Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

--- Colossal Dungeon, the Castle---

Monique cursed as the death knight in front of her healed once again, after she had almost blown it apart with her divine spear. Lemar was a harder nut to crack than the party around Monique and Jonah thought at first. King Marcus was manageable, but Lich Lemar had enough time to prepare.

Not only was the boss an archmage but it also had control over the undead they had passed on the lower floor. Every time his undead were about to fall apart, he even acted as a healer and used the surrounding miasma to regenerate them.

This time, they were facing a well-put-together party of colossal undead working like a clockwork under the control of the lich in the back. A party made up of colossal elites and bosses that constantly regenerated with the surrounding miasma, while they suffered status effects from the same environment.

"Alison, Shay can you do something about the Lich?" She called back to the rearguard.

The vanguard made up of her, Jonah, Duhu, Bement, and Ellen were busy trying to hold back the five elite dark knights that made up the Lich's front row, while Link and Archer were having a shoot-off against the two crossbowmen beside Lemar.

This only left the mages to directly fight against the lich, since Tekar was busy off-setting the Lich's magic attacks. But it was not that easy, Lemar had surrounded himself with various shields and barriers that were powered and strengthened by miasma.

"I'm empty. I used my everything on the last boss and didn't really have time to recover!" Alison lamented. There was the function of Armor of Lunacy, but... the last breakout had made the alchemist careful of the armor's effects and she didn't dare to take one of the Lich's attacks head-on.

"Shay?" Jonah called out, as he gracefully split the shield of a knight with his attack.

"Sorry, but it's pretty much the same for me..." the water mage admitted embarrassed. He had used the ultimate skill of his ring earlier and Olaf's skills from the bracelet were not helpful in a group fight in such an open space.

Looking on in despair, however, was Ray, who couldn't help anyone whatsoever. His curses had no effect on the undead as the miasma simply swallowed the dark energy. Even if he used other shamanistic skills or even his healing spells, it did next to nothing to the colossal enemy.

It was not the first time he felt like this and he slightly regretted the class he chose. Even with a legendary ring, he was only stuck at being kind of helpful but never being able to really contribute in big fights. Everyone was equipped with terrifying items, whose effects often dwarfed the extent of his debuffs.

Now especially, when nothing worked at all, he felt useless and blamed himself for his weakness. The inability to help his friends in a dire situation cut deep into him.

~Do you want strength?~ a hushed voice whispered in his ears. It was dark and gritty and uncomfortable to his ears, but what the voice said made Ray listen up. Was it finally his turn to get a blessing...or even become a chosen?

~ Kuk, I don't have the power to just make a chosen, but I can make you my saint, ~ it said with its voice like grinding gears and screeching styrofoam.

But, was that enough? Could becoming a saint make him able to have an impact on the situation before them? He didn't even know what god this was and Saints also had certain duties, unlike chosen ones. Stuff like building up a community and creating a church, or spreading faith.

~ Huhuhu, I am called Sol'Fiam, the dark sun. I'm the god of curses and dark magic in this world. With my power, I guarantee you, that you will be able to make a difference in this situation. All you have to do is accept my power and spread my name. My followers do not need a church.~

Ray couldn't help but think that he knew the name from somewhere. Had he read it before? But he couldn't remember where and what it was about. Still, this was the first time a god offered his assistance to him. If nobody had moved up to now, did he really have a choice?

If becoming a saint meant being able to proudly stand together with everyone and fight their foes with confidence... then why not?

~I accept.~ he thought intensely.

~ That's the right attitude. Receive my power and no darkness will ever be able to resist before your might.~ the cracking voice spoke in glee.

Like burning gasoline, he felt power surging into his body and rampaging through his veins. It was a dark and intense power, like a pond of tar filled with electric eels. The shaman cried out in pain as the power seeped into his flesh.

Tattoos surfaced on his skin, painting complicated and intricate patterns across his body. They started out in a light blue, but they kept growing in number and overlapping each other. As more and more of them intersected with each other, they became darker and darker until Ray's body had become an unnatural bluish-black.

"Ray! What is going on!?" Shay exclaimed in a panic, but the shaman could not answer, as he convulsed in pain.

At the time when the pain finally receded, he had a hard time even seeing his own hand in the thick miasma that had filled the rooms, but he could also feel the immediate effects of his transformation. With every breath of the dark fog, he felt power run through his body. What was this?

There was no answer, but knowledge flooded his mind. His status was a saint, but his new class was Warlock of Sol'Fiam. The fundamental effect of this change was that he no longer possessed mana or mana regeneration.

Instead, his power stemmed from the darkness he absorbed from the outside and turned into his own resource. In exchange for the lacking regeneration, there was no limit to his pool of power. He also knew that the magic he had learned would be twice as powerful when using his converted dark power.

And as if a restriction had been lifted, he also remembered where he had heard the name of this god before. It was in one of the books he had read in the library of Minas Mar. He was one of the few who used his free time to read through the previous owner's collection.

Sol'Fiam was mentioned once in a while, but it did not mean dark sun, it meant ugly sun. he was the god of curses and dark magic, but he was not evil, but actually a good deity with an unfortunate fate. His appearance was ugly because his very existence was to absorb darkness to give the world light.

Still, in the end, he was a shunned god, since dark magic and curses were usually the powers of villains. The deeds of his followers would often put him in a bad light, and even the bad deeds of people who were not his followers would often be blamed on him. Ray halted for a moment, had he really read all that about this god?

~I added a little something to give you the full picture. There is one more thing...~

Ray already knew, the unlimited power basin also came at a price, the more he absorbed, the more his appearance would suffer as he was contaminated with evil. The warlock didn't mind, as he wasn't interested in romantic relationships in the first place.

"Ray, what happened to you?" Shay was beside him and put his hand on his shoulder.

Ray looked at him with a smile as he stood up.

The warlock flexed his muscles and they bulged, bigger than ever before. He looked at Shay and found that he had also grown by several centimeters. This was another effect of his new power. Although his appearance would suffer, it didn't relate to his health. As Sol'Fiam was absorbing darkness to become stronger, Ray's physical powers would only rise with the power he stored.

"Don't worry. I may look weird, but it's not a bad thing. Actually, I became a saint," he declared and took his new power for a spin.

The pitch-dark fog around them immediately started lightening, as the power rushed into his power, filling his infinite basin with a flood of dark power. As the power was converted during entry, he felt the impurities accumulate in his body, leading to the changes Sol'Fiam's information had mentioned.

There was nothing worrying about it as the power he received far outweighed the cost. Channeling the pure force he collected through his hands, he got ready to cast one of his new skills.

"Everyone, get out of the way!"

<Black Blast!>

A beam of crackling dark energy, like an inverted laser beam shot out from his hand. As it traveled through the thick miasma, it only grew in size until it finally crashed into the shields that protected Lemar, breaking several of them, but being stopped just before reaching the Lich.

Everyone stared at the trail of destruction it left behind, which was more than impressive enough, even if it did not one-shot the boss. The power was comparable to Puffle's as Ray's dark ray had burned a clean hole through two death knights that their shields, that had jumped in front of Lemar in an attempt to block the attack.

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