Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

944  943. A little over the top

---Adventurer Guild's Holy Land---

Commander Harrad and a troop made up of 50 elites and 250 nameless heroes summoned through the powers of the dungeon were galloping toward the location the priest had given with his prayer when he suddenly signaled all of them to stop.

He had just received a divine message, to pull back and return. It seemed that the priest and the rest of the band of Knights and brought the ultimate sacrifice to relay a final warning. Their words and sight had reached the goddess. Clenching his fist above his heart, he sent a prayer to his goddess, before ordering his men to retreat.

…

Seth was standing in the dungeon inside Legion's pocket dimension, looking at the singed corpses of the priest and the knights. The stench of burned flesh filled the cells. Their eyes and mouths were charred, as if columns of fire had sprouted out from inside their bodies.

"Why try to spare them?" Haa'Skon asked in a slightly monotone voice.

"You know, killing them just for following me seemed a little over the top, although Ceres would disagree."

"What is Ceres?" "Something like a big brother of yours,"

That's right, the burnt bodies were not the blacksmith's work. The bard had meticulously made sure that none of them died in his fire. It was just a distraction so he could knock them out. However, something happened after he stashed them away for later interrogation.

Because of Minas Mar's current situation most of his golems were distributed across their district. Currently, Legion was rather empty and there were no golems guarding the prison at the time. As such, Seth got the message that something was wrong with his captives rather later, while he was on the way out of the dungeon, to meet that Commander Harrad, they mentioned.

Some people may call Seth a cruel man, but he really only was cruel, when he felt justified in his actions. The knights had tracked him, and followed him but they had not attacked him, yet. He felt it would have been overboard to kill them without interroga- Without asking them for their side of the story.

At no point did he expect them to commit suicide in their cells. The more sinister detail was that even their souls were gone.

~This is some kind of ritual. ~ Oz suddenly commented.

" A ritual?" he asked.

Seth brought the demon lyre out from his inventory, so the demon could take a closer look. Although Seth had learned a lot from the demon bard, Oz was still the more knowledgeable when it came to this stuff.

The lyre was gently floating around the corpses to take a closer look, while it played a quiet tune. Oz had not suddenly learned how to levitate, but it was the skill of Seth's Armor. <Amduasia's Spirit>(check name again) allowed instruments to "play themselves" in this case, since it was an ego item. Oz had to play, to stay afloat.

This didn't mean his tune was without use. The demonic notes slowly seeped into the air and an aura that Seth could not detect before became visible. A kind of dark golden smoke was floating up from the burned eyes and throat.

~This is the divine aura of a god. This was definitely a ritual. ~ Oz reaffirmed.

"What could it be used for? It doesn't seem like they sacrificed their lives for some ultimate attack..." Seth pondered, looking at the cells that were still fine.

~Based on the symbolism and the lack of a soul, I guess they sacrificed their lives to send their souls back to their god, or goddess. ~ Oz gave his educated guess.

"Does that mean their god now knows what happened here?" Seth quickly found the crux of the matter. The more complete a soul was, the more memories and personality it conserved from when it was alive.

If this was a divine ritual and a god was involved, it was highly likely that their souls were preserved in almost perfect condition. Gods were special and their connection to their believers even more so, this was the reason it needed a powerful god to achieve something like a "perfect" resurrection.

~Highly likely. ~ Oz agreed. "Then it won't make sense to stay here and wait..."

Seth left Legion's pocket dimension and returned to the dungeon, where Haa'Skon was waiting with his almost 400 undead orcs. Even the lv.75 Orc Shaman(Boss) had been turned into an undead servant who fervently followed the golem's orders.

Since Haa'Skon's domination seemed to be based on a natural hierarchy or affinity and not on skills, it also didn't seem to be restricted by status or the number of minions. If he sent the golem Death Knight to Arget Nore, would it end up becoming the ruler of all undead? The blacksmith shook his head. It was a funny idea, but he doubted intelligent and controlled undead would fall so easily for the Death Golem Knight's natural charm.

test the golem and come to a decision. He was not going to offer this miniature necromancer version 10:08

of Luf to Arget Nore. He had a better idea of what to offer them.

Maybe it wasn't a good idea to sell Haa'Skon to Arget Nore, even if it was just on the surface. Who knew where they would put it to use where Seth couldn't see it? He restricted his golems from harming ori humas and Urthans, so they wouldn't do harm here at home. But he could hardly restrict them from harming people in general, at that point, he would just be a bad weapons dealer.

No matter how many restrictions he was to put in, once the golem left his influence, there was no telling what workarounds they could find. Honestly, the power of the <Enriched Necron> had far exceeded Seth's expectations.

Although the blacksmith didn't like having a horde of undead on standby, Haa'Skon was too dangerous to leave his hands. At least the golem's undead didn't stink. Since they were filled with the haze of death they looked rotten, but they were not actively rotting anymore.

"Pack up your undead, we are leaving Haa'Skon," the blacksmith gave the order when he left Legion, keeping the portal open for the undead orcs and one troll to wander inside. Although they didn't reek, they were not allowed on the couch, or in the building in general. As such, the meadow below the tree house inside Legion was stuffed with bodies, resembling a concert. A groaning, undead rave.

When he stepped outside, he was greeted by two more corpses. The knight who lost a leg and the man who helped him leave. These two seemed a lot less happy and peaceful about their death. Their faces were petrified in cries of pain and their bodies were stuck in a twisted position of struggle.

"How...unsavory."

The bard was not interested in waiting for someone that probably wouldn't come, besides the corpses of human sacrifices. This whole business left a bad taste in his mouth. The people he spared committed suicide and even the guys waiting outside found their demise.

He had gained virtually nothing from this, except some hints from their lies and bragging. At least he knew one thing: Someone, somewhere out there was actually after him, personally, and he had no idea who or why. He made a small mental note on the lift of enemies and hidden dangers before he used Home Call. This short trip to test Haa'Skon had already taken too long.

The first thing he did back in Minas Mar, was throwing out Haa'Skon and his undead.

Although he didn't find out the truth about who exactly and why he was followed, he was still able to test the golem and come to a decision. He was not going to offer this miniature necromancer version of Luf to Arget Nore. He had a better idea of what to offer them.

As for Haa'Skon, since Python was now in Little Gamma and Ceres was traveling the Unclaimed mountains with Mike, there was a vacancy to patrol the vicinity at their front door. Seth judged that Haa'Skon was strong enough to join as the second new guard.

Waving at the golem knight's back, Seth watched as it and the 400 undead left for the vast mountain range to keep training. He felt a lot better, not having a horde of undead stored somewhere in Minas Mar.

"Is it really okay to just release those guys in the wild?" Asterion asked doubtfully. Seth had almost forgotten about their sturdy gatekeeper.

"Don't worry. They will be fine," Seth assured him and returned to the workshop, to see whether his new idea worked better.

"...but I was not worried about them," Asterion mumbled when he was alone again. With a sigh, he returned to his workout. It seemed like he, once again, wouldn't be able to get any action for a long while.