The Crafting Master and the Dragon Slaying Halberd

The fact that Behemoth Wolf Cavalry crossed the wilderness and the border to reach Outpost County was like a boulder dropped into a calm lake, causing a huge stir across the Saint Cassis Continent.

Both the Kingdom of Locke and the Holy See were almost made a laughingstock by the major powers.

Not to mention the tens of thousands of Locke Kingdom border troops, but also a full contingent of the Holy See's Earth Dragon Legion, allowing so many Wolf Cavalry to pass through as if it were no man's land and almost charge into Outpost County.

Love, the Commander-in-Chief of the Locke First Army guarding the border, was summoned back to the Royal City by an order from the Royal City.

In fact, Love was wronged. Outpost County had not seen war for many years. The Barbarians of the Wasteland were free henchmen and natural barriers for the Behemoths, and weren't they for humans as well?

Therefore, whether humans wanted to beat up the Behemoths, or the Behemoths wanted to find trouble in human kingdoms, the first opponents they would encounter would definitely be tens of thousands of fierce barbarians, which gave the passive party time to prepare.

But this time, the Behemoths had become smarter. Countless Wolf Cavalry, scattered and then regrouped, managed to bypass countless barbarian tribes. Perhaps many Wolf Cavalry would be discovered or even killed by the barbarians, but the barbarians were not saints. If the Wolf Cavalry went to cause trouble for humans, they wouldn't have the spare time to come and warn them.

To take a step back, who could have imagined that because of a Descendant of Titan Bloodline, the Behemoths, who had endured for many years, would dispatch a large number of Wolf Cavalry to sneak through the Savage Ancient Plains to snatch someone.

Love, who was in charge of an army and guarding the border, was not a fool. He had calculated the time. Just as the Wolf Cavalry crossed the Great Wilderness, some important figures in the Royal City happened to send a message ordering him and his subordinate soldiers to cooperate with the Papal Legion for an exercise. This gave the Behemoth Wolf Cavalry an opportunity.

If Xiulunte wasn't causing trouble behind the scenes, Love would never have believed it.

But what Love couldn't understand was, what benefit would Dina's abduction bring to Xiulunte? The Cardinals and the Pope were not fools. There would come a day when the truth would be revealed, and by then, Xiulunte would not escape punishment.

However, this had nothing to do with him anymore. The Grand Duke would arrive at Outpost County soon and would temporarily take over the First Army border troops, as he had to return to the Royal City to accept his punishment.

The various powers on the continent viewed the Behemoth's surprise attack on Outpost County with a sense of schadenfreude. Most people believed that the Behemoths' actions were intended to teach the Holy See a lesson.

Like onlookers watching flowers in the fog, they didn't connect all this to an unknown Maid, thinking it was just the Behemoths' way of warning the Holy See against dispatching the Heretic Extermination Legion into the Great Wilderness.

It made sense. How bored would the Behemoths have to be to go to such great lengths to interfere with the Holy See's selection of a Saintess?

Therefore, except for a few insiders who understood the truth, everyone else was watching the Holy See and the Kingdom of Locke for the drama.

The Savage Ancient Plains were rarely barren, and the barbarians did not belong to either the Holy See or the Behemoths; they were a completely independent third party.

However, if they were to compare their foundations, the humans led by the Holy See were far stronger than the Behemoths. It was precisely because of this that the Behemoths would intermittently provide aid to the barbarians, allowing these muscle-brained fellows to act as free watchdogs.

If the barbarians did not guard the Great Wilderness, and the Holy See managed to open up the Savage Ancient Plains, it would be equivalent to exposing the Behemoth Kingdom's gateway to humanity. At that time, the Holy See, leading the major human powers, could beat up the Behemoths whenever they pleased.

For a time, all the major powers shifted their attention to Outpost County, especially the Earth Dragon Legion stationed to the north. Everyone was watching with bated breath, eager to see how the Kingdom of Locke and the Holy See would regain their honor.

And Outpost County, at the center of the storm, was as peaceful as ever, without the slightest change. The commoners continued to live their lives in a daze as usual.

The only difference from the past was that some "troublemakers" had begun to curse their Lord in private.

The reason for the cursing was also absurd. It was generally said that the Lord of Outpost County was selfish, secretly going to the north gate to kill many Wolf Cavalry and then keeping the spoils for himself, fearing that the commoners would help him resist the Wolf Cavalry and share his spoils.

The matter of the Wolf Cavalry's sneak attack should not have spread widely in the small Outpost County, especially under the deliberate arrangements and concealment by Wood and Yorkshire.

Especially since the north gate area of Outpost County was desolate. After all, there was only one road, and it led to the Fierce Beast Forest and the Great Wilderness. No one would go there for no reason. Little Zack and Big Babylon had swaggered through the north gate into the center of Outpost County.

Moreover, after Allen passively detonated the mana elements, Wood and Yorkshire ordered the bodies of the Wolf Cavalry to be buried on the spot and announced to the outside world that the firelight at the north gate was caused by the Lord setting a fire out of boredom.

Most people had accepted this explanation, and things gradually calmed down.

Yorkshire and Wood knew that they couldn't hide it from those with intentions, but it was still possible to keep the commoners in the dark.

Even the few people involved in the old castle remained tight-lipped about the matter, and Wood and Yorkshire helped to cover up the truth to prevent panic.

Unexpectedly, their meticulous calculations ultimately fell through. The mistake was that Allen wasn't low-key enough, as he had sent a cartload of spoils to a certain big-mouthed blacksmith.

The big-mouthed blacksmith was very ostentatious. His blacksmith shop was piled high with the curved swords of the Wolf Cavalry. Whenever someone came to inquire, the owner, Rock Hammer, would loudly exclaim, "The Lord killed many Behemoth Wolf Cavalry. These are the spoils. See? The Lord even said my craftsmanship is good, that's why he handed so many curved swords to me to handle."

Then the troublemakers of Outpost County were enraged, and they all accused the Lord of being selfish, of hoarding everything for himself. Outpost County hadn't had anyone come to freeload for many years. So many Wolf Cavalry came to help the poor, and the Lord didn't even inform them, only caring about taking advantage for himself.

When Yorkshire told Allen about the gossip outside, the selfish Lord shook his head and smiled wryly.

The situation was critical at the time. If it weren't for his concern for the county's subjects and the barbarian Bloody Hoof Tribe acting as free henchmen, he would have fled with Dina and the others long ago.

Thinking back to the situation at the time, Allen felt a chill. When he fought that bear, he had lost half his life. Later, it was a close call because of Okas's appearance. He had inexplicably gained Dragon Power, which allowed him to defeat the bear-like creature and repel the Wolf Cavalry.

However, none of that mattered now. He and the others had finished their discussion, and they would leave Outpost County together that evening. Besides Dina, the Old Butler Leisi, Sakre, and his four lackeys would also head to the Great Wilderness. Old Zak and Big Babylon would serve as guides.

As for how to find clues about Dina's birth mother in the Great Wilderness, Allen could only take it one step at a time.

However, Allen didn't mind going to the market to find trouble with a certain big-mouthed blacksmith.

The bald, burly Rock Hammer was a straightforward person. He had worked overtime to melt down hundreds of curved swords together, or perhaps it was because he hadn't had a customer for a long time.

When Allen walked to the blacksmith shop, before he could pick a fight, Rock Hammer directly took out a big, pitch-black object from inside the house.

"Holy crap! What is this thing?" Allen was stunned and muttered, "After all those curved swords, you made this monstrosity."

Seeing Allen's displeased expression, Rock Hammer threw the object onto the ground and said impatiently, "Lord, I don't accept returns."

Allen pointed at the strangely shaped weapon on the ground, utterly speechless.

The exterior of this thing was very similar to a Fangtian Huaji, but its overall length reached two meters. The top was not a "well"-shaped halberd, but four small meteor hammers. Where the spear tip should have been, it was made into an axe-like shape, covered with serrations. Except for the handle and the middle section, the whole thing was as thick as a forearm and covered with barbs.

Sakre, behind Allen, burst into laughter. It was the first time he had seen such a strange weapon, as if this half-baked blacksmith had combined many heavy weapons.

Rock Hammer introduced it with an expression that said, "You don't know good quality." "The material is completely free of impurities, all refined steel from those curved swords. I originally wanted to melt them into dozens of Knight Greatswords, but then I was afraid you wouldn't be able to use so many, so I melted them together."

If Rock Hammer hadn't said the latter half, Allen wouldn't have been so angry. You might as well have melted them into dozens of Knight Greatswords; then I could have sold them for some money.

"Do you think I'm an idiot? How do you use this thing? Do I chop or slice with it? You try using it yourself!" Allen said in exasperation, "Who carries such a big thing when going out? Do you use it as an axe, a halberd, or a hammer?"

Rock Hammer gave a thumbs-up and said, "Lord, you really know your stuff. Just as you said, it can slice, chop, and cleave. It can be swung or thrust. If you want to smash with it, it's also very handy. You can use it however you want."

"Can't you understand plain language?" Allen couldn't quite figure out if this guy was genuinely foolish or pretending to be.

Sakre stopped laughing and lightly hooked the strangely shaped weapon with his toe. However, when he exerted force, his smile froze because the strangely shaped weapon hadn't budged an inch.

Sakre, his face showing embarrassment, bent down and grabbed the handle at the bottom with both hands. After his face showed a slight sheen of sweat, he finally managed to lift the thing.

"This is heavy?" Allen saw that Sakre wasn't faking it and reached out to grab it, holding it steadily.

"Why is this thing so heavy?" Sakre, relieved, retracted his contempt and looked at the Rock Hammer with a solemn expression.

He knew very well that sometimes whether a weapon was suitable for killing enemies no longer depended on its appearance or sharpness, but on its durability. Especially for heavy weapons used in wide, sweeping attacks, weight often represented quality and durability.

The Rock Hammer still had that honest expression and said indifferently, "Didn't I just say it? I removed the impurities from those scimitars and smelted them all together to forge this."

Allen didn't understand the craft, and Sakre didn't understand it much either, but a sycophant behind him was greatly shocked and exclaimed involuntarily, "Crafting Master!"

"What does that mean?"

Seeing his master and Allen's questioning looks, the sycophant explained what a Crafting Master was.

A Crafting Master was generally a term for an incredibly skilled blacksmith. Such a blacksmith could take hundreds or even thousands of pounds of steel and, through countless hammering and forging, continuously compress and improve its quality and hardness while reducing its volume.

Crafting Masters did not forge weapons in the traditional way. Instead, they infused Battle Qi into them. This meant that the minimum requirement for a blacksmith to forge in this manner was to reach Battle Qi Tier 3, because only by reaching the Martial King stage could one infuse Battle Qi into steel for an extended period. Moreover, even a Martial King at that Battle Qi stage might not be able to smelt such a large quantity of scimitars together within a few days.

Of course, Crafting Masters were just legends; no one had ever seen one, but they had heard that the weapons of the renowned Blind Dragon Sword Saint on the continent were crafted by a Crafting Master.

"Dragon Slaying Halberd!" Allen twirled the halberd, extremely satisfied.

The gust of wind generated by the Dragon Slaying Halberd made everyone in the blacksmith shop wince.