Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 301

Chapter 301

Chapter 301

Opening the door to Romandis's place had been a mistake. Something inside him snapped and everything that had hurt since being taken to this world never felt more raw.

All Max could think about was blood.

He needed to spill it.

He needed to show whoever had made that mistake of messing with someone he cared about what he was going to do to them.

Kauakan was against the wall, pressed against it like a bug trying to avoid being noticed lest it got squashed by the real monster in the room.

"They're ready for you."

Growling Max nodded and moved to the door that led to the arena.

It was time for his pound of flesh.

***

Kill them!

Max didn’t hesitate. That moment had passed. Even without Berserker activated, he was already enraged.

Someone killed him… they murdered him!

His skill said nothing. It was as if it knew how angry he was. It didn’t need to fan the flames that were already ready to cleanse the world.

The crowd roared, ten thousand strong. A group of people, once again who were supposed to be better than the ones beneath them, called out for blood, almost frothing at the mouth from their desire for it.

Today Max gave them their fill.

His first fight had been boring. Even when playing with the two warriors he faced, both rhinokin were too slow, and even their defenses and health couldn’t stand against his power. The crowd booed at him for ending that fight how he did. Jazzjak’s scolding about the lack of obedience had been weird. That was until he found the body of Romandis.

Apparently watching someone punch a pair of meat sacks to death wasn’t enough for this crowd.

Either someone had sent him a message for killing those two, or Jazzjak was right, and it was an attempt to enrage him.

Regardless of the reason, the crowd was getting their wish today.

More stone daggers flew at him, a half dozen that barely pierced his skin and drew almost no blood as Max quietly used his skill to lessen their damage and avoid the attacks aimed at his head.

Walls rose from the arena floor, sand and stone scattered and mixed together.

Another barrage of sand assaulted him, yet the flesh that was removed grew back in time, not even the distraction its master had hoped it might be.

“Only five remain from the original twelve! What happened to this crew?! Can Ifrit withstand the—Oh! Another is now missing their heart!”

Howls of excitement came as Max felt the beating heart in his hand. The lizard warrior was still standing, just now realizing that the very thing it needed in order to live was ten yards away.

You were right… that day with the elves… holding the beating heart of one before you… it is an amazing sensation.

Letting the organ fall to the floor, Max moved with grace, deflecting stone and glass attacks with his staff, leaping over walls, and taking out this team of twelve that everyone said was unbeatable.

They were good, armed with both Stone and Sand Masters. The fighters had been fast, and the two who were designed to absorb damage could do that.

Unfortunately, Max didn’t belong here.

They were not at his level.

None of them were.

The ice spear he had been forming raced toward its target, catching the stone caster that had lost sight of it in the cloud of dust he had formed from the sand, using their own spells against them.

Another died when he sent a stone dagger that had pierced his leg at the last Sand Master.

Finally, it was just him and the last one.

It was the strongest of the bunch.

Each of her attacks had more power when she sent the stones at him. That was why he had broken both of her arms and legs over the course of this fight. He could have killed her easily. Yet she needed to suffer, and it appeared others needed to watch it.

Lying there, face first in the sand, Max almost felt pity for a moment.

No, it wasn’t pity.

She was weak.

She had underestimated him.

Just like the fools who had murdered Romandis two days ago. He would find them, and when he did, they would wish death came quickly.

“You fought well,” he said and then laughed, shaking his head. “Actually, you didn’t.”

No more words came as his staff came down, breaking the neck of the tigerkin.

[ Consume has Consumed a Higher Rank Skill ]

[ Stone Mastery - Rare has been upgraded to Stone Mastery - Epic ]

As the crowd cheered, Max glanced at the other notifications he cared about.

[ Consume has Consumed a Higher Rank Skill ]

[ Sand Mastery - Rare has been upgraded to Sand Mastery - Epic ]

[ Consume has successfully Consumed a skill ]

[ Would you like to learn [ Wood Mastery ]? ]

[ Yes / No ]

The other skills that had been consumed were lower or equal, and he gained nothing.

Inside him, the fire burned. It wanted to be released, and so as the crowd cheered, Max gave them what they wanted.

Waves of flame washed out from him, burning the corpses and their flammable items.

He didn’t care about it.

He didn’t need it.

All Max needed right now was revenge.

***

“I’m sorry, no one still knows anything?”

Max grunted, acknowledging Aimee as he lay on the stone bench, using the small cushion provided for his head.

“I know you’re upset, but both Kauakan and Jazzjak are doing everything they can to find those responsible.”

“Are they?!” he shouted, his voice echoing off the stone walls.

She flinched and nodded.

“Sorry… I’m… We need to get you something strong. Something that will help you be able to defend yourself in case someone tries to hurt me by hurting you.”

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“We’re still short on money. Jazzjak said—”

Max rose to his feet and was across the room in her face before she could finish her reply.

His eyes burned, and she moved half a step back as he spoke.

“No. He will do it now, and I will owe him, but I cannot lose another friend. Do you understand?”

She nodded, and a tear formed and then another.

Slowly Max took a deep breath, letting out the rage he felt and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close and feeling her tremble at his touch.

“I cannot lose you. I won’t lose you. Doing so would mean I would lose myself.”

He whispered those words, not for her benefit but for his own.

This path we are on. I am able to walk it, but are you?

Unsure who was trembling more, Max shook, unable to stop himself for several minutes.

***

“I see the look in your eyes. You are certain this is the path you want to take?”

Max glared at Jazzjak, nodding only once.

“Unless you are willing to guarantee her life with yours, there is no other option.”

Nodding, those white ears flopped back and forth.

“Very well. I shall take her to the next ring. I know a few people, and it will cut into your future earnings—”

“I don’t care about tokens!” Max exclaimed. “I only cared because it was meant to help my friends! Keep the damn tokens! Find me the one who killed Romandis, and I will let you have everything I earn!”

“I’m sorry. We do not have relationships like yours… even our children are… always at risk for a fight. I will increase the reward, and I shall take your friend to the next ring to procure her something to protect herself with.”

Max nodded and turned, leaving the rabbit as it stood by his tiny desk.

After opening the door, he paused and glanced back at Jazzjak.

“Get her two if you can. I’m serious. Everything I make, it’s yours.”

Jazzjak bowed so low, both ears flopped over his head and touched the ground.

“I will do for her what you ask. Just know… the one who may take over your contract… they may be—”

“I don’t care.”

Storming out of the room, Max left the rabbit there, his pink nose twitching nonstop.

***

Blood was still smeared across the stone floor. Behind him, a single red paw print was visible on the metal door.

In the corner of the far back of the room was a mattress.

Damn fool!

Picking up an empty glass container, Max flung it into the wall, watching the thing shatter into hundreds of pieces.

“HOW?! HOW CAN YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!”

Shaking his fist at the ceiling but knowing he was looking up at the sky, Max wanted to beat every god that was up there.

“How many more must die? Why did you give me this skill?!”

Dropping to his knees, a small tuft of orange fur, glued to the floor with dried blood caught his attention.

Sobbing, Max let the flood out.

***

“Listen, I know you’re upset but you need—”

“I’m not upset anymore,” Max stated, cutting off Kauakan. “I’m done being upset. From now on I have one goal, and anything or anyone that gets in my way will be removed.”

The insect almost missed a step as they walked down the stone hallway toward his waiting area for the arena.

No one escorted them.

It was weird in some ways, having always had an escort in the colosseum back in Peltagow, but here, once you were shown your place, no one bothered you. Of course it was a single hallway that led to your room, and right outside it was the gate which led to the arena floor. There was no need for an escort.

“Still, this next fight is the last one for you here. Win or lose. You will be fighting a champion, and unfortunately, I do not know which one.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He felt Kauakan move quicker, picking up his pace, and when the insect was ahead a few paces, he turned, holding up his clawed arm.

“It does! Listen to me for a moment! Please! Our fates are just as intertwined! You might not be afraid, but I am!”

Max paused and saw for the first moment that this creature that looked to have been created for killing was shaking.

“You’re afraid?”

“YES!”

Kauakan waved his arms, spinning around a few times in the hallway before coming to stand before Max.

“I am not strong like you, and I am not getting the treatment you are giving that woman! All I have now is the connection to you, and if I am honest, I am scared after seeing what your friend… what they did to him.”

Max couldn’t help but frown. Still he nodded, understanding now that he hadn’t considered how much his success really meant to Kauakan.

“If I die, what happens to you?”

“If I’m lucky? I’ll be cast back to where I came, still have some tokens, and maybe I could try to resecure my spot again. There is no doubt the battle for that has already begun, and I’m not certain who is going to keep ahold of it. If you don’t make it to the center ring, I am as good as dead.”

“Because there will be no one to protect you?”

“Exactly.”

A weight once again fell upon Max’s shoulders, and he wanted to scream, wanted to punch the wall, wanted to use his magic to tear the very foundations of this building down.

“Forgive me… I had not realized how this impacted you. Tell me what I need to know.”

Kauakan breathed what Max assumed was a sigh of relief.

“These champions for this arena make everyone else look like someone from my city ring. I know you are fast, I know you are strong, but they are just like you.”

Max listened to Kauakan as he talked about skills these champions might have and discussed the equipment they would own.

Even as the conversation continued well into reaching the waiting room, Max only heard one thing.

There are going to be skills and abilities to acquire.

That is why we do this. To get strong enough to protect those you care about.

Max froze, and whatever Kauakan was saying stopped, noticing the change in his posture.

Do you really care about that? I mean all you ever wanted was to consume everything we encountered.

We have both changed… if you stay on this path and go down it too far, I may become again what you once feared. If that happens you will not be the one your friends or Tanila will recognize. When you see the looks on their faces, two things will happen.

Max waited, ignoring the claws Kauakan waved in his face.

Either you will give in to the hunger, killing even them and becoming a threat to all. Only time will tell if you are able to grow strong enough that none will ever be able to stop us ,and that path is… foolish. Before I evolved, I was simply an urge, overcome by my base instinct. Now, together, I have seen multiple paths. Even now I know the paths before us are varied, and not all lead to you ever making it home for many years. If ever.

And the other path?

You kill yourself.

Max started to reply, but he knew that was a possibility. Multiple times he had been committed to ending his own life versus putting his friends at risk.

So, now what?

Fight. Win. Grow stronger as I consume what I can. Just know, Max Hoste, that my end goal does not stop with this world or yours. Either we become stronger than everything out there, things you cannot begin to fathom yet, like the dragon you met before the tower, or something, someone will kill us. That same goal is what drives my two counterparts. Somewhere out there both of them are active. I can sense them now, just as I know I am closer to the next step in my evolution.

Max started to ask something when a claw poked him in the chest.

Go. You have a fight to win. We will talk later.

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