Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The administration was a big room of cubicles, and the place was completely smashed. It looked like a big fight had happened here, with many corpses of guards in matching armor being strewn all over the place.

It was the first sign of actual battle, instead of indiscriminate slaughter. She looked at the chaos and the team of guards on the ground. These were not the ordinary people she knew, who would check their IDs and write entry protocols.

These had been the elites of Xen Biologies she only saw once in a while when they brought a new specimen to the lower levels.

"None of the computers here are still intact." Laura cursed. Jes and James followed.

"What now?"

"We could try to get to the system administrator's office. But seeing the elite guards are dead, there might be something terribly strong that took control of that place."

"Let me guess, if we want to shut off the supply of monsters brought to the surface, we also need to gain control of that place?"

"...I could probably shut it off from there."

Jess and James looked at each other. Although their equipment was damaged, they had recovered to peak condition during the observation. They should be able to take on a few of those monsters.

"Alright, lead the way."

Laura had never been to the administration before. She too only followed the way signs on the walls. But they were almost unnecessary. They just had to follow the bodies of slain guards. The way to the admin's office was covered with them.

"I'm having a bad feeling about this..." James mumbled.

These dead guards did not seem weak at all. Also from the signs of fighting on the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling, the battle must have been intense.

"Is there no other way?" Jess asked Laura.

"The only other thing I could think of is the archives. But there is only a low chance we will find the information and there is no chance to help your friends outside..." she answered apologetically.

"The only other place with similar authority would be the management. However, if those people already evacuated then there will be nothing left working."

"A fight it is then. What is your class?"

"I- I am- my class is Researcher. It's the higher job of a scribe so..."

"You have no combat power. Got it." James summed it up.

Jess and James got in the mindset of imminent battle as they carefully snuck around the hallway. After a few minutes, they could hear beastly snarls from up ahead. Looking around a corner they finally saw the enemy.

Humanoid fish. The troops of the maritime empire. They had big, bulky humanoid bodies with disproportionately huge piranha heads. Jess and James had only heard stories of these beasts from Y-City and B-City.

Seeing them with their own eyes, made them feel even more disturbed. There were five of them sitting in a group in front of the admin's office. It seemed like they were guarding the outside while feasting on the human bodies strewn around.

The sharp teeth, jutting out from their mouths, easily cut through meat and bone, without making so much as a breaking sound.

"You are a Researcher, right? Do you maybe have a skill to tell us their level without alarming them?" jess whispered to the woman in the lab coat.

"Ah, yes. I can do that. They are all in the range of lv.60 to lv.65." she said after peeking around the corner.

"Hmm, we should be able to take them, if there are no others." James estimated.

A minute later Jess stepped around the corner and opened the battle with a compressed fireball. The surprised fishmen were hit and the fireball exploded before they could react.

Right after the fireball came James charging at the group, attacking the ones at the edge of the explosion. One quickly lost his fish head, but the second had the time to react and block the warrior's attack with its trident.

The fish locked eyes with James before shoving him away, right into the attack of a third Fishman. But James did not spare this fish a glance and got ready to block the attack of the one in front of him. The next moment the third Fishman was thrown to the ground, with the jaws of an Armor Wolf clamped around its throat.

While James and his wolf fought these two, Jess disabled the last one standing with a fire lance. It took a few minutes and some more scratched on his shield and armor until James finally managed to finish his fight.

Despite having the element of surprise on their side, only one Fishman died from the explosion, while the rest had mostly minor injuries.

James had just finished killing the last one, when a jet of concentrated water shot past him, aiming for Jess. Even though Eustas, the little magic owl, erected a shield in time, Jess was thrown back and crashed into the wall behind her.

"You are indeed strong. Might you be friends of the man fighting outside?" an androgynous voice asked as a figure stepped out of the office. Its limbs were slender and the movements elegant with an otherworldly bearing.

It was a merman! These were like the nobility of the maritime empire. Their body was mostly humanoid and covered in a kind of shark skin with colorful patterns. Their faces had fish-like aspects but still held an alien beauty.

The one in front of them had a head covered in fins which made it look like he wore a feathery headdress, while his body was covered in a thin robe that did not cover much.

Without answering, James swung his sword, but the merman lifted his arm, and the weapon was blocked by a magic shield.

"Quite the short temper, simply because I took out your rearguard," he said arrogantly and struck out with his fist.

A loud gong could be heard when the fist was blocked by James' shield. The sound was accompanied by the attacker breathing in sharply.

"What a sturdy-" he quickly ducked away as a fireball came for his head.

Jess, who the merman thought incapacitated, had easily tanked the impact thanks to her epic equipment. The robe alone, which was a mix in technologies between Neco Boos and Seth, was stronger than most epic leather armors found in the dungeons.

"You!" the merman exclaimed, but he did not have much time to talk.

A sword was aiming for his neck, but when he wanted to dodge back, his leg was fiercely bitten by the armor wolf. He attempted a matrix-dodge to avoid the sword but lost his balance and landed on the ground.

In a panic the merman shoved the armor wolf who tried to maul his face away, only to feel a sharp pain in his legs. He cried in agony and dark blood covered the floor.

James had used the chance and decisively cut off the merman's legs, right below his knees. The beast had attacked his girlfriend; he couldn't expect to get out of this with an intact corpse.

It was clear that this merman was a caster, albeit blessed with a strong body thanks to his race. Still, facing them like this was just stupid. He should have come out and hidden behind those tanky fishmen to fight together with them.

"You cut off my leg! You barbarian! How could you!?"

"You- Hng!" suddenly James' head snapped back.

The merman had faked his panic and headshot James with his waterjet.

"Haha! You fell for it!" the merman laughed.

However, his laugh suddenly got stuck in his throat when a sword was lodged in his stomach.

"What happened, the cat caught your tongue?" James growled with a smirk.

A thin trail of blood was running down his face, but he was fine otherwise. The sudden magic attack had been mostly blocked by his helmet's shield enchantment.

With a brutal Shield Bash, the warrior smashed the merman's weirdly alluring faces into a bloody mess. The humanoid lost consciousness but was not dead.

"Enemy successfully captured," James reported to Jess who walked up.

"Well done!" she praised and proceeded to kick the disabled merman in the balls. Several times. The merman woke up and lost consciousness again several times.

Laura attempted to stop her, but James held her back.

"Don't interfere. If she can't let off the steam, she will be insufferable for the rest of the day."

Leaving Jess and the mermen, James and Laura entered the office where they found out why the merman had not joined earlier.

"He managed to lock the system."