Blacksmith of the Apocalypse-Chapter 1281: On return-

It had gotten late again. After they finished visiting a few places on Mina's list, they took one of the invitations the elven receptionist had given them, to end the day with a secret rave. As a man who had not really left his house in recent years, Seth was almost as overwhelmed by the atmosphere of loud music, bright light and colorful folks.

It was a good thing they got some practice during the recent victory and quickly got into the mood of things, making it a very enjoyable evening. Around 2 am, they hurried to the snake stop, to one of the few snakes that were scheduled to still go during the night.

There were no pursuers this time. Maybe what happened yesterday was really just a coincidence. The snake safely brought them to their holiday resort and they used the elevator to get up the mountain cliff.

Entering the lobby, they found the lights dimmed. Well, it was the middle of the night, so that was not weird. However, Seth thought there was something wrong when his eyes fell on the receptionist they had met on their first day, the one that had prepared the invitations for them.

Her eyes seemed unfocused and her face was frozen in a calm, neutral smile. There was nothing out of the ordinary about this. It was late and maybe she was just tired. However, it reminded Seth of scenes from thrillers or horror movies, Something about this was unsettling.

Following his intuition and considering what she had done for them, Seth decided to approach her. Although the auction was kind of meh, the restaurant was good and the rave was fun. The Tower Master had actually deliberated to scout her. Asking how she was doing was the least he could do.

“Are you okay?” the bard asked, approaching the counter, his voice as soft as possible. Her head turned to look at him. The smile was visibly strained as it grew wider. Meanwhile, her hands were fumbling on the desk behind the counter.

“Everything is... alright. Why...do you ask?” she answered with some pauses in her speech. Definitely weird. He leaned forward to look into her glazed eyes. She gave him another smile, cocking her head a little.

While her head, expression and shoulders didn't move, her hand slid a small note across the counter. The action was so sneaky, it was almost as if the hand was acting on its own.

“Ist that so? I guess everything is alright then,” Seth said, not meaning a single weird. While he gave his neutral answer, he took the note as sneakily as the hand put it on the counter. “Then, have a good night,” he said and turned away from the counter, with the note in hand. Turning his back to her so she couldn't see it, he opened the note.

“ThEy .... yOuR.... rOoM” Just three words, scribbled in terrible handwriting like the letter of a weak and diseased person. It was obvious the writer had to muster a lot of energy and effort to create these barely legible lines. Seth glanced back at the receptionist.

“Seth, what is it?” Mina asked, glancing at the note in his hand. “Did she give you her number?” Fin approached together with her and asked, giving the note a curious look. One look made clear this was not her number or an invitation to her private room, or whatever the girls expected. Their expressions turned serious immediately.

“What are we doing? Do we go up?” Mina asked. The shadow assassin had already switched from vacation to mission mode. The fairy's serious expression told him that Fin was the same. Seth nodded, signaling them that he was still thinking.

There was no way that whoever was in their room had peaceful intentions. Someone was waiting in their room to ambush them and they had done something to control the receptionist. Obviously, they had no intention to leave, much less to run away.

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“What about her? Considering her strength, they can't be controlling her with any ordinary means,” Fin mentioned, who was having the same train of thought as Seth. Seth was also worried about the elf.

He had heard quite a lot about control spells, potions, skills and so during his journey with Fin and even recently in Delta. The receptionist herself was at least above lv.50 and had stats higher than an ori-huma on the same level thanks to her heritage.

“You are right, I have also been thinking about that, but...” the blacksmith said.

It would take quite the means to control her like this. Something like this wouldn't just go away once the caster or controller died. These usually came with some kind of side effect, if the caster died before the means was neutralized. So they couldn't kill them, unless they accepted consequences for the elf.

“If only we knew what they did to her, maybe we could save her,” the shadow mage mumbled to herself. Although she had simply muttered it with a hint of frustration, it gave Seth a brilliant idea. It reminded him of a skill he possessed but rarely ever used.

was an active skill on his ring “Earth's Memory” he had created to support his earth magic spells. The skill allowed Seth to look into the memories of the land, to have a glimpse at what happened in a specific place in the recent past.

Clenching his fist, Seth looked into the past of the lobby and his face turned very serious.

...

In the penthouse above, sitting in the darkness of the unlit room, were a group of figures in dark blue robes and wide sedge hats covering their faces. Despite entering the room a sharp aura earlier, they had slumped a little after waiting so long.

“Do you really think they will still come?” the fat cultivator asked his senior brother beside him, whispering in his ears.

“Sh, are you doubting the strategy of the elder, Fatty Dong? They will definitely come back. The leaf ear below said that they booked this room until tomorrow,” his senior brother warned him. The Elder in question was an old monster in the middle stages of the Spirit Severing Realm. They couldn't afford to get on his bad side.

“But what if she lied, or warned them?” the fat dong posed a follow-up question. This time he received a slap to his rotund belly, but the warning came too late, the Elder had already heard them.

“I personally implanted her with my Cursed Mind Larvae. Even if these weird races have some higher resistances, she cannot possibly resist my control, lie to us, or do anything to harm us, or the operation. Dong Huan, are you doubting my Gu Arts?” the elder explained friendly, but the last question had a freezing edge to it.

“No! No, I would never dare to doubt Elder Bu'Ge's insect skill,” fatty Dong hurriedly started to appease the elder. “I was simply becoming nervous and was too stupid to come up with a proper idea explanation,” he added, shifting the fault to his own impatience and lack of intelligence.

“Well, it's not like I didn't know you weren't the brightest. I will forgive you this once,” the elder magnanimously let it go, sitting back on the soft sofa of the penthouse. He had to admit, these savages knew how to craft luxury items. He could even feel a faint flow of qi in the furniture.

However, Fat Dong wasn't wrong. What took these savages so long? When he was sent as reinforcement to kidnap someone from Minas Mar, he didn't expect this to turn into a drawn-out ambush like this.

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“Give me the jade slip again,” he ordered his subordinate, to reread the mission details. The group initially caught their attention, because they were able to enter the secret store at the bazaar. that they could enter meant they were not weak, but it also meant they probably had bought something valuable in there.

The scouts following them later confirmed the male to be a powerful earth “wizard”, which was what the savages called people casting outlandish elemental techniques. More importantly, they also caught a hint, that the three most likely had a connection with Minas Mar, based on the interaction with the newly arrived pursuers who had been causing trouble all day.

His hand quivered a little at the thought of capturing members of Minas Mar. Just how much ransom would they be able to get from an organization like Minas Mar? Maybe even a heaven grade weapon? Even some earth grade weapons would be good.

The room had fallen silent for a while, when the door of the elevator sprung to life. The bright numbers above it informed of its coming. Their victims had finally arrived. using

to give order, the group of cultivators got into position.

Ding! With a clear noise in the silence, the elevator proclaimed its arrival.