Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 447: The First Test

“This reminds me of one of the forests back home,” Cordellia said as she placed a hand against the smooth bark. “Each of these trees feels… magical.”

Tall trees stretched upward over two hundred feet, their tops swaying slightly with a breeze that carried the sound and the scent of a proper forest.

“She’s right,” Tanila stated. “If you look at these and how close they are together, it’s not like the other forests we have fought in.”

His sonar was detecting everything possible, and nothing felt out of place. Still, Max couldn’t shake the feeling of concern that wanted to overwhelm him.

That being… what they said.

It appears the tower is going to prove whatever point it has. If I didn’t know any better, I would almost wonder if…

Bob’s thoughts matched up with what he had been wondering.

“Guys, I need to check something. You can hide in my dimensional storage, or Fowl can keep everyone near him.”

“What are you planning on doing?”

Smiling at Batrire, he pointed upward.

“This doesn’t feel like the tower. I never felt like the tower wasn’t… real, but somehow everything here is… how it should be. The way it smells, how the wind blows, the noise of the leaves and animals. All of those things are how a forest should be. All the other floors we’ve been on had elements of that but not all of them together.”

He could see Tanila’s eyes widen.

“You think we’re on a different world?”

“Yes and no. If we were, I’d expect to have received a message about being on a new one. That is what made me think this was just another floor. Yet Bob and I were talking, and we felt it was not a level. What if there are worlds for each floor but not actual worlds?”

“Uh… a world not being a world? Like cheese not being cheese?” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

Smiling, Max shrugged at Fowl.

“It sounds weird I know, but trust me on this. So what do you want to do? Stay here or get into the dimensional space?”

“My opinion is we take the safe place. No point worrying about something jumping out of the woods and attacking while you’re wherever you are. Not that I don’t think I could take a hit or two but…”

Seeing how his friend was acting, Max nodded and summoned his dimensional vault and allowed them to all go inside.

“I’ll be right back. Sit tight.”

A groan came from their healer as Fowl laughed before the door closed.

The moment they were safe, Max bent down and jumped into the air, letting Bob use the wind magic to propel him higher.

Up into the sky, past the tops of the trees, he could look out and see the vast space beneath them. A thick forest was all around them. A few spots in the woods showed an empty place between the trees, and further away, in another direction, was what looked like a possible town with buildings and a small river next to it.

Higher and higher he flew, starting to sense the cold air and how it got thinner.

A tower floor would normally not allow us to go this high. Does this mean this is really a world? A pocket world?

He could sense Bob working through some things as they slowly spun around, watching the terrain change from trees to a mountain range far off in the distance.

A pocket world… It makes sense that something like the tower could have them. Still if this is the typical part of the tower, it would explain why it took so long for parties to conquer the floors.

From his vantage point, Max could see that if they had gone in one direction, it would take weeks to reach the area with the mountains while only needing about four days to find the area that looked like a town.

Summoning his dimensional storage, he beckoned for them to come close.

“Don’t lean out and fall, but take a look.”

Fowl let out a slight groan as he glanced downward from the opening.

“We’re… awfully high. A little warning next time?”

Seeing that his friend appeared a little green, Max nodded.

“So this really doesn’t feel like a tower floor,” Tanila stated. “All the other ones we’ve been on didn’t look like this.”

Moving to sit on the edge of the ledge, he shrugged and pointed in two different directions.

“I’ve never seen a tower floor as large as this one or was able to go this high. Part of me is glad you thought the same thing.”

“Wait, you both believe this isn’t like all the others?” Cordellia asked. “As in…”

“I’m not sure,” Max replied. “It could be a world or perhaps just something designed for the tower. The options seem… limitless, I guess.”

“In what way?” Batrire asked as she shuffled over to where he was on her rear, letting her legs dangle out over the edge.

“My love… please be careful,” Fowl protested. “That’s a long fall.”

“Bah, he won’t let me die. Stop being a chicken, and come sit by me.”

Shaking his head, their warrior kept a few feet between himself and the entrance of the dimensional space.

Their healer turned back to Max and motioned for him to talk.

“When I asked that… being the question of different worlds, I felt like it surprised them. After talking with Bob, we’re both certain these floors aren’t like the others. All of you could sense the aura coming off the others, right?”

“Only yours at the moment, but I think it has to do with your dimensional space,” Batrire replied.

“True, but Dagon and some of his Guard had the same aura, which leads me to believe they all have reached this tower floor. Only those who have achieved this level would have it. And he couldn’t talk about it, which seems to go along with what we were told.”

“So this is really the big gap in the tower, not the 51st,” Tanila muttered. “We all noticed the difference in power of the creatures we faced. If that’s the case, we should expect what’s coming next to be worse?”

“Stronger for sure. I’m more interested in knowing what we’ll be facing. Learning from Igarra’s tower that the system uses other worlds to put what we face here creates a lot of problems. Still that means we’ll need to find the exit and figure out what we’re in store for.”

“Are you wanting to fight or just look for the exit?”

Cordellia’s question was a good one, and Max tried to get a read off of everyone else.

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“What do you all think?”

“I just want to be back on the ground,” Fowl muttered. “I doubt whatever we face will give you trouble, but if you want, I’m always up for bashing something.”

The rest all nodded and with no one wanting to make a decision, he dropped off the ledge, letting Bob keep him afloat and motioned for them to move back.

“I’ll scout some more and then let you know what I find. In the meantime, I’ll make sure you’re all safe.”

As they all moved deeper into his dimensional space, Tanila blew him a kiss.

“Be safe and don’t have too much fun.”

Chuckling, Max blew her a kiss back and grinned.

“Imagine having fun in the tower.”

***

[ Consume has Successfully Consumed a Skill ]

[ Skill is lower rank than current skill ]

[ Power stored for future use ]

That thing was far weaker than I expected.

His sword had cleaved the half goat, half man in half without trying, leaving what looked like a legless man and a headless goat. The other ten that had been with it died to the lightning Bob sent out in a single blast.

Yes. It would appear Fowl was right. These are no match. And the skills from each of them are worthless.

Flicking the blood off his blade, he picked up one-half of the creature and stored it, trying to ignore the musky scent that it gave off.

This is the third pack we’ve faced, and they are all aggressive. Even when I call out to them, none of them stop their approach.

A few did seem surprised at first, but then again, who expects their opponent to baah as you did.

We’re closing in on the city area. I guess we can stop killing these and just see what is there.

Launching upward into the sky, Max stayed closer to the tree tops, watching as different colored birds and other animals flew off as he passed by, causing the tree tops to bend from the speed at which he flew.

Soon, the treeline vanished, and he saw the town drawing near and activated stealth, hiding as he reached the outer edge of the forest, hovering in midair.

Below him was an open space with a long winding stream that ran through a town with a lot of activity. An entire city filled with these creatures were working in fields, drawing water, and the other sounds of life one would suspect from a place like this. Stone and wood buildings were intermingled, with a twenty-foot wall surrounding the city's actual part. Occasionally, he could make out guards who traveled in packs of six or more, all jogging along the road, weapons and armor bouncing as they moved.

There are children down there…

A twinge of something came from Bob, and both of them saw the groups of smaller half-goats and half-humans running and kicking a ball, yelling and shouting as they played a game.

Could the tower really want us to kill all of them?

I’m unsure what the tower wants, but our introduction told us that your decisions will have consequences. Killing all of them could destroy a race. Not removing them might allow them to develop into something more. Peaceful? Aggressive? Neither of which I’m certain of.

Frowning, Max felt the pain of uncertainty.

If I tell the others, then they are forced into being part of a decision that might haunt all of them. I would much rather bear the burden of this choice. Especially Tanila.

You plan on trying to talk with them again. Even after all the other times, has it failed?

That was in the woods. Here, it appears they are prepared to fight, but if pressed and they see that nothing they do can injure me, perhaps they would be more open to discussion.

And if they aren’t?

Then, I will kill only those I must and look for the portal.

Sensing Bob's acceptance of his decision, Max descended to the ground and broke stealth.

Without bringing out his weapon or shield, he slowly approached the town, moving through the vineyards set up on the outer edges.

A loud bleat came and soon he could see a group of armored goatmen coming toward him, weapons drawn as they charged. A city bell began to ring out in the distance where the town was.

“Wait! I do not want to fight!”

“All intruders must die!” one shouted back, and the pack came at him, ignoring the damage they were doing to the crops, their swords and axes hacking up the food they had planted.

Blades came at him, and Max simply deflected them with his hands, watching as none of them even cut him.

Over and over the blows landed, and after about twenty seconds of just standing there, letting their strikes reach him, he saw two of them come from opposite sides, their weapons glowing for a second as each swung in unison.

Bob’s hesitation was there, but with his hands outstretched, he parried both, watching as the blades shattered against his palms.

“I told you I don’t want to fight!”

His tone and what had just happened to the last attack caused the group of seven to all take a few steps back.

“Who are you?! Why have you come?! You cannot have our young ones!”

The look on the goat-man who had spoken felt off.

He’s older… a bit of grey in his beard. And I think he’s actually fearful of me.

“I don’t want your young ones. I just want–”

“Lies!”

One of the goatmen behind him came from behind, its large axe coming at his neck.

Sighing, Max didn’t bother even to deflect it, letting the blade strike him and watching as it bounced off harmlessly.

“I don’t want to fight because if I do, you’ll all die. All I want is the portal that lets me leave.”

“He speaks our tongue,” one of the men next to the older one said. “How?”

A shushing sound came as the grey-bearded goat-man slowly moved toward him.

“Who are you and why are you here?”

“The tower brought me here, and I am Max. My party and I have come to complete–”

“The tower? It brought you here?”

Nodding slowly, his sonar told him everyone appeared anxious, weapons trembling as the few remaining ones pointed at him.

“All who come from the tower only come to kill. Yet you claim not to want that, and you speak our language. Why should we believe you?”

Max smiled, sensing that one of these goats had a lick of intelligence.

“Allow me to show you.”

Bob started to laugh inside his head as he lifted upward off the ground and his bow appeared in his hand.

Drawing it back, he aimed it at a tree.

[ Empowered Ranged Attack ]

The glowing arrow that had formed out of nothing streaked from the weapon he had crafted and impacted one of the trees at the edge of the clearing. To say its base exploded would have been an understatement as the arrow shattered it and the next four it hit, causing a display of destruction as trees began to topple over.

All the goatmen under him began to back away further, obviously now understanding where they stood compared to his power.

Slowly descending, Max stored his weapon and faced the grey-bearded goat.

“As you can see, killing you wouldn’t be a problem. Had I wanted to do that, I would not have bothered to try and talk.”

“I… I see that. Would you be willing to remain here while we summon our elder?”

Sensing that for once, someone might come and not require him to wipe out everyone before him, Max nodded.

A chair appeared in his hand, and he took a seat.

“I can wait.”

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