Rise of the Living Forge

Arwin cracked his neck, then took a step forward and reared back, flinging one of his swords at the lizard’s head mid-roar. It struck it with a thunk and the monster hissed in fury.

“What are you doing?” Reya exclaimed. “You just threw away one of your weapons!”

“I can’t dual wield,” Arwin said with a chuckle. He pointed his enchanted sword at the lizard. “Come on, then. Those scales of yours look like they’d be good to practice making armor with.”

That proved to be the final straw. Arwin still wasn’t sure if the average monster was intelligent enough to understand his insults, but it definitely picked up on the tone of his voice. Letting out a furious hiss, the lizard’s limbs blurred into motion and it charged.

Arwin moved to meet it, old instincts kicking back in immediately. It felt like it had been a long time since he’d been in a proper fight, and he didn’t have the abilities he’d had as the Hero, but he still had more than enough to work with.

The lizard’s head snapped down to bite at Arwin’s neck. He jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, and brought his sword down on the monster’s neck while sending some magical energy through the blade.

A dull hum rang out as the blade rang against the Lizard’s scales, failing to penetrate through them. Small ripples of dull, nearly invisible magic remained in the spot where he’d struck the monster.

Arwin jumped into the air as the lizard’s tail whipped out and smashed into the ground where he’d been standing. His jump didn’t take him nearly as far as he’d planned, though. Arwin dropped back to the ground far sooner than he’d expected and the monster lunged for him again.

Cursing, he threw himself into a roll. A loud crunch rang out as the monster’s teeth slammed shut just above him, and Arwin slammed his sword into the same spot he’d struck before. More magical power left his body as the magic resonating on the lizard’s scales intensified, but they were still whole and undamaged.

Reya stood on the other side of the lizard, frozen in fear. Arwin didn’t blame her – the lizard was admittedly a bit stronger than he’d been expecting. If it was giving him this much trouble, it probably really would have been fatal if she’d fought it.

Well, this was a good exercise to see where I stand in my new body. Time to dial up the heat.

Arwin activated [Scourge] at its max power. Magic pumped through his body, but the lizard was oblivious to it. Having judged Reya a non-threat, it charged at Arwin again. Its massive mouth opened once more and it bit out at him.

Reya called out a warning as Arwin remained solidly in place, but it was too late. The lizard was upon him – and Arwin’s left fist was upon the lizard. His fist slammed into the monster’s open jaw from below, and a loud crunch echoed out.

Its head snapped back, mouth slamming shut. Arwin’s strike redirected the monster and it stumbled past him, tripping over its own feet. At the same time, a flash of pain flooded through Arwin’s fist and he swore.

If it wasn’t for [Indomitable Bulwark] halving the injures I get, I’m pretty sure I would have just broken every bone in my hand. Damn. This thing must weigh a ton.

And, even with the Title, Arwin’s fist stung furiously. He shook his hand off, gritting his teeth as the lizard’s tail hurtled for his head. Arwin ducked out of the way and ran at the lizard while it was still midway through turning back to face him.

The monster was pretty fast whilst moving forward, but it wasn’t anywhere near as swift in its rotations. It let out a screech of fury as Arwin lunged, using another [Scourge] empowered blow to drive his sword forward.

It punched through the scales of its side with a loud crunch, driving deep into the monster’s flesh. Blue blood splattered across the grass as Arwin ripped the blade free and hopped back, just barely managing to avoid the lizard’s tail as it spun again.

If there had been much intelligence in the monster’s head, it probably would have registered that Arwin was more of a threat than he’d initially appeared to be. Unfortunately, there wasn’t.

With another screech, the lizard charged him once more. Arwin could feel his energy starting to wane from the amount of power he’d pumped into [Scourge], but he didn’t have any other choice. Using the ability at its max power was the only way he could properly damage it, but it also chewed through his energy at disturbing speeds. He was pretty sure he only had the strength for one or two more blows.

Ducking to the side to avoid a claw swipe, Arwin brought his sword down on the already-ringing section of the lizard’s neck with all his might and let out a roar of his own. Scales shattered as the enchanted blade bit deep into the monster’s neck.

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Almost instantly, the resonating energy finally triggered. A shudder shook the lizard’s body as Arwin ripped his blade free and blood sprayed out of the new wound. The lizard wasn’t done yet, though.

It jumped at Arwin one last time, trying to crush him beneath his bulk. Even with [Scourge], Arwin didn't want to take the weight of a massive hurtling monster straight to the face. Just because he could lift something didn't mean he wanted to get hit by it.

Instead of trying to counterattack, Arwin directed [Scourge]’s power into his legs. He lunged to the side in a burst of speed, hitting the ground with a grunt and rolling across it in a rather undignified manner.

Behind him, he heard the lizard slam into the ground. He managed to stop his rolling and shot to his feet, acutely aware of just how little energy he still had left to work with. The lizard was already turning toward him, preparing to charge, but its eyes were unfocused. It was losing a lot of blood from the nasty wound in its neck and the one on its side – but it wasn’t dead yet.

Arwin tightened his grip on his sword and sprinted at the monster, trying to take advantage of its weakness. It hissed a challenge, preparing to meet his charge. It was ready for him, but it wasn’t ready for Reya.

She sprinted at the monster’s back, thrusting her dagger into the open wound in its side. Even with all the momentum her charge had given her, she hit it like a toddler sprinting into a brick wall and fell back with a pained grunt, but the damage was done.

Her dagger had driven deep into the monster’s already injured side, and it let out a pained scream. It spun toward Reya, making its final mistake. The momentary distraction was just enough for Arwin to close the rest of the distance between them. He brought his sword down, using the last dregs of his magic to drive his sword into the resonating wound on its neck.

The lizard thrashed and screamed as the power thrummed through it, and a mixture from the magic and the deepening wound finally won over. It crashed to the ground, Arwin’s sword nearly all the way through its neck, and spasmed in death throes.

One of its thrashing claws caught Arwin on the chest as he tried to step out of the way. His flesh burned as he was thrown to the ground with a pained grunt. He rolled to safety and pressed a hand to his chest, feeling warm blood start to trickle down his chest.

“Arwin!” Reya yelled, running over to him. “Are you–”

The words died in Reya’s mouth as she skidded to a stop, staring at the wound. It was little more than a nasty cut. It was bleeding pretty badly, but it was nowhere near the fatal wound it should have been. She blinked in disbelief.

“What? How? I saw its claw go right into your chest!”

“I told you,” Arwin said with a dry chuckle. He pushed himself to his feet, brushing the dirt off his back and sides. “I’m more than a mere smith.”

And still, that was closer than I would have liked. I overestimated my strength – but that was a good baseline for determining where I stand. I can probably handle monsters up to Apprentice 6 if I’m doing everything perfectly, but it’ll depend on how they fight. I’m at a huge disadvantage against anything faster than me, and I’m going to need some proper armor.

Reya looked from Arwin to the dead monster, disbelief and awe warring in her eyes. The awe won the fight and she ran her hands through her hair, then down her face. “I can’t believe it. You killed a monster. A crafter killed a monster stronger than him.”

“And you helped.”

“And I helped! How is that possible? How are we alive?”

“Pretty simple. We hit it harder.” A grin cracked Arwin’s expression at the glare Reya sent him. He trudged over to the body of the dead lizard. Reya’s dagger still stuck out of its side, and he nodded to it. “Take your weapon back. Did you get anything for helping me kill it?”

“No. I don’t have a class yet.” Reya finally snapped out of it and walked over to join him.

And I didn’t get anything either. Makes sense. I’m a crafter. The Mesh isn’t going to reward me for killing things – but that hardly matters. All the reward I need is right here in front of me.

Reya pulled her dagger out of the dead lizard with a grunt. She examined it for a moment, then wiped the blood off on the grass and returned the blade to its sheath.

“What now?” Reya asked wearily. “Please don’t tell me we’re going after another one. We barely made it through one.”

“Depends how fast we work,” Arwin replied as he knelt, wedging his sword beneath one of the scales near the wound and leaning on it. With a crack, the scale popped off and fell to the grass. “I’m not leaving until we scrape this thing dry of any useful materials. You keep watch and let me know if anything else is coming. I’ll cut this thing up, and then we can grab everything we can carry and head back to the city.”

Reya swallowed and nodded, squinting into the forest while Arwin got to work.

Perhaps it was because the corpse of the last monster that tried them was sitting in open view, or perhaps it was just sheer luck, but no other monsters emerged to attack over the next hour.

Arwin worked in silence, ripping scales and claws off as efficiently as he could. He’d never stripped a monster before, but to his luck, the lizard’s scales were so firm that they were hard to damage unless he actively started wailing on them.

“Is this really going to be enough?” Reya asked. “To beat the thieves’ guild, I mean. There are thirty of them, and some of them are at the top of Apprentice. Their leader is a Journeyman.”

“It’ll be enough,” Arwin replied. “It has to be, and so it will.”

“What kind of logic is that?”

“The logic of a man who is determined to win. It’s logic that you should adopt if you want to survive,” Arwin suggested. He straightened up, looking around at all the materials lying on the ground in wait for him. “For now, help me carry this. We’re heading back.”

Reya nodded and walked over, piling as much of the material as she could into the bundle of swords they’d brought along. Once that was full, they both stuffed their pockets and filled their arms before heading back up the valley and back toward the town.

“We have one day left, though. What are we going to be able to do in one day?”

“That’s a simple answer as well,” Arwin said, sending Reya a glance out of the corners of his eyes. “I’m going to make us equipment.”