Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 62: A Matter Of Time: Part Two

A message pops up after me punching the double-gate wide open. All the Harpies that are out notice my presence as a result.

It’s an Immediate Quest.

[Report. Subject has entered the Harpies’ Domain: The Sky Fortress Territory. Subject will now receive an Immediate Quest...]

[Immediate Quest contents.]

Immediate Quest: Subject must exterminate all the Harpies in the vicinity within the given time duration.

Duration: 2hours and 30minutes

Upon Success: Subject will be able to enter the Sky Fortress Castle.

Upon Failure: Subject will die.

Rewards will be calculated after the Quest is completed based on the Subject’s efficiency.

"Huh. This is the first time I’m seeing something like ’two hours and thirty minutes’. Well, no matter, I’ll be done way before that anyway."

I cast my unnamed flight Spell since the Harpies are also all flying.

"I really need to name this Spell."

I then tighten my grip on my blade. There are over six-thousand Harpies, and among them what looks like nine alphas.

A single Sunset Slash cuts them all down. I don’t spare a single second. Bodies of a nearly uncountable magnitude start dropping down like oversized flies. I descend down near the castle afterwards and a message pops up.

[Report. Immediate Quest: Harpy Vanguard Elimination has been completed. Now calculating rewards...]

[Mana Capacity has increased by 250 000. Strength has increased by 100 000. Speed has increased by 130 000. Health has increased by 50000 and Intelligence has increased by 50000.]

[Now redesigning overall Warrior info...]

Name: Raid

Surname: ???

Affiliation: Awakened Warrior

Class: Blacksmith

Skills:

......

Rank: F

Level: Locked

Mana Capacity: 5 975 240

Strength: 486 250

Speed: 547 182

Health: 453 974

Intelligence: 621 740

[Final rewards are being allocated. Subject has received 6457 D-Rank monster cores.]

"Good. My PR Stats are close to reaching S-Rank Minimum, most of all the Intelligence Stat. The only thing still incredibly low is my Mana Capacity but my manipulation efficiency is second to only a handful I can think of, so I’m not that worried about it. Besides, it’ll increase drastically the more I absorb Mana Crystals with that special method of mine."

I thought that a few months was all I would need to reach S-Rank power level but it seems with how things are progressing that I’ll get there much sooner than I would have expected.

"Seems that even I don’t know the limit of what I’m truly capable of. At this point, it seems like, rather than just S-Rank, I might reach Emperor-level in a few months instead."

"Have I gotten a little more overconfident recently?"

No way.

"No way."

[Report. Sky Fortress Castle is now opening...]

I walk towards the entrance of the Sky Fortress Castle in response to the message. Two large doors stand in front of me. They start opening inwards and I immediately enter.

What awaits me inside is an army, much bigger than the one I just fought. Incredibly organized.

"It’s much bigger inside than it looks from outside. A Skill of the Boss maybe? Making things invisible, warping perception with a seemingly impenetrable barrier and now this... This Boss must be my cash cow to getting nice Skills."

It’s over a thousand times bigger inside than it looks outside to my rough estimation.

"Could be bigger..."

What lays before me is a large spacious corridor, a throne room. On each side of the room stands four-thousand normie Harpy soldiers with spears, three hundred alphas with slightly bigger spears, and one squad leader who not only holds a slightly bigger spear as well but is clad in full armor. At the far end of the room sits the Boss on her beautiful throne, dressed in stereotypical royal clothing.

Her gown, a masterclass in aerodynamic opulence, crafted from what seems like silk, almost translucent in nature, shimmering like oil in water, shifts from midnight silver to a bruised gold with a single tilt of her gaze as she stalks her opponent. The bodice is stiffened with whalebone and silver wire, tapering into a sharp V-point that mimics the lethal grace of a bird of prey. Instead of traditional lace, her neckline is guarded by a high, fluted ruff of stiffened light, white gossamer pleated so tightly it looks like a fan of primary feathers. Around her throat sits a collar of raw porcelain shards, each laced with a thin raindrop-shaped gem that emits a luminescent, bright yellow hue. She looks like a queen, a true royal staring down at a peasant. The peasant being me.

"First mistake. Looking down on me... But I won’t blame you for it, a few have before you." I iterate.

A message then appears.

[Report. Subject has entered the Harpies’ Domain Sky Fortress Castle: The Harpy Countess’s Sanctum. Subject will now receive an Immediate Quest...]

[Immediate Quest contents.]

Immediate Quest: Subject must clear the D-Rank Dungeon. For that to happen, subject must exterminate the Dungeon Boss, The Harpy Countess, both Harpy Generals, all six hundred of the Harpy Captains and all eight-thousand of the normal Harpies in the Castle within the given time duration.

Duration: 5hours

Upon Success: The D-Rank Dungeon will be cleared.

Upon Failure: Subject will die.

Rewards will be calculated after the Quest is completed based on the Subject’s efficiency.

The Countess then raises her hand, slowly, as if to make the point that the execution of any and all actions within the throne room are completely and utterly dependant on her own actions. Then, as if on queue, when her hand has fully risen, all the normie Harpies direct their spears at me. A loud whooshing sound echoes throughout the whole throne room in response as a gush of wind is sent my way, causing my coat to dance at its whims. The first ten Harpies from each side then attack.

Some of them fly up while the rest remain standing. The ones in the air throw their spears at me while the others attack me head on.

I parry the spears thrown with a single slash and instantly cut down the Harpies attacking me directly. Even their spears are sliced in half. The flying ones, a bit taken aback, immediately attack, spears first, to catch me off guard. Using my flight Spell, I fly up towards them. Noticing their surprised faces, I gather they didn’t expect me to be able to fly so I use that momentum to slice each of their heads off in mid-air.

I land back down and point my blade at the Countess. She snickers in response. Then raises her hand once more. This time, I’m attacked but two hundred Harpies from each side.

"Four thousand soldiers on each side, of course you’d be confident. But little do you know, I haven’t even started yet."

I dash at my opponents. An army of four hundred D-Rank Monsters is attacking me. They’re all about as strong as the Great Werehyena. I slash my way through all of them like there’s no tomorrow. Bodies keep dropping while more and more blood begins to wash over the room. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

As soon as I’m done with a few hundred of them, more keep coming, attacking me with all their might, but it’s a fool’s errand, a suicide mission, they’re all merely charging to their deaths.

Ten minutes pass and I’ve taken down over seven-thousand of them. The Captains start to fidget noticing how close I’m getting to them.

Wasting no time at all, they all join the fray. All six hundred, before I’m even finished taking down the normies.

"They must’ve gathered that fighting me little by little is probably not the best of ideas."

"Took them long enough."

Still, it doesn’t really amount to any change. All it does is just abbreviate the inevitable. Which is actually good for me so...

"I won’t complain."

I then use Sunset Slash one more time.

"Sunset Slash." I whisper.

All the Harpies except for the Countess and her Generals die instantly as they are simultaneously cut down.

"What’s wrong, no snicker this time?" I taunt pointing my blade at the Countess while smirking. Of course, it’s doubtful she understood what I said but I’m sure she got the message at least.

She then got up from her throne. A fiery look in her eyes.

"Looks like I was right."

Unlike the Generals and Captains who only differ in size to normies, she is fairly distinguishable from the average Harpy.

Instead of plain brown, her wings are a shiny golden yellow. She isn’t exactly bigger than the other Harpies, rather she’s way taller, with a slightly slimmer build. My guess is that she must be faster than all the others because of that. She doesn’t have a weapon, rather it looks like she is the weapon herself, her feathers as sharp as blades, her feet clad with articulated silver thimbles, claws that are just as sharp and pointy as hell to boot, shaped like hooks.

The room, basically bathed in the sound of her stepping down from the small stairway around her throne, echoes of an almost rhythmic pattern of clanks. She snaps her fingers, calling her Generals over. They gather next to her, one on each side as they all then take their battle stances.

"A Boss that fights alongside her subjects. Interesting."