Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"How are you doing?" Seth spoke to the massive statue hewn into the side of the mountain.

~I am weakened. The Tuatha De have lost nothing of their strength in the past millennia. I'm sorry I couldn't protect your tree. That little tree spirit will probably be sad."

"It's okay, Karina is doing fine. Let's not talk about what happened and concentrate on what to do from now on.."

Agra had taken a painful hit. The casualties were in the thousands, most of which were the victims of the giant statue that had rampaged and destroyed half the downtown. But there was an even greater problem. To defeat the avatar of a god the deity had to use a lot of its power and was now truly weakened.

So much so that Nas'korn would not be able to erect the holy barrier for the time being. The Hangingtree was also out of commission. This meant, that Mount Agra was currently without defenses. If a dungeon were to break, or a swarm of monsters decided to attack, Agra would be helpless without the troops of Minas Mar. "On that note, what happened to Tearlach and Uno? They were pretty strong, but I didn't see them during the battle?" Seth could not help but ask. ~Yes, it would have been easier if they had been here. They only stayed for a while. After researching the tree they bid goodbye and left. They said they needed to look for a special place.~ the deity explained.

Thinks could have been easier with another two strong fighters, but they would manage without. Obviously, rebuilding Agra's defenses had to come first. This meant they would need to contact Vladimir in Tree Station One and have people from Sigma come over. Although Evee had shown great talent in all things magic, especially wards, the mages from Sigma had shown that they excelled in the setup of massive barriers and defense fortification.

Otherwise, they would not have been able to survive so long against the Beyond. It was also Vlad's experts that set up the city barrier in the other five tree stations between Agra and Delta. On that note, there were more than five trees on the tree route, but not all of them were in a position that made building a city, or settlement feasible.

So they would have to stay at least until those experts arrived and set up the main barriers. They also talked about asking the system church to set up a branch in Agra. Nas'Korn had been against a temple of a different deity being built in its city but now had to concede that it would be safer that way.

The system church was not the intrusive kind of religion and they would also greatly contribute to the safety of the city. Another topic was rebuilding the lower city. Although many had died, even more, had lost their home.

Compared to before, when the Mountain City was almost abandoned and only inhabited by relatively few descendants of people who had decided to stay back then, its population had greatly increased with the new age and its new role as it became a crossroad for trade and commerce between the districts and the new settlements outside.

Rebuilding was fortunately not a big problem, thanks to Karina and her skyscraper trees. The dryad would also have to nurture a new sapling to replace the one that had valiantly sacrificed itself for Agra.

And once they talked about the things that had to be done as quickly as possible, they talked about their revenge. Nas'Korn, albeit a gentle deity, was not one who would take this kind of provocation lying down.

…

After a long talk with the deity, he could finally turn to the reeking bundle Wolfram had kept carrying under his arm the whole time.

"Mr. Payle, or can I call you Cormac? Cormac then. Nas'Korn here guaranteed for you, and I'm very interested in future cooperation with the Chosen of Hephaestus, as I also gained his blessing myself. However, as you can see I'm currently not in the position to follow my urges as a craftsman nor do I hold the greatest trust in your character."

Cormac simply kept nodding. He could understand everything Seth said. He really could. He just wished the golem knight could finally let him down so he could listen while standing on his own two feet.

"I want to give you a chance to prove your skill and will to help. You also may gain something from the task, are you interested?" Seth asked craftily.

If he was honest, Seth didn't really doubt the other blacksmith's character. Not enough to treat him differently because of it. But there was something that he definitely did not want to do at the current time, but had to be done as soon as possible. It was like divine intervention, that a craftsmen blacksmith specialized in automatons was thrown at his feet.

"Cormac, could I ask you to repair the golems of Minas Mar that were damaged during the fight?" Seth asked with his nicest smile, it might have as well cream and sprinkles on top.

"C-Could he let me down before I answer?" Payle asked unsurely. The Tower Master just kept smiling at him. Cormac understood it as a no, he probably would get back on the ground before he answered.

"I will do it, just, please, make him let me down," the blacksmith finally exclaimed.

"Wolfram, please let our new friend down and show him the way to our damaged golems."

"Yes, my Lord."

…

"Karina, can I ask you to..."

Of course, Karina was with them as they rushed over. Seth found the dryad solemnly standing in front of the broken stump of the Hangingtree. It was a massive splintered mess with the area of a football field.

"Don't worry, I'm already working on it."

She answered him and soon after he notices fresh shoots sprout from the broken stump. Vines and branches quickly extruded from the wood and formed trunks as they entwined and fused together. Seth watched in fascination, as a slightly smaller version of the previous sapling began to grow. After setting the process into motion, the Dryad relaxed and stepped away from the forming tree.

"It's a lot easier since the root connection is still there. All we need to do now is wait. In a day or two, it will be back to full size."

hearing her speak like that made the blacksmith choke. He liked to think that he had grown a lot and his equipment was utterly broken, but if he was honest, then Karina was probably the second strongest individual in Minas Mar, after Al'Zalsar. Her spontaneous battle strength may not have been the highest, but when it came to the deed she was capable of, she was scary.

"Well, on that note, how are the energy reserves looking?"

"Why do you ask?"

"We may be expanding the Tree Route in the near future."

"You mean...?"

"Yep. We will expand it in the direction of Y-City in preparation to uproot the Scene. We can't ignore their actions any longer. If we don't deal with them and Y-City, they will keep pulling stunts like this."

At Seth's gesture towards the destroyed city and heaps of corpses, Karina turned grim. The dryad had learned the cruelty of the world early on and decided that she could not deal with it. That was the reason why she preferred spending her time teaching and protecting children.

She had opened up a little since she was reborn and started spending time in Minas Mar. Now, she was reminded of it and she was unsure what to do. She felt terrible for the victims of the Scene, but she was reluctant to get involved since she knew, that she might not be able to take it.

On the other hand, her involvement may save other victims in the future, but it also meant she would have to help the people she came to hold dear, go into a potentially dangerous battle.

She felt a sudden pain on her forehead. Seth had flicked her.

"I can guess what you are thinking about with that worried expression. Listen, this is a lesson I also had to learn...I'm still trying to learn. Everyone here is hella strong and has worked hard to get where they are now. Trust us. Trust in their strength and their will."

"...Alright, but it will take a while. I have been using most of the energy to grow the Tree Stations. If you want to charge to Ypsilon in one go, I have to save up a lot."

The dryad was still conflicted and had to think about what he said, but for now, she agreed to help with the plan.

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