Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Fire, Light, and Lightning arrows filled the darkness, as winged creatures resembling harpies with bat wings were shot out of the sky. Seth and Tatzel were standing on a precariously swaying suspension bridge made of brittle wood and rotten rope

They had stepped onto it the very moment they entered this dungeon. Except for the place they were standing on, everything around that was a pitch black darkness. Of course, this didn't stop the two from seeing exactly what place they came to.

High above them was a rock dome ceiling, filled with these creatures called Swift Twilight. Below them was a seemingly endless abyss and the bridge supposedly crossed it. It was a weird setting for the first floors.

Every few steps the two would take on the bridge, some of the sleeping batwomen above would come down to attack them and the bridge. They had pondered about simply attacking the sleeping ones and taking out all of them at once, but after a quick test decided against it.

The test was Tatzel trying to fly with magic. It didn't work. Similar to the gorge that split Minas Mar from the entrance to the cavern it was built in, dungeons could define annoying stuff like no-flight zones. If the bridge really broke, they would be forced to fall all the way down.

Despite doubting that it would actually kill him, the blacksmith rather wouldn't take the fall, if it was avoidable. Instead, they simply decided to walk quickly and shoot down any attackers without stopping. This way they were constantly surrounded by readily available experience.

Seeing how a Swift Twilight was a lv.93(Elite) creature and was able to survive relatively long, even when hit by Seth's fire magic, the Imugi's lightning magic, or Apollo's Light Arrows that countered its inherent element of darkness, the blacksmith had to accept that the abyss was really a different level.

Not enough to make him get serious, but definitely, something to take note of. He only hoped the others would be okay. Roughly halfway across the bridge, Tatzel's breathing started to become more labored.

"Let's take a break and replenish our energy," he said as he came to a standstill.

~I-I can still go on!~ the snakelet asserted bravely.

"I'm sorry, but not everyone is young like young. I really want to sit down for a moment. Let me take a break, okay? Come on, sit down beside me. Let's eat something."

The blacksmith simply sat down in the middle of the bridge and persuaded the imugi to sit with him and eat something. Tatzel hesitated for a moment but finally nodded gratefully and laid down beside Seth, coiling his body in a wide spiral around the both of them.

Seth brought out some of the dishes Link cooked and the two filled their stomachs, sitting mid-air on a suspension bridge in the middle of a dungeon. The blacksmith also used the time to check on his status. Excitedly. He saw that he was already halfway up to level 92. Tatzel also proudly claimed that he had risen by two levels.

With the risen difficulty, the experience gained had also increased by a lot. Thinking about how many mobs they killed, Seth guessed that the experience gained per monster was almost five times that of a lv.92( Elite) in a surface dungeon. Whether it was five times the strength though, he couldn't quite tell. How was he supposed to accurately gouge the difference in strength between two things that both died with a single attack?

Sure, he could also make an effort and compare their attributes he could see with <Theia's Discerning Eyes>, but he didn't feel like bothering with that. They sat there for a while, and while they didn't move, they also were not attacked. The dungeon was relatively relaxing in that regard.

"Should we get back to work?" Seth asked, seeing that Tatzel had mostly recovered his mana and stamina.

"Yes! Let's go. If this goes on, I might reach lv.90 by the time we meet the final boss.," the Imugi bragged excitedly.

Not a lot changed. They kept running and gunning across the bridge, leaving a heap of falling, burned corpses in their wake. The only change came when they reached the other side of the bridge.

<Stoic Twilight lv.94 (MiniBoss)

When the other end finally came in sight, they suddenly saw a male version of the Swift Twilights taking a stance at the end of it. Was he some kind of floor boss? He didn't look weak. With a broad stance, he rammed his spear into the ground majestically, like he was guarding their escape route. Suddenly, he lifted his spear.

"You! Shall! Not!- Umpf!"

His majestic speech was rudely interrupted by an armored fist turning his face inside out.

"No, you don't! You are not even a Wizard!"

Seth had kept Tatzel's speed up to now. Seeing the mini-boss trying to cut off their bridge, he shifted to a sprinted and directly charged bast the boss, hitting him squarely in the face. His teeth still in the air, the Stoic twilight hit the ground with a heavy thump.

"What did you think you were doing there, huh?"

Tatzel quickly hurried after him to get off the bridge, just it time to watch Seth stomp on the boss while it was still on the ground, making sure it stayed there. His <Shattering Stomp> crushed bones and stones as he kept cursing at the foe beneath.

He had a little trauma about fall damage from the time he returned to Urth and got first-hand experience on how it felt to roll down a slope and fall down a cliff. Although he was not afraid to fall, he didn't take kindly to the threat of falling into a seemingly bottomless pit.

<Ding! You have leveled up! You are now lv.92!>

With the death of the boss under the heel of his boot, Seth finally gained another level. It even dropped a medium-sized rare soul for him. The blacksmith felt almost appeased by that. Having managed the miniboss, he finally had time to check the stone ledge they had entered.

Here, at the other end of the bridge was nothing much aside from the miniboss and the door in the rock wall that had opened with the death of the boss.

~Is everything okay, Mom?~ Tatzel asked a little uncertain.

"Of course, of course. I'm sorry, did I scare you? It's just that he tried something really uncalled for," he said, touched that Tatzel actually cared for him.

~ It's alright! I have seen much worse, with big mom.~ the Imugi said readily after Seth assured him he was okay.

"Should we rest a little, or should we go to the next floor or section right away?" the bard asked the snake, after checking Tatzel's stats.

The Imugi had also gained two levels with the sprint across the other half of the bridge and the kill on the boss. Most of his energies had already recovered. Seth still asked him, whether it was okay to continue.

~Yes! I want to see the next floor. This was so interesting.~ the snakelet cheered.

Motivated, the two powerhouses entered the next section of the dungeon through the door. They were ready to ransack the whole place for everything it was worth. Abyss or not, they planned to waltz through anything that dared to stand in their way. Or hunt down what tried to stay out of their way. No experience would be spared, no corpse would go unlooted.

"Loot for the Loot God!"

~Junk for the pawn shop!~