Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

As expected, the adventurers found the gates under siege by the outer guards, some warriors, mages, and controlled workers. The present freed people had a hard time resisting the charge but with the reinforcement of adventurers, they could start picking out the guards in the crowd.

While archers and magicians pulled their attention with long-range attacks and flashy magic, the assassins and thieves among the adventurers left the stronghold and infiltrated the enemy forces unseen.

The army of workers finally came to a halt when the last person with authority was offed by the assassins. With these guards, fell the last people truly loyal to the theocracy. The stronghold was now fully under their control.

And with everyone finally having some time to relax and recover began Seth's nightmare. They brought the workers and the servants to the courtyard where the blacksmith had to release hundreds of people from their slave collars.

He met Evan again, the tamer boy from Delta. He was emaciated and had a few wounds here and there but the light in his eyes shone bright and a big smile was on his face when he was finally freed from his slave collar.

Like all of them, he thanked Seth a lot before he followed the others. The freed worker and adventurers made their camp in the stronghold and went to rest.

"Hmph! So you really did it. I listen to what people were saying."

The old man was also among the workers that had survived until today and came to have their collar removed. He looked unwilling at first. Seth was not sure whether he just didn't want to admit that someone else managed to do what he couldn't or he just couldn't believe the situation and thought it might be a trap.

Only when the cut collar finally fell to the ground and disintegrated, Seth could see tiny tears in the corner of the decrepit man's sunken eyes. He held them back and left without a word.

For hours he had to cut open the collars one by one and listen to a crowd of people thank him. It was almost noon when he finally finished all of them. But after the tedious work, there was a bright spot.

Seth had not been the only one working hard, the freed servants had manned the kitchen and a scrumptious feast waited for everyone. They had plundered the storage rooms and had cooked for hours.

Everyone who had suffered under the tyranny would be able to eat to their heart's desire for the first time in a long time. Once several of the big halls had been repurposed to big dining halls.

Once he had sat down at the dinner table, he had no intention of standing up anytime soon. Bit by bit he was joined by Duhu, Evan, Lynri, and the young dwarf, Wedin Duskforged. Wedin had finally gotten his chance to introduce himself.

Puffles, the Great, was served whole roasted animals and barrels of ale in the courtyard as he was too big to fit the hallways and didn't bother shrinking down.

"I heard what happened from Marcel and the other. I wouldn't have thought that you would be the person to save us all!" the great tiger praised him

"What are you even talking about? I left the annoying work to others- I mean, we won thanks to the effort of everyone." he hurriedly corrected himself.

~ Yeah, I did the hardest work. Don't forget my compensation. ~ the sorceress snapped and went back to remaining silent.

Seth waited for the other to speak up, but it seemed that Puffles, the Great, was too occupied by his meal to listen in on their conversation. Or maybe eating those angels was enough to satisfy the "Nightmare of the Skies", as the people started calling him.

Duhu chuckled at his answer and took a big swig of beer. The feast slowly turned into a drinking competition filled with merry laughter. It wasn't just their group, but the whole hall was filled with conversations and laughter.

Some were drinking in celebration and others to forget. Many of the mixed army had died, especially rebels and freed men, and were buried in the outer courtyard of the stronghold.

Whether they celebrated their fallen comrades or victory or tried to forget the loss and suffering. Everything was drowned under the relentless waves of alcohol.

Evan had long joined a row of people under the table who couldn't keep up with the forerunners. Duhu and Seth were relentless and were two of the last ones standing, however shaky it was.

Still, no matter how many people, human, beast people, demons or other races, none could keep up with Wedin. Although he was young, nobody could beat a dwarf in a drinking competition. Except for maybe another dwarf.

When Duhu and Seth lacked the strength to even lift their tankard, Wedin was jugging down the beer like water and competed with another demi human or something. Seth was far too drunk to process the situation.

Lynri, who had not joined their reckless drinking orgy, helped Seth stand up and- It was the last thing he remembered from that evening.

---------- Gamma----------

Leana, Princess of the Chrona Empire, was truly surprised by the support that had joined them recently. The man called Mark Baker had brought along a group of adventurers in smooth alien-looking armors painted with a big circle, like a Zero, on their chest.

With their strength and weaponry, they were comparable to A-Rank Adventurers. Another group of people he brought along were just called the technicians. Although Leana didn't understand the principle behind their classes, they were like magic scholars like Artificers, Enchanters, or Engineers.

They brought interesting devices and apparatuses with them. They had similar items and devices from where she came from, but the structure was completely different. Two ways that reached a similar goal.

The princess was quite compelled by this new technology, as nations like the Chrona Empire normally kept their distance from technologically advanced worlds. They were seldomly open to their advances and rather xenophobic most of the time.

Some of them were outright aggressive and would even try to invade through the portals they opened. That's why most multi-dimensional societies like the empire kept their distance from these worlds.

Urth was special in a sense because so many world-end scenarios had met on one planet. Realistically speaking, it was simply easier to talk to someone who had already fallen to his knees in despair.

As such, few people among those in the empire had knowledge of the fusion between magic and science. It was quite intriguing and saved Leana the effort to request similar devices from the empire.

After they got rid of the traitor, and together with the reinforcements from the empire, she could finally shift a Starta village to the outskirts of Gamma.

From this point onwards, everything started progressing smoothly. They were able to intercept Zarkist scouts and suffered no losses during their own ambushes and skirmishes with the enemy.

Their coalition of Arget Nore, Chrona, and Y-City was on a constant rise until the enemy suddenly fell silent. Just when they were sure to have found their headquarters, the Great Temple of Zarkon, they couldn't find a single one of them.

No scouts, no camps, no troops. Finally, they decided to send a shock troop to the Location. They found the giant temple complex completely empty. Leana and the others were sure this was a trap and decided not to act prematurely.

Nothing happened. It was as if the Zarkists had vanished from the face of the earth. The undead forces swept through gamma and couldn't even find stragglers of the powerful enemy.

----------- East of Gamma-------------

A tall man with a solemn expression rode on a great and lavish carriage, flanked by hordes of disfigured humanoids. He was surrounded by a huge ball made up of a great number of floating talismans which were all interconnected by strings of light.

All the connections among these glowing talismans ultimately lead to the man; the Champion of Zarkon. The big trap the coalition was expecting existed but had to be scrapped.

The untimely retreat of the allied forces, the Theocracy of Chains, forced them to vacate their budding kingdom. One day, out of nowhere, the angels and beasts, the slaves and priests, came to a halt and left without so much as an explanation.

This left him no choice but to flee and relocate the Net of Immortality, as he called it. Too many forces to the west had found a way to break their bond with Zarkon. All he could do was to flee into the unexplored east, deep into the No Man's Land, and bide his time.

As long as he devoted himself to Zarkon and grew his skills and level, he would come back and conquer the continent!