Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The floors past the 40th floor changed from the look of a natural cave. The ground became smoother and the walls seemed to have been carved by someone.

It was not necessarily a difference one would immediately notice in the darkness, but it caught Seth's attention as he could see clear as day with night vision. After walking down a simple tunnel, they reached a wide room.

This was actually different from the report of the chimeras. According to the information Seth had gotten, there should have been another ten ordinary floor before the last boss room and the Dungeon's core.

He could only shrug at the difference at take it as it was. It was nothing out of the ordinary for wild dungeons to change and continue to grow. Especially after a full clear or a dungeon break, there was a chance for the dungeon to change.

The room was a wide floor, filled with marble statues in artistic poses. Each one was lit by a sharp spotlight. All of them depicted humanoid figures, but they all had traits that made them seem off and awkward. One eye too big, an elbow bulging, or a shoulder too small.

Some seemed like a mistake in the perspective. Depending on where he stood, they would seem like perfectly fine works of great craftsmanship, but when his position shifted they seemed off and proportions wrong.

Some lost any semblance with a human depending on the direction they were looked at. The worst part was not the feeling similar to the uncanny valley, but that they started to move after he passed a few of them.

Although the Blacksmith had expected this, he had really hoped that he was wrong this time. The moment they started moving he could also see their status with <Observation>.

< Lovers' Child lv. 76>

Their status was not very useful and didn't give him any useful information as t what these things were. The fight against these creatures was a little harder, as their bodies were made of tough stone. They had a high resistance to physical damage and obviously didn't bleed. In a sense they were relatives of golems.

It was good, that his golem knights had no developed ego yet, or they would have started thinking difficult thoughts about fighting their brethren

~Tatzel, I think it's time for you to shine.~

Seth called his "mounts" the little Imugi to his sight. It was funny how his pet Puffles had turned into his mount and had become too big for most fights in closed environments.

~Yay, thanks, Mom!~ the snakelet called out motivated.

It did not have much opportunity to shine up to now. Since it only took part in fights intermittently , it's level had barely reached 13. The blacksmith had to shamefully admit, that he had neglected the training of the Imugi.

But he didn't feel like anybody could blame him for that. Seeing the room suddenly covered in Ice Age, a magic Tatzel had copied from Elza, just showed him how terrifyingly strong the Imugi was. It's skill in magic were transcendent and it did not fall behind Puffles in being a boss-tier past any level limitations.

On top of that, the snakelet needed huge amounts of experience per level to grow. How much experience would the little snake hog for itself, if he were hunting with it all the time. How would he be supposed to level himself then? Even now, he only brought out the Imugi, as the enemy were resistant to physical damage and taking too long would jeopardize his schedule.

After the opponents were frozen the golems started smashing them to pieces while Seth used earth spike spells to break. Tatzel was resting back in the pet space. Although it could already cast these kind of spells, it was not without cost.

But it was also not without gain. The Imugi was the biggest contributor and hogged a big part of the experience, becoming lv. 20 as a result.

All that experience from a room full of level 76 monster was just enough to level the Imugi by seven levels from 13 to 20. Seth was sure he would have gained another level if he left it to the golems. But there was no use lamenting it.

That would have taken too long, so it couldn't be helped. He had a schedule he wanted to keep, It wasn't like he really lost anything, as Tatzel's growth also counted to increase his own strength.

Starting here, the dungeons structure changed, becoming a sequence of caverns that seemed like galleries or ball rooms at times, with statues in dynamic poses that would start attacking one they fully entered the room.

Disappointed, Seth also found that they were immune to his wyvern sets Dragon Might, however his other preparation was fruitful. The Golem Knights had now all equipped maces to effective smash apart the silicon foes.

Tatzel would get involved whenever his mana was recovered enough to make a contribution to the fights. Seth on the other hand got practice in using <Earth Magic>. He would use Earth Bind to ensnare the statues limbs and stop them from moving. The golems would then finish them off.

Although they seemed special, the moment life left the living statues they turned into ordinary materials, that were no useful for anything. This was the most intriguing part for Seth. It seemed like someone used a method to infuse ordinary sculptures with life.

Seth could not feel a soul in them, the principle seemed quite similar to his <Soul infusion>. In addition these creations still gave a great amount of experience despite lacking a soul. This did not fit his own experience, where the soul made up a big part of the experience gain.

The levels also kept rising as they continued on , reach lv.79 in the last room. Sharing experience on the way with Tatzel, the bard had still reached lv. 67. It was all thanks to the golems taking almost no share.

After crossing 15-20 such rooms, Seth had not bothered counting, they finally came before the gate to the boss room. He was very interested what kind of boss or dungeon master had taken residence here to spawn these kinds of statues.

Beside the rising levels, the state of refinement of these caves had also constantly improved. The boss room was covered in smooth tiles and lamps burning with magic fire illuminated the surroundings.

In the middle of the room was a tall rock formation. Seth finally recognized the weird shape on the rusted signs outside the cave. This was the Lovers Rock and he now understood the name. Standing directly in front of it, it looked like two people kissing.

"Stop pretending." the bard exclaimed, looking at the rock.

The blacksmith had immediately made the connection. "Lovers's Child" was the name of all the creatures in the previous rooms. Living statues up to now, which well crafted from a certain angle, but off once the perspective changed?

They were just like this rock formation in a sense. The Lovers Rock had to be the boss.

Silence reigned for a moment, but finally the two lovers, intimately kissing, slowly opened their eyes. With the crumbling of rocks and cracking of stone, two figure peeled themselves from the stone and stepped before him.

It was an immaculate pair of tall humanoids, wearing primitive clothes of leather and leaves. Each had a pair of deer horns growing from their forehead.

"You killed our children." the female said melancholic but not blaming.

The male kept stroking her back and shoulder soothingly.

"Have you come to slay us, too?" the male asked.

Seth was intrigued by their calm attitude and entrance. There was in harm in talking a little.

"It depends. Are you two the dungeon bosses?"

The two looked at each other.

"Yes, and no. We are the children of earth and the horned one." the male answered and explained.

"We were slumbering in stone when this entity that was you call a dungeon awakened us. It promised us to fulfill our greatest wish if we protect it. However, it had not kept to it's deal. The things out there cannot be called our children." he made an ugly grimace.

The female also looked depressed.

"Also we technically took the role of boss and master, we won't stand in your way." the horned man finished.

He took the hand of his lover and they stepped to the side. I was obvious that those two were quite unhappy with what they god in return of this deal.

Seth scratched his head. What was he supposed to do? They obviously expected him to crush the core, but he was only here for experience. He had no intention to close the dungeon...

Finally, he made a decision. He pulled out his draconic blade and walked to the dungeon core.