Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"You heard the two, nobody will come to your rescue. Hand over everything you have, if you cherish your life!" he threatened the dungeon core.

It was a practice he learned a long time ago from Fin and had perfected ever since. His voice was rough and intimidating with the power of <Voice of Seth> swinging within it. His pose was practiced and intimidating.

Like a fountain of wealth, the crystalline dungeon core started spitting out gold, silver, and items. The two horned humanoids looked at him in surprise while he bent down and started collecting his loot.

Seth had decided to do what he could for now. Which was getting his loot first. Only after he collected all the stuff the dungeon spat out and poked it a few times to make sure it really gave him everything, did he turn back to the pair of lovers.

"I have no idea about your circumstances and I don't really care. You can stay here, or leave, I will not bother you," he said and turned to leave.

Someone else might have been curious about the two and their connection to the past. When the male talked, it sounded like they were inhabitants of Urth, maybe from the time when Tom Willis build his tower, or even earlier.

The crux was, that Seth would have found this intriguing on a regular day when he was bored, but he already had his hands full with stuff and was running on a tight schedule. He had been in the dungeon for a long time. He wanted to get out and rest before Karina finished.

"Open the portal to get back to the entrance."

He rattled his weapon at the core and the return formation opened, despite the dungeon master and boss being completely fine.

…

"What are you two doing?" Seth asked slightly annoyed.

The couple had decided to follow him through the teleportation. He didn't mind it up to that point, but then the two boss-tier humanoids with barely a scrap of cloth on their persons started to follow him through the forest.

Walking when he walked, stopping when he stopped, all while silently staring holes in the back of his head. Seth was the last person to say no when collecting powerful allies, but there was a problem he could not ignore.

The blacksmith was simply not comfortable with these two. He had nothing to offer them and no reason to trust them. He didn't want to invite disaster by simply collecting ALL the riffraff that was slightly powerful.

On top of that, these two also had some history set in ancient times before magic vanished from Urth. As curious as he was, he couldn't fight his instincts as a well-read enjoyer of pop culture. If he found out about their past, there was a chance that he would be pulled into their story, and ...stuff could happen.

Taking into account the system, there was even a high chance that his instincts were not just baseless rumors.

After a hesitant silence, the male spoke up.

"I'm sorry if our presence burdens you, but we have no idea how long we slept. Would you maybe allow us to follow you to the next settlement?" he asked.

Seth squinted at the two as he thought about it. They didn't seem aggressive or arrogant despite having the strength to be so. Although there was a ticking time bomb for a quest, maybe he could take them along as additional security and cast them off in Nas'Korn's city?

Nas'Korn was an old deity, too. Maybe he knew about these two or people like them. Instead of having them run around aimlessly and maybe cause some disaster, it might really be a good idea to take them to someone with a similar history.

~Puffles, do you get any "vibes" from those two? Anything worth noting? ~

~ Asking for the great me's wisdom, you made the right move. There is nothing. At least nothing worrisome. They have a slight smell of divinity, but that's it. They can't be compared to the great me. ~

~Tatzel? ~

~H-hey, why are you asking the junior, when the great me as already told you? ~

~Just making sure. Tatzel, did you notice anything? ~

~Errm, I'm not sure. I can't explain why, but I'm sure they wield strong magic. That's all, Mom.~

Only after checking back with the two, did the bard make his decision.

"Fine, you can join my expedition up until the next settlement. It will take a few days," he finally said with a sigh.

"An expedition?" the female finally spoke up with sparkly eyes. "Does that mean you are going around to explore the world?" she asked excitedly.

Seth scratched his head awkwardly.

" The current world isn't in a state where people would just go around exploring it. We are securing a trade route to re-establish stable exchange," he explained as they followed the path the chimeras had made back to the crumbled highway.

Seth could already see the Hangingtree from afar. Although far smaller than a true Hangingtree, it still clearly towered above the other vegetation in this place. In a mere day that Seth was gone, Karina had managed to grow a massive tree at the camping site.

The offshoot's wide crown covered a space with a radius of at least 50 meters. The two looked at the mighty tree with big eyes, as Seth led them to the camp that was now in its shadow. A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

"W-Wait! You have to tell these people to get away from that tree. It's dangerous!" the woman called out to him. She was wildly pointing at the giant tree and the male was nodding seriously to support her claim.

"Oh, how did you know?" Seth asked in slight surprise. It was their turn to be stumped.

"Don't worry, I can assure you, that we know how dangerous this tree can be, it's the whole reason why we are growing it in the first place," Seth answered nonchalantly.

"Hubris! You think you can control such an existence?!" The male exclaimed this time.

"Completely control it? Me? Not necessarily, but I don't have to. Its dryad is on my side."

"...What is a dryad?" the two ancient beings exclaimed at the same time.

"You don't know about dryads? You know, spirits or beings born from a tree? Kind of like a personification... erm. I don't really know the ins and outs of dryad mythology but that's about it."

"Something like that never existed during our time. And this... dryad can control the tree?" the male made sure.

"Since she technically IS the tree, yeah." answered Seth.

"How interesting! I want to meet her. She is there right? Let's go!" the female broke the conversation and took the lead.

Seth could not quite understand her, and her partner also looked at her in confusion. In one moment she desperately warned him and in the next, she simply believed him and threw all caution in the wind.

Now the blacksmith and the horned male followed his lover for the rest of the way to the camp. The present Team Three and the members of the Oathguard looked in shock at the two tall humanoid bosses that suddenly strolled into the campsite, accompanied by their tower master.

The bard met the frightened and confused looks with a confident smile.

"Don't worry guys, I recruited a little more help. The two are docile and will accompany us on our journey to Nas'Korn city," he calmed the members of the expedition.

"These two are..." Seth stopped, as he didn't know their names yet.

He looked at the male who was reigning in his lover. Although the female wanted to go look for Karina, she stopped when she realized the situation. She cleared her throat in a theatrical manner.

"I'm Una," she said.

"And I'm Tearlach," he said.

""We are people of the horned one."" the two finished as if the expedition members were supposed to know what that meant.

A short awkward silence followed only to be quickly interrupted by Seth.

"Great, I'm Seth and these are the people of Minas Mar. Let's have a peaceful time traveling together."