Ultimate Level 1

“You don’t have to,” Max said as the two groups before them at the tower motioned for them to move ahead. “I mean, we can wait.”

The warrior before him laughed and shook her head.

“Seriously, we’re talking like a few minutes but you’ve earned the right to not have to wait. It would honor us all if you went ahead.”

Tanila’s hand pushed him slightly from behind and Max gave a slight bow to each of the members in both parties.

“I hope your head can fit through this portal,” Fowl announced, smiling as all those near them heard and began to chuckle.

“Ignore him. He’s just jealous,” Batrire declared, hiding her grin behind her hand.

Doing his best to ignore it all, Max nodded at the pair of guards and moved to the portal, touching it with his hand.

[ Floor Thirty Nine ]

[ Enter ]

Down a sharp sandy incline was an ocean and seven small pieces of land, maybe fifty yards wide, surrounded an island about five hundred yards wide.

The closest island, which was about a half mile away, had some stone section in the middle of it.

A dozen small rowboats were at the shoreline near them, waiting to be apparently used to get across the water.

“There is like a quarter mile between each of the small islands,” Cordellia said as she stood next to where Max was. “That’s a lot of rowing.”

Nodding, Max kept his eyes on the larger island. A few trees decorated it, some rocks on one side, yet it was surprisingly flat.

No vegetation appeared on the smaller ones that he could see.

“I don’t like the looks of this,” Fowl muttered. “Tell me I’m not the only one thinking that.. I mean, does it start when we get in the boats or we reach the island?”

“Does it matter?”

Scoffing, Fowl nodded and pointed at the boats and then the island.

“I’m not a genius, but if there are that many boats and only five of us, I’d assume we need more than one or two. Next, if that is the case, do we all aim for the first tiny island or the large one? If it starts on the tiny one, well that's less area to fight from. That then means we need to get to the bigger one.”

Clearing his throat as everyone watched him talk, Fowl scowled.

“And that means if it starts when we reach the little island, we’re going to be rowing for our lives from something that probably loves water. If we are able to get to the larger island before it does, then we at least can defend ourselves on land.”

“Someone’s been drinking intelligence potions,” Cordellia replied. “Fowl’s right though. I’d guess we need to take at least three boats, have Seth row one by himself and Fowl and I rowing the others. That way, if something happens, he could leave that boat and help whoever needs it. From there, we aim for the big island and drag the boats up onto land.”

With their plans made, everyone climbed into their boats, unsure what was about to happen.

***

Rowing went quickly as the strength each had and the lack of waves or current only required them to build up speed and maintain it.

Everyone was tense and Max could sense it as they passed the first small island. On the middle of the stone platform was a pedestal. It appeared empty, which Max thought was weird, but no one wanted to stop and see what might be in it.

Tensions rose as they got halfway between the small island and the larger one, nothing having yet appeared on the island.

With fifty yards left to go, bubbles began to pop up from the water and Max heard Fowl yelp.

“It’s underneath! Row!”

Everyone put their full strength into each time they used the paddles and, as the bubbles grew larger, they made it to shore, jumping out and grabbing their methods of transportation and pulling them up the sand and away from the water.

Another stone platform was in the middle of the island and there were seven pedestals in a circle around a larger one, but no one wanted to focus on that right now. Instead tentacles began to appear, sliding up along the shore and towards them, flopping around on the sand and appearing to search from them by touch.

“Go further inland!” Max yelled as he grabbed his boat, tugging it along. He had tried storing it along with the others before they boarded them, but none would enter it.

More and more of the thick, rubbery, suction covered bottom half, tentacle came from the edges till over a hundred feet were flopping around, knocking down trees.

“Those are thicker than a horse!”

Fowl was right, and Max knew cutting through one wasn’t going to be easy at all.

“We should be safe unless it climbs out of the water and toward us,” Max said, pointing at the platform. “Let’s see what we have here and figure out our next plan of attack.”

As they stood up there, each of them saw that the small pedestals each had two orbs inside it. Every pair was slightly different in color.

“A puzzle,” Tanila stated, tapping her chin. “Nothing in the large one, but maybe we have to have an orb in each of the small islands first?”

“You mean we have to cross the water? With that thing in it?” Fowl asked. “Surely you’re joking!”

Max shook his head and knew Tanila was right. For whatever reason, there was a puzzle.

“Let’s see how tough this thing is before we go out and try to do that,” Max said. “Cordellia, we can shoot it with our bows, and Tanila can use a spell.”

The three of them moved closer to where a pair of tentacles still searched around the island, and each of them unleashed an attack.

His arrow and Cordellia’s both sank into the creature and it reacted slightly, slamming its massive appendage in the direction they were standing.

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Lighting came from Tanila’s hand and the rubbery flesh jerked for a moment before retreating slightly.

“Well that’s–”

A rock came flying from the water and Max grabbed Tanila and Cordellia, moving them safely from the hurled object as it rolled across the sand, crashing into a few trees and knocking them down.

“Goblin shite!” Cordellia cursed as she saw that the rock it had thrown was bigger than her. “It really didn’t like that spell.”

As she spoke, more bubbles began to form and a massive body appeared from under the water.

“It’s a mother loving Kraken!”

Max was surprised at their ranger's use of words, but there was no doubt she was right. Its angled head, those narrowed eyes and the number of tentacles that now started to rise up with it sent a quiver of fear through him. Black skin covered the outer part of it, while giant suction cups could be seen on the bottom part.

Seconds passed and soon it towered above the water, over seventy feet of its upper body showing. A dozen plus tentacles moved above the surface and Max had no doubt there were more underneath.

“Back up!

***

Everyone stared at the boss’s eyes. They changed colors as it moved. When it was near nothing, they were black as its skin. Times that it sank down closer to the water, they turned blue.

“I guess we need to try to see what happens if we take an orb to an island,” Fowl muttered. “Let me just say, not it!”

Max groaned, already knowing it would fall upon him to do this task.

“I’ll do it. You all stay here while I go to the furthest one.”

“What should we do?”

“Just watch it,” Max told their ranger. “See what it does, how it moves when I do. We can hopefully learn something about it.”

Standing in the circle of pedestals, Max found the one furthest away and seeing that it lined up with an island, took the orb from it and found out immediately it wouldn’t allow him to put it in dimensional storage.

Groaning, he took a pack and stuck it inside, tying it around his waist.

“Again?”

Nodding at Tanila, he pointed at the island he was headed to.

“Someone figure out how fast it is if it follows. I’m going to go all out.”

With that, he turned, gone from their presence and to the water in a moment.

Loud roars came as he touched the water, his arms and legs moving as if he was on land, racing across the top, sending water spraying on both sides.

Glancing behind him, Max saw that the Kraken was no longer on the other side of the island, and he raced toward his target.

Reaching the edge of the sand, he grabbed the pouch, yanking the gem free, and dropped it into the empty pedestal.

A light green glow appeared, matching the stone, and a solid beam of light raced across the water for a moment, striking the pedestal he had taken it from.

The sound of cannons rang out behind him and Max turned, seeing a ship, smaller than the boat they had been traveling on the other day, coming between the island he was on and the one to his left.

Two cannons were on the front of the ship and they had just fired upon the Kraken that was rising from the water between him and his friends.

It roared, both of the attacks, taking off flesh from the tentacle they struck as it protected its face.

Max could see the flesh began to grow back together quickly, taking only twenty seconds to replace that which had been lost.

Another salvo came and the ship managed to land a hit on the main body, making the Kraken dive under the water.

Not wanting to be this close to whatever was going to happen, Max ran to the side away from the ship, skimming across the surface of the water and back toward the island, watching to see what took place next.

Like those swordfish, the Kraken shot out of the water, its tentacles wrapping sound the ship. Wood cracked and shattered under its power. Even as the ship went down, both of the mounted cannons firing directly into the beast, it was quickly pulled under the water, vanishing almost as quickly as it had appeared.

Max arrived next to his party, who glanced back and forth at him and the Kraken that was chewing on something within the ship.

“Gods you are so fast!” Fowl exclaimed as Max turned and watched the unfolding scene.

“It's getting bigger,” Tanila muttered. “Look!”

Frowning, Max saw she was right. Whatever had been inside the ship made it stronger.

A crack of thunder came and dark clouds began to roll in as the last of the ship sank beneath the dark depths.

“I’m not sure that’s the best plan of attack,” Cordellia stated. “The damage it did wasn’t much and all it seems to be doing is making it stronger.”

The boss lowered itself under the water and vanished, not rising up as they scanned the island they were on.

Minutes passed, and it didn’t reappear, staying hidden from their sight.

“What are we going to do? We can’t wait it out.”

Fowl was right and everyone knew it. Something about this tower floor felt off, and Max couldn’t figure out what it was.

Sitting down on the ground, he pulled out a notebook and pulled out a piece of paper, scribbling onto the page.

Everyone gathered, reading the list he was making.

 Twelve row boats

 Seven islands

 Crystal summons a ship each time?

 Boss gets stronger when summoned ship is destroyed

 Boss regenerates

 What are we missing?

“That’s an accurate list of all this,” Batrire stated as she glanced at Tanila. “You’re the smarter one. What do you think we should do?”

Scoffing, their mage sat down next to Max and pulled out her own paper, drawing a map.

“I’m not sure, but we’re going to sit here for a bit and figure something out to try out.”

Fowl coughed and then moved a little bit away from everyone else. Suddenly a large table that had gone missing from the Faction house dining room appeared over his head, supported in both hands.

“Fowl Hammerfall, did you steal that?!”

“I borrowed it… as I felt the best group in our Faction might need a place to sit around one day. Seems I was right.”

Chuckling, Max stood and helped Tanila to her feet, watching as their dwarven warrior also had the missing chairs to the table as well.

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