Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1252. ...and under.

”That didnʼt take as long as expected,” Seth mumbled after the gate to the swamp world shut off.

”Yeah, I really like Diplomatic Missions like this,” Al commented sarcastically. Seth sighed. She was right. At this rate, was there even a need for him to accompany her?

if they ended up simply beating the shit out of everyone they found and forcing them to close the gate, then Al could have done that on her own. If she hadnʼt left most of the work because she was too lazy- Because she gave him the chance to gain experience and observed his actions, she could have finished the hell gate within a day or so. At least Seth was convinced of it.

”So, what is next? Forest or caves?” she changed the topic with a chuckle. The two remaining gates both had a problem. One was surrounded by a forest of eternal twilight on the other side, and they had lost connection to the golems that went in. It was clear that someone or something had destroyed them.

When Seth checked the data the golem eyes sent from inside the cave gate, he found that they were still yet to find anything like the birthing pools. Although there were monsters, they were yet to find anything that could be an intelligent demon they could talk to.

To make matters worse, the footage sent back kept growing worse and worse the further the golems entered the caves. With the growing distance and material between them and the gate, it was not necessarily surprising.

Seth was rich, but he could splurge like Chrona, so these golems didnʼt transfer their signal across dimensions. When comparing the two choices, there didnʼt seem to be much difference, but there was one very convincing thing they did find in those caves, apart from a bunch of demon beasts.

Ores, crystals, and minerals. There were several instances where the golems had passed glinting ore and rooms with precious stone growing on the walls. Metals for the workshops, crystals for jewelry, or as magical reagents for enchanting and magic in general.

A mine in the middle would be great, even if the Demons didnʼt want to trade or even agree with their mining. They opened the gate, they had no right to complain if Minas Mar plundered their resources. Although they were far away, the recent footage from the golem really caught his curiosity.

”I yearn for the mines. Letʼs go do some prospecting,” the blacksmith joked, metaphorically sharpening his pickaxe. In reality, the thing was sharp as ever.

...

----XiGuang Province---

Sipping tea, Marco looked down on the street, watching the busy city life of Yijing City, the capital of the XiGuang Province. The capital of the province was the most magical place Marco had ever seen.

At least the prosperous parts. Giant ostentatious manors using all kinds of precious materials, floating islands with pagodas, and temples hovering in the sky like heavenly realms. the city filled with big, richly decorated restaurants and brothels, regal houses... The pure size with its sprawling slums and suburbs was actually comparable to Delta. Yet, the fencer could not enjoy the views of the capital.

Not only had he lost his friend, but he was also stuck here while Minas Mar was fighting for its survival. For the longest time, he felt incredibly useless. This was the only reason he took the risk to come here in the first place. He tried to make himself useful.

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After he had gotten the info on the sect alliance from the information brokers, Marco went a step further and tried to track down those kidnapped from Y-City. Even the information brokers didnʼt have info on it, so Marco had to get involved in various businesses to try and find a lead.

It was harder than expected. not only because the sects involved treated their actions with absolute secrecy, but also because of the general situation on the continent. Unless one used artifacts or cultivation tools, information traveled slowly making secrets easy to hide.

In addition to that, the whole province was still half in chaos, because of the cultivators still lacked a way to stop the gates and passageways from randomly opening and closing in the middle of settlements.

Even their great Yijing City was riddled with sites of destruction, where rifts opened and spawned all kinds of beasts or otherworldly races. How was one supposed to find specific information from several months ago in this kind of mess?

For some time, he had also tried to help Master Mountain from the shadows but quickly realized that he was of no help. Their worst enemy was the stupid rumors disseminated among the refugees and unhappy, that were flocking to the capital and other big cities.

This was why he decided to try and track them down on his own. He stuck his nose into any shady business the remaining sects of the sect alliance held in the hope of finding some clue about the ones kidnapped. Obviously, this didnʼt come without consequences.

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He sighed. This poisoned tea tasted disgusting. This time they didnʼt even bother to use something tasteless. They were probably convinced he would keel over on the first sip. Although many cultivators had ventured into Urth, the general public still had no idea about the capabilities of a player, or how to identify one.

His first time was a few weeks ago. he had spent the whole day with terrible pain and diarrhea before he gained lv.3 . Since then these unfortunate attempts helped him raise the skill almost to the max level.

This was a necessary evil. Marco quickly realized that looking for the culprits didnʼt work. It had been too long and their tracks were already hidden too well. Instead, he decided to become bait and lure them out. On that matter, it wasnʼt important which of the culprits he provoked, the more information he got, the better.

The fencer pulled the wide hat into his face and grabbed the cheap sword that leaned against the table he used as an inconspicuous substitute for his legendary rapier. He staggered a little, held his stomach,and did everything to make it look like the poison worked.

A bunch of coins were slapped on a counter to pay his tap. Quick irregular steps brought him out of the establishment, making it look like he was leaving in a hurry. Marco staggered away from the center, in the direction of the suburbs and slums.

”Any time now,” he thought to himself. His experience with this situation told him, that he would soon reach the place where the culprits would wait for their ”weakened and frightened prey”. He turned into a narrow path between a brother and a rundown restaurant and-

”Haha, did you think you could hide forever?” a lady in a dark gray dress greeted him, she was accompanied by a bunch of goons in similar, dark gray robes. Marco pretended to stumble, evading a knife thrown at his face with a quick sidestep.

”Urgh- You devils!” he exclaimed and transformed the stumble to a fall, and pretended to sink to his knees in pain. He looked at the woman with a reproachful look. ”Who are you? Tell me your name so I can put it on your graves,” he said with ”empty bravado”, holding his stomach.

”Haha, a dead man still spouting nonsense. You should not have poked your nose into the business of the Luminous Vessel Sect! Now you wonʼt even die with an intact corpse;” the woman gloated at his demise. The goons at her side pulled out their curved blade, presumably to hack him to pieces.

If there was one fundamental thing Marco had learned about these people of the continent, then that they were quite resistant to torture, but they loved to babble on when they thought that they had the upper hand.

”So it was true... The Ludicrous Bowl sect abducted natives from Urth! You will not get away with it!” he exclaimed weakly.

”Ha! We already did and your snarky remarks wonʼt change that. Tsk, why are people even making a fuzz about it? First the future sect leader of Mount Crane Sect, then the sect leader of the Soaring Eagle Sect. You people are crazy, trying so hard to befriend a bunch of uncivilized savages,” she complained offhandedly. Following her little speech, the goons raised their blades to hack Marco apart.

”Why are you hesitating? Kill him!” she shouted when the goons suddenly froze, their weapons still raised to the sky.

”Fine, if you say so...” Marco answered and pushed the two goons over with a strike of the sheathed Harbinger of Winter Woes. They fell stiff as statues and shattered on the ground. Pieces of person rolled over the ground of the small allow, shocking the female cultivator.

”Letʼs talk a little more about those savages.”