Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

1178. Aethon

”I-I think itʼs the zombie plague of Urth! It isnʼt supposed to exist this far south, but the symptoms seem to fit.,” he explained with a wavering voice. Now that he mentioned it, Natina remembered reading about this in various dossiers.

The Scene had even used it to create a serum of immortality. It was one of the few things coming from Urth, that was judged impossible to be replicated with Spatiaʼs stage of technology. Unfortunately, the agents were unable to procure a sample before Y-City fell.

”Bind the crazy ones with crowd control skills, strip off their equipment, and kick them out of the barrier! Anyone that got harmed by them will also be stripped and put under quarantine,” she quickly started giving commands. Maybe it seemed coldhearted, but this was necessary. The Zombie Plague was a disease that could even afflict undead with just a scratch and there was no common magic that could heal it as far as they knew.

They could only cut their losses and get rid of the infected before the pandemic could infect the rest of the army. As for those in quarantine, they would try to find a solution until they lost their mind. As terrifying as the disease was, as great would the achievement be to bring back valuable research data and maybe even a solution?

She would dare to return empty-handed after losing over two hundred people to insanity. At least she would try to gain an achievement to make up for it.

---Minas Mar---

”So HaaʼSkon is making his move, hmm?” the blacksmith mumbled polishing the leg of a large, golem steed one last time, before putting away the cloth and stepping beside Mina, to get a good look at his work. Time was short, so Seth decided to use the design of the golem horses as a basis for the remaining mounts of the horsemen.

Even if time wasnʼt pressing, the blacksmith didnʼt think he would do it differently. After all, they were called the 4 Horsemen and all the potential members were all golem knights. The image of four mounted knights on armored horses wreaking havoc as they rode across the earth was an aesthetic he was unwilling to give on.

”Yep. Who would have thought they would get out of Alʼs first entrapment this quickly? But you didnʼt call me to get a report, right?” Minas asked with an alluring smile, budging him with her shoulder. Seth had been stuck in the workshop for the past few days and they didnʼt have many chances to spend time together.

Putting his gloves away, he cupped her soft cheeks and went in for a kiss. She felt his hot breath touching her lips and closed her eyes, just to be left waiting, as he whispered in her ear.

”Can you bring out Bazilith for me?” he asked with a cheeky grin. Her eyes flew open. Seeing his grin like that, Mina turned bright red. She thought he would- Before she could think any further he sealed her lips with his, catching her off guard. However, she quickly adapted and they shared a deep, long moment.

”You tease!” she said, slapping his chest when they finally separated again. She turned away and he used the chance to hug her from behind.

”You tease me all the time, so itʼs fun to see how weak you are to it yourself,” he whispered in her ears from behind. Looking to the side, she avoided his eyes and cleared her throat.

”A-Anyway, you wanted to see Bazilith, right? Here.”

She released the golem from her inventory, and the knight in dark crimson armor bursting in flames, holding his burning sword appeared in the workshop. Bazilith was quite unique among his creations, as he was made of a plethora of alloys while his soul was shared between the sword and his core.

”Bazilith, I want to introduce you to someone. This is Aethon,” he introduced the mount to the rider.

Facing the flaming knight, with the crest of Xaphan, was a steed not too different from himself. The inner workings of the golem steed were created from dwarven and like Bazilith, it had a core of and , enchanted with the generic Olympian automaton ego.

Of course, there was the thought of creating the mounts from the dragon bones AlʼZalsar had brought him, but the biggest problem here was time. He clearly remembered clearly how exhausting it was to create the Scorpion Armor.

It would have taken too long to create the golem horses using the dragon bones. He also wanted to save them for later, as he felt his current materials for fitting to the task at hand. They would become legendary once the quest was finished, anyway. Obviously, if these mounts didnʼt fulfill the guestʼs requirements he would have to rethink.

So, the outer armor was created from epic and engraved with a large intricate circuit covering the whole body. This enchantment was new.

After finishing Strix, his had reached level 3, but because of the quest announcement, he only later got the chance to check what enchantments he had unlocked. When he reached level two, he had unlocked the minor attribute series of Olympian enchantments, and level 3 gave him the series of minor elemental enchantments.

When Seth researched the horsemen, he found that the only thing known about their horses was their color. In the case of War, it said: ”.. a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from Earth, and that men would slay one another, and a great sword was given to him.” Thinking of how to make the horse red, he took some artistic license.

Covering the body of the gleaming golem horse was Hephaestusʼ Minor Fire enchantment, strengthened by his Trait: Kin of Fire. At Sethʼs signal, the silver metal horse covered itself in a fur of crimson flames, solving the prerequisite for the Mount of War to be red.

Bazilithʼs eyes lit up when he saw the horse burst into flames, just like him.

”On top of that it has the concentrated soul of a Wind Specter, allowing it to use wind magic and ride in the sky for a short amount of time. The soul is also enchanted with (minor) Olympian Speed,” Seth explained. With a ”plap, plap” he patted the horseʼs shoulder like it was a car hood. ”With this bad boy, you will be quick as a wildfire,” he ended the sales talk.

The soul of the horse was boiled down from 20 wind demons and a few cultivator souls he had collected during the last battles. As he wasnʼt part of the actions, he had not profited very much from them.

”Thank you, Master,” Bazilith kneeled before him in gratitude.

”No need to thank me, get on it. You probably never rode a horse, or any mount, before, so you should get used to it while there is still time,” the blacksmith suggested. As Bazilith was made with the soul and ego of a Crowned Blaze Cat, a demon beats, he would have never had the chance to ride a mount in human shape.

The blazing Knight nodded. After cautiously getting close he swung up on the back of the horse as if it was made for him. Which was true. Satisfied, Seth found that the quest window had updated

Bazilith(War)

- Sword of War 1/1

- Mount of War 1/1