Blacksmith vs. the System

Just because we were waiting for reinforcements didn't mean we stopped attacking once the ballistas were ready and in place. On the contrary, we continued attacking even more, forcing them to defend themselves.

Their attitude changed from baiting us to defending earnestly, the recent loss of another guild master forcing their hands. They simply didn't have an option. Currently, the only one that could fight against us on an equal footing was Georg, meaning, whenever we attacked from two opposite directions, he had been forced to engage with Eleanor, while the remaining guild masters tried to defend against me.

With them focusing fully on the defensive and us holding back our trump cards, the battle had been locked into a stalemate. We attacked in bursts, allowing us to replenish the Health we consumed during our special attacks.

And, whenever we retreated, Georg sent another magical message to his allies. The intensity of the mana flare from those messages didn't match the first one, leading me to believe that the reinforcements were already in the dungeon. So, whenever we pulled back, I made sure to circle around the two positions to see if I could catch the reinforcements.

Which I finally came across them nearly ten minutes later, but their size surprised me.

More than a hundred people.

Admittedly, the numbers alone weren't that scary. The performance they put against the monster attacks showed that they weren't particularly strong. They were probably the rest of the guild members, the ones too weak to contribute anything other than a momentary distraction.

However, the same didn't apply to the eight that were at the center of the formation, each wearing pure black armor. They felt …

Dangerous.

Clearly, I wasn't the only one who felt this way, as none of the guild fighters walked near them. Whatever that was going on with them, it was not good news. They radiated some kind of primal fear. I would have almost suspected that they had Charisma, but it was not the same.

When Thomas used that, I could feel some kind of external pressure wrapping around me and pulling my fear to the surface … Here, it was a primal sensation, like I just came across a rabid dog, foams covering its mouth.

I gulped even as I retreated, suddenly glad that we had gone through all that trouble to steal and repair the ballistas. When I returned, Eleanor was just finishing eating another nutrition bar. "You're early," she said.

"They are here, just half a mile away, and getting closer," I said.

"Finally," she said with a sharp smirk. "What's the layout?"

"About a hundred guild fighters, low-leveled, and eight … I don't know who they are, but they felt … wrong." I didn't like the way I sounded plaintive, but I had no choice. I was basically trying to warn her against something that I didn't even know myself.

"Wrong, how?" she asked, her expression serious.

"I don't know how to describe it. It's more of an ephemeral feeling. But, it's intense enough that I want to target four of the six ballistas to them."

"Even if it means we can't catch all of them at once and most of them escape? You were the one afraid of it. Once they start to retreat, we won't have the chance to reload them."

"Yes, even then," I said. I wasn't exactly someone big on instincts, but what I was feeling from them was too intense to be ignored. "Now, let's conduct one last attack. We can't afford to alert them when we're so close to victory."

She stayed silent for a while, then nodded, approving the last-minute adjustment to the plan. It was good news.

"Stay with the ballistas and support me from range," she said as she tensed. "I'll switch to the sword the moment you release the first attack."

"I'll target the newcomers first. Just retreat when I launch the first one. It won't take long to release every single one of them."

"And, once two of them land, I'll switch to … your gift to me," she said, smiling surprisingly.

"Yes. I knew the moment I gave it to you I won't be receiving it back," I said, trying to sound exasperated rather than glad. I could see that she was trying to calm me down about what I had felt from them.

Eleanor rushed forward, and I started supporting her with spears I released through my atlatl, keeping an eye on the attackers. Attackers gathered on my flank, ready to spread to envelop me. They seemed ready to take me down.

Before they could even start their assault, I aimed the four ballistas toward the center of their formation, where the eight scary ones were still gathered reasonably close, and released the four bolts at the same time.

The difference between using the bolts on the ballistas and releasing them directly was like the difference between night and day. The moment I triggered, the complicated enchantment on the ballista flared to life, linking with the one on the bolt.

The bolt radiated mana as it flew toward its target, slower than I expected, which was a scary proposition as it had been accompanied by a loud buzzing noise. Combined, I could have dodged it if it was used against me, and so would Eleanor as long as she wasn't occupied.

No wonder they had set an elaborate trap to draw her out.

However, those thoughts were only on the passing. I was more interested in the way each bolt skewered its target before exploding into fragments, accompanied by a wave of mana, which started burning black.

Scary effect. Eleanor hadn't mentioned that detail.

It was an unexpected effect, but I didn't have time to waste on it. Eleanor had already retreated from her engagement, so I released the last two ballistas. This time, I aimed it at the hill, destroying their formation and footing before killing some of them.

Georg might not be as fast as Eleanor, but I still didn't want to risk targeting him with the siege weapon, and the rest wasn't exactly a priority target.

The moment I released the last two, I rushed forward. Reloading them was not an option since the enchantment required time to recover. So, I stopped with the ranged attacks, grabbed my hammer, and rushed forward.

I took several steps before the bolts had reached their target, exploding in a dangerous cloud of dust and … no flame. Certainly no black flame. I couldn't help but glance to my right, where the black flames were still burning strong.

But, at this moment, Eleanor had already jumped to the cloud of dust, and required my support … or at least, that was what I assumed before the cries of pain reached my ear. The sword, combined with the limited visibility worked to her benefit if the number of interrupted cries was any indicator.

However, before I could think a lot about it, Georg burst from the cloud, wanting to escape. "I got him," I shouted at Eleanor even as I closed in the distance, Floating Step making me even faster.

"You think you can defeat me," Georg growled as he turned to catch me. "I have seen the way you fought. You're clearly not as good —" he started, only to realize I was not wielding a sword, but a hammer.

A hammer that glowed with an intense blue hue. "Impossible," he shouted even as he raised his sword to parry.

I had to admit, it was a perfect parry. Sharp, strong, and angled perfectly to keep his weapon safe from any attack. I was sure that, even if I used the strongest hammer attack given by my Rare skill, it wouldn't have worked.

Unfortunately for him, that mana glow wasn't from Quake Hammer, but the enhanced, denser mana from the Epic Mana Forge, designed to purge the mana out of his sword.

[-10 Mana]

It wasn't a perfect method. Even the weakest external mana flow would have destabilized it. Luckily for us, the dungeon lacked such a fluctuation, allowing the mana to stick to his blade longer without my control.

"You think that being an Essence Warrior would save you," he growled. "Once those monsters arrive, you won't survive," he declared arrogantly. But, even as he declared that a cry reached my ears. A loud, bloodcurdling cry, one that I hadn't heard since the first days of the Cataclysm, when the concept of monsters was new.

The moment that cry reached my ear, I expected Georg to look arrogant and confident. Instead, he looked afraid, and hesitant. "No, don't tell me you attacked them with ballistas," he asked, with fear coloring his face. He took a step to escape.

Anyone else, I might have considered letting them go, wondering whether their intention was genuine, or they were acting. But he was the main person responsible for our plight, and even if his desire was genuine, it was too late.

I swung down my hammer, this time delivering a quake attack.

[-50 Health]

[-25 Mana]

He tried to parry again, but his weapon, already degraded by my earlier trick, was unable to handle the blow. His helmet managed to resist, but the quake aspects of it bypassed his armor sufficiently, enough to make him bleed through his eyes and ears, stunned.

I delivered another blow, finishing him off, for once happy with my own distorted perspective, allowing me to kill without hesitation.

I turned to support Eleanor, only to freeze. The initial dust cloud had settled enough for me to see her … and only her. Of the thirty-five remaining warriors, none of them were alive.

It would have been enough to celebrate, if it wasn't for the cries that were reaching our ears. "What's going on?" I asked even as I rushed to her side.

"I don't know," she said. "All I see is some kind of black flame that makes me very unsettled."

"Wait, you can see it as well? But, it's almost a hundred yards away," I asked.

She nodded grimly.

I paused, looking past the black flame, focusing on the edge of the mist … which had become jagged as if it was being siphoned.

Eerily similar to how it was around the boss monster.