Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

An arrow pierced the ground just outside the lightning formation.

"Did you miss?" Leana asked confused.

However, Seth only kept watching the body of the beast. Moments later the body finally slumped down under the constant damage of the electric arcs.

"No, no I didn't miss." the blacksmith said smugly, putting down the reaper bow.

The arrow he had shot was a soul armament and the place he aimed at was the soul tether that connected the bast to whatever source it originally came from. With this connection cut, the body lost all control and had the last bit of vitality burned away by Ceres.

"Haha! You have finally given up!" the bird brain gloated victoriously. It didn't seem like the golem was aware of its mistake or the fact that it was Seth's doing that ended the struggle.

"See, I told you I would burn everything that dares to come too close." the bird exclaimed when it flew back up to them.

Its tone of voice and non-existent expression asked for praise Maybe this was just the blacksmith's interpretation, but he did not have the heart to tell it the truth.

"Y-Yes, Ceres. Well done. I knew I can count on you."

Although the danger was gone, Fin didn't seem calm at all.

"Fin, are you okay?"

"No, not at all. We have to get away. I'm sure there will be more and the fact you ...did whatever you did will only make it angry." the fairy urged them to flee.

He looked up to the others in the group. They had just finished setting up camp and not gotten any rest, but nobody seemed opposed to going along with Fin's wishes. Usually, the fairy was hard to shake, even in the face of hopeless danger. Seeing her this stressed was enough for most of them to accept the danger of the situation.

"Okay, then we will go and look for another camping site."

Hearing this, Fin visibly calmed down. They hurried to pick up their things and got back on the bus to change sites. As Mike flew them around looking for another space to land, Seth brought out a tablet.

Turning on the screen he inhaled in surprise. He had left one of the recorder golems to see what would happen. On the screen, he could see a whole group of the skinless beasts crowing in the place where they had "killed" the first.

Only the blackened and partly molten stone still told of the battle. The beast's corpse had found its way into Seth's inventory before they left. With a crowd of them in place, the whole area was cloaked in a dark mist as they searched the place.

Suddenly the screen started malfunctioning as Seth lost connection to the recorder.

"How is it?" Mina came over to ask.

"Fin was right. A whole bunch appeared but just I lost connection to the recorder." the blacksmith sighed.

"It was probably the breath. A Nuckelavee's breath can make anything living instantly rot and die of disease, but even other materials will start deteriorating quickly." the fairy had finally calmed down enough to explain.

"Have you calmed down? What was that back then?" Lixiss butted in, asking the fairy..

"My..." she halted with a sorrowful expression.

"I didn't mean to be rude. You don't have to talk about it if it's something painful." Lixiss hurriedly added when she noticed the tiny brute's heart-wrenching expression.

"No! No, it's okay. It's already been a long time. Just..seeing that thing caught Fin unprepared" she explained with a little smile.

"You see, when I was younger our fief was attacked by a Nuckelavee and my teacher... He managed to repel it, but he came in touch with the rotting breath. He and many others who fought that day died a horrible death. ...I just didn't want any of you to experience that fate."

"Caw, I'm totally fine, see!" Ceres butted it, showing its pristine golden plumage.

"Fin, are you okay?" Mina voiced before Seth had the chance.

The fairy looked at the two who were looking at her with worry.

"Yes, yes, Fin is fine. It's just a little shameful. It has been so long since Fin last thought of her teacher and it took something like this for it to happen." she answered with an absent smile.

Nobody dared to further interrupt Fin's nostalgic flashback until they found another place to set up camp. They repeated what they did before and finally got the chance to enter their tents for some sleep.

"Do you think Fin is okay?" Mina whispered in his arms.

"I think so. Despite her usual behavior, Fin can be very mature, you know that too. I believe she will speak up if there really is a problem."

…

After breakfast the next morning, they set off again, flying straight north. It didn't take long for a vast body of water to appear to their right. This was the sigmaen inland sea, they had been a lot closer than expected. Which also explained the presence of something supposed to be a sea demon.

This sea split the northern mountains into an eastern and western part and at its northern shore was Sigma. The district was sandwiched between the inland sea and the northern ocean. The river connecting the two split the district right down the middle.

The plan was to fly along the edge and directly pass by the northern mountains this way. The chance to meet flying beasts in the mountain was quite high but very low over the sea. Still, they didn't cross straight over it, because.. who knew what the waters really harbored.

Flying along the coast was the best option. For now.

Once past the mountains, they would pass Sigma in a similar way. They did not intend to enter Sigma District for now but only fly along its outskirts where Leana lost connection with the scouts.

Despite the princess's wish to investigate, they had come to the agreement beforehand, that Seth's quest had priority. They planned to reach the ocean in the evening and start looking for Hyperboreas the next day.

"Wow, this is really beautiful," Lena exclaimed in awe as he flew along the coast.

The light of the early morning played on the waves and they had a clear view of the vast sea. In the far distance, they could see the foothills of the eastern part of the northern mountains. It would have been even more beautiful if the small dots in the sky above the sea had been birds and not monsters.

They had miscalculated just a little when they chose this route. Mountains with flying beasts on either side and a big body of water between them. There were not fewer monsters, there were more. Giant eagles, abhorrent seagulls, flying snakes, and even Wyverns or real griffins were migrating back and forth between their nests in the mountains and their food source, the sea.

It happened more than once that they were able to observe a Wyvern or a bird of prey diving into the floods and emerging with a massive fish or nightmarish eel in their claws. Below the scenic waves, the water seemed to be frothing with all kinds of aquatic creatures.

But this was not one-sided. Occasionally a giant water beast would jump and snatch one of these avian predators. Some of the birds that dove in would not emerge, either.

The crux of the matter was: Ceres had the time of its life zapping all kinds of medium-sized flying beasts out of the air.

"Hey, catch me that one, Ceres!" Seth would call once in a while when it killed a beast that seemed worth the materials. Seth didn't have a lot of flying golems and he thought of using the golem forge to build up an air force with these.

Mike was careful with their flight path and they tried to evade the stronger and bigger flying beasts like Wyverns, Rocs, or the occasional giant sky rays. It was crazy how many beasts there were in the air and how few of them were attacking each other.

They traveled for several hours along the shores of the inland sea before the skyline of Sigma finally came into view.