Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

She had been lucky and was at the edge of the explosion when it struck. She only lost one of her lower arms. Afterward, she managed to regroup with a bunch of other chimeras and was also joined by the mysterious archer.

Their group was currently sieged by no less than three angels. On the ground beside them lay the corpses of two angels that had already lost their lives. It had cost half their group just to defeat those two but then another three appeared.

One was held in check by continuous lightning strikes, another by the arrows shot with pinpoint accuracy. But their allies were helplessly overburdened with defending against the third. So, what could have been a war of attrition was them having to watch their comrades one by one.

The archer and magician were only delaying the inevitable. They could not save anyone, not even themself. Was it really worth it to keep fighting?

These thoughts tried to disrupt their concentration, but it was a hair-raising tune that finally broke it. When the two angels dived down like harpies that saw their chance, each was struck by a bright lance of flame.

Another wave of magic and arrows struck the third angel that attempted to finish off one of their comrades. A moment later another pair of lances stuck the two stumbling beings.

Looking for the source they saw a rag-tag bunch of warriors and magicians in battered and ripped armor and clothes running towards them. At their front was the young pyromaniac she had taken an interest in.

The newcomers seamlessly absorbed their group and got in formation. The angels had retreated, but they were not dead. Still, it was a short time to relax.

"You are a little late." the chimera mage stated, looking at the corpses of her comrades in sorrow.

The Archer stayed silent.

"Sorry, I am not a wizard. I will run late sometimes."

The archer chuckled.

"What?" the magician asked and looked between Seth and the archer.

"Just a saying, don't worry. How are you? Aside from the ...obvious." Seth asked, looking at the fresh corpses, the injured, and her arm.

"I am pretty much out of mana."

"I am almost out of arrows, too." it finally talked. But only to demand ammunition.

"Well, lucky you, silent man. I have arrows, good ones even. Other than that, I can only offer a small mana potion."

Seth gave the archer a pack of 50 adamantium arrows that had their tips enchanted with decay and he handed the chimera leader a mana potion before using healing magic on her.

He had been lucky enough to collect a bunch of people on his way and among them was a priestess. Her healing magic was nothing special, but enough to take care of non-severe wounds.

Now, the chimera's group, or what was left of it, was added to the blacksmith's company and they traveled further towards the edge of the battlefield. They picked up anyone they could save on the way.

As for those they could not help... Seth asked the same question every time and would take their souls. He did not explain it to the group which made it look like a weird way of mercy killing them.

The dust had finally started clearing up when they got closer to the edge. In the sky, they could see the contours of the angels, but there was also the giant shadow of Puffles hunting them. Of the initial 30, only about half were now left in the air.

They had finally left the initial blast radius of the attack when a giant shadow started charging at them.

~I believe you should also carry your weight! I shall bring some towards you! ~

~ Translates to: Please help me! ~ Al assisted.

A slightly battered Puffles broke out from the dust cloud and was followed by 5 angels that tried to surround him. Seth was the first to react because of the head up and stopped two angels with a fire lance each, before layering two fire shields on the Ivicer, who's own shield seemed to be on cooldown.

Shortly after one of the stopped angels was ended by an arrow that penetrated its metallic head. Third, to react was the chimera leader who stopped another angel with a lightning ball.

These three reacted in the very first moment, the rest of the angels were hit by the attacks of the party members. The moment the angels were stopped in their track, the nightmare centipede turned around and snacked two of them from the air.

A third and fourth were cut apart by his sickle arms. The last one was able to dodge a body tackle and ran back into the sky.

~See, was it that hard to contribute? ~

~ Translates to: Thanks! ~

After his thanks, Puffles followed the angel that was on the run.

With the dust finally settled, the angel leader could also get a better look at what was going on. He was not happy with what he saw.

~You system dogs! How dare you vermin defy divine punishment!? ~

It had seen what just happened and started shooting purple rays at them. They all dodged but one unlucky fellow was not fast enough and became an example of what happened when the purple ray found their target.

The poor dude had turned into a bronze statue.

Before they could come up with a strategy, another wave of purple rays was shot at them. This time they managed to cast several shields in time and found the weakness of the purple ray. Although their effect was very mystical, there was no force behind it.

Even the weakest shield could block them.

"We should focus on that guy. With Puffles around, the angels are not as much of a problem."

"Unfortunately, he is too far up for me to hit him with my lightning."

"I am also uncertain to hit it at that range."

"Hmm, then we have to bring that thing down a little. I can try something." Seth said.

He unequipped a few of his items, like his rings, to weaken his fire magic. Otherwise, there would have been a high chance of friendly fire.

Next, he used the gloves to cast Fire Rain. The fireballs that would fall down like a light meteor shower formed high in the air to then crush down in the ground with great velocity. As he had hoped, the fireballs formed even higher up than the position of the archangel.

The angel leader turned around when he sensed the attack and easily blocked them with a shield. But they were just a diversion. The next moment, an arrow penetrated his lower back. Three more struck it through the chest, the shoulder, and the neck.

~Haha! Your pitiful attack can't harm- urgh! What?!"

They could see the reason for the leader's reaction even from the distance. An ugly, flaky patina like rust was slowly spreading from the arrow wounds. As a high-ranking divine being, it could resist the mind effects of the bow, but not the 2 layers of decay born from a strong curse and the curse of a vengeful soul.

The angel even twitched in pain and shock and fell for a short moment before he could catch himself. When he did, another arrow, aiming for the head, was already coming in and he dodged with a roll. Lowering his altitude even further.

The next moment it was faced with two arrows and a lightning strike. It had gotten into range.

~ You little! ~ he exclaimed angrily and put up a shield to block their attacks.

~ You think you are very smart? Just you wait. I will crush your hopes in but a moment. ~

Suddenly the angels all around the battlefield came to a halt and charged back toward the leader.

"Shit!" the archer, Seth, and anyone who had been at the stronghold cursed. It was the same pattern.

"We have to get rid of him! Quickly!"

"Puffle, come here! You have to bring me up there!"