Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Anga cast a small light ball that floated over their head and illuminated what looked like the ruins of an ancient temple. Ortega's team of Oathguard had finally taken care of the tribe of Naga that had settled in the vicinity of the dungeon and could finally enter the ancient-seeming structure.

Ortega has been really bummed out when they first arrived and saw the Naga for the first time.

"I thought Naga were beautiful women with the lower bodies of a snake..." he lamented depressed.

"First of all, Perv. Second, you mean Lamia or something like that," Morgana scolded him.

The Naga they met had more in common with lizardmen. They had a snake head and a long neck, a roughly humanoid torso covered in scale that ended in a snake tail. They were more like snakes that developed arms to use tools.

Ortega and his team needed a few days to take down the Naga camps built around the dungeon. In exchange, they had passed lv.70 in the process. The Naga Temple was estimated to be a dungeon with an average level of 80.

Taking their equipment into account, it was the right dungeon for them to raid after their level-ups. The camps outside were just makeshift buildings without much technical skill, how had the creatures built such a huge temple? It was a question they all asked themselves as they enter the massive complex.

The walls illuminated by the skill were built from huge black stones, the size of a coffin.

"Be careful, I can see a few raised tiles. The whole corridor seems to be filled with traps. I will take the lead."

Isabella, their rogue/ranger took the lead. As a rogue, she belonged to the thief classes that were more specialized in their original craft. Stealth, dealing with traps, picking locks, and finding secrets were her forte, aside from her skills as their ranger.

They walked slowly as Isabella either disarmed or purposefully activated traps that line their path.

"Halt. Put out the light, there are enemies ahead. I will lure them," she signaled them to stay and wait in the ambush.

She walked further into the darkness ahead and shot an arrow into the darkness. They heard a dull groan, and a thud, followed by an alarmed hissing as an answer to the shot. She shot another arrow, but this time it as not the enemy that answered.

The corridor before them was suddenly illuminated by an ocean of flames, revealing three Naga contorting in pain, unable to even scream, as their own trap roasted them. Isabella had shot the trigger of the trap, taking down three enemies in one shot.

In this way, they made their way several floors up, facing a mix of traps and monsters. Since many of the dungeons in Delta grew inside buildings, instead of underground, it was not too weird for them to make their way up the dungeon, instead of down.

It was when they entered the first boss room, a nice, wide hall. Intricate marble columns lined the lavishly decorated room with a pool in the middle. On a heap of embroidered pillows, they saw a massive young man, with a healthy golden skin tone.

Beautiful, smaller ladies kept feeding him all kinds of fruits. What made the sight special was not just the size of the young man. All people were snakes from their waist down.

"I knew it!" Ortega exclaimed triumphantly. Suddenly all eyes in the room turned to their group, prompted by Ortega's righteous outcry. The battle commenced quickly, with the Oathguard losing any element of surprise.

The servants were no problem to the team, but the boss was a different problem. When elites could be estimated to be 10-20 levels stronger than their actual level, then the strength of a boss was at least 30 levels above their level.

With their relic-rated armor, the Oathguard members could also be counted as boss-tier humans. However, the Naga prince was a giant monster using a spear and magic, already being 10 levels higher than them from the start.

Clinching a victory in this boss fight was a hard-earned achievement, leaving them completely exhausted. To make matters worse, this was just the mid-boss. Everyone stared at the teleport formation that appeared after the boss was cleared, They could use it to leave, or go up the stairs to the next floor.

"We should leave for now and contact the base camp," Anga, their healer, suggested.

Although they had all kinds of buff foods and potions that could help them to quickly recover, they were not really under any time pressure. It was better to save their stuff for now and recover naturally once they left the dungeon.

The regular monster was no problem for them, but the boss packed a punch. It was better if they recovered and came back later to level more and face the next boss. Nobody disagreed with that reasoning, they were simply to tired to voice their opinions. No potion could beat a good sleep.

Using the teleportation circle they instantly appeared outside the entrance to the temple. The moment they got out, Ortega's communication orb started vibrating.

"Tower Master?" the knight asked surprised.

"Finally you answered. You are the last group unaccounted for. You have to return as soon as possible."

"What is going on, Tower Master?" Morgana came from the side and asked.

"We got new information. For some reason Home Call does not work anymore, so don't take any risks while thinking you could just use it to get out of the danger. We are assembling everyone to talk about our next steps. Come back as fast as you can."

With that, the call ended and they all still dumbly stared at it.

"...I guess, that means our dungeon dive end here," Ortega muttered after a long moment.

"For now, at least. "Morgana agreed.

Although it wasn't sleep, they took their time resting at the dungeon entrance that was surrounded by the fortifications of the lesser Naga. Since the Tower Master had emphasized speed, they used some of the potions to regain their peak condition quickly and set off as soon as possible.

"Don't worry, we will wait for you ."

While resting they contacted the other Oathguard teams. Since Seth had also emphasized safety, it was no surprise to hear that the other teams had already made up the plan to reunite and return to the base camp in full numbers. It was safest to move in a herd, as they said.

Once they recovered, they quickly set off to get to the agreed on meeting places and unite with the rest of the oathguard.