Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"Pretty foggy today..." the guard mentioned as he greeted his colleague to change shifts.

A thick fog was surrounding the facility this evening.

"Yeah, it started roughly an hour ago. You don\'t think it\'s those guys, right? My skin always starts crawling when one of them visits." his colleague said worriedly. He got up from his seat in the little guard house to open the door for the night shift guy.

"Nah, why would they come to the collection facility in the boonies? What\'s the trucks for?" he said with a laugh as he was about to enter the guard house.

Suddenly, the massive billowing fog rushed into the guard house, enveloping the two guards. Moments later both fell to the ground their mouths frothing with white foam. The mist then congregated to take the shape of a man. Finally, standing in the guard house, was Misto Pheles, the mist demon.

"Is it clear now?" from the darkness, a beautiful silver face appeared and asked.

Jonah, wearing a black outfit combined with dark leather leg- and arm guard stepped out from the darkness. Except for the mask, everything else was hard to make out in the night, making him look like a floating face.

"Yes. Since we got them during shift change, there won\'t be any problem for the next few hours. Looking at their schedule, there are no deliveries planned tonight."

At his signal, the rest of team 4 stepped out from the darkness. Duhu, Ellen, Archer, Shay, and Bement, were all wearing nice new items, not all of them in armor. Similar to Jonah, Archer was also wearing a mix of fabric, leather, and armor.

This change in equipment was all thanks to Neeco Boos, who was finally promoted to the tier of Tailor Master. After being supported by Puffles with the best materials he could ask for, his skill finally broke through after months of grinding. But this was not all.

His original class of Spell Weaver had also grown stronger since they had forced him to accompany the Oathguards on dungeon raids. The gimmick of a Spell Weaver was the ability to create special fabric from magic spells they had learned.

As such the class and the fabrics he was able to make, grew with his level and magic capabilities. Thanks to this, his best pieces were finally rated as relic-rated and some of his armors became worthy for the field teams to wear.

Although Seth could technically make leather and cloth armor, too, since he had <Sewing> and could cheat a little with <Energy Manipulation> and his hammer, he did not get the same bonus as a tailor nor could he imitate the special techniques tailors could use to imbue effects to their works.

Begrudgingly, Seth had to admit, that no matter how light a plate armor was, it was cumbersome to move in, and not every class was fit to become an immovable turret like a caster. If it had to be leather,.or cloth, he had to leave the stage to Neeco Boos, Puffles\' unofficial disciple.

"Good, how many guards did you find?" the vampiric swordsman asked.

"25 Adventurers between lv.50 and lv.70 guarding the perimeter and inside. 15 of those guys from the Voracious Cloud Continent inside," the demon explained.

Misto\'s reconnaissance abilities were scary. Jonah was glad that he had been able to recruit the man into his team and Seth allowed him to join Minas Mar. The mist demon was able to take the role of a mage and a scout.

"Sound a little weak. No people who got the serum?" Jonah made sure.

"In the underground cells, but none running around freely."

"Then we should get things started," the team leader said grimly.

"Are you sure we should leave this scum alive?" Ellen asked with an expression of disgust, looking down at the two guards.

Ellen was a very bubbly person in general, but these people really made her want to do something extreme. Even if one said they were just guards, these guys were not clueless about what was going on behind these walls, yet they had just been holding a completely normal conversation as if their job wasn\'t guarding a place that held and systematically killed innocent people.

Jonah looked at her for a moment. "Don\'t get your hands dirty for these guys, Ellen. There are worse people to kill. What\'s the point in killing the small fries?"

In the end, everyone had to make a living, even if it meant selling their humanity. Not everyone had the strength to speak out against a corrupted society and run away or live in the underground.  They couldn\'t help it if they had to kill the guards who fought back, but these guys were not the people responsible for these facilities. What was the point in killing them, when they didn\'t stand in their way anymore?

Jonah explained it to her in a few words, and Ellen accepted it with a sigh. He had also spoken out for the rest of them to hear him.

"Then I will take out the guys in the surveillance room, next. Then I can give you an update through the com-orb," Misto said and turned into a foggy breeze. The team on the other hand went around the building to the loading ramp, where another unconscious guard was laying. The back door was unlocked. Before they entered, they waited for the demon\'s signal.

"I took over the surveillance room and the control over the security system," it sounded through the communication orb.

One had to commend how far Y-City had come in the fusion of technology and magic when it came to their safety measures, but they had yet to install something that could stop the magic fog the demon turned into.

With the surveillance room and security system under their control, the rest was simple. Get rid of the guards and evacuate the captives.  However, on their way through the Aula, they suddenly faced a single man waiting for them.

"I\'m an external elder of the Night Sparrow Sect face me in a duel, cowardly intruder!"

One of the weirdos from the Voracious Continent cried out, when they met him while brandishing his sword. There was no doubt the man was strong, probably comparable to an adventurer in the late lv.

80s with a rare class, but no hurdle for Jonah who had a god\'s blessing and crossed lv.100 recently..

The vampiric swordsman didn\'t even use any active skill, as he quickly disarmed the man with the Sword of Chains and proceeded to split his head in one fluid motion, to silence him. However, the deed was done.

There was a commotion after the sword cultivator\'s cry and the rest of these external elders grouped together to fight them in this hall spouting nonsense about the righteous way and cowardly actions.

"God, you are annoying! You want a group fight?! Have it!" Ellen was finally so annoyed by them, that she unleashed a flood of slimes onto them. The hall where the elders thought they would have an advantage quickly became their tomb as they drowned in jelly bodies.

They tried their best, using weird magics and talismans, but there was little they could do to the slimes Ellen had bred with all her care and was supporting with her skills and the help of Seth\'s legendary ring. Her Ring of the General had not many options aside from the basic options that came from the legendary <Olympic Silver>.

But the option it had allowed her to boost the power of her subordinates, the slimes, by 150% in addition to better control, strengthened buffs, and passive resistance to crowd control. It was a scary item to give any class that focused on creating an army of subordinates. Evan, the Monster Tamer, had a similar ring.

When the slimes were done, nothing of these external elders remained, except for some of their items. They had found out from Master Mountain, but also through the experience of Cade and the Hero, that these people often had spatial rings and pouches and even some useful artifacts and weapons with them.

Although they couldn\'t really appraise or use them, they could let Master Mountain have a look and tell them what the items could do and take out what was in their pouches and space rings. With the elders out of their way, there was no one left in the building to stop them, so they started evacuating the prisoners.

"Arrgh!"

They were letting out the children from the rooms where the sects held their chosen captives, when they heard a cry from the end of the hallway, when they ran there, they found Bement. His helmet was off and he was heavily bleeding from his throat, beside him stood a young girl. Her hand was bloody and she looked down at the adventurer with a cold smile.

"Heh, to fall so easily because you judge your opponent based on their outer appearance. Pathetic."

"Bement!" Jonah called out, getting the girl\'s attention.

"hmm, you seem a little stronger. Could it be you are one of those "chosen", I heard about?" she swung her hand, shedding Bement\'s blood from her fingers.

"What- Who are you?" the swordsman asked her suspiciously, counting on their weird habit to announce their name or standing before doing anything.

"Huhu, they call me Fairy Silkmoth. I\'m an internal disciple of the Silk River Sect. I-THUNK Urgh!"

With a heavy thunk, the fairy keeled over. Bement bashed in her head from behind with his shield. While Jonah kept her attention, Bement had showered himself in potions to heal his cut throat. When his life was not threatened anymore, physically, he did something for his mental health and bashed the daylights out of the little witch.

"What happened Bement?" the swordsman asked confused.

"She was acting like an afraid little girl. I took my helmet off because I thought it scared her. When she got closer she suddenly stabbed her hand in my neck..." he answered, rubbing his bloodied neck.

"I see, everyone, be careful. If you feel better, you can keep going," he gave instruction through the com-orb.

"What about her?" Bement asked.

"Tie her up and bring her, too. Maybe we can get info from her."