Ultimate Level 1

Chapter 294

“So now I showed off too much?”

Kauakan’s expression was hard to read, his exoskeleton not changing at all, yet the pair of eyes and how the eyelids moved were the only clue that he was nervous.

“You have made it difficult for me to convince one of the others to put their champion against you. Those two, while not strong, have survived in this place because of their teamwork. What you did…”

The insect’s hooked claws rubbed against each other behind his back.

“There is no doubt by how you toyed with them that this is not the place for you.”

“What does that mean?” Aimee asked, once again trying to join in a conversation Kauakan had twice now tried to keep her out of. “You still owe us for the win, and we both know you will earn a lot by taking us to the next ring.”

Angry chittering came from the leader’s maw as he turned his attention toward the lizard woman standing next to Max.

“Tell me, what have you given him that prevents me from striking you dead right now.”

To her credit, Aimee moved a step closer toward the towering insect and never flinched.

“If you feel that doing so wouldn’t result in your body experiencing far worse than those two did, I’m right here. I won’t even fight back.”

She held her arms out and stood like a tree that was about to be assaulted by a storm.

A chuckle came, and Kauakan slowly brought a bladed hand from behind his back and held it a few inches from Aimee’s face.

His eyes, however, never left Max’s gaze.

With his hood down and the knowledge a smooth skin was the newest fighter signed to his house, Kauakan understood the game he was playing.

“You are not worth the trouble, yet I will honor our bargain.”

The insect turned and moved to where the door was, stopping just before pushing it open.

“About a minute after I leave, they will summon you. When you defeat this next one, we shall all find ourselves standing somewhere new tomorrow.”

Glancing over his shoulder, Kauakan met Max’s gaze once more.

“From that moment on, you shall see what a real fighter is capable of.”

Ducking, he pushed on the door, opening it and shutting it behind him.

Max felt Aimee falter a step when the door closed and was about to say something until she held a hand up, taking a breath as a shiver ran through her. ȒÂ𝐍ȰᛒƐs̈

The moment it passed, her facial muscles made her scales almost ripple like waves as she seemed to glare at him.

“Put the hood on and toy with this next one. You cannot make it look too easy, or we will never get the tokens we need.”

“How much money… I mean tokens do I have to earn?”

Reaching into a pocket of her robe, Aimee pulled out the purse and emptied it in her hand.

Max saw the three red tokens and the two green tokens. Each token was worth ten of the next until they reached the white tokens and some other one she never even bothered talking about.

“I have enough for a few weeks’ worth of room and board. I’m not sure if or when Romandis might pay you something for what you did, but we would survive only a single day on this amount in the next part of town. Prices go up, but so does the amount one can earn.”

She tucked the tokens back into her pouch and put it away.

“You realize we will need at least fifty juanguels before I can buy a power stone?”

Max nodded, knowing she was talking about the yellow ones, which were worth ten of the green ones each.

“If we want to make more, you need to make these fights closer. If you don't, finding an opponent will become harder, and the payout will be far less as everyone bets on you. When that happens…”

“The house doesn’t win, and we lose money.”

“Yes… money… that word… it feels so weird in my head. Now then, are you sure you are okay? You seem… different.”

“I’m fine. A part of me just realized how many I am going to have to… kill. I will be fine with that.”

A cackle of excitement came from his companion as she started to dance a little.

“Yes! You are learning! We take what we want!”

Forcing a smile, Max nodded, moving back to his chair, and sat down, pulling the hood over his face once more as he retrieved his staff that rested against the wall.

Less than ten seconds later, a banging on the door came, and he let out a groan.

As the door opened, a moth that Max recognized as Kauakan’s attendant poked its head in.

“It’s time.”

***

The very sand of the arena shook, and Max was amazed at how many had crammed themselves into the watching area of the space.

No empty space was available, and at least five hundred or more were now present, yelling and cheering as the crowd prepared for this matchup.

A dozen stones, each one about twelve inches squared were scattered around the combat area, and Max saw that his opponent had stone daggers set in a sheath like the woman Kaurma from Aimee’s village had.

His opponent was a snake person, and he hadn’t caught the name or how it really sounded when his companion had cursed, spitting on the floor upon seeing who he would fight.

She is dangerous… far more dangerous than Kaurma was .

Those words of Aimee’s made him a little more cautious as the memory of the gorgon came to his mind.

“Tonight we have a champion we have not seen in a while! Lukahass has returned! The famed Stone Master has come to grind our newest fighter into gravel!”

Ignoring the cheers and shouts, Max studied his opponent.

Lukahass had black scales that were noticeably thicker than Aimee’s or any of the other scaled beings he had seen. They glistened slightly, her body accented by a thick red line of scales that ran down her back. She had to be at least twenty feet long, but she was coiled and standing only about eight feet right now.

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Long scaled arms with sharp claws twitched at her side as she stared at him with her blood-red eyes.

If it wasn’t for the death gaze she gave him, Max could see how some might find her very attractive. Her face was simply scaled but looked like any other person. Even the two fangs that protruded from her top lip seemed to go well with the full black lips on her face.

“Two minutes are left! Place all bets!”

The announcer’s words only seemed to encourage the frenzy of noise as spectators pushed and shoved against each other, all clambering to wager upon who they believed would live.

“It’s a shame you’re going to die,” Lukahass hissed at him. “Do not think I will hesitate to kill you.”

Max nodded, not replying, and still had his hood pulled over his head.

You realize what she might grant us?

The hunger inside him had been growing since the moment Max found out his opponent had an ability he didn’t.

I do… the real question is how much can we play with her without putting ourselves at risk?

A chuckle came, and Max already knew the question that was about to come.

You could let me toy with her. While part of me wants to watch you give in, the other part of me can still sense the hesitation inside. I can be as kind as you desire or make it so that none ever challenge us again.

No… I need to do this. If I keep letting you handle this… these kinds of things, I may not be able to do what I know is coming. And if you are gone like you were for the last seven days, then what?

You have grown in many ways in a week. Fine. I shall say nothing. She is all yours.

Neither said a word as they waited.

When the drums began to sound, Max felt that his heart was calm.

Tanila… forgive me, but I do this to come back to you.

As the bells chimed, movement came from around the arena as each stone block rushed as one, each at a different height, aiming for a different area of his body.

Moving to one side, Max spun his staff, trying to dodge what he could, impressed at how fast these stone weapons moved.

Shattering one caused it to splinter, and Max saw the error of his decision as the broken pieces simply came at him as a barrage of stone chunks.

Cursing to himself, he summoned a wall of air behind him, ignoring the sounds of the stones that crashed into it, sensing more shards now filling the arena.

The crowd cheered as Max held up his arms, suffering the barrage of stone and pieces that tore through his robes, multiple pieces piercing his skin.

Just how strong are these things that they can cut my body?

He had thought laughter had come from Lukahass when the blocks shattered, and soon the sounds of the ones he had dodged slamming into each other, creating a cloud of dust and more weapons for his opponent to use against him.

Max started casting a fireball, not making it near as powerful as he could, and did his best, dodging and weaving as he tried to close in on his opponent, watching her slither around, putting her stone pieces between him and her, a whirlwind of sharp stone pieces flying all around him.

Closing his eyes, and glad the hood was still hiding his face, Max trusted his skill, wanting to protect his vision from the dust and tiny pieces that pelted him nonstop.

More of his robe was torn, and red splotches appeared on the dark material as well as the sand beneath his feet.

The flames of his spell sped toward the woman, and she changed the path of her deadly tornado, the pieces moving so quickly and forming a wall which dispersed the flames.

Even the air of her movements pushed them upward and away from her body.

Lukahass didn’t miss a beat. The moment his spell was blocked and the flames were no longer a problem, she resumed her attack, the patchwork wall splitting into pieces and coming for every square inch of his body.

[ Regeneration ]

Max felt the pain of all the pieces that were lodged into his skin and muscle and knew that he had to endure more, yet for the first time since coming here, he realized just how dangerous a fighter she might be.

If she is only strong enough for this section, how powerful are the others deeper in the city?

A barrage of stone assaulted him, turning his cloak to tatters, and as the fabric was destroyed, the crowd started to notice what was underneath it.

Max could sense a change in their shouts. No longer was it simply a crowd wanting to witness a good death.

They called for him to be killed.

He could sense a change in Lukahass as she realized what he was.

She had been toying with him as he had been wanting to toy with her, and the stones that had been assaulting him came with twice the force as they had before, no longer simply burying a half inch into his flesh—now they pelted him and ripped off chunks, shearing skin and muscle, and a few larger pieces almost fractured a bone.

His joints were targeted, and his staff was a blur once more, attempting to destroy the larger pieces, willing to accept the smaller ones, which acted like sandpaper, stripping away his body.

The gray cloud of dust had become red, each stone now painted with his blood, and Max sensed the daggers in her sheaths coming free.

Each one was sharp, honed to a point, and Max’s Sonar skill warned him that unlike the other pieces, these would cut much deeper.

A wall of ice appeared before him as he began casting Ice Nova, a small reprieve from the assault that had begun the moment the first bell chimed.

It only took a second for the spell he was casting to go off, not wanting to potentially hit the spectators who were closest to the stone walls, almost falling over it as they called out for his death.

A wave of cold radiated from around him, and even though Lukahass tried to run away from it and summon her wall to stop it, the power caught part of her tail, and Max remembered how much snakes hated the cold.

Moving faster than he had been, he raced toward her in a few steps, his bloodied body slamming through the wall of stone she erected, swinging his staff at her.

Both arms came up, attempting to block the attack, and the sound of bones shattering filled his ears, followed by her scream of pain.

Max gave a grunt as four pieces of stone struck him from behind. The six daggers she had sent had returned, and while he knew dodging or preventing all but one from hitting was possible, he needed to sell a lie.

The two that hit his legs did nothing, unable to puncture the armor he wore. One buried itself in his lower back, while another struck the joint of his shoulder.

It hurt, yet Max knew what he had to do, and this next part couldn’t be a show of any great spell. Already he had shown another trick by revealing his ice magic, but it had been planned.

Not slowing down, Max plowed into Lukahass, letting his staff fall to the ground as he wrapped both arms around her torso.

She flailed in his arms, her tail starting to wrap and constrict around his torso and legs.

Unsure how much power was required, Max started to squeeze, listening and waiting until a snap came and the coils began to unwind.

The two daggers were driving deeper into his body, sliding through his flesh, fighting against the power of his Regeneration skill.

Letting go, Max sat up, now straddling the woman, and began to pound her face with his fists.

As each blow struck, the crowd became quieter, seeing the battle shifting from their desired outcome to a new one.

One last fist connected, the crunch of a cheek bone gone, and Max stopped his assault.

Blood covered the sand, and he gazed down at the body beneath him.

Pulling the stone dagger that was lodged in his shoulder, Max gave a grunt, creating another geyser of his life force, tossing the weapon to the side.

Lukahass’s breath was ragged, her face beaten and bloodied. One eye was gone, and both arms were broken in multiple places. Her beautiful lips and both fangs had vanished, turned into a paste.

“You did well,” Max said as he pulled his fist back, his gaze fixed on the last eye that stared up at him.

A shockwave moved through the sand as his fist obliterated her head.

Once more the stadium went quiet before erupting with a cheer that felt hollow.

What Max cared about was what appeared in his vision.

[ Consume has successfully Consumed a skill ]

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

[ Yes / No ]

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