Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Jonah's eyes opened wide when he suddenly lost him and he heard the party gasp from behind.

"Get away from him, Jonah!" he heard Monique's words, but he had already reacted.

Using the sword as a lever he smacked the ground and catapulted himself backward, away from the gnome, who was still bound by gray chains. However, from the corner of his eyes, he already saw frost building up on the divine chains.

What he also saw was a foot with a shattered ankle, stuck to the ground. His heart dropped a little. That was his foot and it still wore his boot. He had not felt anything but lost a limb while charging at Olaf.

"Are you okay, Jonah?" Monique asked, glancing at him as he returned.

"Yeah, yeah. I just lost my boot. Give me a moment to recover," he said casually.

They all knew that Jonah already had a terrifying regeneration ability due to his class. The item he had been given by Seth further strengthened this power, but the powers he got from Munara put the icing on the cake.

"Beauty without blemishes." they heard him whisper almost inaudibly. Quicker than they could perceive, the frozen, splintery stump of his foot had vanished. Instead, there was a beautiful slender foot, as if carved from jade by a master sculptor. He quickly hid the work of art in a spare boot.

Jonah was able to completely recover from injury, as long as he was not in combat. He was able to fully recover even in combat, once a day. Olaf didn't even twitch during Jonah's magic show, just standing in the middle of the boss room, unmoving. However, when he saw Jonah look toward him, he shook himself just a little, the chains that held him crumbled away like brittle dust.

From Jonah's move, they knew that there was a trick to this boss. It wasn't imposing, or frightening at first glance, but it hid terrifying secrets behind its plain facade. The next moment a row of fireballs the size of soccer balls shot toward Olaf. Again, the gnome didn't attempt to evade, Instead, the fireballs started growing slower and smaller in size, vanishing just before the meager flames that were left could touch him.

"I see, I think I understand it now. This guy has some kind of frost aura ability that grows gradually stronger the closer something gets. That means we are at a time limit." Alison concluded.

"A time limit?" Ray asked-

"I think I know what Alison means. Jonah managed to endure getting closer, but suddenly his foot was flash-frozen when he got too close. Even if the gnome's aura is fixed, he is constantly lowering the temperature around him, dispersing freezing air that sinks to the ground and will fill the room at some point." Shay, the water and ice mage was the second to understand Alison's concerns.

"Then we should make pillars," Tekar suddenly suggested, making everyone look at him in surprise.

"Why are you looking at me like that? It's simple physics that cold air flows down. Since we can't fly, Alison could use earth magic to create pillars for you to stand on. I could take a while."

"It could take a while? What are you saying Tekar?" Monique asked surprised.

"He is the perfect opponent. An enemy that can't move is perfect for me and even if he can, I will make sure he can't in a minute. I will keep him down and you guys will look for a way to whittle down his health." the tank said confidently.

He was motivated to finally be able to do his job as a tank. The whole dungeon had forced him into the role of a mobile fortification, because of the weird elemental enemies. When they faced Maltus, his chance was robbed of him by Shay. No, the big man's hands were itching for some action.

Monique stared at the bulwark of defense for a moment, before she nodded.

"Ray, layer all the buffs you have on Tekar. Alison, can I leave the pillars to you?"

"Sure," she answered Monique, before bringing out two potion bottles. "Tekar, take these. This one can temporarily improve all of your attributes and this one can raise your frost resistance by 25%. Both last for half an hour," the Alchemist sent the tank off with another dose of doping.

Tekar smiled at both, seeing the cold wizard care for him, and the effect of the potion. Tekar had already maxed out his skill <Basic Resistance UP>, which gave him a 75% resistance to all basic elements. With the addition of 25% buff, his resistance to from was above 90%. Now he was even less afraid of the boss.

With a smirk, he lifted his massive shield. With his hand was tightly wrapped around The Pipe, he walked towards the boss who was around half his size.

…

The group had been whispering something among themselves before finally, the massive hulk in his thick armor started stomping toward Olaf. The gnome didn't care. There were many who thought they could rely on their defense to overcome his frost. They all had turned into nice decorative statues in his personal abode.

"Hoh, you are sending the big guy now. Do you think he has a better chance?" he mocked them amused.

"What is that stick you are carrying? Maybe you shouldn't wear such a heavy armor when you need a walking stick for it."

The walking mountain of metal did not answer and just kept getting close with steady steps.

"Not much of a talker, I see. You must be fun on celebrations."

Olaf furrowed his brows, when the tank stepped into the range of the spreading freezing air, without so much as slowing down. Some frost built up on the surface of his boot, but that was all.

"Hmph, seems like you can endure better than your speedy friend. But it won't help you."

Olaf started quick casting icicle spells and shooting them at the walking wall, to stop his advance. Even if he had a huge defense, Olaf's ice was special. He could block it, but it would just build up on his opponent, slowly encasing him in a shell of cursed ice.

He cast the in quick succession, but his expectations were soon betrayed. As planned, the oaf simply lifted his massive shield, but instead of building up, the ice shattered away at the barrier created the moment he held his shield in front of him.

The boss could also feel a cold energy flow through him after each hit. Frost magic couldn't damage him, but made a mental note when he realized that the man approaching reflected part of the damage he received back at him.

Olaf frowned even harder when he saw what the rest of the man's party was up to. Their wizards were raising pillars of stone to evade the rising cold on the floor. It was a good idea, but-

"Did you think I will let you?" he said with a sneer. Olaf ignored the approaching man and started firing his icicles at the party, standing on stone pillars. He just had to hit and, or make them fall, then they would be done for! At that point, the tank would also despair and-

An ear-shattering cry suddenly rattled his brain. It was so high and shrill that he feared his skull bursting. The sound filled him with unbridled rage, as his eyes fixed on the armor approaching him. With a vengeance, Olaf started firing spells at the man, slowly walking towards him.

Icicles, Shards, Spikes, Ice Walls, he even summoned a blizzard on the man, yet he kept calmly walking through all hindrances. Sometimes it was magic from his friend that would break the obstacles or directly hit him. Especially the weird aura spears were annoying, but he ignored them. The armor, that hateful thing, was approaching. It had to die. He had to kill it even if it...cost him his life?

Slowly Olaf regained his calm, confused about his former state of mind. He was covered in wounds. It was nothing serious yet, he just had to go to the next phase and move. The chamber was already filled to half with deadly frost. There was no need to stay still anymore. He made an attempt to move but-

"Too late, <Aloads' Destiny>." he heard a deep voice say and received a painful smack to the head.

They hit him with his metal cane and he suddenly felt an invisible force, like vipers, tie him up and bind his body while sucking away at his life force. The damage was negligible, but the binding force was terrifying and unaffected by his frost.

<Ding! You have been affected by <Aloids' Bind>. Duration 8 Minutes. -3 Health per second. >

He didn't have the time to process the information.

"Argh! My knee!" another strike hit him right in the left knee.

Together with the pain, he also felt an evil power invade his body. The next strike hit his right knee and another wave of evil power spread through him. Now he could feel it like a weight on his whole body.

<Ding! You have been affected by <Curse of Burden>. Stack 2>

"!!!!" he couldn't even scream, when he was suddenly silent, right after the tank went for his crotch.

<Ding! You have been affected by Random Curse: Pain Amplification. Duration: 3 Minutes>

Olaf could only cry tears of blood as he was peppered in a storm of cheap shots while he couldn't move. He knew that the attacks barely made any damage, but the last curse made everything worse. As he kept hitting him like a maniac, more curses accumulated

<Ding! You have been affected by Random Curse: Damage Willpower. Duration: 5 Minutes. Your willpower is lowered by 20 points>

<Ding! You have been affected by Random Curse: Y'Berion's Sneeze. Duration: 30 Seconds.>

Now he was caught in a 30-second sneeze attack while being beaten with a metal cane.

<Ding! You have been affected by Sleep Paralysis. Duration: 5 minutes.>

Everything went dark, he almost expected the sweet release of unconsciousness, but it wasn't. He was just blind and he couldn't move anymore. His body didn't listen to his thoughts and he was forced to endure the pain. His ears were filled with confusing noise and an unfounded feeling of fear rose from his stomach to his throat.

"Oh, god..."