Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Young friend, just surrender yourself. I don't wish to harm you any further,” the old man said in a warm friendly voice, completely contradicting the vicious fighting style he had shown so far. Vermar was looking at him, panting heavily.

Blood flowing from a deep cut on his forehead drenched his fur and blocked the vision in his right eye. The only sensation he felt from his right arm was pain. Shivers ran down his spine when he looked at it. The limb was completely twisted, and his bones were completely crushed. It was no better than meat hanging off his right shoulder.

The worst part was that it had happened in an instant and he didn't even know how the old man did it. The lycanthrope had attacked him when he realized that his stealth no longer worked on the man. At first, he simply kept dodging his claws, he now realized that he had led him here, into a crater at the edge of the city.

When they were here, things changed in an instant. One moment he was executing a skill, the next his arm was left as a piece of minced meat, barely connected to his body. Such a terrifying and brutal attack, performed before he, a legend, could even react.

“Young friend, I understand your unwillingness, but I am a bad match for you. You should simply surrender.” Maybe the man was genuine, but all his words felt condescending to Vermar.

“Oh really? We will see about that,” the lycanthrope growled and chucked a unique healing potion, fixing his arm instantly.

Of course, the wolf understood that there were differences even if one succeeded on the path to legend. In a fight, a legend focused on combat would have the upper hand, compared to a hunter like him, but he also had his pride!

He became a legend on his own. He didn't have a royal, or organization to sponsor him. He had worked hard, even when his path was not the most prestigious. He knew that he was a legend, focused on preying on the weak, but so what?!

“I'm a legend, too. Damn it!” he exclaimed, pulling out his only legendary item. The bone awl was an artifact he had found enshrined in a ruin, and it was the secret to how he managed to become a legend without any support.

He threw it and the small bone splinter shot off with incredible speed. The old man in white robes evaded it with ease, but the wolf smirked. Red blood was quickly staining the man's robe, spurting from his shoulder.

The bone awl ignored defense and always struck the point the user intended. Of course, using it as a weapon was not its original purpose. An awl was supposed to prepare holes for sewing in materials that were too hard for the needle, like leather.

However, Vermar had managed to perfectly adapt his skills and his fighting style to use the awl as the perfect hunting and assassination weapon. He tried to approach things as a realist, but he definitely wasn't a coward. He would just go down without a fight!

...

“Aww, shit...” Natina exclaimed under a bated breath. She was paling against her will.

Vermar, another legend known to work with Lord Byron had appeared, but just a moment after he became serious, he was left completely wasted. Held by the throat by his enemy, the lycanthrope was little more than a piece of misery.

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All four of the wolfman's limbs were crushed into bloody pulp, his snout was broken and half his head was dented in. Holding him was a tall, muscular man, with a long white beard. At first, he had seemed like a benign old man, but the moment Vermar drew blood with his surprise attack, his robes exploded off his body and before Natina knew what happened, the situation was like this.

What really shocked her wasn't even what happened to the legend, but the view of the benign old man who had turned into a statue of rippling muscles, exposed by his ripped robes, that barely covered the important parts, needed to keep it pg13.

This had to be an immortal. It made no sense that she wouldn't have heard of such a legend. There was someone this strong still hidden in Delta in addition to the tree? She stared at the old man in fascination, when his eyes suddenly moved. Inadvertently, the man had looked up and his piercing eyes seemed to look at her. This was not possible, was it?

After a moment of looking her dead in the eye, he turned away, flying toward the tree in the center.

...

Seth had stopped playing the devil's wheel-fiddle after being struck by the arrow. He had not suffered any damage thanks to the armor's weapon negation, but he wanted to take a moment to look at the situation.

The goal was already reached, there was no need to overdo it now. The bard saw no way for the legends and their parties to still turn this around. On the surface, things seemed to be balanced, but this stalemate was just a war of attrition.

Jarvan, the man wielding an interesting pair of claw weapons, was busy chasing their gate keeper. Asterion managed to survive the pursuit of the legend, thanks to Tatzel and Puffles aiding him with support and cover fire from the sky.

Lightning and thunder cracked below the crown of the guardian Tree, whenever the Parrot of Doom and the hammer-wielding bishop clashed. Seth couldn't quite see who had the upper hand there, but he doubted both were going all out, otherwise the city would have suffered more damage. that were two legends busy with something else.

That left the elf, who was currently suffering the backlash of destroying his shield from the , and the priestess who created the barrier that kept the comrades of the legends alive.

Originally, Asterion was supposed to create weak points on the barrier to break it, but they had seen through that. The player inside the barrier couldn't be underestimated, their levels were all in the middle and late 100s.

If it wasn't for them defending the barrier, the tree, Hellion, Heads, and the draconic fire titan would have probably crushed it by now. This was good. If they wanted to lure Natina back in, they had to make it look as balanced as possible, only then he could give the Horsemen the entrance they deserved. �

As he was thinking about this, a second figure joined him on the branch he stood on. Seth furrowed his brows for a moment before he recognized who it was., that had appeared holding a mutilated torso in their hands.

“Yu? What are you doing here? Didn't you return with Xiong Peng?” the blacksmith asked surprised. Master Mountain had left Urth with the master of the Soaring Eagle Sect to deal with the aftermath of the Sect Alliance's attack after the Great Tournament.

The cultivator had also intended to look for more allies, together with Xiong Peng. Ultimately they intended to create a Pro-Urth faction on the Voracious Cloud Continent, which was why Seth had not expected the old man to return any time soon.

His change in appearance, or rather the reveal of a body rippling with muscles, had not helped Seth recognize him at first.

“I reached Mount Agra yesterday and heard of the situation here, so I hurried over,” the cultivator explained with a friendly smile. “ When I reached Delta and scanned it with my consciousness, I found traces of a powerful being moving while hiding, so i caught this guy first,” he explained when he noticed Seth's gaze at the beaten figure in his hands.

“Wait, was this guy a legend?” Seth asked shocked. having a legend sneaking around Delta was one worrying thing, but the fact that Master Mountain had crushed them without anyone even noticing that there was a fight, meant that Seth had severely underestimated Yu's power.

“I don't quite know. He definitely was comparable to a pseudo-immortal or someone in the early stages. He managed to scratch me when I tried to capture him gently,” Yu explained, shocking the blacksmith even more. Maybe Yu was a stronger ally than he had expected?

“By the way, do you know a young blonde girl? She was watching my fight by some weird means through the portal up there. I think I might have frightened the little girl a little,” he added. Seth stared at him.

“Did it look like she would run?” the bard asked controlled.

“I don't think she will dare to attack with me here,” Master Mountain said proudly, straining Seth's nerves.

Why were people constantly ruining the stage?! They had put so much effort in crafting the situation, but allies and enemies kept preventing the perfect moment. Now Natina was even about to run away!

Maybe he had put too much effort into this. maybe there was no perfect moment to epically introduce his creations to the world. He was fed up with it. With a sigh, he took out the communication orb.

“Change of plans it is. Haa'Skon, Contact Cromwel,” Seth instructed. It was no use getting frustrated. He could only fix the situation. They couldn't let her get away.

“Karina, give Hellion a weapon and please take care of the captive. Let's go. ” Leaving these words, he had Master Mountain follow him. The half-dead Vermar was left hanging on the tree.