Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“Urgh!” Mike groaned when the rhino finally managed to smack him with its head. Despite his skills and equipment, he was unable to overcome the 50-level difference in their levels. Just like with legends, depending on the path they took the difference in power could differ vastly.

The difference between single levels was much greater beyond lv.100 and even before the ascension, the specialization could stretch that difference even further. It may sound like an excuse, but on top of the large level difference, the opponent had also a much bigger body with higher stats and attributes in general.

Although the catman had next to no chance of success, he still stood up again. The slaughter's set was not overly focused on defense, but the blunt force was far from enough to take him out. He just needed to hold on for Ortega to return. Together they would definitely be able to stall for reinforcement.

Barely dodging the beast's follow-up attack, the chosen of Maahes attacked the side of its massive skull. The skin was thinner here and Mike could actually feel the blade slide over the bone below, as they cut the skin and flesh. Maybe he could have done more if he got the time to channel an AOE skill, but the Rhino didn't give him the time to cast. he had to rely on his swordsmanship and quick skills to survive.

Distracted by his success for just a moment, he gave the Rhino the chance to counter, as suddenly its whole body fell in his direction! It was seriously trying to crush him with a body check! Mike had no choice but to use and to get far enough into the underground floors of Delta, to escape the beast, widening the hole it dug.

He almost fell, when the foundations below Delta started crumbling away under the attack of the raging undead. he managed to flee further into the skies, thanks to the lotuses appearing in the air. Here he was also able to see Ortega's return.

The bull-headed man rushed up toward the beast's belly, grabbing the Khopesh he lost on his way there. Re-quipped with both of his blades he began spamming slashes wildly, cutting up the rhino's underbelly. There was no blood, but the wounds started oozing sludge and releasing white smoke.

ROARF! The Rhinoceros of Destruction roared, but for the first time, there was a little more than pure wrath audible in the sound. Hurriedly it tried to roll over and crush Ortega, but the bull also escaped to the sky, and stepped on much darker lotus flowers than Mike.

“I finally managed to poison it!” Ortega reported excitingly. His wild slashes had erased the beasts and allowed the venom Dragon Poison to take effect on the undead. Now, it was quickly eating away at the belly, like a terrifying acid.

They celebrated the success with a high five, but the moment quickly ended. The Rhino below started snorting and huffing heavily, despite being an undead that didn't need to breathe. It was quickly covered in a black fog.

The next moment it moved at a terrifying speed, Jumping along and crushing the sides of the hole it rose above, attaching the two in the sky. To shocked to move, they were about to be smacked out of the air, and maybe directly out of life.

Eyes pressed shut, they were bracing themselves for the inevitable impact when a bright light shone through their eyelids. A meteor half the size of the rhino had smacked it out of the sky, ramming it right back down into the hole.

“Hey, Boys. Need some help?” Jess called out from the sky above. James was also close by, standing at the edge of the hole. Reinforcements had arrived and hearts lightened. Jess' attack had rammed the quick Rhino back into the hole and it didn't seem to move anymore.

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“Why did it take so long?” Ortega asked jokingly. Jess pointed to the sky, at the hole the rhino created. The barrier had yet to close again hordes of flying beasts were entering the shield, despite most of them dying to Iego.

“There is quite a lot going on right now. We should hurry and join the others before the big event.”

“Yes, let's-”

Just when they dared to hope that it was really over, a purple glow could be seen in the crater.

...

---Outside Delta---

“Stop that already and fight me like a warrior!” the shaman growled, wildly swinging his rod around. Evading the rampaging shaman as best as it could, it jumped and ran across the flooded valley, littered with corpses, finishing off the struggling undead that had been flushed down here. Since it managed to kill the three Liches, which were judged the greatest obstacle, it continued to buy time and keep Uz'Roc busy, as Ceres instructed.

Its actions served to further provoke the legendary undead. After all, it was not a beast. Its job was to keep the guy here, not to fight him. It knew full well, that it just barely managed to survive by running away, a direct confrontation would mean death. So... it had to use psychological warfare to keep the undead's aggro. řἈŊＯВĚᶊ

The questing beast lost sight of how long they had played cat and mouse for. The many close encounters with death, when the shaman's glow stick just barely shaved by or only crazed it, when it was able to evade in the last moment, made it feel like hours.

The wounds started accumulating and its stamina diminished. If it became slower now...it might forfeit its life. Now was the moment it had to risk it. Splitting its consciousness, the questing beast used some of its focus to cast a spell while on the move.

“Sanctuary!” Blotches announced a few minutes later, casting a field of healing. The valley was submerged in a golden glow, as the undead still holding on screeched in pain and began to burn. Just like poison could be used as medicine, life and death were two sides of the same coin, and the questing beast had practiced both to the peak of its talents.

While the undead were suffering from the pure energy, the area of life magic strengthened itself, healed the wounds, and replenished some of the lost stamina. Although he didn't start screaming in pain, it also served to weaken the orc shaman trying to kill it. With this, the remaining undead were mostly neutralized, only leaving the legend and the questing beast in the valley.

“You think you are really clever, huh? But you forgot something,” Uz'Roc threatened sinister. Once again, the shaman charged forward, wielding his staff covered in bands of magic runes. Once again, its hooves dug into the ground to quickly evade the attack.

This time, however, Blotches did not vanish from the spot where the staff was going to descend! Its hooves were suddenly stuck to the ground. The questing beast couldn't move at all, as a dark power ensnared its feet.

Its reptilian pupils narrowed, seeing the staff coming down on it and it braced itself for the strike. Several skills were activated to increase its defense and durability just before the rod of doom struck down on its collar bone and shoulder.

Blotches had taken quite the beating from Adam and was brought close to death by Ceres, but nothing it ever experienced since it opened its eyes on Urth could compare to the feeling of having it whole left side crushed and disintegrated.

The attack burned through all its defenses, and the questing beast felt like it was made of jelly, as it shot off, carried by the force of the attack. The right shoulder was shattered as it bounced off a ridge, which catapulted it straight back into the sky, where the shaman already waited for it!

Receiving another strike to the stomach, all breath left its body as its rib cage caved in. Finally, it slammed into the ground. There was no further attack for now. The pain was overwhelming at the start, but it had quickly grown numb.

Was this a sign that it was close to leaving this world again? It had been such a short time since he opened its eyes here, it was a shame that it already had to go... It knew that one slip-up was all it took to forfeit its life and it had slipped up.

It couldn't help to question how. Now that its body grew numb and the situation quiet, this thought wouldn't let go of it. Just what happened... A shadow covered the sun and blotched laboriously opened its eyes. Uz'Roc towered over it, a sadistic grin on his pale lips.

“Do you know what mistake you made?” he asked happily. Was this the moment when the villain revealed their evil plan? The moment of its defeat and the moment to really rub his superiority in its face. but it really wanted to know. It's head twitched, barely a nod.

The Orc's grin grew wider and he tapped his temple with his pointer finger and then pointed to the side. Blotches followed his gesture and saw a single skeleton in a dark robe, standing outside the range of the sanctuary.

“ The instant death magic was a great move. Even a Lich with a phylactery isn't immune to that effect, but you only crushed this guy. So while you were so busy distracting me, he regenerated to take his revenge,” the shaman revealed the questing beast's oversight.

it didn't know what to feel at this point. Frustrated? Angry? Its thoughts were too numb to feel anything at this point in time. Yes, it had made a mistake, but there was nothing it could do about it anymore.

As it stared at the undead legend towering over it, he was suddenly enveloped by a purple glow. The orc clicked his tongue.

“Tsk, she should have done that sooner. What's the point when I'm already done here?”

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