Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 443: When You’re The Strongest

Chapter 443 - When You're The Strongest

Max and the others stood on an illuminated section of stone.

“It’s shielded, can’t get through it,” Fowl said as he banged his hammer against it. “I guess this means we’re not going to get a head start.”

“We’re fine. Give me a minute as I summon our sixth.”

The dimensional area opened up, and Sog’thollech quickly stepped out, taking a few deep breaths like every time before.

“Sorry… it always gets me.”

Waving the comment off, Max turned to Cordellia and watched as she summoned her wolf.

Its purple fur seemed almost to glow as it sat beside her, eyes scanning their section.

“What’s the plan?” Batrire asked as she cast her buff.

Tapping his head, Max grinned.

“If the design they showed on the screen matches up with the real thing, I’ve already memorized the layout. If not… I’m going to try and bust our way through everything.”

“Of course he is,” their warrior declared as he rolled his eyes. “It wouldn’t be our Max if he didn’t.”

A timer appeared above them and a ten-foot floating image of the red gelatinous creature was near it. On the opposite side was a list of names with teams. Images of each participant’s face or whatever would be their remembered feature showed up next to their names.

“Be ready! Everyone is placing bets and –”

The voice trailed off as the singular eye went wide, shifting slightly on its body.

“It appears a team has already left the area. That means –”

Once again, the voice paused and the counter stopped as well.

“Two… no three… I mean…”

With two seconds left on the counter, a loud bell sounded.

“It… appears we have a winner… before the match has even begun.”

White light illuminated the section they were standing on, and a moment later, they found themselves standing on the flat, open area in the middle of the arena.

“What the heck just happened?” Cordellia asked, spinning around with her bow drawn.

“I think we won,” Tanila said, tapping her staff against the red stone they were standing on.

An image they all recognized began to materialize before them.

Their last announcer’s orange body came to life before them. His body was bouncing up and down and it looked like he might not be happy.

“How?! How did you come again so quickly?! You’ve chased off the competition and cost us much!”

“I’m sorry, come again?” Max asked, watching the illusion never stop its quivering.

“You shouldn’t be here! I told you… warned you… the cost of this fight not taking place… the credits and power that was spent to host it… do you have any idea how much you are going to impact my numbers?! No you can’t! Everyone is waiting to–”

Suddenly the sound cut off, and they could see the blob moving in a totally different fashion, almost gyrating if that was possible as his top half twisted one way and the bottom in another.

“What in the gods is he doing?” Fowl whispered.

Shrugging his shoulders, Max stood there, armed for battle as they all were.

“You know what that being is, don’t you?” Sog’thollech asked.

“Not a clue. Do you?”

Chuckling, the demon nodded. He stood next to Max and crossed his arms.

“That is the… I believe you might call them… Higrubrogor race.

“The Higorboraor what?” Fowl asked.

“Higrubrogor… Hig - ruuuub - ogre. They’re a power species that makes much money off things like fights and presenting entertainment. Some of them are exceptionally intelligent, and others are as dumb as a rock. Still, none mess with them because of the following they possess. Even some of the more powerful demons learned the hard way about getting on their wrong side.”

“What does that entail?” Cordellia asked. “I mean… I’m not sure which side is their bad side but what happened?”

Sog’thollech grinned, his sharp teeth all on display as he looked down at her.

“They offered a reward for those who wanted to hunt them. Part of was the broadcasting option also. You wouldn’t believe how many signed up. Neither of those demons lived long either.”

Max was about to ask a question when the sound suddenly returned from the image before them.

An ugly, mucus-filled cough came and a small bubble of something escaped the creature's mouth.

“Ahh, forgive me! It appears that your presence has caused an uptick in our viewership. It would seem that your competitors all know what you look like and realize their odds of winning were not very good. In all our years of hosting this, not once have all four teams quit before the fight started.”

At no moment did the Higrubrogor before them ever stop his dual rotation.

“Now then… per the rules, I proclaim you the winners of this fight . Unfortunately, like last time, I currently do not possess any kind of reward that would usually help your kind. If you were willing to accept potions that would work with your body type, I could…”

The two eyes stopped as it stared at Sog’thollech who stood there, grinning like he had just eaten a whole dwarf.

“A demon? Here? When did, how did–”

“He’s with us,” Max said. “Part of our team.”

A sound like a wet fart came, and both Fowl and Cordellia glanced at each other and burst out laughing until tears were streaming down their faces.

“I do not know what has those two acting as such, but if that demon is part of your team then I must grant him a reward as well.”

Max nodded, and Sog’thollech looked thrilled, rubbing his hands together.

“So potions and… essence?”

“Yes please!” the demon exclaimed. “I’ll be more than happy to take it!”

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A gurgling sound came, and a small metal chest appeared near them on a stone platform just a few feet away.

“Very well. Take your rewards and know that if we detect you in another arena, we will be forced to put you against some of the stronger opponents.”

Max studied the image before him and wasn’t sure if the Higrubrogor was smiling or not.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” he replied, moving to where the chest was.

The image vanished and as he opened the lid, the rest of his team came to where he stood, both their warrior and archer struggling to breathe.

“You two going to be okay?” Batrire asked.

“That sound… it was as if...” Cordellia said, trying to get some air in her lungs.

“Like he sharted… but way worse than anything I’ve ever seen or heard.”

The pair started laughing again, faces redder than an apple the entire time.

“Let’s get this over with,” Tanila muttered as she nodded at Max.

With a flick of his wrist, the lid flew open and inside the small box were five pink potions and a black bottle.

“That one’s mine,” Sog’thollech said as he leaned over and plucked out the black one.

The demon did not even attempt to undo the metal lid on the bottle, stuffing the whole thing in his mouth and biting it to bits.

The smallest drop of the liquid flowed down the corner of one lip, and he quickly used a finger to catch it and licked it off.

A moan that made everyone freeze came from the demon, who noticed how everyone was looking at him, causing him to laugh.

“Oh… you have no idea! Pure essence! There are few things a demon could ever want… well actually, there is a very long list, but just know, this is at the top of it!”

The patchwork skin started to molt, and Sog’thollech began scratching at the flesh with both clawed hands, sending pieces of it like torn leather to the ground.

In less than a minute, he emerged from the old skin, a much darker and glossier black body rippling with muscle now before them.

“Uh… can I get one of those?” Fowl asked as he glanced up in the air.

Chuckling, the demon shook his head.

“Oh no, my little friend. Only a few races can handle pure essence. This is something like… those gems you all collected in the tower. Just a lot more powerful.”

A sigh of what Max assumed was satisfaction came from the demon as he picked at his teeth, pulling a sliver of glass out before sticking it back in.

“You all going to see what you got?”

Everyone nodded at the demon’s question and turned, watching Max take out the first pink potion.

[ Inspect Potion ]

*****

Potion of Mystery

 Random Effect

Crafted by a crazed alchemist who always liked to have fun. It will most likely not be harmful, but no refunds will be issued in the case of death or disfigurement.

*****

“Yeah… this might be a problem,” Max said as he frowned.

“What does it do?” Tanila asked as everyone reached in and took theirs.

“Possible death or disfigurement? What kind of crappy potion is this?” Fowl asked as he stared at the pink liquid from different directions.

“Oh a potion of mystery?” Sog’thollech asked. “Those are quite expensive!”

“Really? How come?”

The demon looked at Batrire and bent down till he was on one knee and closer to her height.

“Imagine a potion that can literally do anything and I mean almost anything. Why you could sprout wings, grow ten feet, get double your normal stats, change races, grow a beard, lose your beard and even die! The potential is limitless!”

Everyone cut their eyes at each other, noticing just how excited the demon appeared, not quite yet understanding that they were not growing wings or extra appendages might not be something everyone wanted.

“So… I guess for now we’ll set these aside?” Max asked as he stored his.

“Bah… part of me REALLY wants to drink mine,” Fowl whined. “I mean… Imagine if I grew two feet.”

“No extra legs to go with those two feet?” Cordellia asked.

A groan came from everyone as their warrior expressed his displeasure with a gesture.

“I guess that makes this next part real easy,” Max said as he pointed at the portal that had appeared behind them.

“One hundred percent,” Tanila replied, taking his arm and leading him toward it.

***

“Haha, I saw that on the broadcast today,” Jazzjak said as he looked up from his tablet. “I set an alert, and it notified me. I was excited to see your team in action for a moment, but it was quite comical as the other teams recognized you and quit. The betting swung massively in your favor, and they had to stop taking them because of how lopsided they were.”

Everett coughed and pointed at the three stacks of papers before him.

“We’re ready if you are, Max,” the older man stated. “I think I’ve finished what you requested sooner than expected.”

Smiling, Max took the pages given to him and began scanning them, his Administration skill immediately picking up on what Everett was proposing.

“Do you believe creating a council overseeing smaller complaints would work here?”

“You stopped too early. Read the other two pages.”

Ignoring the grumbles that came from Everett, Max did just that, finding that his Faction leader had listed why.

Within thirty minutes, only two small changes were made, and the three of them all looked satisfied with everything.

Standing up, Max shook both of their hands.

“You two did a great job. I’m grateful for–”

“MAX!”

Quilazmore had suddenly appeared from a doorway he formed in the wall across the room, sweat drops coming down his brow.

“You need to come! There’s a challenger!”

It took a moment for him to acknowledge what the dark elf had just said, seeing that he appeared anxious at mentioning such a thing.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“A challenger has come and announced his desire to fight! Tomorrow!”

“Mother humping honglo,” Jazzjak cursed. “My wife is going to kill me for canceling dinner again!”

There in that moment, Max started to laugh.

Inside his head, Bob joined in as well.

“I don’t see how either of these things is funny,” Quilazmore said. “His wife really will kill him, and this challenger isn’t a joke.”

“Oh, I know,” Max said after taking a deep breath. “I’m laughing because I’m excited about facing a challenger.”

Everett shook his head and stored the paper he held in his hand.

“I guess we’ll go and meet this one?”

“No,” the dark elf said, holding up a hand. “Only Max. None of us want to be in the same space as this one.”

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