Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Seth sat cross-legged on his rinky-dink little nutshell and had nothing to do. He had been on edge and observing the water for the first hour of his journey. The encounter with the field boss left him nervous. But nothing happened. Nothing attacked, nothing appeared. No wormholes opened and threw enemies at the battle-ready adventurer. He slowly started to relax again.

Now Seth just sat on his raft and kept staring at the map and using auto-map from time to time to get a better image of his surroundings. His boredom was only interrupted by the occasional need to paddle his raft back on course or into a new alley to avoid the big channels of water.

Seth used the time to think about his skills. Map had gotten "auto map" on lv.2 and he kept pondering about whether it would become more game like if he leveled it more. It would really help in this situation if the map could show enemies! Or maybe a real-time image! Then he could at least see of something big was closing in on him.

But was it worth it? Lv. 3 cost 2 Skill Points! He only had 4 SP left and he definitely wanted to hold 2 back in case <Spirit Smithy> unlocked soon. Was <Map> really worth the gamble?

As he was pondering, he heard the splashing of water to the side! Before he could even jump to his feet something heavy crashed into him and pinned him to the ground.

A big serpent with its maws wide open had latched onto his forearm he had instinctively brought up! Otherwise, it would have been his neck!

Even so its teeth could not penetrate the gauntlets steel plate covering his forearm, it vehemently bit down on his arm! That was until the other gauntlet came to the rescue and rammed into its face! Again, and again the armored fist smashed into the snake's head until it became a bloody mess and finally let go!

Once Seth came to his senses <Weapon Mastery> had kicked in!

Do not underestimate armor! Utilizing armor for offense and defense was also part of <Weapon Mastery>. No matter what melee attack you do, doing it while covered with a steel plate hurt more!

After the several meters long constrictor looking snake had lost its life, or at least it´s consciousness, Seth jumped to his feet and got ready. He unsheathed his sword and observed the now calm water surface in a battle-ready stance. He squinted when remembered the kill notifications and stabbed the snake lying on his raft.

<Ding! You have killed -Baby Titanoboa lv.7- You have earned Experience.>

As if it had waited for the chance, there was another splash behind him! His bait worked! Turning around in a fluid motion he swung the longsword.

The snake that had just shot out of the water was cleanly cut in midair! One bloody half sunk back into the water while the one with the head, still squirming, fell on his raft.

Just as he lifted his foot to stomp this one's head, another boa broke through the water surface and aiming at his lightly armored knee pit!

The teeth penetrated the thick black cloth and sunk into his flesh!

"Argh-!", Seth screamed in surprise.

Pain shot through his body and paralyzed him for a moment as he lost balance. This was the first time he was injured since he started his adventure in the apocalypse!

They saw him kneel and decided to pile on him! Another snake jumped out from the left, aiming for his neck again, but was also blocked by his gauntlet. One more came from the right, but met the hastily swung sword before reaching him.

He was in danger and the adrenaline kicked in. Seth did not panic now, he was angry. Angry at himself that he had given in to such little pain! That he had lost his calm for something so trivial!

And angry at these little fuckers that tried to ambush him!

He smashed his left fist on the ground in anger and pulled himself together. At the same time, he had smashed the still squirming snake head, ending it´s suffering. Using this moment two more snakes appeared from the water, aiming for his head!

How many were there?!

Incensed, Seth ignored the pain in his leg. In one movement he straightened himself and used the momentum to pull up his sword! Both snakes were cut with an upward diagonal slash.

<Ding! Skill: Weapon Mastery (Beginner) lv.8 has become lv.9!>

Seth had no time to listen to the systems notification!

Next, he crushed the head of the snake biting down on his gauntlet with the pommel of his sword and proceeded to cut away the body of the snake that desperately tried to curl up his leg. The feeling of vanishing pressure on his wounded knee as it died was a joy!

His mind was calm now, almost cold. But his heart was still burning with wrath and blood lust.

<Ding! You have leveled up! You are now lv.9!>

He got into stance and vigilantly scanned his surroundings. There was no more splashing and he could make out no movement in the water. Did he scare them off?

Seth looked at his poor little raft, that was drenched in blood and littered with snake parts.

The raft left a trail of blood in the water behind him. He could guess, hat this wasn't good.

Fortunately, his armor and weapons worked! These snakes were all lv.7 or lv.8 but the longsword had cut through them as if they were not there! Still, he would prefer to avoid such a fight where he was surrounded on water teeming with the bodies of snakes! It was quite the frightening thought.

He had to get away, fast. Looking at the map to find a way, he suddenly remembered his pondering from earlier. Maybe <Map Lv.3> WAS worth a shot.

"Oh, pretty please give me an enemy radar! Or life detection is ok, too! Oh, pretty please with sprinkles on top!", Seth prayed to rngesus as he pumped two SP into <Map>

*chuckle* <Ding! Skill: Map lv.2 has become Special lv.3!>

"Special?",when Seth checked the was a new button. It was pink with colorful sprinkles and read "Life Detection Radar"

" Dafuq!?"

This time Seth was sure, the system had answered him! And it made FUN of him! But Seth was okay with that, when he saw that the Life Detection Radar or LDR in short worked!

It worked just like a radar. A bar of light moved like the hand of a clock with him in the center and made little blips that showed signs of life for a short time.

It´s range was a radius of 150m around him, just like the auto map. There was a countdown of 1 hour displayed in the corner of the map window, so that was probably the duration of the skill!

With this and auto map he would easily find a safe way out of the....

Blip! Blip! Blip! Blip!Blip!Blip! Blip! "oh, no..."

A cloud of blips appeared all around him on the map! Not just in the channels, they were in the buildings, too! And they were closing in on him...

He facepalmed hard, "Titanoboa Matriarch"! Seth was paddling through a giant snake nest!

Seth was given a totally overpowered skill in his time of need. He could see all enemies in a radius of 150m. And it helped him not one bit! He was already completely surrounded and there was no way to break out of the encirclement!

To make things worse, it would be become dark soon.