The Divine Wolf... or?

Chapter 198: The Devil's Forge

Even though the directions they got were fairly simple, it still took them some time to arrive there. It was a bit further than they anticipated, and the heavy foot traffic slowed them down a little. It didn't really bother them though, since that just meant that they had a bit more time to talk.

After a while, a sign by the side of the street stood out to them, and they knew that they had arrived at the right place.

The sign looked a little peculiar as it depicted a devil with two crooked horns clad in splendid armour and holding a longsword. To some people, this sign was something to stay away from or at least something to be wary about, but to Ark, it was only intriguing. To be quite honest, they were all a little excited to go into the store, since it had a mysterious air around it.

What better place to be than a mysterious weapon shop if you wanted to upgrade your gear?

As they entered the shop, they could feel the temperature suddenly rising and the clear sound of a small bell. Behind the counter was a door that led to the forgery where all the weapons were being made, since it was open, the heat from within couldn't help but escape into the shop. They all had things they were interested in, and so they split up and looked for what they wanted the most.

Compared to the others, Ark wasn't really in any hurry to find any equipment. His natural fire resistance was high, and the sword he had was way better than any shop had to offer, at least as far as he knew.

Thufrat wasn't in too much of a hurry either, he had the bloodline of an earth dragon, a creature that was said to have one of the strongest defences ever. The hammer he was using was already good enough, to get a better one would be too expensive, and even if he could find one, they probably didn't have that kind of money to spare right now.

The only one that was really excited was probably Atar, not because he felt a need for new equipment, but because he was awed by the splendour of all the armour in the small store.

With a smile on his face, Ark just watched Atar as he ran around the store in excitement. Since he knew that Atar probably wouldn't really look for anything that he needed himself, he also decided to look for some equipment for him. Even though his body was small and unassuming, it packed quite the punch, and Ark knew that his small frame was actually a weapon in itself.

Who would put their guard up against a small child?

Since his small frame could be considered a weapon, Ark didn't want Atar's gear to be too flashy. If anything, he wanted it to be quite unassuming. Since that was the case, his gaze was attracted to a robe that was hanging on one of the walls. The robe was a rather light shade of brown, with red markings on it. The red markings were actually magic circles that had been engraved on the robe.

This quickly sparked Ark's fascination as he started to study the magic circles engraved on the robe.

Even though he wasn't too proficient in the use of magic circles yet, in the future, he was sure that he was going to be able to create gear like this by himself, which would be quite convenient. As he was entranced by the intricate magic circles, they heard a voice from behind the counter. "Can I help you guys with anything?"

A short girl stood behind the counter, her head barely reaching above it. She looked a little funny when she had such a serious look on her face, but no one dared to belittle her because of it, because they could all feel the menacing mana she was emitting. That was nothing a mere child should be capable of. As he thought about it, Ark couldn't help but look at Atar.

Maybe that was something a mere child should be capable of after all.

"We're just looking around for now."

"Sure thing, if you need anything then just ring the bell, I'll be in the back."

After their short conversation, the little girl walked back into the forgery, whilst Ark focused back on the brown robe in front of him. From the look of it, the magic circles on the robe seemed to be a level higher than anything he could do by himself, which was something they really needed for the next level of the dungeon. Since it was fairly affordable, Ark decided to buy it for Atar.

Ephine managed to find herself some armour as well.

The armour she had found was practically a fiery red suit of leather armour, tailored towards women, and coincidentally, it was pretty much perfect for her. Ark was happy that she managed to find something she really needed an decided to buy it for her without a shred of hesitation. After looking around a bit more, he managed to find a pair of pitch-black gauntlets in a corner of the shop.

They looked like they had never seen the light of day, and had been collecting specks of dust for quite some time.

What attracted Ark was their simple and unadorned style. After lifting them up, he quickly found out why they had been left on a shelf to rot, they were way too heavy! Instead of being repulsed, Ark was pleasantly surprised. "Atar, come here for a second and try these on."

Atar quickly tried on both the robe and the gauntlets, and Ark was very satisfied with the results. Even though the robe might've been a little too big, he looked really cute in it, and it wouldn't get in the way when he was fighting, so it was still fine. The gauntlets were a different story though.

To Atar, these gauntlets couldn't be any more perfect, and he quickly fell in love with them as he tried them on.

Ark thought they were pretty heavy, but to Atar, they were perfect. Since no one wanted them, they were pretty cheap as well. Since he didn't really have any armour himself, Ark was planning to study the magic circles on Atar's robe, and maybe he could engrave something similar on his clothes. Not because he needed it, but more because he wanted to see whether he could do it or not.

Thufrat didn't really find any armour that was to his liking either, so they decided to just buy what they had found so far.

After ringing the bell, the little girl from earlier soon came out of the forgery, and they paid for all the gear. Now that he saw her from up close, Ark realised that this little girl was probably a half-elf. Although their lifespan wasn't as long as regular elves, he could guess that she was probably even older than him, despite how small she looked.

Her blood-red eyes made it seem like she was actually half-demon as well.