Blacksmith vs. the System

After the familiar sensation of slipping through the gate, I stepped on a smooth, stone floor, radiating heat. A dry, hot wind that felt like I had just opened the lid of an oven. Calling it uncomfortable would have been an understatement.

The dungeon mist here was a familiar sight, blocking my view of everything above seventy feet to the side, but what I could see was enough to make a judgment about the nature of the dungeon.

It was a volcanic environment, which had many dangerous implications. But, even before I could focus on that, something else scared me.

Ahead in the mist, there was another glow of a dungeon gate, cutting through the mist the way the others that led outside had been cutting. It was a dungeon gate leading outside. My heart chilled at the implications.

What if they could open multiple gates that were going in and out. The strategic implications alone…

"Focus," I muttered to myself as I rushed in the exact opposite direction. The chaos I had created would inevitably calm down soon. I had limited time, and checking whether that gate was leading to a different location as I suspected was not something I could afford at the moment.

Especially since the nature of the dungeon made it very likely that we were facing the worst-case situation. The dungeon here was picked specifically to target Maria. Just bringing the news would have been critical. Maria was our greatest strategic asset, and just knowing that her magic wouldn't work rather than having to treat it as a worst-case scenario was enough to justify my expedition.

However, that didn't mean it was the only thing I could do. I moved deeper into the dungeon, ignoring the sensation akin to moving deeper into an oven.

The environment didn't change as I moved, the smell of sulfur and ash filling my nose. I saw no sign of lava or open fire, but I wasn't too surprised. After all, this was only the first floor.

I searched for dungeon crystals and beasts, but both of them proved rarer than I had hoped. Considering a small army had been loitering here, the lack of both wasn't a big shock. Instead, I focused on collecting other things.

I picked a few rocks, only to be surprised when I caught hints of silver and iron within their structure. Too little, not worthwhile extracting, but its existence alone suggested there might be a deposit with higher purity.

Unfortunately, prospecting for it would not exactly have been a worthwhile use of my time.

Next, I focused on the plants. There weren't many, but similar to our insect dungeon, I came across a few dead bushes that looked burnt, but still had living seeds. I collected both the seeds and branches.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to actually test their growth, not without wasting some precious time. I probably had less than a minute before they caught onto my subterfuge, which would have made it far more difficult for me to escape.

The obsidian and ash crushed under my feet as I continued, desperately searching for a monster. Just one would have been enough, one that I came across soon enough.

A giant lizard, standing at the edge. "Let's experiment," I said as I raised my hand, my mana flowing out in a pattern that was getting useful.

[-100 Mana]

The fire bolt flew toward the monster with eerie accuracy … and splashed against its skin uselessly, barely enough to get its attention. With a hiss, it rushed toward me, showing no hint of intelligence, similar to the insects I had gotten used to dealing with.

However, just because it wasn't intelligent, didn't mean it wasn't dangerous. The biggest weakness of the insects was their lack of mobility. They relied on their armor and corrosion effect, which were easy to deal with as long as one was armed correctly.

The giant lizard, on the other hand, was fast and agile. It rushed toward me with an uncertain path, easily dodging my first spear attacks to claw at me. Admittedly, those attacks were deliberately slow and telegraphed, but it was still more than what the farmers could achieve.

Worse, that was not the full extent of the problem. As it smashed against my forearm, I was met with a very unfortunate notification.

[-5 Health]

It had some kind of a heat attack, not entirely unlike the corrosion attack of the giant insects. Five points of health was nothing significant, but considering it was the result despite my armor that had managed to handle most attacks with ease, it was not good news.

Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to remove my gauntlet and see how much it would damage if I was wearing substandard equipment.

"That's enough," I muttered as I slashed my weapon, killing it with a single attack. A quick examination showed that its mana was concentrated at his front claws. A rapid slash later, I had two in my possession.

I didn't wait for it to disappear, as the minute it would take was too precious to be wasted. Instead, I continued running at full speed in a straight line, killing six more before I came across the first dungeon crystal.

"Hopefully, they'll be enough to reverse engineer an attack," I decided as I turned back to the gate, hoping that it would be enough to return.

It was not.

When I had reached the dungeon gate, I could already see several people around the gate. At first, I assumed that they were pulling back the army, but that didn't seem to be the case.

They seem to be guarding the gate against a possible infiltration. I thought about trying the other end of the gate, but considering the complete unknown it presented, I didn't dare to.

Instead, I decided to pull a small trick. I changed my posture as I started walking toward the door with contemptuous disregard. "Emergency orders, let me pass through," I said to the guards that were holding the line, and pushed one of them.

"Hey, careful —" he gasped, but I ignored him as I continued to walk toward the glowing gate. It was a simple, absurd trick, one that wouldn't have worked against a more disciplined army, but I stepped through the gate, once again arriving at the valley, feeling like I was about to be saved.

The robed figure must have managed to stop whatever he was doing with the other gate, and was walking toward the current one. His bodyguards were with him, but all of them were looking at the other side.

They were clearly expecting the enemy to come from their other side.

Opportunity.

Even as I took a step forward, I pulled my sword, and used Fleeting Step to cover the distance. It was a risky call, one that would make my retreat far more dangerous, but whatever he was doing to the gate was too dangerous to be ignored.

I was willing to bet that, even for Thomas or the forces supporting him, someone who was able to manipulate gates was not something that could be replenished easily.

As I swung my sword, I could see his expression turning contemptuous, as if what I was doing was completely harmless. That same expression twisted once a thick blue glow covered my sword, but only after it shattered some kind of invisible shield with ease, it turned into panic.

Then, it was too late. He didn't have a head anymore.

His guards reacted at once, but the way they were split, they couldn't intervene fast enough. I rushed forward, ripping the satchel on my target's waist even as I moved full speed. To their credit, the guards had reacted fast, closing on me with impressive speed.

One against four, I didn't fancy my chances, even with my armor. They didn't have to kill me. Just slowing me down was all they needed. Luckily, the fortress gate was still open.

[-20 Mana]

I used Floating Stride, levitating even as I rushed through them, trusting my armor to hold against their hurried attacks, betting that they would be only able to deliver glancing blows.

My sudden flight caught them by surprise, enough so that I was able to jump out of the gate, though even the fear for my own life didn't prevent my body from locking in fear due to floating. As a consequence, I rolled on the ground in a very undignified manner.

That seemed to surprise the four guards enough to slow them for a second, which was all I needed to dart directly to the spot where I had hidden my supplies. It was less about their direct value — as they merely represented a couple hours of work at most, as long as Maria helped — and more about my acute need.

With the mountain filled with an army, I needed the full range of my abilities.

Especially since I had seen one of the bodyguards remove a familiar device and send a message.