Why?
Jim was surrounded by a dark abyss, his only companion the strange black and red hammer in front of him.
Why are they getting in my way?!
He felt the area around him grow colder, his arms and legs beginning to grow numb.
I'm the hero!
His lungs began to burn, but he couldn't feel any air go in, only his lungs growing cold for a single moment of relief, before burning even harder.
I did nothing wrong! THEY DID!
THEY IMPRISONED ME! SO WHY AM I THE ONE SUFFERING?!
He tried to thrash around and scream out curses, but his voice felt distant and muffled, like it was far away. His own heartbeat seemed so loud as it rang out in his head.
Any light that was there around the hammer began to fade. Jim began to twist and turn his body as much as he could, as he felt something cold began to grasp him.
I'm not the one at fault!
I did what I had to!
I DEFENDED MYSELF
I WON'T LET THEM IMPRISON ME AGAIN!
I WON'T BE USED LIKE A TOOL!
I'LL BURN ANYONE WHO TRIES!
[Requirements for the Hammer of Rage II has been met]
Carliten looked ahead at the spot where the crafter hero was buried, but he couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling. A hero surely can't die this easily, right?
"Keep him down there if he tries anything. You three, but out the flames," he commanded, turning towards the circle of mages. "Finish casting that spell and have it ready to fire."
"Master Holy Rain," the three mages he pointed to before finished chanting, releasing a small cloud with a soft golden glow emanating from it. It rose up above the crimson flames and began to pour holy water onto the fire, putting them out.
"Oh, sh*t! HE'S BREAKING OUT!" one of the knights screamed, jumping away. And just in time, too, as the ground burst open, pouring crimson flames onto anyone who was unfortunate enough to be nearby.
Jim stepped out of the pillar of flames, his hammer glowing brighter than before with a dark aura covering his entire body. The head of his hammer was notably bigger, with the spikes looking sharper and longer than before. A maniacal grin was stretched across his face, with eyes full of maddening rage.
He let out a roar as he rushed towards the magic circle, but was quickly intercepted by several knights and golden chains of water. But to the people's dismay, the chains evaporated before they reached him, and the knights were pushed away, their armor and skin burned.
"Not another step!" A brave knight said, stabbing Jim in the back. But before he could get back, Jim turned and grabbed his face with his burning hand, holding him tightly as the flames consumed him. The muffled screams of agony poured into Jim's hand, but they never reached his ears, and soon faded into the abyss.
"Fast Ice Prison!" "Fast Ground Tomb!" "Fast Holy Chain!" "Fast Water Blast!"
Everyone who wasn't chanting spells, including Carliten, were trying to stop Jim, even if just for a second. But their spells burned away one by one, barely slowing Jim down at all. He grinned at their pitiful attempt as he punched a hole through the chest of one of the knights who was dumb enough to try to approach him with two shields, thinking they would protect him.
"S-sir, what do we do?!" One of the soldiers asked Carliten. The advisor looked over to where the spell was being chanted and smiled.
"Fire!" Carliten commanded.
"Sky Wrath!" The mages finished chanting. The next moment, a beam of lightning crashed into Jim. The lightning roared through the battlefield, reducing the place Jim stood at to a crater. The smell of ionized air rushed through the soldiers' ranks.
The attack continued for a bit longer, as if to make sure Jim was reduced to ashes with no hope of recovery. Caltiten glanced over the edges of the crater and smiled as he saw a smoldering mass in the very center.
To their horror, the mass moved and began to unfold itself, revealing a charred humanoid shape. The burned charcoal skin slowly regained a healthier peach color, and the mass leaned onto the glowing black hammer. The face slowly regenerated and glanced over at the mages, as blood leaked from Jim's glowing crimson eyes. His wounds began to heal and the fire began to grow stronger. Jim grinned at them, as if mocking their feeble attempt at stopping him. After all, no matter how many ants gather, they can't defeat a dragon. And Jim was determined to burn them all down.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" he screamed, rushing forward with his hammer raised. The army began to run in the other direction, but they weren't fast enough. Jim easily caught up to the crowd and slammed his hammer into the ground, shattering the earth and spewing a wave of flames at the people nearby, burning them to ash.
"WE SUMMONED A DEMON! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" somebody screamed, and soon others followed. Everyone began to run away and Carliten couldn't blame him. Their strongest spell did nothing but stall the hero for a short amount of time, and they didn't have any time to try it again. All they could do was run.
Or at least that's what he thought, before he saw another army approaching theirs, with a familiar face standing at the front.
"Carliten? Didn't think I'd spot you here. A bit far from Jarvestia, aren't you?" Raiku mocked. But the smirk was quickly wiped off his face as he saw the condition the army was in. The black burns on their skin wasn't a common occurrence. He turned his head as he heard an inhumane scream, followed by a pillar of dark crimson flames. "What's the situation?"
"Crafting hero has lost all reason and started to attack us. About 10% of our forces were wiped out and 70 are injured," he replied.
"Tell your men to charge up another one of your famous thunderstorms, while we buy you time."
"We already tried that and he regenerated completely," Carliten explained as one of the Jarvestia mages began to heal him.
"We have a weapon that can weaken him, so get your spell ready. Army of Starke! We are to work with Jarvestioa to take down the Crafting Hero. Stall the enemy for as long as you can!"
"Avoid using fire spells! It will only power his attacks!" Carliten added, turning towards his army. "Start chanting a second thunderstorm! The Starke army will buy us time!"
"Weaken the hero! Now! Tanks, push him back. Healers, tend to the wounded and drag them away," Raiku commanded.
Jim rushed forward to meet the new challengers, but he instantly collapsed to the ground as strength began to fade from his body and the flames shrunk. Several small darts were peeking out of his back, weakening him. The soldiers took advantage of this and dropped several spells into him, pushing Jim back slightly.
"MJOLNIR!" Jim hollered, throwing his hammer at the ranged units. They barely got a chance to move before the hammer slammed into one of the knights and exploded into a violent torrent of flames and thunder, turning anyone nearby to ash, and others paralyzed on the ground, screaming in agony.
Before the knights had time to restructure, Jim yelled out another skill and his body was flung towards another group of knights. He punched the closest one in the chest, launching him at another one that tried to rush him. Another one attacked him from the side, but Jim jumped into the air, his hands raised over his head as his hammer returned, and crushed the guy in an instant.
"What kind of monster is he?! He's dampened and yet he's still decimating us! What did you do?!" Raiku yelled, grabbing Carliten by the front of his clothes.
"I don't know! He just started going off in an instant! But he barely held out last time against the thunder spell, so just keep buying us time!" he replied, pushing the man away. He pulled out a wand from his robes and pointed it at Jim.
Speaking of Jim, not even being dampened to half his stats could stop him. While he wasn't able to rip people in half, his flames still continued to be a massive problem. Despite the reinforcements, the number of people were quickly dwindling. Some of the Javestia mages were casting Holy Rain to try to put out the flames, while the rest were still making another Sky Wrath spell.
Jim swung his hammer around with a monstrous roar, crushing and burning any knights that got too close. Nearly all of the Jarvestia knights were wiped out or injured and the new arrivals were dropping like flies. Despite the scout's best efforts to dampen Jim with Kryptonite darts, it was still not enough to bridge the gap in stats. And worst of all, the darts were beginning to burn away.
"Damn it, why won't you stay down!" Carliten grumbled, pointing his wand at Jim. "Master Icicle Prison!"
In an instant, two layers of ice domes formed over Jim, freezing him in place. But the next it began to melt, pushing steam in all directions.
"Master Ice Arrow! Master Hailstorm!"
Two large arrows formed around the tip of the wand as it gave off a bright golden glow. The arrows erupted from the wand and slammed into Jim's torso, knocking him back. As he scrambled towards the advisor, a cloud formed over his head and large chunks of ice began to drop onto Jim, melting and extinguishing the flames.
Jim glared at the clouds and leaped into the air, swinging his hammer and burning the clouds in one fell swoop. The second his feet touched the ground, he lunged towards Carliten while growling like a mad beast.
"Master Ici-" he began, but he couldn't finish the chant in time. He tried to jump away, but the distance between them was closing far too fast for him to get away. Jim was already mere inches away from him, ready to rip his throat out when-
"FIRE!"
Upon Raiku's command, several harpoons stabbed into Jim's arms and legs, slamming him into the ground. Carliten jumped away and looked over at the source of said harpoons.
"Took you long enough," Raiku grumbled, looking over at the large harpoon guns. They were covered in metal and had several lines of glowing blue crystal wires strung around the middle of the contraption like a coil. "Now fry him!"
Lightning surged through the metal chains and into Jim's body, electrocuting him. He roared out in pain and began to thrash around like a mad beast, trying to break free from the pain. But the Starke army didn't let up, instead turning up the voltage on the machines.
"How is that?! Starke's tech is the finest in the world!" Raiku declared, much to Carliten's annoyance.
Jim roared out, with his hammer spewing flames everywhere as his eyes began to burn brighter. Carliten cast another ice prison. Raiku's forces pumped even more lightning into the harpoons, but it seemed to make very little difference.
Jim pulled back as hard as he could, pulling the harpoon launchers towards him. The people operating the harpoons quickly grabbed onto the machines to stop Jim, but it was too late. He wrapped the chains around his arms and tugged on the machines, launching them into the air. Then he pulled it down, smashing the machines against the ground, shattering them to pieces.
"You bastard! That took months to make!" Raiku yelled, gesturing for the last two harpoon guns to fire. "I'm gonna make you make new ones before I tear you to shreds!"
"Try and stop him from tearing us first!" Carliten reminded.
"Right. Fire!" he yelled. Two new harpoons made their way into Jim's arms just as he tore off the last two. Cariten waved his wand, covering Jim in ice to keep the harpoons from melting.
"Spell is ready!" one or the mages yelled.
"FIRE!" Carliten commanded, backing away. Clouds began to gather over Jim, cracking with electricity.
"DIIIIEEEE!" Jim hollored, tearing the harpoon out of his arm and throwing his hammer at the mages casting the spell. A brave knight leaped forward to tank the blow, but it bulldozed through him and his armor with ease, crashing into the mage circle. In an instant, several mages were blown away, and the dark cloud over Jim's head began to dissipate.
The thunder erupted from the spell, but it was unfocused and far weaker than before, striking a few random people and dropping them to the ground.
"S-sh*t, run for your lives!"
Just like that, what remained of the forces began to scatter around. Jim ripped out the other harpoon and lunged forward to finish them off, but-
"Thunder Strike!" A yell erupted from the sky. Jim glared up at its source, but a large bolt of thunder came raining down onto him, ripping through his body. He hollered in pain as the flames on his skill dissipated and his consciousness began to fade. His armor, or what remained of it, clattered to the ground and a large bloody gash appeared across his chest.
His body refused to follow his command, instead collapsing to the ground. His vision began to fade to black as the ground got closer and closer to his face.
Finally, Jim crashed face first into the dirt, unmoving. The flames on his hammer went out and it turned into the normal small hammer.
Leona landed next to him, attached her pickaxe to her hip, and hoisted him over her shoulder.
"Pickaxe hero! What do you think you're doing?" Carliten yelled out. She turned to him and frowned.
"Saving your lives? Unless you want me to wake him up again," she replied.
"You have been missing for years, and now you want to take the Crafter Hero away from us?" Raiku exclaimed, walking up to her. "Leave him behind and return to your duty as a hero!"
Laura looked at him and smirked. Before anyone could blink, she smacked him in the face, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"You couldn't beat him, so what makes you think you can boss me around? Go back to your country and lick your wounds or something, I'm taking this guy with me," she spat out, turning around. But then she paused and grabbed her pickaxe. "Unless you want to test your luck with two heroes today. I'm always open to a challenge."
Several people backed away, making Leona smile.
"Well, at least your army has a couple brain cells. Todaloo!" she waved and quickly ran off of the field.
"Sh*t!" Raiku grumbled, kicking a nearby rock.
"At least we lived to see another day. Troops, grab the survivors and let us head back. We shall recuperate and live to fight another day. Load the dead into a carriage so that we can bury them with honor," Cariten commanded, retreating. Raiku looked at him and sighed.
"Due to current circumstances, I propose a truce until we get rid of the current Crafting Hero. With the pickaxe hero on his side, neither of our countries can do it alone," he proposed.
"Oh? And what about the ring hero? I thought his powers were unrivaled," Carliten mocked.
"The Ring Hero… is no longer with us," Raiku said sadly. "His meeting with the Crafting Hero did not end well."
"But the Crafter Hero couldn't have taken out the hero of the Vassal Ring. Unless his powers were exaggerated after all," Carliten smirked, coming closer to Raiku until he was within arms length.
"He was assisted by an otherworlder. The one that, as I heard, appeared in your country," Raiku explained. Carliten frowned and began to clean his glasses with a handkerchief.
"If the otherworlders are involved in this, then I suppose we have no choice but to work together for the sake of the world," he said, putting his glasses on and reaching out for a handshake. "Then let's put our differences aside and deal with this menace first. We can sort out the profits later."
"Agreed," Raiku said, shaking Carliten's hand. "Take what remains of your soldiers and send them back. The injured can come with us to get healed."
With that, Raiku turned away and walked over to his soldiers. Carliten looked over to where the two heroes had disappeared to.
Why can't any of the heroes just do their jobs? What a pain.
And with a heavy sigh, he left to reunite with what remained of his soldiers.
"*GASP*!"
Jim jumped off of the bed and crashed down the next second as pain ripped through his body. The smell of plants and humidity hit his nostrils, mixing with the smell of blood and burnt meat. His eyes darted around the room.
Unlike anything he has seen in this world so far. The walls were made out of plant stems, seemingly fresh. Some green flowers with thick petals hung down from the ceiling, a small but bright, glowing orb in the center.
The shelves, even the closet with no doors was also made out of plants and plant vines. There was a small pineapple-like fruit thing on a small table next to him that looked like it opened up, but Jim didn't want to risk touching it.
He looked down at his body to see it bandaged up. His pants were still on him, but the shirt and jacket were gone, alongside his armor. He touched the bandages on his chest and felt a sting of pain rip through his body.
What the hell happened?
A quiet squeak erupted from his side, causing him to jump. He looked to his side to see a woman holding a tray with some bandages and a bowl of water on it.
She was dressed in a light teal dress that went down to her ankles, with a small hood over her head. If he had to guess, she was about his age.
As she approached to put the tray on the table, Jim couldn't help but blush a bit as he got a closer look at her. Her face was smooth and youthful, with her green emerald eyes nervously darting back and forth between him and the tray she was holding.
"U-u-um, h-hello. I'll c-call over t-the v-vassal h-hero i-in a s-second," she stuttered out nervously as she ran out of the room.
Ok so… that was weird. Where am I? How did I even get here? I think I started running from Starke a…
Oh…
Oh sh*t the village!
Oh god…
As memories flooded back, Jim paled more and more, horror creeping closer to his heart. The screams, blood, flames and meshes of flesh left behind by his rampage. His own inhumane screams rang in his ears as the people's fearful and panicked faces looked at him.
He closed his eyes, trying to push it out of his head, but the images only grew more vivid. The soldiers running away, only for him to chase them down and rip them apart. The blood and burning flesh all around him, crimson flames rampaging the lands.
It couldn't be, right?! I couldn't have done that!
In a panic he quickly opened up his weapon status and began to scroll through the list of weapon forms. But to his dismay, he saw exactly what he hoped he wouldn't see.
Hammer of Rage II N
Oh f*ck… I… I killed so many peo-
"Yo! Morning, sleeping beauty!" A voice called out to him. He turned to see a young woman, her hair disheveled and her clothes ragged with a few holes here and there standing at the doorway. With a pickaxe stuck to her hip and a bottle of booze in each hand, she stumbled towards him, swaying from side to side as she did. Her cherry eyes didn't seem to focus on him, as she reached her hand out with a bottle.
"You been out for *hic* days. Want a drink?" she offered, taking a swig out of one of the bottles.
"H-he sh-should rec-cover first a-and not d-drink alcohol, m-maam!" the girl from before protested, peaking into the room from the doorway.
"Oh, lighten up and live a *hic* little, will ya? So how about it?! Name's Leona," she said, sitting down on the bed next to Jim and handing him a bottle.
He took the bottle and opened his mouth to speak, but his throat felt dry, and he almost wanted to vomit, as the bloody massacre was fresh on his mind.
Jim took a second to collect his thoughts and turned to Leona.
"Where am I?"
She let out a laugh and quickly made her way over to the nearest wall, tripping and slamming into it on the way there. Then she traced her fingers in a half circle, half rectangle made of squiggly lines, before leaning in real close and tracing a small symbol on the plant.
In just an instant the wall opened up, dropping Leona out the now open window. She managed to grab onto the edges and pull herself back, stepping to the side to let Jim get a good look at the outside world.
It was completely cut off from the outside world, with the whole place being inside of a cave. The ceiling and walls were completely covered in vines, with a bunch of glowing plants decorating it to light up the place.
Several houses made of plants were scattered through the cave, with stone and gravel pathways connecting them all. Several tall plants were placed around the roads like lampposts, with a few smaller variants being placed around the house doors. A few were closed, however, their petals covering up the glowing insides, blocking the glow.
The cave seemed to extend forever into several directions, with smaller gravel pathways and glowing plants to decorate them.
"Welcome to the Elven City, Evergreen Hollow! Last refuge for the elves," Leona said, patting Jim on the back.
Damn… what the hell have I got myself into?
Hello there! So, we finally made it to the end of Arc 2, and now I need a break. That and I have to write the rest of the story as well... So...
Anyhow, Jim is now in a bit of a predicament, he's gonna have to recover from emotional damage, and also lets hope he doesn't piss off the elves as well. I mean, he pissed off most of humanity.
This chapter was gonna come out last week, but then ffn was down, and I had to finish a cooking chapter. Lots of tests came up. So tired.
Anyhow, peace!
