Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

A ghoulish chime gave the gourmet hunter who stood guard goosebumps. It also woke the rest of the party resting around the burned-down campfire. A group of will-o'-the wisp lit up in the fog surrounding them.

"Ignes fatui..." the amazon mumbled with shock on her face. The ghoulish chime rang from the ball of light floating in the fog. Their pursuers had caught up with them. Everyone got ready to fight. Alison cast a buff on everyone while Seth and Tekar wore their armors.

Tekar wore an intimidating black suit of armor, the dark knight-set Seth had given him the other day. One had to admit that it looked even fiercer on the hulking giant that was Tekar. Seth really wanted to give him a giant sword or halberd now... and then kick him off a ledge. Cancel the last bit.

"There is no escape for you, Trespassers!"

Bright flashes of magic shot at them from 3 different directions.

"Evade it! That's the magic that weakened me!" Lyca warned in a panic

Puffles summoned a shield to block all 3 attacks, but when they hit the barrier Seth got a notification.

<Ding! Your Pet "Puffles" has been cursed. All stats will be lowered by 80% for 72h.>

"Seriously!? Puffles get back in the pet space. Take care everyone, the curse also hits you if you block it-"

The moment Puffles shield was gone, another three flashes shot at them from three other directions. Everyone hurried to evade after Seth's warning. Were there six enemies? Or did they change positions to confuse them? The fog was simply too thick to see.

"Alison, can you do something about this?" Seth asked the all-elements wizard.

"I'm on it!" she barked and concentrated on chanting.

"Tekar, Link, you guys protect her, I will try something else."

So what if he could not see the enemy? As long as he got the general direction, his bow could do the rest! With that thought, he brought out the upgraded cursed bow and started shooting arrows in the directions where the curses came from. Unfortunately, there was no sound in the fog, except for the unnerving chimes. Seth had no clues as to whether he hit someone or not.

He had more than 200 basic arrows, he just kept shooting. As long as he hit, the curse might do the rest. It also distracted the glowpeople from casting their curses even if he did not hit them. After another wave of curses where Tekar was almost hit, Alison cast a wind blast that forcefully pushed back the fog wall revealing 4 figures stumbling from the sudden push.

Four? With a quick scan, Seth saw two figures winding in pain on the ground. He had hit someone! And there really were six. At least they didn't look as glowy anymore. Their glorious long manes of hair had burned away in the heat of the burning city; they were all bald. Together with some of them still having terrible burn marks and ripped clothes. They looked like some outlaw raiders...

The four left looked at their fallen comrades that were suffering from necrotizing arrow wounds. They knew that their comrades had been hit but could not ascertain their situation in the fog.

"Now you've done it! You will die here!" one of them shouted angrily and stormed at them, pulling a slender sword made from some kind of clear crystal straight out of the air. As if he formed it from the fog. The others did the same and rushed them.

Although Tekar had no taunting skills, the Dark Knight armor worked just fine. These people were too strong to get the debuff, but they were provoked by the armor's effect. 2 Were rushing at Tekar while Seth and the gourmet hunter took on one each.

Link had no skills to end his attacker, but he was able to keep him occupied by using traps.

Seth blocked the crystal sword with the "Wyvern Shield" and the tremendous force that hit the shield. The shield was still impeccable, but Seth lost some health from the force.

"Dragonmight!"

"Urgh!" the eyes of the dragon face on the shield lit up and all the glowpeople suddenly stopped and crouched down a little, as if lifting a heavyweight on their shoulders. The amazon was not much better off, as she was not part of their party.

"What is thi-"

Seth did not miss his chance and hacked away at the confused attacker in front of him. The sharp blade of the Kriegsmesser made from wyvern tooth easily split the head in two, from crown to neck. The other Tuatha de looked shocked in their direction, seeing one of them actually dying.

These people were strong. They had high physical strength and were probably even better with magic. But they wore no armor and could ultimately not withstand the power of Seth's weapon with just their physical bodies. Their mistake was that they had simply underestimated them for being humans. They had not expected a bunch of players.

Link and Tekar had also managed to injure their opponents using the moment of surprise, but they did not manage to take a life. But now that the blacksmith was free to join them, it was different.

Seth had no scruples about dashing into the fight when he saw a chance and striking down the enemy from behind. Others might have called this cowardly, but who would dare to say it to his face after watching him unhesitatingly split a person in two from behind?

Alison blew another one away with a Blazewave after he got stuck in one of the hunter's traps. Just as Seth attempted to strike down the last one standing, an unexpected curse came flying in his direction.

Lyca finally showed her worth and pulled Seth out of the line of fire at the last moment.

It was the attack of one of the arrow victims who had just lay on the ground until now. The other one was frantically chanting something as a purple magic formation grew below him.

~ Quick stop him! He's opening some kind of passage!~

Before anyone else got to the man lying on the ground, he was silenced by the gourmet hunter's arrow that thrust in his throat.

~You have to get away from here. Although he did not manage to open the passage, the other side should have received the coordinates!~

Seth sighed. There were really no breaks. But there was something he had to do first. Check his spoils.

<Soul(big), Crafting Material. Uncommon>

The six Tuatha de had dropped 3 big souls. What a great haul! Seth looked for their weapons or armor, but they had nothing on them, so he incinerated the corpses before the party fled. This time they followed the road back to the, now burned-out, city. There were only a few hours left on the cooldown.

Once they summoned Al there was no need to worry anymore. Even if their pursuers found them before they returned. The sorceress asserted that she could easily wipe the floor with these people.

They ran for their dear life all the way back to the city and hid in one of the empty charred buildings. They went all the way to the top floor where they finally broke down in exhaustion. Seth gave everyone a small stamina potion to help recover.

If their pursuers found them, it would be best to be in top form. And so, they waited. Being on the rooftop it was as if they stood on a tiny island in a silent ocean of fog. They were strung to the breaking point as they listened into the fog for the most minutes noises and changes in the idly blowing wind.

The wait was the worst. And for hours, they waited. With bloodshot eyes, they finally heard a distant chime. They heard the chime for another hour as it became louder and quieter. Until it sounded clear and close as if those people had stopped right before the building below them.

"Cool down is up. Let's go, let's go!" Seth suddenly broke the solemn atmosphere and summoned the spicy sorceress. Al'Zalsa made a few erratic gestured with her hands and chanted. A purple magic formation, similar to the one the enemy had cast, appeared below her feet and the fog in front of her started coagulating into a dull gray mirror.

"This is the portal. Just go through it," she told them.

"I guess this is goodbye then?" Lyca said with a smile. The amazon had made it clear that she would go to her own home, once she knew they were safe. Now, she summoned a similar portal using an item and vanished in her own dull mirror.

After the amazon had left the party also hurried into the portal the sorceress had created. When only Seth was left, she stopped him.

"Are you sure I shouldn't just wipe those guys out?"

"Can you like, leave them a present?"

They both smiled and left after the sorceress left the "present".