Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

1191  1190. Uz’Roc Marrowbiter

"What in the world…?" Cromwel breathed in disbelief. They had followed Haa'Skon here to assist Minas Mar in their fight, but did they even need it? There were two Kajuu Battles happening at the foot of the mountain, one bigger than the other.

In the sky was a legendary lich, hard pressed under the fire of a pseudo dragon and the nightmare centipede. The walls of Delta were embroiled in a war of rotten meat, where undead crashed against each other on both sides.

Southeast of the district was a sudden Monsoon, resulting in a flash flood that blew away the enemy troops and their legendary commander, in a stream of snow, ice, and mud. "It's not time for us to ride, yet" he parroted the golem in his mind.

Yeah, no shit, Minas Mar was far from hard-pressed in this battle despite facing the oh-so-scary legends from other worlds! What were they even supposed to do here? Haa'Skon sent mutants and zombies to hamper the enemy's journey, but he and the other two were just standing there and watching from the sidelines.

Cromwell stared at the golem knight from behind. Although he was a little upset, after following him all the way here, there was no way he would dare to tell the knight to the face. He wasn't suicidal.

"We will get a signal when it is time to intervene," Haa'Skon suddenly said, as if he knew what Cromwel was thinking.

"I-I see..." the scientist could only say limply.

"It seems like the necromancer is getting serious now," Haa'Skon commented emotionless at the sight of several more super-sized beasts falling through the portal. A massive Arachne, a Rhino, and a jaguar, all comparable in size to the Hydra Giant, dropped onto Iego. All three of them were beasts above lv.180.

The Arachne and the jaguar nimbly landed on the floating islands, the Rhino however, barreled straight through the energy beams and crashed into Delta's barrier. Lightning was crackling, as the Iego system fried the beast, who was tanking it with its defense alone.

Crying out tragically, the pachyderm reared up and slammed its feet onto the shield, creating various spider cracks across the city-wide barrier. The Arachne and the jaguar on the other hand sped off to help the dragon with his pesky monkey problem.

"Damn, how many more giant beasts do they have!?" Cromwell exclaimed exasperated. So far, Minas Mar had countered the undead step for step, even the legendary ones. But would they be able to keep going like that?

...

The cold water was draining away around him, leaving him in a shallow lake, in a valley at the bottom of the mountain. The legendary zombie was covered in scrapes and some of his bones were cracked.

Looking around he found most people dead and most undead damaged beyond repair. Many were ground to death by the ravaging rapids the mountain rock and the debris tumbling down with them. Uz'Rock looked up, finding the eagle already circling above him.

Why didn't it attack? All of them were standing in the water. A single lightning attack could finish off most of the survivors left. What was it doing? He was still looking up, when the groaning of beasts came to his ears, as the surrounding bodies began acting up.

He also felt something. As an undead, he knew no pain anymore, but he could feel something gnawing away at his ankles and feet. Slowly, weakly, but he was still a legend. How would it be for the other undead?

Looking around, he found the shallow lake around him, illuminated by a dim, toxic green glow, something that also surrounded his ankles, Among the rotten and maimed bodies of his underlings and the undead beasts that were flushed down the mountains he spotted a single figure, silently drinking the muddy stew.

The creature was not overly big, there were bigger beasts, strewn across the valley, but it stuck out because it was alive. The creature had the head of a snake, the body of a leopard, the tail of a lion, and the legs of a deer

He had never seen such a creature, but it seemed like one of the wilder chimeras with a relation to dragons- Just what wild magic or beasts had mated to create something like this? Observing it, he found that the green glow, that had the undead react, was spreading from its maw.

"I leave this to you, Blotches!" the eagle cawed over the battlefield and turned away. Shocked, Uz'Roc found that the lightning eagle was aiming west. Everyone knew what was going on there, as the noise of the battle between the skeleton dragon and the golden giant could be heard all the way over there.

He couldn't let an enemy legend join that fight! If that bird joined the battle, even the skeleton dragon might suffer. Uz'Roc ignored the weird creature and prepared magic to attack the eagle when the beast suddenly stopped drinking.

Opening its jaws wide there was the deafening sound of a pack of hounds on a hunt, a cacophony of agitated barking and growling filled echoed in the mountain. The next moment, a beam of black light passed by Uz'Roc's pale green chest.

The undead shaman managed to barely evade the sudden death ray, thanks to the horrendous sound the beast made, just before. Was it telling him that it was his opponent? The orc gritted his teeth. Were they all looking down at him?

Incensed, he decided that he would show this creature who he was and then he would go and get rid of that golden giant and the pesky bird brain.

…

"I am Uz'Roc Marrowbiter, Bane of the Plains!" he declared. Arcane symbols and runes appeared all across the valley. They quickly started floating in circles around the moaning beasts and undead, as well as the dead bodies of Spatia's technicians.

Some burned themselves into the bodies of the beasts, others created bands of magic spells that continued to revolve around the beings, strengthening them with crimson light. Uz'Rock himself threw off his cape, exposing the tall, muscular body.

If it wasn't for the sickly pale skin tone and the fact that he was missing his scalp, it would have been hard to believe that he wasn't alive. The muscular body was not infused with runes and magic circles, while several magic bands kept gyrating around him and individual parts of his body.

Blotches noticed that even his crooked stick had straightened, becoming a pole encased in magic. The Questing beast found this display of might quite messy and chaotic. Was this what differentiated legends and others like him? An elaborate light show and some flashy transformation?

Although it mocked the pompous display of power, it couldn't deny the effects. The undead that could not move or resist the slow decomposition into a nutritious solution, were now standing up again, several times stronger and more aggressive.

Not only the orc had grown much stronger, but Blotches suddenly found itself facing everything that was left of the troop that was swept down here. Cocking its head, deliberating its next move. The greatest danger left on the field were the 5 Liches that were flushed down here and quickly recovered their footing.

But they were also a great source of nutrients. The questing beast was stuck between killing the liches and lowering the danger and letting them live, so they could summon more cannon fodder. Its inner conflict didn't go on for long. It was just an intrusive thought before it remembered what was important here.

In quick succession, beams of death reaped the lives of anything that had the power to even slightly hold it back. Ceres had told it to take care of this place. If under some freak coincidence, these food dispensers managed to allow the big guy to flee and interfere with the Parrot of Doom, Blotches was done for. Which was why they all had to die quickly.

One would think undead were immune to death magic and instant death effects, but the opposite was the case. They were already closer to being dead than alive, it took a much smaller push to get them over that edge.

The death ray was fired. The first Lich was unprepared as the black beam struck the undead straight in the chest. Hit by the instant death effect, the soul fire was blown out and the skeleton crumbled to the ground. The heap of bones was covered by the slowly falling robe.

In an instant, a creature above lv.150 was gone from the battlefield. For a moment, all the participants in the battle stared at the sad remains of the mighty caster. This instant, the next beam caught another Lich off guard a disintegrated him into a pile of bones and dust.

"You bastard!" Uz'Roc exclaimed, seeing the minions he just buffed, getting mowed down like dry grass.