Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

“And this ends the great obstacle race! As you all were able to see, the winner is Megan! With a whopping negative two hours!”, Umi announced the winner once every participant was disqualified or arrived at the goal and all feathers were tallied.

“Also a big applause for our second and third place, Lady Lyca and Hannibal Cho!” the announcer continued, putting an unconventional lady in front of Lyca's name. The two heavy-hitting participants had monopolized the martial trials. Also, they managed to lower their race time to almost zero, but neither was able to compete with Megan's cheat-like power to sniff out hidden feathers.

Between the end of the race and the winner's announcement, holograms of the race's highlights had been playing in the stadium. It was to get through the time it took for a flying vessel to bring the runners that reached the goal back to the stadium to hold the award ceremony.

The ceremony itself was not much different from the others beforehand. Megan was allowed to choose an epic item from a prepared hoard, while Lyca and Hannibal Cho were given monetary prizes for second and third place. What was different, was that Umi Kaldrops appeared in the stadium before they ended the day.

“Before we end today's event, we have two announcements from our organizers. The first is about tomorrow's event, the start of the Pythian Martial Tournament. People who wish to take part in the preliminaries and have not yet registered, still have time until 8 o'clock in the morning tomorrow to register at the stadium.

The second is a general announcement by Minas Mar. You all have gotten a taste of the peculiar labyrinth henceforth known as Asterion Dungeon during the race, right? After the Pythian Games Minas Mar will prepare the location to be opened to the public.

Did you think the riddles were too easy or the traps too obvious? Then you should try it for yourself! For a small fee, you will be able to scour the structure for thrill and riches!”

Umi revealed the real reason for the dungeon. it was not simply built as a one-off location for the race. Seth's experience with the dungeons in the Holy Land and being denied to have one for himself gave him the idea to make one himself.

Of course, they didn't build the whole dungeon in the short amount of time since the blacksmith returned from the Holy Land. the idea of a labyrinth filled with traps as part of the obstacle course was already being built.

However, it was Seth's idea to treat it like an actual dungeon, which meant that they also put more riddles and treasures into the Labyrinth, instead of it just being a trapped passage through the mountains.

Using the concept of a dungeon, the labyrinth became a business opportunity, and the Pythian Games advertisement for it. It was different from ordinary dungeons, which was especially attractive to Urthans. Their experience with guided dungeon runs also played a role in this revelation.

As of now, there were no scary monsters in the dungeon, it was purely a non-lethal, slightly embarrassing adventure ride that could end up with people getting their hands on some good items. Of course, Minas Mar had already come up with rules that would make sure this business venture would not end up in a net loss for them, but it was still a sweet deal. Especially for the players who were scared of going into dungeons and fighting monsters.

There was restrained applause from the audience in the stadium, mostly because they were not necessarily the target group for the Dungeon Experience. Also, the location would have to prove its worth once it was opened. but having any applause at all was already a good reaction.

The event finally ended with another cheer for the winners of the great race and Umi's farewells. With all minor events out of the way, the crowd left the stadium excited for tomorrow, when the real meat of the Pythian Games finally began.

After everything was said and done, the players, adventurers, cultivators, and nobility from other worlds had not come for the art or sports events, they were here for the blood sport. Although the obstacle race was great, they had still been pulling their punches.

The Martial Tournament was different. Thanks to the help of the Adventurer's Guild actual death was an option. of course, it came with resurrection through the guild, but it meant none of the participants would have to hold back during these fights

Even cultivators would be able to participate in fights to the death, as they were able to get a temporary registration bracelet from the guild. of course, there was no doubt that they would have more than enough of them participating, even if resurrection was not an option.

A culture that coined the phrase “ The sword has no eyes” and even acknowledged possible death during friendly spars or training, wouldn't be afraid of this kind of Tournament. Of course, this was only what Seth gleaned from the tales Master Mountain and his friend spun for him. Maybe not all cultivators were as foolhardy as that.

“Are you okay?” Mina whispered to Seth as they left the stadium. the blacksmith rolled his shoulders.

“Maybe I'm a little tensed up. Things went okay so far, but the tournament is the finale. You know what happened during my last tournament, right?”

They were convinced some faction would cause a disturbance during the Pythian Games. With everything going smoothly so far, the likelihood that it would happen during the tournament, and especially its finale became higher by the minute.

on top of that, Seth had a slight trauma with tournament finales, since the last tournament Minas Mar hosted was crashed by the Theocracy of Chain and many of their participants, finalists, and Seth had been kidnapped to a place deep in the mutated woods that now covered the southeast of the continent.

“You know that won't happen again. You did a lot to make it so,” she whispered to him, massaging his stiff shoulder.

“And if something happens, we are also here! me, Mina, and everyone from Minas Mar,” Fin added motivated. Seth nodded with a calm smile. The two were right. He had done a lot over the past months to prepare against the various dangers that were encroaching on them and Urth.

But he wasn't the only one who put a lot of effort into it. Monique, Jonah, and the others had left Urth to grow stronger, all of them were now around the mid-way point of becoming a legend. the Oathguard, Chimeras, and Faer also weren't lazy at home. Tored, Nädel, and the other Crafters had also helped him a lot during his own work.

With everything that happened, Seth could be assured that they had done the best they could with the time they were given. If this still wasn't enough, then they were simply fucked. If there really was anyone who could mess them up after everything he and his friends did, they would have to be some really hardcore end boss they would have never stood a chance against in the first place.

But no matter what their enemy had prepared, even if it was the most over-leveled, min-maxed boss, they would make sure dealing with them would be the most annoying thing they would do in their life.

“How about we go and have a meal together before returning home?” he finally asked with a smile, earning especially the fairy's cheer. They had to enjoy their time together, as long as things were still peaceful.