Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Hey, now. We are really thankful you got rid of the airhead for us, but no need to get pushy. You are the dude Seth met when we left the Holy Land the first time, right? The guy that slaughtered the adventurer guild and ran away from our Tower Master, leaving a trail of body parts?"

Monique spoke cool and confident, even mocked him, all to signal strength to her party. Under the surface, she was shaking in her boots. This was a guy who managed to run away from Seth, who was serious about trying to kill him. Dragos stepped away from the party.

"What a hard shell~ Is this why you are still so confident? I can't wait to see your faces once I cracked your shell and-"

"You seem pretty fit, for someone who should be suffering from the curses of the Adventurer guild," Monique simply interrupted his psychotic monologue.

"Haha, you think a bunch of curses could stop me? I'm barely weakened by resisting them," he boasted incensed. It was clear that it was NOT as easy. The guild had several of his appendages, which was more than enough to curse someone to death several times over.

"M-Monique are you sure it's a good idea to taunt him?" Ray asked unsure.

"It's exactly what we have to do. Unless we get him out of his own rhythm, we might not stand a chance," she whispered, remembering Seth's story of a man with hundreds of skills. Now he also had crossed lv.100. They had no idea about his skills, so instead of attacking blindly, they had to confuse him and buy time to observe his powers.

"Look at him, he doesn't seem okay at all. He seems rather angry," Alison suddenly stated loud a clear, in her bored voice.

"Right, I bet he is really pissed thinking about how our guild master not only turned him into a cripple but even allowed the Adventurer Guild to retaliate," Jonah added.

"Oh, man. I didn't know you had it so bad. Do you want to talk about it?" Tekar offered him a shoulder to cry on. Dragos was not amused. The crazy smile had vanished from his face.

"Stop it. Neither do I need your pity, nor can your childish play agitate me," he said in a cold tone.

"Now you did it," Shay exclaimed in a panic. "You got him really angry," he added with a sneer.

"Did I? Aww, I'm sowwy. Did I make Dragos angwy?" Monique chortled.

"Stop that!" Dark aura branded against Tekar's shield.

"Why are you so...ankwy, Dragos?" Jonah asked hesitatingly.

"Stop bullying him, Guys." Tekar scolded them good-natured, which made Dragos seethe even more.

"I don't need your support beanstalk!" the chosen of Ammit exclaimed, crashing into the barrier.

"Look at the wittle guy. So brave and stunning," Alison said dryly. She was starting to have fun.

"Just you wait! Once I ripped this barrier to shreds, all of you are dead!"

Suddenly, several auras encased the enraged man as he lashed out. A storm of magic shook the barrier as a pair of claws hit it, forming cracks on it's surface. His legs were also enveloped in the murky aura, delivering devastating kicks.

"I think that is as angry as he can get..." Tekar mumbled.

"You think so? I think there is still some wiggle room," Lydia said as she gave a sign.

Several silver figures appeared around them and jumped out from the barrier to fight Dragos directly. They were Golem Knights. Originally, Monique had wanted to save them for the boss fights as a distraction, but she opted to bring them out here.

The five knights swiftly surrounded Dragos and began weaving their attacks together. The party was taken aback by their weird movements, but with their flawless teamwork, the swords created a deadly pattern.

Even though Dragos was clearly stronger, he was constantly covered in cuts and had a hard time breaking the golem formation. It would have been a brilliant display of a group of weaker combatants taking down a mighty opponent if it wasn't for the fact that the Sword was barely able to graze the man and all injuries healed in a matter of seconds.

The golems wouldn't be able to defeat the man. It was good that that was not their purpose. Without warning a sixth sword joined into the fray and directly impaled the man from behind. Dragos' rage-filled scream echoed across the wasteland but stopped moving. Using the chance, five swords joined the first and pierced his chest.

Like a mighty beast, he started thrashing as the paralysis wore off almost immediately. The group of Golems jumped back as divine chains raised from the ground to bind down the foe even further. The only one still sticking to the chosen of Ammit was Jonah.

Dancing around him he used his sword, claws, and the blood ribbons to turn Dragos into a mess and absorb his vitality like a leech. In the process, Dragos became angrier and angrier to an irrational extent. It was the Maddening Evil Eye doing it work.

Seth had told them, that this guy had a lot of skills, but had a problem utilizing them to their full extent. The angrier he was, the fewer skills he would be able to utilize correctly. Currently, it seemed like he had only strong passive skills and the aura claws going for him. This allows Jonah to exploit the effects of the Sword of Chains as he kept constantly dancing and slashing to trigger its effects.

Despite what was previously shown, Dragos' health regeneration started to slow and many patches of dull gray metal started growing on his body, very slowly though. He needed to have a similar set of resistance skills as Tekar, judging by the short duration of most of the effects.

Nobody interfered, fearing to break the fragile balance. On one hand, was a crippled berserker, on the other an elegant elf dancing around him with pride and beauty. The fight went on for ten minutes and everything went in Jonah's favor until he got impatient.

His opponent was enraged, not completely clear in the head. Jonah saw his chance and stabbed at his throat while casting <Control>. One of the sword's powers that allowed the wielder to control the opponent if the sword threatened their live.

What happened next was all in a speed neither of them was able to react to. When the tip of the sword touched the man's throat, his claws moved at unfathomable speed. One slapped the sword aside while the other directly stabbed at Jonah's chest.

The leather armor couldn't stop the claws for long, but it was enough for the swordsman to slightly change his trajectory. Instead of stabbing into his heart, the claw gauged out a trail from his chest, like an ice cream scoop. He instinctively got distance between himself and Dragos, but the other made no attempt to pursue him.

"Phew, that was close. I really have to thank you for clearing my head," he said eerily calmly.

The golems didn't wait for his next move and reentered their sword formation, however, things went differently this time. He managed to perfectly evade the swords, weaving through their attacks. With quick decisive moves, he managed to crush two of the five golems, shocking the entire party.

His claws had slipped through their armor, after which they suddenly turned into piles of armor and bones. The three other golems did not hesitate and kept attacking, but Dragos was now easily evading their attacks.

"If it wasn't for you trying to manipulate my mind, I may have been a goner. <Heal><Cure><Stamina Up><Defense Up><Agility Up>..."

After thanking Jonah, he calmly started rattling down skills while still evading the golems. Magic and Divine Aura Spears shot at Dragos but it was too late to pile on him now, Dragos had already recovered from all signs of battle. He might have been even stronger than at the start.

With a cruel smile, he turned to the party.

"Round 2."