Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Ah, sure." They were currently inside Evee's ward. The area was not small and it seemed safe to light an actual fire for cooking. They left the girl to her own devices and left the building where Link made a fire set up his cooking equipment.

Sitting around the fire the party started speaking casually among themself.

"That was really something. Seeing a metal hand assemble like that." Tekar exclaimed. Although they lived in this world with magic skills, seeing something truly fantastical was still rare.

"Now that she has hands, she should be able to cast right? Will she revive now?" Link asked

"She still lacks mana. Didn't you listen?" Alison reprimanded him.

"You could lend her that awesome jacket. Wouldn't she have enough mana then?" the hunter barked back. Alison grabbed her cloth armor and blushed a little. She knew that this idea would work but... who would willingly hand over an epic item once it was already theirs? Even for just a short moment?

"We-We could also just help her level until she has enough mana!" the female wizard changed the subject. Seth sighed.

"Why do I have to stop your fights all the time? I will do something about her mana, don't worry."

Seth already had plans to make her some soul armament. Sure, this was a slight loss for him, but he had his reasons. On one hand, there was obviously the quest, but on the other was winning her as a team member. She was immortal, she could brew potions, she could also take the role of a healer and cause debuffs.

She knew <Revive>, a skill that could even revert death outside of a dungeon as long as it is used shortly after death. It was a typical high-ranking healer skill Puffles did not possess. Seth would happily take her into his party.

And it was an excuse to grind his <Spirit Forging> a little more. Soon the savory smell of roasted lizard meat was drifting through the air. A drooling ghoul queen was lured to their fire by the smell of cooked food.

Did ghouls eat? Yes. What did they eat? ...corpses and raw meat. Evee had survived on raw and rotten meat until now. Although her taste was almost nonexistent as an undead, this didn't mean that it was pleasant for someone with an intact human mind.

They just wanted to eat when Link suddenly looked up.

"Someone is coming," he said, raising their vigilance. Everyone corrected the gear and stood up. Seth looked regretfully at the freshly cooked food. How could somebody so cruelly disrupt them during mealtime!

A bunch of rough-looking men was walking down the streets towards them. They wore a patchy assortment of dungeon loot. Seth could not take a sneaky peek at their status, but their equipment was above average compared to the adventurers he had seen in Y-City.

Their faces were unshaven and had an ugly smile.

"Hehe, who would have thought that she had more friends?"

"Hey, monster! Are you done running? Your stupid wards won't help you anymore!"

They laughed ignoring Seth's party as if they were just some flies on the wall. They had only malicious eyes for the ghoul queen standing beside them.

"You know them...?" Seth fell silent when he saw the expression of pure hatred on the face of this innocent girl. Now her looks fit the race of a ghoul queen. Her story had made Seth a little suspicious but now he was sure that there was something she had not told them. A big something.

"Keke, today will be your end, monster. And will also wipe out the last of your friends!" only now di he turned to Seth and the others.

"This is nothing personal, really. We can't have random people running around on our turf!"

"Bro, those guys are filthy rich! The worst thing they wear is uncommon and most of it I can't even appraise!"

"Ho! An unexpected windfall! Forget what I said. This just became personal!" he said with a toothy grin that showed his rotten teeth.

" Stay back, I will take care of them!" Evee said more with a snarl than human speech. With great speed, she charged at the group of 5 crooks before Seth or anyone else could stop her.

No matter how disgusting these newcomers were, their party play was well-trained. Despite Evee's overblown physical stats thanks to her undead race, she was soon beaten black and blue. Some broken bones and cuts later, she was hit back, rolled over the floor, and came to stop close to the party's feet.

"Wow, you are soo cruel! Letting your little friend fight all alone! Are you afraid? I will give you a chance, leave your equipment behind and we will spare your lives!"

"D-Don't! They are lying!" Evee pressed out between clenched teeth. She could not move anymore. The crooks had thoroughly incapacitated her.

What kind of drama was this? Seth had let her get beaten up because he thought it was a good punishment for keeping secrets from them. But now even the brat was doubting their strength? He scrunched up his nose and used <Observation> on the five crooks.

<Ding! Your Skill "Observation lv.4" had become "Observation lv.5">

<Crook One lv. 39>

<Mob Character B lv. 37>

<Extra 3 lv.33>

<Villain the 4th lv.35>

<Henchman One lv.37>

He didn't even bother reading their names. They all ranged slightly above lv. 30. Where did they get their arrogance from? Their faces distorted when they felt the skill used on them.

"You saw we are decked out in better items, and you still want to threaten us?" Seth sarcastically.

"Kek, items are not everything. Forget leaving here alive! All of you will die!"

"Stop stealing my lines. Link?" with a nod he signaled the hunter to attack. The other had already gotten ready hidden behind Seth's back. Immediately after the nod, a volley of bolts flew towards the party of robbers. But it was blocked by a barrier cast by one of the bandits.

"Hehe, that won't work on us! Pollard!?"

The priest in the back had started violently sneezing and was unable to stop. Seth laughed out loud and gave Link, who was still looking clueless, a thumb up. The curse option had triggered and just like the curses the Tuatha de had thrown at them, blocking with a barrier could not stop this effect.

"Damnit, Pollard get your shit together!"

They had no time to care for their comrade as a giant wind scythe was rushing down the street towards them. Alison was not just standing around. Although a little slower, she too had been chanting from the start and had just finished casting.

Hurriedly the Tank and the Off-tank lifted their uncommon shields and activated their skills to shield the members behind them. The two managed to block the huge wind blade, but there were deep gashes in their shields. They had almost been split apart.

It was the effect of Alison's training. Seth had promised her knowledge and he kept this promise. Although he could not hand over the token to her, she was able to spend some time under Al'Zalsar's tutelage in the fog dimension.

With Seth's recommendation, she also joined the church as a lay follower and got access to the church library. Magic was a proficiency-based skill like those of crafters, but proficiency was not only gained by using the magic, but also by gaining knowledge about it.

And for someone with the title "Bookworm" that granted the passive skill "Devourer of Knowledge," this was like jumping over the Dragon gate. The skill granted additional intelligence for learning specific knowledge and skills, mana for reading books, and damage for learned spells.

Her skills had grown to a terrifying level. It was just that at this party, she did not get much opportunity to shine because she needed some time for casting. It was the only drawback; she lacked skills that decreased the casting time.

Seeing her power demonstrated validated Seth's decision to use a big soul for her equipment.