I Became A Zompirewolf

Clang, clang, clang.

The sound of hammering filled the forge. But despite his best attempts, Ashton could barely put a dent into it. The hardness of Nyx metal was no joke.

Ashton had no doubts he had probably broken his hands by now. But he kept going on, hammering away like a madman. Whenever his fists came in contact with the metal, violent purple sparks flew in all directions.

<User's Strength increased by 3 points>

<Seraph's crystal has absorbed additional heat.>

<Seraph's crystal has strengthed a bit more.>

These were just a few notifications out of what Ashton had received. Not only his strength but his stamina had also increased quite well. However, Ashton wasn't pleased with his progress in the slightest.

He did not care about his stats. What he cared about were visible results that he wasn't getting. No matter what Ashton did, it didn't seem enough.

'More heat!'

[Place it inside the hearth!]

Despite Astroth's protests, Ashton did not listen to what he said. Placing the metal in fire and then taking it out to beat it was time-consuming. Which, in turn, in Ashton's eyes, became a waste of time.

So, rather than following the 'traditional' way, Ashton decided to do it his own way. The way of a lazy brute.

He began heating the bar through a separate source. The source in question was the crystal embedded in his hand. Both his arms were engulfed by flames as he furiously began pounding on the metal bar.

Under the heat from the fire, Ashton's continuous punches and unbreakable determination, the metal bar eventually gave up. For the first time since picking up the metal bar, Ashton's efforts were proving to be fruitful.

Strictly following a rhythm, Ashton finally flattened a portion of the bar. His blows were unrestrained but not out of control. It might have taken more time than Ashton thought it would, but he finally got the hang of it.

The key to forming a sheet was consistency. But at the same time, mindlessly fisting the bar wouldn't yield results. He had to hammer it at regular intervals in a particular manner. As soon as he began following the rhythm, each of his strikes became ten times stronger.

Overcoming the hardness of Nyx metal was no longer a challenge for him. After some time, it felt like Ashton was playing around with the metal bar that was at his mercy.

Three and a half hours later, Ashton finally managed to turn the metal bar into a thin sheet. His hands were shaking wildly from continuously hammering metal, but only a smile could be seen on his face.

[... That smile on your face looks quite scary.]

'Yeah? I didn't know you were such a scaredy cat.'

A sudden noise of clapping took his attention away. Ashton turned around to see Vulcan standing there, and for the first time, he wasn't rebuking him... yet.

"Good job. I didn't actually believe you'll manage to pull it off. I guess I'll have to give you harder tasks next," Vulcan praised Ashton, but the praise soon turned into criticism as he began analysing the metal sheet.

"It's not a fine work, and the edges are thicker and uneven, and the sheet is full of flaws and your hand prints. Not to mention you did not use common sense to take a hammer from the closet next to the anvil..."

Ashton could feel a slap coming his way again. But nothing hit him. Instead, Vulcan walked up to him and handed him a hammer that looked similar to Vulcan's and patted his shoulder.

"You might not be perfect, but neither am I. The most important thing is to figure out your own way to forge, and as I see it... You have found your way to success. Congratulations, you are not a novice anymore. You're what I like to call an intermediate fool."

"I'm still a fool... Huh?" Ashton scratched the back of his head.

"What else do you expect? Your moronic butt couldn't even find the hammer I gave you, and instead, you began behaving like a primitive retard. It's a good thing your plan worked, or you would have been the one getting punched!"

[Joke's on you. He's into that. This fucking masochist.]

"..."

[You're not even going to deny it? Wow.]

***

At the same time, far away in space...

"What do you mean the plan FAILED? I even blackmailed the governor into switching off the security scanners and whatnot! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU STILL FAILED THE MISSION?"

Everyone in the room was silent. Even the commander of Metal Sharks, Shing Fuyan, was there through a hologram.

Although he was of A+ rank himself, the gap between his and the Metal Sharks leader's power was too much. If they were to fight, the leader would wipe him out, and no one would know about it.

Despite being a quarter human, Shing Fuyan had always been a close subordinate of the mysterious leader. As soon as he learned that the leader wanted to capture Eula for some particular experiment, he immediately volunteered to get the job done.

The job was supposed to be quite an easy one. But despite that, everyone he entrusted the task to fail miserably. The leader might have been quiet till now, but Shing knew the leader's silence was the silence that came before a storm.

That being said, Shing Fuyan had no interest in getting on the leader's wrong side.

He even got out of his way and called in a lot of favour to ensure his pawns would succeed. Had it not been for him, Eleanor would have never been able to launch an attack on the mansion with so many armoured vehicles and explosives.

Fuyan even blackmailed the governor into helping them, and yet... The fucking bitch failed to take care of a bunch of newbies and a handful of mercenaries.

He had to do it all in secrecy because if anyone got a whiff of the situation... the results would've been catastrophic. Why? Because there were other factions in the Metal sharks who hated Fuyan for having 23% of human genes in him.

Had they been aware of his plans, they would stop at nothing to spoil them, albeit secretly. Upon failing the task, the leader would sever Fuyan's head, and the rest of the commanders would be happier than they had ever been.

"My... Apologies, sir." Eleanor mumbled, "We were going strong, but it seems someone inside the mansion is strangely strong. Strong enough to wipe out the entire infiltration squad by himself and deliver their severed heads as a warning-"

"Is that so?" Fuyan calmly nodded, but his eyes were still full of rage, "Guess what, I know someone who has been itching to sever your head too. I don't assume you're interested in meeting him, are you?"

"N-No, sir."

Eleanor appeared as if a snake had clung to her neck. Fuyan's message was clear. If she failed him again, she'd end up in a grave... Just like everyone who failed before her.

Fuayn calmed down a bit and asked, "Where's that invisible bastard you were talking about?"

"He's... Gone silent. The last time I heard from him, he was surveying his playing field around the mansion."

"Find him..."

"Yes, sir!"

"Remember, the leader isn't as forgiving as me." Fuyan snarled, "This is your last chance. Make it count, or you'll lose your head much faster than it took me to convince your shitty family to sell you off."

"Yes, sir! You will not be-"

Fuyan didn't even bother to let Eleanor complete her blabbering before disconnecting the call. It was the first time she had failed to complete a task, but Fuyan clarified that it had to be her last time.

Although she would like to say otherwise, she couldn't lose Fuyan's support. He was the one keeping the rest of the commanders in check. Had it not been for him, those bastards would have butchered her by now.

"Find out more about the bastard who ruined our plans." Eleanor snarled at her deputies, "I want to know everything about him!"

"Already did. Here's the list of all the mercenaries hired to protect Eula." One of the deputies handed her a file, "It has to be one of them. However, since we could not recover the corpse of the one who died, we can't confirm exactly who is behind-"

"Stop blabbering!" Eleanor yelled at the top of her lungs as she began going through the list.

It didn't take long for her to find the one she was looking for. She remembered the faces of those protecting the front wall during their attacks. Her photographic memory was a blessing in this case.

"This Reaper person. Check if anyone saw him around the front walls during the attack. Once you're done doing that, call Mr Phantom... I don't think we'll be able to do this without his aid."

"Are you sure about-"

"Just do what I told you."