Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Seth! How could you do that to Elza?" the flaming swordsman screamed.

Mobilizing his last energy, Marcel charged at Seth with tears flowing down his cheeks. Before Marcel could grab onto the blacksmith, Seth had already caught his collar.

"Calm down! She isn't dead. Listen! She isn't dead!" he kept shaking the heartbroken man a few times.

"If that halberd had pierced her, we would be facing an undead Elza now. I saved her!" he said for Marcel as much as for himself. Although the empire told them they would return in this kind of event, he depended on <Calm Reaction> to deal with the situation.

However, they didn't have time to dwell on it, so Seth quickly explained the most important parts about the weapons the undead were carrying. While explaining he shoved a potion into Marcel's gob, so he had to shut up and listen.

Looking around, he found the other staring at him, waiting for something. After hearing about the fights, Seth had just been hurrying to get things done before everything got worse. He had no idea at what point he had become the leader of this ragtag group.

Even Caleb, who he didn't know, waited for him to make a decision. He took a deep breath and thought about what to do from here on seriously.

"We are still missing a priest, an idiot hero, and a normal idiot. How many of your group are still missing?" he asked Caleb.

Their current group had grown quite a bit, and everyone had mostly recovered thanks to potions.

"Counting out Urgash, there should still be seven of my people in the vicinity." the wyvern rider answered worriedly.

"I see. I believe we are enough to split up. You coul-" the moment he thought of Caleb's Wyvern, Seth facepalmed himself.

Yeah, how good, and much faster to boot, would it be if they flew over the city instead of running on the street. They could have flown the whole time.

~Look, who finally remembered the great me. ~ Puffles commented snarkily.

In the heat of the moment, he forgot about the big mean nightmare centipede. He had gotten a little too used to holding back. The Ivicer also had not bothered to remind him.

~I'm sorry, Puff. Please, we need your help. ~

~Fine. ~

Seth's group didn't react much, but Caleb, Megan, and even Senior White jumped back when a giant centipede, tens of meters long, appeared above the group.

"A divine being," White muttered.

~ You have eyes, little snake. I congratulate you on your ability to recognize my greatness. ~ the Ivicer bragged proudly.

"We will split up. Caleb, you take Marcel and Ellie with you on your Wyvern. I will take the others. We can help at more places this way." Seth suggested.

After recovering from the shock, everyone got ready. The white snake was a little hesitant to board the giant centipede but did not hold them back. Senior White would come with Seth, while Caleb would follow her direction in a different direction.

He also had Ellie for quick scouting on the ground. With this constellation, they split up to cover more ground.

Seth on the other hand sat together with the rest on Puffles long back, and they flew to the next scene, following the divine guidance.

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Harker was having a hard time. It was the first time in a long while that he struggled against an opponent. Even if they were many levels higher and more numerous than him, he had always prevailed thanks to his power as a hero.

"Join our Mistress. A strong one like you will be treated even better than us." one of them said with a laugh.

These enemies were his worst nightmare, despite his incredible skills and status, he had no edge over them. Because they were also heroes. Harker even vaguely remembered their faces from the starting ceremony in Chrona. Had the other team made an alliance to take out their concurrence or was someone controlling them? Maybe this mistress.

He didn't have the time to think. With the Slavemancer behind him and empowered by his buffs, he was barely capable to maintain a war of attrition against the two for now.

"We won't treat the caster behind you bad, either." the other said as the two kept moving around the hero with perfect teamwork.

They had to persevere until they got reinforcements if there even was someone that could help them. Harker's hope started waning. As time went by, cuts and bruises kept accumulating because he could not completely keep up with the two.

He was getting closer to the edge. he would not be able to hold out much longer.

In his moments of desperation, a lance of light fell from the misty skies. It did not hit its target, but it made the Hero to the left of Harker lose the rhythm, giving him the chance to land a strike against the second enemy.

"Urgh!" Harker's energy blade split the undead's armor, but the cut below was only shallow.

Stumbling back, the cut opponent was hit by another light lance, being stunned by holy damage. This gave Ben the chance to counter the hero who had evaded a similar lance earlier and tried to strike at Rich.

With a roar, a Wyvern became visible in the fog above their head and spit a row of wind blades at the stunned enemy.

"Tsk!" the one Harker had counter scoffed and freed himself from the entanglement to save his comrade.

"This isn't over," he promised. Carrying his partner, he jumped into a purple gate rimmed by black bones that had suddenly opened behind him.

At this point, Harker was just glad that the fight ended. Seeing Ellie and Marcel with the stranger on the Wyvern calmed him down. With a wave of relief, the exhausted Hero finally fainted.

--Chrona--

"Elza!" Leana exclaimed as she rushed into the room. "Thank god you are okay."

"Princess Leana? W-What happened? Don't tell me... I died?" the ice mage asked confused.

The princess took a deep breath to calm down. She had expected the worst when the team of Urth suddenly vanished from the radar along with most other teams on Keväti Kuinen.

"Yes, you did. You were lucky," she answered her as calmly as possible, grasping Elzas shoulders.

After she and Hardwig talked with the single survivor of the team from Aburth their suspicions had been mostly confirmed. The teams were being targeted. Unfortunately, they were too slow. They had just started to root out the traitors when Teams all over Keväti Kuinen started disappearing.

At the moment there were only three left and two had suddenly disappeared at the same time. With a calm voice, she started to brief Elza about the situation. The mage already knew that someone was aiming for their lives, but not about the gravity behind this.

"Had that halberd hit me, I could have actually died..." she mumbled and touched the place on her chest where she had been pierced. She had a complicated expression, thinking back to the events.

"Yes, this is what gives me hope. Somebody must have realized what was going on and killed you first." Leana confirmed seriously.

"Who are those people? Why are they trying to kill us?" fear could be seen on the cold beauty's face. It was the first time the princess saw this much emotion on her face.

"We suspect that they were sent by the Spatia Empire. They are the only ones with a motive and the means to intercept our technology like this."

"But what is their motive?" Elza asked

"The only guess we have is to...prove a point?" Leana answered ponderingly.

"What?!" the ice witch exclaimed.

"I would have to go back a little to explain it. In the beginning, our two empires were one. Though we often deny it. Officially, the sons of the emperor of that time ultimately split the empire because of a difference in religious views. I doubt it was that simple but is the official reason.

Both empires followed the System god. The difference lies in our way of expansion. The Chrona Empire quite frankly wants to take the role of a savior. We start colonies in new worlds and try to help and grow along with the citizen without intervening too much in their original society.

All of it follows the doctrine to preserve the player's free will and strive for mutual benefit.

Spatia on the other hand are conquerors. They will abolish the native hierarchy and society and forcefully implements their own class system. It's strict and goal-driven. The people will be classified on their classes and aptitudes. Everything is designed to make people seek power. Those with useful classes will gain benefits, while the others...well. " the princess paused for a moment.

"But what has that to do with proving a point?" Elza asked impatiently.

Leana sighed.

"Since you guys can fight back, our guess is that they sent their talents to kill our promising talents to prove that their way of serving the System God is correct. if we are right, it might just be a precursor."