Episode 264: Stubbornness (2)
The moment the Weapon Master appeared, the air turned icy cold.
The dwarves’ faces were etched with sheer terror, as if their earlier fury and determination had been nothing but a lie.
“Aquilo.”
The Weapon Master spoke, his voice deep and resonant, belying his slightly below-average stature.
“Why are you making things difficult?”
“I told you, the more materials we have, the more perfect this forge becomes.”
“Then why not just have your men subdue them? Why let them into the city?”
“Well, since they went to all that trouble, I thought I’d enjoy the show.”
“You caused all this chaos for such a trivial reason?”
“The art of a craftsman is complex. I hope you understand.”
Aquilo chuckled, but the Weapon Master clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“You said not to kill them, right?”
“Just bring them back alive.”
The Weapon Master turned his gaze to the dwarves, his pale green eyes sweeping over them. They trembled like leaves in the wind.
“Not many of you, are there?”
He addressed the dwarves directly.
“I heard you have a dark mage on your side. Victor, the Woodcutter, was it? Where is he?”
“H-he’s not here!” Kilo shouted, mustering all his courage.
But as soon as the Weapon Master looked at him, that courage evaporated.
“Not here? You came alone? What were you thinking? Well, if he’s not here, I have no business with you.”
The Weapon Master spoke to the dwarves.
“Those who wish to surrender, kneel. Otherwise, I’ll drag you away after cutting off your limbs.”
A murderous aura emanated from the Weapon Master. He was a force of nature, a being close to the pinnacle of power. His very presence was a weapon.
Some dwarves foamed at the mouth, unable to withstand the extreme fear.
“Don’t talk nonsense!”
“Surrender? What a joke!”
“We’ll kill you right here!”
Yet not a single dwarf yielded to the Weapon Master. They glared at him with resolute eyes, as if ready to die on the spot.
“This is troublesome. It’s a thousand times harder to keep something alive than to kill it.”
The Weapon Master shook his head, muttering to himself.
Then, one dwarf raised an ancient weapon high and shouted.
“Weapon Master! You killed my son! I’ll kill you with my own hands!”
The dwarf hurled the ancient weapon at the Weapon Master with tremendous speed.
With a deafening explosion, red flames engulfed the Weapon Master. A smile spread across the dwarf’s face.
But it didn’t last long.
The Weapon Master emerged from the flames, unscathed.
“So this is the ‘Ancient Sun’ you dwarves are so proud of? Impressive, but not enough to harm me.”
He brushed off the embers from his clothes.
“You monster!”
The dwarf threw the ancient weapon again, but the Weapon Master’s eyes sharpened.
In an instant, blood spurted from the dwarf’s wrist, severing the hand that held the weapon.
“Ugh!”
The dwarf clutched his wrist in agony.
“Did you really think I’d fall for such a slow attack again?”
The Weapon Master spoke with disdain.
“You said to keep them alive, so… limbs aren’t necessary.”
His eyes glinted once more.
In the next moment, blood gushed from the dwarf’s knees.
“Aaah! Aaargh!”
The dwarf, now missing an arm and both legs, collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.
“Why was his wrist cut off?”
“The Weapon Master didn’t even move!”
Confusion and fear spread like wildfire.
No dwarf dared to throw the ancient weapon at the Weapon Master again.
“One down.”
The Weapon Master approached the limbless dwarf and grabbed him by the neck.
At that moment, he noticed something peculiar beneath the dwarf’s outer garment.
The dwarf was wearing a vest made of linked iron balls.
It wasn’t underwear, nor was it armor. As the Weapon Master pondered, the dwarf let out a sporadic laugh.
“To think… I’d be the first to give the famous Weapon Master a hard time… What an honor!”
The dwarf pulled a cord protruding from his clothes.
The vest exploded. Nearby buildings were obliterated, and red flames shot up to the sky.
The force was incomparable to a single ancient weapon.
“Ugh.”
Even the Weapon Master was pushed back by the blast, his sleeve completely burned away.
“Now! Attack!”
“For our ancestors!”
“For the city of Bissal Hammer!”
All the dwarves lunged at the Weapon Master, pulling the cords on their vests.
A series of massive explosions ensued, engulfing the Weapon Master in flames.
”…”
Aquilo watched in shock, his expression blank.
“Suicide attacks? Have they gone mad?”
“Mad? We’re perfectly sane!”
Kilo shouted defiantly. His men all hurled themselves at the Weapon Master.
Kilo was the only one left standing among the resistance.
“To fight a monster like the Weapon Master, this level of sacrifice is necessary!”
The dwarves couldn’t even handle a single master-class opponent.
The Weapon Master was a giant among masters, having surpassed multiple barriers.
To fight such a monster, the dwarves had no choice but to resort to surprise tactics.
Their chosen method was ‘suicide attacks.’
“You fool! The Weapon Master won’t die from something like the Ancient Sun! This is just throwing your lives away!”
“It doesn’t matter! This was just to stall the Weapon Master!”
Kilo removed his outer garment, revealing a vest of linked ancient weapons.
“Our real goal is to destroy that forge! If we can just take that down, our lives are a small price to pay!”
Kilo charged toward the forge. For the first time, Aquilo’s face twisted in panic.
“No, not the forge! Anything but that!”
Aquilo had no combat abilities. He had no way to stop Kilo’s suicide attack.
As Kilo neared the forge, he prepared to pull the cord.
At that moment, a red light flashed from the sky.
Something descended diagonally, piercing Kilo’s abdomen.
“Ugh!”
The pain of his insides being torn apart made Kilo collapse.
Clutching the hole in his stomach, Kilo looked up. A sword hovered in the air.
It was no ordinary sword.
The crimson blade and the eyes embedded in the hilt were unmistakable.
“A cursed sword.”
-Hehehe! Glad you recognize me!
The cursed sword floated, letting out a bizarre laugh.
-Master! I stopped him, just like you said! I did it! I, Vandal, stopped him!
“Well done.”
A voice came from the explosion’s aftermath. The Weapon Master emerged from the flames.
His clothes were completely burned away, but he was unharmed.
Despite the dwarves sacrificing their lives, they hadn’t managed to harm the Weapon Master at all.
“The destructive power was impressive. If not for the cursed swords, I might have been in trouble.”
Several cursed swords floated around the Weapon Master, having shielded him from the blast.
“Damn… so soon…”
Kilo struggled to stand.
With all his men dead, he was the only dwarf left who could destroy the forge.
But with a cursed sword having pierced such a vital spot, he couldn’t muster any strength.
He kept commanding his legs to rise, but they wouldn’t obey.
“Kilo, you foolish friend. This place is guarded by the Weapon Master. Did you really think such a plan would work against someone like him?”
Kilo bit his lip.
He realized that even the Weapon Master’s earlier surprise had been an act.
Everything was just a performance to satisfy Aquilo’s twisted amusement.
‘There must be… there must be a way. If I can just get close to the forge… What about the men guarding the gate? If they could just come…’
Even knowing it was impossible, Kilo clung to the hope of his remaining men.
Then, footsteps echoed from behind. The Weapon Master’s men, who had been guarding outside, entered the city.
“Master, we’ve captured the enemies as ordered.”
In their hands were Kilo’s subordinates, bloodied and battered.
“Well done. Hand them over to Aquilo.”
“Yes!”
The men dragged the dwarves and threw them at Aquilo’s feet.
“More offerings have arrived.”
Achillo gazed at the dwarves with a face that could only be described as affectionate.
“Oh… Achillo… you traitor…”
“Still conscious after all that? Impressive. I’ve made my choice.”
Achillo picked up one of the dwarves and began chanting an incantation in a language no one could understand.
Suddenly, multiple tendrils sprouted from the brazier, piercing the dwarf’s body in an instant.
“Gah!”
“Already in pain? This is nothing compared to what’s coming.”
The tendrils began to glow red-hot, and the dwarf’s body started to tear apart.
Muscles ripped along their fibers, exposing nerves that had been hidden beneath. White bones met the open air.
“Aaaargh!”
Despite his horrific state, the dwarf was still alive, screaming in agony.
The tendrils pulled the disassembled dwarf toward the brazier, connecting his muscles and nerves to it.
“Ugh! Aaaaargh!”
His screams grew even louder, more terrible than when his body had been torn apart.
“Achillo! Stop! I said stop!”
Unable to bear it any longer, Kilo shouted desperately, but Achillo didn’t even glance his way.
“Just wait your turn. Once I’m done with them, you’re next.”
Everyone was so absorbed in the gruesome scene that they failed to notice something else.
The shadows blanketing the city were stirring, like waves in the darkness.
“Huh?”
One of the dark knights finally noticed.
“Wait, could it be…?”
From the shadows, green spears shot out.
The razor-sharp blades pierced through the dark knights’ armor as if it were paper, each imbued with a deadly aura.
“Argh!”
“Ugh!”
In an instant, dozens of dark knights were reduced to lifeless heaps.
“Skeletons?”
The weapon master exclaimed in surprise as skeletal figures emerged from the shadows. But his surprise quickly turned to delight, a smile spreading across his face.
“Could it be… the audacious fool who dares challenge me has finally arrived?”
Darkness began to coalesce right in front of Kilo, forming a shape.
The moment Kilo saw it, he shouted in shock.
“Victor…?”
A masked man stood there, looking down at Kilo with an indifferent gaze that somehow felt like a welcome sight.
“Are you… here to help me?”
Victor slowly extended a hand, as if to help Kilo to his feet. Hesitantly, Kilo reached for it.
But just before their hands met, Victor clenched his fist and punched Kilo square in the face.
“You brazen little dwarf. What were you thinking, messing up the plan like that?”
“W-wait…! Let’s talk this out!”
“Talk? Sure, but first, there’s a price to pay!”
Victor began to mercilessly stomp on Kilo.
“Ah, that’s better.”
After a thorough beating, Victor finally turned his attention to the weapon master, who was watching with keen interest.
“Weapon Master. It’s disgustingly nice to see you again.”
“Again? This is the first time I’ve seen you. Where have we met?”
“Don’t strain yourself trying to remember. I’ll make sure it comes back to you.”
The weapon master burst into laughter.
“Amusing. Truly amusing. I never thought a dark sorcerer would dare to challenge me now…”
While the weapon master was intrigued, Victor’s focus shifted to the massive brazier in the square.
”…”
His expression hardened at the sight.
“Did you create that monstrosity?”
“Ah, you recognize it. As expected of a dark sorcerer.”
Achillo caressed the brazier as if it were a prized possession.
“This brazier was crafted using the wisdom of our ancestors. It required very special materials—dwarven flesh, bones, organs, nerves, brains, and souls, all woven together.”
“Are you insane?”
Achillo wagged a finger in mock reproach.
“Coming from a dark sorcerer, that’s rich. Don’t you also use souls and corpses?”
“True, but not while they’re still alive.”
As a dark sorcerer, Victor could immediately discern the brazier’s horrific design.
Thousands of living dwarves had been bound together, their muscles and nerves interconnected to function as a single entity.
The dwarves used in its creation were still alive, suffering in unimaginable pain.
Their bodies had been forcibly merged, leaving them in a state far from whole.
“Why would you create something like that?”
“Your question shows a lack of vision. By using this method, we can harness the talents of all the dwarves used as materials. Imagine the weapons we could forge by combining thousands of dwarves into one.”
Victor’s lip curled in disgust, as if to say, “All this for such a trivial reason?”
“Kilo, did you know about this?”
Victor asked the dwarf at his feet.
”…I knew. I saw it while observing them from outside the city. I watched as the city’s inhabitants were transformed into that.”
Kilo buried his face in the ground, struggling to hold back tears.
“Victor… I, no, we lied to you. We didn’t gather to reclaim the city! What would be the point? Our families… our loved ones… tens of thousands of our kin are already gone!”
The dwarves hadn’t been trying to reclaim the city to survive.
“Our goal was always singular: to destroy that brazier and end our own lives.”
They sought to reclaim the city only to find a place to die.