Chapter 18: Chapter 18- First Chamber’s Trial; The Broken Blade.
[ SPECTRAL ECHO - LEVEL 8 ]
HP:???
The echo of a raider who breached this chamber during the invasion while the forge was still alive. Bound here when the forge sealed itself against the invasion. Cannot be killed - only delayed as they can respawn infinitely. They still carry the orders they were given.
Leo’s hand was still on the iron gate bars.
The specters started to appear in numbers.
"Ah... Leo???" Shen’s flustered voice came. "I don’t think they are here to welcome us."
The specter at the front raised an arm. Its translucent, fingerless hand pointed at Leo.
A sound came out of its mouth. It had no face and no mouth, but it still made a sound.
Something between a dry rasp and a grinding stone, neither a scream nor a word.
The other echoes followed and the chamber was filled with the same sound.
The hot warm temperature of the chamber further dropped.
Leo focused, ready to attack.
"Shen," he said as his hands touched the Ember-touched sword at his hip. "When I say move..."
"Move? Move where?" Shen cut in. "The only door is behind us, and they are between us and the door."
"That door is already closed. We need another way out."
The specters swarmed over.
"Change of plan," Leo shouted, unsheathing his sword. "We fight."
Shen froze. "You want to fight the fucking ghosts? I was hoping you would say something smarter...like may be negotiating."
"Negotiate with ghosts? With what? ... A handshake?" Leo remarked sarcastically.
Shen let out a short cough, "Ahm.." and he laughed it off despite the situation. "Fair point."
He unrolled a talisman from his belt.
[ TALISMAN: FLAME WARD]
Tier: Rare
Effect: Creates a barrier of flame around the caster for 15 seconds.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.
"Okay, here we go." Shen slapped the talisman onto his armor. It dissolved into it with a faint orange glow.
"NOW..." Leo let out a roar and charged forward. He swung his sword at the specters; the blade passed right through its body.
Leo frowned, he summoned eternal fire and struck again. The sword still passed through it without any resistance, but the specter let out a shrill cry.
[-47 fire damage.]
[Burn damage triggered]
The specter was still burning. It let out a cry of rage and retaliated. It moved faster than before. Its hand solidified into a claw swinging at Leo’s throat.
Leo twisted his body, barely dodging the strike. He could still feel the wind brushing past his neck from that strike. The specter attacked again with another claw. Leo ducked downward and countered with an upward slash, catching its arm.
[-39 fire damage.]
Suddenly,.....
The eternal flame surged forward on its own.
It pulled Leo towards the iron gate, pointing towards him. Leo looked back and felt the heat coming from the gate. Upon careful look, he found the heat was coming from the broken blade in the anvil. It was calling for the eternal fire.
"Leo, careful, on your left." Shen shouted.
Leo ducked. A talisman flew over his head. A blue streak passed over and expanded in the air, turning into a crackling energy net.
[ TALISMAN: BINDING GRID]
Tier: Uncommon
Effect: Roots up to 3 targets in place for 8 seconds.
Duration: 8s
The net slammed into the three specters, pinning them down to the ground.
They thrashed about for a while, clawing at the crackling energy net.
Shen noticed something.
"Interesting, they react to sound." Shen muttered as he searched for a suitable talisman to distract the specters.
Leo understood, his eyes narrowed.
These faceless creatures have no eyes and can’t see, but are sensitive to sound.
"Then let’s give them something to listen to." With that he slammed his foot hard on the ground. The sound echoed through the obsidian room, confusing the specters.
Leo broke out in a run, his heavy footsteps reverberating against the chamber walls, drawing the specters in circles.
He caught up to one confused specters chasing after the echo of footstep. He unleashed a flurry of strikes, finishing the specter.
Shen hurled talismans in a frenzy. And Leo kept attacking using fire-attributed attacks.
The two of them fought across the chamber for what felt like hours, but only minutes had passed.
Leo’s health had already dropped below half.
Shen had a gash across his side that made him hiss in pain.
The specters seemed to be endless. The more they killed, the more kept spawning from the walls.
"We can’t continue like this." Leo shouted.
"What should we do? Think of something." Shen replied in panic.
"I have a feeling this has something to do with that broken sword across the iron gate." Leo said thoughtfully. " I think its calling me."
Shen cursed as another specter raked past his arms. "Great, I have a feeling as well, I feel like we are going to die, so don’t talk about feelings. Do something." Shen replied back angrily.
"Okay, I will head for the iron gate. I need you to buy me some time." Leo already advancing toward the gate." I’ll be quick."
"Your better be." Shen growled pushing another specter. "I can’t hold on for long."
Leo nodded and headed for the iron bar gate. He fought through the specters and finally arrived before the gate. He could see the broken blade glowing in response to his eternal fire through the gate.
He pushed the gate; it didn’t budge.
He tried pulling, but still nothing. The gate didn’t even rattle under Leo’s strength.
"It’s locked." Leo asked, "Do you have any talisman for this situation?"
"Break the fucking lock. What do you mean locked? Burn the damn thing down. What are you staring at it for?" Shen replied in annoyance.
Leo stood silently, staring at the gate.
[Ding!]
[ ANCESTOR’S ECHO — PASSIVE TRIGGER]
The forge recognizes its own.
The gate was sealed by the First Fire’s command. Only the First Fire can unseal it.
Leo read the notification and felt like he was on to something.
He used eternal flame and slashed at the gate. But it didn’t work.
Leo sheathed his sword and called forth the eternal fire with all his might. He concentrated the fire in his two hands and grabbed the iron bars of the door.
With all the strength he could muster, he pulled the bars apart. The bars slowly cracked and, under the heat of eternal fire, it slowly started to soften, and Leo used his hands to bend the hot metal.
[-5 damage received]
...
[-5 damage received]
...
Leo was constantly receiving damage but he ignored it and pulled at the bars. The bars slowly bent enough for him to pass through.
He slipped through the opening and arrived in front of the anvil.
Meanwhile, Shen was throwing away talismans like crazy. He didn’t even have time to choose. He threw away whatever he could pick from his robes.
[WARDING TALISMAN]
[BARRIER TALISMAN]
....
[INK CHAINS]
.....
Leo stood in front of the anvil. A heavy ancient pressure slammed against his body. The anvil looked very old, having the marks of time, scarred by the thousands of hammer blows it had withstood throughout the ages from many blacksmiths.
Below the anvil sat a short ceremonial sword, its hilt wrapped in leather, edges dull. The sword was broken clean in two halves, as if it had been cut through by a sharp sword.
Strange — there were no wear or tier markings causing it to be broken. It seemed to have been cut in two cleanly by a sword.
Leo thought for a while but couldn’t come up with a good explanation except for it having been cut in half.
He picked up the two halves. He seemed to have some idea about it.
Had it been broken by the previous forge holder on purpose?
[ DING!]
[ HIDDEN QUEST UPDATE: MEMORY OF THE FIRST FIRE]
You have found the Broken Blade of the First Forge Holder.
[Objective Added: Repair the blade.]
Reading the notification, he brought the broken sword together. The moment the two ends touched each other, his eternal fire erupted in full. Gold fire exploded from his hands, engulfing the broken sword. Soon a cocoon of flame formed in front of him. The cocoon slowly left Leo’s hands and floated upward.
The heat the eternal fire was giving off right now was on another level. Leo himself had no idea his eternal fire was capable of that.
Soon the cocoon slowly floated down. The sword was already connected, with a bulging seam of metal at the joint.
Leo steadied the sword on the anvil. He was going to start hammering.
Where is the fucking hammer?
He looked around everywhere, but couldn’t find one.
Just as Leo was beginning to panic, Ancestor’s Echo triggered.
Leo gained the experiences of fire control. The fire slowly enveloped the sword once again. He felt hands that were not his own close over his — a woman’s hands, calloused from forging thousands of blades, then a man’s hands, broader and steady, then another and another...
The gold fire danced under his hands with a fire control unlike anything he saw before. The metal seam at the connection between the two halves of the sword melted smoothly. The gap was sealed and the sword was whole again. No marks of the break could be seen.
[Ding!]
[ ITEM RESTORED: Ceremonial Short Sword]
Grade: Uncommon (Flawless)
A blade broken by invaders and reforged by the Eternal Flame. The steel remembers the hands that made it.
+100 XP (Restoration Bonus)
The sword released a wave of energy, spreading outward in a circular wave with it at the center.
Shen, who was fighting the specters, was on the verge of tears.
"Leo, hurry up. I don’t have any energy to cast a talisman. Who knew that even if I had so many talismans, I wouldn’t even have the energy to throw them to activate."
Shen was cursing loudly at the specters...
Then an energy wave passed through the area.
The specters screamed.
Shen, cornered and exhausted looked up at the shrieking specters in disbelief.
Translucent figures dissolved into ash one after another.
Silence....
The iron gate swung open on its own.
Torches along the wall flared, burning brighter and steadier.
Leo understood that these specters were invaders. They had come for the forge but were killed instead and sealed within.
[ DING!]
[ CHAMBER 1: IRON GATE — CLEARED]
Rewards:
Skill Unlocked: Tempered Strike (Active)
After a successful parry, your next melee strike deals +100% damage and applies Armor Penetration (-20% DEF, 5s).
Cost: 30 MP.
Cooldown: 8s.
+300 XP
Shen received his own rewards :
[Iron Warding Seal Unlocked] — Territorial talisman wards absorb 20% more damage before breaking.
+450 XP
New status unlocked:
SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY: 100%
(No description available.)
Both Leo and Shen had unlocked a new hidden stat called Spiritual Integrity.
But they had no idea what it was used for.
"The system just said we cleared Chamber 1. Does that mean there are other chambers? We need to clear all of them?" Shen said with a bit of frustration in his voice.
"Probably," Leo said and walked past Shen into the new passage that had appeared after they cleared the chamber.
The corridor was similar to the previous tunnel, still constructed with obsidian walls.
Soon they stepped out of the corridor into another chamber, larger than the previous one. The walls within the chamber were carved with symbols that glowed with faint light. At the center was another anvil and another blade.
But the blade wasn’t broken. It was whole.
Leo and Shen walked closer to the anvil.
A translucent, featureless figure soon materialized in front of the anvil.
Leo and Shen immediately got into an attacking stance, ready to deal with whatever was to come.
But.... The translucent figure didn’t attack. It just stood there, motionless.
[Ding!]
[You have entered the 2nd Chamber]
"Well, there was no announcement for the 1st chamber for some reason." Shen remarked.
Leo nodded and asked, "You aren’t out of talismans, right?"
"No, I still have enough. Don’t worry about my talismans. Hehe..." Shen answered with a grin.
"Okay then, let’s see what this chamber has in store for us." ....
