Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Floor 20, the highest floor below the roof was one wide hall. The dungeon core was sparkling on the wall opposite of the stairs they had just ascended. Between them and the core was a hulking lizardman. He was about twice the size of the regular ones, so about 4m in height.

This one actually wore a kind of barbarian leather armor and a huge single-bladed sword with a jagged edge. It greeted them with a roar that shook the whole floor. It was not done roaring when a wave of bolts was sent on their way to shut it up.

To their surprise, it did not work! Just before they hit the giant lizard, they were deflected by an invisible shield! Behind the hulking boss hid a decrepit and old lizardman in a tattered brown robe. It had cast a shield for its warrior. This was probably the dungeon master.

<(Boss)Lizardman Chieftain lv. 33>

<(Elite)Lizardman Shaman lv.35>

Seth had heard about it, but never experienced that the dungeon master fought together with the boss. As the bolts had been defused by the support mage in the back, it was time for regular party play.

"Tekar, can you occupy the big guy?"

"Sure!" the big man said enthusiastically.

Tekar put on his helmet stepped forward. With the set complete, the Dark Knight Armor's set effect activated. Since they were facing an elite and a boss, they were not intimidated, but still weakened. The chieftain understood the tank's actions as a challenge and focused on the knight with two shields.

"Alison, you take care of the magic. I and Link focus on the shaman."

Alison started casting while Seth and Link focused their ranged attacks on the shaman. Since it had to evade and block their attacks, it was unable to help the tank in its fight against Tekar.

Seth could have used dragonmight, but he had a good reason not to. If he solved every little fight with this skill and overwhelmed the opponent, the party would become weak. Without the experience to work together they would be doomed if they one day met an opponent immune to dragonmight.

Since this fight was not dangerous it was a good chance to train.

In his new gear, Tekar was able to rival the giant Lizard in overall strength. Unfortunately, he really lacked in damage. Because of the chieftain's own high defense and boss status, most of the debuffs had a lowered activation chance and were hard to trigger. Tekar's luck was not enough to overcome this disadvantage.

The shaman kept blocking the aiming arrows of Seth and evaded Link's volleys, making the fight a stalemate. It did not last for long.

"...Dispel!" their wizard shouted.

Alison was done casting and a soft wave of wind washed over the room. As the name suggested, it was magic that dispelled all magic in the room and hindered the use of magic for 10 seconds. The moment the shaman lost his shield he was hit in the lungs by the "Mind Decay" and in the head by the "Nightmare Crossbow".

The shaman had not even time for a last breath as it keeled over leaving the Chieftain behind to deal with a group of blood lusty intruders. It did not take long for them to tear up the lizardman. With the gourmet hunter and Tekar working together the debuffs started to stack on the boss.

Seth equipped the "Wyvern Blade" and started sneaking up behind the almost stun-locked chieftain. With one swing he cut the giant beast across the lower back.

"Lacerate!" he recovered the blade in a smooth movement and activated the skill for a strike straight down. It cut off the Chieftain's tail in a massive spurt of blood and Seth gained +1 in strength!

Alison stole the last hit with a Wind blade that beheaded the chieftain. The headless body slowly knelt down, before crashing to the floor with a loud thump. The whole fight lasted less than 2 minutes. The core almost wanted to cry. It had just summoned these promising champions after the dungeon was wiped a week ago!

Link got into carving up the two corpses. The Shaman was a hopeless case, but the Chieftain was a great source of materials. His leather was uncommon, so Seth was actually willing to keep it.

"hoho! This guy actually had one!" Link suddenly cheered out and held up a bloody irregular formed crystal.

"A beast core? So what?" Seth asked confused. What was there to cheer about? These cores were a very common resource in Ora and could be used as the power source for an item's enchantment or a power nucleus for equipment. Depending on their quality they could also bring additional effects.

But that was the crux of the matter. It all depended on the quality. Most cores were a cheap and unstable option compared to even common gemstones. And those that were useful were overpriced because of their rarity. Seth simply had better options and thus never used them during his time in Ora.

From Seth's perspective, his reaction was normal, but the rest of the party looked at him with shock.

"So what? It's a beast core! And a big one. We can get a lot of money for this!" the hunter called out. After some explaining, Seth understood what was going on. In Ora, these cores were usually used as a power source for some specific magic tool, but that was it. There were many other better methods to get around using beast cores.

It was different in Urth, a world with high technological advancement. People were used to and dependent on all kinds of devices. As Urth still lacked knowledge about magic formations that could gather energy from the surrounding even without a nucleus, these cores that could be used like batteries were the first step to rebuilding technology!

The government and researchers with corresponding classes had a high interest to buy them for their research. The lack in numbers and strength of adventurers that could easily farm these resources increased the price once again. This uncommon rated core with the size of a fist was just as precious as an uncommon item. Which ranged in the millions.

Mentioning Items, the two also dropped some items.

The Shaman dropped an uncommon crystal sphere that decreased casting time by 10% and increased the power of magic by 15%. This was better than what Alison currently owned, so it went to her. It also dropped arm wraps that increased Mana regeneration by 10 per minute. She was able to wear these below the golden jacket.

The chieftain left behind his armor and the giant sword. Neither was of use to them, but could be sold since at least the armor was uncommon.

After cleaning the corpses came mugging the core.

A treasure chest was already waiting in front of the core. It contained some gold, silver, potions, a dagger, and a circlet. Seth tried blackmailing the core, but it did not work this time. It did not spit out anymore. Although Seth was convinced, the reason might be that parties regularly managed to get to this point, so the core was broke.

The two items were actually a common set made of iron. The set effect was to lower the wearer's presence by 5%. Seth could only shake his head. This was almost too bad to even sell. The dungeon core might really be broke.

With that, they left the dungeon. Despite the core being a blank, the materials they had harvested and the items for their mage made the dive worth it.

"Alright, I think you are used to the new items. We should be able to set off tomorrow. Is everyone okay with that?" Seth talked to them on the way back.

"Errm, could we maybe wait another day?" Tekar asked embarrassed. Seth looked at him questioning. He had judged their tank as a very reliable man. He probably had a reason.

"The journey will take about a week, right? M-my babysitter ditched me after we went missing for a week and a need to find someone who can take care of my daughter until we return. "