Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

In the last battle, Seth had gotten his hands on a surprising kind of soul.

<Quick Scout's Soul (Uncommon, Medium),

The soul of a being born to be a scout with incredible eyesight and speed. Skill: Record&Play, Trait: Dynamic Vision>

These were the souls of insect monsters called Zygoptera Scouts, which looked like prehistoric dragonflies. The blacksmith had managed to catch some of them and also find some of these souls after the battle.

He was sure some of them had made it out, which was another reason why they decided to be more careful. Since the hive probably had an idea about the power level of the Faer now. Of course, this was a worry, but Seth couldn't help but be happy about it, since these were the perfect souls for his new Eye of Argus.

The blacksmith had been thinking of replacing his necklace for a while but had been apprehensive because it was one of the first items that had been influenced by his trait. It was hard to replicate its effects, but these souls were promising.

Unfortunately, the souls he had were still lacking. The Trait was great, but their size and rating were not. So, he decided to invest these souls. He wasn't going to use the valuable slots of <Seeds of Hades> for this, he had a cheaper alternative.

The blacksmith loaded the corpses of the dragonflies into the Golem Forge and let it do its thing to create golem dragonflies and insert soul cores into them afterward. He effectively stole the Hive's scouts and was going to use them against them. The best part was that the desiccated insect looked no different from a living one.

After the treatment with the golem forge, the dragonflies looked no different from their living counterparts. They were perfect for infiltration. He would find the Zygoptera Scouts stayed and then he could raid that specific place and get as many souls as he needed.

And then, once he had a lot of them, he would cook himself a soul soup in the Soul Refinery to get the best, most concentrated kind of soul for his pendant.

Afterward, when he was finished with his own business, he could also have them scout out the hive in general. It was a sweet side effect of making them. Although they had Buzz, who was technically something like a traitor now, it couldn't give them any real-time updates from inside. Unlike his new Golemflies.

The others were with the Faer on their raids, Puffles had taken Tatzel and Buzz for reconnaissance, and everyone was out except for Seth who was working on his new toys when he heard a row of slow, heavy knocks on the gate of their fort.

Outside he found a group of weary travelers. They were covered is a thick crust of blood and mud, so much so that the blacksmith had a hard time recognizing them. Their empty eyes were unfocused, only the man at the front looked at Seth with a glint of hope.

"Y-You are the tower master of Minas Mar, right? Oh, thank goodness!"

The man suddenly stumbled forward, tears streaming down his face, leaving wet trails of dirt on his cheeks.

"Please help us!"

He desperately clung to Seth asking for help over and over.

"Okay, how about you get off me first? Come in and explain what is going on," Seth finally said, keeping the dirty man an arm's length away from him.

The blacksmith decided to let them in because he managed to recognize some of the faces. The one that had pleaded desperately was one of the heads of the guilds, fortunately, one that was not part of the group of suicidal maniacs that tried to pick a fight with the Demonic Maestro. He had also seen some of the other faces during the journey here.

Overall, there was a group of roughly forty people, caked in all kinds of dirt, grime, and blood that followed the man with heavy steps through the gate. Seth agreed to let them in, mostly because he was curious about what happened to them. What could have happened to degrade the hopeful elites of Delta to this bunch of people that looked like they had lost everything in their lives?

With a snap, Seth lit the several dozen campfires around the fortified camp, for the guests to take seats, while the blacksmith led their leader to the improvised shower facilities. Not everyone in Minas Mar knew <Lifestyle Magic> to wash up with a spell.

"Why don't you wash up and warm up and we can talk when you are finished."

Meanwhile, Seth stepped out and called Ceres. The revived elemental had supposedly been surveying the area, yet a bunch of randoms just came up to their doorstep without warning.

"Ceres, what are those?" he asked the bird accusatory and pointed at the adventurers who changed modes from walking with their heads down to staring motionlessly into the fire.

"Wow, where did all these guests come from?" the bird brain asked belatedly.

"... I don't know what you were doing, but I want you to circle close to the camp from now on. Did you get that?"

"Yes, I'm on it!" Ceres said happily when it heard that there was no punishment. The elemental took to the skies as if to quickly get away before Seth changed his mind.

With Ceres as a lookout, Seth waited for the guild master to finish before leading him to their command central to talk.

"Thanks a lot. Let me introduce myself, my name is Gin Ness. I'm the guild master of the Chequers Guild."

The man finally resembled a human again, after a shower and a change of clothing. He now looked a lot younger, a man may in his mid-thirties with a rust-red trimmed beard and short hair. After reciprocating the introduction, Seth came down to business.

"So, what exactly happened, that so many elite members of the Guilds of Delta appeared like beaten dogs at my doorstep?"

Gin grimaced at the metaphor.

"Beaten dogs... I guess I can't really say anything against that. The simple and painful answer would be that we underestimated our enemies. You probably know that we, against the Adventurer Guild's suggestions, split up to each take care of our own sections instead of forming a united front?"

Seth nodded. He had heard about it from Brock. Most of the guilds decided to go solo, only some formed loose alliances with their direct neighbors. He couldn't say the conclusion surprised him.

"We were ambushed by the orcs and picked off one at a time. By the time we realized what was going on, it was already too late and we could only flee. We lost like half our members."

The way Gin said it with deep sorrow made Seth suspicious.

"Why do you look so sad? They just returned to Delta, right?"

Gin suddenly stared at him in disbelief.

"Y-You don't know it, yet? The Adventurer Guild deceived us. Home Call is not working here! I watched my people die. The moment they halted and tried to use home call, they were struck down when nothing happened." he cried out in a bout of hysteria, tears flowing freely again.

"You don't believe me? Here, look. Home call!"

A circle of white light, resembling a teleport formation appeared around him, but the light quickly faded with nothing happening.

"See? They lured us here to kill us, I tell you."

Seth understood where he was coming from. This was not part of the information the guild had given them. Either the guild had deliberately hidden this fact, or it was something they did not see coming. One thing was for sure, their situation just became much more serious. He would have to call back everyone quickly..

Once he got back his bearing, the guild master finished his story. After they were ambushed by elites and a group of bosses, they tried to run and warn other guilds, but everyone had already fallen. The group Gin arrived with was a mix of survivors from different guilds they had picked up on the way.

There was a chance of more groups like them still trying to get away, but it was slim.

"Thanks for your efforts. You are safe now, please go and rest. I will have to contact my people."