19 Bringing The Hammer Down (1/2)

But its segmented shell was so tough no matter how hard he hit it he barely made a scratch. Staggering from the recoil of his own attacks.

”When I said do something, I meant somewhere more along the lines of shutting up. Its useless, the armors too tough. I am well aware of how to deal with this spirit. It would take a the smiter of a Spiritknight of the second step to destroy it.” Lara's voice came from the back of the cave. Whatever class this creature was there was no defeating it. It was willing to kill them at the cost of his own life. She slumped up against one of the cave walls and watched Darius' hopeless attempts.

Darius wouldn't stop. He was not going to die there, not if he could help it. He kept on hitting the beast again and again. Over and over until he felt himself slowly begin to slip away. His thoughts faded into the background and his body felt like it was moving of his own accord.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

He started of sloppy. He knew he had to concentrate. At first something didn't feel right as he hit it, but soon he started to find his rhythm and get into the groove of it. Each time he struck the shrimp the cave would shake violently, causing dust and debris to fall of the walls. It was as if an earthquake was going on inside the cave.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Each strike was more perfect than its predecessor. The shock-waves sent out were enough to knock someone of their feet. Even Lara could feel them at the back of the cave. In this trance like state Darius felt himself let go as his strikes became more and more precise. The sound it made was familiar, and so were the vibrations the hammer made each time. As he relentlessly continued hammering the shrimp he could feel something was happening, a sensation he knew all too well rushed like a tidal wave through his body, engulfing his very being as the shrimp itself was put into a trance like state.

Darius knew that what he was doing wasn't damaging the shrimp at all. This was doing something else to it entirely, it was sort of reshaping it into something else...

He had now achieved a certain frequency as he continued. He wasn't sure how or why this was the perfect frequency but he could just tell. From the way the hammer felt as it landed on the shrimps hard shell to the way it sounded as it did so. Something told him it was just right. He honed his skill to the max. Hitting it in the exact same spot the exact same way.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Lara watched in awe at what Darius was doing. She had seen this once before when she visited a forge many years prior. But as far as she was concerned there was no mistaking it. Darius was smiting!

”How is this possible?” she muttered as she watched Darius mould the shrimp. It became smaller and smaller, the energy inside it being compressed by Darius' hammer.

Far above the dome, in the skies, an old man was holding his belly while laughing aloud. Splendid! Splendid! This boy was born to be a Spiritsmith! I have to get my hands on him!”

Usually smiting could only be done on dead spirits, and most Spiritsmiths used machines to detect the right frequency to smite a particular Spirit with, which was a long process especially for beginners, but somehow Darius was able to find this frequency himself. Six years of striking the anvil had taught him just where it would be.

Bang!