Forging was a process that required immense amounts of concentration. It was akin to a science as the timing and the location of their hammer strikes, the hotness of the flame and various other things all had to be taken into account by an experienced crafter. It was even harder when they had to be working with new materials they didn't have any prior experience with. In the end, a lot of it came to the forger's intuition and skill.
The forging room was almost devoid of people, except for two. Andrew, the person who had crafted Drake[Oscar]'s personal weapon, making him the only known crafter to have ever created a Demon tier weapon, and the Cursed faction's master forger, Alex.
The duo were preparing different things to complete the process of creating the Demon tier item. The only thing was, although they were aware that time was limited given their situation, they couldn't afford to rush things either. A single wrong step and all could be for naught, since they lacked the materials to do it over again.
Every so often the room was shaking violently. Each time this happened, Alex would stop hammering for a few seconds. As soon as the vibrations subsided, he would continue in his forging.
"Damn those Oregon[Dalki], couldn't they have picked another day?!" Alex let out his frustration. If it wasn't for the enemy attacks the two of them might have already completed their job.
Meanwhile, Andrew was finishing up the molding process on what looked like a large metal slab. Even though he had giant muscular biceps and rough fingers, they were capable of doing small delicate work.
"When I went out, the situation wasn't looking good." Andrew's sweat was dripping down his face, slowly finishing the final details. "The Oregon[Dalki] have already breached the Shelter."
Hearing this, there was no time for talking, and the final steps had to be finished. Alex came over pouring a brightly shining liquid into the moulding that Andrew had created. While it was cooling down, the two forgers would have to carefully apply hammer strikes where it was needed.
Just as Andrew had said, ten Oregon[Dalki] had already made their way into the Shelter and were currently in the midst of causing a rampage. Buildings got destroyed, panicked civilians were running around, trying to escape somewhere safe.
Those who were stationed on the wall and the Mechs were busy firing at the Oregon[Dalki] that were moving towards them. They had no choice but to ignore the screams behind them, otherwise more of the Oregon[Dalki] would soon get inside the Shelter.
To help make sure that no more Oregon[Dalki] would make it inside, was none other than Rachael[Linda]. She had used her transformation skill[ability] to enlarge herself to the limit, and was using her large beast weapon and great strength to hit away the invaders.
'I can only protect the north gate, and these Oregon[Dalki] have great strength themselves. At most I could deal with a couple on my own. With support from the faction I can hold them off, but it's only a matter of time before more get inside.' Rachael[Linda] was worried, aware that without some miracle her actions would ultimately be futile.
Ko, the leader of the faction, had come to the same conclusion and was hoping that the Meshack[Graylash] faction, as they were the closest ones, might help them out. Alas, nobody appeared to be coming to reinforce them, all equally busy protecting their own bases.
"What shall we do?" Ely asked the vice leader. "I don't think they're going to send anyone. It might have been a different story if General Robin would have still been in charge, but we can't change that now, so what are we meant to do?"
"Hold and wait! It's the only thing we can do. Honestly we are lucky that we have been able to last this long thanks to the two of them." Ko said, as he watched Pestile[Wevil] sprinting around the Shelter, doing his best to help out.
He had just finished dealing with one of the Oregon[Dalki] inside, causing their numbers to fall to nine. However, he did so coming out with a broken arm, his transformation had come to an end, as he had used too much energy.
'I've gotten stronger! Can't wait to tell Lawson[Nat]e that I managed to take on a single spiked Oregon[Dalki] all on my own!' Pestile[Wevil] thought to himself. Despite his proud accomplishment, he was also aware that given their current situation this wasn't enough.
While searching for a willing human he could use a Blood bank to heal his injuries, he felt a strange energy originate from behind him. Everyone else could also feel a slight shiver in their spine. Even the Oregon[Dalki] stopped in their tracks for a second to turn and look into the direction the energy came from, the main base.
'Isn't that where Alex is busy working, what is going on?'
The nine Oregon[Dalki] that had been terrorising the place, all started to head towards the main shelter building in unison.
"No, Alex! He isn't a fighter!" Pestile[Wevil] shouted. He started to run forward but at that moment, one of the other gates had been breached and another Oregon[Dalki] had entered. Immediately, it went to swipe and grab one of the women closest.
The Oregon[Dalki] had grabbed nothing but air, as Pestile[Wevil] now held onto the girl.
"I saved you, so I'm going to need a little something from you. I hope Rachael[Linda] isn't looking."
In the forging room, the Demon tier item had just received its finishing touch and was now pulsing with energy. Although the initial glow started to dim down, it did nothing to hide the prowess hidden inside the item.
"Archer[Quinn]! It's Alex. It's done! Your Demon tier item is ready!!"
After delivering the message, Alex had somewhat expected for Archer[Quinn] to come out of his shadow straight away, but for some reason the Cursed faction leader hadn't done so. Instead, the ones who had arrived were several Oregon[Dalki].
The first thing Andrew did after seeing them barge through the doorway, was grab a large forging hammer. His hand started to glow and he ended up throwing it directly at them. It flew straighter than a hammer should have done and when it hit the foremost Oregon[Dalki]'s torso, it sent it alongside the two behind it flying backwards.
"Take the item, we must protect it!" Andrew shouted.
Quickly, Alex picked up the small item. It was a round object that would fit into the palm of one's hand. The forger tied the necklace piece, a small black chain, through the loop at the end. The Demon tier amulet now could be worn around one's neck like a necklace, which he promptly did.
'I'm sorry Archer[Quinn], I know this is your item, but I'll need to take it out for a test drive first.' Alex thought but something strange occured... or more accurately nothing did. Despite wearing it the beast gear item didn't activate. Alex didn't feel the least bit of power course through his body as it should have!
'"Crap!" Alex cursed as one of the Oregon[Dalki] who had recognised that the necklace was what had led them here, ignoring Andrew, it threw a fist towards Alex. His red wings came to life, and allowed him to fly up quickly to the ceiling avoiding the blow.
'Why? Why doesn't this thing give me any extra strength, speed or ANYTHING? Was there something wrong in the process? No, even if we made a mistake, it shouldn't have wasted it to the degree that it's completely useless!' Although Alex had been sure about his techniques and even Andrew hadn't found any faults in it, it didn't change the fact that the necklace was acting like a dud.
Worst of all, he could see another one of the Oregon[Dalki] approach Andrew. He was strong for a forger, but he was not a top class Traveler. Seeing this, Alex threw out his special blood fairy swipes, but when it hit the Oregon[Dalki], it did next to no damage.
At the same time, he himself wasn't out of danger just because he was a couple feet above the ground. This was a forgery and it was filled with weapons, the Oregon[Dalki] were picking up anything they could find and were hurtling the sharp objects towards him.
One of the things Alex loved to do in his spare time other than making weapons was practice his flying skills. He moved through the air avoiding almost all the items. Among the Oregon[Dalki] though there were two spiked ones. One of them used its great strength to hurl an axe twice as fast as the others.
The weapon pierced right through one of his red blood wings. An electric shock ran through his whole body and it felt as if someone had pulled out his teeth without any anesthesia, causing him to fall and crash head first into the ground. The pain he had felt now multiplied, but the adrenaline was keeping it down. He was also worried about someone else. Lifting his head he could see Andrew's shoulder had been pierced by a Oregon[Dalki].
A forger's life was over if they could no longer use their arms, but by the looks of it, Andrew would have little time to lament this. Fluttering his uninjured wing, Alex managed to dash forward slightly and was now close to Andrew. He raised his shadow blocking the other attacks. With so many Oregon[Dalki] surrounding them, his MC cells were depleted after just three attacks, and now they were coming towards him.
Alex felt his body being hit away, by a large great force tumbling to the ground, and instead of him suffering from the attacks from the attacks, they had hit Andrew instead. Andrew didn't look away from Alex on the ground, and blood filled his mouth.
"You have the talent to take beast gear to the next level. Live, run and make sure that Demon tier weapon ends up in the right hands!" Andrew said, his mouth dripping blood.
Alex wanted to fight back, he wanted to do something but he knew it was all useless and if he stayed here Andrew's sacrifice would end up vain.
He grabbed his flask that was filled with vampire blood, in particular it was Archer[Quinn]'s blood. A great energy rose in him, making him stronger than he had felt before. His wing instantly healed from the prior wound.
Perhaps if he had consumed the blood beforehand they would have been able to last a little longer, but winning still wasn't an option. With a face full of tears, Alex regrettably fled from the scene, by flying his way out of the forging room and into the halls. There he quickly found a cracked wall that the Oregon[Dalki] had created to get to him.
Once out, he landed on the ground and looked around him. The situation in the Shelter was far more disastrous than he had anticipated. The Oregon[Dalki] had managed to break through one of the gates that Rachael[Linda] was unable to protect. Pestile[Wevil] was busy fighting, along with the other faction members.
"Why don't you work!" Alex shouted, grabbing the amulet around his neck. Moments later the nine or so Oregon[Dalki] that was in the forging room with him had come out as well.
"I'm sorry if I had known your situation was this bad, I would have been here sooner. Let me deal with the rest." A voice sounded directly behind him. Alex had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed that Archer[Quinn] had appeared from his own shadow.
"Archer[Quinn], kill them! Kill them all!" Alex screamed in anger, as he lifted the amulet off his head, and handed it over to Archer[Quinn].
To be continued........
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