Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In their battle against the bloodslaves they had forgotten their primary enemy, the wyverns. The wyverns also started diving into the remaining herd of drakes, but not just the drakes. Seth and his party had forgotten someone important.

The giant claws of the old wyvern barely missed Mike who was blocking a drake. The grudge had not been forgotten. The old one and his 3 friends had noticed the party and focused on them. This was the worst situation possible. They were still some distance away from the others and could not easily run because of the drakes.

Every time Seth or Mike were locked in battle, they would dive for them. Lexiss was busy using low-level magic with short casts at the wyverns to deter its attacks. While Bulko kept using shields and the help of the pets to defend him and Lexiss from the lizards in the sky and on the ground.

As the one who had looted the wyvern earlier, Seth had the old wyvern's full attention and kept dodging and weaving between the drakes to evade the big lizard's vicious attacks. He successfully evaded several attacks. Then fortune left him and he stumbled over a corpse on the ground.

Immediately a tremendous pressure clamped down on his shoulder. One of the zombie drakes had bitten into his shoulder! He heard the bone plates breaking. A terrible pain shot through his shoulders as he felt his bones breaking. Only the golden jacket stopped the teeth from sinking into his flesh.

Seth was fixed in place and the old wyvern instantly saw its chance! Like a hawk, it dove down with incredible speed and its attack seemed inevitable. The giant maws of the beast were rapidly coming closer when a projectile shot from the adventurers at the gorge. The force of the projectile smashing into the beast's skull threw around its head. The old wyvern almost made a U-turn in midair before crashing into the ground.

The next moment the projectile crashed into the drake, releasing his shoulder.

"Seth! Are you okay?" a high-pitch voice screamed into his ears.

It was Fin! The tiny fairy was back! Surprise and joy filled his heart and struggled with the fear and graveness of the situation. And she was not simply back, she had come to save him again! Seth had no words and could only nod erratically. His joy was short-lived as the old wyvern was only stunned for a short time. It was already getting back on its feet and ready to attack. Fin gifted him a happy smile before charging at the wyvern

Seth heard an enraged growl from behind him. The bloodslave was not dead yet and it was very angry after waking up. Its giant claw pinned him down and the dented snout was aiming for his face.

The next moment a dagger sank into the head of the drake that had him pinned and broke off. The beast let go of his shoulder with a dying cry. His angels had come to save Charl- Seth. Mina had backstabbed the drake and ended its life with a critical hit that broke her dagger.

Fin was zipping around the wyvern's head kiting its attention away from Seth. Mina supported Seth and they ran back to the center of their party. The tanky pets came forth to secure their retreat as a giant tooth shot past the blacksmith and the assassin and struck the ground beside them.

The fairy was simply too fast for the wyvern and kept pummeling its head. The hard scales could resist the blunt trauma the tiny fists dealt at high speeds. Bulko hurried to cast a shield surrounding the party once they joined the back rows.

It was one of Fin's savage hits that broke the teeth and send them like projectiles into the surrounding. More important than the pure damage she caused to the wyvern, were the status effects like stun and confusion she kept layering on the old wyvern. The wyvern had no chance to pursue anyone as it was busy enough to escape Fin′s merciless beating.

After Fin had rushed over, they got finally cover fire from the ranged attackers among the adventures. They kept the wyverns at bay so Mike could also return into the circle of the party. With Mike and the pets forming their frontline against the drakes, Bulko was able to take a breather and look after Seth′s shoulder injury.

One had to say, that the healing arts of a priest were far above modern medicine when it came to such injuries. Bulko's giant hands brought his broken bones in roughly the correct position and cast a medium heal. The magic took care of setting his broken bones and growing them back together within seconds.

In exchange for such speed, this magic took a huge toll on Bulko's mana and mental strength, making the giant sweat and pant laboriously. Seth thanked him and handed him a mana, and a stamina potion to get back into shape. While they held their position among the group of drakes the old wyvern finally managed to flee from Fin′s tiny fists of fury. With a bruised and battered face, it took back to the skies and his among the clouds.

After the wyvern had left, the fairy joined the party. There was no time to explain or introduce each other, but everyone understood that she knew Seth and was here to help. With Fin′s support, they finally managed to make their way toward the front lines of the rescue party.

"Hah! So, you people managed to survive till the end?" was the greetings they got after getting past the front lines. The gorge was filled with half-dissolved bodies of drakes and a group of adventurers and merchants sitting here and there. The person greeting them was the leader of the A-Rank party. There were also the proctors from the 2 B-Rank parties, compared to the A-Rankers their equipment looked quite worn and torn from fighting the hordes of drakes all night long. The examiners had defended the merchants in the back, which was the only reason they were still alive.

"We were lucky." Mike said self-depreciatingly and plopped down on the ground, leaning against the stone wall. All tension had left their bodies after finally reaching safety. They were all very tired after a stressful night and the recent fight. The expression on the A-Ranks faces was not much better than theirs. They had an even rougher night than them.

"Don′t belittle yourself. Being able to survive in such a situation needs more than luck. Let′s hope we can find some others once the danger is dealt with."

Fin and Seth exchange looks and wanted to talk, but the fairy was called and had to return to the rescue party to help deal with the danger. The party sat down together with the merchants and examiners and they shared their knowledge of the previous night.

The A- and B-Ranks had spent all night fighting the drakes that kept pouring out of the bowels of the mountains. They had protected the merchants of the caravan as much as they could, still only about half of them were still left.

Among the survivors was the head of the caravan. He had already been healed, but his armor was scrapped and he was still covered in blood. He was hugging a severely damaged greatsword. So that was his weapon. The merchants looked dirty, sweaty, and worn out, but they obviously did not fight at all.

On the other side, they had no idea about the war between the drakes and the wyverns that had raged all night long. This was information that made not just the examiners listen attentively. A man with a long beard and a fascinating robe stepped up to them.

"Can you tell me more about that battle? Ah, I′m sorry for my discourtesy. I′m Venturi, the vice-guild master of Ora." he had a sparkle in his eyes as if he had understood something.

As they recounted what they had seen last night the old man kept nodding. Seth could almost hear the gears clicking into the right places and working in his head.

"Oh yeah. I might have another interesting piece of information in that regard. I don't know how serious the guild took my report, but I met something like these bloodslaves before." Seth mentioned. And thus, he what had happened in the dungeon on the graveyard directly to the guild master.

"hoh... This is really interesting. The information itself might not be important, but in connection with what we are seeing here it might be a crucial part in solving this mystery."

The old mage did not tell them any conclusion he came to. He excused himself and returned to the party of B-Ranks that were finally wiping out the last remnants of the horde. They didn't look any better than the examiners who had fought all night when they joined the survivors at the campfire they had made.

Not only was everyone tired, but the motivation had also taken a dive when they found out that the drake corpses could not be looted. Most of the corpses had already dissolved and those freshly killed bodies were already so damaged that loot didn′t give any items. Venturi sent two parties to look for survivors of the examinees and one to guard the gorge.

Looking at the examiners and Seth′s party he stepped towards the campfire.

"It seems like you are all the fighting power left of the caravan. It′s a shame. We had hoped to stock up on manpower on the way, and not tire ourselves this early." he said and began to explain the reinforcement quest and recounted what had happened in Ora.

"Will you join us and travel the rest of the way to Tora, or would you rather turn around?"