Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Focused, Annoyed

1000/1000 HP 165 000/578 000 Mana

...>

Its health had completely recovered.! About 50,000 Mana were spent to mend all of its wounds and return to peak condition. Judging by how much mana it had and how much it spent slinging curses and spells at the golems, this had probably happened six or seven times already!

No wonder the golems were stuck in a continuous standoff. At this point, Seth could have stepped in. They were on a tight schedule and the golems were not as plainly in the lead as it looked. The golems had the same weakness as the Faer.

Although their mana replenished much quicker, they would still fail to repair themselves and become unable to use skills, once it was depleted. The 20 golems keeping the Nem Marvo in check were made with big souls, this meant their mana was between 1000 and 10,000. No matter how much more efficient they were, a creature like Donnchadh would soon wear them out.

But until then, Seth decided to wait, since this was also a good chance. A tough battle was an opportunity for the golems to adjust to their skills and master their bodies. The aspects of the souls would be able to integrate much quicker with automaton circuits on their cores. Although this fight could not raise their level, it would raise their strength in battle through experience.

Especially the 20 elites, showed great progress as they had already come up with a rotation strategy. They allowed five of them to replenish mana, while the armored golems would take their place in battle. Although these golems could only take one or two attacks before staying on the ground for minutes, there were a lot of them.

The only drawback was that the armor Seth had painstakingly bought and repaired was quickly ruined. It ached his heart, but he was also clear about the fact, that these were just cheap armors, that could be quickly replaced by the loot they had already collected. They were nothing precious or final.

Seth didn't just watch but spent the time looking for the birds that caused the undead army, to free up some of the other golems that were locked in battle with the reanimated dead. Unlike the first time when he got lucky, he couldn't find the others.

Two hours later, the Nem Marvo had died another three times and his mana was slowly running out. Donnchadh had no longer enough mana to pull off his resurrection stunt. Just in time, since the golems were also slowly reaching their limits, too.

When his health started falling into the double digits, Donnchadh suddenly started laughing. It was a boisterous hollering that echoed across the canyons of the city.

"To think such nature-defying machines existed, are you the Master of these automatons?!" it directly called out to Seth. Of course, his presence did not stay hidden, after hovering above the battlefield for over two hours.

11:38

"To think such nature-defying machines existed, are you the Master of these automatons?!" it directly called out to Seth. Of course, his presence did not stay hidden, after hovering above the battlefield for over two hours.

"Are you trying to negotiate, now that you are running out of steam?" the bard mocked the monster, causing it another fit of laughing, as it continued resisting the golems.

"I, Donnchadh, don't subject myself to others! I make others submit to me! I give you a chance to come under my wings, as your subordinates seem useful to me!" the Nem Marvo cried out confidently. Seth furrowed his brows. It was clear that the monster had something up its sleeves, but-

"You severely overestimate yourself. No matter what else you have in Petto," Seth warned the mob.

Donnchadh chuckled.

"You will see who overestimates themselves!"

When the monster's mana and health finally hit zero for the fourth time, it obviously didn't just go down. Dark energy from all the surroundings started gathering on Donnchadh and the undead that had been encircling the golems, started falling like dominoes.

Although he was not the one who raised the undead, he now acted like a Lich and seemingly absorbed their power to replenish his health and mana. Stepping on a dark cloud, Donnchadh rose to the skies.

"There is no need fighting the body when you can just cut off the head of the snake!" he cried out, charging at Seth. The blacksmith felt a little awkward, as the mob seemed to be suffering under several misunderstandings...

"Heartseeker."

One of them was that it overestimated its own strength. Despite the huge amounts of mana, it could barely use advanced skills. Although it could rip and tear the uncommon armor, the relic-rated set just accumulated scratches. If it had been up against any of the field teams, this fight would have been over in minutes, not hours.

Without pause, a light arrow was released from the Mind Reaper bow, accurately piercing Donnchadh's chest and emptying his health in a heartbeat. However, the dark energy kept flooding it, replenishing it almost as quickly.

"Life Reaper"

Only for it to fall to zero again the next moment.

Another misunderstanding was that Seth was just a figurehead, controlling an army from the back. The blacksmith understood the misunderstanding since commander-like classes were usually squishy and hid behind their followers.

Donnchadh fell but recovered again. The undead below were wiped out in swathes, every time the Nem Marvo regenerated. He reeled, but finally found his balance again.

"I acknowledge that I underestimated you, but such skill will have their price! Nobody can save you no-"

"Apollo's Rain of Light"

300 arrows of light, their strength tripled by his armor and other items, slammed into the undead carrying the purifying power of the sun. The undead below were wiped out in an instant, as the hail of projectiles nailed Donnchadh into one of the buildings on the side.

300 Arrows, each one deadly enough to kill him and each one aiming directly for his vitals. Still, the massive dwarf-like being crawled out of the debris of the building, looking around confused. It was not dead, despite all of its stats hitting zero, however, it seemed that the passive effects of Mind Reaper had triggered, Stun, Confusion, etc.

"Wh-What is happening to me?" it spoke to itself and waved a hand as if to cast a spell, but nothing happened. "My memories... they are...fading? What have you.... done to me?" the creature spoke slowly, kneeling on the ground.

The despair in its voice was evident. Something had shattered within the Nem Marvo. Donnchadh had seemed like a creature that had some immunity to mind effects, but it could not escape the bow's Mind Decay. After 300 hits, it was bound to have triggered several times, quickly deteriorating the mental world of the mighty foe.

"no, no, no... my plan...my reign... my k-kingdom. Everything is leaving...me?"

Seth did not know how Donnchadh stayed alive, as there were no signs that it had a trick like a Lich, or the Scene, or the Sarkists that allowed it to avoid death. Its soul simply stayed inside its body and refused to move on. A spell, a ritual? The foundational reason that undead existed because they refused to let go of their material life.

He didn't know. What he did know though, was that the fearsome enemy had turned into an immortal vegetable who was slowly drooling as his eyes trailed off into the distance. They were empty, nobody was home anymore.

Mind Decay was a truly fearsome effect.

The blacksmith landed beside the Nem Marvo, who was kneeling on the floor inside a broken office. He carefully approached, as he switched one of his gloves and Graffias for the Wraithguard gauntlet.

Seth saw only one way to end this. The gauntlet stabbed into the back of Donnchadh and Seth grasped the creature's soul. It was good, that he had worn the Wraithguard because he immediately felt the resistance of the soul.

Although the bodily mind was gone, it didn't change the instincts of the soul. Ingrained knowledge, wishes, and desires could not be erased by an item's effects. The spirit blacksmith mustered his strength and moved his mental power as he started to pull on the soul that vehemently resisted his grasp.

Activating the Wraithguard, the soul was covered in a restraining layer of mental power. It was finally moving. Imitating the function of the gauntlet, Seth also added a layer of his own mental power, which he kept strengthening.

A while after he started manipulating the ability similarly to how he learned with <Soul Infusion>, the soul finally started losing its connection with the bodily vessel. When he ultimately managed to rip the soul out of the Nem Marvo's body, he heard a notification.

<Ding! Your Skill Spirit Capture lv. 9 has become Spirit Capture lv. max!>

<Spirit Capture> followed the <Spirit Smithy>'s lead and finally leveled up to the maximum level!>