Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Little Sigma---

With the decision made, Seth could forget about taking things slow. The moment they sent a message to the Gamma Resistance in the Holy Land, Gallwell at once asked for a meeting in the close future.

Since it didn’t really matter whether Seth made the staff first, or later, he agreed to meet with him the following day in Little Sigma. The bard chose Three Station 1 so he could use the chance to make another short trip with Fin and Mina.

“When are you meeting that guy?” Mina asked as they sauntered down the alley filled with pedestrians.

“Around noon. Apparently, they need some time to return to the dungeon city before coming here right away,” Seth answered with a shrug. Gallwell Ropartz would send a message when they arrived.

“Then we can go watch a movie!” Fin exclaimed happily. While Delta had been in decline for quite a while, the refugees of Sigma and those who left Delta experienced a new rise after coming to Minas Mar. Many of them had worked on reviving the free time activities from the past, in Delta as well as in Little Sigma.

Although the growing industry of making movies with skills for VFX had taken a dive during Delta’s decline, they still had all the old and new movies from before the apocalypse and the few that managed to be made in Delta.

“Alright, Let’s go to the movies!”

The three set off for some fun time.

...

---Beta--

Somewhere else, a different group of three were not having fun at all. Lydia, Mike, and Ceres followed Adam through the long tunnel below the surface of Thres. The mechanical bird housing the soul of a storm elemental had arrived not too long ago and had been urging to finish business in Thres.

The Parrot of Doom seemed to have had quite the fun, traveling the mountains, once Seth let it off its leash and it wanted to get back to it.

"Urgh, what's up with this stench...?" Lydia lamented as they got closer to their destination. While Lydia was still able to complain, Mike was already doing his best not to breathe at all, with his sensitive beastman nose, this was pure torture to him.

Maybe it would have been better to ask Seth to send someone else, instead of coming here themselves. Although Adam had not known, that they were also two chosen, he was not too surprised when they revealed it after the blacksmith gave his okay to help Thres. Now they regretted volunteering.

At least Ceres was here, easing their work. Although Adam was not too surprised when they revealed that they were champions, his eyes almost fell out when he met the Promethean Eagle Ceres for the first time.

“We are almost there, don't worry,” the governor assured the three. The stoic rest of their troop had already been down here quite often and learned how to resist the terrible stench. Before, the trio from Minas Mar did not understand why they would stuff pieces of cloth drenched in essential oil in their noses, now they understood.

Describing the smell was not easy but it resembled a mix of the sickening sweetness of rotten bodies, the stench of stale swamp water, and the bite of chemical fumes. Overall, it was a stomach-churning smell that made them regret having eaten anything, ever.

“if you guys don't feel like you can do this, just leave it to me. It will be faster anyway;” the elemental who couldn't perceive smells with his metal beak said cockily. It currently wasn't flying, but waddling on its claws between them and Adam.

The walk with its tucked-in wings resembled an arrogant penguin, but nobody dared to mention it. Even Adam seemed to subconsciously avoid associating with the eagle. Mike and Lydia had talked about it in private and they were about 85% sure that Ceres probably had become a legend already.

Adam quickly led them toward the water treatment facility the beast had turned into its lair. They peered into the darkness using their night vision skills and the sight instantly explained the terrible stench. Skeletons and half-rotten bodies of monsters, humans, and humanoids were stacked almost up to the ceiling of the wide hall.

Adam and his people had seen this pile grow over the course of the many attempts to slay the beast. Most of the human bodies in there had been their comrades, but the biggest part were beasts of unknown origin..

The several basins in the wide hall were filled with mountains of dissolving and decaying corpses submerged in the sludge and sewage of Thres' old sewers. The facility was filled with a toxic soup of decay and death, that nobody would want to even touch, much less fall into.

“What is with that green glow?” Lydia asked disturbed. It was not visible with the bare eye, but when using <Nightvision>, she could see a dim almost bio-luminescent glow in the basins, surrounding the bones and flesh inside. Adam stopped and stared into the basin for a moment.

“To be honest, we have no idea. It seems like a new kind of algae or bacteria, but we didn't have the leisure to research something like this,” he explained.

After a short halt, they continued toward the other end of the expansive facility. As they walked, the corpses in the various circular basins became fewer, while the green glow grew in intensity, to the point it was an almost radioactive green light.

At the opposite end of the facility, they finally saw the creature in question, the Questing Beast. The creature had the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the tail of a lion and the legs of a deer. Compared to other creatures from other worlds, this didn't seem so wild, but the beast was still massive.

If Seth was here, he would have likened its head to a young Titanoboa in size, to counter the weight of the head and long neck, the body of the leopard was massive, easily five or six meters tall, and the hoof of the beast that was “like a deer” fit tits size and had a sharp glint like they would have no problem, cutting down someone.

With its long neck lowered to the last basin in the row, it was greedily drinking the radioactively glowing soup. As it drank, the intensity of the glow only seemed to increase close to its maw. Finally, it stopped drinking as its reptilian eyes turned to the new guests in its lair.

Although it didn't speak, there was a glint of intelligence in its eyes. It opened its jaws wide and the deafening sound of a pack of wolves agitatedly barking and growling filled the whole facility. It was quite obviously warning them to get closer.

Seemingly, the Questing beast had also come to fear the persistent druid who kept coming back over and over, hurting it. However, they were on a path where one of them had to die. Even if they left the creature alone, it would hunt the people of the city, not to mention that they needed their water treatment facility. Adam prompted them to continue.

When they didn't stop, it opened its maw and suddenly spat a black beam of magic at the group. This was death magic, a spell Adam had warned them beforehand. Not only did it do huge damage, but it also had a 25% chance to directly kill someone with defense against the rare death attribute.

Lydia could have tanked this. Since she was the chosen of Wepwawet, a god with the attribute of death, she had also gained immunity to this kind of spell. However, someone else jumped in the way of the black beam, before anyone could set up as much as a barrier or lift their shield. The death magic crashed into a chest of bright silver and simply vanished without accomplishing anything.

“Hehe! I knew it could not harm me. My turn!” the parrot of doom cawed. Ceres opened its mouth and a bright beam of lightning shot out at incredible speed, mirroring the black beam. The Questing Beast did not have a chance to close its mouth when the white beam of electricity was shoved down its throat.

The only reason the initially blinded group could see this scene, was because Ceres did not just fire a quick volley of lightning. The beam of lightning continued on for a while, as the beast's massive body was locked, twitching in seizures and it snake eyes shone brightly from the power of electricity coursing through its body.

When the attack finally ceased, and Ceres closed its beak, the creatures were left sunken to the ground, steaming. The group behind the elemental was petrified in shock. Was it already over, just like this? Adam was the most incredulous of them all. What about needing the holy attribute? Had he really just been too weak?

“Stop playing dead, I'm not done with you yet,” the eagle said and threw a lightning bolt at the beast. The steaming body suddenly jumped into motion and nimbly evaded the lazily thrown shot. Vigilantly and slightly frightened, the Questing Beast stared at the Promethean Eagle.

Ceres' eyes shone in anticipation. The mysterious beast would soon experience what the Trait “Tormentor” was capable of.