Genius Blacksmith's Game

Blue Sky and the Sword King are more than enough to turn Graut into nothing more than a damage test dummy.

But even as they said that, they could feel it.

‘That stings.’

Ben had taken fairly deep wounds, since it had been so long since he’d met a worthy opponent.

Of course, named NPCs with superhuman strength had natural healing at a level beyond compare.

Even so, it was still only a human body.

‘Hmph.......’

Barad was the same. He felt his left wrist grow uncomfortable.

They understood the current situation better than anyone.

It was certain they had overwhelmed Graut in the first exchange.

In the second exchange as well, they would exert great power and drive him back.

However, that second exchange would be weaker than the first.

That’s where the problem revealed itself.

Then what about the third exchange? The fourth?

And Hey, Friend, Help Me was, decisively, a skill with a limited summonable duration.

‘We grow more exhausted, while the enemy becomes sturdier.’

The Sword King, Blue Sky, and Guild Radiance met each other’s eyes.

In this moment, they knew.

‘We have to kill him without giving him time to recover.’

‘We go together.’

A group assault has many advantages. You can overwhelm the enemy in an instant.

But it also has a clear disadvantage. Everyone is exposed together to wide-area attacks.

The situation was extreme enough to accept that.

[Barad has 70% HP remaining.]

[Blue Sky has 63% HP remaining.]

That was the proof.

Graut did not miss them moving at the same time.

The advantage of having infinite vitality is this.

There is no fear or terror of death.

Graut knew how to quickly reduce the enemy’s total fighting strength in moments like this.

Their simultaneous attacks began.

KRA-KABOOM-!

KZZT

THUD

SHINGSHINGSHING-!

Graut, taking those impacts across his whole body without respite, was clearly being battered again and again.

But Graut, who had made his plan, watched his own surging blood and grinned.

“Are you all here?”

“......!?”

In fact, from that focused assault just now, Graut’s HP had dropped from 75% to 32%.

But then.

[HP recovers by 15%.]

[HP recovers by 13%.]

[HP recovers by 16%.]

[Graut’s HP recovers to 64%.]

Graut recovered once more. It was a grotesque level of regeneration.

The blood he had shed condensed around him.

Hundreds of those tiny bead-like things scattered outward in 0.2 seconds.

RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-!

In the places they were pierced all over their bodies, their HP plummeted sharply.

The problem was this.

[You are stunned for 4 seconds.]

Graut moved for his plan.

Right now, they had to deal damage fast enough that Graut’s recovery couldn’t keep up.

If you assume that total damage is 100, Graut had an easy way to reduce it.

He would cut down the count one by one.

Then that total of 100 drops to 90, 80, 70.

Bark, stunned, could see Demon Graut right in front of him in an instant.

Graut’s sword stabbed Bark.

SHUNK

[HP falls below 93%.]

“......!?”

He was, in name, a tanker who dominated the country.

But Graut’s attack power itself defied common sense.

A light stab took a full 7%.

And then.

SHUNK, SHUNKSHUNK, SHUNKSHUNKSHUNK-!

“Kwahahahaha!”

Graut laughed.

Four seconds of stun.

In that time, by his estimate, he could kill two outsiders.

Their total damage, which had been 100, would drop to 80.

And that would push them even farther from killing him.

[HP falls below 43%.]

[HP falls below 34%......]

At that moment.

CRUNCH!

[Growing Tanker]

[You have encountered an opponent vastly stronger than you.]

[For an instant, your Defense rises in proportion to your opponent’s strength.]

[For 2 seconds, your Defense becomes infinite.]

Bark snatched the sword with both hands. He was the Growing One, and a growing tanker.

Graut didn’t know it, but Bark’s key point was that the stronger the enemy he faced, the higher the defense he produced.

“Oh?”

Graut admired him a little. The momentum of the outsider who had been nothing but small fry had changed.

What did he trust? Temporary infinite defense?

That kind of thing is meaningless.

At that moment.

“Looks like you didn’t see the shadow behind me.”

A shadow. In the Kingdom of Goyard, there was a woman called the king’s shadow.

It was a name given because she always guarded the king’s side.

That was Bella.

SHRAAASH-

Bella appeared in an instant and cut past Graut.

[You have taken 21,301 damage.]

It was only 60–70% of Barad’s damage.

And without stepping out, as a shadow, Bella was watching.

To protect the king in case of the worst.

That was why she also avoided Graut’s stun.

And genius Bella had an advantage even Barad did not.

Feet faster than Barad’s, and a lighter body.

A swordsmanship genius.

The swordsmanship she created herself manifested.

Swordsmanship that maximized her own strengths.

[Like the Wind]

[Temporarily, you exert 3x Movement Speed and Attack Speed.]

SHRAAASH-!

Graut couldn’t respond. She was whipping in from all directions, too fast.

And when he tried to defend, her irregular sword carved him without end.

And Graut didn’t realize it.

How many seconds had passed.

Her attacks were too fast to count.

Furthermore, Sword King Barad possessed a passive that reduced the applied time {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} of status ailments by 40%.

SHRAAASH-

Bella launched him up into the air and followed after him.

Graut’s back went cold.

“Excellent, Bella. You grow every single day.”

A king protected by his shadow.

Barad, who had overcome the status ailment faster than the others, was waiting for Graut.

‘This is dangerous.......’

King and vassal had matched blades hundreds of times, crossing the line between life and death.

With just a glance, they knew what the other intended, what the other needed.

Graut hurriedly absorbed blood droplets.

In that opening, it manifested.

“Sword King’s swordsmanship.”

Power that makes Hyunsoo stronger, Sword’s Cry.

But Sword’s Cry is not suitable for a single target.

Hyunsoo’s Sword’s Cry is about indiscriminately carving and swinging exactly forty-eight blades within a radius of 20–35 meters.

Sword King Barad’s is the same.

The difference is that it reaches out to a radius of 60 meters and carves with 102 blades.

The problem is that it still stretches forward 60 meters, a wide-area attack.

But Barad compensated for it.

[Sword’s Roar]

He remade it anew.

KREEEEEE-

“K-KHAHAAAHK!?”

Graut suddenly screamed.

Sword’s Roar, the superior version of Sword’s Cry.

That power, which briefly paralyzes the enemy’s reason, changed so it felt like hearing the sound of metal scraping.

And that metal-scraping sensation was applied at more than five times the intensity, shaking the mind.

In that state, it poured down.

[Within a radius of 3 meters, sword blades are swung indiscriminately.]

Exactly 102 blades.

Those blades raged within a narrow space of 3 meters.

“Die.”

An immense crushing pressure raged and applied directly to Graut as he absorbed the blood-red beads.

KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRA-KRAK-!

[Graut’s HP recovers to 66%.]

[Graut’s HP falls below 53%.]

[Graut’s HP recovers to 62%.]

[Graut’s HP falls below 48%.]

[Graut’s......]

Graut was seized by fear. Even while he was recovering transcendentally, his HP was plunging without end.

[Graut’s HP falls below 11%.]

[HP recovers to 19%.]

KRA-KRA-KRA-KRAK-!

“KHAHAAAHK!”

Graut was feeling the greatest fear he had ever felt in his life from them.

At that moment, Graut—eyes about to roll back—

He snapped his eyes wide.

[Dramatic Recovery]

[Instantly recovers 30% HP.]

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

Another card Graut had, that no one knew about.

Around Graut, who had endured while his entire body was in tatters, thousands of blood droplets floated, bobbing.

RAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-A-TAT-!

As if rampaging, they pierced through everything around them like claymores.

“Kuhk!”

“Kyah!”

“Kkhak!”

The HP of Guild Radiance’s members plunged below 30% in an instant.

Even the two legends’ HP dropped below 45%.

“You bitch......!”

As they couldn’t even steady themselves from the damage, Graut set Bella as his target.

He wanted to give Barad despair.

The method of that despair was this.

Killing what he treasured most.

Bella, too, had taken damage and couldn’t come to her senses.

SHUNK, SHUNK, SHUUUNK-, SHRAAASH!

Graut ravaged her like a madman.

But Bella’s eyes did not waver in the slightest.

Perfect chivalry.

Cut, crumpling, in pain—even in that moment, she did not shake.

Watching her, Graut let out a peal of mad laughter.

“Kwahahahah!”

Because she was dying.

[Bella’s HP falls below 20%.]

She looked unshaken, but inside she was swallowed by fear.

‘I don’t want to die.’

A life newly gained.

She wanted to see him become king. And then Graut released her in midair.

[Bella’s HP falls below 10%.]

A blood sword aura that Graut fired at the falling Bella dropped toward her.

SHRAAASH-!

Bella knew. This one attack would kill her.

“BELLLLLA!”

Barad cried out, urgently reaching his hand.

Bella closed her eyes.

‘I die.’

At that moment.

[Pull]

Her body was yanked rapidly somewhere.

“......Are you okay?”

When she opened her eyes, the second king she served was there.

“Go get treated.”

As a knight, Bella had to say it.

I’ll still fight.

But when she saw that expression, she thought differently.

In that face there was confidence and firmness.

‘When did you change like this......?’

Hyunsoo, who had set her down, walked.

Watching his back, Bella marveled.

A huge power bloomed from him.

[Fate is activated.]

*****

[HP falls below 30%.]

[You are afflicted with the status ailment Severe Injury.]

[It is not easy to keep your body steady.]

[It is difficult to move.]

Guild Radiance’s members heard nearly identical notifications.

“Ggh......!”

“Kkh.......”

“Ow, ow.......”

Even if they tried to stand, they couldn’t.

Nell’s face turned white as they watched.

‘No.......’

[Barad has 34% HP remaining.]

[Blue Sky has 41% HP remaining.]

Even Blue Sky and Barad couldn’t move.

On the other hand.

[Graut has 44% HP remaining.]

Graut had already recovered with Dramatic Recovery.

‘If Graut rushes everyone right now.......’

They wouldn’t escape annihilation.

In fact, after killing Bella first, Graut was about to go for the others.

At that moment.

Hyunsoo used Pull and rescued Bella.

‘Hyunsoo......?’

Nell made a puzzled expression.

Right now they needed a way to shave down that 44% HP.

If they didn’t have that method, responding to Graut right now was meaningless.

Hyunsoo activated a skill as he walked.

His momentum changed completely.

[Rampaging Sword]

[By a 20% chance, basic sword attack power increases by 341%.]

And Hyunsoo, slowly increasing his running speed, shouted.

“Belia!”

[Time of Judgment]

[Attack power against evil increases by 132%.]

A holy light gathered on Hyunsoo’s sword.

He knew as well.

Even this was nowhere near enough.

[It is a moment of crisis.]

[If you cannot stop Graut now, you may be annihilated.]

Hyunsoo kicked off the ground and leapt.

And he faced Graut in the sky.

“......You’re crazy, brat.”

Graut mocked Hyunsoo, who flew up with his coat fluttering.

He had no choice.

He realized what Hyunsoo was trying to do.

Previously, that attack was attempted twelve times, and ten were blocked.

It was the same now.

And Graut’s HP right now was 44%.

Hyunsoo was only buying time.

But Hyunsoo twisted his lips.

“You die. By my hand.”

He had a new power.

(Fate)

Active Skill

Grade: Legend

Level: None

Mana Cost: 2,500

Penalty: None

Effect:

·Because the level is still low, the probability drops exponentially.

·Activation succeeds at a 5% chance.

·Those you have met or brushed past until now—among them, you borrow the power of your Fates who have formed high affinity with you.

·You can, for one time only, unleash the power they possess, as if you truly became them.

·Something special may occur.

A custom-crafted skill made only for Hyunsoo.

It was similar to Hey, Friend, Help Me.

You could borrow, one time only, the power of those with affinity above a certain level.

[First use activates at 100%.]

[You have selected Ben’s Ghost Step.]

The key point is this.

[For a brief moment, you will walk like the real Ben.]

[Like a ghost.]

Graut’s eyes went wide.

For an instant, Ben’s afterimage formed behind Hyunsoo.

It was a power so distant that even Hyunsoo could never dare to imagine it.

Furthermore, since Hyunsoo’s Ghost Step level was 1.

[Ben’s Ghost Step level is applied to you.]

[You can use Ghost Step +7 levels.]

That afterimage was sucked into Hyunsoo’s back.

But Graut laughed.

“Kwahahahahaha! Interesting—how interesting! You’re still saying you can win!”

[Graut’s HP is 61%.]

He had recovered again before they knew it. Hyunsoo knew it too.

No matter if he became like Ben for a moment, he couldn’t shave down Graut’s 61% HP.

But what if there were two ghosts?

“You’ve gained strong power, Hyunsoo.”

CHILL-

Graut turned around.

Behind him stood Blue Sky Ben, and in front of him stood Hyunsoo.

Also, Hyunsoo’s sword right now carried the mysteries of the Rampaging Sword, and Belia’s buff.

For this moment, he became equal to the real Blue Sky.

Graut felt like the world had gone quiet.

Hyunsoo didn’t know either. How many times per second he could step.

But one thing was certain.

They could shave down Graut’s 61% HP.

Both mouths opened at the same time.

“Ghost Step.”

“Ghost Step.”

Two ghosts walk.

And Hyunsoo had already checked the reward with the final-story notification.

[If you kill Demon Graut, you can obtain the Blood Demon’s Ring.]

The reward was, unbelievably, a Legend-grade artifact.

And like Graut, it was a cheat item that restored HP.