Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Hovering above a mutilated corpse stuck half in the wall, was a soul with a slightly humanoid shape. It looked like a genie-version of Bement. If this wasn't lucky, then what was? It seemed like Bement was the only one that managed to put up a fight and died with regrets.

< Ding! A new Quest has been generated!

Quest: Reconcile Bement

Find the culprit who wiped out the Adventurer Guild's team and avenge their unfair deaths.

Quest rewards:

1. Bement's Reconciled Soul 2. Information on the hidden Vault of the Adventurer Guild

Would you like to accept the quest? Y/N>

Seth was stumped for a moment. It had been a long time since he had gotten one of these quests. However, the blacksmith pressed no without any hesitation. He didn't know what Bement's Reconciled soul could do, but he didn't want it.

This was not a game, and he had no interest to waste time and having to look for and fight someone that was probably really strong. Especially not when he had a better way. As mentioned, this was not a game. In a complex world like Urth, it was to be expected that there were more possibilities to get what he wanted.

He expected Bement's Unreconciled Soul to react aggressively if it saw him, but he was absolutely undetectable, so he could simply walk up to it. The moment he grabbed it, it was already too late for it to even try and resist.

Using the < Seed of Hades > he unceremoniously shoved the screeching soul down into the rotting chest cavity of Bement's corpse. He did this in a quick, decisive move because he was really disgusted by the sweet stench of rot and the sight of the corpse.

It was a struggle between his curiosity and greed and his aversion to the smelly stuff that the former barely won. Seth's skin crawled as he watched the corpse reverse rot. The skills power took a little longer than with a fresh kill, which gave the blacksmith ample time to watch the horrifying and fascinating process. It was hard to look away from it.

In the end, there was a perfectly fine Bement, touching his healed-up chest in wonder, through the hole in his completely destroyed armor and clothes. Seth switched back to Laraweg, allowing Bement to see him.

"How is this possible!?... Master?"

The last word came like a delayed reflex upon seeing Seth, which made the adventurer wonder why he added it. Was Bement strong enough to resist some of the effects of the skill? Seth was a little suspicious. Had the adventurer really been that strong or was it maybe a special skill or attribute? Although he was now listed as a vassal, he didn't quite act like a brainwashed slave, like the lv.95 boss did.

"It's one of my skills. I can revive someone as my vassal," Seth explained, although it was apparent from the look in Bement's eyes, that the realization of what had happened had kicked in with him calling Seth "Master".

"I understand...Master."

Seth sighed, seeing him struggle with the title.

"Just call me Tower Master then, if master is too hard. You are now part of Minas Mar, whether you like it or not."

"As you wish, Tower Master," he said with significantly less trouble.

"Good, tell me what happened here."

Bement described to him, that several days after the departure of the teams, an adventurer was revived in the stronghold's return room. It was not unexpected for someone to die in the dungeons of the holy land, which was the whole reason why they had a temporary branch set up here.

But in the night after his arrival, Bement was unable to sleep. His instinct told him that something was not right. When he went to check on the state of the castle, he found the guard killed and the members murdered in their beds.

When he finally surprised the culprit, it was the adventurer that had returned just the day before. Somehow he had gained incredible strength. The adventurer leader fought him, to allow the last survivors of his subordinate to flee, as Home Call failed to work.

"I suspect he is a chosen of some evil god, that allows him to absorb part of the power of his victims."

"Hmm, I see, so the guild was not behind Home Call not working."

It was Seth's turn to summarize all the weird happenstances that happened to Minas Mar and the other guilds. "Do you think it was this rogue champion?"

"I- I don't know. All of this is too...unusual and chaotic. I can only guarantee you, that the guild really had no hidden intentions, Tower Master," Bement assured. Aside from revealing a new threat and clearing the Adventurer guild's name, Bement was not really useful for now.

~Don't forget to ask him for treasure, Mom!~ Tatzel hurriedly reminded him.

~Thanks for the reminder, Tatzel. I was going to ask that next.~ he thanked the greedy pseudo-dragon.

Right, there was something more. Since the quest mentioned it, it was certain that a hidden vault existed in this place. Seth had no intention to let that one go. Although Bement was reluctant, his loyalty to the Adventurer guild was now something of his past life.

As the former leader of the castle, he obviously knew where the hidden vault was and had the authority to open it. The tall adventurer led the blacksmith to the cellar of the castle. This place still looked much more intact than the castle above.

Seth followed him into a room full of big wine barrels, all of them were smashed at this point. Had somebody already come here looking for something?

"Don't worry, this is the setup. Who would keep looking in a place, where all options for a hidden lever or room have already been smashed, right?"

While saying so, Bement went over to one of the support beams of the cellar and pulled out one of the big, crude iron nails. He then proceeded to stick his finger into the hole left by the nail. It glowed and a magic formation quickly started engraving itself with bright sparks on the cellar wall.

Within mere moments, a round vault door took shape and Bement started inputting three different combinations. They really didn't joke about the safety. At least he didn't need two keys or something before being able to open it.

Contrary to the big show, the contents of the vault were disappointing, at least to Seth. There were no expensive metals or rare monster parts in the vault. The room behind the vault door wasn't too big and most of it was taken up by the materials they had already imported to build the teleport hub.

These materials were mostly very rare and special stones that were needed to not just create a permanent beacon, but also connect to the Pathworks. There were also stones that were needed to connect the structure to the dragon veins of the land as a power source. All of these very very expensive materials, but absolutely nothing Seth was interested in. He wasn't a mason or architect after all.

"Well...since we did this, let's pack up. Get into the ring Bement and explain stuff to the guys inside while I get out of here," Seth said slightly dispirited.

…

"What do you mean "it's empty." ? " he barked at the communication crystal.

The creature at the other end of the line winced. Minas Mar's Departure did not stay unnoticed for as long as Seth may have hoped. A humanoid patchwork of body parts was currently standing in the empty halls of the abandoned camp.

Minas Mar had not really bothered to fully repair the defenses after making the decision to leave. Without any guard stopping it, the poorly mended fortification could not stop the creature who specialized in infiltration for long.

Realizing that the materials had managed to run after all his efforts and investments into this venture frustrated the demon and he called his collaborator. A man with his face crusted in dried blood answered his call.

"Didn't you say they would be unable to escape as long as I block spatial escape routes? Where are you?" he asked for an explanation after telling him about the abandoned stronghold.

"I didn't expect for them to make a break for it this quickly..." "You also didn't expect that they would resist my babies. Not only did I lose a lot of my subjects, but I also didn't even get anything in return. What are you even good for?" the demon ranted.

"Don't talk to me like that, you vermin. It seems I have been too nice to you! You are lucky that there is no worth for me in killing you," the adventurer barked back incited.

Both stared at each other with hatred in their eyes, before the adventurer finally sighed.

"I will see if I can intercept them at the entrance valley."

"What makes you think they would be there? They could pass the rim storm at and place."

"Yes, they could. But it is our only lead. If they look for answers from the guild or try to find out what happened that would be the only place to look for it. If they don't, there is no stopping them, is there?"