Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The team of Oathguards with him were the new seedlings that were chosen by Jack Felton. They were the most promising bunch with good personalities and could become the members of a possible fourth field team.

"Get in formation and follow me closely."

The ten of them were split into a healer, an archer, two mages, an assassin, two tanks, and three melee fighters. Their formation was very traditional, with two fighters and the tanks in the front, the long-ranged rearguard in the middle, and one of the dealers in the back in case of an ambush.

Although they had come to prove themselves, Seth decided to take the helm and have them follow. The reason was simple, he didn't want to let them take the brunt of the unfamiliar environment. He was the one with the <Superior Mining> skill that helped him navigate in a subterranean environment, he was the one with a <Map> skill, and most importantly: He was the one wearing items that improved their chance for a peaceful journey.

The tunnels were dark and smooth. Water droplets covered the moist walls and a thin stream of water flowed at the feet. If they had not known it better, they would have thought they were walking through a sewer or a storm drain.

Everyone was prepared with an item that granted <Night vision> and did not need any light to find their way in the darkness. They were vigilant, with all their senses strained to the max, but the tunnels stayed quiet.

Whenever they came to a cross or partial cross of tunnels with their own, they would mark it with glow-in-the-dark chalk. The mark was a sign allocated to them beforehand, an arrow pointing to the exit, and the approximate distance. This way other teams entering their tunnel would know that someone else came by before and what way was a potential exit for escape.

The tunnel grew longer and longer on Seth's <Map> as they wandered through the silent darkness. At some point their tunnel became too steep, so they returned and explored another path from a cross-section.

"Oh, would you look at this," Seth exclaimed when he spotted some ore at the edge of the smooth tunnel.

"Guys, wait for a moment while I take a sample."

At his command, the team of guards formed a protective circle around him. A pickax appeared in his hands. It was a shame he had to take apart the one with the Olympian enchantment, this one was a normal substitute made from epic materials. Nothing fancy.

With a few swings of the tool, he had cut a niche into the smooth tunnel wall, leaving an obvious gash. Although the blacksmith only intended to take a sample, he found that there were only a few chunks of ore.

What had seemed like the start of a vein, was exposed as just a small offshoot of probably a much bigger source. However, he couldn't find any other traces along the tunnel in close proximity. It was really weird.

"Is something wrong, Tower Master?" Ortega, the temporary leader of the guard team asked, seeing Seth observe the tunnel.

"No, it's alright. Let's continue."

"If I am allowed to ask, what did you mine, Tower Master?" Morgana, one of the mages in the group asked curiously.

"Just a few chunks of <Snowcopper>. Nothing too special, but not too bad either."

They wandered for hours, not meeting any living thing nor finding any more signs of ores. Just smooth, dark, winding tunnels. Not meeting any life at all made the heavy, brooding atmosphere even eerier.

Alniyat and the Cloak of Hecate really shined. After six hours in darkness, they left the tunnel system through a different hole from the one they entered. They had mapped out what felt like a good chunk without meeting any danger inside. The only thing that suffered was the teams nerved from staying vigilant for so long

"Don't look so down, this is a good training for when we enter the Holy Land," Seth tried to cheer them up. Not all of the Oathguard were going to accompany them, but they belonged to the lucky few that were chosen to be nurtured further.

Outside they were greeted by the twilight of the evening and the flickering lights of fire in the valley. Where had once stood a group of trees, now stood a group of tents with campfires in between. As they came closer they could already smell the cooking food. The team from Chrona had not just sat around, twiddling their thumbs, but had finished setting up their base camp.

"Seems like we aren't the first ones to return," one of the team commented.

About half of the other teams had already returned, but not all of them had such a quiet day as them. Quite a few had damaged armor and ripped robes, although their wounds had already healed, the dried blood was still visible.

"Why are you guys looking jealous? You should be happy we didn't face any danger in there, no matter how much you wish to shine," the Tower Master scolded them, seeing their gaze at the other teams. Leaving the members to their own devices, Seth paid a visit to the Mapping Table. It was an artifact placed in a tent in the of the camp that allowed for exchange with the <Map> skill. A possessor of the skill could input and share data from his <Map> and synchronize his <Map> with information saved in the table.

It was this item that would enable the success of this operation. With everyone's maps synchronized, they could not only organize the actions of the teams based on the data, but the empire would always have the most up-to-date version of the map as a backup. As the only <Map> holder in their team, this was his task, so Seth fed it their map of the tunnels and also received the stored data from the other teams.

When he returned, he found that a couple of the Oathguards went out to survey the situation in the camp and collect information. Once they returned, they shared what they found out. It seemed like the worst case had come to pass. Although some had met other beasts, most told of their encounters with Dungeon Worms.

The tales the team members brought back sounded a lot worse than Leana's briefing. The people described them as dungeon worms, perfectly fitting the description of the princess. Huge beasts with hide hard as metal and covered in sharp bristles, like swords.

Burrowing through the stone with incredible speed while their maws ground through the bedrock and their bristles polishes the walls smooth. They wielded an innate magic that could disintegrate rock and ore while swallowing resulting pebbles and sand.

Ortega brought back the story of a team, that had suddenly heard a quiet rustle that kept swelling and swelling until the tunnel they were in was filled by an ear-shattering roar. Shortly after they saw a myriad of crooked fang break through the tunnel ceiling above, before reentering the wall on their left side. After moments of staring at the body rushing by the beast vanished again, leaving a new tunnel half-intersection with their current one.

They were lucky that the beast had actually ignored them and they were only hit by debris. Other teams were not as lucky. Some others were unlucky and got hit by the passing beast. The ones that fared the worst were those that actually attack the creature.

Inside the tight tunnel, they tried to fight, but even their strongest attacks had a hard time even putting a scratch into the worm's skin. And the scratches they managed to deliver, healed at incredible rates. The only thing they could do was run while being showered in a rain of blade-like bristles.

Many of the things they described fit with Leana's briefing on the creatures, but some didn't. Such as the incredible healing and ignoring possible prey. The princess had described dungeon worms as very territorial, it made little sense for them to ignore invaders. What could have caused these changes?

Maybe the most concerning part were, that some teams had not returned at all.

The day slowly came to an end and they returned with these stories. The team got some food from the field kitchen and found the tents that were prepared for them. A bunch of teams returned later than them, some were lucky, and others... had suffered.

Seth could only frown, seeing the state the teams of the guilds were in. Seeing their condition only made him more careful. Something was not right, he felt it in his gut.

It was already late when the blacksmith finally decided to call Leana on the communication orb. It took a while, but she finally answered his call.