Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

They were leaving the last dungeon on the list, when the blacksmith also finally got a message from the demon Maestro, just before the end of his deadline. He gave them coordinates to a place in the Holy Land, saying they would find the target there. Seth and Tano'Mol arrived at the an hour later, riding the golem griffin

“Agh, my butt hurts...” The demon complained as he quickly slipped of the griffin's back. Although the griffins were better than the golem horses, the blacksmith couldn't argue against Tano's complaints.

The place they reached was not too far from the maestro's territory. It was easy to find, since it was marred by signs of a recent battle. The rock faces and boulders looked molten, corroded by acids and a penetrating smell of chemicals filled the air.

Remnants of the maestro's test subjects littered the ground. Severed limbs and blackened bones, were severely damaged from chemical burns. Some of them were still burning with colorful flames, spreading a putrid stench. It was quite obvious that whoever the maestro was fighting here was an expert in chemical warfare.

“Urgh, what kind of disgusting bastard did that Maestro get to come?” Tano'Mol commented, holding his nose.

“I think he called him Neloth?” Seth answered the goat's question while looking around.

“Fuck, seriously?” the demon cursed out of character. “Even I know who that is. He's a scourge of the battlefield. Wherever he fights, he leaves a toxic wasteland. The worst part is that he is known to randomly appear on battlefield nobody wants him and test his concoctions on all sides. Quite a few souls I peddled died an unfair death, because he had some new invention to test. Do you really think you can take him?” the demon kept on rambling while Seth was looking around the place.

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can,” the bard answered with unwavering certainty.

“What makes you so sure?” Tano'Mol asked surprised.

“Because the meal was already cooked. I just have to eat,“ the blacksmith joked and pointed to a boulder.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

When the demon followed the direction he pointed at, he found that there was a figure leaning against a boulder. It was a humanoid demon wearing a ragged black robe. He was missing an arm and everything below his waste.

The face was horribly disfigured, with half of his skull sunken in. Tano'Mol would have been sure he was dead if his chest was not moving up and down laboriously. It was a miracle the person was still alive.

<Neloth, the Scourge, lv.125

Health 50/1000

Mana: 300/45 000

Status: Fatally Wounded, Bleeding, Poisoned, Cursed, Confused...>

“Neloth, I presume?” Seth asked the beaten maestro. The demon's yellow eye with a snake pupil looked up to the imposing figure that suddenly appeared before him. Neloth quickly added one and one together.

“That damn... Who would have thought that he would end our rivalry not by killing me, but by selling me out? Where are you from? Chrona? Spatia? Staxi? Hapan? I heard Bragmomal was in this world, did he send you?” the demon kept listing enemies to the point it even surprised Seth.

“Wow, you were collecting enemies like trophies, huh? Unfortunately, I belong to none of them. I don't hold a grudge against you. Your good frie- rival simply sold you out to save his own skin. I guess an introduction is needed.”

Seth crouched down beside Neloth, looking him in the one working eye.

“Hello, I'm Seth Smith, a blacksmith, and I will be taking your soul,” the bard said with a bright voice and smile, prompting the demon to vomit blood. The demon tried to protest, but the Wraithguard had already pierced his chest.

As a demon, Neloth's soul was strong and willful. Seth had already expected that the extraction was going to be difficult, even if Neloth was close to death. This was why he was wearing the wraithguard, which made the extraction much easier.

Slowly, despite his struggles, Neloth's soul separated from his destroyed body and entered the spirit blacksmith's possession.

<Soul of Neloth (Massive, Ego), Crafting Material

Epic

Soul of the Maestro Neloth, a mixed-race demon specialized in <Alchemy> and alchemical warfare. A universal villain, whose death brings joy to many. Soul contains 89% of the demon's original knowledge, skills, and personality.>

Roughly 90% of his original skills? This was good, but Seth was more surprised by the exact percentage. It was the first time the system gave him a concrete number instead of telling him the soul's skills or affinities.

Original Skills was actually marked like a link, and Seth was able to expand it in a second window. The window showed a long list of skills and traits such as <Alchemy(craftsman) Lv.8>, <Fire Manipulation lv.6>, <Combat Alchemy>, Trait: Corrosive Expert, Trait: Vapor Villain...

It was so much that it was exported to a different window. Was this the improved result with <Soul Capture> lv.9 and the Wraithguard? Now he felt some regret, that he had not been using the Wraithguard when harvesting the dungeon bosses in the past few days.

~Neloth?~ Seth tried talking to the ego, but the demon stayed unresponsive. However, he knew this was because couldn't answer like the Mind Reaper bow which had just recently developed an ego, but because Neloth didn't want to communicate.

The bard didn't mind, since it was not important for now. What mattered was that he had mostly finished his business in the Holy Land with this and all that was left was reporting about the completion of his quests to the Adventurer Guild. After all, these were also paid and he wasn't going to just leave the rewards from the guild behind.

…

“I'm back,” Seth greeted the receptionist with a smile. It was the same one he got the quests from. She was coincidentally free when the blacksmith entered and he thought things would go faster if he went to her.

“ah! Mr. Smith. Are you back to check in finished quests and stock up on supplies?” she greeted him with an even brighter than usual business smile. This was the treatment reserved for the VIP.

“Not stocking up. I'm returning since I finished all of the quests,” the bard smiled satisfied when he saw her shocked expression.

“Didn't you-! Didn't you take almost 50 quests?” she asked shocked, quickly lowering her voice when she realized how loud she was.

“Exactly 50, yes.” the blacksmith agreed.

“I hope you understand, but I will have to check the completion then...?” she asked, still having a hard time believing. She started fiddling with the orb interface at her counter. This was one of the things only big guild like this had.

It was an interface that used the system to check the status of quests given by the guild. It replaced the custom of bringing monster parts as proof of subjugation or the quest-giver's certificate that the task was done satisfactorily. Overall, it was better than the old way, since people had a much harder time finding loopholes with the system being an objective judge on whether the task was fulfilled or not.

The receptionist was staring in awe when she checked the accomplishments. It was hard to believe that a single man had driven back the border of Kozdam by tens of kilometers in a matter of 5 days.

“I'm sorry to have doubted you. Everything is in order. The rewards had up to 323 gold. Would you like the rewards in cash or card transfer?” Cash meant that the lady would start piling money on the counter.

Avoiding the hassle, Seth chose the card transfer. With a simple touch of the two crystal cards, Seth's empty system bank account received an addition of 323 gold. Although it couldn't compare to the money he had made by selling Golems, it was not an amount he was going to leave behind.

“Thanks for the business, Have a nice day,” the receptionist spoke with a bow.

“You, too,” Seth reciprocated her farewells and left the guild.

It was time to return, the world was waiting for an announcement.