Genius Blacksmith's Game

Pureum Co., Ltd. CEO Office.

Lee Sejin was breathing a small sigh of relief.

User Hyunsoo was carrying the Wolf Egg.

The Wolf Egg is a special egg where what hatches changes depending on the Nutrient Ratio.

‘Not long ago, User Hyunsoo already crossed a 50% Nutrient Ratio.’

A 50% Nutrient Ratio makes a boss-monster-class wolf hatch.

And there is a time limit to raise this Nutrient Ratio.

[213 hours 33 minutes 12 seconds remaining.]

Only seven days now.

And the Nutrient Ratio is also linked to Negotiation Progress.

From the start, the very method of raising the Nutrient Ratio is to show tremendous power as a noble, or as a leader.

Because Hyunsoo raised Negotiation Progress in a short period of time, the total Nutrient Ratio had climbed to this level.

[Nutrient Ratio 71%.]

It was truly an outrageous Nutrient Ratio.

If you reach 80%, what hatches inside will be something comparable to Fenrir, one of the legendary monsters.

But that wasn’t what Lee Sejin was worried about.

‘If the Nutrient Ratio goes past 80%......’

A Divine Beast might be born.

Of course, even if it goes past 80%, there’s no guarantee a Divine Beast will hatch.

In truth, it might be impossible even past 90%.

From there, it enters the domain of the supercomputer Ares.

Whether Ares will allow a Divine Beast or not.

‘But for it to reach that level, he has to obtain a Nutrient Ratio so high it’ll shock Ares.’

That was why Lee Sejin had grown anxious when Hyunsoo’s Negotiation Progress doubled explosively upon reaching the prisoner camp.

But he judged it impossible.

‘The Storm Brigade members were all on the verge of dying, and every last soldier at the prisoner camp and every last soldier from the Cradle of Hell was wiped out.’

On the other hand, around sixty enemies survived, and most critically, Kuhn was alive.

Then Lee Sejin’s eyes went wide as he watched the single great saber Hyunsoo created beyond the screen.

Sentences cooling as they were engraved in red on the blade’s surface.

If you seek death, you live; if you seek life, you die.

Lee Sejin’s heart pounded.

Was there a single person in this country who didn’t know those words? 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

“Admiral Yi Sun-sin......!”

Lee Sejin stared at the completed sword with an enraptured gaze.

There are many kinds of Yi Sun-sin’s swords, and there is a great saber called a two-handed saber.

A two-handed saber was originally two blades.

One of them is so long it reaches two meters, and its weight exceeds five kilograms.

But as he looked at the forged great saber, Lee Sejin felt puzzled.

‘With a single blade, this situation is too hopeless to win.’

That was when Lee Sejin sprang to his feet.

“B-Buffer!?”

Five Storm Brigade members.

Every one of them was already a powerhouse who could exert the strength of a knight in the level 290 range.

But the reason they had been stalled was because their bodies were mana-incompatible.

If you looked at their skill alone, what were they?

Most kingdoms have countless territories.

And among those territories, in the gigantic ones, there are outstanding heroes who represent that region.

In other words, there are junior named NPCs.

A representative example would be the Holy Sword.

Right—purely in terms of skill, the Storm Brigade’s strength was outstanding enough to rival the Holy Sword.

“If you give mana-incompatible people the power to use mana......?”

They become powerhouses who surpass themselves.

But what he couldn’t understand was the supercomputer Ares allowing a buff ability to be imbued.

Because buffs are the inherent power of those job classes.

And Lee Sejin realized it.

If you seek death, you live.

Storm Brigade members burning that mindset and will.

And a single great saber inheriting that will.

Hyunsoo’s great saber and his vassals met, and that made it possible.

Lee Sejin revised his thinking.

‘How far will Negotiation Progress rise?’

And how far will the Wolf Egg’s Nutrient Ratio rise?

*****

BWOOOOM-!

Kan and the Storm Brigade members felt like they could hear that sound.

The Mana Heart that must exist to hold mana.

The sound of their Mana Hearts finally being pierced open—mana surging out of control after they’d lived in despairing bodies that couldn’t contain it.

SSSSSSSS—

Steam rose from their bodies.

Mana that began at their toes and ran wild manifested as an effect.

Blue mana wrapped their entire bodies, spiraled, and the surroundings went quiet.

With their bodies restored, they walked forward.

[Even if it breaks.]

[At a moment of life-and-death crisis, you found a breakthrough.]

[The completed artifact’s effect improves by 8% more.]

A great general in a small country.

A single great saber our liege forged.

We have longed for it.

That one day, we could operate mana.

That was why we learned mana cultivation methods we couldn’t even release, and we kept learning how to operate it.

“Whooo.”

When he exhaled, violently surging blue mana poured out.

From behind, their liege’s voice came.

“Sweep them.”

Kan and the Storm Brigade members’ eyes sank cold.

Around sixty assassins were approaching in various positions.

Even for Kan alone, about seven assassins were closing in.

Kuhn furrowed his brows.

‘How are men who were dying...?’

But it was too late.

An assassin was already aiming for his throat.

Yet Kan’s sword, with a flick of his wrist, pierced the assassin first.

SPURT—!

“Ghk...!”

At the tip of Kan’s sword, the exclusive domain of knights—something he’d never been able to form in his entire life—

Aura began to surge.

Power he’d learned his whole life, yet believed he might never use even if he died.

Something dozens of genius Storm Brigade members created, and now, with everyone dead, only five inherited in full.

All five manifested it at the same time.

[Like flames.]

Power like flames that blaze for an instant and vanish.

FWOOOOSH—!

This was the Storm Brigade’s tactical, strategic swordsmanship performed together.

About twenty-five assassins who fell into the formation of their swordsmanship.

With minimal movement, the Storm Brigade members cut, concise and short.

FWOOOOSH—!

The instant they made a gesture of flicking their blades, twenty-five assassins scattered into ash.

“......!?”

[15 seconds.]

[14 seconds.]

They also knew that their liege Hyunsoo’s God’s Emergency Crafting had a duration.

[Like a river.]

Like a single flowing river, they carved through enemies and continued straight ahead.

Their target destination was Kuhn.

Without realizing it, Kuhn stumbled backward.

Like beasts that had waited for their fangs to grow in, those who had been hidden finally revealed their ferocity.

Helpless.

Fallen leaves in a storm.

Charging in every direction.

Their power, beyond words, made Kuhn—the king of a pack—stare in shock.

Power is like that.

Just as a single knight defeats more than ten soldiers.

[Assassin Becker Lv.278]

[Kan Lv.341]

Overwhelming power lets you trample numbers far beyond your own.

They surged forward in a straight line as every assassin around them was cut down.

SHAAAAAA—!

Red Dragon Brigade members scattered apart every time they passed.

[2 seconds.]

“WOOOOOO!”

Kan and the Storm Brigade members burned their will as they broke through the Red Dragon Brigade trying to protect Kuhn and drew closer.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWACK—!

Before he knew it, they had pierced the hearts of the Red Dragon Brigade blocking his front.

Gulp.

Without realizing it, Kuhn swallowed a dry mouthful.

He was relieved.

Sssrrrr—

The great saber in Hyunsoo’s hand scattered like a mere mirage.

The blue mana spiraling around them vanished.

“Haah, haah.”

Kuhn panted.

They returned to normal.

After counting how many they killed, Kuhn couldn’t believe it.

Fifty Red Dragon Brigade members had turned to ash and vanished.

*****

[It is Unique grade.]

The Yi Sun-sin great saber Hyunsoo produced through God’s Emergency Crafting was, regrettably, Unique.

Hyunsoo worried.

Whether a Unique artifact could change the tide of this battle.

But as he watched the Storm Brigade members unleash tremendous power, he realized one fact.

‘If they had mana, they were the kind of men who could match an army of a thousand.’

[Negotiation Progress increases.]

[Negotiation Progress......]

[A large amount of Negotiation Progress rises in a short time.]

[In the future, Negotiation Progress will be compiled and provided when all situations are concluded.]

Hyunsoo couldn’t simply be happy just because Negotiation Progress rose.

‘It rose because we killed a lot of Red Dragon Brigade members.’

On the other hand, if all the prisoners died, that Negotiation Progress could also disappear again.

Still, Hyunsoo felt relieved.

‘Now it’s worth a try.’

Nine Red Dragon Brigade members remained, and Red Dragon Brigade Leader Kuhn.

With numbers like this, unlike before, it became a fight with a winning chance.

Then.

[You overcame the crisis and killed many Red Dragon Brigade members in a short time.]

[A new story will soon begin.]

Hyunsoo’s face twisted.

A new story is a double-edged sword.

‘If you pull it off, it gives you rewards that big.’

But it also brings a crisis that dangerous. For Hyunsoo, he had no idea what that crisis was right now.

‘If only he would come......’

Hyunsoo recalled the man he had met before coming here.

But he shoved the thought aside fast.

SKA-AAAK—

Hyunsoo rushed at Kuhn at once. He couldn’t let the bastard kill the Storm Brigade members who had lost mana.

“From now on, the Storm Brigade will lead the prisoners out!”

“Yes!”

Kuhn didn’t bother stopping the Storm Brigade.

His rage toward Hyunsoo boiled up more than that.

“Because of a punk like you...!”

The two countries approaching a peace pact. And every one of his subordinates here dying!

And Hyunsoo was nothing more than someone with absurdly paltry strength compared to Kuhn.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG—

An endless exchange continued.

The nine surviving assassins struck without pause, and Kuhn joined in.

[HP drops below 65%.]

[HP drops below 54%.]

A man that could be killed this easily had ruined everything.

But now, the bastard no longer had any—

At that moment, Hyunsoo’s eyes flashed. He didn’t know how to give up.

“Ghost Steps.”

He manifested the power whose cooldown had returned.

KWA-JAAAK—

Kuhn saw it.

Two to his left.

Two above Hyunsoo.

Three behind Hyunsoo.

And finally, once at himself.

TAAANG—!

Kuhn’s rage surged as he blocked the strike.

In an instant, seven of his men sprayed blood, and Hyunsoo came at him.

“Y-You little...!”

Grin.

Even now, watching Hyunsoo fight without dying like a cockroach, a light gathered on Kuhn’s dagger.

A mysterious power settled in as Kuhn’s dagger, exactly twelve times, in a single breath, pierced Hyunsoo’s chest five times.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD—

Blood spurted from Hyunsoo’s body.

Kneeling as he collapsed, Hyunsoo grabbed both of his wrists and panted roughly as he glared up.

‘I want to make this bastard despair... this damned bastard...’

Then Kuhn was swept by ecstasy.

He saw figures revealing themselves all across the hills.

Fwee-yooong—

A single arrow flew and pierced one of the prisoners.

“Ghk...!”

The Murderer Guild.

Red Hood Guild members—mostly archers—had arrived.

Their arrows, built from high-level ill-mannered users, were fired into the prisoners.

THUNK.

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK—

“KyaaAAAAH!”

“U-UaaAAH!”

“Ghk!”

“Kuhk!”

The prisoners were massacred.

The Storm Brigade members couldn’t do anything about the rain of arrows shot from all directions.

People standing in their own spots across the hills and the horizon, drawing bows.

Archers—those most suited for slaughter.

“Look.”

Kuhn spoke to Hyunsoo, who gripped his wrists and stared at him with bloodshot eyes.

“You lost.”

[Blood is pressed.]

[You are put into a Stun state for 4 seconds.]

Kuhn pressed his blood point and stunned him, because he wanted Hyunsoo to watch this massacre and despair.

At the same time, every Murderer Guild member drew their bowstrings toward the sky.

They activated skills like DoubleShot, or TripleShot.

And with that—

SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK-SHK—

Over a hundred arrows were fired upward, drawing arcs through the air.

A rain of arrows pouring down without sparing children, women, elders, or men.

“Waaah...!”

Between a child’s crying, Kuhn exulted.

Then.

“No. I’m not losing.”

Hyunsoo smiled.

Kuhn couldn’t understand that smile.

In that instant—

[The appearance of Legend above Legend!]

BEEEEEEP—

Kuhn felt an unknown ringing scream into his ears.

He shook his head hard, trying to regain himself as he stumbled back.

When his mind returned, he saw the hundred-arrow barrage in the sky.

Fwee-yooong—

Then, from somewhere, a single arrow appeared. The instant that single arrow slipped into the gaps between the hundred arrows, a massive blaze erupted.

FWOOSH—!

Every last one of the hundred arrows burned up.

Staggering backward, Kuhn looked into the distance.

His senses caught one man standing far away.

Click.

He slid one arrow into an unknown bamboo tube.

‘A horn bow?’

He set the arrow to a white bowstring.

Kuhn sneered at him. The distance between them was a full 500 meters.

An arrow could never cross 500 meters and reach here—its effective range was too short.

In that moment—

SHWEEEEEK—!

It was in the blink of an eye.

A /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ single arrow struck his chest directly.

WHOOOOM—

“KRAAAAGH!”

Kuhn was blasted backward about twelve meters.

And a notification reached Hyunsoo.

[Ian has joined Radiance.]