Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Like wasps, the glowing pieces of metal flitted past her ears, as she hid inside the poison smoke. Dowloon had tried attacking him with throwing daggers and poison needles, but everything she threw at him was blocked by the weird golden shield, covered in foreign scriptures. Even her Myriad Poison Smoke was unable to get through the membrane of light.

At least she didn't have too much trouble evading the volleys of snappy metal, as he simply kept strafing left and right through the smoke. if only it wasn't so loud, the roar of his strange weapon rang in her ears, but the projectiles hitting the barrier in the back weren't any quieter.

it was hard thinking in the noise, explaining the wave of relief when the shrapnel-spitting spear fell silent. her eyes covered in Qi pierced the smoke and observed what her opponent was up to. he had lowered his weapon and clicked his tongue.

“This is just a waste of bullets...” he mumbled and pulled a small black ball from his spatial storage. An audible chink echoed through the stadium when he pulled a small ring from the item. It was a sound anyone in the audience knew much too well from various media, however, Dowloon only questioned what he was doing...

He suddenly threw it across the arena!? Was it a hidden weapon-? She questioned when her world was shaken. Her eardrums felt like ripping when a massive explosion took place in the corner of the arena. The shockwave, fire, and smoke blew away her poison mist and almost herself, too.

What kind of artifact was this? Since when had the native's urns with sealed fire talismans inside? She had seen their magic, but this was a surprise. The power was easily comparable to what people had thrown at her during the preliminaries, but... it had also dispelled a big part of her poison? How could this happen?

Her thoughts slowed when her eyes fell on the man in the menacing helmet once again. 2...3...4...5, he kept bringing out more of the apples...

Chink! tong tong tong. One fell right before her feet.

“!!!” Dowloon started running, using the Mist Escape technique, her body integrated with the poison and allowed her to appear on the other side of the arena before the thing exploded. But it didn't help her, as more and more explosions followed, dispelling her poison mist with their magic power, and ripping her robes with the tiny shrapnel expelled from them.

“There you are,” the man in weird armor said calmly when she had no choice but to appear before him and the audience. The weird bombs had dispelled too much of her poison mists to use her technique.

Dowloon stayed silent as she activated her technique. Godfrey was not the only one with a few tricks up their sleeves. After all, she had not simply been running around while hiding in the mist. Channeling her energy, she activated the trap formation.

...

It seemed like Dowloon was in trouble, but terrifying energy suddenly started accumulating in the center of the arena, surrounding Ibelin Godfrey. The golden barrier sizzled as drops of a dark violet fluid condensed around it.

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Seth watched the poison eat into the marble flooring, creating a viscous swamp in the arena. So far, the arena tiles had only been damaged on a few occasions. Vathon had recommended them for their sturdiness and personally cut these. However, it seemed like they had finally reached the point, that people would no longer be able to hold back from using their trump card.

Ibelin's golden sphere was quickly swallowed by the sludge Dowloon had created. The crusader had vanished from the eyes of the audience. Silence followed, only filled by the questions in chat and among the audience, whether Ibelin was dead or not.

While everyone else was questioning whether it was over, the poison fairy popped a pill in her mouth and calmly observed the pool of poison. She didn't seem to be convinced that it was over. Focused on her own trap, two daggers with wavy edges appeared in her hands.

When Umi Kaldrops had just asked management whether she should announce a winner, the pool of sludge exploded. Covered in acidic grime and a wispy golden aura, Ibelin Godfrey jumped back into the arena.

The eyes of his helmet were burning in a bright golden light, like the sun, as he charged at Dowloon. No weapon in hand, he simply swung his hand, the gauntlet emitting his holy aura.

“Fist of God,” the knight exclaimed in a deep, sinister voice, as the gauntlet crashed into the crossed blades. The daggers spat sparks as Dowloon barely managed to shift away from the attack in the nick of time. The massive imprint of a fist had destroyed the arena floor where she had just stood. Had she decided to block, she would have been minced meat.

Ibelin straightened his back, seeing how his surprise attack had failed. He had not lost his knightly aura, even with the ugly poison sticking to his armor. He shook himself, making the viscous fluid splash everywhere. he didn't seem bothered by it at all.

Seth stared at his figure when he finally had a guess as to why the girls were so confident in their guess.

“Don't tell he has poison immunity...” Seth said with a sigh.

“Or a high resistance. it's something all paladin or crusader classes have, once they start following a god,” Fin answered with a cheeky grin. Similar to Tekar who had a basic resistance to almost everything, these holy tanks also came with various perks, of which poison resistance or immunity belonged to the standard.

“You may have traveled outside for a few months, but we grew up with the system. There is still stuff you don't know,” the fairy continued confidently. It wasn't often that she was able to brag with her knowledge and experience, so she enjoyed it thoroughly.

“Don't get so cocky yet, Dowloon has not lost yet,” the blacksmith countered. Just because Ibelin was powerful against poison, didn't guarantee his victory. As if to support this claim, the two combatants were fighting on equal terms in the arena.

Dowloon was covered in a rose-colored energy that kept expanding as she clashed with the crusader over several times. When she finally dodged a second strike that put a crater into the floor, ibelin stopped chasing after her.

“Now that your poisons ran dry and your flimsy hidden weapons are used up, I see you are a worthy opponent in the end,” he admitted and finally unsheathed the simple-looking sword that hung at his hip.

“In the name of Axol, I offer you a holy duel, do you agree?” he asked, holding the almost boring-looking arming sword in front of him. His other hand had equipped an almost as simple kite shield. Uncertain, the cultivator looked at him, before she nodded. Almost as if saying it was better to have an honest duel than him pulling another weird weapon from his behind.

The knight smashed the sword in his shield, and the arena was covered by a transparent membrane with a golden hue. At the edges of the arena, the membrane went straight up, ultimately forming a cube-shaped cage. Ibelin's Holy Duel was a glorified cage match.

This was the moment when they really started going for each other's throats. Golden and rose-colored auras kept clashing and exploding as a fireworks of skills and techniques exploded in the center of the stadium.

Alas, no matter how hard the poison fairy struggled, ultimately it came as the girls had predicted. The last one standing, albeit covered in horrifying wounds, was Ibelin Godfrey.

“She shouldn't have agreed to the duel,” Minas said with a disappointed headshake.

“Why?” Seth asked, waiting for them to enlighten him on crusaders.

“These guys are already the essence of a cockroach on the battlefield and this kind of person gets another 50-75% boost when engaging in a “holy duel” with the name of their god on the line. She has no chance,” Fin explained

“That's a scam!” Seth exclaimed a little upset.

“Yep, she was totally duped,” Mina said with a nod. “ She might have had a chance if she hadn't agreed to the duel."

“it doesn't work unless the opponent agrees?” Seth asked surprised. Mina shook her head.

“That's why, although this is overpowered, it seldom has a chance to shine, unless they get to fight someone clueless,” Mina answered.

This calmed Seth a little. At least it had a pretty high prerequisite to be used. After all, what enemy would knowingly agree for their opponent to power up?”