Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

--Chrona--

Seeing the tragic battle take such a radical turn, the audience was confused about how they were supposed to feel. The music caused a restless urge to dance along, but the scene of dancing skeletons and slimes was ...awkward.

It became clear that Natina the Necromancer was not used to the quick rhythmic dance moves and sweat quickly drenched her elegant black dress. She wound her body in more and more indecent poses.

"Urgh, this... humiliation." she pressed out in exhaustion.

"Let's get down and dirty-"

"Enough!" her shriek finally broke past the music and the battlefield suddenly fell silent.

-- Keväti Kuinen --

Silence reigned on the battlefield. Kneeling on the ground, a quiet buzzing sound filled Seth's ears. A mouth full of blood splattered on the rock at his feet, as a terrible pain flooded through his body. His eyes dilated.

His health gauge was more than halved and he even lost consciousness for a moment when the pain kicked in.

Everything happened in an instant. A figure had rushed out of the purple fog and struck Seth before he even registered what was going on. Was it a sword that struck his abdomen? He had to thank Tamas later.

<Ding! You have acquired the skill <Pain Resistance lv. 1>

A skill Seth had never wished for because of the pain threshold it needed. The pain only mildly lowered; however, he woke up thanks to the Golden Fleece quickly healing his wound.

It was thanks to the fortuneteller, that he was prepared. Although Tamas could not tell them everything that would happen, the fortune teller had already warned them, that Phase Four would not be enough.

Thanks to the fortuneteller's warning, he wore his full equipment below the sky robe. Despite all the reflection effects of the Wyvern Cuirass, he had still suffered this much damage.

However, the figure at his side was more miserable than him. In his stupor, Seth registered unworldly screams of pain and madness beside him. A terrible, rotting cut crushed the attacker's armor and almost split him in half. At the same time, he was engulfed in colorless flames that devoured and withered his undead flesh.

"Quick, strike him down! What are you doing? What have you done to my hero!" Natina shrieked in horror across the battlefield

In the end, she was still hiding some of her power. Another undead hero... No wonder this figure was able to strike him down this quickly. However, the hero could not follow her order. The Curse Reflect, Damage Reflect, and the Torturing Madness had activated and were quickly returning the attacker to death. Seth had suffered, but it had cost Natina one of her aces. Seeing him slowly stand up again, aggravated her.

"Guh! Did you think this was all! I have not even started! Subjecting me to such heinous acts! I will no longer hold back! You will all suffer!" she exclaimed incensed by the loss.

The undead army and the suffering hero were swallowed in a purple haze as the necromancer buffed her subordinates. It did not stop there. The portal behind her grew, not in length but in height.

The blacksmith looked at the guy beside him. Despite the curses, the undead once again lifted his weapon above Seth's head. The buff could not counteract the curse, but the undead was once again following her orders.

When his weapon was about to fall, Seth got ready to dodge, but the hero was suddenly split from shoulder to hip by a mighty blade. As the undead finally fell apart, it revealed the poleax-wielding dwarf behind him.

The strike of the poleax was the unplanned start of Phase 4, the All-out Battle.

"Thanks." he expressed his gratitude hastily and looked back to the battlefield.

He scowled when he noticed that most of his loudspeaker golems had been shut down. The bard would be unable to help much with music on the battlefield.

The other team members had entered the battlefield and started fighting. Ben Harker had ridden into battle on a Pegasus and managed to immediately strike down one of the undead heroes using the sword Seth had given him.

Similarly, Caleb had also easily reaped the lives of some undead participants using the spear, made of the same archangel. The others like Cade and Ellie made similar progress. Even Brock and Marcel managed to deal damage to the pre-occupied Sparks.

Twinkle, Hubert, Megan, Rich, and Yvette stayed at the ruins to give support from the back. This was their original formation to deal with the eventualities Tamas had warned them from. And it worked surprisingly well.

Not only the participants but large amounts of undead were quickly mowed down by his comrades Right now, they had an overwhelming advantage.

Still, even as her sparks and undead died, Natina only laughed.

Under his shocked gaze, the situation changed before Seth could act and join them.

Hiding some of her power? Far from it! The purple portal had grown to over ten meters in height and from its depth came another army. Undead abominations, amalgamations, Hell Knights, and other titanic undead beasts marched onto the battlefield.

She opened the floodgates of hell.

"Hahaha! You will all die and join my power!" she announced maniacally.

She had hidden most of her power, not just some of it.

The wave of new soldiers charged into combat and started turning the flow of battle in their favor. It took only two or three undead amalgamations or one hell knight to keep a golem busy. Although they could heal, they would go on stand-by, when their energy was depleted. Slowly, their number dwindled.

They had gotten a good head start, but with the entry of fresh forces their advantage was lost, and the undead Sparks made their comeback. Although their number had shrunken by half, each individual was a strong opponent on their own.

In the mass of enemies, team members like Caleb on his Wyvern, or Harker on his Pegasus could still hold their high ground. Once they got serious, the undead amalgamations were not a hindrance to them, and they engaged in battles with the sparks.

Weaker members like Brock, Ellie, and Marcel did not dare to deal with the danger and had to retreat to the rear. The slimes who had done a good job against the enemy so far could do nothing to stop the big guns. There were only a few very powerful slimes, and they were at Ellie's side.

They pulled back their forces to create a line of defense together with Polter and the others in front of the ruins. Only Cade, Caleb, and Harker were left on the battlefield. With their flying mounts, they kept swooping in to reap lives.

Pets were one of the few advantages, as the undead seemed to lack any such support.

"Shit, it's the thing that destroyed the vessel!" Hubert suddenly called out as a huge shadow left the portal.

"A bone dragon!" Megan called out.

She was right, it was a giant beast, resembling a dragon but completely formed from a mass of bones. It had the shape of a dragon but lacked in size and aura when compared to the zombie dragon that was locked in a dog fight with the Koor Worm.

With a dissonant cry, it entered the battlefield and charged at the three champions who had reigned supreme over the airspace up to now.

"Go, Nidhog. Bring me their corpses!" Natina commanded domineeringly and the beast shone in an almost crimson light. Harker attacked it from afar, but his attacks were suddenly blocked by barriers and could not harm the beast.

Seeing even the hero's attacks being useless, the three got ready to retreat, when a thick ray of pure light hit the bone dragon's back. It penetrated the shield and set the beast aflame. It barely managed to catch its fall and stayed in the air.

~ Finally, time for the great me to show you how it's done. ~ the Ivicer commented egotistically

Above the unholy beast, appeared the nightmare centipede, Servant of the Sun. Even if it was not his sun god, Puffles gained a massive boost in power, using the pre-existing curse woven into the rays of light.

Following the pre-emptive attack, the Ivicer dived down, his body clad in a holy aura, and directly tackled Nidhog. Hundreds of sharp, ceramic white legs penetrated the shield that surrounded the beast and dug into its body.

Like a constrictor, the chilopod wrapped itself around the bone dragon and both plummeted to the ground, Puffle's territory. Unfortunately, also the undead's territory.

"Stop that ugly thing! Help Nidhog!" the necromancer commanded and Puffles was swarmed by the undead abominations. Although Puffles was mighty and great, he was locked in battle with the bone dragon and could do little against the siege.

He would cast shields or AOE skills while struggling to finish off the Nidhog. It was enough against the slow abominations, but more and more strikes from the nimble Hell Knights hit and scratched his pristine carapace.

His angry hissing echoed across the battlefield. In a hurry, Seth commanded the last operable golems to hurry to Puffles's defense.

"Puffles, we will help!" the hero called out, steering his Pegasus to charge at the crowd attacking Puffles.

"No, you don't!" Natina denied and swarms of skeletal flying beasts exited the portal to harass the three in the air.

"Haha! Bard! Your shitty golems can't change anything. I want you to watch as I mutilate your precious pet and turn it into one of mine!" she taunted.

His fist balled tightly, but he kept himself under control. He had already prepared their escape, what they needed was time.

"Oh yeah, is this all you can do!?" the bard taunted back, his voice oozing with contempt. The necromancer had kept pulling cards out of her sleeve. Since she wanted to talk; Seth decided to talk.

~Tatzel, your turn~ he asked the Imugi to blast the pesky flies off of Puffles back, but the situation suddenly changed.

"I see you are still unconvinced! Let me help you plunge into the depths of despair!" she called out.

She waved her hand a huge number of skills were activated. Paper talismans flew out to cover part of the battlefield in various formations. The undead received several buffs and many were suddenly covered in unique barriers in addition to the necromancer and Lich's strengthening.

"Wait, isn't that the skill of Loo?" Megan exclaimed in shock at the side. Polter and Caleb in the air cursed.

"I am the champion of the goddess of death Kali. All the souls of those who die as my subordinates, return to me and I can absorb their strength and skills! Nobody will come to help you. Nothing can save you or your pet. Now, watch in despair as-"

Tunk! An arrow aiming for her forehead was deflected by a barrier just millimeters before it hit.

"You asked for this." he said incensed.