Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Gin had already given his opinion on this beforehand. The leader of the guild remnants was intent to leave the "Holy Land" as quickly as possible and return to Delta. He was convinced Home Call would work once they got past the storm.

On this note, none of the people of Minas Mar agreed with running away. Many just watched, but all suggestions given were different strategies to go on the attack. To finish off the hive and then leave, to wipe out the hive and the orc kingdom before leaving. Pardo even suggested attacking the Adventurer Guild's stronghold and taking it over, before monopolizing the holy land.

Others suggested holing up where they were and seeing what the enemy would do. There was no guarantee that the Adventurer Guild was behind the space lock. If they simply built up their fortification and waited, the culprit would come to them in the end.

Seth listened to their suggestions to get other perspectives on the problem at hand. What became rather clear, was that none of them gave a flip about Home Call not working. They were confident that they wouldn't need it in the first place. He was really proud.

"Alright, after hearing all your suggestions, I will tell you mine. I'm sure you all will like it," he opened to the reveal of his plan.

…

In an attempt to break the siege, the Boulder Guild led an all-out attack against the orcish forces. This was a grievous memory for all of them, as it was also their time to realize that Home Call was blocked. They had lost a lot of good people in that charge.

Only two-thirds of their elites had managed to break through and make an attempt to flee. Their mounts and pets were even worse of, having paid the price for so many of the members being able to escape. They had lost a lot more than was obvious at first glance.

Grinding their teeth, and holding back their tears, they had to transition to a more covert way of travel after their initial escape. Even the two great chosen ones, were hiding like rats together with the others as they traveled only by night, from cover to cover and leaving as little traces of their presence as possible.

The orcs were always hot on their heels. At night they would hear the howling of wolves in the distance, a sign of the goblin riders pursuing them. In the daytime, when they were resting, it was not weird to see orc troops in the distance.

It was more than obvious that they were traveling through enemy territory. Fortunately, Clay, the rogue had managed to survive their escape relatively unharmed. At least they could be sure to go the right way as Clay acted as the guide.

On the third day of their journey, they got a confirmation that their decision was the right one. The day guards reported of armies led by high-level boss generals passing by. Had they stayed in their camp, they might have been completely wiped out.

"Even though we got such power..." Marcel muttered, balling his fist so hard that his nails dug into his flesh.

The always-cold Elza was also biting her lips to the point that Brock could see a small stream of blood running down her chin. Both were controlling themselves not to jump out a fight a battle to the death.

It was not that Brock was not feeling sad and frustrated, but he was much further away from having the power to change their current situation than those two. The guild master was able to accept his own weakness and that he wouldn't have been able to save any more of them.

Pulling themselves together, they followed Clay as quickly as possible for the rest of the way. When they finally reached the ledge above the plateau where Minas Mar had set up their camp, Brock and the Boulder Guild had overcome an arduous journey.

"What is this?" the guild exclaimed. Even Clay looked stumped.

In the middle of the plateau towered a massive castle. Its massive walls were at least 20m high and half as thick. The ring wall was covered in complicated wards and topped with a magic barrier. Inside was a ring of buildings that surrounded another, small circular wall. Inside the central ring was just darkness.

The beaten and dirty group came before the gates of the massive fortress.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the chimera guard called from above.

"I'm Brock from the boulder guild! I came to meet Seth, the Tower Master, and bring him important information." Brock introduced himself and summed up their matters.

"Hmm, you will have to wait a while. The Tower master and all executives are currently on a raid."

…

--Several Days earlier---

"We do both. We will hole up here and bring the war to the Hive." In the end, a strategy was based on the information one obtained. Seth had sent his scouts several days prior to the meeting and had managed to glean a bunch of useful information from the few days the dragonfly scouts spent in the hive.

Among others that there were even better targets for his soul collection, which were a big version of the dragonflies he had managed to nap. But also the general structure of the hive, for example where the quarters of the different insect species were located, as the hive's nest was just a massive labyrinth for the most part.

But the most important and vital information was, that the nest of the hive was not completely turned into a dungeon. After all, it took energy to turn dug tunnels into a bonafide, nearly indestructible part of the dungeon. It seemed that not only human constructors like to skimp on construction costs.

This opened the way to a fantastic chance. They didn't need to use the hive's entrances and navigate through all of their labyrinthine tunnels. They could just dig their own to a part that was not protected by dungeon energy and directly invade them on their own turf. Something they would never expect and they would do it from the comfort of their own, heavily fortified base.

This way they could stay on guard against whatever enemy would come to their camp, but also accomplish their own goal of training the troops at the same time.

"Why just a tunnel at our doorstep? I'm confident in my wards. Why not make a heavily fortified base at THEIR doorstep?" Evee suddenly suggested.

"That's the spirit," The blacksmith praised enthusiastically.

This way all but Gin would get their way. They would wipe out the hive with targeted raids while being prepared against the orcs, or whoever, with their heavily fortified surface base. With the help of Python, digging a huge tunnel and increasing the building speed of their camp was no problem at all.

Soon, they were ready for their first organized raid. While the Chimera that reached their max-level stayed up to guard the camp, the rest of the troops of Minas Mar entered the central shaft and boarded inside Python.

Starting from their subterranean chamber that was protected by strong wards Evee worked on for days, they would split up based on their average levels and strike different parts of the nest, led by the dragonfly scouts.

This was not a fair fight, not even a proper surprise attack. Minas Mar infiltrated with the intent to kill everyone silently in their sleep and make off with the greatest possible experience gain before anyone even noticed their presence.