Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

---Beta---

"What are these things?" Adam cursed as he crushed the skull of a man in his hand.

It had been a few days since they came across these creatures on another expedition to determine the current state of Beta.

Over the past weeks, the new governor had spent much of his time surveying his new territory and collecting his forces. After his departure with Prince Mur, now Emperor Mur, things had fallen apart a lot further than he had expected.

The former district had been turned to ruins after being abandoned during the conflict between the Muir Empire and the natives. The whole region was infested with monsters that came from the Pathworks and dungeon breaks.

The forces he had left behind had partially gone feral without his presence. Many of them were the result of experiments perpetrated by Xen Biologies and similar corporations, intent to fuse modern technology and the new magic. Few of these experiments had much of a mind of their own, only created to follow orders through a telepathic network, similar to the one mermen used.

This was how Adam, with the traits of an artificial druid was able to hijack this kind of control and had been able to build a force after he awoke as a subject of these experiments and without a memory of who he originally was. Many of his former subordinates had died to dungeon monsters and invaders. Others had turned to become local kings, like monsters with their own territory.

Despite having grown in strength and developing more of a conscience in the time he was away, Adam was able to collect them back and add them to his forces to reconquer Beta. Thanks to the talent as a druid he had trained in the empire, he was also able to recruit many of the less malicious beasts they came across.

Leading a small army of animal allies, it was safe to say that he had seen many creatures during his time in the Muir Empire, but it was hard to believe something like these immortal zombies crawled out from the dungeon during the time he was gone.

Something that looked like a living human, but could keep healing wounds and revive over and over. Apart from their supernatural healing factor, they were very strong and acted like mindlessly aggressive zombies. He had neither seen nor heard anything about this.

The problem was that pockets of them became more numerous as they traveled further north. The Governor of Beta was leading his troops to meet the group sent by Little Sigma. Beth had sent him regular updates before they came to an agreement with Minas Mar and were able to organize the intricacies of their cooperation.

Although Adam had managed to clean the area of Beta around the coast, close to the teleportation portal they had used to arrive here, the agreement with Minas Mar was that they would first restore one of the cities at the outer edge of Beta, close to the mountains the borders of the new district.

A group of people from Little Sigma knowledgeable in the repair and maintenance of urban infrastructure, as well as magicians and enchanters, practiced in setting up barriers would help renovate Thres, an outer satellite city of Beta. It was also the place chosen as the first location for a Hangingtree in Beta, once the basic functions had been repaired.

The task he agreed to as the governor was making sure the place was safe, and clean and to welcome and protect the group from Little Sigma. The sudden appearance of this new kind of zombie didn't make it easier. Although they were on the weaker side, the fact that they kept coming back several times was annoying.

"Adam, a few of the scouts we send to the northwest have not returned. Maybe we should check that out?" Neres, one of the few mermen Adam had managed to befriend and his current second in command suggested.

The artificial druid fell silent. The fact that their scout didn't come back either meant that the opponent was very strong, very intelligent, or both in the worst case.

"Alright, we will take a unit of shark beasts and have a look," Adam said decisively.

"Isn't that a little overkill?" Neres asked surprised.

Shark beasts were a special breed of mermen with huge bulky, humanoid bodies and shark heads. They had incredible defense and strength, even without armor or equipment. Each of them was comparable to above lv.70 and met the standard of a humanoid mini-boss in a dungeon.

A unit of them comprised 30 individuals, as well as 5 Mermen casters.

"You still have not understood how things on Urth work, Neres. There is no overkill in this place, only appropriate preparations and death."

---Y-City---

A polite knock on the door echoed through the dim room, filled with antique and lavish decorations. The people lying in the lavish bed hurriedly disentangled their limbs and damp bedding.

The handsome man managed to crawl out from the pile and swiftly put on a thin bathrobe, clinging to his toned, pale body. Throwing back his bright, sweat locks he looked at the door.

"Come in," he commanded in a relaxed, but firm voice.

A man wearing an all-black suit, with a purple necktie, entered the room politely. He bowed to the man respectfully but showed a slight surprise when he saw one of the women in the bed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know the Court Seamstress was present, today," he said courteously and bowed again towards her.

"Some why did you come here?" the leisure man asked, sitting down at his desk.

"I'm sorry for the disturbance, but you asked to be informed immediately when there is news. Minas Mar is finally on the move. They have started expanding their Tree Route into the territory of Ypselon, in the direction of Y-City."

"Finally. Things are finally starting. I can't wait until they are finally here," the lanky man said, rubbing his hands. "How are our preparations coming along?"

" We have 40 thousand strengthened Serks and the Tuatha De said they have quadruple that in Hungry Skeletons and Bloated Horrors, and... and..." he was reading out the list of their troops but started stuttering when he saw the beautiful lady in the back nonchalantly getting dressed. He could feel his face heat up.

"I-I'm sorry." "Calm down, it's okay. Let's talk about it later in the meeting."

"Ah, yes. Errm, there is one more thing you may want to know beforehand. We have lost contact with the troops we stationed in Beta to rear Serks," he added hesitatingly.

"In Beta? Any signs of what happened? I doubt a random monster could take them down?" the handsome man asked surprised.

"Their last report mentioned nothing in particular. They had a grasp on all the dungeons in their vicinity. The rearing went well... And then today, when their weekly report was due-nothing. We tried contacting several times to no avail," he reported.

" Do you think the whole force is lost, or just the controlling team?"

"Probably the whole force. The controlling teams are trained to sacrifice the Serks and flee if they get the chance. There is little chance the Serks would be left, when even the controllers fell."

The young man sighed.

"Since we are already at bad news, are you sure there isn't anything more I should know?"

"Anything more?" the man asked confused.

"The resistance in Y-City? Don't tell me you wanted to stay silent about it," he asked with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't want to take too much of your time with such a small nuisance-"

"A small nuisance you say? I heard we lost a whole collection center yesterday."

The man could feel that his life may have depended on his next words.

"I-It is as you said, Sir. But we already raised the security in all other centers and it won't happen again," he assured in a hurry.

"How can you guarantee it won't happen again when you didn't even manage to catch the assailants? It's not like they only attacked, they even made off with our raw materials."

"Th-There is no excuse. It was our negligence that let it happen."

"Make sure it doesn't happen again. I will make you take responsibility if it happens again."