Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1305: The Only One

What weapon was best to take advantage of the ? It needed to be a weapon that could deal with armor and high defense. If the weapon just glanced off the skin or armor of the opponent, the aura wouldnʼt be able to take effect at all.

Even if the horn was already shaped like it wanted to be a scimitar, Seth couldnʼt fulfill that wish, They already had someone wielding a saber of unhealing wounds. Making another one would have felt cheap, and scimitars fell in the category of easily blocked by good armor.

The weapon needed to be able to cause devastating damage, disregarding the enemyʼs defense or the wielderʼs skills. There was only one weapon that came to Sethʼs mind that could fulfill all his requirements. One he had used quite some time ago, but still remembered fondly.

However, having refined the horn for over 8 hours, Seth also knew that it actually had a drawback, maybe caused by its own power. The horn of destruction didnʼt have the best durability. This wasnʼt a problem for a living or undead beast that had skills to fix the damages on its body, but for a weapon?

Refining it had only concentrated its legendary force, not strengthened the material. Even using to strengthen it would not cut it; this was how he easily determined what forging ballad to use.

The feasting ballad would be able to fix the materials problems, allowing it to strengthen and repair itself through the blood it absorbed. However, this time, Seth didnʼt intend to do the whole combination of ballad and enchantments; he had other plans for the enchantments.

Having come up with a rough plan on how to continue, Seth took a look at the clock and finished for the day.

...

---Evening---

Sorting out her paper, Mary was getting ready to end her day and get a nights sleep. She was looking forward to some food and a glass of whine, when her assistant entered the office with quick steps.

“Mary, we have some concerning information,” her assistant approached her with a report. She sighed. Since Chrona left and Spatia was thrown back, there was a lot they had to do to properly take over and maintain Delta.

They had used Minas Marʼs, the towerʼs, powers to keep things stable in a part of the District, but they recently started to surveying and assessing the city and the damages it had suffered. They already knew that Chrona had not just left, but it was worse than expected.

The empire had taken back all the things they had brought to stabilize Delta, except the wall. The devices that stopped gates to the Pathworks from opening in the city were gone. Monsters, creatures and hostile forces were gradually appearing in the city and had to be dealt with in addition to assessing the damages.

Despite that, things had actually calmed down. First estimations show that parts of the city were hit hard, but most vital facilities were still in working order. Mark Baker had also promised to share Y-Cityʼs technology for gate blockage with them. Things were looking good... until now.

“Are you sure this is true?” Mary asked the assistant to confirm the reports once again.

“Unfortunately, yes. Leana has also confirmed it.”

To understand the contents of the report, one had to know how Chrona managed to attain such a prominent role in Delta. In the beginning of Apocalypse, the district were threatened or destroyed by various kinds of catastrophes.

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For Avernum it was the Evergrowing Forest, for Y-City, it was the loss of modern technology, and for Delta? Delta was built at the slopes of Urthʼs greatest mountain, Mt. Robere, that was suspected to be a dead volcano, like many mountains in the central mountains range. ℞ἁɴȯBÈ𝙨

Suspected, because they had never been active in any recorded history of Urth. The suspicion was confirmed when the volcano suddenly became active with the influx of magic from the Pathworks. The now active volcano did not just change the climate of Delta, but also threatened to flatten it with an eruption. There was nothing the district, thrown into the chaos of the apocalypse, could do.

In the end, it was the Chrona Empire that stepped in to save the day. Chrona had set up a massive magic formation to calm and inhibit the giant volcano. Since then, the volcanic activity of Mt. Robere had stabilized until recently.

As the scouts increased the scope, they finally got around to check the status of the great formations calming the mountain, but what they found were clear signs of sabotage. Someone had damaged the corner stones of the magic circle, rendering the circle useless. At this rate, Mt. Robere threaten to break out somewhen in the next few months.

It was obvious who caused this situation. The Peddler of Ruin had most likely sabotaged the great magic formation, leaving them a time bomb, or if their plan succeeded, leaving Spatia a time bomb in the shape of a giant volcano.

“Didnʼt Leana mention anything about mending the magic?” Mary asked seriously. Although it was not Leana who had set up the formation in the first place, as a princess of Chrona, she had to have an idea of how to fix it.

“Idyllon Moeʼs assessment of that is on the fifth page,” the assistant mentioned. Mary glanced at him coldly, so he hurried to give a summary. “The Space Wizard has no idea how to fix it or set up a new one. Apart from being sure that it was purposefully dismantled, he said itʼs not his expertise. ”

“...I guess Idyllon Moe forgot about AlʼZalsar. I mean, the sorceress created the Iego System on her own, as if the volcano would stop her... But she would need to be willing to help us,” Mary said, worried, thinking of how capricious of a person Al usually was. Still, she doubted the sorceress would not help in this situation.

“We will have to call in an emergency meeting. Get Leana, Seth, Al and the administrative staff,” she ordered with a sigh. Although Idyllonʼs assessment was probably correct, she doubted there was absolutely no way for them to deal with this.

“Jane and Luf are currently off-world. Will that be a problem?” the assistant asked, concerned.

“This canʼt be changed now. Although Luf might have been able to help with a bright idea, if we canʼt manage with Al, those two wouldnʼt have the answer either,” Mary said with an even deeper sigh.

Just like for Seth, Alʼs past feats had created a deep trust in her skill and knowledge among the people of Minas Mar. If not even the Tower Master and the Legendary Sorceress together could come up with a solution, there was no point in struggling.

...

“This is indeed a problem,” Seth muttered. Everyone Mary mentioned had assembled at the meeting room, except for one empty seat. AlʼZalsar was not home. There was nobody in Minas Mar in a position to tell her what to do and she had no obligation to tell anyone what she was up to.

So, when they tried to get in contact with the sorceress, they found out that AlʼZalsar had actually left Delta on her own, some time after she and Seth explored the hell gates. This meant their most reliable source of strength and knowledge was gone.

“Whatʼs with the long faces? If we canʼt use a magical way, we can use the scientific method,” the blacksmith said half-jokingly.

“What method would that be?” Idyllon asked curiously.

“Err, well, Iʼm no seismologist, but donʼt volcanoes break out because of the accumulation of magma in the magma chamber. I donʼt know how the magic formation worked, but couldnʼt we just drill tunnels to the magma chamber, so we can control the pressure and direction it comes out from?” Seth suggested his idea based on his half-baked school knowledge.

“Thatʼs a good idea!” Mary suddenly supported him.

“Really?” the bard asked, surprised.

“Well, maybe, but more importantly, it gave me a good idea. We should see if we can find a seismologist among the survivors. They will have a better idea of whether drilling release tunnels will work,” Mary suggested.

“Okay, but what is a seismologist?” Idyllon, who had followed their conversation with a confused look, asked. After the people from Urth did some explaining on seismology and their understanding of volcanoes, Leana and Idyllon were also on board with the idea, however-

“That probably wonʼt work, “ Leana finally spoke up with a sigh. She had only listened so far.