Genius Blacksmith's Game

Dainsleif, Storm Bringer, Tyrfing.

Demonic swords are familiarly known to the public.

Some swords became famous because they originated from a novel, and some of them originated from Norse mythology.

And everyone must have heard of it.

A demonic sword steeped in blood.

A sword that eats blood.

Or a demonic sword that unconditionally kills the enemy in exchange for driving its wielder to ruin.

This Tyrfing was made with that as its motif.

Hyunsoo, too, had encountered various demonic swords in his childhood, and made them.

Because he wanted to actually see those special demonic swords that appeared in fantasy novels.

And the power dwelling within this Tyrfing.

It lay in absorbing all of the enemy’s blood.

Hyunsoo thought.

‘If blood is the source of power, then I’ll suck in all that blood and use it as my power.’

[An eighth legend is written.]

Tyrfing, born at the fingertips of a genius blacksmith.

That sword, made of nothing but pure black, gathers the blood Graut had sent floating with Blood Festival.

That blood is sucked into Tyrfing.

RRRRRUMBLE—

Graut had used the greatest peak he could unleash.

That enormous power runs wild inside Tyrfing.

The ground shakes, and heaven and earth convulse.

The black Tyrfing is dyed red like blood.

[The power of blood is accumulated in Tyrfing.]

[53%]

[The power of blood is accumulated in Tyrfing.]

[89%]

[The power of blood is accumulated in Tyrfing.]

[132%.]

[In Tyrfing......]

[In Tyrfing......]

DING!

[Accumulation is completed.]

[583% is accumulated.]

Graut could see it—every last drop of blood was being sucked into a single sword.

His pupils trembled.

Even the blood flowing from his own body, the very source of his power, was being devoured by that demonic sword.

[Graut’s HP falls below 30%.]

[Blood Demon Graut Lv.378]

And Hyunsoo couldn’t even imagine it, either. While making this sword, he had checked the Quest Window.

[Final Quest: Subjugate Graut]

Rank: SSS

Restriction: The one who triggered the final story

Reward: Blood Demon’s Ring, story rate beyond imagination, world message.

Penalty upon failure: Total annihilation

Description: You have reached the final story of yet another story. Another story’s difficulty increases with each step you climb. If you clear this quest, the final story, your story rate will go beyond imagination.

‘There’s an even more astonishing fact.’

Just now, everyone who had been summoned by Hey, Friend, Help Me disappeared.

Barad and Ben would have had the highest contribution.

Among them, his own contribution would’ve been about 20%.

But contribution—when those around you die or disappear, theirs disappears.

In other words, the contribution for hunting Demon Graut would be filled to 100% by Hyunsoo.

Hyunsoo leveled the sword he was holding and pointed it at Graut.

[Use the Enemy to Control the Enemy]

“With the enemy’s power, kill the enemy.”

Graut’s spine went cold. That power that had been making heaven and earth convulse.

Hyunsoo drew the demonic sword Tyrfing back behind him and put strength into his right foot as he stepped on the ground.

“This makes no senseeeeee!”

Demon Graut charged. It was to kill Hyunsoo no matter what.

But he felt it.

‘This is......?’

It was different from his usual movement. Far slower than before, while Hyunsoo’s movement was fast.

Of course it was.

Graut, as he was now. At most, he was nothing more than a level-300 boss monster.

At last, Hyunsoo violently hurled the sword he had drawn back.

SLAAASH—!

An enormous amount of blood blankets a radius of 30 meters.

And in a span like a mere 0.1 seconds, it concentrates above Graut’s head.

A small, round blood sphere is formed.

But like a nuclear bomb, it was small, yet had the power to destroy everything around it.

[Blood Explosion]

[Within a radius of 40m, it exerts the power of a Blood Explosion that demonstrates the force of 1,005% additional attack power.]

[The title The One Who Made the Most Powerful Single Shot shines.]

[2x damage is applied.]

At last, that small, round blood sphere stabbed into Graut.

KWAHAAAAANG—!

With a massive rupture boom, everything around vanished without a trace.

Hyunsoo knew.

‘A powerful force that can never be demonstrated again.’

It was a force made possible by absorbing Blood Festival.

Inside that enormous explosion, Graut couldn’t believe it.

‘Am I really going to die to a mere human?’

Graut’s eyes trembled as his entire body turned to bone dust and vanished.

‘And to a mere blacksmith......?’

With that thought, Graut could no longer think.

The last thing he saw was Hyunsoo watching Tyrfing slowly fade away.

Soon, Graut vanished completely.

“Haa, haa.”

Hyunsoo’s chest was seized by a scorching thrill.

He knew.

‘There still won’t be a single famous ranker in the world who’s killed a demon.’

The reward this valuable achievement would give—he couldn’t even imagine it.

[You have hunted Blood Demon Graut.]

[You have obtained 3,310,010 experience.]

Hyunsoo doubted his eyes.

‘Three million......?’

It was beyond admiration—at the level of awe.

And Hyunsoo’s level had been in the 320s.

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled......]

Hyunsoo leveled up a total of 13 times.

‘Thirteen levels from the 320s? I’ve never even heard of a level-up like this.......’

Even the amount of gold was absurd.

[You have obtained 831,689 gold.]

800 million won.

It was the kind of gold he might get if he crafted and sold a legend artifact.

[You have obtained Blackened Stone (8).]

[You have obtained Graut’s Fragment.]

[You have obtained Blood Demon’s Ring.]

[You have obtained Demon Byproduct.]

[You have obtained the essence of the demon race......]

[You have obtained the demon’s tail......]

The notifications went on for quite a while.

In particular, the artifact Hyunsoo had been expecting was also on the reward list.

(Blood Demon’s Ring)

Rank: Legend

Durability: Infinite

Defense: 130

Restriction: Level 330+

Special Abilities:

·All stats increase by 2%.

·Demonic energy resistance increases by 50%.

·Attack power against Evil increases by 10%.

·Attack power against Good increases by 25%.

·Passive Skill Blood Absorption.

Description: A ring Blood Demon Graut wore. With the single skill Blood Absorption, the power of this artifact is defined.

(Blood Absorption)

Passive Skill

Level: None

Effects:

·Recovers HP equal to the damage you deal to the enemy.

·Activates with a 6% chance.

·When you deal damage to the enemy, sometimes mental fatigue disappears.

·Activates with a 1% chance. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

·Applies only to basic attack damage.

Hyunsoo marveled.

It activated at a 6% chance and applied only to basic attacks, but the Blood Absorption passive was broken.

To begin with, you can’t spam potions.

Because there’s a cooldown.

On the other hand, this could be used infinitely, and you wouldn’t have to pay potion costs either.

It even recovers an amount equal to the damage dealt.

In particular, what was most incredible about this ring was that it was broken when facing many enemies.

Because in battles against many enemies, Hyunsoo would keep recovering as this effect applied.

[Final Quest: Subjugate Graut completed]

[You have completed it with a miraculous result.]

‘Story rate will definitely act as a link that gives some kind of reward.’

Of course, he didn’t know what it was.

But the higher this story rate, the bigger it would come back to Hyunsoo.

Especially since the quest reward says this.

Story rate beyond imagination.

He couldn’t even begin to estimate just how much that story rate was.

Notifications kept coming.

[Story rate is additionally accumulated for having carried out yet another story in stages.]

‘Oh......!’

What Hyunsoo had accomplished step by step.

[Linked Quest: Blood Demon Graut’s Fragment]

[Story rate increases by 10%.]

[Linked Quest: The Monsters Closing In]

[Story rate increases by 10%.]

A total of 20% additionally accumulated.

Because of this, Hyunsoo’s total story rate now exceeded 90%.

Then additional notifications came.

[Story rate is accumulated for the Final Quest: Subjugate Graut.]

[The system acknowledges your amazing achievement.]

[The level difference between you and Graut could be seen as 200 levels or more.]

[Additional story rate is accumulated because of that.]

[Story rate increases by 20%.]

At the end of it, the story rate for the final quest came through.

[You will receive story rate accumulation for Subjugating Blood Demon Graut.]

[Story rate......]

Hyunsoo doubted his eyes.

To the point he wondered if this number was even normal.

But soon he understood.

Hyunsoo’s level was low, and it was a quest that would’ve been hard to clear no matter what high ranker came.

Moreover, this quest was SSS-rank.

It was on the same level as the quest Hyunsoo had received to become a legend.

In fact, SSS-rank quests had been cleared so rarely that you could count them on one hand—less than ten times.

‘It’s something I did.’

Even the manifestation of that incredible skill, Hey, Friend, Help Me.

Even Ghost Step from the power of the skill Fate.

All of it was a reward for the road Hyunsoo had walked.

[Congratulations.]

[You are the first user to succeed in hunting a demon.]

[World message.]

[Your achievement will be announced to users around the world.]

[You may remain anonymous, or write the name you want, or your character name.]

Hyunsoo closed his eyes for a moment and thought.

A world message can be anonymous, or a character name.

In truth, Hyunsoo could hide his identity here and trigger the world message.

There was a reason he was thinking about this.

‘People still don’t know. That Crazy Rookie and Hyun are the same person.’

That’s why it could become known that Blacksmith Hyun is strong.

Soon, Hyunsoo, having organized his thoughts, smiled.

‘No, that won’t happen.’

The puzzle pieces clicked together in Hyunsoo’s head.

And Hyunsoo needed it.

‘The power this world message gives.’

Hyunsoo didn’t hesitate.

In the name of Blacksmith Hyun, a world message rang out across the world.

*****

Lee Sejin stopped the car that had been heading to the airport.

Watching the anchor’s comments flowing from the electronic billboard and the phrases related to the world message passing under the screen, Sejin was marveling.

And he asked Taeseok the thing he was most curious about first.

“What story rate did he achieve?”

Soon, Taeseok’s voice came through.

-234%.

Sejin was aghast.

Story rate is harder to accumulate than a normal % quest.

When a normal % quest accumulates 2%, a 1% accumulation is what you get from another story’s story rate.

[The story rate accumulation for subjugating Graut was a whopping 120%.]

Sejin couldn’t even imagine it.

He was already predicting what reward Hyunsoo would receive.

Where would Arte, who had nowhere to go, go?

‘Here, the possibility that Arte will bestow an additional reward has appeared.’

A miraculous % is a hint that someone will give a subsequent reward.

Of course, since the degree of freedom is high, there are cases where it isn’t.

‘What in the world could he get?’

Finishing that thought, he had another thought.

‘How could User Hyunsoo catch a demon?’

Something he’d judged impossible by common sense.

Soon, he could hear about the skill Hyunsoo had created.

The hand holding Sejin’s phone trembled slightly.

Sword King Barad, Blue Sky Ben.

The simultaneous summoning of Bella and those of Radiance.

It was even a Unique-rank skill with a penalty.

And he asked.

‘Who would dare call Sword King Barad and Blue Sky Ben “friends,” and summon them?’

There would be no such user but Hyunsoo.

This had to be acknowledged.

‘It was User Hyunsoo’s power. It’s not balance breaking or anything like that.’

Soon, Sejin got into the car.

As he headed to the airport, he thought.

‘Why did User Hyunsoo post the world message under his own name?’

To him as he was now, it was a double-edged sword.

Sejin also knows he’s hiding his identity.

After thinking it over for a while, Sejin—

‘Users won’t think Hyun caught it.’

He let out a small laugh.

‘A truly clever user.’

Sejin boarded the plane.

In the first-class seat, he closed his eyes.

A strange smile fell over his lips.

‘There’s still more reward User Hyunsoo will receive.’

Sejin deliberately didn’t check that reward yet.

The plane flew for 12 hours.

‘It must’ve exploded into chaos.’

All over the world.

On the other hand, Sejin was proud of Hyunsoo.

When he got off the plane and got into a car again.

Sejin finally entered the auction house to check what he had been expecting and waiting for.

“This is insane......!”

Without realizing it, he ended up spilling an exclamation of shock.

What he was looking at.

The explosive rise, in just 12 hours, ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) of Hyun’s Forge’s subscriber count.

It had risen to a level you really could call insane.