Rise of the Living Forge-Chapter 394: Final Round

Olive paced back and forth across the room nervously. The fourth and final day of the tournament had dawned. For the first time since the Proving Grounds had started, her nerves had absolutely nothing to do with the upcoming fight. There were ten minutes left before the round started, but she couldn’t care less about it at the moment.

Elias was missing.

He’d up and vanished a little under an hour ago without so much as a word or sound. One moment, the three of them had been sitting in their viewing room after they’d finished the breakfast that the Secret Eye had brought them. The next, he was gone. Olive wasn’t even sure how or when he’d left. He’d simply disappeared.

Maeve stood in the center of the room, her nervousness visible in her posture. She danced from one foot to the other as her eyes darted around the room. Even though she couldn’t speak, Maeve had managed to communicate through body language and pointing that Elias was probably okay.

But probably wasn’t enough.

Tension infused Olive’s jaw and her fists clenched at her sides.

I hate this.

There was nothing either of them could do. They couldn’t go searching for Elias. There was no way they’d find him in the time they had — and he had to have left intentionally for some reason.

Olive simply refused to believe someone could have managed to not only sneak into their room and defeat Elias in the span of what must have been instants, but also drag him off and out the door without ever making so much as a sound.

It was just impossible.

Fortunately, Reya had come by not too long after Elias had vanished to check on them in preparation for the finals. The moment Olive had filled her in on the situation, she’d darted off to alert Arwin and get to searching.

And that had been that. Olive hadn’t heard anything from them since. The fight for Elias’ survival was rapidly approaching, and yet the undead man was nowhere to be seen. At this rate, they were going to have to take the last fight without him.

It’s not like we can just drop out now. Elias needs us to win this fight so we can find the way to stop his undeath from just becoming death. I don’t know why he’d just slip out of the room, but he was acting a bit odd ever since the fight.

He called Necrohammer Norman. Does that mean the necromancer that made him is fucking Necrohammer? The guy that made the class-stealing blades? Sure, he helped us break the blades too… but he still made them in the first place. I don’t what’s going on at all.

I wish I’d gotten a chance to ask Elias what was going on.

“What happened?” Olive muttered to herself for what must have been the dozenth time. “How could he just—”

The door flew open.

Both Olive and Maeve spun toward it.

“Reya! Have you found…” Olive trailed off.

The person that stepped through the door wasn’t Reya.

It was Elias.

The man looked tired. Even through the bandages covering his features, Olive could see it in his posture. His shoulders were hunched and a weary air hung around his body like a cloak.

Maeve darted over and grabbed him by the shoulders, practically shaking him on the spot as her eyes bore into his.

“I’m sorry,” Elias said with a chuckle. “I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” Olive exclaimed. “Did Reya find you? Where were you? The next fight is almost about to start! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s okay, Olive.” Elias raised his hands defensively. The motion was made a little harder by Maeve, who still had a death grip on his shoulders. He blew out a sigh. “I… honestly, I don’t know what happened.”

Olive and Maeve stared at him.

“What?” Olive asked. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Just that,” Elias replied. “I was sitting here with you. Thinking. Then… nothing. I woke up in the hall a few minutes ago. Reya found me and helped me get back here, then went to tell Arwin. That’s it. It’s like there’s a chunk of my memory missing.”

Olive’s skin prickled.

You mean… someone actually did kidnap him? Why? And why would they just plonk him back down after going through the trouble? What is going on?

Maeve prodded Elias in the chest. He glanced down at her, then grimaced. “Yes. I am more than aware.”

“Of what?” Olive asked. “Damn it, Elias. We’re a team. If something’s going on, I need to know. You can’t just kidnapped and then start speaking to Maeve in sign language.”

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Elias hesitated for a moment. Then he blew out a heavy sigh. “Did… you hear what I said during our last fight? The one against Vale.”

“Yes. You called Necrohammer Norman. I was kind of hoping I’d misheard something.”

“You didn’t,” Elias said in a grim tone. “I’ve never seen Norman wear gear like that, but… I’d recognize his presence anywhere. It’s part of the whole… you know. Being what I am.”

An undead. I guess it would make sense that he could sense the one that brought him back from the grave.

“Yeah. That makes sense. Not the biggest reveal that’s ever been dropped on my head, which is saying a lot,” Olive said. “You think it was Necrohammer that caused this? That he’s trying to mess with us before the finals or something?”

“I… I just don’t know.” Elias shook his head. “There’s too much that doesn’t make sense. Norman wasn’t a crafter. At least, I didn’t think he was. Perhaps he was lying about far more than we thought. But I truly do have no memories of what happened. I’m at a complete loss.”

“Are you injured at all? Poisoned? Otherwise off kilter because of some kind of sabotage?”

Elias shook his head. “No. Perfectly fine. Maybe a bit woozy and a tad sore, but I was lying in a heap. I feel like the pain is more from a crick in my back than it is from some kind of injury. I appear to be in fighting shape.”

Olive chewed her lower lip. She didn’t like this at all. Something felt wrong… but she didn’t know what. There just wasn’t enough information to build a theory off. If Rodrick were here, maybe he could have figured something out.

But he wasn’t.

“Well, shit,” Olive said. She walked over and clapped Elias on the arm. “Then I guess we’ve got no choice, do we?”

“No choice as to what?”

“Just have to keep grinding away,” Olive replied with a shrug. “Reya let Arwin know what’s up. I’m sure they’ll tell Art as well. He might be able to get a lead. But for us… look. We’re warriors. Unless you’re way smarter than you’ve let on, all we can do is smack the enemies faster than they smack us.”

Elias let out a snort. “Now there’s a piece of wisdom.”

“Got it from Reya.” Olive turned to look back at the arena. There was too much going on. Too many forces trying to influence the outcome of the Proving Grounds. She didn’t know what they were.

And that was fine.

There was a reason she’d asked Arwin to make this specific set of armor for her over anything else. He’d warned her that she could only have a single soul weapon. The connection was too intense to allow room for more.

She could have asked him to make a powerful sword… but Olive had chosen to adapt. And that was what she would continue to do. Olive wasn’t the smartest warrior. She couldn’t always be the strongest or the fastest. Nobody could. But, so long as there was even the slightest flicker in the darkness to light the path forward, she would take it and rely on her allies to make up for where she fell short.

“If you’re certain you’re fine, let’s go,” Olive said. “And if you aren’t, sit the fight out. Don’t you dare push ahead when you can’t. We’re doing this for you. If you go and get yourself killed in the last fight, Maeve and I will never forgive your ghost. You have to survive to figure out what in the Nine Underlands Norman is doing dressing up as a smith.”

“I think it might be the necromancer he was dressing up as,” Elias said, but his lips curled up in a smile behind the bandages covering his face. “I’m not going to falter. Not this close to the finish line. But… if it comes to it, I will prioritize survival.”

“Good,” Olive said. She stilled her nerves. There was no time to wonder or theorize. All they could do was advance — and that was what they would do. “Then… shall we? There are only two teams left. Us and Setting Sun. Isn’t hard to tell who’s getting called up next.”

Elias inclined his head. Maeve did the same.

As three, they strode out of their room. Kraven was still trying to advertise something or another above them, but his words were instantly drowned out by the roar of the crowd as they stepped onto the arena.

That gave Olive no small measure of amusement. She really didn’t think much of the announcer at all. He was insufferable. Making his job even just a bit harder was worth any hassle it caused.

What’s the Secret Eye going to do, kick us out of the tournament because we showed up a few minutes early?

The cheers of the crowd grew even louder, completely drowning out any protest Kraven might have tried to make, as another group emerged from their waiting room.

Olive’s lips curled up into a smile as she smothered her worries with determination. It seemed they weren’t the only ones willing to head out early.

The Setting Sun took to the arena before them… but something was different.

Olive recognized the tall, bald monk in white robes that bore no weapon. She also recognized his companion, a short woman with a fiery mane of red hair and a massive magical staff tipped with a brilliant blue gem.

They’d been the two that had swept through every scrap of competition in their path without struggling once. Olive had been under the impression their team had only possessed two people… but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

There was a third person among their number. He was of the average sort, an unimpressive build with brown hair and not too much or too little muscle. The man was perfectly forgettable in every way, from facial feature to posture.

His gaze went right to Olive — and then down to her arm. A knowing grin tugged at the corner of his lips.

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A flicker of realization passed through Olive and she fought to keep a smile of her own from forming. Reya had mentioned spreading a little disinformation about her wooden arm… and judging by the state of things, that information had made it where it needed to go.

“I’ve been looking forward to this fight,” the red-haired woman said, giving Olive’s group a wide grin as she readied her staff. “Especially after that last one. Fantastic stuff. Especially the musical magic. Would love to talk to your mage once this is all done.”

“If any of us are still in shape to do anything but lie on our backs after the fight, I’m going to be disappointed,” Olive replied, cracking her neck and shaking her limbs out.

The large monk let out a deep chuckle. “That’s what I like to hear. I hope you kept a few tricks close to chest. I’m eager to see how my fists stand up against that armor of yours.”

“It seems the teams have taken to the stage!" Kraven called, finally managing to get his voice to be heard over the crowd once more. “Looks like they’re eager to get started. I guess being able to follow orders isn’t required to be good at fighting! But fear not — everything is ready for the final fight of the Adept-tier Proving Grounds! Is everyone ready for this?”

“God, he’s a blowhard,” the red-haired mage said, squinting up at the announcer. “Do you think I can blast him out of the sky?”

“I doubt One would approve of that. Don’t forget we’re still on trial,” the monk said. He paused for a moment before grinning. “But I would not be judged for your actions, so I certainly wouldn’t complain much.”

“I’ll give you a free hit on me if you do,” Olive offered.

The mage snickered. “Tempting, but I guess I’ll have to pass. And trust me — you can’t afford to be giving free hits out.”

Olive just shrugged. There were some things that a little pain was worth going through for.

“Let’s get to it!” Kraven yelled, either unable to hear the conversation or simply ignoring it. “The final round of the Proving Grounds… begins now!”