Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 439: Smashing New Things

His mind raced as he considered the options they had.

Let’s get close and end this.

After deflecting the blade's attempt to cut him in half, Bob blocked both chains with a pair of stone blocks, and Max moved toward his opponent.

The large spinning metal object came at him, seemingly moving faster, but as it drew close, he didn’t try to block it, running right at the chains and the gnomish creation that snarled at him.

[ Incorperal ]

All three attacks missed as they passed through him. Faster than a single heartbeat, Max stood behind his opponent, watching Bob work his magic.

The stones on the floor gave way, grabbing hold of its large feet, surrounding them like shackles, and preventing the gnome from turning or moving.

Each hand drew back the chain it held, whipping the eight-inch metal links as if they were nothing, but Max didn’t care. His mind wasn’t focused on blocking or protecting himself.

Now behind his opponent, he set his feet and swung his weapon.

[ Harden Body ]

[ All Cooldowns Reset ]

A twinge of frustration came through their bond, and Max knew it cost his skill power that Bob needed in order to do this.

[ Power Strike ]

[ Magical Strike ]

[ Berserker ]

[ Rampage ]

His body became solid, and as it did, his weapon cut through the thicker metal and flesh, not concerned by how much more mass had appeared from somewhere.

Three strikes severed the waist in half, sending the top section toward the ground.

Not giving this abomination a chance to recover, Max continued the onslaught as Bob summoned two stone walls and pushed the tumbling section back at him. Hacking through the flesh and metal.

Soon, there was no actual midsection left after a few seconds, only chunks of metal and flesh. The spinning disc had careened to the side and bounced off the stone floor as it slowed down.

A cold wave of power he hoped for never came.

Nothing?!

It would appear they aren’t… alive.

Unable to keep the frustration inside, Max shouted, storing his weapon and moving to where the platform had been.

Whatever barrier had been present was gone, and now, there was a solid sheet of metal on the floor.

Still enraged, Max retrieved his weapon, turned it into a pickaxe, and began attacking the metal plate.

Dents grew bigger and bigger until, finally, a hole appeared. A quick glance told him that the metal was well over a foot thick. Seeing that it wouldn’t be possible to hack his way through, Max changed his focus to the stone next to it.

[ Metal Mastery ]

It groaned under his attempt to contro it, noise coming as it shifted against him.

[ Stone Mastery ]

Together, he and Bob worked on the area where the protective cover was connected. Using their combined focus and effort, they could pry up the sheet enough to stack stones they removed from the floor near it, creating a raised wall that would allow them to slip under.

Beneath it was darkness and his sonar told him it was a long shaft that stretched to the very limit of his range.

It’s over fifty yards deep.

The longer we wait…

Without hesitating, he ducked and dropped into the shaft, letting Bob control their movements with the Wind ability while he kept his shield and weapon ready.

As they descended over a hundred yards, they finally sensed the shaft had a metal plate that cut it off.

I’ve got no idea if they believe we’ll defeat those two things or not, but on the off chance there are more defenses of some kind down there, I guess we’ll try to be quiet.

Chuckles from inside his head came as they worked together to shift stones from one edge, creating a space for him, and finally retrieved a block that sent light from below inside.

Down beneath them was the group of gnomes huddled around the same table, and it appeared they were working on a large spherical object, Rakonath’s core set inside it.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

A lattice of metal with energy surrounded his dragon’s core, and Max could see dozens of smaller power cores were set within the metal on the outside.

That doesn’t look good at all.

It would appear they are finishing up that weapon.

He could see what Bob was talking about: thick metal wires running to two large boxes bursting with energy.

Let’s do it.

Falling Max didn’t make a sound, coming down like a snowflake at night, unseen and unheard until he chose to be noticed.

[ Blink ]

His foot came upward, kicking a gnome in a purple suit who had been about to set a power core into a slot of the sphere. One moment, there was a living being. The next, a red mist.

Without hesitating, he grabbed the large metal object that was half his height and tried to store it, frustrated that it wouldn’t go into his storage.

“Stop! You–”

Max didn’t care which gnome had spoken, summoning his dimensional vault and tossing it inside, making sure to aim away from where Niziver was sitting.

It careened inside, stopping when the metal cables that were attached to it grew taut and fell against the purple stones.

“STOP THAT! You don’t–”

Nimyn’s words were cut off as his weapon sliced through the power cables and they began to slither like snakes, arcs of energy leaping from them and frying two gnomes who happened to be closest to the bouncing fingers of death.

Willing the vault to shut, Max was on Nimyn, his hand around her throat, lifting the gnome off the ground and holding her out before him.

Metal-tipped fingers gripped his wrist as her boots kicked at him, not connecting as he held her at arm's length.

Gurgling came as he stared at her, ignoring the other gnomes starting to back up, all of them suddenly realizing how the tide had shifted.

“I warned you,” Max growled, pulling her close until their noses almost touched. “I told you. You didn’t listen.”

His fingers loosened slightly as Bob fought against his rage.

Let her breathe. It’s not time to make her suffer yet.

Grunting to no one, he stopped fighting his skill and allowed air to enter the gnome's lungs, turning to see the others running toward a metal platform on the other side of the gigantic cavern.

A teleport pad…

Stone walls began to rise, boxing them in and forcing them to clump up. Soon, Max had corralled all the escaping gnomes, putting them in a box of his own making.

“You… can’t stop me,” Nimyn gasped. “You… can’t undo what I did. It’s too–”

Chuckling, Max already knew what she was going to say.

With a slight bit of pressure, he cut off her words, moving to where the group of gnomes were trapped.

Inside, they all were plastered against a wall, two of them frantically pressing buttons on a bracelet they were wearing.

“Who do we have here?” Max asked as he watched them all freeze.

“You can’t do this! Do you know who he is?!” one of the gnomes in an orange robe shouted as he pointed at one who had to be the oldest of this race he had seen so far.

“Not a clue, why don’t you tell me?”

Red filled the cheeks of the one he had responded to, but a hand on their shoulder stopped them.

“I know who you are, but you don’t know who I am,” the older gnome said. “I am Raszu Demlabick, one of the three members of the gnomish council. I can assure you there must be some mistake if you are here and holding that one captive and having defeated all of the defenses here so easily as well.”

Snorting, Max shook his head.

“Did she not tell you where she got that dragon core from?”

“Specifically? No. Just that she had acquired one at a great cost. It would appear… that she has not been truthful to us. Had we known–”

“You would have made her give it back?” Max asked, cutting him off.

The slightest twitch of his nose was the only reaction the gnome gave.

“We both know that might not have been the case, but we would have done everything in our power to compensate you fairly for it. Even now, I’m willing to pay you far beyond what it is worth.”

Does he really believe that there is a price that they can pay that would make one want to sell such a thing?

We both know he’s stalling.

“I guess that begs the question of what you could offer me for such an item. Especially since it appears it has been turned into a black hole bomb.”

His green eyes widened slightly, and the other gnomes all shifted nervously as they stayed silent, slinking backward until they were against the stone wall.

“A tragedy. Alas, few in this world could deconstruct such a thing, and most wouldn’t risk it. I’m fairly certain that one won’t be willing to do it for you.”

Blue eyes glared at him as her stubby hands dug at his wrist, trying to keep the pressure of Max supporting her by the neck to a minimum.

“I agree that won’t be a possibility. Still, how do you think the other races would feel about hearing such a thing was created in secret?”

‎ His question struck the cord he knew was there and the older gnome’s whole body twitched slightly.

“That would be… difficult.”

“You know, what really makes me wonder is how the council would react to knowing you were a part of this?” Max asked, leaning closer toward the gnome. “I doubt they would take kindly to such a thing. Surely that would be worth something.”

“Your silence?”

His voice sounded almost like a frog, croaking and cracking at the knowledge he was under Max's thumb.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

“Yes… I guess we’ll have to deal with that in a moment. No doubt you’re hoping that whoever you sent for will come soon and hopefully be able to save you but trust me, that won’t happen.”

Turning his attention back to Nimyn, Max smiled and used his free hand to grab one of hers, shattering the bones with a simple squeeze. She tried to scream, unable to as he held her throat and repeated it with the other hand.

“Now that I’ve have done that Nimyn, we’re going to resolve something later. Just the two of us.” A cord of rope appeared in his hand. “You and your mother will get some quality time together.”

***

Niziver shook his head as he stared at the collection of gnomes now sharing the vault with him.

Max had bound up both women and stuffed them in a corner. The five gnomes were all shackled together with stone. Far away from them all was the object Nimyn had created.

Sounds of explosions could be heard from the ceiling, and Max smiled.

“I will do one last thing before I open this up. Do you want to wait inside with them or…”

His motion to the ceiling made the gnome shake his head and laugh.

“No thanks! Even if the company is horrible, I’ll gladly be safe inside here.”

Nodding, Max left the dimensional area and closed it.

Now for the last part… trying to get revenge without pissing off a whole planet.

Bob laughed so hard in his head that Max couldn’t help but join in.

[ Planetary Travel ]

‎