Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"How did your dungeon raid go?" "I don't want to talk about it."

"I doubt the Naga were a big problem. Did something go wrong?"

"I said, I don't want to talk about it, Link."

Seth shot the gourmet hunter down and they kept eating in silence. After a moment he sighed.

"Fine. A bunch of stupid dragon newts crushed the original dungeons, meaning I didn't get my hands on the Naga."

"The dragon newts have already gotten this far?" Link asked surprised.

"It's not like they were far away, to begin with. It's just surprising they have started expanding their influence."

"You guys already started without us?!" a high-pitched voice cried out and a projectile crashed into their bowl of mashed potatoes.

"Fin!? We talked about diving in our food!" Seth scolded incensed.

"Our?! I hereby claim this bowl for myself. It is mine and mine alone!" the conqueror of the dinner table declared her supremacy over the liquefied taters in a fit of laughter.

"Sorry, Seth, but I would also like to join," Mina was not far behind the victual pirate.

Aside from his two partners, the rest of the lords and field teams soon followed and the canteen became even rowdier. It went on until late in the night before everyone returned to their rooms.

…

The next day they talked about their experiences in the dungeons. Like, Seth everyone who owned a legendary item, or became a chosen one had entered the dungeons solo. And like Seth, they all barely made any considerable amount of experience.

After each of them crashed a whole dungeon, none of them gained more than 10% on their way to lv.91. It was a little frustrating. As a matter of fact, their talks soon turned to a different place. If these superficial dungeons did not do it then-

"What about the Abyss?" Mike threw into the room, turning the conversation to the darker part of the Holy Land, the less known part.

The Abyss was the name the Adventurer Guild had given the depths of the canyon and caves below it. All the dungeons, even the big ones like Kozdam, the Orc Kingdom, and the terrifying ones like the Maestro, were all just weaklings that were pushed to the surface by whatever was down there.

It was a dark place almost no adventurer returned from. Those that returned could only speak of the unending and difficult system of caves and dungeons one weirder and more dangerous than the other.

"Let's go there!" Fin cheered wildly in the face of danger.

"Unlike the surface, that place could be actually dangerous," Tekar threw in.

What he said was based on the power levels of the members of the Field Teams, not ordinary people, or the Oathguards. If the surface were the losers of the abyss, then the abyss definitely had the potential to be difficult even for them.

The forces at the surface consisted of troops in the range of lv.80 and bosses above lv.90. The forces in the abyss would have even higher standards. There might even existences beyond the comprehension of their appraisal skills, like Puffles or Wolfram.

"Then the Teams should stay together when we start exploring a way down there," Seth commented.

Each member here, except maybe Tekar, could take on the weaker surface dungeons on their own, but they were originally parties. If the abyss was that dangerous, they simply had to go with the basics and tackle the dungeons there as parties.

They would share the experience, but lower possible dangers. If the beasts in the abyss were really mostly above lv.90, the experience could still make it worthwhile. With that in mind, they contacted the Adventurer Guild.

Since they had already come to an agreement with them, it was no big deal to get the information about the entrances to the abyss. There were a few strewn across the area of the Holy Land, most prominently were those that the current factions had crawled out from.

The Maestro, the Dragon Newts, Kozdam, and the Hive had come to the surface using entrances at the center of their territories. Since Mians Palan was built at the edge of the former territory of the Hive, this meant they just had to find the entrance at their doorstep.

"I will send the scout golems. Maybe we can find the entrance if we let them scout the tunnels of the hive." Seth suggested. A swarm of flying little eyeball golems was sure to find some deep dark hole at the deepest part of the tunnels.

"So, what do we do until we find that entrance? It could take days until those things find what we are looking for," Lyxiss commented.

"We could train our party play. How about we give the Maestro a visit? We still owe him, no?" Mina suggested.

"We really do, don't we? Maybe Elza and co would want to come along, too?" Monique asked with some bloodlust. They had not forgotten the ambush of the experimental subjects.

Seth helplessly looked on as everyone started coming up with ideas to attack the Maestro. If he had the choice, he would go for the dragon newts. Not just because of his personal grudge, but because the demon was definitely the harder opponent.

It was one thing to defeat an army of lab rats, it was another to wander into the mad scientist's lab. Who knew what kind of sick traps that demon laid out for intruders? A demon specialized in alchemy, poisons, enchantments, and body restructuring could do a bunch of sick things to people that wandered into his domain.

Despite his worries, Seth quickly saw that voting against it would have no meaning. Everyone was already convinced to attack the demon. Seth could only trust the items and their skills. He had to acknowledge that all of them had grown a lot since they returned from the Holy Land.

It wasn't about the level, but about the mastery of their skills and the powers of the items he gave them. It was best shown by the fact that all of them had been able to solo their respective dungeons, although they were dungeons in the lv.80 range.

The only exception was Tekar, who simply couldn't deal damage. With his kind of damage output, a boss had a higher chance to die from old age, than through the tank's attacks. Maybe it was possible to conquer the Maestro if they stayed in teams.

"I guess it's decided then. Let's invade the maestro's territory until we find the entrance to the abyss," Seth ended the discussion. Unlike the entrance to the abyss, they at least knew where the territory of the demon was supposed to be.