"Are you ready?" the shadow asked. Jim nodded as he finished getting dressed in his clothes he got from his world. His grey pants and black shirt just felt more comfortable, and his jacket gave him extra pockets in case he needed to store something he could take out right away. He opened his status and took one final look at his hammer.

Rocket Hammer EX

Abilities Mastered: "Mad Dash"

Special Effect: Lightning Resistance (Medium)

[Paralyzing Thunder]

Jim sighed and nodded. He turned all the monster drops he had in his weapons storage and tried to upgrade his hammer to 'Divine' quality, but he couldn't even get it to Perfect with his bad luck. And unfortunately he ran out of energy to try again.

However, he did use weapon synthesis, adding the paralyzing thunder from the boss hammer. It was the only other hammer with a special effect and the lightning resistance (small) was already useless with his medium so he didn't have any use for it anymore. Unfortunately the hammer of the Fenrir head got locked out of upgrade methods, and a (2/3) appeared on the hammer icon. Jim looked into the status screen and it said it could be recharged by reabsorbing materials he used to unlock it.

Well, I guess I only got 2 more shots with this hammer.

Jim's crafting level got to 27, stat wise putting him closer to a level 30. So while he couldn't really tussle with knights in the castle, he could at least push them back a bit, especially if he used his skills Mjollnir and Mad Dash.

Plus he still had some basic buffing magic, so he could buff himself and hold his own.

What could go wrong? Right?

Jim sent the shadow spy a party request, which they accepted. When Jim checked his party info, the shadows name was replaced with a question mark, and their level was hidden. He shrugged and walked towards the door.

"Let's go!"

As soon as the wave timer hit one hour, Jim raised his hammer.

"Mjollnir!"

The head of the hammer began to glow a bright blue, and little arcs of electricity started to fly in all directions. With all his might, Jim slammed his hammer into the door, sending it flying off its hinges. It was a powerful skill, but its cooldown was long and it took quite a bit of SP.

"Not bad, hero. Now let's hurry. I'll lead the way." The figure turned into a shadowy puddle and began moving down the hall. Occasionally it would turn into a random direction, or slip between the cracks of the floor into a different room, only to return and lead Jim into another direction.

"You sure you know where you're going?" Jim asked.

"Of course I do!" the shadow explained. "I'm simply looking out for knights that could get in our way."

Jim heard yelling behind him when the shadow suddenly grabbed and pushed him into an empty room, closing the door behind them.

"Drat!" the shadow cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"The knights are guarding all the stairways. We'll have to break through them somehow."

The shadow began to pace around the room while Jim swung his hammer around.

"Mjollnir!" Without a warning, Jim slammed his hammer into the floor, creating a hole to the room below them.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the shadow hissed. They began to frantically listen for any noise behind the door, but to their surprise, none came.

"Like a wise tortoise once said, 'when there is a hole, there is a goal. And when there is no hole, make one of your own!'"

"What the hell does that…? Nevermind."

The shadow shrugged and jumped down to the next floor. After a moment of looking around, they gestured to Jim to jump down after them.

The two of them went down several more hallways before the shadow stopped and grit their teeth.

"This floor is locked down too," she muttered.

"Let's just do what we did before. Mjo-!"

"WAIT!" the shadow hissed, grabbing Jim's hammer. "Do that, and every knight will know we're here!"

"There he is!" Several soldiers piled into the hallway and ran towards.

"Damn it, I was hoping to avoid a direct conf-," the shadow began, pulling out daggers from under their cloak, however Jim walked in front of them, raising his hammer.

"Alright, time for stealth mission phase two. Mjollnir!"

He raised his electrified hammer and slammed it into the ground with all the strength he could muster.

BOOM!

The floor between the knights and Jim collapsed, leaving behind a gaping hole that blocked off the hallway.

"Let's go!" Jim yelled, rounding the corner. The shadow ran after him until they rounded the corner. Jim stopped and listened to the knights.

"Damn it. Let's go around and catch them!" the commander barked to the knights. As soon as they were out of earshot, Jim and the spy walked back to the hole. The shadow jumped down and began walking forward.

"Does this bring us closer to the hourglass?" Jim asked, jumping after them.

"Yes. If we go that way a bit further, we'll be right above the hourglass," the shadow pointed ahead. They walked for a few more minutes before the shadow stopped and tapped the ground below. Jim raised his hammer and destroyed the floor with his skill.

The two wasted no time jumping down into the room.

Jim looked around and his eyes went wide. In front of him was a massive golden hourglass filled with glowing red sand. The top half was just about to run out with only a handful of sand left.

However something felt off. No matter how much he listened, he couldn't hear the noise of sand hitting sand.

Without warning, a massive burst of flame erupted from behind Jim. Just before he was burned to a crisp, the shadow grabbed and threw him to the side. The attack crashed into the hourglass and the illusion shattered, leaving behind a small glowing blue ball.

"I really hoped that you wouldn't go against the king's orders, sir hero."

The king's advisor walked out from the shadow. His golden glasses shone menacingly in the dark room.

"You locked me up in a room like a child when I simply asked to be able to levelup!" Jim protested. "Like, what was the point of summoning me to protect you from the waves if you're just gonna lock me up and have me make weapons?"

"We summoned you for that exact purpose. You create armor and weaponry for our troops, and we use it to fight the waves. You get to stay out of danger and we take care of the monsters," the advisor explained.

"But you can't be everywhere at once! Unless the weapon manual is wrong, I'm the only one who gets teleported to the waves. Meaning that you would have to spread your army extremely thin. And by the time backup arrives, many people would lose their lives!" Jim complained.

"A single high level knight is capable of taking care of waves for now. And once you're able to produce high quality weapons and armor, a single soldier would be leagues ahead of the monsters of the wave," the advisor said, fixing the glasses on his nose.

"But that could take forever! And even if I somehow start creating divine swords starting tomorrow, it would take ages to make enough equipment for all your knights to cover your entire kingdom! Won't it be way easier to power up like 20 soldiers and add them into my party? That way I can teleport them to the wave," Jim countered. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the shadow slowly appear behind the advisor.

"By letting you teleport to the wave, we risk a high chance of you dying. Summoning a new hero takes an immense amount of energy and resources. Will you be able to compensate for all the lost resources," the man continued, seemingly unaware of the presence behind him.

"Ok, fair point. But, and hear me out here, counter point, you send me and a few soldiers with high levels through some dungeons to raise my level a bunch. That way I would be strong enough to hold my own against any monster."

The advisor looked at him with a sad look and sighed.

"Not many monsters giving high levels are left in this country. And unfortunately we do not have enough time for you to fight low ranking monsters."

"Then just bring me along for the wave subjugation! Your guys get a free teleport and I get levels!"

"Enough! I do not have time for your chit chat. If you are unwilling to return to your room, I am afraid I will have to return you by force! The hourglass is being guarded by the king himself, and I will be damned if I let you bother him!" the advisor barked, his calm composure fading for a moment. Jim watched as the lanterns around the room began to glow brighter, and a similar glow spread across the body of the advisor.

"By the power of the world and by my will, I, Carliten Darious, summon forth the power to burn my enemies. Master Fireball!"

The cast was uttered so fast, Jim could barely understand the words of the advisor. But the rank of the spell made him pale.

Master fireball?! That's the highest magic rank!

Flames began to gather in the palm of his hands, and a fireball, larger than the last one, flew at Jim. The hero barely managed to get out of the way of the attack, but he felt the unbearable heat crash onto his body.

The attack flew past him and slammed into the wall, melting it.

I had the accessory Egrevaht gave me with medium resistance to fire, and it still hurt just being near the attack! If I get hit by that, I'm done for.

"Do not worry, hero. I will make sure that the spell does not kill you. After all, I was not exaggerating when I said it takes an enormous amount of energy to summon a hero."

"HAYA!"

The shadow leaped from behind and tried to stab Carliten from behind with a dagger, but he managed to evade just in time.

"I completely forgot about you. Fast fireball!"

He launched a fireball that was way larger than anything Jim managed to create, and threw the shadow to the side.

How is his so much larger?! I'm sure that by now my fireball is pretty decent, yet his was almost as big as the second rank advanced fireball. Wait…

Jim took a closer look at those lanterns. It took him a second to realize what he was looking at.

These weren't normal disposable lanterns, and were instead a high quality item with a fire element, similar to the swords and rings he made with the lightning element. And Evandel told him that high power mages could siphon energy for their spells from items.

These lanterns are all over the place! This means that no matter where he is in the castle, he is connected to at least a dozen of these! We have to finish this quickly.

John raised his hammer and began to run towards the advisor.

"Mad Dash!"

The hammer launched him forward and Jim slammed his hammer into the advisor's gut.

Clang

"Huh?" John stared at the advisor in shock. Despite his attack, the man seemed to be completely unbothered.

"I am afraid that my level is much too high for such an attack to work. But I commend you for trying."

The advisor began gathering his magic again, however Jim didn't wait around for him to finish.

"By the power of the world and the will of the hammer spirit, bend the mana and give me power! Fast Power! Mjollnir!"

Jim buffed himself with magic and hit the advisor again, this time in his face. The force of the blow seemed to shock everyone, including the advisor, as the man was pushed back a bit, and one of his lenses broke.

"Interesting. I guess even an underleveled hero is still a hero. Fast Fireball."

Jim jumped out of the way and ran towards the lamps. He tried to break one, however a large fireball cut him off.

"I will not let you do that. Those lanterns of everlasting flame are a gift from the previous crafter hero."

Several daggers flew towards Carliten, however he managed to evade each and every one.

"You aren't too bad, but your attacks are predictable," he said, sending a fireball back at the spy. They turned into a formless black spot and disappeared into the shadow again. Carliten frowned. He muttered another spell and raised his hand.

"By the power of the world and by my will, I Carliten Darious, summon forth the power to illuminate my path. Master Flaming Sun."

A bright ball resembling a miniature sun appeared above us, forcing the spy out of the shadows.

"There you are. Fast Fireball."

The spy barely had time to react as the burning flames jumped after them, but they managed to evade just in time. While the advisor was distracted, Jim, still buffed by his own spell, snuck up to the enemy.

"Mjollnir!" Jim bashed the advisor in the back of the head with his strongest skill, but it seemed to just barely damage him. He sent several fireballs, forcing Jim back.

While the advisor was preoccupied with Jim, the shadow ran up to him and tried to stab Carliten. This time, however, Carliten grabbed the shadow and fireballed them in the stomach.

"GAH!" they yelled, as they crashed into the wall, barely able to move. Carliten raised his hand and shot another fireball at them, knocking them to the ground.

Damn it, this is bad! What exactly am I supposed to do here? I don't have enough attack, and I don't even have enough energy to try to upgrade my hammer again.

Jim ransacked his brain as he dodged another fireball.

But I can't run away and leave the shadow behind. The door is probably locked anyway.

Just as Jim felt his arms give way, a sudden rush of power came over him. It was similar to his fast power boost he cast on himself, but it was way stronger.

"Mad Dash!"

The advisor made no attempt to block it, but that was his undoing. The hammer dug into With the boost he was receiving, even mad dash could do some damage.

"Mjollnir!" Jim yelled, pushing Carliten back. Even if his attack was still weak, it was just enough to hurt the fire mage.

"Ack! Why are you so stubborn!"

"Right back at you!"

Jim continued his assault and cast fast boost on himself, increasing his speed. Someone buffed his strength enough to deal actual damage, and he was not going to waste an opportunity like this.

"By the power of the world and by my wi-," Carliten began chanting, but Jim sent another skill into his chest, knocking the wind out of his lungs. Then he covered the advisor's mouth with his hand and continued to pummel him, until the man finally collapsed onto the ground.

"Cough… you stubborn moron. There is barely any time left until the wave. What will you even accomplish if you manage to get there?! You aren't even level 20 yet, so what can you do against monsters with levels in their 50s?!" the advisor yelled.

Jim just sighed and smiled, raising his hammer above the beaten advisor.

"I beat you, didn't I?" he smirked, and knocked out the advisor with another Mjollnir.