Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 351: Don’t kill? Fine.

It was harder than expected to get through the chaotic pile of bodies formed by the ordinary followers. Seth made very sure not to tough or shove anyone. Not just because he did not want to be found.

He was really yucky. Even without touching anything, he wanted to take a shower. No, a long bath. A hot one that really burned of anything. Maybe he would just jump in a pool of lava…maybe that would make him feel clean again.

Seth had left the caravan in the evening, and it was already dark when he reached the big tent in the center. The kind of relief he felt after finally getting past that place was unbelievably liberating. His only regret was that he had <Night Vision>. Even the darkness could not hide the horrors of this place.

Decisively turning away from the place, he faced the big tent. It was the size of a circus tent, and the flaps of the entrance were heavily guarded. However, it was just a tent. There was no special material or magic protecting it.

Seth simply poked a hole into it with one of his mass-produced Soul Piercers. It was silent, it was quick. It was undetecta-

“Who is there!? Guards!” the figure sitting in the center suddenly exclaimed.

Damn! He had barely gotten a glance at the inside! How did they detect him?

He was bummed by the failed attempt, but he did not panic. He was invisible after all. How were they supposed to find him? Actually, this was a chance.

While the flap guardians ran into the tent, Seth patiently waited at the entrance. Soon more guards assembled and started inspecting the tent. They found the small hole.

“We found a small hole at the place you described your highness. But we did not find the perpetrator.”

“Go, find him! Search the camp.”

“Yes, your highness.”

The guards left and started searching the campsite. Only two stayed behind at the flap but it did not matter. Seth had long since snuck into the tent during the ruckus. Nobody noticed his presence and he had a long time to observe the inside.

The walls inside the tent were covered in fleshy vines, like blood vessels and a sticky-looking membrane. The membrane was damaged where he poked the hole, that was probably how his presence was detected.

In the middle of this network of vines sat Champion of Zarkon. He had not moved away even once during the conversation with the guards. Here he was surrounded by translucent screens that showed several situations from different points of view.

Others were probably unable to see these, but Seth could. These screens were based on soul energy, the same as the chains that all united in the champion’s chest. From what Seth could see they had to be what his followers saw.

This guy must have had a skill that let him use the followers like drones, to observe everything they did from far away. Some were live feeds of an ongoing battle.

“hah… they are finally gone. Why can’t I take care of business without getting disrupted? At least once?” with that the imposing champion pulled down his pants and returned to choking the chicken.

Seth couldn’t kill a man during his private time. That was just rude. At closer inspection, he found that many screens were simply porn running on repeat. This guy was a true man of culture. He had such an imposing skill and used it for voyeurism.

Zarkon was really the god of unbound carnal desires… The man did not even bother to dampen his grunting.

The blacksmith wanted to let the man finish his last diddling and took time looking around as he was quite interested in this skill. Until he recognized what was running on one of the big screens in front of the wanker.

It was the scene of a small lake full of women bathing. Something startled them and they all jumped up to equip their armor and get ready to fight. For just a moment they could be seen in all their glory before all kinds of armor covered them.

One of them was Mina.

Here he was giving the man the courtesy of the last fap and this bastard! THis- This!

A moment later the Champion’s head rolled over the ground, detached from his body.

“Ahh! Guards! Guards! Someone is here!” the detached head screamed.

Seth had used the Draconic Blade instead of something that would his soul. Now, this was personal. He did not feel like granting this man a slow and easy death.

The Guard, transformed into terrifying flesh giants covered in meat, armor plates, and bone spurs rushed into the tent and found their bisected leader on the ground with his pants down. The head was already trying to reattach to the body.

But they saw nobody other than their leader in a compromising position.

First, he would grant this man despair. He would have done this anyway, but now he did it to hurt someone’s feelings.

A tsunami of fire erupted from Seth at the center and covered the whole campsite. This was Fire Wave, a spell from his gloves that was recently unlocked thanks to his level-ups.

Strengthened by his equipment and trait as Kin of Fire it laid waste to everything in the radius of 50 meters. The bloody vines, the membrane, and all other tents were burned away. Their inhabitants and the guard in the vicinity had turned into charred bodies that only slowly regenerated.

The champion was also hit in the middle of reattaching his head, but the wave was nothing that would kill him or his followers. It was just to get rid of the tents. Seth wanted him to see what came next.

The champion of Zarkon resisted the urge to cry out when the skin was burned off his boy. So, what if the attacker was invisible and a strong magician? He could just come back and the moment he gave him just so much as a scratch he would join their ranks.

He angrily concentrated on regenerating his neck and eyes, so he could fight, when he heard a droning chant right beside him. It even drowned out his own angry thoughts.

The champion looked up and his healed eyes finally saw a dark figure standing above him. The deep rhythmic humming became louder and louder, and he could barely concentrate with the ringing in his head. Suddenly-

“Dusa Vibraji’Ja!” the chant ended in a shockwave that ripped everyone standing off their feet.

“Dusa Ugras’Ti!” another song echoed across the battlefield.

There was pulling at his soul. A voice beckoning to come along. It was just a silent whisper to the champion and he easily resisted the calling from the other side.

He looked up to see what was happening. He was almost able to move but he sank down in horror. The chains that connected him with his followers disintegrated. One by one but in a big silent wave, like falling dominos, they ceased to exist, and their souls rushed at the dark figure towering above him.

The man suddenly pulled out the long blade at his waist and wordlessly dismember the Champion of Zarkon. The champion who had been almost able to move helplessly flopped on the ground.

…

Seth crouched down to him.

“How does it feel?” he asked.

“How is it to watch everything fall apart?”

“You, you are the guy from Delta, right!? What are you doing here?!”

“Oh, you know. Got abducted, leveled up, am on my way back home. Found a guy jerking off to my girlfriend while his army his trying to kill her. The usual.” Seth answered sarcastically.

“But don’t get me wrong. This would have happened anyway, only a little nicer.” Seth made small talk as he watched the number in his soul space rise. Several hundred small and medium-sized souls came in.

“I guess once I kill you, the anchor point, all Zarkists on Urth will be gone, right?”

He wanted to make it slow, but the thought of Mina fighting made it somewhat urgent. He trusted in Mina and the equipment he gave her, but he was rather safe than sorry.

Seth tried to harvest his soul, but divine chains firmly stopped the power of his skill. Even if he was to burn the body to ashes, he would be unable to harvest the soul.

He shrugged and pulled out a Soul Piercer dagger from his inventory. If he could not harvest it, he would destroy it. He could see the tears and panic in the man’s eyes. Was this really a champion of a god?

Just when the blacksmith wanted to thrust the dagger into his chest, he heard a thunderous voice. The clouds in the sky opened and a bright light shone down.

“Don’t you dare to take his life!” a tremendous pressure descended onto Seth, and he could barely move.

Confidence returned to the champion’s eyes. This was the voice of his god! He would not forsake him!

“And why shouldn’t I?”

“Did you not do enough?! You took revenge, you have the souls. Spare his life! It’s unreasonable for champions to kill each other this early in the game!”

“The game…? You take this as a game? You are telling me I should let this thing go and risk it takes revenge because of your game?!”

“Yes.”

“Hah! Fine! I will not kill him.” Seth barked with bared teeth.

The champion of Zarkon chuckled on the ground, as his limps grew back on. It seemed to think that it had won.

Seth did not stop just because the god told him to. He had a premonition AND a better idea.

I can’t kill him? Fine, I will do worse.

With a magnanimous smile, he turned to the man on the ground and spoke in a disgustingly sweet voice.

“Don’t think this is over. I have a condition for keeping you alive.” like tentacles of shadows and darkness these words crept into the champion’s ears.

The laughter stopped.

“W-What do you want?”

“it’s simple. You have to equip this necklace. Nothing more.” the words were sweet like honey, but they invoked pictures of decaying bodies and their sickeningly sweet smell of rotting meat in the man’s mind.

There was more to it, but what harm was there in wearing a piece of jewelry. He was a champion blessed by a god.

“F-Fine?”

Seth handed him the Whimsical Curse with a demonic smile.

“Ahh! W-What is this? What is going on!? Noo!”

The moment the other put on the cursed necklace it sank into his skin and became a tattoo and at the same moment, it started to wildly suck away his life force.

“What is this!? What have you done to me! How can I take it off?!”

“You can’t, that’s the fun part.”

It was just how Seth anticipated. Within minutes the champion started to visibly age. So what if this had divine regeneration powers and an immortal soul?

As the necklace kept on sucking away lifeforce, its power kept on strengthening. And soon it overpowered the champion’s blessing. The necklace simply kept draining him and strengthening itself.

There was no intervention from Zarkon this time and Seth watched the god’s chosen struggle for 10 minutes. He took even less time than Dave to fall apart to ashes.

To Seth’s surprise, the necklace was not in the dust and the champion had not died. Above the ashes floated a soul. A living soul with the imprint of the Whimsical curse on it.

~ Well, this time you made something interesting. ~ the pocket Lich stated intrigued.