Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Do you think anything will change if we go through the doors?"

They had all reached lv.91 some time ago, but the experience gain just became more abysmal. They might just have slaughtered several hundreds of beasts in their level range but it was like a drop on a hot stone. The difference in the experience bar was barely visible.

There were a lot of monsters, but their levels were unsatisfactory. Not to mention that they did not really pose a challenge. If nothing changed behind those doors, it was better to go up or down, hoping another floor would bring stronger monsters.

"Maybe we should check the doors and then go up the stairs?" Faenys suggested.

"Why up the stairs?" Ferdinand asked, looking dreadfully at the massive stairs. Climbing up would be torture.

"I thought while we are still fresh and fit, we should use our energy to go up and set up a camp. I wouldn't want to go down first and then have to climb the full stairway again, later on."

"I guess, that makes sense." Ferdinand accepted the reasoning.

Duhu had also been nodding at the side. Lydia also agreed with that reasoning. But before they climbed any stairs, they decided to check the giant doors. It was fortunate they didn't have to try and open those doors, they were so big, the party could walk through a slit under the door.

Shortly after they entered the left door they had to climb atop a mount of earth, that covered the floor as the eyes could see. In the far distance, they saw mountains of rotten wood, probably what was left of furniture that had once existed. Just what kind of dungeon had they walked into?

"Do you think this earth here was a carpet in the past?" Duhu mumbled as he split a lv.93 Earth Worn the size of a sewer pipe.

"Now that you mention it, that sounds plausible..." James agreed with him.

After a while, they returned to the door. Although the creatures they met here had a slightly higher level, they were also much more sparse. Walking around that huge room and looking for these monsters was not worth their time. It was similar for the rooms across the hallway.

"Let's climb up this staircase and make a camp on landing over there," Lydia suggested.

The plan was to stay on the landing they could see from their current position and rest there before climbing the other half of the staircase to take a look at the next floor after the rest.

…

"This is actually quite refreshing."

Monique Was standing on a wide plane covered in swaying grass. They had entered a portal-type dungeon, which brought them to this quaint and scenic landscape. A nice warm wind was blowing and everything was peaceful.

"I feel it's somewhat uncharacteristic for a dungeon to be this quiet," Jonah mumbled under his mask.

Although the vampiric swordsman held a little grudge, he was also audibly relieved about being able to speak without having to lift his mask all the time. Even though he struggled to decide which he disliked more, the mask or his own face, he had to admit that this mask was even better than his previous one and it really complimented the powers he was given by Munara, the goddess of cruel beauty.

"You are right, it's a little too quiet. Tekar, can we have a shield? Just to be on the safe side." Monique asked their tank.

"Sure~" the massive man's tinny voice echoed from the helmet of his thick armor. He smashed his giant shield onto the ground ground and a big bubble encased the whole party instantly. It was one of his skills as "the Bastion", his secondary class.

Tekar was not a chosen, but he had gained the blessings of Alexiares and Anicetus, which matched his classes in an almost disturbing manner. Tekar's classes were "The Keep" and "The Bastion" while the monikers of the two gods were "the unconquerable one" and "he who wards off war". The synergy of their blessings and Tekar's classes gave him a defensive capability even the blacksmith praised.

Enveloped in Tekar's shield they kept going on. They didn't really have a direction and simply kept wandering across the grassy plain. After a while Tekar spoke up.

"Hold on a moment. I think something has been constantly chipping away at my shield. I believe something has been constantly attacking us since we came in," the tank postulated his theory.

"Shit. Let me have a look at your armors, guys," Alison suddenly exclaimed.

As the only one among them with an appraisal skill for items, she started checking everyone's equipment.

"It's as I thought. The durability of all our items has fallen since we entered this dungeon. I believe Tekar is right. Something did attack us all this time unnoticed, but our equipment took the brunt of the damage."

She explained that most of their item's durability had fallen by almost a third before Tekar cast his shield. Suddenly a wind blade shot toward Alison's head but was instantly blocked by Tekar's shield. The shield flickered a little but was undamaged otherwise.

"Tsk, so you found out. Why couldn't you just silently die like all the others before you."

"What are you doing?" "It has no sense hiding any longer. The standard tactic won't work."

Taking shape from the very air surrounding them, humanoid figures appeared surrounding them. They wore billowing robes and incorporeal armor. They had humanoid faces, but no definite features. They were hazy blue shapes, barely visible in contrast to their surroundings.

"I guess you guys are the mobs of this dungeon?" Monique commented on their appearance, readying her spear.

"Your stubbornness will only lead to a violent death. Becoming dust in the wind would have been mercy." the tallest of them stated. He also wielded a translucent spear.

<Air Marshal Lv.92(Elite)>

The mob talking seriously was met by a bunch of snorting and grunting from Team 1 of Minas Mar. All of them were slightly amused by the creature's sudden jokes.

"What are you laughing about?!" the Marshal barked aggravated.

"You! Who else is there?" Shay answered him readily.

"I have to agree. Your threat is quite amusing." Ray agreed with his colleague.

"Hubris," was his last word before lifting his spear to attack.

Despite looking like it was made of air, the spear smashed into Tekar's barrier with incredible force that shook the plain. The leader's attack was also the signal for the others to attack. With all mobs attacking simultaneously, the shield finally showed a semblance of weakening.

"These guys are a little strong, you guys should get ready. The shield will break soon, " Tekar prompted them to get in formation.

It was a classic formation with Tekar, Monique, and Jonah in the front, while the casters Ray, Shay, and Alison were the rearguard. The towering knight stepped forward and cast another skill that shared his massive defense with the others, before ramming his shield into the ground and entrenching himself.

He pointed his pipe at the group of elite mobs and used <Cry of Eris> to absorb and double the aggro of the weird elementals.

"If I had a face like yours, I would sue my parents! I envy the people that don't know you!" he shouted at them with pathos in his voice. Seth had made him learn a whole bunch of fighting words for the <Cry of Eris>.

When the shield finally broke, all the airheads charged toward Tekar, who had already become a true bastion.