Chapter Twelve: Level 11-20

11

The pleasant sunlight is replaced by a cloud-filled sky, and a snowy landscape. A shirtless eight foot tall man with spiky red hair and arms twice the size of Juzo stands cross armed, waiting for his opponent, “I am the Demon Drex! Who dares challenge me! Show the might of your fists!” He shoots beams of fire into the sky with his mouth and hands.

“Dammit this isn't fair I want to fight him!” Nova yells, leaping out of my arms and shooting flames ten times bigger into the sky.

Drex immediately stops, “Um yeah ugh okay who am I uh fighting! Not her please.” He nervously scratches his head.

“I'll be your opponent!” Juzo has taken off his armor, his ten pack of dense armor plated abs bulge as he cracks his neck.

Drex’s eyes open wide, “Well um jeez what are you guys this isn't even cool. I guess I have to go full power!” He yells while charging up, flames surround his body and his body morphs ten times bigger than his original form. His voice changes into a deep growl, “That’s more like it! Kekekekekeke!”

“Transformation!” Juzo's body morphs and becomes even more armor plated.

“Jeez! That's still not fair!” Drex sighs deeply and says in a sullen voice, “Well shit, here I come. Fire Nova!” Massive balls of flame shoot from his hands and Juzo quickly dodges them. They pick up speed and swing, their fists colliding. Drex explodes into a mist of black sand.

“Well then. Um yeah hehe!” Juzo stares at his fist and lets out a deep sigh.

“Don't worry you'll fight someone strong soon enough!” I laugh as I hand him his armor and then continue to laugh as I walk into the portal.

12

Eva is up now, “Dammit! A snowstorm! Why!?” Nova yells, spitting lava in a circle next to us, “Good luck Eva! He looks tough!”

Juzo takes his time putting on his armor, “Kick his ass!” He quickly gives a thumbs up and catches his shin guard.

“Good luck!” I warm my hands by the lava, staring into the distance at the enormous ice werewolf, at the army of ice werewolf clones.

Eva spins her staff in circles and then holds her staff forward, “Tornado Storm!” Endless tails of tornados swarm around the werewolves and suck them high into the sky, “When will I fight something hard!?!” Eva kicks the snow in anger as the portal appears.

“Don't worry! You'll get to fight something strong soon!” Nova yells, jumping into the portal.

“It'll be something super strong, like Juzo's farts!” I laugh and walk in.

13

Juzo and Eva appear as well and we are on top of a stone temple with massive vines surrounding the area.

“Ooh look are those Gorillas? Wait four arms and they have armor. This will be easy.” I say while handing Nova my sword, “Could you hold this please I'm going to just use kicks for this one.” I smile and stretch my legs a bit.

“Do that super kick combo!” She kisses my cheek.

“Okay okay!” I laugh as Juzo takes a seat next to us.

“Lucky I want to fight a gorilla!” Juzo pulls out cups and fills them with water from a gourd, “Thirsty?”

“Yeah thanks!” Eva takes a cup and we slowly drink.

“Do you think there will be stronger enemies as we go up?” Nova says, slowly sipping her drink.

“Yeah hopefully! Oh now that's just rude man.” I quickly kick a ball of molten lava away and hand my cup to Juzo, “I'll be back.”

“Your cup will be waiting for you!” Juzo laughs and keeps sipping his drink loudly.

“Agility.” My body glows yellow and I quickly make my way over to the two gorillas in an instant, kicking away their streams of lava, I kick one in the chest and it flies into the distance, then I quickly kick the other one into the first and they both crash into the wall, “Well that was easy.” The rubble is quickly pushed away as the two fuse to create a massive eight armed gorilla. The gorilla pushes off of the ground and charges at me like how Nova uses her flames to gain distance, I quickly kick it three times in an instant, causing it to explode into black sand. I walk over to Juzo and take my drink back, “I think they'll get stronger hopefully.”

“Those gorillas were rude.” Eva laughs, “Hopefully there's a strong one next!” We hand the cups back to Juzo and walk into the portal.

14

Reaching high into the sky are shiny buildings and skyscrapers made of gleaming green crystals, “Who dares come into my kingdom!?!” A short buff man with a white beard yells, Nova walks up to him and cracks her knuckles.

“Please tell me you're strong.” She steps on the floor, creating a massive meteor and causing the city to shake.

“I am the strongest Demon King Carl!” He clenches his fists and charges his energy, violet balls of darkness form above him and fly into his mouth, causing his body to grow bigger than the skyscrapers.

Nova jumps high into the air, “Finally someone strong!” She punches his armored forehead and his head explodes into black sand, “No! Why!?”

She lands with a frustrated expression, “Haha loser!” I yell and immediately have to run for my life dodging fireballs.

“I'm going to roast you alive!” Nova chases me as I run into the portal.

15

I quietly hide in a crack near some rubble overlooking a ruined temple. I quietly breathe so Nova doesn't find me, Juzo is stretching his arms as a massive dark wizard is releasing a volley of black flame and black electricity orbs that bounce off of his armored skin, black holes surround him and endless orbs bounce off of his body and explode around him. Juzo swings his swords and chops straight through his body but the wizard is instantly healed by ten dark priests behind him. Juzo opens his mouth and roars, causing them to explode into black sand, then he punches through the wizard's chest, killing it. I quickly try to sneak my way into the portal but Nova catches me and pulls me into it with her while kissing me.

16

“You can't get away from me now Umbra! Muahaha!” She kisses me even harder on the cheek, I can't escape her iron grip.

“I love you Nova! Please let me go!” I try to struggle but she cradles me like a baby.

“Nope! You're my cute little baby!” She says in a high pitched voice.

“Awww the little baby!” Juzo tickles my face and laughs.

“Cute little baby!” Eva yells while pointing her staff ahead into the darkness, “Light!” A bright glowing sun emerges from her staff and lights up the cavern, hundreds of glowing violet eyes hiss as the army of gnomes raise their hands creating an army of stone golems.

“Woo! Stone golems so strong. Haha!” I say sarcastically as Nova continues to cradle me and shower me with affection.

“I seriously thought I would get something strong this time. I really really thought so.” Eva says while shaking her head, “Any other party and these would've been so hard like Infectious Bite turns the person into a slave for thirty minutes but seriously, agh fine fine. Wind Blade!” She swings her staff and a line of razor sharp wind slices the gnomes and stone golems in half, the next portal opens up, “Jeeez why me?!?” She groans.

“Don't worry you'll have a strong opponent soon!” Nova yells as she puts me down, “There you're free to walk around now!”

“Thanks love! You fiery hot woman hehe!” I hold her hand as we walk through the portal.

17

“Oh my so lucky!” Eva screams while falling down on her knees and holding her fists to the sky, “Why can't I do this onnneeeeee!”

“Sorry Eva, I'm sure you'll get something good soon enough!” I grip my sword and yell over the growling army of ten thousand orcs who are blowing horns and beating on drums. I begin walking across the large field to fight them.

“Knock them dead!” Juzo gives a thumbs up.

“Good luck!” Nova yells.

“Kill them all Umbra!” Eva screams and flexes her bicep.

I raise my thumb high into the air. The gleaming silver armor of the orcs shine brightly with the sun, all of these enemies but can they give me a challenge? I take a deep breath, “Agility, Attack, Defense, Dragon Lightning Armor.” Red lightning chainmail covers my body, the sunlight is engulfed by thousands of arrows falling towards me. I hold out my hand, “Reflect Mirror!” A large barrier rises into the air, absorbing the arrows and multiplying them while shooting back at the army. I focus my energy on my feet and push forward. I continue rushing forward and break through their front line, stabbing through hundreds along the way. It seems I am in the middle of an ocean of orc. Countless spears and swords are aimed at me yet my mind is calm, “I dare one of you to touch me.” I chuckle as I grab the face of the nearest orc, “Oh no you touched me.” My red lightning armor shocks the orc and spreads throughout the nearby orcs, causing them all to turn into black sand around me, “I should stop playing around. Grand Demonic Focus Slice Barrage.” I have to stand still for five minutes as my body charges. The red lightning slithers like a massive snake, protecting me as my sword glows with red energy, wind surrounding me in a vicious vortex. Countless orcs continue to rush into the lightning only to die a meaningless death. With my skill all charged up I begin swinging wildly, wave after wave of energy rips apart the vast orc army. Each slice reaching countless miles into the distance. In the corner of my eye I glimpse something shiny and quickly catch a arrow and throw it to deflect another one. On top of the castle wall is an archer charging a large dark energy arrow. I push off of the ground and soar into the air. He shoots the arrow as I swing and release the last energy of my skill. It cuts through the enormous arrow and slices through the archer who coughs blood and looks at me in a daze, “Emb..ra...where's Em..bra?” He falls over the other side of the castle wall and the portal appears. I shrug off this sad feeling and make my way back to the other three.

“That looked fun!” Eva says while glaring at me.

“Yeah it was hehe! I'm sure you'll fight something strong soon!” I stretch my back and yawn.

“Hopefully I get something good too!” Nova is all pumped up and ready to go.

“Awww yes! Let's destroy everything!” Juzo cracks his knuckles and we walk into the portal.

18

“Hopefully this is a strong one!” Nova waves at us as she walks across the huge room to meet a dual wielder girl who stands in the middle with her weapons drawn, “Ta!” Nova runs quickly toward the enemy. As she swings the enemy ducks and dodges swinging both swords and throwing a kick. Nova quickly dodges and punches but the enemy steps inward and grabs Nova's arm and tries to flip her but Nova is immovable.

She grabs the enemy's arms and kicks through her chest. The girl in pain as she coughs blood, “Um...br” She explodes into black sand.

“Agh fast but not strong enough.” Nova makes her way back to us and gives a thumbs up, “Juzo good luck!”

“Thank you!” He punches his fists together in excitement and rushes into the portal, “Yes! Yeeees! Finally!”

19

“That's not fair! Aghhh! Heavy Rain Shield!” Eva screams to block us from the rain.

“Wooh! Nice!” I yell over the thunderous booms. We're on top of a tower, up on the edge of it flies Drathor the God Level Lightning Dragon. He's so big it makes us look like insects.

“Wooooooh! Kill

it! Kill it!” Nova screams at the top of her lungs.

“Here I go!” Juzo yells, “Transformation! Defense! Agility! Attack! Mana!” Juzo waves quickly and then pushes off of the floor, rushing into the distance at the towering light-blue dragon that glimmers with black lightning surrounding his body. He notices Juzo and roars, causing endless lightning strikes to fall down on Juzo who quickly dodges. Drathor opens his mouth and a beam of energy engulfs Juzo. Juzo flies out of it and hovers while charging his energy, his body glowing white. Drathor shoots once more but Juzo opens his mouth at the same time, shooting a massive beam of white energy that overpowers Drathor’s attack. Juzo slices Drathor down the middle, causing it to fall down below to the floor in a pile of black sand drifting furiously in the wind. Juzo makes his way back to us with a sad expression on his face, “Even the God level dragons are no challenge.”

“Don't worry maybe the dark lord will be stronger. Hopefully.” I pat his back as Eva dries him off.

“Hopefully!” Nova yells and ushers us to the portal, “I'm tired of rain!”

“Me too! Hurry!” Eva yells, pushing me into the portal.

20

“Agh this is more like it!” Nova yells, breathing in the smoky fumes of the lava on the floor.

“I'll take fire over rain any day! Fire Protection!” Eva casts a spell on us so the flames don't cause damage.

“This is so nice! Let's just stay here.” Juzo sits down on the floor and stretches his legs.

“Have fun Eva, looks like another snakey snake.” I sit down next to Juzo as Nova is shooting fire into a pool of lava.

“Fire! Fire! More fire! Muahahahahah! Fire! I am the Fire Queeen!” She roars and fire spouts out of her mouth.

I glance over at Juzo, “Should we stop her?”

“We both know that's a bad idea haha!” We both focus our attention on Eva who is approaching a large snake that is swimming in a shallow puddle of lava. The snake rises from the lava and screeches, Nova’s flame vanishes from her hands.

“What!?! I can't use fire!” She tries over and over again but nothing comes out.

“Check the status window.” I quickly look, “Silence is the skill it just used, enemies unable to use abilities during the whole fight.”

“What! That's so stupid!” Nova sits down next to us.

“She'll be fine I'm sure! Wooh! Get him Eva!” Juzo yells full of confidence.

Eva runs toward the snake quickly but is stopped in her tracks as the snake shoots a small black ball that roots Eva to the floor, causing small amounts of damage over time. Eva quickly kicks the slime into the wall but the snake continues to shoot projectiles, “I can't block these or use abilities but I still have my staff you dumb snake!” With all of her strength Eva throws her staff and it lodges deep into the snake’s head, causing it to burst into black sand. The portal appears, but then a second one also appears and from that portal three people appear.

“Yooooo that's a badass power!” One of them says, adjusting his massive blue Greatsword, his shirt, shoes, pants and trench coat seem to be made out of a red dragon, a headband made out of the same material falls down his back and seems to dance in the wind.

“Bro this heat feels nice on my skin awww yeah! I'm gonna throw em!” The guy next to him says, Eva’s face turns red at the sight of his bulging muscles, dong shaped war hammer and a bright pink loincloth made from dragon skin.

“No not yet!” The third guy says as he throws what seems to be Cold Pills into the bigger pool of lava across the cavern, “Broooo noooooo! We have to talk to them first!” The guy has a Long Sword made from dragon teeth, and armor made from Elder Dragon scales that give off a slight gleam.

“Shit my bad!” The loincloth guy scratches the back of his head.

“Duuudee nooooooo!” The headband guy screams as the lava becomes solid and the cavern begins to rumble.

“Umbra could you put up a barrier please! Hurry!” The guy in Elder Dragon armor says, waving at me with both hands.

“How do you know my name?” I say but he quickly points at a enormous red dragon emerging from the lava.

“No time! Don't kill it just put up a barrier please! Hurry!” He continues to viciously wave his hands.

“Oh okay okay. Barrier.” I put the dragon in a massive cube, quickly silencing the roars.

“Are you enemies!?” Juzo says, grabbing his sword.

“Nah man chill, we're here to help.” The loincloth guy steps toward Juzo. It seems like they're comparing muscles.

“Really?” Eva says, gleaming her eyes at headband guy who sticks out his tongue.

“Bleghhhh! Yeah we're here to send you dudes up to the top! Orders of clone Umbra.” He laughs as Juzo and Loincloth are face to face.

“Why should we trust you?” Nova says, punching her fists together and stepping towards the headband guy with Eva by her side.

“Everyone calm down, unless you guys want to get humiliated! Yooooo!” The Long Sword guy yells.

“Yooooooo!” Loincloth guy and Headband guy yells.

“Yo Wundah, if you lose you owe me some ramen!” Headband guy yells at the Long Sword guy, “Andrew same goes for you.” He yells at Loincloth guy.

“AvatarPyro, suck my ass! I'm going to beat this less buff guy and be the ultimate buff guy!” Andrew yells and it echoes throughout the cavern.

“Juzo don't!” I yell as Juzo loses his temper and throws a punch. He hits Andrew on the forehead and a shockwave creates a hole in the wall behind them but Andrew is unfazed.

“I call 1v1s! You fuckin cheap shot!” Andrew yells, pointing to all of us, “Everyone else sit this out!”

“Fine dude fine kick his ass!” Wundah says, grabbing AvatarPyro by the arm, “Umbra put at least a hundred layers of barrier along the walls and the ground so this place doesn't cave in. I don't want Andrew to kill us.” He gives me a thumbs up and drags AvatarPyro across the room.

“Yeah sure. Juzo let loose! Grand Demonice Barrier!” I spam the spell over and over again until there are hundreds of layers, “It's all set!”

“Get him Juzo!” Nova yells at the top of her lungs.

“Fight hard!” Eva shouts.

“Yoooo! Spank him till he surrenders!” AvatarPyro yells and that causes everyone's face to turn red.

“Wooooh! Do it! Ultimate skill! Make him call you Daddy!” Wundah yells while laughing so much.

“Brooooo stop they're gonna get the wrong idea about me! Don't worry Jizzo I won't spank you.” Andrew has a huge smile on his face.

“Brrooooooo! You're in a pink loincloth how can they not think wrong! Jizzo! This dude just said Jizzo! Aghhhhhh! Don't kill him just knock him out! Fight start!” AvatarPyro yells while holding his stomach, Andrew swings his hammer to block Juzo's sword. Juzo gets pushed back to the wall.

“I have to knock you out so I can only use half strength. Lucky you.” Andrew pushes off of the ground and kicks but Juzo jumps backward.

“Transformation! Defense! Attack! Agility!” Juzo quickly buffs himself.

“Ooh lucky you guys can do that!” Andrew says as he holds his hammer by his waist, “Boom!”

“Grand Slash!” Juzo quickly swings as Andrew spins with his hammer, pushing Juzo back even more. Juzo opens his mouth and shoots a beam of energy, but Andrew shields himself with his hammer and closes the distance between him and Juzo.

Andrew tosses his hammer into the air and punches Juzo into the wall, then he grabs the hammer and swings it but stops before it hits Juzo’s face. The pressure of his swing shakes the whole cavern and knocks Juzo unconscious. Andrew easily picks him up and sets him down next to Eva, “Yo um heal him, little wind girl. I don't think he's breathing. I thought he could handle a small swing like that.”

“Heal!” Eva was already planning on it. Juzo gasps for air, “Juzo are you okay!?” Eva yells, squeezing him tightly.

“Ughh...yeah I'm fine. You're strong man.” Juzo gets helped up by Andrew.

“Good shit man good shit!” Andrew pats Juzo's back and points at AvatarPyro who's standing in the middle with his arms crossed and his sword resting near Wundah, “Yoooo good luck pp boi!”

“Thanks bro! Who's fighting me?” He stretches his legs and grunts then he points to Eva and Nova, “You two losers fight me at the same time!”

“I'll destroy you!” Nova yells, putting her gauntlets on the floor near me.

“You should have tried to just fight one of us not both! I won't go easy on you!” Eva points her staff on the floor near her and Nova, “Attack! Agility! Defense! Buff Maximise! Buff Multiply! Constant Heal!” The buffs keep stacking and multiplying in power, Nova and Eva are overflowing with a powerful energy cloak that rises up to the ceiling.

“Wundah you have to stop the fight! They're unstoppable like that!” I beg before his friend gets hurt because Nova has a hard time controlling herself.

He smiles a wide grin and shakes his head, “You don't understand, he just drank some juice bro, he's unstoppable. He also has the power of herbs! Ahahahaha!” Wundah and Andrew laugh hysterically as I try to understand what they mean but as I look at AvatarPyro. He is stuffing his mouth with something too quick for me to see.

“Ta!” A streak of color too fast to see, AvatarPyro ducks and quickly punches, Nova goes flying into the distant wall but jumps off and speeds towards him.

“Tornado Storm!” Eva yells, causing a mini storm of tornadoes around AvatarPyro who quickly runs through them, Nova gets sent flying across the room again.

“Time to get serious.” His facial expression changes, he moves from across the room to behind Eva in a single moment as she is about to use Wind Spirit. He softly karate chops her neck to knock her out.

She suddenly appears next to my feet in a blanket with a pillow under her head and ‘Heal Me Bro’ written in the sand, “Heal.”

Eva wakes up as Nova shoots four massive meteors followed by a condensed beam of molten energy, there is nowhere for AvatarPyro to go, “Oh no I'm trapped. Nooooooooo.” He says in a sarcastic tone. He punches forward and the pressure from his fist causes the meteors to disappear. Nova's beam rushes back into her mouth and she tries to block his attack but he is already in front of her pausing slightly to charge, his fists glowing red, he releases his energy with a double punch and then five uppercuts to her stomach, lifting her up ten feet into the air then he lightly flicks her chin with his finger, knocking her out and placing her next to me wrapped in a blanket and pillow then he sits next to Wundah and Andrew all in one instant.

“Heal!” Eva yells and Nova wakes up.

“Agh I lost, good fight! Umbra you have to win!” She's back to her usual self now.

I take a deep breath, “Fine I'll do my best.”

“Be careful Umbra!” Juzo stands with his arms crossed.

“I'll try my best.” I step forward with my sword in my hand, Wundah stretches his arms.

“Dude if you lose you suck monkey ass!” Andrew laughs really hard.

“Hey Umbra!?” AvatarPyro yells at me.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“The only way you can beat Wundah is if you have a special item called Ligma!” He glances over to Andrew and Wundah who hold in their laughter.

“What's Ligma?” I yell so he can hear.

“Ligma balls!!! Ahahahaha!” The three erupt with laughter.

“No really though you have to watch out for his special skill Dragon Deez!” Andrew quickly glances over at the two.

“Any skill he uses I can beat!” I yell with confidence.

“Dragon deez nuts across your face!” Andrew yells and continues laughing.

“No I'll defeat you when I summon Wendy!” Wundah screams at the top of his lungs.

“I'll defeat whatever creature you summon! I'm not afraid!” I clutch my sword and prepare for an attack.

“Wendys nutz go in your mouth!” Wundah yells and lunges towards me.

I push off the ground, “Attack! Defense! Agility! Dragon Lightning Armor!” I swing my sword and it looks as if he is going to swing as well but his body stops and he holds his sword in front of himself while I swing. His body glows white as my sword is parried high into the sky his speed so fast I don't know what happened. I wake up next to Nova holding me, “I lost huh? Good fight Wundah!”

“Thanks bro! Are you four ready to listen now?” He says as he stretches his legs.

“Yeah sorry.” Juzo laughs as Andrew bumps his fist.

“It's cool man we're just on different levels. I don't know if you can see by our names but we have gold crowns by our levels.” Andrew says while scratching his stomach.

“Yeah sorry but you were outleveled by a lot. But this is the only portal that allows you into our world but like the worlds join here since it's part of the Dark Lord’s dungeon so yeah usually we don't have level numbers, we just kill things with skill.” AvatarPyro says and I take a look by their name.

“Over two hundred!?!” Nova screams.

“Yeah sorry we tried talking but Juzo punched first.” Wundah smiles and waves his hands.

“Sorry!”

“It's fine it's fine! As long as we get to kill that dragon, this portal leads to the top level, the rest of the dungeon is just a endless loop of endless monsters so this is the only way. We're going to kill the dragon once you leave, but fight hard and thanks for saving me all that time ago man. Or at least your other self. I can't explain or it'll get confusing so hurry and go into the portal, you all should have leveled up by now so good luck!” Wundah rushes us to the portal, “I feel like I'm forgetting to say something. Eh it's fine!”

“Wait I have so many questions!” I try to ask but Juzo, Eva and Nova get thrown into the portal already.

“I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain!” Wundah screams and nudges me towards the portal.

“Sorry bro you gotta go! Fight hard! I'll see you again!” AvatarPyro waves at me and grabs his sword while staring down the dragon, I look at the level and it says 999 but I know they can destroy it.

“Lates man!” Andrew yells while stretching his shoulder.

“See ya. I still have to revive one more friend.” Wundah bumps my fist.

“Thank you Wundah, thank you guys. I will always remember you, come visit one day!” They nod and give their attention to the dragon. I let the barrier down and I walk into the portal as the battle begins.

I appear in a massive hall made out of obsidian stone, there is a throne with a man covered in gold armor wearing a gold helmet, holding a Greatsword, “Come face me you weaklings! I am the Dark Lord!” His voice is deep like that of a demon. The four of us spring into action to fight the Dark Lord.