Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth had reached the northern shore of Urth just two or three hours after setting off from Hyperborea. However, his friends were not there.

Thanks to the Cloak of Hecate he quickly realized that his party had rashly entered Sigma. He didn't exactly know why, but he suspected Leana was behind that. After indoctrinating the beastman for a long time, Mike would not have made such a dangerous decision himself.

With a sigh, the blacksmith also took course at Sigma. What else was he supposed to do? Let them risk their lives on their own while he waited outside?

He had no intention to discredit their strength. Seth knew how strong they all were, after all, he was the one who covered them in luxurious equipment. Still, he was worried.

As for himself, he had the Helm of Hades. He could run at any time if he met an overwhelming opponent. There was only a small problem. The direction he got from the Cloak of Hecate was a little rough, especially if the destination was something as vague as "the place where my friends are".

It worked the best with a fixed goal in an environment with limited choices like that of a dungeon. But when facing a big area like Sigma or Hyperborea he could ascertain the rough direction at best.

Unfortunately, there was nobody to ask. The city was completely abandoned and covered in a dark obstructive fog. The only things filling the cityscape were hostile monsters. They were not very helpful.

The bard felt really lucky when he spotted someone running across the rooftops. He didn't know where they were running or what they were running from, but he could just help them if there was any problem. That was if they dared to voice an objection, after his "friendly" greetings.

What's more, the person was quite nice to look at. Pale subtle skin, fiery red hair, a pair of kinky fangs... oh she was a Vampire. That explained her good looks. Although she was obviously a vampire, judging from the way she moved previously and looked, there was a big difference to the vampires he met previously.

Meeting her face to face like this, he could feel an almost noble and pure aura from her. It was completely different from a trash like Valen Willis he had met in Delta. The weapon in her hand also caught his interest.

It was a glaive and it was another weapon that was unable to be appraised by system skills. Despite a lack of system support, the blacksmith was able to see that is was a powerful weapon, maybe even comparable to his Giant's Meteor Rod.

Talking to her, he realized that he was indeed lucky, to find someone that had even seen their flying school bus and could tell him the right direction. He was just about to get back on Puffles when he heard the commotion behind him.

" Genevieve!" he heard from the edge of the roof.

It seemed whatever the lady ran from, had caught up because of him. It was a handsome man with the same diabolical charisma as the vampire lady.

"Hmm, you also seem to be in need of a little help?" he asked her because he felt a little bad for delaying her.

Puffles behind him rammed his sharp claw-like insect legs into the wall of the building and stopped floating. It was just a waste of mana. The new vampire was adequately shocked at the sight of Puffles and seemed to be lost for words.

For a moment Seth felt tempted to say something along the lines of " Don't you see that the lady does not want to speak with you? You shouldn't be so pushy." but it felt a little too cliché, even for Seth.

~He doesn't seem to be interested in a fight.~ Puffles commented about the man, standing on the roof.

~Yeah, although they definitely fought before. Maybe I should help them open up about their problems?~ he mused.

Despite all of their surface wounds already being healed, it was quite obvious that they fought from the blood and sign of battle on their clothes. But this guy didn't have any killing intent when he arrived first.

At the moment he was too wary to move, anyway. Puffles' presence brought silence to the rooftop.

Since Seth now knew that his friends were probably in safety in that funny-looking barrier, he felt a little more relaxed.

"You two seem to have something to talk about. How about I, and Puffles here, play the mediator and make sure nobody kills the other prematurely." the blacksmith suggested.

The vampire looked at him in confusion, as if this was the first time he noticed him. The vampiress looked at him in disbelief. It seemed that talking with her pursuer was her least preferred option.

After his shock, the vampires now seemed to have calmed down. He looked back and forth between the lady and Seh. Seeing her not run away, he gave the blacksmith a thankful nod.

" Genevieve...-" the dude started off calmly but was immediately interrupted. The whole city was suddenly bathed in a bright light that momentarily blinded all of them.

When the world regained contours Seth's jaw fell open. Where just now had been the city of Sigma, was now a giant crater. It was an irregular hole in the cityscape and had cut out even the deepest levels of the subterranean city parts.

At Seth's command, Puffles erected a golden shield around the rooftop the three were standing on. Its function was not protective, but to keep these two from running away.

"I guess, now we really have something to talk about," he said coldly.

The fact that the funny barrier where his friends had entered, had vanished together with the biggest part of the city center, meaning that fun and jiggles were over. These two were the only ones that probably had an inkling of what was going on and he was ready to beat it out of them.

Of the two he talked to, only the vampiress seemed to hear what he was saying. She had been surprised and shocked at first, but became anxious and panicky when she heard him talk without an ounce of his previous friendliness.

The vampire on the other hand seemed to be caught in a state of shock, unable to realize what had even just happened or hear his words. His reaction made it pretty clear, that he probably knew what had just happened, but his state made him useless. Her reaction meant that she probably knew a little more than him.

She twitched when a silver sword suddenly appeared in front of her. Seth had brought out the sanguine silver sword and pointed at her threateningly.

"Tell me what you know, Genevieve." the bard spat out the name he heard from the vampire before.

She looked at him and then at the giant Ivicer hanging at the building. The vampiress was not afraid of the blacksmith but had a lot of respect for the nightmarish centipede monster he rode. On cue, Puffles bent forward had hissed in her face, showing her the last sight Puffles' victim saw if he ate them.

"They were transported to the beyond."

It was the vampire who suddenly spoke up with a solemn voice.

"You lured me away! I know that you hate me, Genevieve. But these people were innocent! My family was innocent!"

He didn't become angry, he simply broke down at the edge of the roof, crying. Sorrow, reproach, and a glimmer of betrayal flickered across her face.

" We were also innocent when you abandoned us... but for whatever it's worth, I didn't know they planned this..." she whispered with clenched fists.

Seth ignored their drama and extracted the important information.

"... The beyond... like in the 24th Ethnarch of the Beyond?" he made the connection.

"How do you know that title?" both vampires exclaimed surprised.

Seth lowered his sword. It didn't work to intimidate her and his arm was getting tired.

"Oh, now you are talking to me? I killed a thing calling itself like that two days ago. It was also the reason I got separated from my friends, that just got pulled into whatever just happened." he revealed.

"You killed it?" the vampire exclaimed

"You are the one who killed it?" Genevieve exclaimed.

"He really killed one?" the vampire asked the lady.

"Great. Since I have your attention, how about one of you explains to me the current situation to me, so we can look for a solution? "

""A Solution?""

"Of course. My gut and my party list tell me that my friends aren't dead. There obviously has to be a way to bring them back. So... Start talking already."

Seeing the blacksmith's optimism, the vampire finally calmed down and thought for a moment.

"You are right, there might be a way." he suddenly said.

With a clear head, he finally introduced himself as Vlad Pierce, one of the leaders of Sigma's survivors. Genevieve kept her mouth shut and Vlad didn't go into the detail about their past, but he explained the current situation.

The Beyond was an empty space ruled by terrifying beings, similar to the creature Seth had faced. Its boundaries were very unstable which cause it to often create unstable connections with other worlds.

This allowed these creatures to invade and kidnap beings from these worlds to their realm, to rule and torture them until they become deformed versions of their former selves, or worst of all, become like their tormentors.

"So, you are saying: because they couldn't get through your defense, they just took the whole thing and part of the city back to their world...? Then how do we bring them back?"