NOVEL NEXT Chapter 233 - Getting Stronger
Chapter 233 - Getting Stronger
“What is it?” Tanila asked as they made their way up the incline volcano, following the rough path.
Cordellia was peering with her hand shielding her eyes and frowning.
“I think… oh shite! Seth is bringing a bunch of stuff towards us!”
Without missing a beat, Fowl moved into a front position while everyone else got ready to get on top of a stone wall once Talina summoned it.
“It looks like… lizards and some kind of… oh crap! Those lizards are spewing flaming rocks at him!”
Batrire and Fowl were trying to see what their ranger could spot, yet their eyes didn’t have the range or clarity. The fumes and heat waves coming off everything didn’t help either with their attempts.
“He’s coming fast! Ten seconds tops!”
Max was racing down the mountain, occasionally turning and sending an ice spear up at the horde of creatures coming after him.
“I need help!” Max yelled as he ran toward them. “Slimes!”
Tanila cursed and Batrire groaned upon hearing that there were more than just the lizards coming.
Max was a few seconds away when he wheeled around and checked once more over his shoulder.
Jogging backwards while his sonar kept his feet from tripping on any of the jagged edges of rock or catching on a crack, Max took in the sight of the thirty plus lizards that were closest to him. Off about three hundred yards or more were at least eight slimes making their way down the volcano.
“Ice rain! I’ll do mine! Be ready to shield and wall! Those rocks are–”
As if on cue a barrage of flaming rocks came flying across the seventy yards between him and the red and black-skinned lizards. Each one was at least six feet long and their bodies became covered in a deep orange flame every time they spewed rocks out.
An air wall and ice wall formed quickly as Max and Tanila did their best to block the incoming barrage, each of them also preparing to cast their Ice Storm spell.
“What in the blazes is all this?” Fowl shouted as he saw the pack descending upon them. “That’s too many!”
“They’re almost dead! Just be ready to taunt! Tanila, give them twenty more yards!”
As more rocks pelted their walls and against Fowl’s shield, Max and Tanila continued to pump mana into their spell, waiting for the swarm of lizards to get just a little closer.
“Now!”
Both Max and Tanila’s spell unleashed giant shards of ice that rained down on the area before them. With two spells casting at the same time the area was being pelted like rain, leaving almost no area of safety as the blades of ice tore through the thick leathery skin, extinguishing the flames covering the lizard's bodies.
For fifteen seconds, death came for each of the creatures that was foolish enough to follow the others, unable to withstand the power that rained upon them.
“What now?” Tanila asked as she moved to where Max was standing, some sweat trickling down his bald head.
“The slimes… My ice magic didn’t seem to affect them like it should have. Fire magic did nothing and my weapon was a waste of an attack. They should be here in about thirty seconds, maybe a little longer. What do we do?”
“Ice magic didn’t work?” Cordellia asked as she joined the conversation. “Usually it does!”
“They’re fire based but somehow strong against both. Maybe lightning? I haven’t tried that yet.”
“Tell me what to do!” Fowl shouted as he kept his eyes focused in the direction Max had come.
“We need a straight magic attack, non-elemental. Something arcane,” Tanila replied. “I don’t have that and most don’t as the mana drain is immense and too much at early levels. We can run. How much further ahead is the exit?”
Max sighed and shrugged.
“There is about two miles worth of creatures that I didn’t kill before the exit. You all loot. I’ll lure them away and get more. Maybe I can find out if lightning does anything in the meantime.”
Before they could tell him to wait, Max was gone, running back toward the eight bouncing five foot balls of slime, each one a deep red like a ruby.
“Now what?” Batrire asked.
“We harvest and loot,” Fowl replied as he pointed at the corpses of all the lizards, riddled with chunks of ice and covered in holes.
Two more groups like the first, came as the party made their way uphill, trying to catch up with Max.
Each time the number of slimes grew, with almost thirty now chasing their warrior.
As the last of the lizards died, Max motioned at the group of slimes that moved almost like a liquid, pulsing as a pack that hopped side by side.
“Move back! I’ll let them get closer! You four climb on my stone wall, then up on my air wall and finally onto Tanila’s. I can get them to run past you while you make your way to the exit.”
“What about you?” Fowl asked as he saw Max’s stone wall appear.
“I’ll be fine. Now get climbing before I toss you up!”
Each of the group members got up the angled stone wall and then Max summoned his air one, keeping an eye on the approaching wave of slimes as they scrambled up onto Tanila’s that was now over twenty feet into the air.
Max cast a fireball, sending it crashing into the middle of the slimes. None seemed affected, but they appeared to fixate on him, bypassing the group above their heads as they moved down the incline after Max.
***
“That wasn’t fun,” Tanila said when Max joined them near the portal at the upper part of the volcano. Overpowering waves of heat continued to assault them, but the rings they wore helped against it.
“We’re fine. Now get out of here, those slimes aren’t going to give up.”
***
“Guards are still here,” Fowl muttered as they saw the men Major Greyson had stationed at the platform standing and waiting. “I still can’t believe they took our names and information after seeing us enter earlier today.”
“It’s called being diligent,” Batrire replied. “Something you sometimes fail to do.”
“Bah, I’m diligent in things that matter. Like drinking and fighting. The other stuff isn't’ as important.”
Their healer groaned and Max avoided getting in the middle of that fight. More than a dozen times Batrire had mentioned how Fowl had a propensity for leaving things everywhere in their room. Even with a built-in trash system in his storage device, the warrior sometimes just set stuff down and didn’t pick it up.
“Now what?” Cordellia asked.
“We head home, shower, eat and sleep. Tomorrow we will hit the next floor. Time is ticking and we don’t have any to waste.”
***
Tom spit on the floor inside the dining area as he listened to what they had encountered.
“Slimes… those are bad business. Knowing that none of the elemental spells worked against them means you were facing a very rare kind…” Tom paused, frowning as his eyebrows narrowed. “And on floor twenty three. I’m a bit concerned about what might come on the twenty-fourth floor for you all.”
Max saw Batrire and Fowl grimace for a moment at their trainer expressing his worry of what might be coming.
“We’ll do what we always do. Win. There is no other option.”
Tom chuckled at Max’s response and the look of determination on his face.
“That’s what I like about you all. No matter what the tower seems to throw your way, you press on. Now tell me anything else I can do for you?”
Everyone glanced at each other and with no one appearing to need it, Tom drained his cup and gave them a nod, standing and moving to another table with his finished drink in hand.
“See that?” Batrire said, elbowing Fowl.
“What?” he asked before shoving another piece of bread into his mouth.
“Even Tom knows to not leave a cup just lying on the table.”
Everyone except Fowl laughed as their dwarven warrior gave Batrire a friendly gesture with his finger.
***
“I’m pretty sure we can now without a doubt expect the boss to be fire based,” Fowl said as they zoned into the tower. Just look at this lovely place.”
The sarcasm in his voice wasn’t lost as the dwarf gestured at the massive city that was set inside a mountain with active lava flows.
Like the city with the ice giants, this one was similar, each roof appearing to be on fire, flames never going out or seeming to burn the stone they were made of. Giants that had flames for hair moved around the city, usually in packs of two or three. The red and orange glow of the light from all the fires and lava turned everything a soft color.
“Smells like arse in here,” Cordellia said as her nose wrinkled a few times. “All this sulfur and burning smell.”
Max nodded, having been overwhelmed by it the moment he portaled into the tower floor. Studying the layout beneath them and the massive sprawling city that was housed between the giant mountain they must be within left him wondering about the logistical nature of this place.
“What are you thinking?”
Giving Tanila a wink, Max chewed his lip for a moment.
“The size of that city and knowing how big it appears means we must be in a four mile wide cavern. But to actually allow my mind to believe that is something different. Obviously I can’t see how far this thing goes but I’m wondering now how a normal group handles tower floors like this.”
“You mean how long they take to clear one?”
Max nodded and tapped his temple.
“Up here I know why, but imagining spending days or weeks in a dungeon like this. The potential for danger. Sure, staying in one of those houses might be possible, but how much rest could you really get in an environment like this? Then comes the knowledge of normal gear and what an adventurer has.”
Max knew everyone was paying attention to his conversation with Tanila, his ability to sense and see them all looking at them.
“Thinking about Dexic’s group and how hard they have worked to get to where they were. The amount of grinding and time put in. How they managed against some of these floors and with the gear I knew they must have is a testament to their skill and perseverance.”
“You think we have it too easy?” Batrire asked, having moved to stand beside Max.
Shrugging his shoulders while shaking his head from side to side, he sighed.
“That’s a tough answer because honestly, we face stuff most never do. The difficulty is apparently higher than the rest, but we are also rewarded for it. Standing here, looking out at what is down there and knowing that unless something happens, we should be done here today and hopefully fighting the boss tomorrow, means that we are going to continue to outpace everyone else.”
“Which isn’t a bad thing,” Fowl said. “You have said it yourself countless times. We need to get stronger and sooner than later.”
Max sighed as he nodded.
“Correct.”
“I think what Seth is trying to say,” Tanila interrupted before anyone else could join in, “is that the floors are getting longer and harder, but we’ve still managed to beat most of them in times not possible by others. Which means when we do reach one that takes a day or two or more, are we prepared for them?”
Frowning just slightly, Max nodded, his eyes still studying the glowing city of fire and stone before them.
“I have one other thought and it’s going to seem crazy but here it is,” Max said. “After tomorrow, we’ll be a quarter of the way through the tower. The next twenty-five levels are going to be even more brutal and then the one every tower climber thinks about will be upon us. Then what? Does hitting that floor suddenly make us super strong? What about those who have been there for years or decades, grinding out experience? Everyone knows some factions have level seventy plus people that continue to grind the tower, gaining experience and items. At what point do we need to grind?”
Their dwarven warrior cleared his throat and shrugged.
“Well, let me stop you right there for now. No matter what we’re doing this together and based on what your plan is next week, we don’t have time to discuss this goblin crap. When we hit the fiftieth floor, we can discuss it then. For now, we need to nut up and get this floor done.”
Max snorted and nodded, smiling at his buddy, who was stroking his beard and grinning back at him.
“Gods, you two are so smart sometimes,” Batrire said. “Fine, let me buff us up and then we can get to work.”