Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Jonah pulled himself out from the hill he was burrowed in from the kick. His face was grim as he felt something break when Dragos kicked him. He managed to recover just fine this time, but he had a concerning guess as to why the golems broke so easily.

Healing himself as quickly as possible he tried to exit the hole. He had to let the others know about his conclusion. They couldn't allow themselves to get hit by that aura, or else-

He kept frantically thinking, but his thoughts suddenly stopped when he finally got out from the hill and saw the thing Dragos had turned into completely covered in that weird aura vanish and appear right in front of Monique- He was too late!

...

Monique's vision suddenly shifted. She had been staring at the place the Dragos creature vanished, now she stood further to the right, looking at Tekar. He had switched places with her! Not a second too early. She had no time to get her bearings back when the disfigured psychopath appeared in front of Tekar.

The aura claws pierced the tank's barrier without slowing down and crashed into the Lethargic Bulwark. The massive shield creaked and cracked as Tekar was pushed back, despite his weight and the shield's ground anchors.

Monique got goosebumps thinking what would have happened if she had received that attack. Unlike Jonah, she didn't have the power of self-healing powers of a nightcrawler. She would have been dead, then and there.

"Don't you dare think this paperweight will be able to save your life!" Dragos exclaimed.

Having lost all self-control he recklessly started smashing into the shield with everything he had. Seeing the cracks on the shield grow, Monique recovered her senses and turned to attack. They couldn't wait until the shield broke. She wanted to act when a thunderous voice shook the plain.

"Get away from my shield, you ugly beast!" it commanded with absolute authority, to the point even the enraged Dragos halted his actions.

Monique looked up in shock and joy. There he stood, their hero in shining- in dark armor covered in blood and chunks of flesh??? She could not help feeling relieved that their tower master had appeared, even if he looked like he ran through a container of slaughterhouse waste.

…

Seth had rushed here without care for his surroundings. Despite Alniyat giving him great chances for a safe journey, it wasn't perfect, not in a place like the abyss. However, to save time, Seth simply ran past or through any obstacle that was not hard enough to stop him, turning him into a Christmas tree decorated with organ tinsel.

He arrived just in time to catch some disfigured humanoid about to break one of his items. Of course, he was glad none of his friends were hurt yet, but it didn't he could accept someone breaking one of his babies.

"You! It's you! Finally! My revenge!" the deranged thing screeched and directly charged at him.

For the others, it was like it vanished but not to Seth who had the power of <Theia's Vision>. It was fast, but not fast enough to reach him before he could react. The moment it arrived in front of Seth, it face its own mirror image in Antares, just before being blasted by <Blinding Light> and burned by <Scorching Light>

The thing screeched as the holy light of Apollo burned away the murky aura and the top layers of its skin. Using the chance, Seth teleported behind it and bisected it with a slash through its waist. The beast's flesh was incredibly tough and the Draconic Blade almost got stuck. Seth was surprised when he found the sword had gained several nicks from the single slash.

"Urgh! You will pay! I will kill you!" the thing seethed on the ground.

It was burned crisp and cut in two but it was not concerned at all. As expected from a thing without a soul. The blacksmith had not noticed it immediately, but like the things from Y-City, Seth was unable to see the soul of this thing.

This coincided with the fact that <Theia's Discerning Eyes> were unable to get any accurate information about the thing. It was no longer part of the system, so the skill only delivered vague estimations about its overall strength, speed, and danger.

However, this was also a little different. The burned skin was healing, but instead of regenerating the severed limbs, the separated halves tried to reattach. This was more reminiscent of the Zarkists' style of reassembly.

"Be careful! That aura, I believe its aura can harm souls!" Jonah called out frantically, as he rushed over.

"Stay back, this thing is still dangerous," Seth commanded seriously, as he casually cut off one of its arms. At least he tried to, but the creature had left its lower half behind to evade. There was something deeply disconcerting watching a mutilated torso moving on only its arms.

"You care for these people! Haha, I kill the little birdies in front of you! I will savor your despair! <Blink>!" it vanished, only to reappear right beside Jonah, who was the closest. This time it had not moved there physically, it had used the <Blink> skill.

Even though Seth immediately followed using <Scorpio Escape>, he was a step too late. Jonah was no pushover, he was surprised, but still managed to block the sudden attack. It didn't cost him his life, only both of his forearms.

Seth could hear a distinct ring, something he had never heard before, but directly knew what it was. Jonah's soul armaments had been destroyed. This proved the man's words with overwhelming certainty. The aura of the beast was able to arm souls, to the point of breaking the soul armament he made for them.

In anger, Seth attacked. <Shattering Stomp> struck the torso in the back. The earth-quaking skill blasted its flesh and pulverized the bones on impact. If it broke the soul armament and did enough damage to Jonah's soul, there was a high chance he might have lost his forearms permanently. It was only at a later time, that he remembered that he could make him prostheses afterward.

For now, he grabbed Jonah and directly shoved him and his forearms into Legion.

"Go ask Angelique for help," he told the swordsman, who was confused about who that was, but didn't get the time to ask.

"Now to you..." he said grimly, but the gleeful grin on the healing torso distracted him.

"Aren't you a little too laid back?" it asked at the same time as battle noise could be heard in the distance.

"What in the?" When Seth turned to the Party, he found Monique, Tekar, and the two Golems fending off a pair of legs attacking them with vicious kicks and agilely evading the magic from Ray, Shay, and Alison. Water, Ice, and other magics missed, while Ray's curses showed no effect at all.

"Haha, where are you looking?" he heard and suddenly felt an impact in his back, followed by a screech and curses.

Turning around he found the man, lying on the ground, his arm was completely smashed and showed no signs of healing. Putting one and one together, Seth couldn't help but laugh out mockingly.

The being had attacked him with a powerful strike, wielding an aura that could destroy souls. In exchange Sargas not only negated 80% of the damage, it also reflected a huge portion. Although Seth didn't know whether the demonic enchanted that reflected 40% damage could reflect soul damage, but he was sure Tisiphone's Mirror did.

Looking at it, the 50% that were reflected were not just enough to smash its arm, but also kill all the millions of tiny little souls inhabiting the cells that made up the arms, otherwise, it would have been regenerating already.

"If you will excuse me, I have a pair of legs to catch."

A circle of brightly burning pale blue flames descended on the creature. Even if the soul fire on its own was not terribly effective against these "immortals". The constantly burning, soul-devouring flame would keep it busy and hinder it from healing and fleeing.