Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Incredulous, he stared down into a giant cavern. It was a natural cavern, with huge columns, stalagmites, and stalactites. If not for the situation, he may have felt like looking at the place longer.

Judging from the rest of the network of tunnels, this seemed like the central chamber. Although he was still missing some parts of the maze, this seemed obvious, when looking at the 3-dimensional model of the <Map>, which had surprisingly reached lv. 5 after constantly being used over the past hours.

The raving bodies of dozens of worms were entangled at the bottom below. It gave him yucky vibes, similar to the time mating lake of Titanoboas. His small golems were flying in the air above, like small fireflies.

Despite the hair-raising sight of naked, worm bodies with sharp bristles, the Blacksmith's eyes lit up when he spotted something sparkling at the back of the cavern. He brought out a tablet to share the vision of one of the scout golems, and have it inspect the place.

In a smaller cavern, connected to this one he found three eggs. They were about the size of an ostrich egg, with a bright, crystalline shell that sparkled even in this darkness. These had to be the eggs Leana mentioned, with the unique crystal shell.

The blacksmith had no difficulties making his next decision. The eggs were not part of his deal with Chrona, so unless he took them himself, he wouldn't get any. He was sure there were only three because the worms had just started mating not long ago. Chrona's teams wouldn't miss these three when these dozens of worms started to laying them in droves, right?

It wasn't even so much the material that intrigued him, but the chance that came with the eggs. The worms were great in tunneling, they were a source of unique materials, and even had the chance to contain something naturally relic-rated (even if it was not a material he could use).

With Evan and his blessing of husbandry, it would be outright criminal NOT to try and breed these creatures. Even if they were not pretty, they seemed more than useful enough. The decision to take the eggs was made in a heartbeat.

Although he lost the set effect, Seth took off Laraweg and equipped the Helm of Hades, which he was still unable to appraise. With a combination of <3D-maneuver Assistance> and <Star Escape lv.1> traveled across the ceiling using the natural stalactites, and columns.

It wasn't easy without the Laraweg point. If worn completely, Seth could freely teleport to any of the star positions, which were depicted on a plane parallel to the soles of his boots. The Start point was always Pipirima, located in the middle of the constellation. However, missing Laraweg that was directly in front of Pipirima, he also lost connection to most of the other points in front. Which meant he had to do several twists and turns in the air to use the "tail" of the scorpion to get forward. He somehow managed to make it to the other side without puking.

When he was right above the entrance to the egg chamber he took a break to calm down, before letting himself fall down. It was a 20m drop, easily, but he felt almost nothing when he struck the superhero landing. Damage reduction and <Feather Fall> made him fearless of fall damage.

Eggs were living things and could not enter the inventory. This would have been a problem if this happened a couple of weeks before, but now the three eggs happily joined his golems in Legion. With his spoils of war safely stored away in the pocket space, he returned to the main chamber.

Now he realized the error of his ways. He should have fixed a rope to the ceiling before letting himself fall down...

His stomach dropped, when he faced the maneuvers the assistance overlays suggested to get back to the ceiling. For just a moment he considered switching helmets but didn't in the end. Although he was sure his face had a tinge of green by the time he was back at the tunnel he entered from, he didn't take the risk to get spotted. He didn't feel like doing Chrona's work for them.

After getting some distance from the central chamber he switched back to Laraweg and began retreating at breakneck speed. After getting a good distance, he brought out his communication orb and called the princess.

"Seth? Did something happen?"

"No, well yes. I'm pretty much done and found the central chamber and their nest. Although there are still some loose ends in the tunnels, that should be the main information you wanted, right?"

"You already-," Leana fell silent for a moment. "Yeah, I think I can work with that. Just get out of there now."

As expected, the Princess quickly understood why Seth had called her. Since he already got the most important information he technically fulfilled the quest already. He just wanted to check back with her to make sure, before leaving the tunnels. With all the worms doing whatever they were doing back there, he didn't even want to think about what exactly it was, he was free to choose the shortest way out.

Excited that his plan had worked and he managed to finish the quest without any incidents, Seth sped to the exit, always making sure that the worms stayed where they were. He only started slowing down when he saw the light of day outside.

The blacksmith enjoyed the sun greeting him with its warming rays. His mood was great, for about 0,5 seconds until he heard the noise of battle.

The camp was laid to waste. A group of guards and the team of Oathguard were fighting an abomination. A dungeon worm had entered the barrier, but it didn't look quite right. Seth's brain needed a moment to understand what he was looking at. This was the dead worm from yesterday, however, it was far from dead.

In horror, he realized that the holes and cuts in the beast's flesh were filled with...other flesh. Human limbs, faces, and skin were fused to the worm's hide, having an eerie resemblance to the abominations of Keväti Kuinen.

Currently, there were five people from the guard team left, keeping the beast at bay together with the ten members of the Oathguard. Seth hurried but found that his intervention may not even be needed. Having watched the fight last night, especially Ortega and his team were able to hold their ground without much difficulty.

Compared to the night before, the worm was now much slower, although many holes were patched, it had not regained its former strength. The tankers clad in relic armor held it back, while the attackers and mages covered it in spells and skills. Last night it had collapsed once enough damage was accumulated.

The blacksmith decided not to step in and watch to make sure nothing untoward happened instead. There was a sense of pride, seeing his people being this capable with his items. Dealing with a situation the united forces of the guild of Delta had a hard time with.

Yes, the worm was weakened, but Seth didn't care. They deserved to finish this fight themselves. He didn't know how the beast was alive again, but he wasn't going to snipe their experience points.

Seth stayed some distance away from the fight and kept observing the battle and the situation of the worms. The worm that returned to life had already destroyed the barrier of the camp from the inside, if one of the other worms showed signs to leave the central chamber and come their way, he was ready to intervene.

The fight wasn't short, taking another hour after Seth's arrival before the creature finally croaked and stopped moving. The guards of Chrona that were left collapsed on the floor, while the Oathguards were breathing heavily, but didn't dare to sink to their knees.

"Tower Master! I'm sorry we couldn't-"

He made the knight stop talking with a hand gesture and consequently ignored his attempt to apologize.

"Well done guys. Especially you Ortega. Even in such a long fight, you kept a clear head. Very admirable."

Seth finally came over, giving praise where he thought it was due and also a little critique here and there. He wasn't going to play a big expert, but he had some amount of experience with a bunch of experts, so he was able to say one thing or another that would help them later on.

"I don't think anyone here will refuse to leave, right?"

The camp was destroyed, the quest done and everyone but Seth was terribly exhausted. The day was already getting darker, but everyone agreed that it was better to quickly return to Delta, even if they had to travel through the night. They would have more than enough time to talk about what happened here on the journey.