Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

The back of a giant wyvern was plowing through the houses towards them, from the direction White was looking. As it came past between the opposing groups, they all saw a giant djinn with purple skin grabbing it by the throat and pushing it across the city.

“Caleb!” the archeologist called out when the Wyvern came into view.

“Do you know the wyvern?” Seth asked, wondering what a weird name that was for a wyvern.

“Y-Yes, it’s the mount of our leader Caleb!” Megan answered quickly.

The identity was the wyvern was cleared and Seth had a good idea whose desert ghost was giving the knock-off dragon an ass-whooping.

“Cade! Can you hear me? Call back Casper! Caled, or Caleb… whatever, he’s not our enemy!” Seth shouted, using his voice skills to amplify his shout.

“Oof!” with a shout of having the pressed out of her lungs, Cade was catapulted after the fighting monsters and landed on the square. She was transformed into a chimera with the features of different animals. It looked imposing, but she was breathing heavily and holding her stomach.

Shortly after a man in a silver suit of armor also landed in the square. He didn’t look fresh anymore, either. Parts of the armor were ripped away, with claw marks and dents covering the whole thing.

The newcomer was slightly stunned when he spotted Megan among the people already present.

“Megan?” he asked breathlessly.

“Caleb, stop fighting! These people are not the enemies! The guys over there killed Urgash!” she hurriedly stepped forward and pointed across the deep gash the wyvern and djinn had dug into the square. He looked over, to find three silhouettes standing in the mix of dust and mist.

The one with an arrow in his shoulder was already standing again.

“But isn’t that Urgash over there?” Caleb asked confusedly.

“Caleb! It’s Megan, she betrayed us!” the hunk of meat suddenly said to muddy the waters. It might have been an intelligent move if the Ork was not standing beside two menacing-looking strangers that were not very trustworthy, either.

“They already turned him into an undead. Be careful of their weapons, they can forgo the empire’s safety measures.” Seth warned him.

“Kukuku, it won’t change anything, even if you know.” the damaged undead exposed their ruse.

“Idiot…” the other undead sighed.

If Caleb had still been doubtful, now he was not anymore. It was only a short exchange, but it was enough to clear the fronts for Cade and Caleb that had just joined them. The djinn and wyvern stopped getting at each other’s throat and also faced the three undead.

“Haha, this will be a glorious fight!” the Ork-zombie cheered.

“Shut up, there is no way for us to win. Retreat.”

Before anyone could react, the three vanished through a grotesque gate, into what looked like a dark purple dimension.

Caleb cursed. He just saw a dead comrade run off with the enemy. This had to sting, but Seth didn’t have time to deal with the leader’s hurt feelings.

“Senior White! The next destination. Let’s hurry.” the scaled lady nodded and started running in a new direction.

“What is going on?” Cade asked laboriously. She had returned to her usual form, this time without the illusion.

“I will explain on the go. You come, too.” the blacksmith answered and pointed at Caleb to follow along.

Following the deity to the next fight, Seth quickly explained his conjectures about their current enemy and the weapons they used.

“You are telling me someone is using the broadcasting tech to get rid of the participants? Why?” Caleb asked between drinking potions to recover.

“To increase their strength maybe. All I know is that it’s the only thing that would explain what is happening right now.”

…

Elza and Marcel were surrounded. Three people in black-robed were constantly attacking the two. They were together, but they didn’t survive the fall without injuries. Before they could recover by much, these weird suddenly appeared with a group of undead and tried to kill them.

Marcel didn’t know for how long they had been fighting. The zombies were no big hurdle and the fight had soon turned into a three-on-two. The couple had a hard time keeping up with the three attackers.

One had exceptional skill in wielding a halberd, another wore like him a sword and shield, the third was a skilled assassin who kept mixing assaults and throwing weapons. To make it worse, their teamwork was overwhelming.

Keeping the shield warrior at bay was already hard for Marcel, without Elza he would have long fallen to the halberd or the assassin that kept using the opening in his defense to attack his back or the mage.

Fortunately, the ice mage was not restricted to a specific range and excelled in both close, middle, and long-range spells she could use for attack and defense. Although the two were barely able to keep up, the fatigue was catching up with them.

While their opponents had unlimited stamina, the lovers were already breathing heavily. It was but a matter of time until their attention slipped. Marcel could feel the weight of his shield, his weapon, and his armor as if he was carrying a mountain on his shoulder and anvils tied to his hands.

Energy left his body at an abnormally fast rate, but there was nothing he could do about it. Over his own, heavy breaths, he could only hear the mellow breaths of Elza, who also had a hard time holding on.

It was the only thing that steeled Marcel’s grip on his weapons and made him stan upright despite the weight on his shoulder. The moment he fell, she would also die. The attack of the halberd shook him out of his thoughts.

He was barely fast enough to lift his shield. His arm numbed on the impact. The next moment the other warrior’s sword approached. Again, Marcel managed to block it with his own at the last moment.

With a fire blast, he blew both of them back and a rain of icicles force the shield warrior to block while Halberd evaded. Suddenly, Marcel turned around and slashed at Elza, or rather the air above her. With a clank, his sword was blocked by a short sword and the assassin was interrupted.

A thorn of ice shot up from the ground and tried to impale the assassin, but the small ninja blocked this, too, and landed some distance away. He threw a fan of knives, which Marcel blocked using his shield.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw Elza erect an ice shield behind them and concentrated on the front. However, just as he was about to block the halberd wielders’ attack, he heard the shattering of glass behind him.

A blunt impact hit his back and pushed all the air out of his lungs. He was thrown forward landing hard on the devastated cobblestone. He desperately tried to fill his lungs, erratically grasping for his sword and shield.

Trying to get up and back to Elza’s side. In his blurry vision, he only saw the giant figure of the halberd wielder charging at the defenseless mage. His mana was emptied out, his body unable to grab his sword…

“Noooo!” Marcel’s despairing scream echoed through the streets.

Elza’s heart was pierced.

…

“Hurry.” Senior White urged. She became faster and only Seth, Ellie and Caleb were able to keep up. He turned around the corner, just in time to see a warrior break through an ice barrier with his shield bash and strike Marcel square in the back.

In the opposite direction of the swordman’s trajectory, was a huge man charging with a halberd at Elza.

Elza’s heart was pierced.

Her body slowly dissipated into white particles.

The ice witch’s and the undead’s bodies were skewered by a slim stone needle that had suddenly erupted from the ground below.

The scaled lady, Ellie, Caleb, and even Tatzel were looking at him in shock when Seth lowered his Giant’s Rod. It was the only possibility he was able to come up with. Instinctively he had taken out his rod and pierced the icy maiden.

With a mighty earth spear. Taking out her and the halberd user at the same time.

Not only the people at his side were looking shocked. Marcel, the assassin and the shield-bearer had also stopped moving and stared at the intruders.

“What are you looking at!” Seth asked pissed and wielded his girthy rod.

Before he could recover from his shock, the Assassin also turned into a shish kebab. Pierced through the backdoor and out of the throat, the undead did not die but was immobilized. He could not even scream.

The shield-bearer quickly retreated in a similar fashion to the three earlier.

“Quick, kill that thing before he manages to get free!” Seth interrupted his comrades, who were looking at the skewered assassin with empathy.

Caleb charged at the pinned undead and destroyed its skull with a thrust of his lance, granting it eternal rest.