One-Eyed Monster

As Master Lao was adding charcoal to the forge, the corners of Sims’s mouth twisted into a strange smile, and his fingers started to demonstrate extreme flexibility, cracking loudly.

”Ha!” Simultaneously, Grim let out a rampant laugh, wielding an axe as he charged directly at Igor, the distance so close that it seemed like Igor was about to be struck by the axe!

However, Igor simply ducked, and in an instant used a strange step to dodge the axe, then before Grim could stop his forward momentum, Igor suddenly appeared behind him, smiling as he gently pushed with his finger, sending the Fighter known as Grim sprawling forward.

”Can’t keep your cool! Hmph!” The usually silent girl finally spoke, catching Igor’s attention.

Igor thought to himself, usually she wears a cold expression, and now this sudden change, what’s going on with this girl?

The old man smoking a pipe became anxious upon hearing the girl’s words, and began puffing rapidly, then shouted, ”What are you waiting for, second and third!”

Igor noticed that the Wizard, whose fingers were making popping sounds, released six blazing Fire Arrows rapidly, all aimed at him!

This made Igor feel it was unfair; clearly it was Kadi mocking them, so why take it out on him? It’s just bullying! But as the arrows shot toward him, he had to deal with them, flipping his palm to instantly form a Spirit Power Shield around him.

Boom! The Fire Arrows bounced off the Spirit Power Shield and flew in another direction, making Igor quite happy; he then used his eerie Devil’s Steps to block each Fire Arrow.

”Master, I’ll lead the fire for you!” Confused, Igor managed to direct the arrows into the forge!

At this moment, Master Lao was about to restart the bellows!

The Fire Arrows shot into the forge, and with a whoosh, the flames leaped high, making the red-hot iron inside sizzle.

”Good fire!” Master Lao praised.

”Whoa, interesting!” Kadi suddenly jumped out, but before he could retract his leaping arm, a figure holding a dagger appeared beside him; it was clearly Ruben, the Hunter!

Kadi glanced up, saw the sneaky figure, and without much thought, pulled down his mask, revealing a face with a single blue eye, and made a funny face with a ”ah!” as he stuck out his tongue.

The Hunter named Ruben was so startled by Kadi’s funny face that he stepped back three or four steps, almost losing his balance. Although Ruben is a Hunter, accustomed to facing challenges, he wasn’t actually scared by the face; rather, it was because Kadi, while making the face, landed two punches and a kick to Ruben’s chest, fast enough that it was hard to react...

Clang clang, at this moment, Master Lao was already hammering the red-hot iron into the shape of a scimitar, clearly benefiting from Igor’s earlier fire.

In a brief moment, the Smoky Trio’s attack was neutralized, leaving them in an awkward situation.

”Useless!” The girl spat again, and in an instant, the Exotic Fire surrounding Kadi’s setup vanished completely.

”Master, calm your anger!” The old man with the pipe became tense, slowly exhaling the smoke he’d just inhaled; instantly, smoke spread across the sky, further shrouding the already dim night.

”Let me show you the power of our Smoke!” Grim charged again with his axe, this time with several plumes of smoke around his feet.

Igor was still catching his breath when a massive flame suddenly descended from the sky; quickly, he drew his sword and unleashed a Sword Qi that split the flame in half.

Clang clang, Master Lao was forging the iron into a curved scimitar.

Igor took a breath, only to see Grim’s large axe once more in front of him. Sighing, Igor prepared to use Devil’s Steps to dodge, but found his feet couldn’t move; he had to use his sword to block the axe and then looked down to see that smoke had already locked around his ankles.

”So that’s it!” Igor marveled at the opponent’s skill in using smoke.

Their attacks came one after another, with Sims and Grim dealing with Igor, Ruben handling Kadi alone, and the old man’s smoke ceaselessly surrounding them both.

Whoosh, another blaze shot toward Igor, who opened his Spirit Power Shield just as flames closed in, enveloping him; Grim persistently tried to strike Igor from every angle, but all his attempts were deflected by Igor’s sword.

Igor glanced down to see the smoke binding his ankles had expanded, reaching his knees, likely to soon bind his entire body...

Still, Igor wasn’t panicked, listening to the celestial sound of Master Lao switching between hammer strikes, then envyingly looking at Kadi, only to find Kadi surrounded by a group of figures.

All of them were identical, thin and tall, holding daggers, with a sneaky posture, each emitting a plume of smoke.

Kadi was surrounded by many Rubens; he didn’t attack since he had no weapon, only dodging continuously. Not once did he let them advance on the blacksmith shop, clearly honoring his promise, and even in passive defense, he didn’t retreat into the shop.

The smoke tried to bind Kadi, but he effortlessly shook it off each time, and it was unclear how he managed it; Igor now really wanted to ask Kadi, but Grim’s large axe came again.

Whoosh— at this time, Master Lao was nearing the quenching stage.

”Time to quench!” Master Lao shouted at Igor and Kadi.

”What’s up?” Kadi kicked away a Ruben and asked.

”You need something from your body to merge with your weapon!” answered Igor for Master Lao!

”I’ll use whatever Igor uses!” said Kadi straightforwardly, without hesitation.

”No matter what, you have to enter the blacksmith shop!” Master Lao shrugged, waiting for the integration of the two newly forged short swords on the anvil.