Several hours passed in a blink of an eye. At that moment, the forge was filled with the sound of a hammer hitting the metal. Michael was alone in the forge, peacefully forging his dark swords. Vedora was asleep after helping Michael clean up the forge. After Michael spent hours sweeping the floor, cleaning up the walls, and destroying all the rusted metal works, the forge looked pristine. Almost all the tools needed to forge powerful weapons and armor were readily available in the forge except for ores and some other materials. Standing before the anvil, Michael raised his hammer and brought it down on the black sword. His muscles twitched and bulged up as he kept hitting the sword with the hammer. Michael was drenched in sweat as he looked like he had just bathed. Even after the dark metal cooled down, it radiated a strange heat that was powerful enough to melt a man's skin.

Usually, a heated sword would be submerged in oil or water in some situations. On the contrary, Michael had molten lava in one metal barrel and bone-chilling ice created by the ancient ice core in another. The dark sword was slowly taking the shape Michael wanted it to. Its surface was crimson red after being hit by the hammer repeatedly. Finally, Michael raised the sword and submerged it in the lava. The sword remained submerged in lava for a while until Michael couldn't hold it by the end. His palms were bloody red due to the heat. When he took out the dark sword, hot lava oozed out from its surface. Michael immediately submerged the sword again in the frost beside the lava. The ice sizzled, turning into vapor because of the intense heat. As soon as he put the sword in the ice, countless tiny crimson-red lightning bolts crackled around the dark sword.

"Few more hours to go," Michael mumbled under his breath before taking out the second sword and repeating the same process. As though nature itself had sensed the birth of Dark Swords, the sky above the mountain darkened. Unknown to Michael, a lightning storm was raging outside. As a result, the monsters outside were terrified to the core. The demons grave had never seen heavy rain or a storm in thousands of years. But at that moment, the storm raged outside, along with hundreds of lightning bolts striking the realm from above. Michael paid no attention to the weather outside.

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Ayag slowly opened her eyes to the sound of rumbling thunder. The mountain trembled as thunderclaps echoed through the realm. Her vision was slightly blurred after the long nap. She shook her head, clearing her sight. Sarba and Cain woke up after her and saw Michael's back. To their surprise, they felt a strange, powerful energy in the forge. Moreover, they couldn't help hearing a strange buzzing noise.

"Hey, you finished the swords?" asked Ayag. Michael slowly turned around with his new swords in his hand. Just the simple look of the dark swords stunned them speechless. The blade was as dark as midnight, with tiny crimson-red lightning bolts dancing around from the tip to the hilt. Light coming from the braziers was reflected on the blade's surface. In the faint light, Vedora noticed the complex engravings and runes, but they were almost unnoticeable to the naked eye. Any oblivious man could tell how exceptional the swords were. Michael gave the blade a matte black finish and designed the hilt like a dragon coiling around the sword. Unlike any other swords in the world, the dark swords were exceptionally heavy. Each sword weighed at least fifty kilograms and required immense raw power to swing around. But despite their weight, the swords were perfectly balanced. The swords were black from top to bottom except for the hilt, where the dragons had a tinge of redness, and their eyes glimmered icy blue due to the use of an ancient ice core.

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If the swords were not dashing enough, the lightning bolts crackling around the blade added an extra layer of beauty to them.

"Let us see how sharp they are," Ayag asked curiously as Michael turned his gaze to the barrel with hot lava inside. He swung the dark sword across the barrel. When he swung the sword, the crackling noise sounded louder. Then, nothing happened for a second. Ayag frowned, but soon, half of the metal barrel slid down from its lower half.

Michael felt no resistance from the metal barrel. To be honest, he didn't even feel cutting the metal barrel. The dark sword went through the metal barrel like a hot knife through very soft butter.

"Wow," Even Cain was surprised by the dark swords.

"Just need to put a summoning rune on them when we return home," said Michael, swinging the swords in the air. Michael finally put the dark swords into the sheathes on his back. They formed an 'X' on his back. This way, he could unsheath them faster than from the sheaths hanging on his waists. Plus, it would look cooler. With his dark swords finished, he could finally venture deep into the realm. He threw a final look at the forge and prepared to leave the place.

"What do you say we take these babies for a trial run?" asked Michael as Vedroa bobbed their heads up and down enthusiastically. Michael exited the forge through the corridor he came in the first place. Eventually, he reached the mountaintop and stood on the edge, looking at the realm before him. The sky was alive as heavy rain crashed furiously to the ground. Ancient trees in the distance toppled, lightning shattered the sky, and thunder shook the ground. Rain began to pour furiously, and monstrous tornadoes littered the realm. This storm was the worst Michael had ever seen. Rain fell like bullets, destroying anything and everything in its path. Out of nowhere, a loud thunderclap resonated in the sky. Michael stood there on edge, a step away from falling down.

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Due to the intense heat coming from the boiling lava, the droplets were vaporized before they could even reach the lava. Still, the vapor created a thick white mist around Mount hades.

"Look," Ayag pointed at the horizon as Michael saw a giant bat flying in his direction. As though the dark swords had sensed the threat, they produced more lightning bolts. These bolts crackled around the sheath as well as Michael. Cracking his neck, Michael took a step forward, dropping down from the mountain. Gravity pulled him down with enough force to create a large crater in the ground when he landed. If someone else fell from the mountain, their bones would have shattered to pieces, and their body would have turned into bloody mush. But Michael comfortably landed on his feet.

He slowly walked forward as the bat flew closer and closer to Michael. The bat was at a Half Immortal stage, several times stronger than the bat he fought outside the demons grave. Michael unsheathed his dark swords and waited for the bat to attack him. The bat was big enough to cast a large shadow on the ground. When it flew closer to him, Michael heard a strange noise coming from its mouth. He stood still as the bat dived down to rip him apart with its claws. Finally, the bat was just a few meters away from Michael's head. In a blink of an eye, Michael threw the dark sword at the bat. The sword soared through the air like a bullet and went straight through the bat's chest. Blood splattered on the ground as the bat had a hole in its chest. The sword went clean through its chest and came outside.

The bat roared in pain before crashing down to the ground. Screaming in pain, the bat flapped its wings frantically. But no matter how hard it tried to fly away, the bat simply couldn't. The dark sword penetrated its very heart. Vedora snickered at the bat as the bat roared with its eyes burning with pain and rage. Then, Vedora flew away to pick up the dark sword Michael threw. While Michael made his way to the bat with the second dark sword in his hand. The bat crawled backward in fear.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Michael showed his disapproval of the bat's actions by shaking his head. The bat could have avoided death if it chose to fly the other way. Although the past Dark Lord warned him about killing the monsters recklessly, he would not let go of those who attacked him alive. Since the bat tried to kill him, it was only fair that he returned the favor.

By the time Michael was just an arm reaching distance from the bat, Vedora had returned to him carrying his other sword in its legs. The bat groaned as Michael pressed its claws under his feet. When Michael clenched the swords tighter, the engravings on the blade lit up. He just swung the dark swords as the bat's head flew off of its shoulder.

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[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Half Immortal Stage level 4 monster. The reward is 1,000,000 Experience points and 25,000 Badass points]

Michael heard the system in his head. These dark swords were powerful enough to kill any immortals. They didn't need to be infused with an Immortal bone like a typical immortal killing weapon. It took Michael only one swing to cut the bat's head clean off. Without its head, the bat's body violently twitched, splashing blood all over the place.

Only then did Michael realize how powerful his swords were. He regretted not forging them way earlier. With these swords, his battle prowess shot through the roof. Vedora was stunned to see the dead bat on the ground. The battle literally lasted for a few seconds. Outside the demons grave, the Fusion stage bat gave Michael a headache as Ayag had to use her power to disrupt its powers. But now, Michael killed the bat in a few seconds. After killing the bat, Michael flicked his sword, removing the blood on the blade.

"It's a pity. I was thinking of covering the blades with the dark flames," Michael sighed.

"Not to jinx the situation, but I have a feeling we will come across more monsters on our way," said Sarba.

"Speaking of which, where are we going next?" asked Ayag.

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"To a gold mine," said Michael.