Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

"How do you feel Polter?" Seth asked after they found an empty staff room. The blacksmith pulled out a few bottles of booze from his inventory and opened one for the depressed dwarf.

"How am I supposed to feel? Like shit. Not only did he break my shield and armor, I was trampled on and simply... Fuck man, I lost in the very first round," the dwarf complained frustrated. Seth nodded understandingly. Polter had looked forward to shining in the tournament, but he met a truly terrible opponent right in the beginning.

"If it helps you, you shouldn't blame your gear, skills, or even yourself. You didn't lose because you were lacking," Seth told him seriously.

"Then why did I lose?" Polter asked, throwing his hands in the air. When it wasn't about him lacking experience or accumulation, or his gear, or his skills, then why did he lose?

"The guy cheated," Seth stated dryly. " Not right here, not during the battle, but.." and then the blacksmith started explaining to the dwarf, what Master Mountains had told them before.

...

Meanwhile, the measures to prevent the tournament from being ruined were underway and the Master Bard entered the stage to soothe the audience. Long Story short, it worked. the master bard's performance even left a deep impression on the demons listening. His heartfelt songs in addition to his beautiful musical performance really soothed the upset crowd, helping everyone to slow down and relax.

They didn't forget their rage toward Dumm Ting, but they also realized, that they would lose the chance to enjoy the event if they kept holding onto the grudge. With the crowd appeased, they could finally start with the rest of the fight for the day

The fourth fight showcased Lyca, the Amazon against Alsmost, a sorcerer from Chrona. The outcome was expected. Although the magician delivered a surprisingly tough fight, he couldn't beat the Amazon, despite her being heavily nerfed.

The fifth fight presented a similar match-up. There was Tiny, the second in command of Gamma Resistance. The name was misleading, as he was the same kind of mountain as Gallwell, maybe a little leaner, and he wielded a massive, fantasy-style hammer with a handle like a polearm.

His opponent was another spellcaster from the Pathworks. If there was ever a personification of the phrase "going full goblin-mode", it was this scraggly old man. Wearing an old brown robe, that was too short for him in every aspect, he looked more like a goblin than goblins themselves. This man called himself the Dark Mage of Mug.

While Tiny had shone during the preliminaries with his great skills as a warrior, attracting some fans, the Mage of Mug had stayed under the radar despite winning his preliminaries round. Despite not seeing much of the mage, everyone thought this match-up already had a clear winner.

Until the Dark Mage of Mug was given their new moniker by the chat: The Mud Wizard.

The moment Umi announced the fight, the whole arena turned into a swampy field of mud. Clinging to clothes and gear, it instantly made it hard for Tiny in his armor, and with his heavy weapon to move.

While the warrior's movements were hampered, the Mud Wizard jumped around like a monkey, unhindered by the mud, which couldn't cling to his short, worn-out robe. Laughing, cackling, and mocking, he drew circles around Tiny, and kept flinging balls of mud at him, that stuck to the warrior's body, and weighed him further down.

The Vice-Master of Gamma Resistance went so far as to reveal his status as the Chosen of Magni, using overwhelming strength to rid himself of the mug, momentarily. No matter how strong he was, or the skills he used, he was unable to catch the elusive mudpuppy.

Meanwhile, the Mud Wizard did little apart from evading and building up mud on his opponent. However, this was enough. In the end, Tiny drowned under mountains of mud, mug, and swampy water, when his mana finally ran out.

It was a surprising turnaround from the expected narrative, but it was also more lighthearted for the audience, as the old man kept slinging slurs and taunts at Tiny, together with his balls of mud, some of which hit the young man harder than the magic. Seth was even convinced that he probably had a bardic secondary class.

It was the longest fight so far, as it took almost an hour for the Mud Wizard to wear down Tiny, yet nobody complained, as it all was one great performance by the spellcaster. Together with the previous musical performance and the admirable 4th fight, the mood of the day had mostly turned for the better.

Riding the momentum, the next fight was all clean, exciting duels. The 6th fight brought a popular Figure back into the spotlight. Alphalfa Bignoggin held a rare mix of classes, he was a type of summoner and a swordsman.

He had previously shown a host of summoned creatures like a beautiful elven-looking elemental creature and an over five-meter-tall barbarian humanoid. None of these creatures were below lv.90 which essentially made him a one-man team during the preliminaries. On top of that, he augmented the common weakness of a summoner by becoming a tough swordsman himself.

Using these summons and swordsmanship, he was able to shine in the preliminaries. He was also a rising star in the Chrona Empire with growing popularity. Facing him was a cultivator who started off as a stranger to the audience, but rose in fame thanks to his performance in the preliminaries.

Perl Woul was a cultivator with pale, immaculate skin and a androgynous face, that had both genders in the audience swoon for him. The skills he displayed had also left a deep impression on the people, especially Urthans who knew this kind of power only from fiction.

The man displayed a wide area of assassination skills. Most prominent were his invisible strings and flying weapons that dismembered his opponents before they themselves even realized it. Despite his fair and slender figure, he had shown brutal strength and cold judgment.

"And the winner is- Perl Woul!" Umi announced when the find finished in a mere five minutes. As much as Bignoggin had tried to augment the weakness of a summoner, he was in a bad match-up against a professional assassin.

Perl Woul had seemingly vanished the moment the battle began. Neither the summoned creatures nor the summoner were able to detect him until the moment all of them started from criss-cross patterns all around their body and disintegrated into chunks of meat on the arena floor. The assassin only showed his figure to the fear-stricken Alphalfa, when the swordsmanship was already falling apart.

The cultivator accepted his win with a silent note and minimal bow toward Umi before leaving the stage under the cheers of the audience. His cold and controlled demeanor, together with his fair face had the crowd enraptured, making him a fan favorite.

In the meantime, Seth had returned to the booth. After Seth shared with him the reason for the sudden power-up of his opponent, Polter had asked the blacksmith for some time alone, to think.

"Do you think Perl Woul would be able to skill Dumm Ting?" Mina asked Yu and Seth shortly after the fight ended, looking up from her screen.

"Why do you suddenly ask?" Mike asked surprised at the sudden question.

"There have been heated debates in the chat ever since Polter lost. Everyone is discussing who of the remaining participants should take Dumm Ting apart in the next round," she said and held up the tablet-like screen.

Seth looked at the chat, after the last match, there were obviously a lot of people saying Perl Woul would do the same to Dumm Ting, others said that it would be more fitting for Lyca to pummel the perverted Monster to dust. Some were calling out people who had yet to make it to Round 2.

However, the strongest faction was advocating for a match between Dumm Ting and the Mud Wizard. They wanted to see the evil cultivator suffer helplessly, as Tiny had in his fight against the sharp-tongued mudslinger.

"Hmm, if Dumm Ting relies on that power against Perl Would... he would probably lose," Yu said slowly. "He lacks control and self-awareness in that form. All that improves are his physical powers, so if the assassin disappears and strikes him from the shadows, there would be little he can do," Master Mountain concluded.

Although Yu was their resident expert for cultivators, something was bothering Seth about this assumption, though he didn't quite know why he doubted it. Would it really be that easy to assassinate Dumm Ting? It was hard to accept that someone was supposed to have such an easy time, where Polter could barely do anything.

"Well, we will see, if they get to meet..."