had prepared vanish. She wiped her robe across his eyes and then his forehead, allowing him to see the pained look on her face. “Are you ok?” she whispered.

He nodded slowly and cringed. He tried to smile but couldn’t.

“Are you alright?” one of the men from the caravan called out. “Are there more?”

Max realized he didn’t know the answer to that. He wasn’t sure if he had killed them all or if some had gotten away. Right now, he was more scared that he had regained himself only ten yards or so from his friends and knew that he was about to have attacked them.

“I’m not sure… there were nine, but–”

“Nine?!”

He could hear the men murmuring, asking each other if that was possible. How could he have taken on that many and survived?

“Join the party, Seth.”

Max turned and looked at Batrire, who was staring at him.

He saw the notification and clicked accept.

She huffed and shook her head before coming toward him.

“Let’s go. We need to see what took place.”