Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

… The poor floor. He pulled the battle axe out from the floor leaving a big gash where it had stuck.

<Axe of Polytechnus (Copy)

Legendary

Phys. Damage: 2800

Durability: 9000

1. Blessing of Wind

2. +200% Power on Skills and Spells

3. Blessing of Violence

4. +500% Damage against Flora

5. Triple damage on Cleaving Strikes

6. +65 Strength

7. +65 Dexterity

8. Manic Cleaver

9. Touch of The Ker

10. Passive Skill: Feast of the Keres

A brutal rendition of one of the lesser known works of the God of Blacksmiths, Hephaestus, by the hand of Craftsman Smith and the first Master Enchanter of Urth, Master Smith. The perfect weapon to cut down trees and enemies alike.>

Even without any synergies, the effects were working great together, like a well-oiled machine. In a way, he felt prouder about this since the result was based purely on his own power and not the grace of a lucky synergy.

Despite only roughly knowing some of the effects beforehand, the weapon was always planned to be optimized for drawn-out battles. This way Duhu would have more options in the future to save his trump card.

Duhu was one of the blessed Tijaahk that could call upon their bloodline and transform into a massive beast of unprecedented strength. This came with a rush of explosive strength, but it would have been wrong to say this didn't come at a price. The longer he would have to keep up this transformation, the bigger was the strain on his body.

This axe was a way to solve this indirectly. He would not only be able to fight through a large number of enemies without transforming, it could even strengthen him while doing so. If he was then forced to transform, the transformation would be even stronger making the potential time he needed to keep it up less.

Checking the effects now, Seth found that things had worked out even better than originally planned. The Blessing of violence offered temporary strength for every enemy killed, in exchange the experience gained would be slightly lower. The side effect was much better than potentially losing one's mind.

Triple Damage on cleaving was most likely an effect of Axe of Polytechnus and the reason his floor and a new scar... Same with the increased damage against plant life. As it was originally a carpenter ace, it made sense.

The effect of manic cleaver was different from what Seth originally thought. It wasn't just some effect that increased attack speed with an axe. As if straight out of a hack-and-slay game, the effect relied on hit-combos to progressively raise the wearer's strength in accordance with the number of successive hits.

Lastly were the effects of the divine enchantment. Seeing their effects, Seth was somewhat glad he was wrong, about it maybe being a kind of bleed or damage over time effect. The Touch of the Ker was an effect that had a 50% to directly kill a mortally wounded enemy.

Seth realized something after checking the final option of the axe, he was turning Duhu really into the protagonist of a hack'n slay game...

The Feast of the Keres on the other hand summoned the specter of a Ker at the beginning of a battle. This specter had no offensive means, except looking hideous. Instead, it would fly around and feast upon the spilled blood in a radius of 25m.

Collected energy would heal the wielder if he was wounded. If he wasn't wounded, it would stack and create temporary buffs to strength and endurance of the wielder. It offered not just a way to heal in combat, but even power up, just like, or even better than, the Blessing of violence. The longer and bloodier a battle became, the better it would be for the Tigerman.

Seth imagines the future. Duhu the Crimson Beast, his white fur dyed in red, as he gains strength from bathing in the blood of his enemies. Or maybe... Seth the Crimson Beast? Nah, that sounded stupid. Again, the blacksmith was tempted to keep the weapon for himself but decided otherwise in the end.

He checked his <Blacksmith> skill a last time to see that it had reached 50% as planned before he packed the axe away and finished for the day. Seth teleported to his quarters, greeted Mina, changed clothes, and joined her on the couch.

They had just started watching a movie when there was a wild knocking on their door.

"Tower Master, are you in?!"

The couple shared a glance before Seth got up with a groan to answer the door.

"What is it?" he asked the hurried-looking man.

"Something happened on the surface. Lord Mary told me to call you."

Seth looked at him for a moment, deliberating whether he really had to go.

"Fine... I'm there in a moment."

"I guess something came up. I will go have a look," he explained to Mina, before getting dressed again.

Not long later, Seth appeared in the lobby of Minas Mar's business building, exiting from the elevator room. He had just entered, when Mary already approached him.

"I'm glad you came even though it's already late."

"Sure... So what was so important that you had to call me?" he asked a little grumpy since he was tired from a day at the forge.

"Princess Leana and the Council called for an emergency meeting at the parliament building. All leaders of the powerful guilds were invited. It seems like something is happening in Delta."

The council was the current leftovers of Delta's former leadership that were in the process of being reinstated with the support of Chrona. There were even talks of elections in the near future. For them to call in an emergency meeting was unheard of.

Well, wasn't like they had much of a chance with Chrona taking care of most of the things. Was this maybe a move for them to finally get some exposure in the public? With Leana being involved, maybe this was the first step for Chrona to take less influence on Delta's government. Seth wasn't into politics, so the best idea he could come up with.

Mary had already prepared a car to take him to the parliament building. It had been ages since Seth sat in a car. Although cars worked just fine in Delta, unlike Y-City, there were fewer of them on the streets nowadays.

There were a few reasons. With the introduction of Mounts, the inventory, and a player's physique, motorized vehicles became an unpopular alternative. The events of the apocalypse and during the tournament also had a profound impact on people.

Nobody wanted to sit in a car when something went wrong and a portal randomly opened in the middle of the city. Mounts and walking by foot were a lot more practical in those scenarios. However, Seth could hardly use Puffles or Tatzel to ride through the city.

Arriving at the Parliament building, Mary and Seth found a huge crowd of people that arrived earlier. All of them were most likely leaders of some well-known guild. Mary could name some of them off the top of her head. They were slowly ushered in and shown their seats.

The parliament, rows, and rows of seats around a central podium resembling an ancient theater. The seats that were once filled with representatives from the different districts, were now filled with powerful figures from all around Delta.

Looking around as they followed their usher, it didn't seem like they only invited guild leaders. He saw Brock, Elza, and Marcel not too far away. In a far-away corner, Seth even spotted Yvette. Just what was going on?

The staff member led them all the way to the very front and actually seated them in the first row. In the same row, Seth found some familiar faces. McCarthy the dimensional trader, Cade, Brock, Elza and Marcel, the stupid Hero, and the Mist demon, all of them were seated in the first row. Extrapolating from them, the others in the row were probably of no less importance or strength.

"Look, that's Guild Master Bryce."

Mary pointed at a man with slicked-back blonde hair wearing a marine-blue suit. It was Seth's first time personally seeing the local Guild Master of the Adventurer Guild. Similar to Seth, Bryce made his subordinate do the work. Most of the official work of the guild was done by their Vice-Guildmaster.

After a while, people stopped trickling in and a pudgy man stepped on the stage in the center.

"I thank you all for coming."

"Who is that?" Seth whispered to Mary.

"He's the acting chancellor of Delta, Ichabod Longbottom," the scribe said in an almost scolding manner.

"All of you were called because we are facing a crisis."