Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Should we go up or return downstairs?" Lydia left the choice to her party.

On this floor, they had only met simple colossi and they had come up with a theory about the structure of the dungeon. Duhu had suggested that it was a residence-type dungeon, like a tower, a castle, or a mansion where several members of a specific race were accommodated.

Many dungeons followed this pattern to various degrees. If the tiger was right in his assumption, this meant that the giant creatures on this floor were something like peasants without any skills or training. It also suggested that the insects they had met on the first, empty floor were actually just pests in an empty corner of the place the dungeon emulated.

What was even more important was that the next floor could also have colossi with fighting skills, training, and magic abilities. They had gotten confident fighting the easy ones on this floor, but Lydia wanted them to decide whether they were ready to face an even greater challenge.

"Let\'s do this!" Jess exclaimed. The fire mage had tasted blood. Maybe this time she would finally be able to get some kind of blessing. There was no way she would accept that she and James were not eligible for even a blessing.

"Right, let\'s go." James also agreed. Of course, they were not the only ones that had not been blessed, but the couple felt like they had to prove something. Unlike Azul or Duhu, they had no special race or physique, they also had no deep connection to the Tower Master like Lydia.

"I\'m also in favor," Ferdinand asserted his stance. His situation was the most similar to Jess and James, as he had only recently joined Team 3. He had joined the campaign in the Holy Land and was given a legendary ring, but out of all of them, he had the least chance to shine.

A priest was always important, but there was little to do if the party member could beat almost anything without getting so much as a scratch. The abyss was the first real chance to act in his role as a healer. Even though he felt a little bad for it, he was happy to not just stand in the rear.

The rest of the team was not any less confident in their skills and they unanimously decided to ascend the stairs to another landing and venture to the next floor. The good news was that the enemy did not get any bigger.

"Evade!" Lydia screamed and the team scattered in all directions, as a leather boot the size of an apartment building came crashing down on them.

<Colossal Guard lv.99(Elite)>

The moment they had climbed up the last step, they were welcomed by a guard. Unlike the ones on the last floor, it wore thick leather boots, leather trousers, a gambeson, and a full-face helmet. This was a huge step up compared to the other guys in their flimsy shirts and bare feet. This wasn\'t even fair.

Faenys quickly turned around after evading, slashing at the boot that came to crush them. Even if the leather was nothing special, it was extremely thick. Her simple attack left only a gash on the leather, but could not penetrate it. Only Duhu\'s axe managed to slash through but did not draw blood.

"Get back on the stairs!" Lydia called out, shortly before everyone took the several meter deep dive to the last step. It was a commonly known fact that dungeon mobs could not enter the paths between floors. They would pull back and talk about how to-

"It\'s following us!" she heard Ferdinand, who had already fallen two steps down, scream from the front.

"What?" she looked back, seeing a massive shoe sole coming down above her.

Lydia\'s arms and legs stretched and her torso grew, as she instinctively turned into her lycan form to evade the massive booting with a quick dive down the staircase. As did the others, except Duhu, who manage to cut off the tip of the boot using an aura blade from his axe.

Again, no blood, but something was buried right beside the face of Jess who was lying on the ground not far away. It was a clipping of a veeery long toenail, that almost took her eye out.

"Kyaa!" "Sorry!" "Duhu! You almost killed me!" she screeched as she jumped up in shock.

"Guys! Why is it coming down the steps?! Why CAN it come down the steps!?" James screamed frantically.

"Calm down! Everyone, calm down! It\'s just a little tougher than the others! Attack it with aura skills and magic! James, get its attention and distract it." Lydia gave instructions

"...Fine!"

With the light of <Knight\'s Challenge> James managed to pull it\'s aggro away from the others and started weaving between the giant\'s feet. While he bought time for the team to assemble again, the massive guard suddenly started bending over. Hand\'s the size of basketball courts started smacking for him. He summoned his mount and used the agility boost of his new class to run circles around the colossus.

He managed to dodge twice but the third time, he had no chance to dodge and could only unsummon his mount and hide begin Cerberus Shield as he was smacked across the stair, crashing into the opposite wall. He could feel, that several of his ribs and his shield arm were broken. His health was down by a third in a single slap.

When the guard was about to straighten itself and finish him with a stomp, a slew of arrows finally hammered into its helmet, distracting it. At the same time, a golden light enveloped James and he could feel the awkward feeling of his bones setting themselves back in place and healing.

For moments like this, it was great to have a dedicated priest. Ferdinand\'s skill quickly healed his health back up as the pain faded and James was ready to join the battle again in a matter of 30 seconds.

While Lydia\'s and Archer\'s arrows dinged against the helmet, dealing hardly any damage, a massive dark fireball hit the guard on the chest, setting the gambeson on fire. It was massive in human terms, but to the guard, it was only the size of a tennis ball.

Still in the middle of straightening himself, the guard started to panic as the cursed fire spread across its body, eating away at the gambeson.

"Now! Quick!"

Duhu and Faenys started hacking away at the guard\'s ankle. The bandit lady cut through the thick leather of the boot, while Duhu hacked into the guard\'s heel. The bend-over, panicking, burning colossus was hit by the pain of his Achilles sinew snapping. With a deceptive slowness, it started tilting and fell down the stairs with crashing thunders.

The harrowing sound of massive bones breaking echoing through the vicinity was the sign that the colossal guard felt the true horror of fall damage. The guard did not get the chance to think long about the pain of the fall as a bloodthirsty party of adventurers started wailing at its head and neck.

His screams and roars echoed through the stairwell. Once they were in his helmet, there was only a world of pain until it finally drew its last breath and fell silent.