Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

<Ding! Skill: Singing(Journeyman) lv.9 has become Singing(Craftsman) lv.1!>

His heart jumped. <Singing> had finally ranked up! The bard had been trying for a long time, but it obviously took pushing himself to the limit more than once to finally get past that hurdle. Seth swiped away the tears of blood running down his cheeks with a tissue.

The Mirror of Dawn had put up more resistance than he expected. Even with his scorpion armor improving the might of his songs by several times, defeating a creature past lv.100 came at a price if he didn't use a powerful advantage like attacking the soul.

His fight with the Ethnarchs, who were clearly past that threshold, too, was a lot easier since he had not cared for the experience he could gain. Thinking about it like that, Seth booked it as a sign of his growth, that he was able to overcome creatures like this on his own, without becoming desperate.

~Pff, I could have squashed that weird bird in a hot minute.~ Puffles the Mighty boasted from inside his pet space.

~Yeah, yeah, sure you would have.~

~ I'm just being honest!~

~I didn't disagree.~ Seth answered with a smirk as he stepped toward the mangled Mirror of Dawn.

It was not dead yet. The blacksmith found it would be a shame to just kill it, even if it offered a huge amount of experience. Seth liked personal strength, but his goal wasn't to become the strongest in the world.

Crouching down beside the wheezing angelic being, Seth had to admit that it was a work of art. Its porcelain-like marple skin was a tough outer shell, protecting biomechanical insides. He touched her cold cheek, wiping away some of the blood with his thumb. Cold and tough to attacks, but still soft to the touch, it was very intriguing.

"Kill me already." she wheezed. She was barely holding on with a health bar of 15/1000 health.

"Alright, but don't worry. It won't be the end."

Seth answered her as he changed one of his Trignis Gloves for the Wraithguard. Her eyes widened in terror as he directly grasped for her soul. The soul struggled against the extraction, even stronger than it was the case for the 24th Ethnarch. It was tinged in a divine aura that tried to resist his <Soul Capture>.

The blacksmith felt his leftover mental power draining quickly. He had spent quite a bit during his musical performance and had not expected for her soul to be able to resist in her current state. She left him no choice.

With his Wraithguard buried in her chest, grasping at her soul, he bend over to whisper in her ears. It was a gamble on whether it would work or not.

"We're no strangers to love~ You know the rules and so do I. A full commitment's what I'm thinking of ~ One you wouldn't get from any other guy..."

Her body started spasming as the resistance of her soul slowly weakened and Seth forcefully extracted it from the body of the boss just in time before his mental power ran out. Gasping for air, he fell back on his butt, with the soul entering his soul space.

<Ding! Skill: Spirit Capture lv.8 has become Spirit Capture lv.9!>

It was worth it! He had not gotten the experience for the boss, but two of the skill that had been stagnating for a long time had unexpectedly leveled up in one go. All in the pursuit of something completely different.

"Arise," he said softly as he pushed the soul back into her chest.

Using <Seed of Hades> he attempted to revive the boss that was over level 100 as his fourth of five subordinates.

<Ding! The being you are trying to revive has already begun to ascend to a higher plane of existence than yourself. Due to the low skill level of <Seed of Hades>, the Mirror of Dawns level will be limited.>

There was a notification the moment the wound across her body started healing at a rapid speed. Seth was surprised when he heard that his divine skill had a limit to its wondrous powers, but he was more occupied with the hint he had gained.

The Mirror of Dawn whose level he was unable to see even with <Theia's Discerning Eyes> had begun to ascend to a "higher plane of existence". Coupled with his other theories on what came after lv.100 and the concerns Bement and Leana voiced, he felt confirmed in his suspicion that there would be a great change past lv.100.

In the moment he was caught in his thoughts, his new subordinate had healed completely and stood before him, waiting for his attention. She was looking a little confused, but her gaze held unwavering loyalty.

<Mirror of Dawn lv.99(Boss)>

When he checked her he found that her attributes and stats had fallen by a quarter, and some of the skills she had obviously attained to counter Seth and Tatzel had vanished. Instead, he could now see a trait, which was probably the most important factor in her strength.

<Trait: Behind the Mirror

The trait will transform into power that perfectly counters the targets reflected in her eyes for a certain amount of time. The stronger the target, the longer the time. >

This was the reason she was able to perfectly oppose anything Tatzel and Seth had previously shown in the dungeon. An ability to become the perfect counter of anything one saw. The only drawbacks were that it took time to cast and could only counter what was shown.

"How long did it take for the trait to apply to me?" Seth asked her curiously.

"10 minutes." She answered succinctly.

"So you might have been able to gain the power to counter by singing within 10 minutes of the fight?" Seth asked shocked. However, her silver hair waved around as she shook her head.

"The trait can only be applied before the fight, not during a fight," she explained. She looked a little ashamed acknowledging her weakness in front of her new master. Was she concerned to disappoint him?

"But otherwise it would be really broken," Seth thought to himself. If she had the ability to start countering all his abilities during the fight, Seth might have been forced to use the helm of Hades in an attempt to finish her off. He might have even been forced to use the Great Sog on her to destroy her soul. That would have been a tremendous loss.

"Don't look so down. It's okay to have some weaknesses. We can smooth those out with items since you are part of the family now," he said friend and patted her shoulder.

"Family?" she asked a little surprised.

"Of course, right Tatzel? This is Tatzel, he's my mount," he introduced the Imugi who nodded at her as a greeting.

"Puffle, show yourself for a moment, and greet the new member."

~Hmph, you keep dragging stuff from the streets in. You have us, why do you keep collecting rabble?~ the giant Ivicer's head peeked out from the pet space.

"This is my pet, Puffles, the Great," Seth introduced, not minding the grumpy nightmare centipede.

"What a funny name. Why is the big one your pet and the small one your mount?" the boss blurted out. Puffles only gave her the grim look before vanishing.

~He's just a little older! I will grow soon enough! And I will be much bigger than Puffles, Mom!~ Tatzel explained himself to Seth for some reason.

"I know, Tatzel, I know," he placated the child and looked back to the Mirror.

"Also, don't belittle his name, he chose it himself."

"A Name...Can I also have a name?" she asked innocently.

"That's a given since you are part of the family now. Do you have one in mind, or should I try?"

"I don't know any names. You give me one," she said eagerly all of a sudden. Was it him, or had her personality changed a little? She seemed much more innocent and less haughty than before.

"Err, how about Angelique? It might be a little on the nose, but it's a very nice and easy-to-remember name," Seth suggested after a short moment of thinking.

"Angelique... I like it!" she said with a radiant smile.