Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

While the fourth day of the Pythian Games was filled with more traditional sporting competitions, where people competed in physical prowess, the fifth and sixth days ramped up the intensity with competitions focused on more comprehensive strength.

They were made to suit the different classes of the system. A basic competition Tanks would participate in was the Defense Test. Which technically meant they offered to be a punching bag for increasingly stronger attacks by monsters summoned with the help of the Adventurer Guild.

Of course, the guild had also once again performed its service of creating temporary dungeon fields where participants would not die. So even if they overestimated themselves. The more comprehensive category for Tanks and Off-Tanks was the escort mission.

In this competition, the participant would have to protect a target for a specific amount of time, while danger grew in strength and numbers. Another one focused on mages was the Blink Race, which was an obstacle race for casters that were able to use <Blink> and similar skills.

Of course, Minas Mar didn't just come up with all of them. Many of these disciplines were popular across Chrona and even Spatia. they were not just a way for adventurers to gain fame, but also for outsider to gauge their strength and experience in a semi-controlled environment. Doing well and presenting one's skills in these competitions could do wonders for an adventurer's career.

“Caleb, you are also participating in this one?” Polter asked, surprised at meeting the Dragon Knight in front of the same arena he was waiting at.

“How could I resist this challenge?” Caleb asked with a laugh.

The event they decided to participate in was the peak of the first day and was called Speed Kill Challenge in Chrona. The rules were relatively simple. It was an individual discipline where the competitor entered the arena alone, to face summoned monsters with rising power. Most monsters in the quickest time won.

“Wanna make a bet?” the knight asked the dwarf with a sneer when he was about to enter the arena. Polter wasn't one to back down.

“What's the stake?” he asked in his grumbling voice.

“Dinner tonight?” the knight suggested.

“Fine with me!” the dwarf answered with a hearty laugh, looking forward to free dinner.

It was a shame the participants were unable to see the spectacle inside, the dwarf would have liked to see how his friend was doing. So far, the participants at this arena coming before them had taken five to seven minutes to exit the arena again.

Since most of them were around that time, Polter was convinced that they either disqualified at the same time, or the whole challenge was just that long. However, he was about to be surprised, as Caleb stayed a full ten minutes inside before a now bruised and battered Dragon Knight left from the other side.

Well, this made it clear, that the others didn't leave so early because it was an easy challenge, but because they couldn't hold on for longer. The man gave him a glance, Polter couldn't quite interpret. Was this pity, or schadenfreude in his eyes?

Since participants who finished their challenge were not allowed to talk to the others, he shuffled away with a bend back. He vanished in the direction of the repair stations, where a blacksmith would repair damaged equipment. A free service offered by Minas Mar.

“Polter Onyxheart, please get ready!” the speaker announced.

Polter didn't have much time to ponder over it, since soon his name was called. it was his turn. Readying the poleaxe and the shield his grandfather forged for him, the dwarf stepped up to the challenge.

The arenas were several temporary fighting rings set up in the center of the stadium and surrounded by walls so other participants couldn't see the inside. The fights inside them, were televised to the audience by flying golem eyes. At the entrance and exit of the arena stood a golem knight, though Polter didn't quite know their purpose. It wasn't like the monsters would try to run.

As expected, the first slew of creatures was nothing before the Shield Saint and Polearm Demon. Polter easily dispatched the first nine beasts in a matter of four minutes, before he ran into a wall. Number ten did not appear from the guild's summoning circle.

It was the golem at the exit of the arena that suddenly raised its longsword from its resting position and entered the center of the arena. Seeing that it was obviously his next opponent, the dwarf wasn't polite and appraised the golem, like he would a hostile creature.

<Golem Knight Azotain lv.89>

The Shield Saint's eyes bulged as he hurriedly lifted his shield to block an arm-numbing strike. The golem's level was just a few behind his own, but all of its physical stats were above 400, its endurance even broke 500.

This wouldn't have been so bad, most monsters had higher stats than players, but Azotain also had a great number of skills, that probably aided its power in battle. The dwarf didn't even get the chance to read any, he just saw the list before almost having his arm broken through the shield. However, his surprise only lasted for milliseconds.

Grunting, he got his head back in the game and used <Parry> to deflect the longsword to the side, get some distance, and strike with the poleaxe. As a polearm user, Polter had the upper hand in range. Since the golem had no shield, the dwarf still saw a chance, as long he he managed the distance correctly.

It was clear that Caleb had not defeated the golem. As long as Polter managed to, he would win their bet. The ensuing fight was brutal, as the dwarf gave his all to defeat the golem. The skill difference between the Polearm Demon and the golem was obvious, as the golem kept receiving damage, while Polter got the hang of deflecting its strikes.

After getting a feel for his opponent, Polter began using the power of the Poleaxe.

His grandfather created this relic. Some of its powers were inspired by the Poleaxe of Chains Seth once lent to him. Apart from raising the stats of the user it came with several active effects. Of course, he didn't reveal all of them, with the tournament in mind.

Azotain's stats were lowered by 5% on every hit and Polter was able to cast <Bind> before dealing mighty blows. Despite this advantage, he realized the difficulty of this fight. As the fight went on, the Golem Knight would keep mending, while his own stamina wasn't recovering at all.

But mending couldn't happen without cost. This was a battle of attrition between whose resources would run out sooner. But it was probably his own, which was why he needed to wait for a chance to deal a single, overwhelming blow.

As long as he could incapacitate the golem for long enough, he would gain the advantage and clobber it until its mana ran out, or he destroyed its core. Coming to this conclusion, Polter got ready for a final attack, when the golem suddenly entered phase 2.

The longsword in its hands lit up in mighty flames. Even three meters away, Polter felt the heat emanating from the sword. Instinctively he appraised the sword in the golem's hand for the first time.

<Whitehilt Nr.5

Relic, Ego

...>

“What the fucccc! You gave your golem a relic-rated weapon!?” the dwarf screamed in his mind, having a hard time keeping his tears back. How was he supposed to win now? Both of them had relic-rated weapons, but the golem was a bad match for his poleaxe because many of the negative effects like confusion or silence didn't affect it.

Polter on the other hand was not inherently fireproof, even when he had a 30% basic resistance as a dwarf, the flames of the Whitehilt were frightening. Ultimately, the addition of fire slinging on top of overwhelming stats led to a dwarf covered in soot and burns leaving the arena after 12 minutes.

“Haha, you also fell to the Five-Minute-Breaker,” a burst of bell-like laughter greeted him when he returned to the VIP booth where Caleb and him were seated. The person in question was a quirky woman in a unique get-up.

“Meg? What are you doing here?” the dwarf wondered. It was the archaeologist from his team during the evaluation.

“I also have a seat here! Although I came a little late, I came just in time to see you and Caleb get your butts handed to you,” she said happily.

“I see, but what did you say about a “five-minute mark”? I'm sure I lasted longer...”

“It's what people started calling the golem stage because pretty much everyone reached it around five minutes in and can't get past it,” she explained, showing him an orb with quickly running by text. It was the chat of the live stream of the event.

“How is my ranking?” Polter asked, assured that he did better than Caleb, seeing the knight flinch at the question.

“You are fourth on the overall ranking. The three above you managed to defeat the golem.

“There were people that defeated it?” He asked surprised.

“Yeah, one adventurer and two of these foreigners from the Cloud Continent. They managed to incapacitate their golems with a powerful attack, which counted as defeating it.”

“Tsk, I was about to do the same, when phase 2 started...” he clicked his tongue, but then shrugged his shoulders. He let go of it and smiled instead.

“Anyway, how about eating dinner together? Caleb is paying.”