Rise of the Living Forge - Chapter 461 (Patreon)

A stunned silence held the air in a chokehold.

Arwin stared down at the crumpled body of the woman that had just challenged him. He was joined by just about every other person in the crowd, both outside and inside the Devil’s den.

He hadn’t even gotten a chance to actually fight. Vanessa had just walked up to him, tried to swing her sword once, and then crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The urge to let out a heavy sigh gripped Arwin.

This is definitely going to cause some really annoying rumors.

“What did he do?” an adventurer somewhere behind him whispered. “What was that?”

“His glare was so strong that she dropped dead on the spot,” someone else said. “That’s no smith. It’s a demon!”

“No, you idiot. The demon is the innkeeper,” another one said. “They can’t have two demons. None of them are the same kind of monster. Why would you need two demons? He’s clearly something else.”

“What kind of monster glares people to death?” the first adventurer asked. “Wait. Is she actually dead?”

“She’s not dead,” Arwin called sharply. He really didn’t need that particular rumor getting out. “She just passed out. I’m… going to go take her inside, I guess.”

“Are you going to kill her?” one of the adventurers asked.

“No,” Arwin said as he hoisted Vanessa off the ground with one hand. He slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “I’m going to wake her up and then send her on her way. I don’t make a business of killing people that annoy me. I’m pretty sure that goes against a few laws.”

A few chuckles rolled through the crowd. That was enough for Arwin. He strode into the Devil’s Den. The longer he was outside, the more likely it was that someone would catch on that he was just as baffled as the rest of them.

What was that? Why did Vanessa just… drop?

Arwin wove by the tables of adventurers, who hurriedly turned their attention back to their meals. He wasn’t even sure exactly where he was meant to take Vanessa. The last thing he wanted was to start even more rumors.

A shadow imp popped out in his path. It waved his hand to grab his attention, then hurried off toward the back of the room.

Arwin followed after it without hesitation. The little creature led him right up to a door, which opened up to reveal a plain stone room with a wooden table. There were a few splotches of blood on top of the table.

He didn’t know why — and he didn’t want to.

A slightly bloody table was still better than the floor. With a grunt, Arwin plopped Vanessa down on the wood. She didn’t even flinch. The woman was completely out cold. If it wasn’t for the faint rise and fall of her chest, he might have assumed she was actually dead.

“What the hell happened?” Arwin muttered. He dug through his memories, brow furrowing. This had never happened before. Something about his new abilities must have changed things significantly. Arwin summoned his status screen with a thought.

He sifted through the massive list, scanning over it for anything that possibly could have taken responsibility for Vanessa’s sudden collapse. Sure, he had the new passive from [Shroud of the Harbinger] that merged his soul with that of his Awakened equipment.

The addition of Gehenna to his other, already powerful weapons, was definitely partially to blame. Perhaps that pressure was a hell of a lot stronger than he’d expected. But nobody else had picked up on it.

Hm. It did look like Vanessa might have used some kind of perception ability. She was handling everything normal right up until her eyes sharpened. Is my new passive some kind of auto-counter to anyone who looks too closely at me?

There had to be more to it than that. Vanessa hadn’t just collapsed. She’d managed to make it all the way up to him before she’d fallen, and she’d been terrified the whole time. That kind of fear didn’t come easily. There had to be something—

Arwin froze as his gaze landed on a Title he’d gotten some time ago.

[Inevitable End] – Awarded for killing an overloading monster a full Tier above you from a location where it could do nothing but wait for death. Try not to make it a habit. Perceptive opponents will be able to pick up the promise of death that seems to find those who place themselves in your way.

“Shit,” Arwin breathed, realization finally settling in on him.

It wasn’t just one passive ability that had taken Vanessa out. It had been two. His new passive had stacked with [Inevitable End], intensifying the effects of both abilities. And when the woman had activated some manner of perception ability on top of all that, she’d done the equivalent of peering into the void.

That’s a terrifying combination for an ability that I didn’t even fully activate. What would happen if I used [Shroud of the Harbinger]’s active ability? Even if someone wasn’t trying to stare into my soul with some kind of analysis ability… I think it would do quite a bit of damage.

Arwin blew out a breath and shook his head. This was not the kind of ability he’d ever thought a crafting class would have received. Something told him nobody else was going to expect it either.

Anyone trying to spy too close on me might get a nasty surprise.

But Vanessa’s sudden collapse hadn’t been the only surprise of the fight. Arwin lifted his fingers to his chest, brushing them across his shirt. She’d slashed at him, but he hadn’t even gotten so much as a welt.

It wasn’t because the thug was weak. She may have swung with the flat side of her blade, but she’d swung hard.

[Indomitable Bulwark] reduced the damage he took — but not completely. And his skin most certainly did not make a clanging noise when it got hit. No, something had appeared between himself and Vanessa’s sword a moment before the weapon could connect.

I could have sworn that, for a moment, there was a piece of armor in the way of her sword. How did that happen?

The door creaked behind Arwin. He turned, pulled from his thoughts, as Rodrick stepped into the room. Anna followed shortly after him.

“Well done,” Rodrick said as he approached the table Vanessa laid on. He paused to glance over at Arwin. “Not that I’m really certain I know what you did.”

“Ability combination that accidentally turns me into an eldritch eyeball that doesn’t like getting stared too closely at by observational spells.”

“Ah,” Rodrick said, nodding as if that was the most natural response in the world. “Makes sense. Handy. She dead?”

“No! Why does everyone think I go around murdering people?” Arwin exclaimed. “What have I possibly done to get anyone to think that? It’s not like they know about Jessen. This reputation is entirely unjust!"

Rodrick and Anna stared at Arwin.

There were several long, uncomfortable moments of silence.

“What?” Arwin asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You literally just beat the life out of someone a few hours ago,” Rodrick said. “It was brutal. Deserved, but brutal. I haven’t seen a slaughter like that in quite some time. You had the guy’s helm ringing like a church bell. I’m pretty sure he was more dent than man by the time you handed him off to Lillia.”

“I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” Arwin said, baffled. He glanced at Anna. “Is Rodrick okay?”

“Are you?” Anna asked. “It was your Ivory Executioner Armor, Arwin. It strode out of your forge a few hours ago when a man in magical armor showed up to attack the Infernal Armory. He hit Reya—”

“He did what?” Fury ignited within Arwin in an instant. The sea of magma within his soul roiled like a bubbling volcano as he spun toward Anna, his mind already preparing to summon Caldera to his hands. “Where is he?”

“Dead,” Rodrick said. “Reya is fine, Arwin. Lillia cut his head off after you crumpled his armor in on him.”

Arwin paused. Then he let his hand drop, the anger slowly being replaced with confusion. “I… have no idea what you’re talking about. I was in my forge working all day today.”

“You mean that you had nothing to do with your Soul Guardian coming out to fight?” Rodrick asked, his eyes going wide. “That was automatic?”

A memory finally flashed through Arwin’s thoughts.

He’d noticed something dark splattered across the Soul Guardian’s fist when he’d been leaving the Infernal Armory.

It must have been blood.

“Shit,” Arwin breathed. “I didn’t even realize it had activated. It’s that powerful?”

“Strong enough to beat the life out of a Dwarven Warrior and deliver him to Lillia on a silver platter,” Rodrick confirmed with a nod. “He was a pretty tough bastard. Had armor from a dwarven councilwoman called Indrana. Ida’s mother.”

“That’s bad,” Arwin said, his jaw clenching. “If we have the dwarves’ attention to such a degree, we might be—”

“Oh, don’t worry. Indrana is too scared to do shit after she had a little chat with Lillia. She works for us now. So does Ida, by the way.”

Arwin stared at him.

“Just how much have I missed?” he asked.

“That depends,” Rodrick replied with a grin. “Do you want the long version of the short version?”

Vanessa let out a muted groan on the table beside them.

Everyone glance down at her.  

“Maybe we can save it for after dinner,” Arwin said. “You were following her, right?”

 “A bit more than that,” Rodrick said. The smile on his face fell away. “She might be trouble.”

Arwin sent a critical glance down at Vanessa. “Are you sure?”

“Not her literal abilities. What her presence represents,” Rodrick said. “The Inn she’s staying in… it’s the same one that Thane and his mage were in.”

“Wait,” Arwin said. “Are you saying—”

“No. It wasn’t the Blacktongues. It’s too obvious. This is a setup. Someone wants us to think the Blacktongues are sending a hit after you,” Rodrick said grimly. “But either way… it doesn’t change much. It seems someone at the upcoming party is hoping for a little drama.”

“I see,” Arwin said. His eyes narrowed. “Then we would be rude indeed not to bring them what they’re asking for.”