Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

673. Ly-lydia?

Seth looked up, staring directly at the emergence of a kaiju from the opposite canyon wall. He instinctively activates the appraisal skill.

As the cliff collapsed and massive boulders fell into the rift between them, other figures jumped from the dust cloud and landed on the plateau. It seemed that the hive was not ready to watch silently as the empowered softskins slaughtered their elites.

The two tallest beasts, standing at least ten meters tall, were immediately picked up by <Observation> and his heart dropped a little. Both of them were girthy beetles, one with a massive horn, and the other with a giant pincer head that emerged from the cloud.

Two bosses above lv.90! And the other ones wouldn't be any weaker. This time Seth really started to worry. The elites were no big problems after the power-up with the ballad, but the buff was wearing off and a boss was usually between 20-40 levels stronger than their actual level.

Minas Mars field teams would have a problem taking down one of them, but Seth had seen at least five and they only had three established parties. But still, with their legendary items, they should-

WHOMP!

He was still processing when something crashed into the camp's wall below.

"James?" he recognized the off-tank that had just become embedded into the wall of their fort.

"Experience the full Power of the Dark Side!" he heard in the distance before he also saw the four-armed figure of Azul rushing back. In the meantime, Ferdinand, the healer of Monique's Team had already cast a heal on James.

"Damn it."

Seth formed his resolve to signal to retreat and reassemble. Even if the parties could take them on, they were currently all spread out because of their rush into the enemy horde. Seth couldn't allow for them to get picked off one by one.

Not all of them had items that allowed them to face overwhelmingly strong enemies without a party. But it wasn't like the enemy was standing by idly.. before Seth could smack the anvil to sound a signal, a slim, agile beast charged at Azul mere moments after she came into view.

Pursuing the lightning mage was a child-sized and almost humanoid-looking beast with bright black and yellow stripes and spindly limbs. The appearance was deceiving. It was extremely fast and lashed out with its weak-looking claws the moment it caught up with Azul.

Not a moment too late, Tekar, who was defending the base until now, used one of his skills that allowed him to switch places with an ally. The moment the small claw smashed into the tall shield and barrier the tank had cast, a shock wave raced over the plateau and blew away the dust cloud.

Finally, Seth could see the battlefield clearly and found everyone either locked in combat. His face grimaced. There were eight bosses above level 90. Although nobody died immediately, it was obvious that everyone locked in combat, not Monique, was having a hard time just surviving,

Jonah was holding back a hideous beast with a thick carapace and wielding a massive spiked club. Ray and Shay, the shaman and mage brothers were slowly retreating while supporting him with magic from behind.

However, their magic seemed to have only little effect against the beast. It seemed to have a high magic resistance. Although they seemed to be struggling, it seemed fine for now.

Monique on the other hand was locked into a duel with something like a buff-looking mantis that held its sickles like dual-sabers. Using Tatzel's Sacrifice, Monique seemed to be faring a lot better against her opponent, despite facing the one with the highest level so far.

However, it had obviously met the worst match, as its double sabers were unable to land a blow against Monique's defensive spear moves. On the contrary, the spear demon's sharp stabs that were mixed in and aimed at the insect opening were only countered by the beast's speed and quick reaction.

In the flaming field, where Edward and Jess had raised hell on earth, Evee's brother was facing the giant rhinoceros beetle warrior. Although Edward was surviving, he had a bad match-up, as the bug's thick armor seemed very resistant to being set on fire.

Mina, Mike, Feanys, and Fin were lucky as they had been fighting under the cover of the night so far and the dome had yet to vanish. The giant stag beetle warrior and a variation of an Arachne had charged into the dome of darkness.

Despite facing two opponents they were in no danger thanks to the cover of darkness. Instead of fighting a desperate fight, the group of four had used the cover of darkness to reassemble and focus on the Dynastinae General. The beast looked like a furry four-armed Arachne and stood roughly five meters tall.

The boss was swinging around a massive halberd that looked like it was crudely shaped from a kind of crystalline metal. Every swing created strong gales and massive walls of wind she used to block and attack. Despite fighting in absolute darkness, she was able to defend herself against the combined onslaught of Fin, Mike, Mina, and Faenys.

It was hard to fathom, how such a massive and clumsy-looking beast, was able to accurately dodge Mina's shadow blades and use her range advantage to fight the other three. Not only was the spider boss agile beyond belief, she also managed to weave web attacks into her swing with the halberd.

The combined wind and crowd control made it especially hard for Fin. The little fairy was specialized in extreme speed and melee damage, but the wind and halberd kept her at distance, while she had to constantly look out for the webs that could slow and even immobilize her.

Although the general put some pressure on their group, both sides fought to a standstill. Probably the worst off with their enemy were Duhu and Lydia. The tiger and assassin found themselves close to each other when a tank barreled into them.

It was a black, diabolic beetle about three meters tall and covered in metallic black armor plates. Even the Axe of Polytechnus and Lydia's new dagger had a hard time just scratching the armor. It probably had a similar defense as Tekar.

Seth hesitated. He feared for their lives but was also apprehensive to immediately help them. Everything was tilting towards the hive once again, but things were not hopeless. This was their chance, the ultimate struggle. It was the perfect moment-

...

There was a sudden change as a hair-raising screech echoed across the battlefield. The Nosoderma General was suddenly missing part of its front limb that had fallen to the ground. It was slashed off by a hairy beast...and it was not Duhu.

Opposite the Tigerman now stood an anthropomorphic wolf a head taller than himself, who wasn't short at all. The wolf had dark silver fur that glowed in a bluish sheen and wielded a pair of daggers. It also wore the armor of Minas Mar.

"Ly-lydia?"

The wolf roared and kicked the tiger out of the way, just in time to evade the attack of the enrage armor beetle. Although it had lost a limb, it was only angrier.

"You will pay for harming my beautiful self!" it roared, speaking for the first time.

"You preposterous furkins! Die!"

It had only become angrier and entered a rage mode as a dark aura enveloped the iron beetle. The lost claw quickly regenerated and he peppered the world in attacks. However, Lydia in her new wolf form had gotten a massive boost to all physical attributes and senses.

She managed to parry all attacks with her pair of legendary daggers. One was the still hard-to-appraise dagger made of an angel, the other was the Night of the Danaides, enchanted with the Fate of the Danaides, which gave the dagger a massive Manaburn and Bleeding effect.

Although the mana burn was doing its work, it was a shame that none of the bleeding effects on the blade had a chance to work, as insects had some natural resistance to bleeding because of their different body structure.

Duhu quickly got up and started cooperating with the transformed Lydia. Her stats had improved a lot, but the fight still didn't become easier. Despite it losing its mana, the beast did not become any weaker, as it heavily relied on physical stats and its armor.

It also wasn't like every attack of Lydia was able to penetrate the thick carapace. They needed to come up with a strategy and bide their time. But finally being able to fight on even ground, gave the tiger hope that they would be able to overcome this hurdle.

... Lydia's Dagger:

<Night of the Danaides

Legendary

Phys.Damage: 2250

Durability: 5000

1. Dark Magic is 150% more Destructive

2. +200% Physical Damage

3. Will absorb blood to repair and strengthen itself

4. Will absorb part of the target's blood to heal and strengthen the user

5. +120 Agility

6. Fate of the Danaides (strong burst of Mana burn)

7. Active Skill: Lacerate

8. Active Skill: Danaides Deed (75% chance to cause a long bleeding dot)

9. Passive Skill: Canine Instincts

10. Passive Skill: Agility of the Jackal

A dagger made by Master Smith, the first Master blacksmith of Urth, and Enchanted by Master Smith, the first Master Enchanter of Urth. Focused on high-speed combat, the dagger combines the agility and spirit of a Jackal with crippling effects using divine, demonic and mysterious means.

Any Assassin would work to earn this dagger.>

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