Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter  1068. Lyca

"Hey, don't I know you? I feel like we met before," the Winner of the Speed Kill Challenge suddenly asked him as Seth put a golden medal around her neck and stepped away from the winner's podium. This was the end of the 5th day of the Pythian Games and the official end of the "normal" sports competitions.

With great fanfare, they intended to honor all the winners of the previous round, before the games entered their heated phase. The person who suddenly spoke to Seth was a tall, toned woman with tanned skin. Her tall figure with a swan-like neck, long slender limbs, together with the big almond-shaped eyes were reminiscent of elves. She looked off, but very ethereal and beautiful, at the cusp of the uncanny valley.

The Tower Master gave a cheeky smile. "Don't you think this pick-up line is a little too overused? With this kind of setting, you should have come up with something more original," the blacksmith joked, shaking his head in played disappointment.

"Stop the joking, I'm serious. I just can't quite remember," she said, unperturbed by the bard's prank. She seemed really bothered by the fact that she couldn't remember where they met. Seth finally decided to help her, since they had to get on with the award ceremony.

"Don't worry too much about it. Our party wasn't that memorable back then when we met in the Fog World," the blacksmith reminded her. This was the Amazon Lyca, Seth and the others had met all the way back then when they slipped through the cracks and entered the world of fog, where they also met the Tuatha De for the first time.

She stared at him for a long moment, as if this snippet of information wasn't enough, but her face quickly brightened when she finally remembered.

"Oh! The party of humans that was stranded at the hub world! So, you managed to get home in the end. You even became quite successful. Maybe now you be a challenge," she added with a dangerous wink. "Maybe we could meet later? I'm really interested in how you came to organize such an event."

"Sure, just come to Minas Mar's, our VIP room after the ceremony," he answered, signaling that they really had to move on now. With a nod, she left the podium, making a place for the next batch of winners.

As he was giving out awards and award money, Seth was looking forward to it. The amazon was one of the three participants who actually beat a named golem and the only one who did it with ease. Seeing her strike down Esperanza instantly reminded him of her fight against the giant fog monster they had witnessed back then.

Despite all of them growing stronger, the Amazon was still a symbol of might to the people who had witnessed her back then. Especially to Monique and Jonah, the two warriors, she was a milestone to reach and compete with.

At this point, Monique and Jonah would probably writhe in regret that they had agreed that nobody from Minas Mar was allowed to join the tournament. It would have been the perfect chance to compete with her. But Seth was not only looking forward to their meeting out of nostalgia.

There was a question burning under his nails. How had she been able to enter their games? The blacksmith had a hard time believing the amazon from back then was below lv.100. Having a powerhouse like her compete in the games was borderline smurfing if not outright cheating.

In general, she had not seemed overly interested in people back then, what would have moved her to suddenly travel the to Urth? Whatever it was, maybe they could get her on their side during the tournament. Having a powerful thick, sexy thigh to hug was never a detriment.

The award ceremony was tedious, but also important, which was why Seth did it personally. It took almost two hours of handshaking, congratulations, and throwing out money before the blacksmith could return to their private booth.

...

When it knocked at the door of the booth, the booze was already flowing. It became their ritual for the end of every day without an incident. Seth, beer in hand, opened the door, finding the amazon waiting outside. They had not exchanged a word yet when her face lit up at the sight of the beer in his hands.

"Would you like one? We are having a little evening drink before leaving," he invited her in, offering a fresh bottle. All of the core members of Minas Mar were currently present in Little Gamma, including their original party from when they entered the fog world.

She took the offered bottle without much care. Although her face had brightened at the sight of alcohol, her eyes were trailing through the room in a daze.

"is there something wrong?" Monique asked concerned. She was leaning at the bar, not too far away from the amazon that had just entered. As part of the original party who had seen Lyca in action, and a warrior herself, she had been looking forward to meeting the amazon again, when she appeared at the games.

"You...you are the Chosen of Athena, right?!" the amazon exclaimed excitedly. "And she has the aura of Phobos! And you... Hestia?" she accurately guessed the godly sugarparents of Monique, Faenys, and Mary. "It couldn't be..." she trailed off when seeing Evee, sitting beside her brother at the opposite end of the lounge.

"Persephone," Evee answered her a nod. She wasn't familiar with Lyca, but Seth and the others told everyone the story before she arrived.

"And this big guy, you have the blessing of herak- no, his son?" she tried to guess Tekar's affiliation.

"Both of his sons, yes," She said with a slight smile, nibbling at his orange juice. The massive man didn't touch much alcohol. A this point the amazon had stolen their thunder. They had wanted to talk with her about the fog world and her power, instead, she was the one starting to gush about their blessing. The reason was simple.

"I would have never thought I would get the chance to meet a champion of my gods! And now I meet so many at once," she exclaimed happily.

"So, you actually worship the Olympians where you are coming from?" Link asked her interested. Back then, he had been watching the amazon like a hungry wolf, but the gourmet hunter had calmed down a lot since he spent his time with Sherry Baker, Mark Baker's Sister.

"Of course, where I come from we mostly pray to her Highness Artemis and his Lordship Ares, but the other gods also hold their place in our temples," she answered seriously, before taking a swig from her beer.

"Oh, on that note. Where Do you come from?" Mary used the key to guide the conversation a little.

"My home is called Solene. You have to go through quite a few Fairy gates and Fog Ways to get here," she answered easygoing.

"it isn't part of the Pathworks?" Alison asked curiously. Fairy gates and Fog Ways didn't sound like part of the system route.

"No, it is part of the network. but it's outside of the system god's influence. To be honest, this system thing is still quite new to me." She grimaced with an embarrassed smile.

"It's new to you?" Fin exclaimed surprised.

"Yes, I accepted the influence when I entered the worlds of the system god, but I'm not quite used to it, yet. Aren't you bothered by the weird announcements once in a while?" she asked, talking of notifications about status effects, level-ups, and such.

Now that she mentioned it... All of them accepted it, but it didn't mean they didn't think it was a little weird to have the system voice talk to them telepathically once in a while.

"And what made you enter the system?" Jonah asked calmly. The system support was a blessing to them, but someone as strong as her barely gained anything from it, so why would she accept the inconvenience?

"I'm on my coming-of-age journey to gather experience. Every amazon had to leave the homeworld and survive on their own for at least 5 years to gather experience by traveling through other realms. We can only return once that period has ended. So I entered the system world to see how things worked here and then I heard about your event. it really reminded me of home," she explained with a nostalgic smile. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Oh, since you brought it up, how did you manage to join? With your strength, you should be past lv.100, right?" Seth threw in. They had deliberately set a level limit to make the competitions more or less fair.

"What a weird question, of course, I lowered my stats and suppressed my level to lv.90. Can't you guys manipulate your level?" she asked naturally.

The room fell silent.