Ultimate Level 1 - 154 - Things That Go Bump In A Dungeon (Patreon)

“Casting!”

Max grimaced as he tore a barb from his chain armor, watching Tanila send out another wave of fire that revealed fifteen more of the stealthed demons.  

“We need to move!” Fowl shouted.  “The portal only a hundred yards from here!”

Over sixty pink demon corpses lay scattered on the grey grass where it wasn’t covered in black blood. 

The clang of a demon beating against Fowl’s shield rang out, and Max ignored the green demon currently trying to kill his dwarven friend.

“I’m getting low! I need a break!”

Slicing through a smoking pink demon, Max spun and moved, carving off arms and other limbs. He no longer worried about killing them; instead, he just needed to stop the advance of the monsters trying to kill his healer and mage.

“Seth!”

Glancing to see why Fowl was shouting, Max saw two Two more demons, green and gorilla looking with massive claws, coming toward Fowl.

“Be ready to run! I’ll carry Tanila and Batrire!”

Carving through two more of the pink demons, Max sprinted back to his team, storing his weapon. He grabbed Tanila and Batrire, throwing one over each shoulder.

“I hate this!” Batrire shouted as Max ran to Fowl.

“Shield out! Arms up!”

Fowl put his hammer into storage and spun his shield sideways, gripping it with both hands. The green gorilla demon slammed both hands against Fowl’s shield and raised them up again when Max ran behind Fowl, slipping his hands under the dwarf’s armpits and driving forward.  

They slammed into the demon, pushing it backward as Max did his best not to jostle the women while holding his, holding his dwarven battering ram before him.

“Yer running straight for them!” Fowl hollered, noticing Max was not trying to avoid the incoming demons.

“No time! Hold on!”

The demons roared, their mouths spinning in a circle, teeth rotating as they came right at the battering ram. Max hoped his idea would work.

[ Power Strike ]

Fowl glowed, and when they impacted the two demons, it was as if nothing was there, a spray of black blood and gore pouring across the four of them.

“Gah… ah… my mouth…” Fowl sputtered, spitting and gagging.

Max felt the blood on his face, and squinted his eyes to make sure he was still moving in the right direction.

“Hold on!”

-----

Setting the three of them down as they exited the portal, Max scanned the area with his Sonar skill to ensure nothing was trying to sneak up on them.

Fowl washed his face the second he could get a flask of water from his storage, rinsing and spitting out the black liquid and chunks that had gotten into his mouth.  

“Quick thinking,” Batrire said as she massaged her stomach and chest.  “Did you know that would work?”

Max shook his head and grinned.  “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was better than nothing.  Either way, I was pretty certain we could run through them.”

“Pretty certain?” Fowl said after gagging for a moment. “You weren’t completely certain?!”

“Nope, now stop complaining and focus.  Look around. This place just got worse.”

Fowl focused on their surroundings and saw what Max was talking about.

They were in a canyon that spanned about fifty yards across and ran straight as far as their eyes could see.  Walls of stone rose twenty-five yards above them, running the entire length of the canyon.

“This is bad,” Fowl muttered.  “What’re the odds we can make it through here?”

Max looked at Tanila, and then the two stared at the path ahead.  

“There is nowhere to run once we start,” Tanila stated as she checked the blue portal behind them. “We’re boxed in, but even worse, we don’t know how far this thing goes. I’d assume the demons only get worse as we continue.”

“If the walls don't get wider, I can sense most of the open area around it with my sonar,” Max said, “but there will still be fifteen yards total I cannot detect.  That leaves a lot of potential for them to surround us, especially since I have no doubt there are more that can stealth.”

“Are they portaling in?” Batrire asked.  

“I don’t think so.  I would assume it will be visible if the demons create a portal, but then again, who knows.”

Tanila nodded in agreement with Max’s statement.

“It’s a shame those walls are so high.”

Max looked at Fowl and frowned.  “Why is that important?”

Shrugging, Fowl pointed at the top of them.  “If they weren’t, perhaps you could have jumped up and looked from up there.”

Looking at where his dwarven friend was pointing, Max chuckled and then laughed.  

“What’s so funny?” Fowl asked.

“If you weren’t ugly, I’d kiss you,” Max replied, turning to face Batrire.  “You got that pouch of rope?”

“I do… why?” she replied, her words long and drawn out.

Nodding, he turned to Tanila.  “I’m going to jump.  Tell me how high I actually get.”

“Seth, what? Why?” she shouted as Max ran to the edge of the wall and bent down, preparing to jump.

“Just do it!”

Max jumped, leaping as high as he could, surprised at how he felt he had done.  “Once more!”

He jumped again and gave everything he had, then felt a slight shock from the impact. Turning, he saw the three of them staring at him. Fowl’s mouth was open, and even Tanila’s eyes were wider than usual.

“How high?”

“Hah, you’re not even halfway.  Maybe twenty feet if lucky!” Fowl said.  

“Tanila?” Max asked.

“He’s right.  Maybe twenty feet tops, most likely eighteen.  Why?”

Bending down, he drew a rectangle in the dirt. “Okay, listen. This sounds stupid, but maybe it will work.”

-----

Smiling, Max cast a wall of air fifteen feet into the air and jumped, grabbing onto the edge of it and pulling himself up.

“If he dies, I get his stuff,” Fowl muttered as they watched from a few yards away.  

“Ok, you’re up!”

“Remind me why I’m dating a crazy man,” Tanila said as she created a wall of air fifteen feet above the one Max was standing on. 

He took a step and jumped, grabbing onto it and pulling himself up again. His smile was so wide that they could see the white of his teeth even from over thirty feet above them.

“Now, the stone one!”

“Crazy and stupid,” Batrire muttered as Tanila summoned a stone wall from the edge of the canyon.  

Stepping again, he leaped into the air and caught the edge of the stone wall with both hands, pulling himself smoothly up and onto it.  Glancing at the distance left, Max frowned.  Fowl’s estimate of the wall's height was off, but he wasn’t going to give up.  Summoning his stone wall slightly higher than the last, Max leapt. He caught the wall with both hands, but his left hand slipped off, leaving him dangling by just his right one.  

Grunting, he reached up and got both hands on the ledge again, pulling himself to the top of his stone section.

“He’s short,” Tanila said with a groan.

“We know, dear, but there’s nothing wrong with dating a short guy.  Look at Fowl.”

Tanila groaned again and shook her head, ignoring Batrire’s comment.  “No… he is short.  The distance he hoped for is off.”

“By at least a yard. Maybe two.” Fowl stated.

Max knew time was his weakest enemy. The walls wouldn’t last forever. The longer he was up here, the higher the chance something might attack the party. If he fell, he’d have to use his skills to prevent himself from dying.  

Pulling his halberd out, Max looked at the distance from the edge of the axe blade to the bottom of its shaft.

“Guess I’ll try and do something stupid,” he muttered.

Facing the wall, and holding the bottom of his halberd in his right hand, Max leapt upward, swinging the blade and trying to hook it on the edge.

It caught for a second before coming free, and he fell backward, slamming into the stone wall beneath him and almost rolling over the side.

A shout from below came, but Max ignored it.  He could see them watching and knew they thought he was an idiot for what he was doing, but he didn’t have a choice.  The other dungeons had weaknesses. This one had to have one too.

“Air wall down!”

Rising to his feet, Max set his feet and jumped again.  The tip of his blade caught on the edge, and he slammed into the stone wall, dangling by his right hand.  Giving a small bounce with his body, the blade didn’t move.  Quickly, he reached up with his left hand, pulling himself up and getting a hand on the edge of the wall.  Carefully, Max swung his leg and side over, taking a deep breath and glad to discover that the wall wasn’t only a foot or two wide.

Standing up and putting his weapon away, Max stared at the massive canyon that seemed to run forever on both sides, except for the single line that ran through it like a river.

Smiling, he yanked the rope from his dimensional storage.  

-----

“Gods, I can’t believe you did it,” Fowl muttered, looking at the stone that seemed to have no end.

“I’m guessing we get down the same way?” Tanila asked as she watched Max put the rope back into the special pouch.

“That’s the plan.  I still have a spike, and those troll clubs should work to drive it in.”

They gave the chasm a wide berth, trying to make sure that nothing noticed them. They jogged slightly, staying tight as they ran. The overhead sky seemed angry, flashes of red and black appearing as they moved along the wall.  

“This thing goes on forever,” Batrire said between even breaths.  “Miles… imagine fighting this entire way.”

“Glad I’m dating a genius,” Tanila said, earning a few chuckles from everyone but Max.

-----

“You ready for this?” Max asked as he looked at the portal below.  

“Warriors first,” Tanila said with a smile.

Grabbing the rope he had tied to the spike, Max smiled and moved to the edge, wrapping his feet around the rope. With his chain gloves, he quickly slid down the rope without a problem.

He rolled as he hit the bottom, pulling his halberd out and swinging it.

A loud clang came as he struck the creature that had been stealthed, revealing a black demon covered in skin that looked like metal.

Its eyes glowed yellow and both of its arms slashed at Max, each over four feet long and shaped like a sword.

Dodging and parrying, Max began a dance of death, fighting and trying to keep the creature at bay.  

This was guarding the portal from behind…

Unable to detect any other demons, Max tried to stay in the same area, not wanting to risk going deeper into the cavern they had evaded.

The creature shrieked loudly, and the sound was answered from behind Max, back in the canyon they had skipped.

“HURRY!”

Max shouted, giving up on his original plan and moving closer to the portal.

He saw the other three starting to descend, each one going as quickly as possible, as Max sensed a second and then third creature coming from the other side of the portal.

Casting Ice Nova, he moved toward them, doing what he could to draw them away from his friends.  

He saw Fowl coming, shield and hammer out, preparing to assist. “NO! Get them through!”

His ice spell went off, coating the area in a shimmer of ice and breaking the stealth of three more creatures coming toward him. 

The beast he fought screamed again, slightly slowed by the spell but not nearly enough. Its blades moved with dazzling speed, and Max realized that it was closer to his own dexterity than he had thought.

“Seth!” 

“GO!”

Fowl was pushing the two women toward the portal, knowing Max would come as soon as they were inside.

A thrust from behind slid across the edge of his shoulder, and Max felt pain and weakness take over.  He almost tripped as his strength nearly gave out.  

“Go!” he shouted again, his weapon catching the creature behind him and slicing its head off.

[ 159 Hitpoints Consumed ]

[Consume has successfully Consumed a skill]

[ Skill does not match entity type ]

[ Consume is adjusting skill ]

[Would you like to learn [Weakness]?]

[ Yes / No]

He was surrounded, and whatever he had been hit with made moving difficult.  The portal was only a dozen yards away, but in front of it was the black demon blocking his way, no longer attacking but allowing its prey to be hemmed in.

His friends were safe.  They had made it inside the portal.

The black demon suddenly laughed, waving its sword-like arms around in circles.

“You shall die,” the black demon hissed, an evil grin spreading across its face.

Max groaned, his head hurting and his body aching.

“Not if I kill you first,” he growled.

The demon roared with laughter, tilting its head back. Its voice bounced off the walls all around the cavern. Max could feel more creatures entering the detection area for his sonar.  

There is no one here to hurt, only those seeking to kill you.  Let me have a little fun.

Max saw what surrounded him. More were arriving every second, and the ground was beginning to rumble from something approaching behind.

You can try this on your own, but you might not make it.  

Max grinned at the demon, whose black teeth were dripping with black liquid, and then let himself go.

You can come out to play…

The laughter inside his own head throbbed.

I thought you’d never ask.