Ultimate Level 1

“Two more port side!”

Max cursed under his breath as Cordellia called out more of these misshapen creatures climbed up the sides of the ship.

His halberd cut through a barnacle covered man that originally had a massive crab claw, now lying four feet away after having hacked it off. Dozens of bodies of fallen attackers littered the deck, coating it in slime and blood.

“I’ve got those two!” Fowl shouted as he held the stairs where Tanila and Batrire stood behind him, spells raining down non stop.

Notifications of stat increases had stopped, but he still had hoped one might give him a few more points.

Strength and Constitution are now at three hundred and seven…

Each point was amplified by the growing level of tower experience and his new boots, creating a curve which made it unfair against these men and women that appeared to have been fused with sea creatures.

Leaping over a pair of tentacles that still twitched on the wooden planks, Max brought his hammer side down, smashing through an armored shell a half crab, half women attempting to block his attack.

She became another stain on the deck as so many had, unable to stand against the increase in power he now possessed.

Arrows came from above, as their ranger called out the wave of invaders that seemed to have no end in sight.

“The experience is amazing!” Fowl yelled out as his weapon brained a creature with a face like a shrimp. “Worst part is I’m getting hungry for seafood!”

Still grinning, Max couldn’t help but appreciate the dungeon serving up experience so nicely. Any other party would be struggling under the constant arrival, but most of their attackers barely made it ten feet onto the deck before finding themselves missing a limb or dead.

***

Collecting the orange gems took a while as over three hundred invaders that had attempted to storm the ship vanished. Splotches of blood and other discolored stains were still on the wooden planks, as well as a very fishy smell, but the system removed the rest.

“Almost two hours straight,” Fowl stated as he sat on his chair he now brought with him everywhere. “Tell me I’m not the only one who enjoyed that.”

Chuckles and nods came as they chewed their food and drank water, enjoying the small reprieve for the last ten minutes.

“You want to trade spots?” Max shouted up at Cordellia.

“No! I like being up here, safe from all that down there!”

“Smart elf,” Batrire said as she wiped her hands off on her robes. “Healing is a lot easier with you two both healing yourself. Tell me, Seth, how strong are you now?”

Fowl’s eyes lit up at the sharing of stats, leaning forward toward his bald friend.

“I’m over three hundred now.”

Coughing, Fowl’s eyes watered as he pulled his flask out and took another drink.

“Natural?! That means you have a boon!”

Nodding, Max shrugged.

“I’ve had it for a while, but didn’t want to seem like I was flaunting it. It increases my damage and makes me hit like I’m a taller tier creature.”

Whistling, Fowl shook his head.

“That’s why you’re smashing these poor sea creatures like you are.”

“They're stronger too, though. Their strength is three hundred, as is their constitution.”

“So that would explain why–” Fowl stopped himself, eyes widening as he gasped. “You have a three hundred constitution also?!”

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Sighing, Max grinned.

“Gods it's not fair! Ockrim! Love on me, please!”

Batrire kicked her lover's chair and shook her head.

“He gave you me. That should be enough.”

Fowl winced but said nothing in response, frowning for a moment.

“Let’s worry about stats later,” Tanila said. “For now, we need to just stay ready for whatever comes next.”

***

The sounds of explosions were muffled across the water.

Six hours of consistent fighting followed and as the sun began to dip toward the edge of the waters, a large fortress appeared on an island at the edge of the waters.

Everyone tried to see what was taking place as it finally came into view.

An island that had to be about three miles long and maybe a mile wide had a massive fortress with forty plus foot walls all around it.

Cannons were firing from everywhere on top of the walls.

Burning ships were sinking near the shore where it appeared they tried to dock. Near the shore was a small town.

“Do we really need to fight that?”

No one had an answer for their healer's question as they watched dozens of cannonballs rain down from the walls, crashing into a ship that was already sinking.

“Look! I see more of those sea raider people we fight!”

Cordellia’s eyes and spot on the top of the ship allowed her to first see what they couldn’t.

“A fortress ran by those things… Maybe we do need to siege the fortress,” Max said as he turned toward the cannons. “Quick, everyone to a cannon! We need to see how fast they can fire!”

Max moved to the port side, which was away from the fort, while the other three stood on the aft side.

“Pull the rope and see how long it takes before it will fire again!”

Each of them gave their cannon’s rope a tug and four distinct booms echoed across the deck.

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Counting in his head it took fifteen seconds before each of theirs fired again.

Like clockwork, for ten shots, it had a fifteen second timer between uses.

Bending down, Max wrapped his arms around his cannon and lifted it up.

It creaked for a moment, and then chunks of wood came with it.

Storing it he moved to the other side and hacked off a section of the ship, setting the cannon back down where he had created a firing spot for it.

The cannon started to meld back into the deck, the torn planks joining the others and soon it looked like it belonged there except for the misshapen firing hole.

“That’s some smart thinking,” Tanila said. “Definitely a warrior with a few points in intelligence.”

Nodding, he ran back over and ripped up the other two, keeping them stored for now.

“Cordellia! Come down for now! I’m pretty sure this next part will be better if you’re here to help!”

With everyone gathered, they started working on aiming the cannons as much as possible and finding out the distance a cannonball would travel.

“What if you put one up near the front of the ship on the aft side, or maybe even two?”

“To help attack early as we come near the island?”

Cordellia nodded, glad to know Max saw her point.

“Exactly. With the way the cannons appear fixed, it would allow us a chance to maybe hit a few different targets. These things have between a half mile and mile range, depending on their angle. The front of the ship will increase with its angle of the deck.”

Giving their ranger a slap on the back, Max jogged to the front of the ship with her in tow.

“Here and here?”

She nodded, marking the spots with a dagger in the wood.

“This angle would be best and this position would give a few different shooting lanes.”

Hacking off more of the side of the ship, Max created openings she had recommended and set the two cannons down, still amazed at how they rejoined the ship.

“I guess we should practice a little more before we get there.”

Both of them were laughing, acting like kids with a new toy as cannonballs soared over the water before splashing a mile away.

***

Night fell as the first few shots of five newly placed cannon’s rang out in the darkness.

A half moon shimmered across the sea, providing an eerie glow on the dark waters.

Torches and other lights appeared all over the fort and the city within the bay.

The ones that had magically lit up on their ship were immediately snuffed out by Tanila as they snuck across the darkness, hoping to gain any advantage possible during this new test of the tower.

Cracks rang out and bells sounded from the fort as their first few shots missed, but all of them made quick adjustments as Cordellia called out what they needed to fix.

Max couldn’t help but smile as their Elven ranger moved between them, helping adjust, succeeding in her element.

Cannon balls began to strike some of the fortifications, bodies being flung from the ramparts as their weapons exploded from the assault.

“Careful when we get close! It appears these might do the same if destroyed!”

Max already planned on relocating some of the cannons the closer they got but for now, they had a better angle and each shot sent a wave of destruction.

“Fire group A!”

Batrire and Tanila both pulled their ropes, sending two projectiles at the spot they were aimed at. Four seconds passed.

“Fire group B!”

Max and Fowl pulled their rope, sending two more at the next target.

A few seconds later Cordellia pulled on hers, adjusting to help against the targets just fired upon.

Every five seconds, the boom of cannons went off, walking a line of damage along the fort.

***

“Keep the time! Be ready to move!”

They were in the bay and the fires of the previous sinking ship along with the burning town at the port, illuminated their approach.

All five cannons were now facing the front, chaos taking place on the land where packs of sea raiders ran around, seemingly unable to defend against the current raining of cannonballs.

Every three seconds, a metal ball of death raced toward the fortress, now aimed at the giant set of metal doors that protected the entrance of the keep.

Huge dents and bent areas were present, but the five continued to fire, knowing that soon the time to jump off the ship and get to land would come.

Another grinding of their hull against a sunken ship sounded out as the boat shifted slightly before regaining its course.

Booms came from the fortress and cannonballs whizzed over the ship, some striking air walls that Max and Tanila summoned, a few others taking chunks off the ice walls they had attached to the front of the ship.

“Half a mile tops! We’re going to be moving soon! Be ready Seth!”

Already the ship was starting to turn slightly, aimed at the wooden dock that in all this fighting seemed invulnerable to any damage.

Ripping the two port cannons off, he moved them to the aft side, angling them for shots before returning to the front with Fowl and Cordellia.

“Like shooting pirates in a… something,” Fowl said, realizing his joke never materialized as he had hoped.

***

“Off the ship! Now!”

Flaming casks continued to fly toward their position from behind the fortress walls, lobbed over like someone was using a siege weapon.

Both of their air walls had stopped a pair but time was up and the docks were only a hundred yards away.

Yanking up two of the cannons, Max stored them, unable to save the third which was burning and would soon explode like the first one had.

“Jump and swim!”

Max grabbed Tanila and Batrire as Cordellia and Fowl jumped into the water.

His leap got them much closer to shore and the trio found themselves in water only slightly over their head.

Tiny fish began to race toward them, each only about two feet long, yet spinning teeth were at the tip of their body, attempting to cut flesh as they bored into someone.

Max swatted at them with his hands, unable to use his weapon while the other two were close.

Both women came up from the water, yelping and swimming frantically as more came when blood appeared, turning the water into a mess of silver shapes.

His sonar told Max there had to be over a hundred with at least twice that coming towards them.

Fowl was struggling to swim, but his plate armor seemed to be stopping the swarm from injuring him.

“Go!” Max shouted as he channeled lightning, knowing that what he was about to do was stupid.

Man I hope Tom wasn’t right…

Trying to guess how much power he needed and what kind of damage it might do, Max unleashed a short build up into the area around him, feeling the lightning spell jolting himself and everything else in the water.

Tanila and Batrire were fine, unaffected but his hand went numb from where the lighting had erupted out of.

Around him, the fish in a thirty-foot circle stopped moving. Apparently stunned for a second as the lightning traveled out from him.

Grinning and knowing he was going to be even dumber, Max got his feet set and began to cast ball lightning.

“Keep running, I got this!”

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