Rise of the Living Forge

Eleven tailed Ifrit and Lillia through the rest of the dungeon, but her mind was barely there for the majority of it. Her eyes were nearly glazed over as thoughts raced in her mind like runaway horses.

The power Ifrit bore should have been impossible, but there was absolutely no way to deny it. A mere smith was flinging around the explosive power of a high level mage — and with a hammer rather than abilities of his own.

And for some reason, the only things they seemed to be interested in were completely mundane. They stopped to carve some of the meat out of a few monsters they fought and mine some ore from a wall — though it was really more of Ifrit just reaching straight into the stone and tearing the materials clean free with his bare hands.

The smith, if he could even be called that at this point, was a monster.

If weapons like that got out to the general public, much less people who actually know what they’re doing with them… it would be a catastrophe. The entire kingdom could collapse into war. Nothing would ever be the same.

And, worse, I’d never get a day of rest. I’d be on jobs for the rest of my life.

The thought sent a shudder down Eleven’s back. Her fears were only heightened by the response that Lillia gave the hammer’s demonstration. She’d been impressed — but not nearly enough.

It was almost as if she’d expected Ifrit to make something like this. She hadn’t been stunned into disbelief. Sure, she’d been shocked, but not anywhere near as much as Eleven had been. If anything, Lillia had been more proud than anything else.

And that meant this wasn’t the first time Ifrit had made a weapon like this. It wasn’t the first time he’d demonstrated these powers, even if the hammer appeared to be new.

But not for much longer.

Eleven head twitched as she realized that Ifrit and Lillia were speaking. She’d been so lost in her own thoughts that she’d missed their conversation starting.

“…certainly packs more of a punch than it did before,” Lillia was saying. Her features creased with concern. “But are you sure you’re okay? That black lava…”

“It isn’t comfortable, but I can handle it. It’s nothing compared to what I went through to get the lava in the first place,” Ifrit said. He raised the deadly looking hammer and it vanished from his grip as if it had never been there — though the massive cracks running through the ground and the huge swathes of stone that had been melted by the lava the weapon had set free remained in the dungeon ground to mark its passing.

They all stood in the room that had once belonged to the boss of this dungeon. While it had only been toward the peak of the Journeyman tier, the monster — some form of cross between a lizard and an orc — had been crushed.

The fight hadn’t even been close. Eleven could only think of a single word could have been used to accurately describe it. Pathetic. Lillia had bound the monster down with strands of shadow. Ifrit had stood around, waiting idly as his hammer ignited with black light. Despite the orc’s best efforts, it couldn’t free itself.

All it could do was watch as Ifrit finished charging the hammer, strolled right up to it, and struck it straight in the top of the head. A wave of magma had poured from the hammer, washing over the monster and killing it nearly instantly. It had left behind nothing but a blackened patch of smoking ashes on the ground.

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Eleven shook herself out of her stupor as Lillia put a hand on Arwin’s shoulder. She didn’t even seem to care about the fact that he’d just burned a monster to death, despite seeming to like them enough to dressup as one.

“You aren’t shouldering too much again, are you?”

“No. I’ve learned that lesson.” A smile pulled at Ifrits lips and he shook his head. “This was just a personal project that I waited far too long to complete. Verdant Inferno was getting mad at me.”

Verdant Inferno? The name of the hammer? And it was getting mad? Oh, this is bad. He’s implying the fucking weapon is alive, and I’m not inclined to believe he’s making things up. What a pain in the ass. One is definitely going to want to hear about this. If he’d known what Ifrit was capable of… I’m pretty sure he’d have ordered him to either be removed or invited into Setting Sun.

“Then you’ll be relying on everyone else properly for the other weapons?” Lillia pressed.

It seemed that Ifrit had a bit of a problem with being a workaholic.

“More than ever before. I can’t make these weapons on my own. It’s physically impossible.”

Good to know.

“Well, just make sure you remember to take a break when you need one,” Lillia reminded him with a small nudge from her shoulder. “Having help doesn’t mean you can work forever. Seriously impressive hammer, though. I’d love to see the looks on people’s faces when you put it into action, but I guess it’ll be a while before that happens.”

“Definitely a while,” Arwin agreed. “But you’ll get to see the others at work soon enough. I’ll make Kien’s when he returns, and then you’re up next. I don’t want to leave the Devil’s Den undefended. Well — less defended.”

Others. Not good to know. So he has made more weapons like this — and he’s planning to continue. This isn’t some one-off thing his class somehow allowed him to make. What the fuck is the Mesh thinking?

Another thought struck Eleven in that moment. A cold finger trailed down her spine and she fought the urge to swallow.

If the Mesh hasn’t chosen him as its favorite little toy… then what hell has Ifrit gone through to get power like this?

Lillia smirked, completely oblivious to the horror on the hidden Eleven’s face. She clapped Arwin on the shoulder. “Good correction. The Devil’s Den is always defended, but a little extra never hurt anyone. Now, shall we take this back to the others? I’ve got a few fun ideas for dinner.”

“Sure. I just wanted to show you what I’ve been working on. Make sure you think on what it is that you’ll need.”

“I will. I’ve got a few ideas, but I’m going to have to see what it is your Soul Guardians do before I get too many. And Arwin?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for this,” Lillia said with a smile. “It’s been too long since we’ve spent some time together. It’s easy to get caught up with life. We seem to have a habit of that. I’ll plan the next one.”

“Then I’ll look forward to it,” Arwin replied, matching her smile.

A sense of shame wrapped around Eleven. She didn’t belong here. No matter what power Ifrit wielded, this wasn’t a moment meant for her.

That was the funny thing about being a spy. There were some things that had to be known, and some things that didn’t matter. One wanted to know what this smith was capable of, and Eleven had discovered more than she’d dared to hope.

It would be enough.

She did not need to pry into his personal life. It was easy to get lost in the power her shadows granted her. To decide that she had the right to peer into every aspect of what made Ifrit, or Arwin, who he was.

But he had shown no inclination that he was an enemy to the kingdom. The man was terrifyingly strong, but he clearly loved Lillia and his guild. The two of them had spent most of the time in their dungeon talking about their plans for the future and how they would expand their street, not how they would seek domination over the week.

I’ve got what One needs. Ifrit is a terrifying enemy for the tournament… but I don’t think he’s going to stand in our way.

With that, Eleven slipped away from the dungeon. She headed back for Milten, still cloaked by the shadows. There wouldn’t be any slip-ups. Having to do the job over because someone spotted her would be an enormous pain in the ass.

And besides, isn’t this great? Now I get to slack off for the next few hours. No need to spy on Ifrit any longer and risk blowing my cover.

Maybe I should check that inn of theirs out the normal way. With a line as big as theirs, I just have to try what it is that Lillia cooks.

She set a course back for the Devil’s Den, but even though her thoughts had lightened, there was one realization that held true. The power that Ifrit had used… there was absolutely no question about it.

It was not something that a normal class ever could have mustered. Smiths were smiths. Warriors were warriors. Powers like this…

They could only belong to someone whose class had been Sunsetted.

This is going to be such a pain in the ass.