Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Y-City---

“Seth? Mike? Fin? Damn it!” Mina spoke into her communication orb, but she couldn't reach anyone. It was clear something happened. Well, they expected something to happen, but not necessarily for their communication to be jammed.

She had to make the decision, look for Seth or return to the Church. She knew that the Church was the more logical decision, after all, what could possibly happen to Seth? Still, she turned to run looking for her significant other.

The cat girl had only made a few steps when she made a massive leap back. An arrow passed by where her head had been a moment ago. The projectile pierced the street and exploded.

“Good reflexes. As expected of an animal, “ she heard someone scoff. Looking up, she found the man standing at the window of one of the surrounding buildings, already aiming another arrow at her.

She didn't have much time to observe him before the next arrow was shot. She could see that he wore a kind of poncho and goggles before she had to evade his attack. Mina eyed the crater created by the arrow suspiciously. The amount of damage was comparable to arrows shot by Lydia or Archer. The man had to be some kind of divine scout or thief at least.

She had not expected someone being able to detect her through the permanent effects of the Ring of Gyges. Detecting her despite her visibility and presence being halved, on top of her assassin skills meant he had to have a great perception.

“What's with that look? Did you think Minas Mar were the only ones hoarding chosen or legendary items?” he jeered and confidently jumped down to the street. He calmly faced her on the open street. His confidence as well as the short sword at his hip made her believe that he was a scout similar to Lydia, without a specific focus on his combat range.

The bow he held and the poncho he wore had an unmistakable aura, even Mina who wasn't a blacksmith could identify as the power of a legendary item. She couldn't explain it, but after constantly being in the presence of legendary items, she could differentiate them, from epic or relic-rated equipment.

“I see that you prepared well, but are you sure you want to face me alone?” the cat girl asked confidently.

“Pff, don't worry, I will be more than enough to handle a beast like you.” lightning fast he shot an energy arrow, that split into another 10 that aimed for Mina.

At this range, even the shadow assassin had a problem evading all of them. One brushed past the waist but couldn't penetrate her armor. Instead, the scout clicked his tongue when he received 30% of the reflected damage.

“Tsk, are all of your armors like that? Really, like animals. Are you a cat, or a porcupine?” he scoffed displeased. Mina didn't answer, she only said one word.

“<Nyx>” a domain of darkness enveloped the two opponents. It was not absolute, but the darkness of the night. With the traits of Nightwalker and Associate of Darkness further hiding and strengthening her, she doubted he would be able to find her. Using shadow travel she appeared behind the archer, but suddenly-

“<Mortal Arena>”

At the words of the scout, the darkness suddenly vanished and Mina inelegantly fell out of the air. With cat-like reflexes she fell on her feet and immediately created distance between her and him, evading the attack of his short sword.

“Yeah, you're good at running. Did you think these tricks would work on me? You can't hide in my presence.”

Mina took a moment to process the current situation. The man had ripped a scroll and activated a skill. Now they were trapped in a massive silver dome that had eradicated her <Nyx> skill. The dome was at least several hundred meters in diameter.

“<Erebus>” she chanted, but the skill of her second ring didn't activate either.

“You can stop trying that now. Are you curious? The scroll I used activated the skill <Mortal Arena>. No divine skills can manifest here. It's the perfect skill to battle chosen and blessed ones, especially for us immortals. It also works against the divine skills on your weapons!” he rambled in glee.

The cat girl eyed him grimly. If what the man said was true, then things like the Plague of Sekhmet would fail just like <Erebus>. She had been relying on many of these options for a while now since it made things quite easy. Now she had to come up with a plan without using any divine skills. However, the situation was not as bleak for her, as the man may have thought.

When Mina didn't react as expected, the man frowned but soon smiled again.

“Fine, if that isn't enough to make you despair, what if I told you that your Tower Master is already dead.”

“I would love to know what you are smoking. If you wanted me to believe you, you should start with something more credible than you guys defeating Seth,” she mocked him.

“But it is true. We also captured your brother~ They are probably torturing him to get information right at this moment.” the immortal taunted her.

“Mike?” Mina asked suspiciously. She couldn't help but ask back.

“Yeah, the lion guy, he was so surprised when he suddenly turned back into a little kitty. It was funny. They will dispose of him after the torture but don't worry, I'm starting to take a liking to you. When we are done with you, we might just keep you as a pet. Even if your Tower Master comes back he won't want you anymore after we are done with you!” he cackled.

“..I only have one comment on that. <Shadow Domain>”

Once again, a dome of darkness was created and enveloped the two. She immediately noticed, that the traits from the rings still worked, even if she created the domain with her skills. The next moment, the scout was surrounded by a storm of shadow blades.

However, his poncho started shining in a golden light, creating a barrier that negated all of her shadow magic. The scout was laughing in derision, it seemed like they had really sent her the worst enemy. If her shadow magic didn't work, then-

“I can see you!” suddenly the scout turned around, slashing his sword at her. She had just wanted to attack him with <Backstab> but had to interrupt the skill to evade. She clicked her tongue. He could even see her in the darkness of her skill, despite her traits and skills.

She threw a set of shadow knives, but they just disintegrated at the edge of his barrier. Buying time to think, she used <Leap> and broke through a window on the fourth story of the building to their left.

“Do you think you can run?!”

Without pause, he was on her heels, without even knowing where she went after entering the building. This meant he could either detect her presence or see her through obstacles. Was it a skill? Or maybe those ugly goggles he was wearing?

She really needed to surprise him somehow.

…

He liked the hunt, especially with his Wallhack Goggles, which allowed him to easily detect her energy signature no matter where she went. As long as she had no divine skills that interfered, she was easy pickings.

Ignoring the walls in his way, he kept shooting at the little animal running away. They simply penetrated the structure, barely losing any power. She kept evading barely, and he kept following all the way to the rooftop.

“Haha, did you think you could get out of the arena, if you ran to the rooftop?” he asked as he passes the door to the stairs.

He laughed at her attempt to escape. The arena was 300m in all directions, and none of the buildings in the vicinity were high enough to escape from that. Now she had nowhere to run unless she jumped down from this building.

“No, I just wanted to lure you here, to try something. <I shall wear Midnight>” she spoke and suddenly everything in front of his eyes went dark. Shocked he realized, that whatever skill she used, had really hidden her this time. In a slight panic, he jumped back, down through a hole in the roof. The domain was not big this time and his vision returned when he reached a floor below and took cover.

“Kuk! Haha!” he laughed when he thought that she had actually just wasted the one skill that might have given her an edge. He turned to see where she was when-

<Cutthroat>

He heard a cold voice and a whoosh. The last thing he saw were the contours of the beast woman, passing through the ceiling like a ghost. Then his vision split and everything went dark.