Maximilian woke up, revitalised by the little rest he had. Using the rest of the mushrooms, he made a spicy shroom soup he drank as a breakfast. Of course, it was good, but Maximilian was more of a sugar tongue in the morning, and he really missed that.

*first thing I do when I find the exit, look for an inn or any merchant with sugar goods…and I’ll stock quite a bit.*

With that said, he cleaned his cooking material using water spell and put everything back in the Havenbag. The last thing was the alchemy book he finished before going to sleep the night before,

Maximilian smiled a bit as he put it back in.

*truly an enriching lecture. Okay, time to be on my way.*

A snap of his fingers made the wall he created last night collapse, opening the way before him.

He continued on his way, looking around in every tower he passed through.

This place, after some time exploring, truly looked like an ancient place of living. Some tower, bigger than others, looked like a place of reunion, like an inside marketplace. There even was remnants of selling stalls, some with rusty weapons, others with nothing, but the form suggested a food stall so it wasn’t surprising to not see anything after so much time.

In one of those places, Maximilian came upon a jewel stall. Some basic metal ornaments weren’t anything more than junk now, but something else caught the man’s attention. Under some pieces of wood was a glass chest, used for jewellery demonstration. It was, luckily, still in good shape, as were the golden and silver rings inside.

Trying to open it, it appeared to be locked. Maximilian simply broke the glass with a light punch.

*thanks for the loot.*

There were at least twenty rings in that chest, of different forms and colours, some with precious gems and others not. As he was picking them up, Maximilian though about something.

*I still haven’t tried my rune magic skill… this is a good opportunity. *

He didn’t want to try it on the jewels he found before, not wanting to waste very valuable things if he failed. But here, he had in his hand a simple silver ring, not very valuable compared to the others, so he decided to try.

*if I understood it right, all I have to do is engrave a rune describing the effect I desire while infusing it with magic . The more magic pours into it, the more powerful it will be. *

Beginning with something simple, he traced the rune « voice » and « loud » on the ring. It would not be very useful, but at least he would be able to test it without any risk.

The engraving of the runes was easy, simply using a little knife he had found in the weapon treasures room.

At first, he wasn’t too sure about how he was doing, but as soon as he started, he obtained the skill calligraphy.

Maximising it, he had no trouble after that to engrave swiftly and quickly the two runes inside the little piece of silver. All he had to do after that was to infused mana inside the ring, to load it.

It seemed to him he put a bit too much, seeing the ring literally pulsating in his hand.

*I should try it, but let’s be cautious. *

As he took off a gauntlet and put the ring on, he could still felt it pulsating, there was a certain heat coming from it.

Taking a deep breath, Maximilian simply said "test" without screaming or anything , but what came out was a…

"TEST !!!"

A sound explosion, a wave of noise projected Maximilian back a few meters, while the wall in front of him exploded, shattering when the wave hit it.

Standing up from the shop’s remnants he had landed on, Maximilian put his hands on his ears, whistling because of the explosion. He lauhed a bit at the results.

*the test is a success. The runes work more than fine…I’ll just have to be careful not charging the runes too much. I'll call it scream ring. *

Incapacitating noise resistance skill acquired.

*and a new skill appear, good for me.*

Maximising the new skill, he started to hear normally again. As he retrieved his senses, he realised a multitude of little animal screams coming for upside.

Looking up, Maximilian saw what was looking like bats, but twice the size with two sets of wings instead of one, each one ending with a razor blade shape claw. They were deploying their wings and falling down from the ceiling, flying around Maximilian.

Scanning them, he realised they were, like the shroom lizard, edible.

*I’m not hungry right now but thanks to the Havenbag, I can stock for latter. *

As they were circling around him, one of the bats tried to attack him, claws going for his neck. In a swift movement, Maximilian drew his sword and cut down the head, the only part not useful for eating.

*three dozens of bat monster, more or less level fifteen, this shouldn’t take to much time…*

And in fact, it didn’t. Counting the time he took to picked up the creatures bodies after the one side fight, he didn’t need more than twenty minutes to finish.

*And that's done, time to go. But first...*

Taking the ring off, he put it back in the havenbag after he took back some mana, stabilising the runes.

* At least now, it will work like I want to.*

And he walked away, continuing his away tower after tower. Sometimes finding a chest with some coins, sometimes trapped . Meeting some other skeletons, one or two shrooms lizards, but nothing very interesting.

Not so far away, a group of adventurers were arriving at the giant bridge, after several hours descending old stairs, they finally made it to the next level.

Looking around, Arca, the greenish skin semi-orc women, ordered the soldiers behind them to advance, not wanting to waste any time.

"Arca...maybe we should find a place to rest for a bit."

The one talking was the elvish women, her voice smoother compared to the harsher semi-orc's one. She too was looking around, using a long stick covered in runes to emit some light ball she was throwing before the group to assure the way was safe, the light of the lantern not strong enough for her taste.

"I know Alariel, I know. But I don't want to be here if the spiders manage to break through the barricades."

The little girl between them continued to advance, speaking to the two women.

"Let's pursue then, we will rest when we'll find a good place to do so. "

So the group continued on the giant bridge, a pace kinda slowed down by the injured soldier women needing assistance, or simply those extenuate by the events.

Up the stairs, too far away to be heard, the doors broke and the barricades fell down as eight legs monstruosities passed through and ran down the stairs, without much noises other than the pieces of bones or stone they were hitting against. The biggest ones were on the ground, while the smaller ones ran on the wall and on the ceiling, making the numerous monsters advanced at a quick pace.

On Maximilian's side, things were going smoothly. The monsters he met were, for the most parts, stocked in the havenbag for later use. he had found a total amount of one gold, five silver and thirty copper coins since he left his camp, and he was advancing quite well despite the sometimes advance states of "unusable" bridge or tower.

As he was passing one tower higher than the others, he looked at the giant bridge he had to reach to get out, if not to reassured himself, at least to make sure he was still in the right direction.

*Good, still on the good w... what the?*

He had seen them, a group of adventurers advancing slowly on the bridge, coming his way. Well, coming the tower's way to being precise.

*Marvellous, at last, social activity.*

He was going to call them when he saw something else. On the other side of the bridge, coming down the stairs, a group of spiders, far more numerous than the adventurers, were appearing.

Maximilian saw them starting to advance in the group direction without a noise, the bigger ones walking on the bridge, while smaller ones were going under the bridge, advancing at a quicker pace, certainly to ambush their prey.

* I've got to help them! But I'm too far to reach them in time.*

The adventurer nearest the danger was smaller than the others, a cape and hood covering his face, with a big bag on his shoulder.

*quick, quick, think Maximilian....the ring!*

Taking off his gauntlet, he put back his new made scream ring and shouted.

"RUN!!!"

His voice echoed in the room, making some little stones falling down the ceiling in the dark abyss. The group turned their head in his direction, some of them pointing arrows at him.

Not wasting any time, Maximilian created a big ball of fire he threw at the bridge. His strength and accuracy coupled with fire magic did wonders as it hit the nearest big spider right on, just as it was going to reach the last adventurer .

"He is attacking us!!! shoot him!!"

Arca gave the order and three arrows were shooted.

"No Arca, look!"

Alariel pointed at the burning spider, near the adventurer now sitting on his bum, having fell while dodging what he thought was a fireball destined to him.

Arca understood immediately and gave the order.

"Hurry, cross the bridge, don't waste any time."

The group hurried as much as they could with the hurt ones. The adventurer with the big bag standing up and running as fast at he could.

On his part, Maximilian had dodged the arrows without any difficulties.

*Okay, bad first impression, but I don't have time for that, I must cover them....First the ones under the bridge.*

While the spiders on the bridge stopped a moment due to the one burning, the smaller ones under it were continuing, now literally running, already at the group level, they were visibly trying to pass them to blocked their retreat.

*So now, let's think...ice, visualise an arrow, yeah that's it!!*

Having put back his gauntlet on, Maximilian extended his left hand before him, palm facing the spiders. Concentrating on the form of the spell and the targets to hit, he shouted.

"ICE ARROWS!"

A dozen of arrows appeared from his hand and flew at an incredible speed to hit the eight legs monsters who fell into the abyss.

One of the soldiers, seeing the blue ice arrows flying towards them shouted.

"He is attacking us!!"

Arca took a moment to lean over the edge of the bridge. As she saw the spiders falling, she shouts to the soldiers.

"He is helping us! Just run, don't stop!"

Having taken care of the smaller ones under the bridge, Maximilian concentrated again on the bigger ones on the bridge .

* It seems fire scared them a bit....if that's the case...*

"FIRE ARROWS"

This time, it was a rain of red fire arrows that fell on the spiders covered part of the bridge. Of course, some missed, but it wasn't the idea anyway. Half of the spiders died immediately, the power of the arrows of a level 399 mage in itself more than enough to disposed of them. The others, who weren't burned by the fire spreading towards them, run back to the stairs and disappeared in the dark.

Satisfied with himself, Maximilian watched the group reaching the tower.

*Well, that's good. At least they're alive for now. But if I saw well, some of them looked hurt, I should hurry to reach them, just to be sure...*

He looked one last time at the bridge to make sure nothing was moving anymore, then get back on his way, this time at a much quicker pace, decided he had to meet with them before setting camp tonight.

On the adventurers side, they had managed to reach what seemed to be a post guard inside the tower.

The place was big enough for a dozen to camp, it had walls, ceiling, a big fireplace and a door to locked behind them for the night, in short, a blessing.

"Set up camp for the night, we will rest for a bit here. I want someone to guard the door at every moment, establish guard duty."

The soldiers saluted and started making camp, some lighting a fire with the bits of wood they could find, others watching through the bags for something to eat.

"How are the provisions?"

Arca was talking to one of the soldiers, a beard and tall man, old enough you could say he had seen some years.

"Not good Captain, we are running low on bread and water, dry meat is nearly finished, no more fruits or vegetables."

"Damn...do what you can sergeant "

Arca was passing near the poisoned soldier, next to whom Alariel was, trying to help her the best she could.

"How is she doing?"

"Not good. This is bad poison, the alchemist is dead and he had the antidote with him."

"What about you? You know any spell that could help?"

Alariel sighed.

"No Arca, I'm a battle mage, I know how to fight, not how to heal."

While they were talking, the little girl came to them, looking down at the hurt women.

"My lady..."

The hurt women smiled at the little girl while she crouched next to her. All around them were looking at the scene, silently

"I'm sorry I failed you, I would have liked to continue serving you longer."

The little girl was clearly sorry for the soldier women, taking her hand, she spoke to her, her voice shaking with pain.

"It's alright, you did your duty, following me is more than I could have asked from you, you can be in peace..."

"Or she could continue serving you if you let me help..."

All the head turned around to saw who spoke.

There, at the entrance, with three soldiers pointing their swords at him, was Maximilian, hand up to his head's level, smiling awkwardly.

"Good day to you...do you mind if I step in?"