Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

To the relief of many, the second wave was tremendously weaker than the first. The lightning, though weaker, managed to strike down the humongous Amalgamations before they reached the freshly erected secondary barrier.

The shield held up and they were able to wipe out the second wave with ranged attacks. The terrifying first wave was like a dream. I was to the point, that Seth saw no reason to let Puffles out.

“See, nothing bad happened,” Brock commented at Seth’s hunch after the last beast fell.

“The day is far from over…” the blacksmith stated. He stared in the red abyss past the clouds and his feeling kept growing worse.

Seeing the otherwise jolly bard this grim, made the monk shut up. After all, he was right. It was still late morning, not even noon.

“You guys wait here; I have to go talk with someone,” Seth said and left the wall.

He had to ask around and finally found Hubert at the harbor. The ocean breeze was a nice refreshment, compared to the stench of sweat and fear on the walls. The dimensional merchant looked up and smiled when he recognized who it was.

“You feel it too, right?” the gentleman asked with a smile. It was obvious what he meant, the merchant probably had a similar skill to Seth or an item.

“Right, something is brewing. Are you ready?”

“Almost, I already sold three of the five ships the lord transferred to me. I should have enough for a magic vessel after selling the fourth.” the older gentleman answered.

Seth only nodded. Although they didn’t really know each other, this short conversation was enough to make sure their intentions aligned.

Lastly, he found the saintess and the Cade. He wanted to warn both of them and make sure they were on board. However, his concerns were not necessary. Both had a similar intuition and did not disagree with being cautious.

…

The third wave was inbound, and it was no weaker than the first. Once again, the army of flesh was met by a field of lightning. But the observer couldn’t help but notice, that the cloud fire had grown weaker than before.

While it still felled beast tower over 50m tall, the corpses would pile up on the battlefield. Some even needed several strikes to finally die. A huge number of overwhelming Amalgamations reached the secondary barrier and ripped through it as if it was wet rice paper.

As the secondary barrier gave in, an unearthly screech echoed across the battlefield and the secondary barrier was replaced by a gray field of light and a golden wall. At the same time, a creature of nightmares appeared in the skies.

A giant being the length of dozens of carriages was flying over the battlefield. Like an insect, maybe a centipede, but with a shell white like jade and golden runes all across the long boy. The three pairs of blue eyes glowed, and it spat a ray of concentrated golden light. The attack cleanly dissected several amalgamations.

Not just the soldiers of Akhaz, even the team member from Urth looked at the beats in shock.

“Did Puffles grow again…?” the swordman, Marcel, uttered but there was no answer.

The person he asked was busy singing a song in a language they could not understand, but it transmitted a foreign power to everyone directly listening. Hundreds of soldiers in the walls surrounding the bard were enveloped in a red haze, as their attacks became more frantic and powerful.

“If this is how we play, then-” the blonde saintess, Yvette, could be heard. The woman that had cast the gray field of light, that slowed the ugly foes to the point of slow motion also summoned a creature.

As the horror of the sky dove down, strangling one of the biggest amalgamations, and straight-up ripping its head off, a giant sloth entered the battlefield. The pet of the saintess, though many times less impressive than the oversized nightmare fuel, also entered melee battle.

Massive claws cut the amalgamations it squared up against, partly petrifying and slowing them. While the sloth was fighting, and the horror wreaked havoc, silently a Djinn had also entered the arena. Summoning sandstorms that ground the meat off the slowed enemies’ bones.

While others sent their pets and familiars to thin the herd, the hero had directly jumped down from the wall and entered the battle. Similar to the centipede’s laser, the hero’s energy blades sliced apart the giant monsters that posed a threat to the last barrier.

While the Djinn, the sloth, and the hero returned once the threats to the barriers were gone, the centipede stayed. There was nothing on the field, that could harm the armored train, as it rushed across the land and voraciously swallowed the sun-cursed fodder.

The secondary barrier held as the third wave fell to ranged fire and a hungry caterpillar.

These were the scenes a merman was watching from his sofa in his living room, in a mansion at the center of Chrona. The pickles had fallen off his face and the cream of his facemask had long dried up.

“This is the power of Delta…” Prince Mur mumbled to himself. He sat in a room with many different screens, where he had the perspectives of every member of the urthan team.

After the Crown prince took over the businesses on Urth, Mur had gladly thrown away the responsibility and went on a trip to Chrona. At the time, he had not known that Urth would take part in this time’s evaluation.

However, Mur was sure that the elders would throw him back into Urth the moment the crown prince messed up. This was a good preparation for when the time came. He was definitely not sitting in this room full of screens, with fin curls and a bowl of snacks, because he was a total sucker for reality TV. He wasn’t!

The other screens that showed every perspective, of every team member of the other teams were ALSO for research. Just in case he was sent to a different world.

…

In another, less expensive, place in Chrona, Shawn’s heart was about to pop out of his chest. He had not been this happy in a long time. The blood sun was a great event and the ratings shot to the sky all across the board. The whole empire was glued to their screens watching the evaluation teams struggle for survival in this terrifying cataclysm.

However, of all parties currently in Keväti Kuinen, the one from Urth was the most interesting. They were the only ones who had not only found survivors but also joined a full-on city siege.

And he, Shawn, had secured the broadcasts right for several members of this team. Their channel was thriving with the highest quotes, even greater than those of the imperial stream.

While the slime ranger was already an interesting character, the otherwise plain Bard also finally got into action. Who would have thought his pet was several times more impressive than the man himself?

…

Culus stood on his tower and looked at the horizon. The old demon gritted his teeth. Who would have thought the waves would be this overwhelming? Had a city somewhere else fallen, giving way for more hordes to stream to Akhaz?

The power of the Foreigner was also surprising. Was he also hiding something? He had not felt any overwhelming talent from this welp. There was nothing suspicious as he directed the power of the cloud furnace with the young demon that came along with the foreigners.

The cloud furnace was a formation that not only gathered clouds but also stored their power. Then it only needed operators to guide the stored power into spells. It was straining and hard work to direct such immense masses of energy, but the resulting damage was far higher than any regular spell a single being of their standing could cast.

But now, things looked bleak. They had already depleted 3/4 of the power stored in the cloud furnace. It was early noon, and this had only been the third wave. He pushed away these distracting thoughts.

That’s right. If worse came to worst, there was still that method. He would have to talk with the lord and inform the leaders. If their chances looked bleak, there might be one last time the foreigners could help them.