Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 451: Phase Two

Right, Phase two was to force Natina to reveal her hidden strength with a bunch of cannon fodder. What necromancer could deny a comparison in numbers?

From the sea came the Golems he had originally left in Akhaz. He had given them the command to follow sometime after the Blood Sun because he didn’t want to stomach the loss. Although these souls were weird patchworks, they were big, and he was sure he could have refined them once he was back home.

Even if he had turned them into golems, he would have at least wanted to bring them back home with him. He came up with a daring move when the beast started following them everywhere. During the chaos on Bazilark, he used the chance to have them grab onto the beast.

Ever since Bazilark they had made their way through the ocean piggybacking on the Koor Worm. This terrifying sea beast became a troop transporter for the blacksmith. He had revealed their existence for the sake of Phase Two.

With these in addition to the Golems he had made during the journey in preparation for the original plan, the group was sure they could bind the forces of the undead participants. While the newly made ones were slightly weaker, Seth estimated that the marines had a combat power equivalent to an lv.60 to 70 Amalgamation after the combat in Akhaz.

In addition, they had the numerical advantage and the ability to heal. Facing this force, Seth and the others were sure that Natina couldn’t help but reveal some more of her powers.

Although he felt it was a shame to use them here, the one who would really suffer from Phase Two was probably Ellie. He felt bad for her since they had to ask for such a sacrifice from the slime rancher, but the situation was dire.

However, Seth didn’t have time to watch for long, he had to get ready for Phase Three. Or Plan B if things didn’t work out.

–Chrona–

Seeing, more and more slimes pour out of the ruin’s cover, the necromancer started laughing hysterically. Leana observed even closer. This was the time when the master of the undead would be forced to reveal her cards.

The fact that she saw it on screen, meant that Hardwig and the other had already screened it. The more information they had, the better they could deal with the situation. It also meant that, as long as the broadcast was running, they were winning.

“You must be crazy. Didn’t your mommy tell you not to fight a Necromancer with numbers? Enough of this farce.” she said the magic words. The legendary dialogue of every necromancer, ever.

As everyone in the audience expected, it was time for the army of the dead to make an entrance. Though the iteration of this event still managed to surprise the onlookers.

A portal, or rather a several hundred meters long wall of purple fog appeared parallel to the cliff. From within exited a massive number of skeletons and zombies of all kinds of ranks and levels. A squirming ocean of rotten flesh and bare bones clad in rusty and damaged armor.

Those in the front with the lowest levels wore the simple clothes of farmers or citizens. Natina had been hard at work and not picky with her victims. They were most likely locally sourced. Then came zombies and skeleton soldiers and knights.

Slimes poured in from the ruins like a tsunami of goo. Walking dead exited from the portal, a rolling wave of death. The audience felt a weird discrepancy.

Slimes and Skeletons aside from Goblins were some of the most common low-level mobs. No matter how grand the scene or high the numbers, it shouldn’t have been able to compete with the giant kaiju fight going on involving a legendary Zombie Dragon and a colossal sea serpent.

Still, seeing thousands of low-level mobs locked in an epic battle for survival, their sacrifice, their misery, and their desperate fights, the audience was captivated

Despite the giant monster battle, that was causing tsunamis and crushing ruins as the sea quaked under their beastly roars, the scene stayed on the battle of the low lives. Showing the valiant efforts of the slimes versus the undead.

Among the slime and skeleton, they also saw the struggle between Golems and Sparks. The undead Sparks faced the grotesque golems, and many lost their lives in the wake of their fights. Neither side cared about the slimes they squashed or skeletons they caught in their attacks.

As the audience watched in rapture, the scene was suddenly accentuated by background music.

— Keväti Kuinen–

Not all Sparks were equally powerful. While some had their problems with the giants, others like the heroes easily dealt with several at the same time. However, the plan had worked. The undead participants were held back by the golems and Natina had revealed her undead.

“It seems like this is as far as it goes,” Seth commented grimly.

“You are saying that as if it’s nothing. Look at the powers she has under her belt.” Twinkle complained.

“My poor babies.” Ellie whined at the side. It was hard for her to send her babies into this battle.

“I believe I can see death knights and a lich in the back,” Herbert commented, observing the handheld screen.

“Should we proceed now, or should we wait a little longer?” Twinkle asked Seth.

The blacksmith looked at Ellie, who had a hard time watching her babies die.

“Let’s commence with Phase Three now.” he concluded.

Unbeknownst to everyone except the party, there was a third type of golem. They were rectangular boxes, walking on four segmented tentacles that ended in claws. With the legs they walked and climbed across the ruins, hiding among the masses of slimes.

While nobody was watching, they had surrounded the whole army.

The bard entered the stage.

~Are you sure about this song? ~ Oz asked him, looking at the scale of the enemy army.

“I definitely won’t open pandora’s box in this kind of scenario.”

~You might not be able to stop it.~

“It’s still safer.”

With that, he finally started playing.

A captivating beat echoed through the battlefield. Slowly its volume rose, amplified by the loudspeaker golems that had taken their position.

With the rising volume, the situation of the battle changed as all participants fell into a dance routine. The tragic battle of skeletons and slimes became a tradeoff between the skeleton dance and the blobdance.

One side was caught in an almost innocent dance, while the other was erratically moving and jumping. The undead could do nothing at the wave of slimes buried them and the silly dance routine.

Natina and the Champions were also dancing, while the golems were unaffected. In theory, they were items. They could not be affected by music.

“What is this nonsense! Stop this! Stop this immediately!” the necromancer cried as her body kept moving all on its own. A rough and alien voice started off, as if on cue. Consciously, she was unable to understand the words.

But unconsciously, she could hear her own voice, whisper to her in her mind.

“Stop the rock? Stop the rock!? Can’t stop the rock! You can’t stop the rock~” her own voice berated her, singing the same over and over.

This ballad was also calling upon the demon god Paymon, but it was slightly different from the one Steh called pandora’s box. The bard was the pivot point of the song, the song could not go out of control.

It was already out of control from the start, as even Seth himself, could not stop the singing out of his own Accord. The song compelled enemy and ally to dance, while allies would provide power to strengthen the effects.

Seth could not stop the song until all hostiles affected were eliminated or he lost consciousness.

This was Phase Three, aptly titled dance parade.

While everyone was forced into a lyric dance-off to the death, the unaffected golems caused mayhem among the undead participants and the higher ranks of the necromancer’s army.

Of course, the stronger the target was, the harder it was to affect them. The stronger sparks and powerful undead were still able to put up a fight with the golems, despite being compelled to dance.

The rest of the team watched from afar, their ears thoroughly plugged, so they would not be affected.

“If Seth can keep this up, we might not even need Phase Four.” Megan jinxed it.

“You jinxed it.” Tamas confirmed.