Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

He had not tested the skill so far, because he didn't want to use it on just any random mob. The blacksmith had been deliberating whether to use it on the Mantidae General but he had not decided on it yet, since he might have had a better use for the soul, than a new subordinate.

Especially, when he might be able to make something more powerful if he used his own method, instead of outright reviving someone. Yet, when he saw that even Monique was struggling against the wasp, he thought it was worth a try.

"I will name it...Buzz."

"Are you serious right now?" Monique asked from behind.

"What do you mean? It's a great name. Very...topical."

Seth could only shrug at Monique's dark face while Buzz was looking on cluelessly. Their peaceful moment was interrupted by a roar.

<Lucanidae General lv.94(Boss)>

"Seems like the big guy woke up," Seth commented looking at the giant stag beetle coming back to life.

"Should we finish it off?" Monique asked. She had yet to fully recover but was eager to take her revenge.

"No, you should rest. Leave it to the Faer."

Seth had brought roughly 100 Faer and his various golem knights as a reinforcement. He had collected the Faer on the way, they were the teams that had started their retreat earlier and were on their way back.

The swarm of foot soldiers had quickly fallen to the Faer and Golem Knights. Now the Faer were coming over the giant boss like a swarm of rats over a human. The beetle you throw and smack them around, but the creations were unimpressed by its attacks and kept coming at it.

"You don't want to do this thing to that guy?" she asked why gesturing at Buzz. The wasp was watching the destruction of her former colleague with a slightly conflicted expression. The blacksmith grimaced at her question.

"I have standards, even if you may not believe it. A giant bug holds no attraction to me."

Such a big bug, it was much more interesting to see what rating its shell had and what kind of armor he could make from it. It had to be at least epic, right?

It didn't take too long for the combined forces to finally mince up the massive stag beetle. A tragic cry signaled the end of the giant boss's life.

<Ding! You have leveled up! You are now lv.87!>

it's death also came with the pleasant surprise of another level up. This made two levels he gained passively from the experience the Faer had gathered in their fights. He looked over to Monique and found her staring into the air with a frown.

"Is there something that displeases you?" he asked curiously.

"It's not much," Monique said with a sigh. " It's just that levels really take a lot of experience above level 90. I had the highest contribution on the stag beetle, which means I technically killed two bosses of a higher level and a bunch of elites, but it is just barely enough to reach 50% of lv.90," she explained troubled.

Hearing that, Seth felt a little bad for stopping her from killing Buzz. He also dreaded the time once he reached lv.90. Any boss like this would make a big difference at that point. He would have never expected that the higher levels would hold such obstacles even for ori huma.

Even though, there was nothing to complain about. Despite maybe taking a lot of experience, at least ori huma were guaranteed not to have a level limit, unlike other players of the system.

While the Faer got busy dismantling the monsters, Seth's attention turned back to his status window. He had gained another 17 AP and he split them between intelligence and agility. Seven to intelligence getting it to 233 and 10 to agility which was now 260.

"Let's get going before they send more legions."

For their purpose of training the Faer, it was great that the hive didn't lack numbers. However, the problem Monique encountered stayed relevant. Even the Faer could tire out when stuck in constant battle, although much slower than living beings. It was contra productive for them to fight cannon fodder for extended periods of time without pause.

If their mana ran out, they would fall into a dormant state, just like the golems, and only reactivate after collecting sufficient mana. The forty Faer that was with Monique from the start were now in various states from an unconscious person to a bloody metal skeleton. It would take some time to heal up, wake up, and save up energy.

Since the hive had devoured the corpses of its own soldiers, there wasn't too much to dismantle aside from the big beetle, which did not drop a soul to Seth's disappointment. The dismantling was finished quickly and they set off after loading the incapacitated Faer into Legion.

With everything loaded up they returned to the nest that led to the exit where Seth summoned Puffles.

~Oh, is the great me finally allowed to come out again?~ the Ivicer asked with an audible pout for everyone to hear.

"Come on, Puffles. You know you are too strong to participate in the fight. You would frighten the hell out of our victi-, experience- I mean our enemy."

~Well, you are not wrong about that. But do not think this is enough to appease me.~

From the corner of his six eyes, Puffles squinted at the buzzing Buzz beside the two.

~I will forgive you if you give me that one as a subordinate. It is pleasing to my eyes.~ Puffles spoke only to Seth this time.

The blacksmith was taken aback. Why would Puffles ask for a minion all of a sudden? And especially the one Seth only just acquired. He looked back and forth between the two. Buzz was a slightly humanoid, but mostly giant wasp. It had a human mouth and a roughly human body shape with an extreme wasp waist.

It looked kind of cool to him, which was why he wanted to try the skill on it...but could it be? To the eyes of another insect, well kind off, like Puffles, was Buss may be attractive?

"Has Puffles finally hit puberty?!" Seth thought in horror.

~It's not that you pervert!~ the Ivicer cried out in a force that gave Seth a headache.

~What is it then?~

~ T-The great me also needs court! You have one, I also want one.~ he said, sounding a little embarrassed.

A court? Was he talking about the Lords of Minas Mar? Although Seth didn't quite know what it was about, he had no reason to deny the nightmare centipede's request.

~Okay, I will tell Buzz later, that it should listen to you from now on. Happy?~

~Yes!~ the Ivicer answered joyfully like a child that got a new toy. Was that really okay?

They loaded everyone into Legion before Monique and Seth got on Puffles to fly back to the camp. They had just set off when the blacksmith heard a soft gasp from behind him.

"What's wrong Monique?" Seth asked turning around. In a surprise, he saw her eyes glistening with tears.

"Nothing is wrong. Nothing at all, " she said, her voice breaking with emotion.

"I know how, or why, but I just became the chosen of Athena," she finally said, with tears of happiness flowing down her cheeks.

"That's great! Congratulation! Let's celebrate when we get back."

Seth was almost as happy as Monique herself. Athena was one of the big deities of the Olympian Pantheon. The power Monique would gain from this had no way of being weak. Seth was confident that he could put his trust in her. Having a friend gain such power, really put him at ease.

…

---Cinema Dimension---

"You actually chose her? What made you choose her in the end?" Phobos asked Athena. The son of Ares was gratuitously allowed to take place In the row behind Hephaestus, Hades, and the others.

"Do I need a reason?" she asked back with a mysterious smile.

Everybody knew that Athena was probably up to something, but what that was could only she herself explain.