blacksmithoftheapocalypse

750. Somewhere Else(21)

---Tree Station 5---

It was already visible from far away. A giant tree in the middle of nowhere jutting out from the mountain landscape. They felt like they were hallucinating, seeing the skyline of a small city below the canopy of the supernatural tree.

They were unsure whether to approach or not. The journey was harder than expected, with every fight leaving them barely alive. They could really use a safe resting spot. Lastly, their desperation drove them to the entrance of the...

749. Research Materials?

The room had fallen silent as Evee's face was distorted by a deep frown. It was not nice to hear about what had happened to Agra. The news of their enemy harnessing the power of this new disease was even worse. To top it off, they were also part of the barbaric drug trade that had ruined so many lives in Delta.

“Do you really think it's the best move to come to them?” Evee finally asked.

She admitted that their plan wasn't bad. If they built the Tree Route all the way to Y-Cit...

748. Stabilizing Connection

~Notice: The Spatial passage is currently unstable.  It is recommended to channel additional energy to stabilize the pathway.~

The Tower notified him as he arrived in the lobby, where a wobbly blue gate was slowly forming. Despite being wobbly, it was more stable than the nightmare ride they had opened after their flight from the Stronghold of the Theocracy.

“Stabilize it then, Tower.”

Seth answered brusquely, staring at the teleport gate slowly taking shape. While ...

747. Research

Over the next few days, Seth began to work through the blueprints of armor sets he had inherited from Forgebrand. He made one of each armor to truly understand how they worked. He had to admit, the construction truly showed the maker's experience with materials, as expected of a dwarf.

Instead of relying on one powerful metal or material with a specific affinity, as Seth might do it, the dwarfs had used different materials of similar affinities that complimented each other, disregarding...

746. Silken Dreams

“Looks like the disturbance earlier was you guys.” Mina spat out ill-humored.

Although Fin's actions came as a surprise, the feline fiend was still pissed. Seeing a chance to vent her emotions, even Seth wouldn't dare to stop this rolling stone.

“Do you have any idea what you have done, beastgurl? Do you even know who my Honey is?” the girls on the opposite squared up with her.

It was clear the guy wasn't with her because of her face, she had an impressive pair of nu...

745. Multidimensional Fine Dining

Wearing cloaks that hid their identity, the three left the embassy and snuck across Delta to get into the demon district.  There were people, but compared to the past, Delta seemed really empty. It was the first time Mina and Fin had time to look around after their return from the Holy Land.

It was not that many people suddenly decided to travel out and settle on the Tree Route or the other settlements that have been founded in the no man's land. The city seemed empty because fewer...

744. Star of Krios

Since Persephone's Necklace had become a crown, the spot of the Necklace was now free. Seth had deliberated for some time over what to do for this tenth soul armament. He had blown most of the Olympian enchantments that were fit to be used on armors, on previous items.

He still had the <Blessing of Hades>, but he still saved that one for the time he got a soul for the Lucky Trinket. Since it presumably would boost his luck, he wanted to make the ring into the ultimate lucky charm....

743. Physique and Crown

<Ding! Your skill Soul Forging lv.8 had become Soul Forging lv.9!>

He heard an unexpected message when he finished the new bangle that would hold the Blessing of Charon. It had been a  while since <Soul Forging> leveled up, but that was to be expected on the higher levels.

The new banked showed a scene of the underworld. It was the river Styx and at the center of the scene was Charon ferrying souls in his bark across the river.  With the lost souls in the riv...

742. Shoulder of the Hekatoncheires

In a similar vein, Seth started working on the other soul armaments.  For the soul pauldrons that used to be the Hekatoncheires' Shoulders, he chose to go against symmetry and do only one big pauldron. In exchange, he engraved a pattern of 100 arms onto the pauldron.

When he finally engraved the sigil of the many-armed giant, something similar to the bangle happened, but it wasn't as perfect. As the sigil spread its pattern it only partially superimposed onto the pauldron he had cr...

741. Oknos' Craft

Team 3 and the Chimeras stayed at Agra for the time being, while the rest of Minas Mar returned home a few days after people from Tree Station One and the System Church arrived.

Cormac Payle and Cromwel also stayed back in Agra. One had been gripped by a weird enthusiasm and intended to repair all the golems he could salvage from the battlefield, the other asked to stay and prepare for what was to come.

Their rough plan was simple. Expand the tree route all the way to Y-City, use ...

740. What to do from now on...

“How are you doing?“ Seth spoke to the massive statue hewn into the side of the mountain.

~I am weakened. The Tuatha De have lost nothing of their strength in the past millennia. I'm sorry I couldn't protect your tree. That little tree spirit will probably be sad.”

“It's okay, Karina is doing fine. Let's not talk about what happened and concentrate on what to do from now on..”

Agra had taken a painful hit.  The casualties were in the thousands, most of which w...

739. Somewhere Else (20)

--Y-City--

Her heels made echoing clacks with every step as she walked down the tales hallways to the annex. It was a beautiful woman wearing a black Gothic dress walked toward the great wooden door that slowly opened as she drew close.

Following the invitation, she entered the dim room, filled with antique and lavish decorations. Everything was decorated in the opulent style that was in style centuries ago. It was not just a recreation, the whole mansion had been disassembled and...

738. Great Help in the Future

Cormac Payle was left shivering in a puddle of his own piss. He had a hard time just beginning to understand what exactly just happened. For a moment that felt like an eternity, the world around him had slowed down.

He had sworn to himself to witness all the atrocities of this day, so he could tell others about it. And that, he had.

Everything that happened was burned into his white opened eyes. Golems and people of a strength he could not dare to fathom had suddenly started movin...

737. The Storm

“Everyone, calm down! They have deployed something like the Soul-Cleansing barrier around Agra. You will be fine as long as you don't step into that space. Use the Serks to scout for loopholes and shoot the insects from a distance.”

A sudden message came through all communication orbs, calming the disturbed soldiers. They had already embraced the thought of immortality. This meant that even a low chance of death became that much worse to them than anything else.

Yet, hearing t...

736. Plan A

~Seth.~ a weak voice established contact as Seth was concentrating on quickly recovering his resources.

~Nas'Korn?~ the voice was weak but the bard immediately recognized it. ~What happened?~

Instead of an answer, he received a stream of information that consisted of snippets of memory that explained the current situation. Seth saw how his golems performed their duty only for most of them to get destroyed in the summoning of the avatar of a foreign god.

It started with the T...

735. True Fear

“Ugh- I won't let you!”

Looking at the scared eyes of his grandchild behind him, his only regret was that he had not forced his old bones to train the skills he had gained with his class more. Agra had been peaceful thanks to their god Nas'Korn. There was no reason for an old man to pick up a blade.

But they had been too reliant on the holy barrier. Having lost his home and children, he now came to this unfortunate realization. He could barely hold of one of those regenerating...

734. The Calm before the Storm

~Alright, so you will only accept a beautiful and handsome person to use you unless it is someone I designate. You only have to actively help someone you like or someone I designate. Deal?~

~T-That is fine, I guess?~

After going through the soul contract a last time the contract was finally signed. Most of the clauses were for a time when Seth or maybe Jonah was not there anymore. All the talk of immortals had made him think of what would happen after he was no more.

Tryx wa...

733. The Bonkening

Although Karina had charged in like a confused deer, she suddenly halted when she saw a stranger, Cromwel, sitting opposite of Seth.

“Talk to me if it's urgent,” the blacksmith asked her after a short deliberation.

“I lost connection with the sapling on Mount Agra.”

These were serious news, as it could only mean that the tree was killed. The sapling in Mount Agra was by far not the biggest one, but something that was able to break into the city and defeat it was worr...

732. It's what I would do

”I believe to know who would continue my work for the Scene. If my guess is right, the souls will start dying once the soul cluster's mana runs out and becomes unable to recover.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” Mary asked suspiciously.

“Because it's what I would do if I wanted to make an army of immortal, but still controllable, soldiers. It's also a very easy thing to do when one already has the finished serum.”

“If I understand you correctly, you are sayin...

731. Beat them

The being that called itself Dr. Cromwel started spilling his information. Despite seeming a little intimidated watching Seth take care of the impersonator, he kept his thoughts together and was able to hold a calm conversation.

“Let's start with the obvious, why do you have no soul, like the infected and how did you keep your sanity?”

Cromwell readily explained his own studies and modifications he had done to create the immortal serum and how everything lead to the Scene back...

730. Two Guests

Seth just returned to Minas Mar when he ran into a staff member waiting for him in the entrance hall.

“Tower Master!”

“What's up?” Seth halted and asked.

Mary knew their current situation and what he was doing. If she sent someone to disturb him it had to be something important. Seeing Seth stop to listen, the man sighed relieved.

“Mary asked me to call you. There are two guests that need your attention.”

“Two? On the same day? This day? What an int...

729. Soul Shopping

Seth soon arrived at the familiar warehouse, where he appeared in front of the guards out of thin air. He had simply switched from the Helm of Hades to Laraweg.

“Shieldbird,” Seth gave the code word, and the door to the soul emporium was opened for him.

“Tower Master, my favorite customer! It's good to see you, Seth.”

Tano'Mol greeted jovially from behind the counter. The goat had become very friendly with him since he became a regular.

“What can I do for you...

728. A truncheon?

After some back and forth they had finally come to the decision to send an advance party of the freshly made golems. They were golems specialized in defense and would be able to buy time for them.

Seth demanded the time because he wanted to prepare for this attack thoroughly.  It took about a day to travel to the vicinity of Mount Agra using the subterranean maintenance tunnel that led to the mana gathering formation.

The volunteers were scheduled to set off half a day later ...

727. Black Beetle Tank

“Damnit! Why did this have to happen now?!” the blacksmith cursed looking down at the camps of black army tents surrounding the foot of Mount Agra.

For the past week or so, Cormac had been too afraid to leave his hideout or even light a fire to heat up some of his rations. He had just sat around, freezing, and observing the situation down below.

He was studying whether there might be a chance to either make his escape and find a way to the tree route by chance, or maybe get in...

726. A Siege

When Seth arrived,  quite a few people had already gathered in the room.

“W-Where am I?” he asked wearily. “I have to get to Minas Mar! How far am I from Delta?” the man suddenly jump up in bed.

“Why do you care about Delta? You are standing in front of the Tower Master of Minas Mar, you numskull,” Ceres scolded from the side. The golem had been guarding beside the bed for the whole night since it brought him in.

The man's eyes wandered over the golem and th...

725.Snow ball fight

“Umpf!” Seth coughed as a bowling ball-sized snowball hit his face.

Beside him, he saw Pip being knocked over by another one of the massive snowballs.

“Hey, Fin! It's unfair to use transformation in a snowball fight!” he accused the fairy that had turned into a giant gorilla with paddle-like hands and was peppering everyone with giant snowballs.

Although she had suggested going on a walk, it turned into watching Asterion train, after which they were invited to join t...

724. Cromwel

Blood was dripping from his claws as they slowly turned back into the hand of a wizened old man.

Looking at the dismembered corpses of his former co-worker, he let out a deep sigh. It all started with the infiltration of those despicable vermin from the Scene.

Having barely survived the laboratory's self-destruction together with the infiltrators from Gamma, Cromwel still remembered the pain of his body being incinerated vividly. He had needed weeks to recover and get used to his ...

723. Starting off

They had all assembled in the lobby of Minas Mar for their departure. Everyone currently home, came to send them off. Seth had decided to finally trust Yu and invite them into the heart of their home.

Seeing Yu motivated to accompany the expedition was really reassuring to Seth. Although they also sent a team of Oathguards and Edward along with Evee and the craftsmen, only Yu would be able to face dangers of the level of someone like Dragos.

There was no further news about that te...

722. A Warning

“The connection between our worlds can not be hidden. My guess would be, that someone interfered in the border conflicts to make this happen. They are just the people sent to test the waters,” You continued.

“Once these people come, you will need strength. I can see that you have already grown and you already refined your body, but that is far from enough. Now you still have time. If you really want to stand tall in what is about to come, you and your friends have to use this time...

721. Recruitments

Neill was the first, but he was not going to be the last. The craftsmen invited had until 6 pm. To submit their works, so judging went on all day long. It was a full day of looking at items and deliberating the fate of their maker based on the skills shown.

Although it sounded like more work, It was much more fun to Seth than going through stacks of applications. A lot of his work was also taken over by his subordinates, the only ones Seth had to double checked were the ones that were r...