Genius Blacksmith's Game

About a thousand prisoners were confined in the Prahum Kingdom prisoner camp.

Over 90% of those thousand were nothing more than ordinary villagers.

Their village, a very small one, had been attacked by monsters.

The villagers fled to escape, crossed the border, and were captured by the border guards.

These prisoners did not experience torture or their human rights being trampled.

They received adequate meals and adequate drinking water.

But they were being held inside a single enormous hall.

Eden, the militia captain who had once protected that village.

“The two countries are holding negotiations....”

Eden and most of the prisoners were clinging to hope, but—

even if negotiations went through, they thought only around a hundred people would be allowed to leave.

So, swallowing their tears, they chose who would return to their homeland.

“Mostly children and women.”

“Baby... please be happy in the Kingdom of Goyard.”

“S-sob... honey...!”

Only about a hundred.

Because of the families who had to part from them, it turned into a sea of tears.

Then the door opened, and a soldier appeared.

Astonishingly, he wore clothes bearing the Kingdom of Goyard’s emblem.

At last, the time had come.

Eden let out a sigh.

The crying filled the hall even louder.

And Soldier Kan, seeing them cry, made a puzzled expression.

“Why are you crying? You can all return to your homeland now.”

Eden furrowed his brow.

“Of course we’d cry if we’re being separated from our families—w-wait, what? You mean everyone is returning to our homeland!?”

“That’s right. Everyone returns to your homeland now.”

Eden couldn’t believe it.

All prisoners released?

How was something like that possible?

And Kan. His loyalty toward Hyunsoo pierced the sky.

Releasing the prisoners was connected to Negotiation Progress, and it was also connected to his performance in his instructor duties.

Like a loyal subject, he said,

“It is all the grace of my liege, Junior Baron Hyunsoo.”

“We lived...!”

“Waaah!”

“We can all go back together!”

The prisoners hugged and rejoiced.

Among them, Eden thought about the man named Hyunsoo.

“Junior Baron Hyunsoo. Such a grateful liege.”

All the prisoners went outside together. And Eden felt a small regret.

“A Junior Baron....”

Junior Barons did not have territory.

Even if they returned to their homeland now, they had no idea where they would go.

Because their village had already been devastated.

Then Kan asked,

“Most of the prisoners are people from Itmin Village, the miners’ village, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“I see.”

At that, Kan drew a smile Eden couldn’t understand.

Eden couldn’t understand that smile.

“Good.”

Watching families hug and rejoice, Eden formed a small smile.

That was when an incomprehensible scene unfolded before Eden’s eyes.

A person in a black mask suddenly appeared from somewhere.

He drove a dagger into a soldier’s throat in the prisoner camp, then pulled it out.

“Kya—kyaaaaaaah!”

Soon, dozens of black figures appeared all over.

They clashed with around fifty soldiers of the prisoner camp.

The average level of Red Dragon Brigade members was in the 270s.

Dozens of soldiers began to fall helplessly.

And Eden ran out.

Eden’s level was 280.

Though he was only the militia captain of a small village, he had once led over a hundred men.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK-CLANG—

Joining with the soldiers, he fought the unknown assassins.

But it wasn’t enough.

A sharp dagger lunged for his throat.

That was when—

CLANG—

A sword lightly knocked the dagger up.

Five soldiers.

They wore shoulder insignia with the emblem of the Kingdom of Goyard on their arms.

They were the Storm Brigade.

The moment the five soldiers barged in—

enemies who hadn’t fallen began getting cut down.

Watching them, Eden truly couldn’t help but marvel.

“W-what is this?”

It was like ghosts were moving.

The unknown men were overwhelming assassins who had learned how to kill from birth.

******

Five total members of the Storm Brigade, including Kan.

They were Hyunsoo’s confidants with knight-level power.

Unknown enemies who had suddenly appeared.

[Assassin Luk Lv.273]

[Assassin Red Lv.276]

Cutting them down, Kan shouted,

“All forces, escort the prisoners and get as far away from them as possible!”

Kan assessed the battlefield.

Of the camp’s 45 soldiers, 20 dead. Of 5 knights, 3 dead.

And of the 20 Cradle of Hell soldiers, 10 dead.

A total of around 37.

And the enemies were around 70.

Kan and the Storm Brigade realized they were at a numerical disadvantage.

All they could do was block them as much as possible.

And the assassins couldn’t understand.

“What are these bastards?”

“Where were they hiding? How can mere soldiers...?”

Assassins’ strengths were speed and the power of a single strike.

And in terms of pure skill, the assassin group held the advantage.

But these five soldiers were overwhelming them with pure skill.

Assassins who had been spread out, killing prisoners, soon shared the same thought.

“We have to kill these guys first.”

Around forty of the seventy assassins charged at once.

BANG, BANG-BANG-BANG, BANG-!

An unceasing exchange continued.

True to assassins’ movements, they kept vanishing and reappearing everywhere.

Sometimes they threw throwing knives and shuriken.

With every attack, more and more wounds accumulated on the Storm Brigade members’ bodies.

SPLAT, SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT, SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT-SPLAT, SPLAT-!

Blood burst from their entire bodies.

“U-ugh...!”

It was the moment you’d think, now they should fall—

Kan clenched his teeth hard.

“UOOOOOO!”

Without retreating, he cut down the assassins.

“Huuuh...!”

An assassin stumbled back at the sight of Kan’s feral expression.

The other assassins were the same.

Assassins did not change emotionally.

They were trained to suppress fear and terror. Yet they could feel these men’s proud fighting spirit.

But the assassins kept charging.

Cut, cut and cut, and cut again.

But each time, they charged again.

“H-how are they still standing?”

“What the hell are these bastards?”

Their bodies were drenched in blood.

Even though it wouldn’t be strange if they died at any moment, they did not retreat, and the assassins couldn’t understand them at all.

And Kan and the Storm Brigade.

The reason they weren’t falling—

“Liege, I don’t want to go like this.”

It was only because of Hyunsoo.

“Why won’t you fall! Why—!”

They clenched their teeth while watching blood spray from their own bodies.

But that was the end.

CRACK—

One with a shattered head rolled on the ground.

SLASH—

One with his abdomen cut collapsed.

“AAAH!”

Two collapsed with daggers piercing them all over.

“Kgh!”

Kan dropped to his knees.

Kan, drenched in blood.

He saw around twenty assassins flying at him at once.

“I’m sorry.”

There were too many things he hadn’t repaid.

Right now, they hated their damned bodies more than anything.

Every Storm Brigade member had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° talent worthy of knighthood.

But what they all shared in common was a body incapable of mana manipulation.

More than ever in their lives, they were despairing at their wretched bodies.

“If only I had stronger power....”

“If only we could use mana....”

Kan expected to hear the chilling sound of flesh being cut.

But then—

“...Late.”

A familiar voice rang out.

Kan slowly opened his eyes.

Hyunsoo was walking toward them, his brown coat fluttering.

Kan saw a dagger halted right in front of his eyes.

Twenty assassins had all stopped in the middle of their motions.

But Kan knew the power of Lord’s Command.

The more targets you controlled, the duration decreased geometrically.

A full twenty.

The time he could control them would be only three seconds.

And Kan saw it.

A tree trunk was surging up at Hyunsoo’s side.

“Reverse?”

A power where the number you could create was decided by probability.

Kan’s expression turned miserable.

Because his liege had failed that probability and could only use God’s Emergency Crafting to make a single artifact.

It was hopeless.

If he could have made more artifacts in this situation, their chances would have been higher.

He couldn’t block it, and he couldn’t kill them.

Kan was certain.

But then....

His liege put a single grape into his mouth.

*****

[Reverse activates.]

[One artifact can be crafted.]

Hyunsoo, arriving late, could see that not everyone was dead yet.

[You are controlling too many people.]

[Telekinesis is reduced to 3 seconds.]

The situation was bad.

Reverse, a probabilistic activation, allowed him to craft only one artifact.

And he had barely managed to seize control of twenty assassins.

Their levels weren’t low, and their numbers were large enough that Lord’s Command was pushing its limits.

In that moment, he thought.

“Even if I neutralize them with just one emergency-crafted item, what about the remaining fifty?”

The enemies were scattered.

They weren’t concentrated.

They were clever.

They were moving in preparation for wide-area attacks.

And the assassins’ eyes showed they knew it.

As if to say: once this telekinesis breaks, you die, and your subordinates die too, they smiled.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh.”

“Kheh-heh-heh!”

But in that moment, Hyunsoo found an answer.

He shoved a grape into his mouth.

[You have eaten the Small World Tree’s Grapes.]

[Lord’s Command is maximized.]

“Liege, run!”

“The enemies number around seventy!”

“You can’t do it alone!”

Around seventy enemies.

Hyunsoo had to shave down their HP as much as possible by himself.

Was that possible?

[Lord’s Command is maximized.]

[Level increases.]

[Level increases.]

[Level inc...]

[Lord’s Command Lv.6]

A rampaging Lord’s Command.

And the action Hyunsoo chose with it—

was not only controlling the twenty assassins.

He controlled the assassins charging at him.

And even the assassins scattered everywhere.

Around seventy froze in place. It looked like a foolish act.

It seemed better to use that maximization to strengthen a wide-area skill and kill them.

In that moment—

FLAPPP—

Hyunsoo whipped his arm up from below with all his strength.

Around seventy assassins shot up into the sky.

Kan couldn’t understand his liege’s actions.

The other assassins were the same. One assassin shouted,

“You crazy bastard. What changes just because you throw us into the sky?”

This power would soon be lost, and the seventy would not take huge damage.

But Hyunsoo grit his teeth.

“Ugh....”

With intense concentration, he threw them higher, farther into the sky. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The distance between the ground and the assassins: 30m.

45m.

50m.

55m.

60m.

[Lord’s Command is released.]

The assassins suspended in the sky.

They felt like they had become birds.

“Assassins were idiots who didn’t even know assassins have weight.”

It was mysterious power.

Assassins could reduce the impact even if they fell from great heights.

Then the assassins saw it.

The tree trunk beside Hyunsoo produced a single arrow.

He took out a bow labeled Thousand-Weight Bow.

He set the crafted arrow on the bowstring and drew it back.

[Time of Thousand-Weight]

Everyone had similar thoughts.

“What’s he going to do with a single arrow?”

That moment—

“End.”

The arrow released from the bowstring shot up toward the assassins.

They mocked the single arrow.

But then—

[Yeonggwanggeumgwisingino.]

[One arrow strikes one thousand enemies.]

One arrow became around seventy and struck every assassin.

The assassins thought—

From this height, how many seconds would it take to fall?

At least two seconds.

But....

0.1 seconds.

BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG—!

Seventy slammed into the ground.