blacksmithoftheapocalypse

1251. Over Side ways

Who would have thought that the swamp world was even worse than the hell world? These weird fish-hybrid demons didn't even speak the demon language at least not the one that came to greet them first.

It was not the last demon that came out from the stomach-churning orifice in the wall. Seeing Al stand aside doing nothing, Seth used the chance to play around with the cantrip of the Salamander Skin. Feeling like an action hero, he threw the first demon aside and turned to the g...

1250. Force them Quawk by Quawk

---Pakkonaia ----

“What a curious thing...” he mumbled as he rolled the cracked sphere in his hands “...and this was flying and surveying the forest?” he asked the subordinate kneeling on the ground. The Veil Ranger, who had his face covered with a black cloth just nodded silently. He then lifted his hand, showing several numbers.

“There were 87 of these?” the figure asked surprised, almost standing up from his throne. “Where did they come from?...

1249. I can close down your Gates

---Chrona---

Seated in his big ostentatious office, Ponze Leon Chrona was reading various papers. They were a culmination of reports and newspapers from across not just Chrona, but also other empires and other independent words under the influence of the System God.

“Well played, Leana... well played,” he mumbled with a wry smile. Minas Mar had used the connection they created during their Great Tournament well and took the opportunity to publicly call ou...

1248.Somewhere else(x)

The dim light of a setting sun was falling in through the crown glass windows, illuminating the taproom of a rundown tavern at the side of the road. The rowdy hubbub of farmers and workers, drinking their diluted beer from massive tankards, indicated that it was a good day on the surrounding farm.

Sitting in the corner, the stranger observed the happening of daily rural life, with a solemn smile, as he slowly sipped from his own tankard. After a few days of walking on foot, h...

1247. Let your heart decide

“Is everyone ready?” Jane called out at the surrounding crew. Outside the gates of Minas Mar, the teams for the expeditions got ready for their journey. People from the crafting teams were stacking crated into the freshly refurbished shuttle of Al'Zalsar.

The tuned bus that the sorceress had recreated as a flying vessel had gotten a once over by Tored, Seth's mentor and master blacksmith. The dwarf had gone all out with modifications to various defenses and some weapons, ...

1246. Now, when did you

“Al what are you doing? Seth asked the sorceress. The flight back had taken roughly two hours before they reached the sapling of the Guardian Tree again. During the flight, they made sure to extract as much information from the demon as possible, which wasn't a lot.

Most of what the demon could tell them was what they already knew or could be inferred from the situation. The demon didn't know much more than the command structure of his own world and his direct superi...

1245. Tell me, Demon

“Birthing pools? Does that mean this is the place that spawns the beast for the hell gates?” Seth asked intrigued by the words of the demon. The demon didn't seem worried at all, that two people had suddenly showed up at such a seemingly important place.

Al'Zalsar and the blacksmith approached the demon that had talked to them, getting closer to the birthing pools. Although they approached the mountains, the beasts that incessantly spawned from the pools did not seem to c...

1244. Smelling, Smoldering, Ashes

A vast plain of burned soil. Carbonized remnants of bushes reaching to the sky like dried-up limps and weirdly colored flames of burning gas characterized the view of the first Abyss world Al and Seth entered.

The blacksmith sighed as he couldn't quite get used to calling the demon worlds the abyss. he had gotten too used to calling the dungeon-infested caves of the Adventurer Guild's Holy Land the abyss. The name fit much better than describing a bunch of worlds ruled by an ...

1243. The Abyss

After Seth made sure Tatzel was okay and taken care of, he returned to Delta. It was late noon when Seth finally got to his last appointment before setting off for the hell gates. In the embassy of Minas Mar, which was going to be reverted back to their Delta branch from now on, he met Master Mountain in the cozy living room of the suite they gave him.

“Did you enjoy the party?” he asked after greeting the old cultivator. He sat down in a big, soft armchair while a maid p...

1242. I can show you

---3 days later---

The celebrations had come to an end and Seth was just about ready for another two-week vacation. Obviously, this wasn't the moment to take vacations. Before he left with Al, the blacksmith was scheduled to tour Delta and have a look at the damages and changes.

“... and they have been like this ever since the tree captured them?” Seth asked concerned, looking at the legends encased in wooden cocoons. Why did this have to look so much like something...

1241. Magic Banquet Hall

It had been a while since they last unsealed Minas Mar's magic banquet hall. The last time the magic light, booze fountains, and automaton servers were powered up, it took as much mana as the tower's shield in a whole week. Afterward, they decided only to open it for special occasions.

Seth was currently getting ready to go down, when his communication orb vibrated on the table. Who was calling him at this time? Practically everyone that had business with him was going to the...

1240. Mom is a man.

Gazing into the tainted dragon core, Tatzel could feel his instinct drawing him to it. It was no conscious knowledge that had him ask Seth for the core, but an instinct that came from his very blood and potential.

The Imugi knew that he needed the core, but not what he was supposed to do with it. he was sure this was the way to break past the level cap he hist after helping to kill Diromold. Winding his body around the dark yellow core the size of a boulder, he mused how it w...

1239. Pair of Boots

“Thank you, with this I hope I can finally keep up with those crazies,” the healer said, a small tear at the corner of his eyes. Was team 3 that reckless? Seth couldn't imagine the pressure Ferdinand may have felt at that party, without any item that actually significantly boosted his own power to save them, but it seemed like he didn't have an easy time.

Seth would have also given him the “Robe of Covdite”, the other item that probably came from Demus, but that was i...

1238. Your turn, Ferdinand

“The description says that it allows the user to see all the statistics of the territory they administer to see in detail! As well as functions to contact subordinates,” she explained in awe. Her words had Seth raise an eyebrow and take a look into the book.

The blacksmith had treated it like an item, that worked by just equipping it, at no point did he consider looking into the book. As the Tower master, he was technically in an administrative role, although he didn't do...

1237. Good Idea

At the dwarf's innocent question, Seth's eyebrows rose up high. He gave the set of the Necrotic Ruler another once over. His path of a legendary forger was able to copy legendary effects under specific circumstances, such as when he took apart the item.

If he was honest, his path to legends had been pushed to the back of his mind over the past weeks and it was not his first thought. Especially when it was about a set of three items, that could help one of his friends or subor...

1236. Settling Sets

"Let's start with this one since I already have someone in mind for this set. These are the robe, the ring, and the orb of Gönndalf.” Putting them on the table one by one, Seth introduced the three items that made up some of Natina's main gear.

“My suggestion would be to give the set, together with the Storm of Death, to Morgana of Team 5,” the blacksmith finished after explaining the abilities of the items. Morgana had already been a candidate for the Storm of Death, ...

1235. Distribution(2)

Since they were already at the less inspired Items, Seth continued with the “Unhealing Scimitar”. It was a shame that it was not really an impressive weapon, apart from slashing cursed wounds that didn't heal.

The effect was great if you were able to deal damage, but since the damage of the weapon itself wasn't too high, it could end up being a hurdle instead of an advantage. Ultimately, it was Jack Felton who raised his hand.

“I suggest we give this to...

1234. Distribution

After deciding to become a force to be reckoned with out of spite, the following points were of lesser urgency. Leana mentioned the lack of communication with Thres in recent weeks. Ever since Mike returned with the news of the body snatcher worms, the messages from Thres became scarce.

Minas Mar had kept up closer contact with the first outpost of the reformed Muir Empire after Mike and the others had created a connection during Mike's divine quest. After all, the plan was t...

1233. Debrief(2)

Naturally, the conversation developed in the direction of Delta's current situation. During the battle, several gates had opened surrounding the Guardian Tree. 8 stone gates, that Karina found to lead to a world of Spatia and 7 Hell Gates that led to various worlds of the Abyss.

When it came to the question of how to enter Spatia and gather information, the attention turned to the stone gates. As it was a point on the agenda anyway, Leana transitioned to talk about the new pa...

1232. Debrief

For the first time in a while, all the core people of Minas Mar were assembled in a room At this point the usual meeting room was no longer enough and the assembly was relocated to an auditorium inside of Minas Mar.

As a mage tower, it seemed that there were also lessons held for disciples, so apart from the facilities, dorms, and guest rooms, there were also auditoriums that went mostly unused so far. Now they were all assembled here.

“It's great to see ev...

1231. Somewhere Else(32)

---Urth, Cerebellum---

“Woah, it’s so big mother,” she heard her child exclaim after she followed her partner through the natural rift in the Pathworks. It was true, she had also never seen such a huge forest. All the trees towered over fifty people-lengths above them, many even higher.

Despite the thick blanket of leaves above, there was enough light making it through to feed the lush foliage that covered the ground and filled the gaps between their ma...

Announcment

Hey Guys, just a quick announcement upfront. I was thinking of taking a small break over the Christmas holidays, to relax and maybe grow my backlog a little.

That means I would not post any chapters starting on the 22nd December up to the 5th January.
I hope this comes early enough, in case some of you want to edit their tiers for that time frame.

1230. Her soul, too?

“Did you get her soul, too?” Fin asked jokingly, looking at the hoard he hauled back, but the blacksmith shook his head. Seth had not taken her soul. Apart from wanting her to rot in the afterlife, there was simply no reason to.

Like Seth, Lady Durnham had mostly relied on outward factors to become strong. Although she was lucky with her class and became the Chosen of Kali, she could not have become this strong without the heavy support of her family and the stroke of luc...

1229. Checking the Loot

The next morning, or rather afternoon, Seth, Mina, and Fin sat at the kitchen table, having breakfast together. The blacksmith had caught up on some much-needed sleep and now he staring at a pile of items on the table, together with his girlfriends.

After a good night's sleep, his mind was clearer and he remembered the items he had looted from the necromancer girl. Although he already knew most of what she had carried on her body, he had yet to check the item box that dropped...

1228. Legendary Batteries

---Present---

“So Karina simply plugged them with the tree and the demons that got out were swallowed?” Seth summed up what happened after Leana explained to him what hell gates were. If he was honest, he didn't care what they were at the moment.

Hearing the situation was stable for now, he had the great urge to just end the conversation and continue with his initial plan to return straight to his bed . he wanted to hang up on Leana with a short sentence ...

1227. Deal with it

To Seth's surprise, Tatzel had no problem touching the core when he took it from the pile. The curse didn't seem to affect the pitch-black imugi at all as he pulled it out of the bone pile with his short claws.

“Can I also take something from the pile?” Hellion's booming voice sounded. The blacksmith looked up at the bronze colossus, questioning. he didn't know what the colossus wanted, but would he be okay touching the bones?

The colossus of Rhodes had g...

1226. The Core

“So you managed to wrestle control of the Hydra from Natina?” Seth summarized the necromancer's explanation of what happened. The blacksmith looked up at the giant undead hydra, that was now silently waiting at the side..

The situation had been a little awkward when Eve appeared and the twelve-headed beast appeared over the mountain ridge. surprising Seth, who heard about this for the first time. On the other hand, Evee felt a little awkward, having rushed here to help, o...

1225. Flesh, Blood, and Brain matter

“You can't be serious! I get the staff. I wouldn't expect anything less from an unapologetic cheater like Seth, but even you! How could the System god stoop so low? The Horseman of the Apocalypse? On a world that had not even been part of the Pathworks for five years!” the goddess of death and destruction growled and stomped, shaking the very pocket dimension.

As her tirade went on, the dimension kept darkening and her stomping created tears and cracks in its fabric.

1224. One of us is going down.

The moment he felt her skull cave in, through the leather of his Trignis Gloves, Natina suddenly exploded with power, blasting the blacksmith away from her. It was the same flame-like power from before, that now surrounded and protected her from outside views.

Like a flash, it was over as quickly as it happened, Seth had no time to interrupt what happened in the fire. Although he didn't know what exactly happened the result presented itself to him in all its questionable glor...

1223. Define your meaning

“Define your meaning of fun. To me, it's when we're getting done.”

Flung away but the gut-wrenching impact of the staff, surrounded by shock waves of pale blue flames, the necromancer, was swallowed by the bombardment of demonic fire, blocking all any vision of her. For the first time, her cries of pain sounded in the valley. The great duchess had suffered damage.

Charging out of the explosion of cursed fire in a bright light, Natina escaped with the soun...