Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The earth shook and stalactites came falling from the ceiling. To make matters worse, a wave of screaming people rushed into the market cavern, causing a mass panic.

"It's the sea dragon!"

"Run!"

They screamed in fear and Cade could only do little to resist the push and shove of the crowd, as they rushed to the exits. It was easier to just rush out faster than them. Stepping on heads and shoulders the rakshasa quickly exited the underground.

She had no idea what was happening in the depths of the island's underground, but she judged it was better to return quickly. There was no need to stick around since she had the info she wanted.

Entering camouflage again, she rushed out of the city and mounted the djinn to rush back to the party. The island kept shaking and Cade came across several cracks that split the land, with patches of land falling into the abyss.

When she returned, the vessel was already in the air and the big gorge had split the shore. Seawater was rushing in to fill the gap.

"Cade, grab the rope!" she heard from above as a rope fell down to her.

...

"You gotta be shitting me..." Seth mumbled facing the travesty before him.

They had been talking with the guards when the island started rumbling and the ground split below their feet. Before they knew it, they were back on the vessel, together with the guards who had followed them in a panic.

As the cracks widened to canyons, writhing with currents of seawater, they saw Cade rushing back on her pet. The woman was climbing up the rope when the floor several hundred meters land inwards started caving in and an old acquaintance rose from the underground.

Several stories high, a head like a crocodile, and a cluster of armored eyes on its head, the Koor Worm had returned. Piercing through the ground of the island, roaring to the sky.

Hubert pulled on the steering wheel, causing the airship to steeply rise in the sky, trying to get out of the worm's range.

From the frothing cracks in the island emerged the worms writhing body, so long there was no end in sight. The mountain loke head, covered in barnacles and a beard of tussles, was purely focused on the small silver vessel floating in the sky.

"How does that even make sense?"

It looked like there were even more than just one body that kept breaking the landscape apart. Seth couldn't guess why this creature was going to such lengths to catch them. It completely ignored the city at the other side of the island, which was currently overflowing with people, gushing out of all kinds of underground rooms.

"Did you anger the sea dragon!?" the guard captain shouted at Harker.

"It attacked us first!" Ben shouted over the noise and roars of the disaster below.

"That's impossible! It's the guardian of the sea. It would never-"

"Maybe it lost its mind because of the blood sun?" the hero argued.

The guard looked the hero in the eyes and Seth could see the struggle on his face. At this moment the guard made a decision.

"Damn it! If the sea dragon lost his mind, nobody will be safe. What should we do?" he cursed and decided to trust the hero's words.

"It's great you decided to get along, can someone give me a hand?" Cade shouted from below the vessel. Without illusion covering her face and her hood ripped off from the wind, she looked incredibly exhausted.

Seth offered her a hand and blocked the view as he pulled her up into the vessel. He was not sure why she kept hiding her face behind an illusion of normalcy, but he guessed that he was probably the only one who had kept seeing her without the illusion thanks to the Eye of Argos.

"You makeup came off," she whispered to her using <Telepathy> as he pulled her on board.

Her expression escalated a little before she followed his pull exaggeratedly and fell in his arms. She used the cover to drink a mana potion and reapply the illusion.

~Smooth. ~ Oz commented while Seth was still stunned about the woman suddenly falling into his arms. From behind it looked like the bard had directly pulled her into an embrace, the moment she entered the ship.

After her "makeup" was fixed, she separated from him again. It was a little awkward, but both were glad that this was not the kind of situation where anyone could spare much attention on trivia.

There was a several hundred meter long, giant sea serpent out for their heads. Trying to use the leverage of the breaking ground below, it kept charging higher and higher into the air snatching for the ship.

"What are we going to do? The sea dragon will destroy the island if this keeps going!" The guard captain exclaimed horrified.

"You brought it here! Please, you have to help us." the guard begged.

At that moment the whole party got a quest.

<Ding! A quest has been triggered!>

< Quest: Save the Island of Bazilark

Difficulty: B

The horrible Koor Worm has lost his mind under the Sun God's curse and hunts down anything that crosses its path with a vengeance. Your actions have led the worm to the island of Bazilark which faces destruction as the worm used the subterranean caves to enter the land, ripping apart the island in the process.

Will you help them and save the island?

Requirement: Find a way to prevent the destruction of Bazilark

Rewards: Gratitude of the people of Bazilark, 10 Universal Attribute Points >

<Do you accept the quest?>

Like Seth, everyone looked at the sudden prompt in puzzlement.

"We can't kill this thing," Marcel stated seriously.

"But we have the hero!" ich argued.

"No, even if I give it my all, I have at most a chance at mutual destruction." the hero admitted solemnly.

"If you are alone, but we are a party. If we all work together, I am sure we can-"

Seth was studying the quest prompt. The difficulty of B was way too low to kill something like the Koor worm. They couldn't even see its level. There had to be a better way. Maybe they could just-

"Why don't we simply run away?" Hubert voiced Seth's thoughts.

"You mean to abandon the quest?" The hero asked displeased.

"No, he means, that it is the easiest solution. The worm is after us. Once we leave the island, it will most likely leave the island and follow us." Seth explained.

"Right. I already installed the new module. As long as Seth had magic crystals, we can stay constantly airborne and lure the monster away. If the quest information is correct, it only managed to do this, because the island was already hollow. It shouldn't be able to do the same to the mainland." the merchant elaborated.

"Right, all we have to do is to prevent the destruction. If we leave, the island will be safe." Yvette summed it up.

The hero didn't seem fond of running away, but he understood, that this was the easiest and safest way for the people of the island.

"Right, if we fought, the possibility of destroying the island is too great. Let's flee." Harker finally agreed.

After coming up with a plan, everyone accepted the quest.

"Errm, what about us?" one of the guards asked shyly. Belatedly the party realized that they still had the team of guards on board.

"No big deal. I can bless you with slow fall and you can simply jump off."

"What about the sea dragon? Won't it attack anything that leaves this vessel?" another guard mentioned. They didn't mind laying down their lives for their homes but being snacked by a sea dragon was still not the kind of death they would accept willingly.

"I will distract it. When you jump off, I will attack it and focus its attention on us." the hero asserted

The guards were everything but assured by the hero's brave act.

"I can cast camouflage onto you. It won't last for long, but it should be enough to reach the ground safely." Cade suggested in addition to the hero's distraction maneuver.

Unsure, the guards finally agreed to leave this way. Under the hooded girl's illusion magic, they didn't become invisible, but very hard to see. Next Yvette blessed them with her powers of a saintess.

"I, I don't think I can do this captain." the first guard was gripping the edges of the exit hatch and refused to jump.

Asking someone to just jump from a height of several hundred meters based on some loose trust was a little much. The usually serene-looking saintess had a displeased expression.

"Don't be such a wimp," she stated emotionlessly. Before anyone could react, she kicked the almost invisible guard in the back, hurling him into the air.

For a short moment screams of panic and regret could be heard, before they turned into an exclamation of surprise and relieved laughter. To his own surprise, he didn't fall like a rock, but slowly floated down towards the ground.

He could be seen as a patch of the slightly distorted landscape below the ship.

"What are you looking at? That's what you get for doubting me. Now, leave." Yvette told the rest of the guards who looked at her with reproach.

The ship turned to flee, leaving a trail of distorted smudges falling to the ground gently like dandelion seeds.