Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

His big sigh echoed through the desolate hallway. How could he have known that she was the plaything of his superior? Still, he just had some fun with a slave, why did they have to condemn him to guard duty in this place?

This was the worst. Standing all day at the entrance to the prison block and feeling bored beyond belief. This wasn't why he joined the army. He wanted to see exotic places and get his hands on exotic slaves.

Cute girls, mature women, he was into everything, and he wanted to taste a lot of different races. Now he was stuck down here in this cold, desolate place. Far away from the lovely, mindless little slaves.

The only people down here were the prisoners. Even if he could bring them out for some fun, they were all men. And they were of some importance, so even if he found interest in a good-looking one, he would get an even worse job if he was found out.

He sat there, blankly staring into the darkness beyond the shine of his candle, and remembered his time with that maid. The punishment was somewhat worth it, he understood why even an officer had taken interest in her.

As he stared in the void a smooth melody started accompanying his fantasies. The sound was sticky and accompanied his fantasy in an almost lewd manner. He fell deeper into his imagination as a light fog started filling his mind.

His fantasies slowly sunk into the fog and were replaced by a deep satisfaction. He felt nothing wrong and lend himself to the illusion. And the hummed melody slightly changed and the mist in his mind formed words in his ears.

Trust in me ~... Just in me~

His eyelids became heavier and started fluttering. He knew he had to keep them open. It was still his duty to guard the place. But it was just a quiet, tiny voice in the back of his mind. The was no way resisting the enchanting melody from beyond the mist.

Shut your eyes~ Trust in me.

His eyes fell shut and he completely fell for the music in his mind. Even if he wanted to resist, it kept pulling him deeper like a quagmire.

You can sleep~...Safe and sound

He felt so tired and sheltered as if he was in a soft bed under a thick blanket. Why would he even fight this urge to sleep? He was so tired and it was so comfortable.

Knowing I~ Am around.

The guard's mind was gone. Far off into the land of dreams, there was no way he could notice one of the doors slowly swinging open.

~.... Don't ever sing that while I am summoned. ~ Al commented after Seth stopped the song.

~This great me seconds this notion. I feel sticky just hearing it from in here. ~

"Pff, that is only because you were not exposed to its effects. Believe me when I tell you that you would be off into dreamland like everyone else down here if it wasn't like that. Until later, Puffles."

Wearing the Helm of Hades, Seth stepped out of the cell and felt all his system skills being suppressed. They had not found a way to counter this effect despite Al taking her time to study the cell. This meant He had to sing from inside the cell because even his bard skills were now suppressed. All except <Orpheus' Voice> and <Voice of Seth>.

Seth could only use his class skills and those given by his items and divine blessings now.

As for what he had to do now, he had thought about this a lot in the last two weeks. At first, he thought the two biggest hurdles were the suppression of system skills and the space lock.

Even if he released people's collars, they wouldn't be able to fight and they wouldn't be able to use <Home Call>. It was then that he realized that a lot of the people here were unable to use <Home Call> anyway.

This left getting rid of the suppression, but at the same time, he had to think of the fact that the people of the theocracy would immediately notice when the suppression was gone.

They had been rather neglectful with the people because they had this two-way security. It would become a lot harder to free the captives if everyone became more vigilant. And while he had to try and release them of their collars, the priest could just repair the suppression field.

Thinking through many possibilities Seth came to one conclusion. His biggest problems were the priests and possible reinforcements through the pathworks.

He needed to find a way to deal with them, destroy the suppression field and then free the warriors and mages to free the workers and fight possible reinforcements.

With these goals in mind, he started wandering through the winding hallways of the enemy's stronghold.

The prisoner block he came from was hewn into massive stone and he had to find his way along several stairs to reach the parts built from bricks. He stepped out from a door and found himself in a normal-looking hallway you expect in a medieval castle.

Every place he passed until there were rooms for workers, prisoners, or maids that seemingly worked in this place. The rooms below were cold and damp while up here the air was warm and dry.

A maid hurried past him with a big basket of laundry. Only her quick steps and the sweat on her face gave away that she was in a hurry. Her face was expressionless like that of a statue.

After a moment a worker also passed him from the other direction. This place was probably one of the passages for the servants. As he had just came from where they would have their rooms, it seemed to make sense. Also, the lack of guards.

Seth kept exploring the massive structure. Checking door, choosing directions. He kept going around and committing the rough layout to his memory until he was too tired and took residence in one of the many storage rooms.

It had been a long time since he last took a break and even longer since he had slept. He had pushed the limits and need to sleep now. It was still bright outside, if he slept now, he could wake up in the night and explore the stronghold further.

Although he had not found what he was looking for yet, he was quite satisfied with his progress for now.

He had fully explored the place he called the servant area in his mind. It encompassed the storage area, the kitchen, the laundry, the servant quarters, and the passages that led to the private and public sections.

He wanted to explore these in the night after a good rest. Those places were well guarded, and Seth didn't want to be found out because some idle guard saw a door spookily open and close from the other end of the hallway.

With thoughts of what to do next, he finally fell asleep in the corner of the storage room.