Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Colossal Dungeon- 7th Floor UP---

"Damn," Tekar and Link commented at the same time.

After they fought through the waves of guards on the 5th and 6th floor they suddenly reached the top of the stairs, where they faced an overwhelming scenery. After passing under the door, made of dark, lacquered wood, they stood in a massive hall.

The hallways on the lower floors paled in comparison. It was like standing in a cathedral with the high, arching ceilings so far up above them, that they had a blue tinge like the sky outside. The darkness from the stairwell was gone and everything was brightly illuminated by a source-less light.

"Do you think this is the main floor of this castle?" Jonah asked awed.

"Were all these stairs and floors before only something aching to the servant quarters?" Monique wondered.

"I don't think so. Does it make sense to station that many guards on the way to the cellar?" Alison mentioned as she checked their surroundings.

"Maybe they were guarding against what is below? Didn't you say there were undead on the lower floors and the Guards didn't dare to follow down to a certain point? There is also the fact that the darkness let off the higher we came and this place is all bright," Elly pondered.

"Then maybe the theme of the dungeon is something along the lines of life and death? Below the castle are the undead and up here are the living having to deal with their undead neighbors," Duhu voiced a suspicion.

"If you are right, that means we have a problem. Let's say this dungeon begins at the border between life and death, then where is the dungeon boss? Is he down in the crypts or up here with us?" Lynri said grimly.

She had come across many dungeons during her time abroad and she had heard quite a bit about them when she was still a priestess in the Theocracy of Chains. One thing he had learned was that the more unique a dungeon was, the bigger it was the trouble it brought when one tried to conquer it.

This place was not just crawling with monsters, but it also seemed to follow a theme, maybe even a story it tried to tell. Even though the course was simply breaking through the mobs that stood in their way, without any riddles or traps, this simplicity could be treacherous.

"Whatever it is, we should get ready for much harder fights," Archer suddenly announced.

"What makes you say so?" Monique asked, but the question answered itself when she saw where Archer was looking. Stepping out from a passage to their right was a colossus clad in a full set of heavy plate armor.

<Colossal Knight Guard lv. ---(Elite)>

Despite the restrictions being lifted, the monster's level was so high that their observation skills were unable to gauge its level simply because of the level difference. This meant it had to be at least above lv.115.

"Do you think we can do this?" Monique asked Ellen of all people.

The reason for this question was the last floor where they met a Colossal Guard Captain. So far, the colossi held no skills or magic, except for being of colossal size and having stats fitting their stature, there was nothing special about them. They were just like huge humans, but that was already enough to be a big problem.

Like people, they could use equipment, even if there were no special effects, the sheer mass of material was a problem. For example, the Colossal Guard Captain wore a chain shirt so thick that their bigger skills could barely scratch him. Not to mention the armor plates he wore in addition to it.

In the end, they managed to finish him off thanks to Ellen. They were just simple iron equipment, but of ridiculous size. The slime rancher had the genius idea to use her corrosive slimes to add armor break to it. These slimes were already able to give serious damage to magical metals and items, facing iron they ate through it like solvent through Styrofoam.

"Not the whole thing and I doubt we can make it fall off him as easily as the chain mail. If you distract it long enough I might be able to sneak some Corrosive Oozes into its armor and melt a hole to reveal its heart..." Ellen pondered.

"What are you so worried about, Monique? It's not like it will be a danger, even if it is tough," Shay asserted. Even when it wore a thick steel armor, it wouldn't be able to stand up to their combined battering.

"Yeah, but we don't know how big this dungeon is and what else will come. What if we suddenly get swarmed by elite knights like that? We should pace ourselves and look for the most efficient strategy," Monique explained to the water mage.

"I agree. There is no knowing how much bigger this place is going to become and we already know that the mobs don't adhere to our notion of fixed floors. It's best to stay vigilant and be prepared," Duhu, the tiger Tijaahk, agreed with her.

"If it is about efficiency, then I may have a suggestion," Bement started. "Alsion, can you also use <Illusion Magic>? Something like Cloaking or Chameleon would probably suffice.

"I can, though it won't necessarily last for long. What do you intend to do?" the wizard answered curious about what the veteran adventurers were going to suggest.

"I think it is time for Tekar to take the stage," he said mysteriously.

"Me?!"

…

---Colossal Dungeon- 6th Floor DOWN---

Light Illuminated the darkness. It fell on gaunt skeletons wearing crude armor. Their dry bones were covered in their desiccated gray flesh and a deep red light shone in their eyes. The Crypt Guards kept pouring from the hallways and came tumbling up the stairs.

It was similar to the situation above, yet different. The clattering of bones and old armor, the moaning of the damned, and their breathless war cries were drowned by the roar of laser beams and explosions of golden light. The light that illuminated them also eradicated them.

Seth and the others had no illusion about the current situation. They were just playing the support units for Fin and Puffles running rampant. With her radiant crown on her head and constantly changing size between a fairy and that of a giant half the size of the colossi, the Fairy's shining fists caused explosions wherever she hit.

Like the shock wave of an exploding sun, the explosions would swallow and disintegrate big chunks of the undead, leaving their lifeless bodies to fall, or sometimes just their empty equipment hit the ground.

The nightmare centipede on the other hand was like a laser scalpel. Flying above the stairs like the bringer of doom, the rays of golden light he breathed from his mouth cut apart several undead in a row, leaving them to fall dead or crippled.

Seth and the others took care of the remnants or offered support in case Fin got in a pinch after storming into a whole group inside the hallway. Sometimes Seth would use the <Scorching Light> of Antares to get rid of whatever managed to crawl up the stairs or the light arrows of Apollon to support Fin.

"How much further until we reach the bottom of the stairs?" He asked Lydia, who was busy shooting divine arrows down the stairs.

"We are on the 6th floor down I think, there should be another 7 floors below this before we reach the bottom where we were last time," the divine archer answered, suppressing the memory of the torture that was climbing that kind of distance up a rope. Since that time, she no longer brought rope along, but rope ladders.

"That means we are at the halfway point?"

Seth pondered, as he looked at his experience bar. It seemed like he had underestimated the requirement increase a little. Actually, it was a lot. Before it was always something like double of what was needed before.

Reaching lv. 97 needed almost five times as much experience, if he compared the amount of experience they gained per mob they killed. Despite the mobs being stronger and theoretically giving more experience, too.

With this new estimate, he could only doubt that they could raise their level to 100 by the time they reached the bottom. They could only hope the bottom was not actually the end.

"At this pace, we might have to visit a few other dungeons after this.."