While the battle was raging on, more than one hundred dwarves were working on excavating the Geyser of Life using all sorts of heavy equipment.
“Explosives installed!”
“Bomb has been planted!”
All of them were former blacksmiths of the Bavarian Workshop.
When the Bavarian Workshop ceased crafting lethal artifacts capable of shedding rivers of blood and chose to craft ordinary artifacts instead, these blacksmiths decisively left the workshop.
In other words, each and every one of them was a dark blacksmith obsessed with crafting the most lethal and dangerous artifact regardless of what means they had to use to do so.
“Good. We’re making quick progress,” Avant muttered, satisfied by his subordinates’ work.
“This is all for your sake, Head Blacksmith,” Kink said, rubbing his hands together. Then, he grinned and added, “All of us wish to see the day you will lead the Bavarian Workshop to its former glory.”
“The Bavarian Workshop…” Avant muttered. Then, he smiled and said, “Yes, I have to retake it.”
“I long for the days when our workshop was filled with the fragrant scent of steel and blood. Not once have I forgotten those moments!”“Calm down. We will easily retake the Bavarian Workshop the moment I obtain the ancient relic of Vulcanus, and the workshop I will lead is going to be unrivaled. I will not allow people to call us one of the top three workshops on the continent.”
“B-By that do you mean…?!”
“I will destroy the Autonika Workshop and Mercedes Workshop. Only the Bavarian Workshop shall remain in this world!”
“Oh! I'd expected nothing less!” Kink exclaimed, breaking out into goosebumps.
A world where the Bavarian Workshop was the best was the dream of any blacksmith from the Bavarian Workshop. That kind of world was paradise for them, and Kink was no different.
However, Avant was not planning on making the Bavarian Workshop the best by crafting better artifacts. He was planning to destroy the other workshops and let the Bavarian Workshop be the only workshop on the continent.
“Kink.”
“Yes, sir?”
“That Bavarian Workshop branch will be my gift to you.”
“Head Blacksmith…!”
“So just be patient a little while longer,” Avant said.
They planned to break the first layer with explosives before using pickaxes and heavy equipment to dig through the remaining layers. The reason they were only using the explosives for the first layer was that the explosives could damage the ruin.
“Fire em up!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Death Crafters ignited the fuse at Avant’s command.
Tsss…!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A massive explosion rocked the ground.
The creature sleeping deep underground was once awakened by something sharp trying to pierce through its back, but it shrugged it off and soon went back to sleep.
Rumble!
A violent tremor ran across the ground, and it awakened once again.
“Who is it…? Who’s making this annoying noise…?” the colossal creature grumbled and slowly got up. It was still extremely sleepy, but it decided to wake up for now to punish those daring enough to disturb his sleep.
It rose up and moved its colossal figure toward the cave entrance. It would love nothing more than to just stand up straight and break through the ground, but it had to go back to sleep after punishing the nuisances, so it decided to be careful not to destroy its cave.
The colossal creature’s movements were felt above ground.
“Hmm? Why is the ground still shaking? Did we detonate a bedrock by mistake?” Avant muttered, raising a brow after noticing a tremor, even though the explosions had already ended.
“No, that is unlikely,” Kink replied, shaking his head. Then, he said, “The amount of explosives we used is nowhere enough to destroy a layer of stratum. We also made sure to meticulously calculate the amount of explosives to use to ensure that we'd only scrape off the top layer of the ground.”
“How would you explain this aftershock, Kink?”
“T-That's—”
It was then.
Rumble!
A hill around one and a half kilometers away from where Avant and Kink were standing suddenly collapsed, and—
Thud!
—A large object resembling a horn emerged from the ground.
“T-This can’t be…!” Avant gasped in sheer horror.
“H-Head Blacksmith! I think we have a problem here!” Kink exclaimed.
“Run! Everyone! Run! It’s a dragon! There's a dragon’s lair underground! Hurry up and run!” Avant screamed. His voice was filled with despair rather than urgency, as a dragon was the one thing that all dwarves truly feared.
Dragons were creatures that loved decorating their lairs, and they loved shiny objects more than anything else. This meant that dwarves were excellent slaves for them, as they could not only build a majestic lair but also all sorts of shiny works of art with the help of dwarves.
The population of dragons had dwindled significantly, so the life of dwarves had improved greatly, but the majority of dwarves three thousand to four thousand years ago were slaves to dragons.
“Run! R-Run!”
“It’s a dragon! A dragon has appeared!”
“Aaaack!”
“D-Dragon!”
“Everyone! Run awaaaay!”
It was probably the reason why the Death Crafters scattered like a bunch of cockroaches the moment they saw a dragon. Their innate fear of dragons, which was engraved deep in their genes, made them run away instinctively.
***
Witnessing Siegfried's slaughter of every single Oberg Guild member had Hamchi shaking his head. “Owner punk has really lost it… Kyu… If it were a different crime, he might forgive them, but he'll never forgive those who made him lose money…”
Siegfried slaughtered the Oberg Guild members after losing his +10 Real Quad-Turbo Set, and he looked no different from the God of Death going around harvesting the souls of his victims.
No, their souls were not the only things he harvested.
“Kyaak! Kyaaack!”
The Three-Legged Crow appeared and swept up all of the items dropped by the Oberg Guild members as if it were a vacuum cleaner.
Siegfried seemed hell-bent on making multiple folds worth of gold more than the amount he had lost from the +10 Real Quad-Turbo Set.
“Kill that bastard first! We have to kill that bastard in order to win this battle!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed at the top of his lungs while pointing at Siegfried. This was indeed the right choice, as Siegfried was the one nullifying Chae Hyung-Seok’s buffs and the Adrenaline Concentrate used by the Oberg Guild members.
Of course, those weren't the only reasons he had to be eliminated. Siegfried's wide area debuffs allowed the Mandate of Heaven Guild to easily overpower the Oberg Guild.
In other words, the Oberg Guild had to get rid of him to win this war.
“Kill him!”
“Ignore the rest! Focus on bringing that guy down!”
“We have to kill Han Tae-Sung no matter what!”
The Oberg Guild members charged at Siegfried.
“Protect Tae-Sung!”
“Don’t let them reach Tae-Sung!”
“We have to protect him!”
The Mandate of Heaven Guild members ran to protect Siegfried from the enemies.
“Do not come here! I will not die, so focus on your own missions!” Siegfried shouted, infusing mana in his voice.
Boom!
A powerful burst of energy struck Siegfried right afterward, and he was blasted several meters away.
“Kyuuuu! Owner punk!” Hamchi shouted and ran to his side, helping him up to his feet.
“You made a mistake, Han Tae-Sung,” Diesel growled with a smirk. He was wearing the same Doping Gas Mask like the other Oberg Guild members.
Diesel and his guild members had surrounded Siegfried completely.
“You should have genuinely stood on my side when I offered you that thirty million dollars. Tsk… I didn’t expect you to help that old man, Yong Tae-Pung, just because of loyalty. Don’t you realize how bad loyalty and camaraderie are for a business?”
It was then.
“Shut it and kill him! You can’t give that bastard time!” Chae Hyung-Seok shouted. He knew better than anyone else just how dangerous it was to give Siegfried of all people time to do something.
“Sure,” Diesel replied with a shrug. He wanted nothing more than to make Siegfried suffer in a one-on-one duel for betraying him, but he decided against that for the sake of business.
There was nothing dumber than dueling someone to the death when the Geyser of Life, which was an invaluable asset capable of giving him astronomical sums of money, was on the line.
“Kill him,” Diesel commanded his guild members.
It was then.
“Gotcha,” Siegfried said with a grin and slammed his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp into the ground.
Rumble!
Flames sprang up from the ground and hardened to form the Barrier of Victory. The Debuff Master had Grand Duel—a skill that allowed him to avoid getting surrounded.
***
Siegfried fought Diesel inside the Barrier of Victory.
‘He’s strong,' Siegfried thought.
Clearly, there was a reason why Diesel was a Ranker. His strength and speed were truly astonishing. He displayed such powerful explosive strength and speed that he managed to drive Siegfried into a corner, even within the Barrier of Victory.
Unfortunately, his explosive strength and speed weren't the only problem.
He was also pretty good, technical-wise.
Whoosh!
Diesel moved in ways that most people his size couldn't do, and he appeared behind Siegfried in one fluid motion.He then grabbed Siegfried with both arms and squeezed him with all of his strength, seemingly intending to crush him to death.
“Argh!”
“I’m going to crush every single bone in your body, Han Tae-Sung.”
“Y-You’re quite strong…!”
“I’ll rip your mouth open and pull your spine from it.”
Diesel was using his skill, Overpowering Hug, which was a submission-type skill that allowed him to hug his targets from behind and squeeze them until their bones were crushed.
“You dare betray me—”
A nozzle suddenly appeared right underneath Diesel’s chin, and this was none other than the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp in Tactical Mode, which was a revolver.
“Do you really think your little toy can kill me?” Diesel asked with an arrogant grin.
“Why don’t we try?” Siegfried replied with a smirk and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp spat fire and shot out a magic bullet.
“Ah!” Diesel gasped. His jaw was destroyed, and he flew several meters into the air.
“Whoa… Look at how tough this guy is…” Siegfried muttered in disbelief upon seeing that the only damage Diesel had suffered was his jaw getting destroyed.
Diesel actually managed to survive getting shot by the Tactical Mode of the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp. His defenses were impressive, even for a melee combatant, but his fighting spirit was even more impressive than his defenses.
“Grwaaaaah!” Diesel roared even though his jaw was destroyed, and he wasted no time, charging at Siegfried as soon as he snapped back to his senses.
Bang! Bang!
Siegfried quickly pulled the trigger twice, creating two fist-sized holes in Diesel’s chest.
“Argh!” Diesel groaned in agony but he did not stop moving. His insane tenacity allowed him to keep moving, even though he had holes in his body.
“G-Grwaa Aaah!” Diesel roared once again and tried to lunge at Siegfried, but that was as far as he could go.
Bang! Bang!
Siegfried pulled the trigger twice again and struck Diesel, staggering him. Then, Siegfried aimed the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp at Diesel's head and said, “This is the final bullet.”
Bang!
The sixth and final bullet was fired.
“...!”
Diesel stopped in his tracks without any expression. No, it was more like he couldn't make any sort of expression.
Why?
It was all because he no longer had a face.
The magic bullet pierced Diesel’s face leaving behind a fist-sized hole.
Thud…!
Diesel helplessly fell to his knees before plopping dead on the ground.
“Hoo!” Siegfried blew at the piping red nozzle of his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp. Then, he said, “Six shot revolvers are the best.”
The Barrier of Victory then collapsed.
Rumble!
“...!”
The Oberg Guild members were shocked to find Diesel’s corpse on the ground.
“Alright, who wants to go next?” Siegfried asked before summoning the Three-Legged Crow to pick up the items that Diesel had ended up dropping upon his death.
Before anyone could do anything, a deafening roar erupted in the distance.
"GWUUU OOOOOH!"
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