Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 327

Heat and pain beyond anything Max had ever felt so far washed over him. The very hair on his head was vaporized the moment her breath found him, and Max hung there in the air as Igarra beat her wings, billowing out molten fire upon him for what seemed like an eternity.

Every ounce of his body was burned away, the very flesh that had withstood so much gone in a moment.

Only his armor and jewelry managed to survive the heat and flames, as the robe he wore had been burnt up not long after her breath covered him.

Bob continued to summon stones, bringing them to catch him as the pieces melted from the heat, keeping Max airborne.

After over thirty seconds of flames that could have incinerated an army, Igarra cut off her breath, flapping her wings, and retreated a quarter mile.

For a few seconds longer, fire dripped from his body, and when a gust of air from Bob removed the last bit, Max shimmered, his entire body, except for his hair returning to how it had been.

[ Negate Death Blow ]

“HOW? HOW? AND… That mark?! You cannot bear that mark! How do you have it?”

Max felt Bob activate the ability on his boots.

[ All cooldowns refreshed ]

A wall of air held him aloft, a quarter mile above the bottom of the arena floor, and Max laughed as his body doubled in size, his weapon and armor growing to match him as well.

“Oh, Igarra… Surely you can do better than that… I mean, one doesn’t get the mark you are talking about because they are weak. It requires impressing the owner of it. It’s a shame, really. I don’t know if you could impress him at all with what you just did.”

Those golden eyes had been wide, surprised he assumed at what she had just witnessed, but from his taunts, they narrowed, and she sped toward him again.

Sorry about this next part.

Max didn’t say a word, already knowing what was going to happen.

Her mouth opened wide, molten flames still dripping from her teeth, chomping down on where he was.

[ Blink ]

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magic Strike ]

[ Weakness ]

[ Quick Attack ]

[ Ghost Strike ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Rampage ]

Once again Bob had the same combo set up, but this time their target was something different. Something each of them knew the dragon had no idea of.

Her left nostril exploded as his skill set him inside the large open cavity, all four strikes delivering power beyond what she had obviously expected or anticipated.

Scales, blood, cartilage, and bones formed a mist and a thick cloud as her head once again thrust upward.

Aware of how it worked, Max drove off her head as she flung it upward, hot air escaping the leftover area of her nasal cavity as she roared in pain.

Bob’s gust of air pressed him down onto her body as he flew upward at first, an ice spear that had formed as the dragon charged, ramming into Igarra’s neck.

Neither anticipated it penetrating, but the point had been to distract her as each could only imagine the pain she experienced from his attack.

His spear crunched into a scale, cracking it along her neck before the dragon twisted, forcing him to retreat from the airborne beast as it rolled in midair.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

She’s healing.

Max sensed it as he had been thrust upward, flesh and bones already forming.

I need to touch her with my hands.

Be ready.

[ Blink Reset ]

[ Demonic Teleportation Reset ]

[ Blink ]

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

[ Festering Touch ]

One moment Max had been on her side; the next he was in her other nostril, punching her with his fist, before stabbing with his spear.

[ Festering Touch Resisted ]

Over and over he continued to punch and stab, lodged within the hole on her right side.

Igarra huffed multiple times, trying to free the oversized human booger that was assaulting her repeatedly.

It won’t stick!

[ Lightning Bolt ]

[ Ice Nova ]

A cry came from Igarra as both spells went off, and Max could only imagine what kind of pain they were causing in a space where she had no ability to attack beyond hot air that didn’t hurt him at all.

[ Blink Reset ]

[ Demonic Teleportation Reset ]

[ Blink ]

The large claw that had come toward him, aimed up her right nostril was avoided as Max moved from the space, falling down below her as she flew away, not chasing him for a moment.

Air spells slowed his descent, and another air spear provided him passage to the mountaintop he had started on. A large section of its top was missing.

Igarra was flapping her wings, studying him as he stood there, weapon held toward her, seeing the smirk Max wore.

Can we win this?

That remains to be seen. What kind of power she has hasn’t been completely revealed. We need to draw out her skills. Find her power, make her draw upon all the wealth of her accumulated energy. This isn’t going to be won by a single blow by either of us. Whoever wins will do so by bleeding the other dry of everything inside them.

You’re willing to sacrifice every ounce of energy and power you have?

There is only one path. Survival. Now then, say what must be said.

“I guess Kuneoss was right. You are weak. I guess the egg will be mine.”

Once more those eyes narrowed, and like an arrow she came.

[ Bulwark ]

[ Armored Warrior ]

[ Harden Skin ]

Her claw glowed two different colors as it came, and Max could barely catch sight of them as the speed matched a skill he knew all too well.

[ Dispel Successful - All Buffs Removed ]

Four slashes of the claws raked through him, as power and strength tore through his flesh, cutting his body into dozens of pieces in under a second.

Then the flash of light came, and as the attack ended, Max found himself falling until stone came to catch his feet, twenty feet of stone gone from where it had just been.

A follow up attack came from the other claw, and Max couldn’t dodge it,

[ Bulwark ]

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[ Harden Body ]

[ Armored Warrior ]

Pain came, and Max sensed the toothy grin as his left arm was severed from his body, a giant gash continuing through his stomach.

[ Ultimate Form ]

[ All cooldowns refreshed ]

Even with Regeneration running, the speed at which his lost limb regrew and the gaping wound closed, what happened next surprised all three of them.

That’s unexpected…

Bob didn’t reply as Max felt himself doubling in size again. In moments he was almost twenty-two feet tall, and he felt like a monster, his body whole once more.

More stones were rising fast, coming to assist his increased size and shape, and Igarra’s form shimmered white, vanishing faster than a blink. Now she hovered a quarter of a mile away from where she had been as his spear moved through the empty spot of space she had been attacking from.

I did not expect that either.

He felt weird. His strength was incredible, but the enormous size of his body seemed harder to control.

How many times can we do this?

I don’t think we are supposed to be able to do this. I’m not sure the system expected one to be able to reset cooldowns like this and stack it infinitely. Even now I can feel your body struggling to handle this size. Perhaps if you were evolved it could, but we need to not push it past this moment.

Frustration rose when Max learned that this wasn’t some trump card he could continue to use until he was over one hundred feet tall.

“HOW? THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE!”

“Didn’t you speak to Ezreal? Surely, he told you… unless he didn’t and wanted you to lose.”

Igarra turned her head toward the outside of the arena, her gaze landing on the box Max knew had been the last one he had used before the tower.

I need to be careful with the mana. Spells are going to be limited. Without a way to gain more, we could run out soon.

Speeding toward her as the stones propelled his larger than usual body, Max watched as the dragon began to move way, keeping her distance from him.

Max felt the stones vanish as he changed positions.

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

A spear of wind, at least ten feet wide, had just entered his Sonar range, only avoided because of Bob’s ability to react in an instant.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Stop being a coward!” Max shouted as the stones came under him, lifting him up again.

[ Blink Reset ]

[ Demonic Teleportation Reset ]

“Show your people you’re as strong as you say you are! Or perhaps you really are a coward!”

Gods, she hates you.

Max almost chuckled as the dragon turned and came at him again.

Let’s do this!

***

Looking to his side, Max could see another a fresh addition to the hundreds of his shredded limbs lying on the rubble and rock-strewn ground, blood splattered everywhere as his chest heaved.

Gone were most of the mountains’ tops, small chunks of scarred stone flesh, drenched in the lifeblood of both him and Igarra.

[ Ultimate Form ]

We are nearing the limits of what I can do, but so is she.

Coughing and spitting blood as he grew to his twenty-two foot size again, Max glared at the beast, which was glaring at him through her only good eye. She was grounded and unable to fly, both wings torn from clashes between the two of them that felt ages ago.

Acidic blood dripped everywhere, as a patchwork of scales had been ripped from her body. Gone was the majestic creature that had seemed a god to so many, now simply a dragon that had been fighting a war of attrition for almost an hour

“How… no man should be able to do what you have done… gods… gods would die to me…”

Her voice was raspy. No longer did it carry the power it once had, and Max could see the blood that ran from both of her broken and torn nostrils.

“Perhaps that is what I am… a god killer!” Max shouted. “You think you… You think you can kill anyone you want! Take anything you want! But no more!”

We have to try… you and I know this is our only hope now.

This is dangerous… it may not work, but you know I am at my limits… maybe twice more I can reset everything. Everything I had is gone. Are you willing to risk it?

Either we strike now, or she will continue to regain power… my mana comes back fast enough to maintain a few things… hers even faster. Whatever powers she has had, whatever skills they have been, it has been over ten minutes, and Igarra hasn’t activated a single thing. If something resets, then we are doomed.

Then do it. Just know, this is going to hurt.

Everything has hurt… no matter what, though… Thank you, Bob.

A chuckle sounded in his head, and Max smirked, ready for what he was about to do.

Igarra shifted lower as his face changed.

“I’m done dodging you, you bitch! I’m going to run this through your heart!” he cried as he hefted his spear upward.

Max took off, running with everything he had, watching as the golden dragon raised her claw, the one working eye tracking his forward movement, preparing for him.

As she swung, Max couldn’t help but know Bob was right. Everything was going to hurt.

[ Bulwark ]

[ Armored Warrior ]

[ Harden Skin ]

[ Phasing ]

The swipe passed through him, and Max plunged headfirst into her body, searching for what he needed to find as the beast turned and twisted, trying to find where he had gone.

There. Left. Now right!

Each second ticked by slowly as the dragon spun, and her body shifted, Max trying to find what he was searching for.

Inside the dragon's chest, protected by bone stronger than anything Max could imagine was her heart, and he was going to fight it.

As the last second ticked by and Max knew he was close but not quite, there, he felt the darkness of his space shift, his Sonar skill telling him exactly where the beating of the beast’s heart was.

[ Blink ]

Pain came far worse than anything so far today. Like a mountain smashed every single bit of his being to pieces, crushed under a mountain. No, a world.

Max could hear the roar and cry of pain as Igarra jerked upward, her body spasming as his body and her heart fought for dominance.

The battle of beings raged and happened faster than it seemed as Max felt his life flashing before him in a way it had never done before. Tanila’s smiling face. Her soft lips pressed against his. The way her hair smelled when he held her close.

As his nostrils were filled with the stench of acidic blood and the pain of everything else, it changed, replaced by the fresh flowers and clean scent he knew and longed for.

Max’s eyes flew open as light rushed around him, and his skill changed the course of the battle in a moment.

[ Negate Death Blow ]

He had lost track of the number of times Bob had reset his skills, keeping the one active, avoiding the death he should have experienced.

Waves of flames washed out from him as the momentum shifted, and Max’s hand touched the dragon’s heart.

[ Festering Touch ]

[ Fire Nova ]

For so long the fire familiar had sat there, simply existing, no flame spells cast against Igarra as Max knew he couldn’t damage the golden-armored barrier that encompassed her.

Now, he let it all go.

Inside the space he had created, Max could feel Igarra flailing on the ground as he absorbed an impact from outside the body.

She is hitting herself…

FOCUS! END IT NOW!

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magic Strike ]

[ Weakness ]

[ Quick Attack ]

[ Ghost Strike ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Rampage ]

His spear transformed, now a sword, and with it the last of his mana was gone.

Max didn’t care as the blade moved with the precision of a butcher, carving up the heart twice his normal size in a second.

Blood that burned ate at his skin, and Regeneration couldn’t help as the mana it required was exhausted.

None of that mattered. He was protected by her own attacks, her very body and bones preventing her from reaching him.

Here he could end this fight, certain now there was nothing she could do to stop him.

The heart tried to regrow, whatever skill she had been saving stitching it back over and over, and each second was a battle of her power and his fury. The initial strike that had carved it to pieces gave him the edge, and each second Max pulled ahead, slowing the tide of healing.

After eight seconds had passed, a wall of air appeared, forcing back the pressing mass of tissue that had been trying to squish and limit Max, giving him a place to fight from, and he continued to carve and hack.

A loud sound came, and Max felt the world shifting again as he fought to stay upright.

Three more slashes, another, and another.

Cold power froze him mid-swing, and Max took a deep breath, gasping at the pain of what he felt.

Max!

[ Demonic Teleportation ]

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