Ultimate Level 1

Max was amazed at how fast his brain could react sometimes.

Seeing the wall approaching him, his body responded on its own, knowing what he needed to do to avoid becoming a splatter against the bricks.

Turning sideways, he noticed that he could slide between the ribs he was climbing on.

As the boss slammed its back into the house, Max found himself inside its ribcage, clinging to its ribs.

Realizing he could stand inside with his arms and legs spread apart, Max got himself set and cast his fire spell once more.

The boss had just recovered from the impact it had experienced from its own actions when the fire from Max’s area of effect erupted, burning it from the inside out.

Not hesitating, Max climbed one more set of ribs and pulled out his spear. Holding on with his left hand, Max began thrusting his spear over and over into the vertebrae he had already chipped.

The boss began to go wild, slamming its fist against its chest, trying to find a way to get at Max, who was protected by its own body.

The shout of ‘fireball’ could barely be heard over the sound of bones hitting each other, but Max felt the force of Tanila’s spell wash over him.

A piece of bone broke free as Max’s thrusts repeatedly connected in the same spot.

Half a dozen thrusts later, the vertebrae shattered, the skull falling off and rolling toward his allies. As the head fell, so did the body, crashing against a house and sliding down the bricks and onto the ground.

Max stored his spear as the body fell, bracing himself as best as possible. When the body lay still, dust drifting up through the ribcage, Max scrambled out, looking to see what was happening with the skull and his team.

“Gods, Seth!” Fowl shouted as Max ran over, watching the skull bounce around, its mouth snapping as it tried to attack. “That was some fancy thinking.”

Max nodded, pulled out his massive axe, and prepared to swing at the skull.

“You sure you should do this?” Tanila cried out before he attacked.

Frowning, Max turned and looked at her. He could see the hesitation in her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, he blew it out and then smiled at her.

“I’ll be ok. I have you all.”

She nodded, smiling, and Max turned, using every ounce of strength as he swung.

The massive crack of metal on bone rang out through the alley. The skull tried to move again, working its jaw against the ground.

“I got it!” Fowl shouted, pressing his shield against the skull and keeping it in place.

Two swings later, the skull split in half, and a dark cloud rushed out of the opening into the sunny sky.

He stood there, expecting the rush of power after something like this, and nothing came.

“You ok?” Tanila called out, seeing Max standing as if frozen.

“Uh… yeah… I was expecting to gain something, but nothing happened.”

Moving closer, Max stared inside the hole he had made, watching Fowl do the same.

“Shite, that’s not scary at all,” Fowl cursed as he quickly took a step back while speaking.

A glow came from inside the skull, and Max put his axe away as he got a few steps closer.

“Wait!”

Tanila and Batrire were jogging to join him, their healer calling for him to hold up.

“Is this a trap?” Max asked, confused for a moment.

“Gods, no,” Batrire replied. “You don’t realize how rare something like this is. I want to see it first hand.”

Max waited, and when the four of them stood together, he climbed up on the skull and reached inside, pulling out a bone key that was a foot long and had an aura that seemed to suck in the light from around it.

“As I said, that seems eerie,” Fowl muttered, keeping back from the key in Max’s hand.

“It feels dark… like…” pausing, Max turned to glance at the massive skull next to them on the ground. “Whatever is in that chest could be just as dark.”

The others grimaced at that thought.

“Ready to go find out?” Tanila asked, motioning toward the small gap between the skeleton's body and the house.

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The chest was made of bone with gold and silver etching. Sitting on a pedestal of white bone, it gave off an unnatural aura.

Around it, in a ten-yard radius, the ground was shimmering.

“Is it supposed to do this?” Max asked.

“None of us knows,” Tanila replied, moving her head to look at everything from a slightly different angle. “We know about these existing, but that is it.”

Frowning, Max sighed. “I guess I’ll go open it then.”

Fowl’s hand came out, blocking Max’s path before he stepped into the area.

“I’ll do it.”

“You sure?”

Fowl nodded and held out his hands, waiting for the key. “You did the heavy lifting on the boss. The least I can do is try this. We both know I have more hit points, and Batrire needs me alive.”

A scoff came from their healer as she shook her head. “You go ahead and die. I’ll find another dwarf to keep me warm at night.”

Fowl chuckled as he got the key from Max. “Yes, but who will massage your feet and brush the hair on your toes?”

Even though he hadn’t eaten for a few hours, Max’s stomach suddenly felt the need to empty itself.

Without waiting, Fowl started walking toward the chest, holding the key out, unsure what would happen.

“There isn’t even a keyhole,” Tanila whispered.

Batrire nodded and had her heal ready.

Nothing happened as Fowl reached the pillar and held the key near the chest. It lifted from his hands and spun around quickly before resting on top of the bone lid.

A popping sound rang out, the key vanished, and the chest lid opened on its own.

Laughing, Fowl turned around and grinned. “I call dibs!”

They started to laugh, but the sound caught in their throats as the chest behind Fowl suddenly grew to the size of the dwarf, and massive teeth appeared along the open edge where the lid usually rested.

A black tongue darted out, wrapped itself around Fowl, and yanked the dwarf toward its open maw.

“Mim–”

Max rushed past Batrire, cutting off her words, and drew both swords as he dashed across the ground.

Fowl tried to curse and shout, but he was already wrapped from his knees to his face, with the black tongue moving like a snake constricting its prey.

The tongue lifted Fowl off the ground and lowered him toward its snapping teeth.

Two black eyes appeared on top of the lid, watching its incoming treat with anticipation.

Max lunged toward the chest, both swords moving like a blur, and slashed into the tongue almost at its open mouth.

A shriek came from the chest as its tongue spasmed and straightened out, tossing Fowl like a toy to land a dozen yards from where he had been.

Max’s swords came around as he twisted, preparing to slash at the tongue again when a second one appeared, lashing out toward him so fast he could barely get out of the way.

Only Max’s left sword landed a hit, cutting into the first tongue again as it retracted into the chest.

To Max’s surprise, the chest hopped toward him, the lid clanging open and close, a small space forming so the tongues wouldn’t get pinched off as it tried to take a bite out of him.

Rolling backward, Max gained a little space between himself and the chest, which had grown to be about five feet tall and eight feet wide.

A black forked tongue joined the second, replacing the original one, and both of them whipped about, snapping and coming toward him with incredible speed. It took every ounce of concentration, with his sphere of detection and evasion skill helping, to parry or slash each strike.

An ice spear flew toward the chest, and it closed its mouth, the spear shattering against the bone structure outside of it.

“Mimics are immune to most magic!” Batrire shouted.

Max could sense the two of them backing up, trying to keep Max between them and the mimic.

Movement in his right eye caught Fowl coming from behind at the chest.

Seeing the chance to let Fowl get a hit or two in, Max pressed toward the tongues, slashing and twisting as he attacked, landing hit after hit against the thick tongues that continued trying to strike him.

Clang

The sound didn’t fit what Max had expected to hear when Fowl slammed his mace into the side of the mimic. It sounded like metal on metal instead of a mace on bone.

The outer bone appearance wavered, shimmering momentarily before turning into a dull gold shell.

Another clang rang out as Fowl hit it again.

The mimic made some yipping sounds and hopped, turning to face Fowl and sending a tongue after him.

The black tongue smacked into Fowl’s shield, bouncing off without effect. Fowl swung his mace repeatedly, and each time, the sound of his mace against metal rang out.

Max wasn’t sure if the mimic was tired of getting its tongue sliced by his sword or its body hit by Fowl, but it hopped again, ignoring Max as it turned both tongues on Fowl.

The dwarf began to back up, realizing the danger he was now in.

“Keep its attention!” Max shouted as he put both swords up and pulled out his axe.

With the back of the mimic toward him, Max aimed his strike at the hinge, using his hips to generate all the power he could muster into the attack.

His attack struck, shattering the axe but also taking out a massive chunk in the back side of the mimic.

It screamed, howling in a high-pitched noise, and began to hop, turning to face Max.

Dropping the broken axe, Max pulled out his swords again, moving to keep the mimic’s back side before him.

Every second, Max slashed that same spot, carving bigger and bigger chunks out of the creature as it tried to hop, shift, or move in some way that would allow it to reach the person, injuring its back side.

Max started to swing again when he noticed the chest rise a foot into the air. Sensing something, he pulled back as the chest suddenly spun like a top, its tongues flailing at him like a whip.

Unable to dodge, Max tried to deflect them as best he could, but one slammed into his right shin, taking his foot out from under him and sending him to the ground.

As he fell, preparing to roll, Max noticed the mimic had grown tiny legs and feet as well as a sharp metal tip in the middle of its body underneath it.

Impressed by the creature's fast thinking, Max tried to roll away as he sensed the tongues coming for him, but his right leg didn’t work as it should have.

The attack he had sustained had broken his leg.

Unable to move in time, both tongues descended upon him, one trying to wrap and constrict his leg while the other struck at his chest and face.

Lying on his back, trying to swing his sword while his leg was being pulled on, Max finally experienced why this tactic had been so successful against all those monsters.

He was screwed because he couldn’t move.

done.co