Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 725  725.Snow ball fight

”Umpf!” Seth coughed as a bowling ball-sized snowball hit his face.

Beside him, he saw Pip being knocked over by another one of the massive snowballs.

”Hey, Fin! Itʼs unfair to use transformation in a snowball fight!” he accused the fairy that had turned into a giant gorilla with paddle-like hands and was peppering everyone with giant snowballs.

Although she had suggested going on a walk, it turned into watching Asterion train, after which they were invited to join the children when they came out to play in the fresh snow. At some point, more people like Duhu, Jess, and James joined in and things became more competitive as the teams grew.

”Haha! You only want to ban it because you are losing!” Mike cried triumphantly before his mouth was stuffed by one of Sethʼs projectiles.

”If that is how you want to play- Asterion! Do it!” he commanded.

The fairyʼs rapid-fire stopped as Asterion started flexing his toned muscles like a bodybuilder to distract her. The next moment Fin was buried in snow as a more than two-meter-wide ball of snow wiped her off the battlefield.

”Thatʼs- Urgf!” Mike wanted to protest, but his sister suddenly appeared from the shadows and pressed his face into the snow wall he was hiding behind.

”M-Mina?!” ”Your reign is over, Brother”

Catching a glimpse behind him, the struggling Mikeʼs heart turned cold as he saw the sword of Damocles over his head.

”Nyaaa!” the cat manʼs high-pitched scream echoed through the mountains.

Mina didnʼt show any mercy and dumped a bucket of ice water over his head. Hearing his shriek of terror, everyone burst out in laughter, while the drenched beastman jumped out from behind his cover.

”Caw!” suddenly they heard Ceresʼ cry in the sky above and a bloody lump crashed in one of the snow barricades they had erected.

”Ceres, what are you doing?!” Seth called out, while others surrounded the thing the elemental had dropped in the middle of the battle. It was actually a heavily injured person.

”Well, sorry for the interruption?” it gave a snarky remark. ”I found this guy half-dead beside a mountain of dead ice trolls. He kept mumbling that he had to reach Minas Mar. So I brought him over,” somehow the elemental managed to accompany its explanation with a shoulder shrug while flying.

Seth cleared his throat disapprovingly but didnʼt say anything as he stepped toward the man Ceres had dropped. He didnʼt know the man, but it seemed like he had business with him. Since none of the healers had joined their snowball fight, the blacksmith used from his Golden Fleece to treat him.

It was hard to imagine what the man went through. He was absolutely mangled, with his rib cage caved in and huge chunks of muscles missing. With the magic working, the man started coughing up black, coagulated blood from his healing lungs.

Missing parts and wide gashes recovered at a visible rate, as Seth cast the magic two more times. The manʼs eyelids fluttered as he soon regained consciousness. Dazed he looked at the diverse cast of people that were bent over him, observing him with curiosity.

However, even after all his wounds were healed, he didnʼt wake up. Even a few resounding slaps could not wake him up.

”Well, I guess itʼs already late.”

It was decided to keep the man at a room in the guard house and have someone look after him for the night.

...

Seth returned to the workshop early in the morning where he picked up Lydiaʼs half-finished bow. Even though it was still unfinished, the composite bow made from sinew, wood, and metal already had an amber sheen to it, like polished honey.

Despite its looks, Seth had not treated the wood with anything nor did he polish it. The reason was that he planned to ”etch” the wood. Or rather try to do the equivalent, to stain the wood. Seth intended to use an alchemical stain to enchant the bow using demonic runes.

The blacksmith had tested this method on other woods. Although it was weaker than when truly etching metals with special acids, it had some effect. Taking into account that engraving was not an option, to begin with, this was the best he could do for additional enchantment.

With the materials mirroring the attributes of Wepwawet which were physical prowess, fighting, and death, Seth decided to add an element befitting an archer to the bow. The verse was called ”Origin of Wind” calling onto an aspect of Paimon.

It was not long, but when translated roughly ”As if blind, you lose your kind. You have been pinned. Must have been the wind.” Although it was called ”Origin of Wind” it was more about silent death.

After staining the bow with demonic runes, Seth started on the soul bow. Seth had gotten a special soul from TanoʼMol for this. The   an elven archer that had scout skills and the traits of Dynamic Archery and Bowkata. Seth further added some of the refined souls to increase its size to massive.

With the materials, enchantments, and traits so far all focusing on basic physical prowess and damage, Seth didnʼt break away from it when it came to the enchantments of the soul. Seth went all in with complex enchantments for agility and strength adding 200 points each.

And then, when he had fused the soul bow and composite bow and dunked it into the waters of Styx-

There were a bunch of effects, but Sethʼs eyes were really glued to the damage and durability. It was the first time he saw in action. The skill had really improved some of the effects and even the basic stats by 20% or less. Although this was the lower possible spectrum, the effects on legendary items were massive.

Most effects were as Seth had suspected, for example, Paimonʼs Silent Death had lost itʼs demonic attributes while keeping its ability. What really surprised him were the Death Attribute and the same skill as a passive and active skill.

The Death Attribute resembled decay and disease on the surface, but the cause was different. Death attribute literally brought with it a death aura on an attack that gradually killed the target starting from the wound.

In that regard it was like decay, making affected flesh rot and unable to heal, but this was only half of it. The death attribute also affected the soul, but it didnʼt destroy it. Unless treated, Death Aura would take away life span and mana capacity until the opponents would die and the soul was sent to the underworld.

Then there was . The passive version improved tracking skills. The active version was.

Seth didnʼt get to do a test with it since he wasnʼt the chosen. But also because a messenger called him. The man Ceres brought showed signs of waking up.