Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 413: A New Challenger

Max found himself in the box he had spent so much time in. Glancing at the section of the stone wall against which he had ended Ezreal’s life, he forced himself to calm down.

Time seemed to tick by, and then after a good fifteen minutes a section of the wall began to move.

“Max?”

“Quilazmore, it’s been too long,” he replied, watching the dark elf slowly enter the room.

“We were expecting you in the throne room at first, but I told Lord Kazrak that you wouldn’t come there. He was… is a bit angry, but I do not think he will be enraged by such defiance. If you are okay with it, I will return and tell him you are here.”

“Please do. I need to settle this more definitively this time.”

Grimacing, a row of sharp teeth were displayed as the one he had entrusted with helping to run this place looked anxious.

“What do you know about him?”

“Nothing beyond the fact he defeated Sog’thollech,” Max replied. “What can you tell me?”

“He is strong and fast like you. Uses two axes that are magical and if they draw blood, something happens to the one he has injured. I’m not certain as none have lived to tell the tale.”

“Are you okay? Your family?”

The dark elf looked at him and nodded. “He is a… fair leader. Had I not known you and not experienced the kindness you have shown me, I would say he is better than Igarra in some ways. He is perfect for this world. Only the strong survive. Those he deems strong enough and worthy of him find a place in his pack.”

“And those who aren’t?”

“Slaves, tools, servants, food.”

It pained him to hear how casually Quilazmore had said those things, not appearing to be bothered at all by how it sounded.

“Would it be better for me to leave and let him rule?”

His grimace returned and the dark elf slowly shook his head.

“No… in time I’m afraid one will come to challenge him who will win. It may be months, it might be years, but when they come, there is no telling what they desire. Sog’thollech defeated such a being. She was… similar to him in some ways. He called her a variation or a… mutation of his kind. He rejected the offer she made to partner together, becoming something different through some…”

The dark elf shuddered and smacked his lips.

“What your champion described is best to not talk about again. He said no and laughed at her. That infuriated her, and she promised to kill all of us within Iga… within Lord Kazrak’s house. So he killed her. It was a fight which drew many eyes and after that moment, a week passed, and the next challenge came.”

Max had dozens of other questions, each of them he knew would lead to another set.

“I need to go. If I delay too long, then my loyalty will be questioned. As you have made the challenge you have one day to move through the city without fear unless you attack someone. Tomorrow a bell will sound throughout the city. An hour later the challenge will begin. If you are not present, then you forfeit, and your image will be shown across all the worlds that watch, each of them learning of your cowardice and that you are free game to anyone who wishes to take your life.”

“How many worlds are watching?” Max asked, not concerned at all with the other part.

“For something like this? A few thousand at least.”

Unable to help himself, Max coughed a few times.

“Thousands?!”

“I don’t have time to go into details. We can talk more, but yes. I shall see you tomorrow, Max. Just know we shall still call you Ifrit as that is the name everyone is waiting to hear. Many are anxious for when you might return.”

His words seemed to fail him as the dark elf turned and moved to where the opening in the stone wall was.

“Be safe, and I’m sorry about Sog’thollech. He was one who understood this world.”

It took a minute after Quilazmore had left for Max to get his mind where it needed to be.

To know that your name is spoken across thousands of worlds is a marvelous thing. Soon more shall know it, and that means when the time comes, we should be in a better place for what comes next.

Grunting, Max closed his eyes.

What comes next? You always talk about this and mention it yet you never go into full details.

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He was frustrated and worse was the knowledge that thousands of worlds apparently knew of him. That concerned him even more if a god decided to show up here and cause problems.

The day you become a god. Why are we climbing the tower and don’t say just to become strong enough to protect your friends?

Even though he wasn’t speaking out loud, Max’s jaw tightened.

I don’t want to be a god!

Yet we both know Igarra couldn’t have stood up to Phaius or Ockrim. If you hope to be able to stand up against Thuyja, what must you become? A god.

The wind in his lungs left him, a sigh that seemed to reverberate off the walls as his sonar listened to himself breathe.

Never did I want to be a god… I just wanted to be strong enough to protect my family… to protect Tanila and the others… and now my unborn child and Rakonath. If I’m a god, does that mean I’ll have a world full of… people? Beings? Lives that I’ll have to protect?

It does. This is why I do not talk about it anymore. The obvious answer is you struggle to focus on something that is far away, and yet it draws closer with each breath you take. Soon you shall move into the tower and reach the 60th floor. How long has it been since one of the people from your world has done this? It took no time to climb that far. We both know if you had done it alone it would have been even faster, but neither of us are foolish enough to believe that you can do this alone.

Soon you will have to realize that the day will come when your party does something none have done in so long. Each of you will become something different.

His fist struck the stone wall, and then it hit it a few more times. Dozens and soon hundreds of strikes had left a hole that slowly repaired itself.

As he stood there, looking at his hand and the unbroken skin, a chirping sound came, and Max turned to where the large display was in the room.

It lit up and Quilazmore’s face appeared on the screen in the top right corner.

The rest of it was filled with a replay of what Max guessed was a previous challenger fighting Kazrak.

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A battle between two juggernauts, each of them easily fifteen feet tall wasn’t much of a fight. Kazrak was a wolfkin of some sort, but his skin was metallic, his entire body reflecting light. Beneath his feet was an eight, well now six-legged arachnoid that was missing four arms and two legs.

Only two arms remained, each of them holding a shield, both seeming to struggle to keep them upward, suffering under the barrage of attacks from the axe Kazrak held in each hand. They were made of black metal and had a weird aura that seemed to radiate around them, almost sucking the light near them.

Webs littered the open area of the sand-covered arena floor, all of them sizzling in the sand, yet the strands that touched the current champion of this world didn’t seem to do anything.

No matter what the arachnoid creature did, the wolfkin maneuvered quickly into position, blocking its escape and carving more limbs from its body. Soon all that remained was its oversized abdomen and its upper body.

Unable to move on the floor, and with only a single arm barely holding its last shield, it’s mouth moved, about to say something when the axes came together, freeing its head.

“And that is just a fraction of the power Lord Kazrak possesses!”

Max realized he had missed whatever had been said earlier, his eyes focused on the champion he was going to face tomorrow.

“Now this message is being broadcasted across the AR-42069 network as a priority Alpha challenge! After four easily won victories, the moment all of you have been waiting for has finally arrived!”

Fast-paced and weird-sounding music played as the screen shifted to replays of Max cutting down multiple challengers he had faced in this very arena. The last one to appear was him, standing next to Igarra’s lifeless corpse.

“The one you all know as Ifrit has returned, coming to claim the Champion title once more for world TYR-80921!”

Max felt goosebumps as his image, and Kazrak’s appeared side by side on the display, both of their faces having been frozen as each one snarled. The rising noise of a crowd cheering was in the background as Quilazmore’s face moved to the center of the display, pushing both his face and his challenger’s off to the side.

“One day from now the broadcast will go live! Don’t miss this and don’t miss out on betting on who shall sit upon the throne and claim TYR-80921 as their very own!”

Max stood there stunned, as he watched the dark elf’s face vanish and a flood of small text quickly scroll across the display, talking about how the AR-42069 network approved this message and where they could go to place their wagers.

That was… impressive and inspiring. I did not realize how good we looked when we are fighting.

Snorting, Max shook his head and glanced at the wall he had been punching, seeing that it was almost fully repaired and the pieces that had fallen to the ground were gone, absorbed by the room.

I’m not sure I would have used either of those words. This only frustrates me more, and you know it.

That there is some cosmic group out there that channels the power of fighting and turns it into a money and power-making outlet? How is this different from what those two queens do in your capital?

He knew Bob was right, and that only made it worse.

I… How many worlds are like this? And no I’m not looking for a reply, and you know it… It’s just the fact that wherever we go, it always seems that fighting, death, and conflict is what drives everything and is used to make money or gain power.

And you my friend are… were the champion for a world like this. Had I known what we did, I might have told you to take your friends and go. Now it appears we are unable to do such a thing without being blacklisted as cowards and being told we are free game to be killed. That might not seem like a big issue right now, but I can imagine how it would make things much harder on you to protect your loved ones after the tower.

His fist struck the wall again, and then Max leaned his forehead against the cold stone.

The cool temperature of it felt good against his skin, and for a moment he just stood there, bent over like that.

I guess we have no choice. Once again, I’m stuck in someone else's game and forced to do what I would prefer not to. But Tanila was right. I need to make sure everyone knows that I’m not playing around.

Then you need to stop wasting time. We have a stop to make and only a day before it is time to fight. If you wish to ever see your friends again, we need to get to work.

Max grunted and stood up. There were plenty of things he needed to do.

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