Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

A huge flying creature resembling armored manta rays were circling the zeppelin-like airship in the night sky. A band of burly men in ragged-looking armors and jackets was standing on their backs. The beasts were controlled by hooded riders whose faces could not be recognized.

A beauty lifting a sparkling cutlass and signaled the men to attack. She wore a tight uniform resembling a naval admiral that could barely tame her busty figure and a warm fur coat on top.

In complete silence, the band of raiders jumped off the flying sky rays and landed on the shield dome of the airship. They used devices resembling stilettos to penetrate the shields. Not the shoes, the thrusting weapons. After stabbing into the weapons and the shield started to disintegrate into dust. After each one destroyed their respective segment, they jumped down onto the deck and took out the staff tasked with night watch at the same time.

These people looked ragged, but their moves were fast and experienced. These people were no simple raiders. They split up and silently rushed across the empty deck. They secured all exits and left guards before entering the belly of the ship.

The interior of the ship was brightly lit by magic lanterns, but it did not impede them in any way. Their movements became even swifter as they took down the remaining guard on the hallways with blowguns shooting poisoned darts. The poison paralyzed the high-level guards who were then helpless against the attacks of the intruders. The poison could not be traced, so it would look as if they died in a fight against overwhelming numbers.

They split into two groups; a small team would enter the area with the commoner cabins. The rest would go and actually raid the wealthier passengers and nobles.

Their target traveled undercover in one of the commoner cabins. All they needed to do was to stage this as a bandit attack, get rid of that person, kill and rob some nobles, make sure that people saw them, and described them as raiders. It did not need to be perfect, just good enough to work as an excuse for their client. But not good enough that the target would not understand the message. The senior member would take care of this. Not them

This group of three was in charge of being bandits. Everything went great. They could even keep the loot they took from the merchants and nobles. They didn't kill all of them. They had to spare some higher nobility. As for the others...they only killed men and sometimes children. Some women they left behind might wish they were dead.

The task was very much to their liking. The three of them were new members. They had started off as robbers after their families threw them out during a famine. They had found the perfect job. They loved the easy money and they grew accustomed to the feeling of power you had when you decided over another person's life or death!

One day they were approached by an organization that recruited talents like them. They were trained to be even better in what they loved.

Everything went great! Their inventories were filled with riches and they had also gotten some action in the last cabin. All these wimps in the expensive cabins lacked the will and the skill to stop them from whatever they wanted to do! It became even easier after the light in the hallways turned off. This meant one of their teams had taken over the bridge.

They came before the 5th cabin of the VIP-area and it was Frank's turn to intimidate the passenger, while they would search the cabin and... other stuff if there was the chance.

He hammered against the door with his unarmed hand. The door stayed shut. He hammered again.

"What do you want!?", they heard an angered voice. Did they wake him up? They would give him an evil awakening and help him find eternal peace right after!

"Room Service!", he called with an innocent tone, while the other two suppressed their chuckle. They had long let down their guard, it was just too easy to loot these people.

The door swung open and before them stood a tall muscular man who drowsily looked at the bunch before him. His bulging muscles sparkled with a layer of sweat. He only wore a pair of white underwear and a headband that tamed his unruly hair.

What had they interrupted here? The three assassins were baffled for a moment but immediately came back to their senses. Frank waved his weapon in front of the man.

"Listen here! If you want to survive then bring out all your valuables and-"

They were splattered in blood

"FRANK!", the one in the back screamed.

"No, not Frank!", said the one catching the body of his best buddy.

He wanted to touch his cheek, but there was only a stump spouting a fountain of blood! The young at the door did not even give Frank the chance to finish his sentence. In the hand they had not seen because of the door, he had held a huge raven-black hammer. It was still dripping brain and bone fragments of the human once called Frank.

He had simply swung it too fast for them to react and crushed Frank's head. Literally crushed! His headless body slumped back, right into the arms of his screaming blood-covered friends. The young man on the other hand just stood there, as if he himself was flabbergasted of what he had just done.

Simultaneously, the man in the back lifted his blowgun and shoot at the man and a cold glint appeared in the young man's eyes. A greedy smile was the last thing the robber saw before the young man was covered in pale blue flames. The bright light pierced their eyes. The poisoned dart simply evaporated when faced with the roaring flames that suddenly shot out from the door and covered the two men.

Still holding the fresh body of Frank, the first one could not escape and ended up screaming and rolling on the ground as he was burning alive. The other was luckier. He had jumped to the side and escaped the fire after getting rid of his lit jacket.

He looked back and saw the flaming figure step out of the cabin. He swung his arm and the screams of his friend abruptly ended! No! No! He had to get away! He didn't want to die like this! He had to tell the others! There was a burning savage on the ship. The higher-ranking members had to deal with this!

--------------------------1 minute before

~ Seth, there is someone knocking against the door. ~

He had just finished his new hammer when the little Ivicer called him from the other room. The caterpillar and Fin had been asleep until now. Fin didn't feel like standing up. The Ivicer let him know.

"This little..."

With a lot of grunting, he lifted his tired and overworked body off the ground. His muscles hurt with every move. He dragged his feet and gulped down another stamina potion, though it did not help his tired mind.

He heard the second wild knocking. It did not help to raise his mood so he asked moody what they wanted.

"Room service!"

Oh! Room service? He could really use something to eat right now. Ah. He still had the hammer in his hand. He didn't want to scare anyone. He took the hammer into his left hand. He opened the door and hid the hammer in his left behind the door.

In the dark hallways, illuminated by the light from the room behind him, stood three wild-looking men in warm-looking jackets and ragged looking armor. They were not the room service. They had no food. They smelled of blood. Not them alone, it was a smell that wafted in from the corridor.

"Listen here! If you want to survive then bring out all your valuables and-", he saw at pointed a weapon at his face

<Ding! You have killed "Frank lv.29". Experience gained!">

His mind was too slow. The decision fell before he could think long about it. The hammer fell before any of them could even react. His left holding Charon´s Obol swiped up and obliterated the man's head spraying blood, brain, and bone fragments all over them.

Seth was dumbfounded as the limp body fell back and the other two started crying their friend's name. This was the first human he had ever killed. This was his first...murder. It was different from killing monsters or undead. This man had friends. Maybe he had a family maybe-

<Ding! Skill: Calm Reaction (Passive)lv. 7 has become Calm Reaction (Passive)lv. 8!>

His mind cleared up and his eyes focused just in time to see the effect of killing someone with Charon´s Obol. The soul of the victim was directly sucked into the hammer! Did this maybe mean... that he did not have to feed it dropped souls, but just use it in fights?

Seth saw the man in the back lift a blowgun and reacted with the most natural instinct he had. He blasted them with Soul Fire as strong as he could! The man holding the dead body had no chance and got covered in fire. The dart that had just left the blowgun was vaporized out of existence. The only thing left of the third was his burning jacked as he dashed off into the darkness.

Seth was too tired to chase him and he was assailed by a terrible headache after overusing <Fire Manipulation>. The death throes of the man covered in the fire didn't help to lessen his headache. He swung the hammer and the hallway became silent. Another soul was sucked into the hammer. Was it maybe a 100% yield if he killed with the hammer?

He suffocated the flames that were slowly burning the hallway and returned to his room.

<Ding! Title: "Burning Savage" gained. "Your reputation is growing!" +5% damage on fire-based attacks >

<Ding! Your Skill: Fire Affection lv..2 had become Fire Affection lv.3!>