My Ultimate Blacksmith System

I couldn't count how many times I had battled against the Hydra, and each time, I was reminded of what a force of nature it was. We both grew stronger as we fought, and this battle would be our last.

I stepped away from Ms. Cole and faced the Hydra, which was fighting Amelia and Hikari. The Hydra immediately shifted its attention and turned to face me. I activated the sonic blast attribute on the Middle Finger, directing it toward the ground. The blast propelled me through the air.

Before it even had a chance to react, I slashed off three heads at once. With the two heads that Amelia and Hikari had managed to decapitate, that left two heads remaining.

Both of them looked speechless when they saw what I had done. The beast thrashed around and roared in agony. I could already see its heads regrowing. If we didn't act quickly, it would regrow before we could decapitate the other two.

As if it realized what we were thinking, a huge orb of floating water formed in front of the beast's mouths. It was preparing a high-pressure water attack, attempting to keep us at bay.

The attack was perfectly aligned with me. I prepared for the attack with the Middle Finger in hand. A blast of high-pressure water erupted from its mouth, and just as the attack was about to hit, I activated the sonic blast attribute on the Middle Finger.

[WARNING: LABYRINTH BREAK IN 8 MINUTES]

It was the same strategy Kyle had used on me. Since the sonic blast traveled faster through water, its entire attack dispersed before it impacted me. And in that moment—I attacked.

I created another sonic blast to propel me toward the Hydra once again. I rippled through the air; the Hydra moved to attack, but the moment it did, I activated the skill Water Slash, aiming for its giant slitted eyes.

I used the same sonic blast skill to make the attack faster than before. The attack sizzled through the air, claiming the beast's left eye. I used the blind side I had just created to move closer to it and decapitated its head.

[WARNING: LABYRINTH BREAK IN 5 MINUTES]

Now, there was only one head remaining. Sensing its inevitable fate, the Hydra turned to escape, but it was too late—I had already decapitated its last head in that split second.

[DING!]

[YOU HAVE GAINED 100 SKILL POINTS]

"Open weapon's stats"

WEAPON NAME: Liam Morningstar

WEAPON TYPE: HUMAN

LEVEL: BASIC GRADE

STRENGHT: 35

SPEED: 35

AGILITY: 21

ENDURANCE: 29

INTELLIGENCE: 24

+ATTRIBUTE

—SERPENT'S GAZE

—RESONANT PULSE

SKILL POINTS: 100

+-----+

STRENGHT 35->40

SPEED: 35->40

AGILITY: 21->26

ENDURANCE: 29->34

INTELLIGENCE: 24-> 29

+-----+

I enhanced all of my stats by five points and then went on to enhance the stats of the Middle Finger.

"Open Weapon's stat"

[YOU HAVE OBTAINED A PREMIUM GRADE BLADE.]

[OPENING WEAPON'S STATS]

WEAPON TYPE: KATANA

LEVEL: DIVINE GRADE

SHARPNESS: 45

DURABILTIY: 50

WEIGHT: 30

[ENHANCEMENT]

+-----+

SHARPNESS: 45->60

DURABILTIY: 50->60

WEIGHT: 30->20

+-----+

I only enhanced the Middle Finger and my own body, using a total of 50 skill points. Looking around, I noticed that most of my classmates were injured; the only ones who seemed to notice that I had defeated the Hydra were Amelia and Hikari, both of whom came up to me.

"Liam? How did you…" Amelia said, disbelief evident in her voice. That was when Hikari jumped in, wearing a not-so-happy expression.

"That should be impossible. How… What rank are you?" he asked, but just then, Luna approached me along with Kiki.

Before I knew it, the whole class was surrounding me.

"Ms. Cole," I called out to her. She had a look of utter disbelief on her face. "I managed to locate the gate."

"You did?"

"Yes, but I didn't go too close to it. The moment I saw it, I returned here to tell you all," I explained. "Luna and I have been tracking it to see where it would pop up."

In truth, we didn't need the gate, since there would be a dungeon break in less than five minutes. What I needed them to see was something else, so I led them to the gate with one minute to spare.

[WARNING: LABYRINTH BREAK IN 1 MINUTE]

They saw the gate, but what really caught them off guard was the deceased body of Kyle—our classmate—lying on the ground, his throat slit. His mouth was gaping open, his face pale, and his body as stiff as a rock.

The sight was horrifying, to say the least. Some of the students started throwing up, while others began outright bawling.

With that, the harsh reality of this place sank in. They barely had time to process what had happened before the gate closed seconds later. Cracks began appearing in the spaces all around us, as if reality itself was fracturing. The last thing I heard was Ms. Cole's panicked voice telling everyone to stick together before a blinding light flashed out of nowhere, and we were right back where we started.

We found ourselves right outside the city walls—all of us. Though it was strange, there were no monsters around. It was supposed to be a dungeon break, so the monsters on the higher floors should have been here wreaking havoc, but they were all gone.

Much later, when we reunited with the rest of our classmates in the throne room, we heard the grim reality of the situation. Firstly, all the school officials who had come with us were mysteriously killed, and there was magical interference preventing us from opening a portal to return home.

The worst news of all was that the moment the dungeon break happened, more dungeons spawned around the world and broke within the same instant. This meant there were wild dungeon monsters wreaking havoc throughout Shae'lyria.

The moment I heard all of this, I made up my mind. I needed to leave. Someone had lured all of us into a trap, and I didn't trust the king or the nobles as far as I could throw them.

I told Luna to stay and keep watch on them. I would only be taking Tyrah and Tierra—my handmaidens; they were duty-bound to serve me wherever I went. Plus, I would take one other person—an insurance policy, as I called her.

I snuck past her guards and into her room while she slept. Her long red hair spread across the mattress. She was only dressed in a nightgown—it was so thin that I could see her nipples poking out from underneath. I slowly tapped her shoulder to wake her up.

She slowly opened her eyes and jumped in surprise when she saw me.

"W-who are you?! How did you get into my room?!" she shouted, glaring daggers at me.

"Lower your voice, princess; you might wake up the others."

"Tell me your name!" she demanded, her hand slowly reaching under the covers for something.

"I'm the one who saved you before. You remember, after you fainted on the battlefield?"

She studied me with curiosity before muttering, "You're the monkey in the mask—one of the heroes. What are you doing in my room?"

"I'm here to kidnap you, princess. I'm leaving here for a while, and I'm taking you as my hostage."

I stepped closer to grab her, but just then, she unveiled the sword she had been hiding under her sheet and swung it at me. She aimed for my head, hoping to decapitate me without hesitation.

I dodged the attack by tilting my head and grabbed her arm. She wasn't finished yet, as a dagger she was holding in her other hand came flying at me. I caught the weapon underneath my arm with minimal effort.

I applied a little force to her hand, forcing her to drop the sword, then pried the dagger from her grasp. I found it amusing that she wouldn't scream—she didn't want anyone to see her in such a compromising position.

I couldn't help but tease her.

"I'll give you the chance to call for help."

She frowned, her eyes flashing with anger.

"Kill me if that's what you want."

"I'm not here to kill you, princess. I'm here to take you away like Prince Charming."

"Hmph! You're anything but a Prince Charming. Just speaking to you makes my skin crawl." She was shaking with anger. "What do you want with me anyway? What's the point of kidnapping me?"

What was the point?

"Do you happen to know what's happening here? Why our school officials have been killed and why there are dungeon breaks happening all of a sudden?"

She stared at me with a blank expression. It was as I thought; she didn't know anything. Her only value was that she was the daughter of the king. If the king was the one who orchestrated all of this, then having his daughter's life in my hands was the best move.

There was something not quite right about this world. My goal was to figure out what it was and find a way to get back home—by whatever means necessary.