Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"It doesn't seem like he managed to catch up." the hooded figure commented. It had been a few hours since they left the continent behind. The sun had already risen on the horizon.

"Maybe we could fly back to meet Seth on the way," Mina suggested. She had doubts that Seth would still be able to catch up with them.

The party looked to Mike, their leader, who was currently the shuttle captain and pilot. He deliberated about the suggestion for a moment.

"You are right. We should turn back and see if we find him," he decided.

"What of Seth failed? His sacrifice would be for naught if we run into that thing..." the princess started but she halted when the rest of the team gave her weird looks.

"Sacrifice? " Lixiss asked confused, almost flabbergasted.

"Pff-" Suddenly the party burst into laughter and chuckles.

"C'mon guys, it's not nice to laugh at her like that. It's just a misunderstanding." Mina scolded the others, barely reigning in her own chuckling.

"Seth wouldn't sacrifice himself just to buy us time or defeat an opponent. If his life was really in danger, he would run." the catgirl explained.

"But what if it was too strong for him?" Leana argued.

"Then he would have run with us," Mike said as a matter of course.

In the meantime, Mike had already made a swerve with the shuttle and they were flying back in the direction they came from. Despite flying for several hours, there were still no signs of Seth or anything else for that matter.

"Shouldn't we have met him by now?" Mina asked worriedly.

The continent was quickly growing at the horizon. They had already flown back more than half the way, but there were no signs of Seth, Puffles, or even Ceres. Maybe something did happen in the end?

Another hour of flight later, they came back to the clearing outside of Sigma, where they had left Seth. Or what had been once a clearing outside of Sigma.

The magnitude of destruction was already visible from the air, but they got an even better look when they landed and left the shuttle. Circular fissures covered the place and the few trees and other plants seemed dead, without vigor. At one place the ground looked almost dug over.

"Just what happened here?" the princess mumbled, unable to comprehend what kind of battle created such aftermath.

"Whatever it was, the thing is not here anymore so Fin would guess Seth won." the fairy commented optimistically.

"But why didn't we meet him on the way back here?" Leana uttered her doubts.

"The better question is, what we are going to do from now on." the hooded figure stated.

He was right. They had some options about how to continue. One was to search the blacksmith somewhere on the open sea. Taking to account they didn't spot him anywhere on their way back didn't give them confidence in that plan.

They could also look for Hyperboreas themselves. In the end, Seth would appear there sooner or later. But none of them knew, what that would entail. His option was also a no.

Returning was always an option, but leaving Seth behind just like that?

"Since we are already here, we could take a look at Sigma," Leana suggested innocently.

"That's too dangerous. What if we run into another one of those things?" Mike objected.

"That thing was extremely strong, how many of those could possibly be there?" the princess argued.

"Well, at least 23 more. After all, it called itself the 24th Ethnarch, right?"

The princess fell silent for a minute, but she didn't give up.

"It might just be a title, and he is the 24th in line. If Seth beat it, there is a good chance there are only its minions left," she said after some pondering.

She had lost two teams in this place, so everyone could understand that she was a little driven to explore, after coming so far. Sigma was right in front of her, the answer to what happened to her subordinates.

Yvette looked a little conflicted at the princess.

"Maybe it would be better if you told them," she whispered to the princess.

"Told us what?" Mina who had heard it with her good hearing dug deeper.

"I... well the thing is. I am pretty sure Cade is still alive and in Sigma. But I don't know her situation. Se might be close to dying for all I know." she finally explained guiltily.

"Cade? That woman from the evaluation? Why are you so sure that she is still alive?"

The princess explained that she had recruited her after the evaluation and how she was part of the second scout team. She had lost contact with the team, but she knew that at least Cade was still alive.

Although her class didn't have much combat ability, she had the skill to sense her subordinates. It was similar to Seth's sense of knowing where his golems were. This was how the princess knew that Cade was still alive and her rough location.

"So you are saying this exploratory mission was actually a rescue mission." Mike summed it up for her.

"Yes." she admittedly meekly.

Mike wasn't confident enough to make a decision in this situation and turned to the party. This had a high chance of turning into a suicide mission, he wouldn't say yes or no without consulting them. His worry was unfounded, as none of them heavily objected.

Although they were surprised by the vanishing of their Seth, they were not too worried about him. Leana on the other hand was their friend and she needed help. Although their relationship started as hired hands, all of them grew to like her and they somewhat owed her for the chance to meet Seth again. They didn't really like the idea of risking their lives in the unknown, but she needed their help on this rescue mission.

"Fine, but let's rest before we enter Sigma. " Mike finally said tiredly.

He had been piloting the shuttle for hours and they had not really gotten any good rest during the journey.

"Let's hope Seth won't be too angry at us for risking our lives" Fin exclaimed motivated as they set up camp.

"We just have to run, if things get dangerous," Mina concluded.

In the end, they still had the armored shuttle. As long as not another giant fish specter appeared, they would be okay. Probably.

...

It was late afternoon when they readied themselves to enter Sigma. They all had gotten a few hours of rest, Mike even managed to sleep a little.

"Let's get back in the shuttle and scout Sigma from the sky. We should still have a few hours of sunlight. If you can give me directions, I'm sure we will find her quickly." Mike spoke to Leana.

He really hoped they could find her and get out before nightfall. The idea was easy to understand. The less time they spent in Sigma, the less chance there was to be noticed and die a horrible death.

Taking the initiative, the hooded figure took place in the seat of the co-pilot.

"Can you show me how to operate it while we are looking? In case we meet another Ethnarch, I'm now confident to keep my composure. If I knew how to pilot the shuttle, I could get us out." he explained.

"On that note, it might be a good idea to layer protective buffs on all of us beforehand," Yvette suggested.

"We also have some resistance potions from Evee and Alison. They might be of help, too." Bulko suggested.

Minas Mar had prepared more than enough emergency resources, in case this expedition turned out longer than expected. This wasn't just processed goods, but even food ingredients in case the prepared meals ran out.

In the hope to counteract whatever might happen Bulko, Yvette and even Fin cast several resistance buffs on everyone. Following that, everyone drank potions of mental and fear resistance to double down on it. They could only hope it would be enough, in addition to the shuttle's own defense mechanisms.

They were taking a risk, but a calculated one, as they flew in the sky and entered Delta. They couldn't deny their nervousness when they followed Princess Leana's vague instructions finally entering the mysterious boundaries of Sigma District.