Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

To Seth's surprise, Tatzel had no problem touching the core when he took it from the pile. The curse didn't seem to affect the pitch-black imugi at all as he pulled it out of the bone pile with his short claws.

“Can I also take something from the pile?” Hellion's booming voice sounded. The blacksmith looked up at the bronze colossus, questioning. he didn't know what the colossus wanted, but would he be okay touching the bones?

The colossus of Rhodes had gained the blessing of Hellion, similar to Python, who gained the blessing of Gaia and became a reincarnation of the original deity Python. The blessing gave Hellion a holy, purifying aura with the same effect as sunlight.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“What would you want out of the pile, and why?” Seth asked, amplifying his voice so the colossus could properly hear him. The golden giant cocked his head as if he thought for a moment before he pulled out one of Kalzemir's femur bones from the pile.

The massive bone looked like a crude, blackened club in the hands of the colossus. It fit size-wise, but there was also smoke, visibly rising from the place Hellion had grabbed onto the bone.

“Is it dealing any damage to you?” he asked the colossus concerned. He didn't want to go back and repair or remake all the scales on his hand because he kept holding onto a cursed bone. Although Seth was now able to create something like the , it didn't mean that it was easy.

“No, it's just the curse clashing with my aura,” the Colossus said with a shrug of his massive shoulders. For just a moment, Seth had the crazy idea to use the remaining bones to make armor for the Colossus, but he quickly dropped that notion. That was way too much work.

“Then keep it as a club then,“ the bard finally said. He was too mentally fatigued to deal with these bones now or come up with a good idea. it was best he pushed that off for later. The bones were not going to run away. he just had to talk with the space mage to see if they could do something about the gate.

Set let his eyes wander over the valley. The four horsemen were standing in a row, seated on their steed to the side. There was Tatzel, busy looking at the core. There was the army of undead, a mix of zombies, skeletons, and now a bunch of Liches Haa'Skon stole from Natina.

“Evee, I will leave the clean up here to you! I'm returning now,” he called out to her, before signaling Puffles to let him up on his back, to fly back down to Delta, through the portal.

“Wait, what?” he heard the witch's shocked question, but at this point, he had already rushed back to the skies of Delta on the back of the nightmare centipede. Although the fight itself had not left him completely exhausted, physically, Seth had been away for several days working on the horsemen and then fought in addition to that.

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At this point, all he really wanted was to return home, grab Mina and Fin, and fall asleep holding them. Passing through the gate, the first thing the blacksmith spotted was a figure floating in the air nearby. He recognized Idyllon Mo straight away. Perfect timing.

Since he already met the spatial wizard here, he could take care of their business now, and not bother with them until he woke up again.

“Idyllon!” Seth called out.

“Tower Master, you are back! Did Lady Durnham manage to escape?” the mage asked, a little shocked about his quick return. Although Seth understood that Natina probably had many weird cards up her sleeve, so Idyllon would have expected her to have gotten away, he felt a little offended by that assumption.

“No, the witch is dead. Evee is taking care of the aftermath on that side. On that note, I need you to make sure to close this gate by the end of today. There's some hazardous stuff in the valley across and we don't want any of that pass over to this side,” Seth gave him a short explanation and explained his new task.

“Alright, I will see what I can do. When you return to Delta, you should call the Princess. I heard something happened in the district, but I didn't catch any details. ” The blacksmith was a little confused. Something happened right below, but the wizard didn't catch the details?

Seth squinted at him, suspicious whether that was really the reason he couldn't brief him right away. Although Idyllon seemed like the diligent kind of guy, he was also smart about making his life easier. He respected that. parting with the mage, he and Puffles dove into the crown of the guardian tree.

Once they were through the lush emerald outer layer, they entered the spacious framework of branches that held up the massive green canopy like the beams of a roof. Seeing the city below, Seth furrowed his brows. He immediately understood what “something happened below” meant.

This wasn't how Seth remembered it from when he left not too long ago. Was it him, or did the Guardian Tree have seven new, thick branches that suddenly vanished into seven gates that surrounded the trunk at some distance? He also had the vague impression that the city in the vicinity of the tree was NOT leveled when he left there.

Flames slowly spreading in the city were also an interesting new touch. Originally, Seth was convinced they had overcome most dangers at this point, so he was going to quickly dodge any one the annoying debriefing and explanation for today and rush directly to his bedroom.

However, seeing the situation, he couldn't just let it slide. No matter how tired and moody he currently felt, this was not the time to leave the others alone with the situation. With a sigh, trying to suppress the impending headache, he brought out his communication orb.

“Leana...” the blacksmith spoke tiredly.

“Seth? You are already back? Did Natina get away?” she asked a little too excited, maybe a little nervous.

“Why does everyone think she got away, just because things ended a little quicker? The witch is dead, but it seems like that isn't the only news. Leana, what happened here?”

....

---Earlier---

From the start, Minas Mar's command center had been established in their embassy, right above the original tower. Apart from the tower itself, it was the safest place in Delta. Leana, Mary, Jane and the others involved in coordinating the defense had stayed here from the beginning.

The princess had seen quite a few of the shocking twists of this battle with her own eyes, through the windows of their central communication room. The opening of the giant gate in the sky, the attack of the skeleton dragon, the release of the Guardian tree, as well as the erection of the gates just outside Minas Mar's barrier.

However, the most shocking turn of events, was when seven circular gates suddenly opened, surrounding the trunk of the guardian tree. Many cast an orange hue at the city below them, showing pictures of reddish hellscapes and fire. Another exuded dreary light or darkness that sucked up the surrounding light, casting a deep shadow on the city directly below them.

“Contact everyone still out there to seek shelter in the barrier! Forget the walls, forget surveillance! Get everyone back here this instant!” she screamed instructions from the top of her lungs, as she recognized what they were facing.

Leana had never seen these before, but she had heard stories of Hell Gates. They were a means of mass destruction, artifacts of times when the war between Spatia and Chrona became so intense that they even resorted to deals with devils and demons.

They were a proof of contract, created between the user and the demons of the Abyss. The deal was simple. Open the gate and the demons would flood out, killing everything and everyone in the vicinity. In exchange, they would claim the land, or the whole world, where the gates were opened.

Seeing masses of understandable monsters already raging at the horizons of these gates, not even a second after they were opened, only confirmed her worries. They had to get everyone back under the protection of the wizard tower to resist the coming waves. However-

“Don't worry. We will deal with it~” Karina's voice echoed, as an answer to the command of evacuation.