Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 22

Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 22

…

The Forgers and their possible futures hung in the back of my mind, so I investigated them first.

I was glad that I didn’t send a delegation to meet with them first.

They would’ve been forewarned and acted differently.

The outpost that I observed now made use of tribal peoples and townsfolk raided from remaining towns in the region. Even though they didn’t have their Citadel yet, they had mining operations and light industry in place.

The Forgers original spawn location was filled with hills and valleys with very few forests. Open-air mining yielded impressive output. The various hills and mounds all over the area were most likely resource-rich asteroids pulled into orbit and placed all over the area in large concentrations. The rest of the continent had similar hills and deposits, but their starting area was the rifest with them.

They were exploiting the land and its people to the fullest now.

The children were taken away, the parents branded and collared, and they mined from sunrise to sunset. Their food was grain cooked with fat and shredded vegetables. Those who had good output were rewarded with women and more food. Forests were chopped apart and turned into coal to better smelt metal with. The bodies of the diseased were processed and turned into everything from leather to fertilizer. Those who were not Forgers were not afforded burials. They were not considered people but livestock.

This was before the advent of their Extraction Outpost technology. That technology must include research and changes to the current paradigm that made them more efficient through retention, as well as being enticing enough to invite people to join them.

Or, at least, that was how my brain was able to logic out how the Forgers managed to do it.

Not that it would help them.

Now, it was all about if the lower caste could be spared, because there were a lot of Forgers involved in handling their enslaved population.

I never went into depth with the Forgers. Their playstyle and endgame weren’t appealing to me. They were all about holding the line, slowly creeping their way through the map, and making sure they held their ground tight. Taking control of enemy towns turned them into Extraction Outposts, and those didn’t accrue negative happiness like other, recently conquered towns. The technology involved with the Outposts also improved their output as the game went on, so I could only surmise that they improve them enough to be productive, long-lasting, and with populations that don’t complain.

That could mean they mastered socially controlling the populace, or more likely they would turn them into unthinking, augmented laborers.

Given the fact that there’s no mention of retrieving assets from the outposts before they turn the planet into a molten fireball?

I suspected it was the latter.

…

Interlude: Erlan, the Smith

…

I was born, I was assigned to learn, and after being judged worthy, I was given my place in the world.

Those of higher standing assured me of many things. If I produced what I was told to produce, I would be assured shelter, food, and safety. Should my bloodline show promise, I will be provided with a wife to have children with, and she will be good stock for our caste. With time and effort, I may be moved to the new city being built underground. When my children are born, they will be tested, and if they are worthy, they may have the chance to receive the attention of one of the higher castes.

Work, and you will want for nothing.

Work and your bloodline may be bettered.

Work for the Forgers and become part of the future.

I should have believed in their words, but every day it weighed on me.

The building of collars and chains.

I was told to look upon those who were not Forgers as broken beings. Those who did not adhere to bloodlines and strictures, thus losing the blessings given by the Ancients. The Descendants, who used to be the closest, were warped, weaker versions of their true selves. The Conquerors were smaller and weaker than they ought to be. The Guardians were to be respected, as were the Scholars, while the Children of the Elm and Wardens of the Caverns were to be spurned, for they fell to zealotry.

The Merchants were merely upright beasts made from pleasure pets that grew wild once the Ancients fell.

We alone are a true people.

We alone retain the abilities of our ancestors.

We alone can rise back to what we once were, because all others devolved to the point that it was out of reach.

But I looked at them.

I watched as they toiled and ate but still looked to one another and leaned on each other. Even when overseers worked to keep them apart, they found solace with one another. No matter the race of those who worked, as pressure mounted, they became unified. Overseers were expectant of rebellion. It was always just a matter of time. The people that they called beasts were mortals just like us, and they yearned for freedom and would die for it.

So, every day, I tried to help those who delivered ore.

Fistfuls of bread that they could swallow in one mouthful.

Unattended glasses filled with water or milk.

My minder, who watched my purchases, told me that I was expending too much on food, that it reflected poorly on my bloodline to be so beholden to sustenance, but I did not care.

I gave them all that I could spare out of guilt.

Now, as the outpost burned and all the soldiers were hacked apart, a figure loomed over me and ten others in armor covered in blood.

“These ones supported you?” The voice was like muted thunder. The horned, visored helm gazed upon me, and I felt as small as a pebble. One moment the night had been normal; the next there was screaming, the sound of explosions, and before the alarms rang, the sounds of slaughter along with the lightning of flames. Slaves came for me, and I feared my death only to be dragged away along with others. We had watched many others be killed and torn apart in righteous fury. “Ten righteous souls?”

I did not recognize the mortal who spoke to the towering, armored warrior, but the words he shared rang in my mind.

“They were the only ones who cared and did all that they could for us.” My hands shivered with the sensation of hammering collars into shape and twisting chains together. The gaze of the speaking man turned to me. “The blacksmith most of all. He made the chains as light as he could and gave us food whenever we brought him food. The young ones always had enough when they worked to deliver for him.”

Those words were a kindness that I did not deserve, but before I could say it, the towering being spoke.

“Then, blacksmith, you will lead your fellows in my lands. There shall be no slaves and no castes.” He reached into a pack at his waist. A dagger sank into the soil before me along with a slate with words I could not read. “That will give you and your people food, water, and safe passage in my lands. Go now. Follow the road west.”

That was it.

Those were all the words spared for me, until he turned away, and my life began anew.

…

The Forgers put up a stronger fight than I anticipated, primarily because they just had so much armor on that my weapons broke apart more quickly than I thought. The steel that they used for armor was only a bit better than what you’d find on warband troops, but they had a lot of it, and each forger could don more armor with less difficulty. More armor to cut through, or smash through, simply meant that my weapons became less effective more quickly.

That’s why I turned to use their weapons instead.

I fell into battle and sent a shockwave through the formation. Most of the Forgers merely had to brace themselves, while a few had to take a step back. All the weight that they carried allowed them to withstand shockwaves more easily. They moved to surround me, to form a ring of steel spearheads around me, like they were fighting a monster instead of a man.

A decent move, but they underestimated me.

Taking hold of the ground, I gathered rocks and heated them with magic before throwing them at the formation. Superheated stones flew through the air, whistling as they were just short of breaking through the sound barrier. The stones collided with a segment of the frontline and burned faces and fell into the gaps of armor. They were relatively fire resistant, but melting stone was still melting stone, and a weakness formed in the budding encirclement.

I charged into it and ripped apart the first Forger that I got my hands on.

His armor, tower shield, and spear became my weapons.

The sturdy plates became weapons in my hands. I threw them into helmets and heads. They sank into skulls with sickening crunches, and I fetched the weapons and armor of the slain. Every tower shield that I got my hands on, I swung into wide arcs, and they smashed into Forgers like flying, spinning battering rams. At least one Forger soldier fell with every throw, while I used the spears that I acquired to pierce through the small slits in their helmets.

The Forgers stepped over their dead and continued to try and surround me, but as time passed, more steel broke, more blood was spilled, and I simply gained more weapons to use with every corpse created.

By the end of it, the unit of Forgers, a thousand strong, was gone, and their commanding officers were in the distance on their chariots.

I caught up with them swiftly, killed the guards, and found the noble commander.

“Foul beast!” On the surface, he looked like your typical, cool dwarf. Covered in sturdy armor and with a braided beard flowing out of his helm. Runes covered his armor, and he was aglow with magic. Unlike the frontline, he wouldn’t even flinch at fire. In fact, when he realized he wasn’t getting away, he used magic and began to burn. “Know that you will fall this day by my hand!”

Champion or just an elite?

I got my answer as he threw a hammer my way, and it broke the sound barrier after leaving his grip.

A champion, most definitely.

That meant that I could show off.

I caught the hammer by the handle after letting it fly past me, then I threw it back to him.

Though his eyes widened at his approaching weapon, he was quick to create a flaming barrier that melted the weapon and turned it to molten slag. Molten slag that he was quick to fire back at me at incredible speeds. However, just as he could create a barrier of flame, a barrier of wind was easy to call upon, and the multiple projectiles cooled and slowed down, while I kept running at him.

“Cur!” The Forger Champion cursed as he realized that I was soon upon him. He was quick to throw the rest of his hammers on his belt. Three more cracks resounded as they flew towards me. I caught each one in one hand, plucking them out of the air, but this time I didn’t return them at him. Instead, I took out his carriage and the beasts pulling it. He leapt off the wreck and reinforced his defenses, burning the dirt path and setting the little foliage around the path alight. “You will die today!”

He created a shield of flame on his left arm and hefted a mace in the other. Orbs of flame surrounded him and began surging my way. Passive DPS, constant chip damage, and a sturdy defense. This Champion was specialized as an anchor that you can reliably throw at a problem and keep that problem held back. Given that Forger Champions had the highest defenses and decent health pools, it was a fine strategy.

If not for the fact that I was ready for it.

I stopped my pursuit, and to his credit, he realized my trick.

“Foul sorcerer!” I’d assaulted the Forger positions and lands using common magics, but I focused on killing via melee. Forger Champions that specialized against magic Champions were potent and guarded by elites and other Champions due to their scarcity. As confident as I was in my battle prowess, I knew that I couldn’t face that task force on my own. I’d need at least one other Champion supporting me if I wanted to take such a force down. My ploy, though, resulted in them sending a Champion my way that could deal with melee-oriented monsters. “Have at you!”

He charged at me, brimming with power, but he was undoubtedly too slow to make his weapons and armor better. Forgers didn’t have any charge abilities and were the most easily kited faction in the game. That was why they had airships that let them reposition quickly, had the best counter-air unit, and had artillery that was specialized against counter-battery strategies.

If they play to their strengths, they win.

If they aren’t, they should retreat and concede ground, because they’ll just lose troops and units.

I already took out his transport, and no one else was coming, so he could only try and grasp at a possible victory.

Unfortunately, that possibility was near zero, and I was going to stay cautious.

I turned the ground into mud with a thought, my magic slicing through the earth, then imbuing it with water from the air. One step and his foot fell in and held for a half-second. Next his boot sank an inch, and then finally his foot fell in completely. With each step he took, I retreated and made sure to keep my distance while keeping an eye out for any potential long-range attacks.

Then, I started my bombardment. Gathering water from the air, I turned them into spears and smashed them into him. Steam billowed and surged as we leveraged our respective elements against one another. His resistance to heat allowed him to overcome the boiling steam that resulted, but it obscured his vision. He set the mud alight, baking it instantly, and surged towards me while I kept up my retreat.

He was focused on me, and his vision was obscured, so he didn’t notice the pit that I created.

It was a small pit, but he fell into it, and without a moment of hesitation I filled it up with mud.

There are few better ways to quickly kill a Champion than burying them alive.