Genius Blacksmith's Game

Ghost Step, unlike [N O V E L I G H T] Sword King’s swordsmanship, is a single skill.

Hyunsoo was curious.

With Ghost Step—something he could only unfold one thing of—could he really surpass the advantages of unfolding those three chapters?

How many attacks per second could the real Blue Sky deliver?

[Graut’s HP is 61%.]

For a brief moment, Hyunsoo’s body is controlled by the system.

Two real ghosts walk.

Toward the one demon in front of them.

The first to vanish, leaving an afterimage, was Ben.

Ben moved at a speed Graut couldn’t respond to and stabbed his side.

SHUNK-!

[You have taken 43,031 damage.]

In searing pain, Graut calmed down.

‘Before, I blocked ten out of twelve of that bastard’s attacks.’

That was how far beyond common sense Graut’s reflexes were.

After Ben brushed past, he tried to block Hyunsoo’s sword as it came for his back.

But Hyunsoo was one step faster.

SHRAAASH-

“......!?”

It was a speed that far surpassed the Ghost Step Hyunsoo had shown before.

And when he had allowed that Ghost Step back then, Graut had only taken minor damage.

But damage far beyond that moment was inflicted now.

[You have taken 37,963 damage.]

It was less damage than Blue Sky’s, but even this was enough to threaten Graut.

Furthermore, the original weakness of continuous attack skills—skills that apply multiple hits to a single attack—was that critical hits don’t trigger.

But Hyunsoo was different.

[A critical hit has occurred.]

[You have taken 54,003 damage.]

Because he had the swordsmanship mysteries passive, a power that compensated for the drawback of not being able to trigger critical hits.

Graut grew frantic.

“KHAHAAAAA!”

He judged he couldn’t block the attacks of the two ghosts.

So he focused on absorbing all the blood-red beads around him to recover.

SHRAAASH

SHUNK-

KRAK-

KRAK-!

Soon, Graut’s eyes went wide.

Faster than a rampaging sword, his HP was dropping.

[Graut’s HP falls below 43%.]

[Graut’s HP falls below 41%.]

[Graut’s HP recovers to 52%.]

[Graut’s HP falls below 49%......] 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[Graut’s HP falls below 47%......]

‘Insane.......’

Hyunsoo was amazed. Until now, he had unfolded Ghost Step and stepped in urgency.

In contrast, the old man who only brushed past once at a time was filled with leisure.

Only now did he understand.

Ghost Step was a power that did not lag behind Sword King’s swordsmanship with its three chapters.

And if it was properly manifested, it could far surpass any power.

In an instant, it passed twenty-six.

At this point, overload began to hit both of their bodies, too.

But the two ghosts did not stop.

[Graut’s HP falls below 4%.]

They dramatically forced out strength from bodies that had begun to stop obeying.

To kill him and save Arte.

KRAK

SHRAAASH

[Graut’s HP falls below 2%.]

“UAAAAH!”

“URRGH!”

They wrung out calves that were already at the brink of bursting, and arm muscles swollen tight to the limit.

The last.

Ben’s spear pierced his abdomen, and Hyunsoo’s sword chopped down into his shoulder.

“Haa, haa.”

“Huff, huff.”

Hyunsoo marveled as he and Ben drew ragged breaths.

A full thirty-three times.

That was how many attacks Ben landed in one second.

[Graut’s HP becomes 0%.]

Hyunsoo expected it.

A notification that he had killed Demon Graut.

Then.

[An Unkillable Demon]

Hyunsoo and Ben’s faces twisted.

Graut—abdomen skewered by a spear, shoulder chopped—still was not disappearing.

“No way.......”

Hyunsoo’s face drained of color.

Demon Graut’s trait had been infinite regeneration through blood as a medium.

There were named monsters with multiple traits as well.

[Graut does not die and revives.]

[HP recovers to 80%.]

[Unkillable Demon cannot be used a second time.]

[Due to Unkillable Demon being used, Blood Demon cannot be used.]

Because of this trait, he lost the power called infinite regeneration.

‘This is dangerous.......’

Hyunsoo knew.

Barad and Ben’s HP had fallen below 40%, and the members of Guild Radiance were the same.

And what we worried about at the start.

Graut recovers and becomes sturdier, but as it goes from the first exchange to the second to the third, we grow tired and weaker.

‘Do we have any way left to kill a fully recovered Graut like this......?’

No.

NPCs also have skill cooldowns.

If you expend extreme mana, you can’t activate again until it recovers.

Ben and Hyunsoo hurriedly pulled their weapons back.

“......To drive me this far—I’ll praise you for that.”

Graut was honestly shocked.

For hundreds of years, Unkillable Demon had never activated even once.

Before they could evade, Graut detonated the blood around him.

KABOOOOM-!

Ben and Hyunsoo’s HP plummeted as they were blasted away.

Ben in particular looked like he’d taken a severe wound.

At the end of it, Hyunsoo’s head spun.

‘We have to use the bastard’s blood-based power against him.’

What method is there?

Soon, Hyunsoo thought of one artifact.

It was something far too familiar to the public.

*****

“HURK!”

“Ugh.......”

Nell’s face turned pale.

Ben and Hyunsoo, slammed into the ground, looked like they’d taken a critical hit.

[Hyunsoo’s HP falls below 50%.]

[Ben’s HP falls below 16%.]

Ben in particular looked bad.

Belia squeezed out her last strength and offered Saint’s Prayer to Ben.

[Ben’s HP recovers to 30%.]

“It’s over now. I’ve exhausted all my holy power.”

Then she looked at Hyunsoo’s guild chat.

After checking it, Nell issued an order through guild chat.

[Nell: From now on, we are not hunting the demon—we are devoting everything to protecting Barad, Ben, and Bella. Remember that unlike us, their lives are finite. In the worst case, we may have to throw our bodies in to save them.]

It was a crushing order for Nell.

That was how bad the situation was.

And while adding another order on top of what Hyunsoo had said, she watched Graut walking toward them before she knew it.

[30 seconds remain until summon end time.]

Hey, Friend, Help Me had no function to forcibly send them back.

They could only return when the summon time ended.

“Sword freak.”

Barad turned his head at the voice calling him.

Blue Sky Ben gave a bitter smile.

“Don’t die.”

“You as well.”

And in Radiance, Bark stepped forward.

“Let’s go.”

And Graut, convinced of victory, let out a mad laugh.

“Kwahahahaha!!”

Barad and Blue Sky Ben, Bella, and the members of Radiance all rushed in at once.

KRAK

KZZT

SHUNKSHUNK-

A fierce exchange erupted.

Graut’s face, laughing as if predicting victory, grew savage.

They were all dying, but for some reason, they weren’t collapsing.

Most astonishing was Barad and Ben’s bodies and mental fortitude that refused to break.

They were in danger now, having taken severe wounds.

Barad’s wrist didn’t move well, and Ben had several cracked ribs, making movement difficult.

SHUUUNK-

KRAK

Even in that state, Ben skewered his abdomen, and Barad chopped down into his shoulder.

At the same time, the members of Radiance surged in.

SHRAAASH

THUNKTHUNKTHUNKTHUNK-!

THUD-!

KRAK

[Graut’s HP falls below 60%.]

“URRRAAA!”

“HRAAAK!”

But Graut knew. They were like candles before the wind.

So precarious they’d go out if a strong wind blew.

Graut chose Ben as the first one to kill.

An explosion erupted.

Once.

KABOOOOM

Twice.

KABOOOOM

Three times.

KABOOOOM.

Four, five.

KRA-KABOOM-!

“Hng......!”

[Ben’s HP falls below 10%.]

Ben’s battered body was stained with blood all over.

Graut hurried in and aimed for his neck.

Ben’s vision swam.

‘......I die.’

This one attack would surely kill him.

Then someone shoved Ben away and took his place.

It was Bark.

“Ggh......!”

Bark snatched Graut’s sword with both hands—the one that had completely smashed his shoulder.

[Indomitable Tanker]

[You burn your vitality to hold the enemy down.]

[You can burn for 6 seconds.]

“It’s the last one—hurry!”

Steam rose off Bark’s body, heating red-hot.

Then the final all-out assault struck from all directions.

KRAK-!

KRA-KRA-KRAK-!

THUNK!

And Bark was, quite literally, burning his vitality.

The penalty for activating this skill was forced logout.

“You bugs—right to the end!”

[Graut’s HP falls below 55%.]

And Bark slowly felt himself scattering.

Level loss from a high-ranker’s forced logout is fatal.

But.

‘Ben, Barad, and Bella are far too precious to Hyunsoo.’

Bark turned completely to ash and scattered away.

[Guild member Bark has died.]

Behind that horrific notification, Graut grew truly enraged.

“I don’t want to play along anymore.”

He wanted to torment them one by one and choke off their breath.

But now he didn’t feel the need, and he knew he didn’t have time.

Time to kill them—who had tormented him this much.

[Summon time 6 seconds remaining.]

All the blood that had been spilled began to float, bobbing in midair.

Ben, Barad, Bella, and the other members of Radiance.

And even the blood Graut had shed, and the blood that had soaked into the ground.

That blood became fist-sized droplets and floated, bobbing around them.

Those forces—about 786 of them—were the peak technique of Blood Graut.

[Blood Festival]

[A massive explosion that covers a radius of 60 meters occurs.]

[It holds the power of 800% additional attack power.]

It would be once. This one time would kill everyone here.

Nell’s face turned white.

Ben and Barad tried to move to stop the casting in urgency.

[In a Blood Festival state, attacking Graut is impossible.]

Ben and Barad felt it was already too late.

“Die.”

The blood droplets swelled.

A sign of explosion.

Then.

‘What?’

The blood droplets didn’t explode.

No—they suddenly began moving somewhere, slowly.

Graut felt something was wrong.

Something he noticed at the end of a fierce clash.

‘Why are they clustered like this?’

They don’t cluster.

Because they knew that if they were hit while clustered, they would all die.

[Summon time 1 second remaining.]

Graut realized.

They were covering something, hiding it.

Ben gave a small smile.

“This is my friend Hyunsoo’s true face.”

Barad said.

“That’s right. The power of a master craftsman.”

Those who had been hiding something took a few steps back and opened a path.

One user who had been concealed inside was revealed.

By the mysteries of Emergency Crafting, a sword was being completed.

That sword settled slowly into Hyunsoo’s hand.

CLACK

A sword whose blade and grip were both pitch-black.

Seeing that sword, Graut was reminded of a single blade.

‘A demonic sword......?’

*****

Since ancient times, it’s been said that demonic swords drink blood.

If it is crafted most perfectly, the system acknowledges that power.

[The summon of Hey, Friend, Help Me ends.]

Hyunsoo watched the members of Radiance vanish into light.

The moment he gripped the sword, every last blood droplet Graut had created moved to the demonic sword Hyunsoo had forged.

The effect placed into this sword.

[It absorbs all blood.]

That unknown demonic sword began to draw in even the blood embedded within Graut.

[Graut is weakened.]

[Graut is weakened.]

What was interesting was that as it drank blood, level weakening and HP weakening were occurring at the same time.

[Graut’s HP falls below 30%.]

“A d-demonic sword......? How can a human make a demonic sword! And what even is that demonic sword!”

[Blood Demon Graut Lv.378]

“People call this sword like this.”

WHOOOOOSH-

Graut’s eyes shook.

The blood droplets he had been emitting, and the power of blood his body contained.

“Tyrfing.”

Those powers were sucked into the demonic sword and became the source of power.

A huge power rampaged within the demonic sword.

ROOOOOAR-!

The ground shook, and heaven and earth surged in upheaval.

[An eighth legend is written.]

Using the enemy to control the enemy.

Killing the enemy with the enemy’s power.