Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Although the storage couldn't compare to the diversity of Tored's treasure trove of materials, Seth was very much satisfied with the contents.

The theocracy must have had a way to reliably produce <Artificial Adamantium> because there were tons of the precious metal here. Almost 150 bars were divided into several crates like the one he was given to work with.

On top of this there were several boxes of <Dark Steel>, <Magic Steel>, stacks of different woods, and even <Mithril>. But in the back corner of the storage room waited another surprise. There sat a young dwarf with a short beard.

A thick golden slave collar decorated his neck. Although his expression was frozen, he was hugging his knees and shaking in fear. He reminded Seth of his time in Ora and the friends he had made.

"A dwarf? They even got their hands on a dwarf?" he thought

Seth took off the Helm of Hades and put it in his inventory, before approaching him.

"Don't worry," he spoke in a calm manner and knelt down beside the young dwarf. He was probably not much older than Seth.

He burned through the ring and took it off the dwarf's neck. Immediately the dwarf's face distorted in glee, sadness, and joy and tears ran down his cheeks. All the emotions he could show before broke out at once.

Later Seth found out that the dwarfs' father had been the blacksmith of the stronghold but finally died of exhaustion after weeks of almost no break. This was the reason that Seth was given the ambiguous chance to enter the stronghold in the first place.

"Th-thank you!" he exclaimed and hugged his savior's waist.

"It's okay now. You can come along with us once we emptied this place."

"What about her?" he pointed at Lynri with some fear.

"She's not part of them. We are in the middle of ending this place."

The dwarf was still doubtful of the nun, but he nodded and waited while Seth packed away all the materials in the shelves and boxes.

"Errm, w-wait..." the dwarf stopped them when they wanted to leave after emptying the room.

"T-There is more. It's just...I can't open the door. It needs a special authority token."

"A hidden door? Can you show me?" Seth asked while rummaging through a satchel at his belt.

The dwarf pointed at an unassuming part of the wall and his eyes widened when he saw what Seth did. The blacksmith pulled out a whole bundle of over 200 pieces of jewelry, talismans, and authority tokens from the bag on his belt.

He had looted anything that looked somewhat valuable and could be grabbed quickly from those priest rooms and shoved it into this bag. Now he shoved a fist full of who knew what exactly was in there, against that part of the wall.

Nothing happened at first so he started rubbing the bungled of stuff all over the part of the wall until suddenly the outline of a door lit up and opened. Inside was a small room with a few boxes and smaller chests.

Looking through the boxes Seth found the truly precious stuff. <Fey Steel>, <Adamantium>, Mana crystal and gems for magician equipment. There were even materials he didn't know like something called <Faulty Ithildin> and <Impulse Silver>.

He had never heard of <Impulse Silver> but he knew that <Ithildin> was supposed be a refined form of <Mithril>. He had never seen it even in the auction house. <Faulty Ithildin>was epic-rated and it confirmed to Seth that this Theocracy had a high knowledge in metallurgy, or they had a slave with it.

A powerful rumble interrupted his thoughts.

----------------Earlier in the Courtyard---------------

The terrifying Chimeras had really stopped moving just like promised! Marcel and the leader of the freed commanded the vanguard to ignore the abominations that had become motionless and pressed onto the leftover humans and wardens.

Elza and the other ranged adventurers kept the angels at bay while the freed magicians used group rituals to carpet bomb the ground forces from the rear.

The wardens towering over the masses by several meters were easily comparable to an lv. 70 or 80 dungeon boss but even the guards of the theocracy were tenacious.

However, without the constant threat of the chimeras, they had the upper hand and could slowly push them back. When the first wardens finally started dying these giant insectoid warriors suddenly spread their pairs of gargantuan wings and lifted up in the air!

Without their support, the command structure among the guards and their spirit soon started collapsing. As they died in troves many fled back into the hallways. Marcel stopped anyone from giving chase and told them to concentrate on the wardens and angels in the air, instead.

He knew that those guards would not get far. Although Seth had not told them to, Marcel, Elza and the leader of the freed had decided to split some of their forces to secure the stronghold.

These freed people had been slaves for years and had been forced to work in this place since it was built a few months ago. They knew the make-up and the security measures.

When most of the guards had assembled in this courtyard because of the alarm, part of the freed had already split off to hinder any attempt to call for reinforcements from the worker camps outside and secured all important gateways.

No matter where those guars ran, they would only meet a cruel death. Convinced of their plan Marcel led the other to siege the angels in the sky. The ranged attackers and mages took the lead in damage output against this flying menace. Some of the vanguards like him could use a few ranged skills while the rest concentrated on protecting them from dives or ranged attacks.

Although it took a while, the adventurers preferred this fight of attrition. The angels had incredibly high stats, but the mind seemed rather simple. The wardens were similar. Without someone giving them commands, it wasn't hard to read their patterns.

For the adventurers who spent endless hours in the dungeons, these were dangerous, but not hard opponents, and soon the first and second angels fell. But then something changed. The other three angels recovered their fallen brethren's bodies and the leftover wardens surrounded them.

They summoned a crimson shield that blocked them from attacks and sight! A bad feeling grew in everyone who saw this. Whatever these things tried to do, they had to stop it. It was clear to all of them and they concentrated their attacks on the crimson bubble in the sky.

But every time they managed to slightly damage the barrier it would be repaired by a stream of energy that was extracted from the dead guards and warden on the ground! Even in death, their duty didn't end!

Obviously, the adventurers tried to destroy the bodies on the ground. It only led to the barrier absorbing the destroyed corpses anyway and becoming stronger.

Whether Adventurers or freed people, they were all exhausted from the battle and their damage output could not keep up with the shield's absorption. What was left was to helplessly watch the bubble grow as the corpses on the ground vanished.

At some point, when the corpses were all gone, it started to pulsate. The rhythmic thumbs, like those of a nightmarish heart, rumbled through the stronghold. Each beat was like a hit on the chest to the exhausted audience.

They all got headaches and those with a weaker physique knelt on the ground holding their head or stomach. Most of the asters were out for the count and even the warriors like Marcel felt the effects.

The beats stopped when a giant pale fireball engulfed the shield and turned it into a white sun above the courtyard. The immense heat made the adventurers step back. For moments the fire burned furiously and then the bubble popped.

Nobody had time to cheer, because they could now see what was on the inside. It was hard to describe. It was a ball of wings with innumerable eyes. All of in in the same metallic sheen as the angels.

The eyes opened and the gaze of amber orbs fell onto the people below. A terrifying pressure gave them the urge to kneel and they had a hard time moving at all. Even worse was that the Chimeras started to move again.

As if woken from a slumber they started to clumsily form orderly rows; ready to attack the rebel forces.

I AM LEHALIPHON, THRONE OF THE BRINGER OF CHAINS. BOW AND ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY.

A deep voice bellowed through their consciousness. The next moment magic circles started forming in the air. Hinges, nails, the equipment left by the dead guard, things of metal in the vicinity were all sucked up into these formations.

Even the items people got from the armory got ripped out of their hands or stripped from their bodies. Everything merged together in these formations and the shapeless metal balls turned into newborn angels.

~ Resistance is futile! ~