Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

These were the items Cerberus was making unceasingly. Usually, they were kept in their vault for members to purchase and only a few were delivered to their shop for the public to acquire. Minas Mar made no secret about having a lot of them but only selling a few. Heck, their whole Oathguard was clad in relic-rated items.

But even their own members had to sign the soul contract to make sure these items would not be used against Minas Mar. This was why Seth played the delivery man, the Infernal Scald was the only one who could make the frightening soul contracts. Would normal magic contracts have sufficed? Maybe, but it induced much more fear if the soul was at stake.

“So, you are saying, that we have to sign these contracts to purchase or lend your items?” Gallwell asked, pondering after Seth explained to him the procedure.

“Exactly, it's just a safety measure to stop people from using them against us or deliberately selling them to hostile forces. Otherwise, I wouldn't feel positive about putting so many on the open market,” the blacksmith explained. After all, they were talking about 200 sets of relic armor and 300 individual weapons.

“Urrm, can we...talk about the price?” the leader of Gamma Resistance gulped when he saw what all of this came to. He had confidently asked for relic-rated equipment, but it seemed that he had no idea about the actual market value.

Apart from the 300 weapons, with each armor set having 5-6 parts, meaning that the whole order came to over 1300 pieces of relic-rated gear. Even the cheapest relic wouldn't go below 80 gold. They were talking about tens of thousands. There was no way Gallwell had that money. But Seth came prepared.

“There is nothing I can do about the price, but we might be able to come up with a financing plan, or I could lend them to you which would be infinitely cheaper,” Seth's sweet voice fluttered into the ears of the financially struggling leader. Chosen of Tyr or not, it couldn't help him with the lack of money.

The question was whether he would take on the burden of crippling debt in the name of Gamma Resistance, or...

“L-Lending! How much would it cost?” his tongue was heavy when he finally spat out his answer. He decided to blow a lot of money for a restricted trial period. Seth smiled internally, but on the outside, he only showed a pondering face, as if he was calculating it only now.

Of course, he had already talked about the final pricing with Mary, long before coming here. Why were they already planning to lend it to them from the start? Obviously, because they would be able to fleece them twice.

They would get to try out the indescribable power-up that came from a fully enchanted armor set and a relic-rated weapon. If they offered the people of Gamma Resistance to purchase them afterward, would they be able to resist blowing their private funds once they got hooked on the feeling? At that point, they would get money from the organization as well as its individual members.

“A clean, crisp 7000 Gold for the length of the operation, but at most half a year. I will even add these rare-rated cloth armors to be worn below the armor sets, for free.”

Seth sweetened the deal, by offering the padded jackets he made for practice using <Ancient Bronze>. They were the shirts the other enchanters apart from Grant already had their fun with, so they had a wild mix of various effects.

Hearing the number Seth dropped, Ropartz let out a breath of relief, although he was still looking very serious. Compared to the purchase price, the renting price came down to about 5 gold per piece. 7000 was a lot of money, but it was definitely doable with Gamma Resistance's funds, and it was an insurance that would increase their survival rate tremendously.

“Are you sure about that?” Gallwell asked again, to make sure he had not misunderstood.

“It's just a small change in the soul contract, nothing big,” the blacksmith assured him with a big nod. Gallwell didn't dare ponder any longer.

“Deal! Thank you so much!” the chosen of Tyr thanked him profusely, unaware of what Minas Mar was actually plotting with their overly advantageous offer. Why would he doubt their willingness to help? After all, it was Minas Mar who had published the information.

It followed a relative boring meet and greet with the two hundred people that would receive the items during which they all signed their names on the soul contract for lending the gear, one by one. It boring, but Seth had to be present for the contract to be valid.

“Phew, that one’s finally over with,” He exclaimed, leaving the headquarters of Gamma Resistance after handing Gallwell all the items from his inventory. Now, they just had to wait for the money to flood in once the situation in Emerald City was solved. They had just stepped out to the streets when they heard a rising commotion.

A flying object had appeared in the sky, aiming toward the guardian tree. Suddenly a kind of flare rose to the crown of the from a street close by. The trail of light rose into the darkening sky and hit the city barrier. Instantly, the object sped up toward this point. Just before crashing into the barrier, it shot out five pins.

Shockingly, the five pins created a pentagonal hole in the dimly glowing barrier! This allowed the ship to leisurely pass the barrier and enter the city. It was the first time the people of Urth saw someone do this to a barrier, but nobody panicked.

The flying ship came to a halt, floating in the sky, just below the tree’s crown. A door opened and three figures came out, walking in the air with relaxed steps. Their presence and bearing were imposing, their exotic robes elegantly billowing in the wind.

In the center was an older man with a pencil mustache and his graying hair bound back into a bun. To his left and right were two attractive young people. An alluring beauty to the left and a handsome, fragile-seeming man to the right. Ignoring the view of the crowd they walked forward, slowly descending toward where the flare was fired.

However, they were stopped by several of Little Gamma’s Guards, blocking their path with the help of flying mounts. They were not part of Minas Mar, but the local police force. Although there were golems stations in every Tree Station, they were set to keep public order and stop fights, not enact all laws.

“You are illegally trespassing on the territory of the autonomous city of Little Gamma. Identify yourself!” their leader called out, unimpressed by their entrance show. The middle-aged man looked at the native as if he was looking at an annoying fly. However, he did not let the chance go to pompously announce their names.

“I’m Elder Gack of the great Silkriver Sect! These are my disciples, Badum and Ts. Now step aside, Vermin. I will spare your life only once,” he announced arrogantly and suddenly appeared behind the squad of policemen, continuing his descent.

“Stop where you are, Mr. Gack, Mr. Badum, Ms. Ts! I cannot let you enter the city without a thorough investigation,” the guard called out to stop them when the disciples followed their master’s example.

Before anyone could question the guard leader’s bold actions, Elder Gack had already unsheathed his blades and slashed at the group of people on their flying mounts. The relaxed flick with the weapon created a massive crescent of energy that shot at the group, threatening to cut them apart.

Mina and Fin were about to jump forward, but Seth held them back. This place had its guardians, there was no need for them to steal the show. What happened next was the most surprising, for Elder Gack, as his attack of blade energy missed.

The flying creatures were gone, and he found the people riding them hanging in the tree, tangled up by vines. How? This question was written on his face, but he didn’t have much time to think about it, as golem knights started dropping from the tree crown like ripe fruits.

Golems couldn’t fly, but they were robust and had a strong grip. The cultivators sauntering through the air were suddenly weighed down by several hundred kilograms of armored attacks that dragged them down at terrifying speeds. While the inner disciples crashed to the ground, Elder Gack managed to evade and counterattack, slicing several golems like he was playing fruit ninja.

<Elder Bad Gack lv. 115>

It was no surprise that the golems that ranged around the strength of a lv.75 player couldn’t do much against a cultivator. Mina and Fin looked at Seth, but he shook his head. Some golems were not a loss. These were the same golem knights without a soul he sold to Arget Nore. Although they would not recover, they would simply send them to Mount Agra where Cormac Payle could repair them.

On the ground, the disciple Badum lv.99 and Ts lv.96 were holding their own against the golems once they regained their composure. Their robes had gotten dirty in the impact, but there were no wounds at all. The crowd watching had quickly dispersed when the fights moved to the streets.

Suddenly, Elder Gack moved right above Seth’s position, his eyes glued to the blacksmith still wearing casual attire.

“You are the maggot that hurt little Ho and killed our disciples,” he spoke with sparks in his eyes. A tremendous pressure descended on Seth and the surrounding crowd. Despite the situation, he seemed to remember.

Little Ho, Little Ho, Seth felt like that name was familiar. Finally, it clicked. It was the man with the fat meteor sword. Right, he was also from the Silkriver Sect, now he remembered.

“If you don’t resist, I will spare your life. I will simply cripple you and bring you to the Sect leader,” he threatened.

“Big words for snake food,” Seth scoffed confidently.

“Snake food?”

They were his last words, before vanishing in the maw of a giant snake that ascended from below ground. The guardian of Little Gamma had made her appearance.