Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyein checked the viewer count and marveled.

‘Those viewers will convert into subscribers of Hyun’s Forge.’

This was the instruction Hyunsoo had given.

[Guild Master Hyunsoo: Nell, please send a cooperation request to AJ Internet Broadcasting Station. I think it’s time we reveal Hyun’s Forge.]

It wasn’t the situation we wanted.

And if it were the usual Nell, they would’ve tried to stop it, saying it might still be too early.

But Nell looked at the current situation coldly.

‘Even if we tried to hide it, the broadcast would’ve gone out.’

Ignoring legal action over image rights, the streamers would have kept broadcasting.

But if someone influential issued an official notice and had the platform forcibly terminate them, that was that.

Right now, every streamer’s broadcast had ended, and it was being transmitted through the perspectives of Hyun’s Forge guild members.

‘If it’s going to be broadcast anyway, it’s right that we take it.’

It was a wise choice.

Once this urgent fire was put out, they would enter negotiations with AJ Internet Broadcasting Station.

‘Monopolizing millions of viewers.’

It would return as tremendous revenue, and most of those people would become the property of our guild.

And then Nell made a puzzled expression.

[Guild Master Hyunsoo: Also, a sword will arrive faster than I do.]

‘What does that mean?’

A sword arriving faster than him?

Nell hadn’t been able to hear Hyunsoo’s answer before guild chat had been cut off.

‘I trust Hyunsoo.’

They were simply the same as always.

Nell reconnected to Ares.

*****

The experts watching the broadcast shouted at the top of their lungs.

-This is the moment Hyun’s Forge, hidden behind a veil, reveals itself.

-Maybe today, Blacksmith Hyun might reveal himself as well.

-Perhaps because they know that, people are flooding in even more!

-In an instant, the viewer count increased by another 100,000.

-Fortunately, the Kingdom of Goyard’s talents have been separated from the enemies thanks to the mages’ barrier!

“We lived!”

“We just have to hold out until His Highness arrives!”

With the barrier between them, the talents breathed in relief.

And there was one woman who still hadn’t revealed herself.

She was observing the battle from the fortress’s third floor.

She was Bella.

‘There’s no way they came without even that much preparation.’

Bella wasn’t hiding here for no reason.

Sometimes, hiding your strength and crouching low becomes a strategy that can strike the enemy’s vital point.

And just as Bella expected—

“To think this little trick would work on me.”

A black strand extended from Helenya’s long, delicate fingers.

The moment the strand touched the barrier, it spread widely from that point and began to melt it away.

“Hiiiiiiik!”

“Huuuhk!”

“U- uuaaaagh!”

The nobles fell into fear.

Hyun’s Forge guild members, as if they knew what they had to do, were holding a perimeter gesture around Marquis Constinu and the nobles.

The problem was the knights and troops from prestigious families who had come up from every part of the kingdom.

The knights of renowned sword families were certainly strong.

But after seeing the troops torn apart so miserably just moments ago, they fell into fear, and they had no real combat experience.

If they grew, they would indeed become the kingdom’s best in ten years, but not now.

And the troops, too, couldn’t resist the calamities’ status ailment.

“How kind of you to gather in one place where it’s easy to kill you.”

And because they trusted the barrier as a shield and packed together in one place, they became targets for the ants.

‘We have to change the flow.’

Bella, who had been holding her breath, moved.

“Y-you fools, what are you doing—why aren’t you blocking those bastards, right now!”

One noble, gripped by fear, shoved knights forward as they looked at the Giant Ants swarming in.

But it wasn’t enough.

Because their hard carapaces wouldn’t be pierced.

Then—

SHRAAAK—

Bella’s sword appeared from the sky and cleanly split a Giant Ant in two.

After that, Bella charged straight into a swarm of more than a hundred ants.

SHRAAK, STAB, CRUNCH

Bella’s movement was ghostlike.

She cut down what even Hyun’s Forge guild members couldn’t handle in one exchange, advancing, and advancing again.

At that moment, a Soldier Ant hooked her and snatched her into the air.

“Kuhp.......”

Soldier Ants were bastards so tough that even Hyun’s Forge guild members struggled to hunt one with two or three people.

And there were four of them, no less.

She cut down the Soldier Ant that had snatched her.

Then she stepped onto the spear shaft of the Soldier Ant charging in and took a few steps forward.

WHOOSH

Spinning once, she split the Soldier Ant rising up from below in two.

“Huuuhk!”

“A-as expected, Bella!”

Viewers watching the broadcast marveled.

-Control’s insane.

-It’s skill—what do you mean “control” lol.

-Sis, kill me!

-KYAA!

It was the same for the knights.

“K-Knight Commander Bella is here!”

“The kingdom’s greatest swordsman!”

The flow changes.

[Allies’ morale rises.]

[They overcome their fear and advance.]

The knights who had shrunk back in fear cheered at the appearance of a single swordsman.

Bella had already launched herself into the sky.

“Oh, not bad?”

Helenya admired it. The reason they had raised the barrier was to stop Barad.

Even to them, Barad was an object of fear.

But they were certain they could kill Knight Commander Bella.

As Bella rose, Helenya’s hand moved.

Dozens of Giant Ants ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) stacked layer upon layer, forming a single shield.

Bella possessed power that, while not comparable to Barad’s Sword Rampage, was still beyond anyone else.

RIIIIING—

Her sword glittered as it reflected sunlight.

From the great resonance of the blade, sword aura whipped out.

[Sword Aura Bombardment]

Dozens of strands of sword aura.

They slammed down toward only one target.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWACK—!

At last, they struck the Giant Ants head-on.

The bodies of the Giant Ants that were struck shattered to pieces.

“......!”

The level gap between Helenya and Bella was enormous.

And Helenya judged that Bella wouldn’t be able to break through the defensive line of ten Giant Ants whose defense had been increased by 30%.

But that was wrong.

SKRRRRAAAK—!

In an instant, the strands of sword aura that carved through the ants slammed down on Helenya.

KWAJAAAK—

“KYAAAAAACK!”

Helenya, cut by a single strand of sword aura, panicked.

‘What is this impact......!’

Helenya hadn’t considered Bella to be a danger to this degree.

SHRAAAK—

Her HP dropped sharply.

Several strands of sword aura were aiming for her head, and one was aiming for her neck.

‘This is dangerous......!’

It was a speed she couldn’t respond to.

Then—

CLANG—

A man who had only been watching stepped in.

It was Second Calamity Rogal.

Rogal’s rippling greatsword blocked the strand of sword aura aiming for her neck.

“Kuhp.......”

Then he knocked up the strand slamming down on her head.

CRACK—!

Rogal was shocked.

‘This is insane.......’

Bella was already slamming down, still in the posture of having driven her sword in.

KRAAANG—!

After he struck her away with his greatsword, Rogal marveled at the shock that traveled up his arm.

‘How can a woman.......’

Produce such monstrous strength?

But Helenya and Rogal steadied themselves.

“Haa, haa.”

Bella, who had rapidly consumed her stamina.

She was in the very middle of the enemy lines.

“Isn’t your life precious?”

Bella didn’t answer.

This was the best she could do.

Bella was feeling overwhelming pressure from Rogal.

SKREEEE—!

At Helenya’s gesture, more than thirty additional Soldier Ants crawled up from the earth.

Bella clenched her sword with all her strength as she looked at the enemies surrounding her.

“You’ve resolved yourself to die.”

At Rogal’s words, she looked up at him, his build like a mountain.

“.......”

Her hand tightened even more after she stayed silent for a long time.

It was strange.

Strangely, the words the Second Sun had said earlier today flickered in her ear.

She bared her teeth and exchanged blows.

CLACK, CLACK-CLACK-CLANG! KWA-RRUK—!

Rogal admired it.

The level gap between him and her was at least 30.

And Second Calamity Rogal was known as someone no one could handle in close combat.

Yet Bella was pushing him.

SHRAAASH, KWAJAAASH, KWAHK—

Rogal’s HP dropped quickly.

His body was cut all over, blood bursting out, and Bella’s movements grew bizarre.

But soon—

SNAP—

Bella’s sword was cut in two by Rogal’s blade.

Seeing the broken sword, she fell into a brief panic, and Rogal was about to laugh loudly.

But then—

“Even if it breaks.”

Just like the Second Sun’s words, she doesn’t break.

SPLURT—

With the sword split in two, Bella cut Rogal.

“This bitch!”

Enraged by the unexpected blow, Rogal unleashed his peak at this moment.

RRAAASSSHHH—!

A sword that shredded twelve times per second struck Bella head-on.

RRRRRUMBLE—

Bella’s body was ripped apart.

[Bella’s HP falls below 40%.]

[Bella’s HP falls below 30%.]

[Bella’s HP falls below 20%......]

[Bella’s HP falls below 5%......]

Bella’s flesh became a wreck.

But even in a situation where she should have fallen, she didn’t fall.

Even when she couldn’t move, she didn’t fall in front of them.

“.......”

Bella looked back at the nobles and knights.

Her dry lips parted.

It was her last words.

“Fight, even if you die.”

“......K-Knight Commander Bella.”

“Commander!!!”

Hyun’s Forge guild members and the knights tried to approach Bella, but they couldn’t.

Countless swarms of insects were blocking them.

“Eat her.”

Rogal grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the air.

Thirty Soldier Ants flew at her.

‘Was it impossible from the start?’

Rogal and Helenya’s levels are too high.

Bitterness swells up.

No matter how much you rush and cut, they’re enemies you can’t cut down.

Goyard was about to lose even its commander.

Thirty Soldier Ants.

Among them, the lead ant flew in, aiming for Bella’s abdomen.

-What a regrettable thing.

-Bella—she is an NPC who has received so much love in Ares.

-The Silver Knight Bella, a Sword King Candidate, the Cold-Blooded Knight.......

-She had so many epithets.

-It’s heartbreaking that she is an NPC.

-I don’t think we’ll ever see her again.

-I can’t even bear to keep my eyes open.......

-Huh?

Then.

The commentators let out puzzled sounds.

-What is that?

-Huh? Huhh?

The viewers were the same.

-What is that?

-It’s sparkling?

-Isn’t that a saber?

Something unknown was floating in the sky.

Every camera turned at once to shine on that spot.

[Current viewer count 1,732,411.]

The saber floating upright at a right angle was beautiful.

And it was a sword shape any Korean would likely recognize.

-A ring-pommel saber?

And the crests carved into the sword floating in the sky.

On the sword’s grip, it was written like this.

Hyun

And on one face of the blade—over a full three feet long—one commentator read it.

-T-the Twin Dragon Sword!?

-The Twin Dragon Sword!?

-Do you mean Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s Twin Dragon Sword!?

A sword from history that vanished a hundred years ago.

A story that saved a small country.

Even if you didn’t know the Twin Dragon Sword, it was fine.

If you’re a citizen of the Republic of Korea, you would’ve heard stories about Admiral Yi Sun-sin.

Then—

FLASH—!

The Twin Dragon Sword vanished from their sight.

-Where did it go?

-Where in the world did it go!

-Hyun! Did he forge the Twin Dragon Sword this time, after the Dragon Light Sword!?

-How was he able to make it!?

-T-the Twin Dragon Sword is a sword that already vanished into history!

At the commentators’ words, the viewers fell into confusion.

They rolled their eyes, trying to find where the sword had gone.

Then—

-T-there......!

“Huh!”

The commentators who found the sword gasped in shock. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Before they knew it, Bella was landing softly in the sky.

HUMMMMM—

The Twin Dragon Sword, stopping in front of her, was resonating.

*****

Bella had been jealous.

The sword the Sword King carried.

The spear the Azure Sky had obtained.

The weapons held by the Radiance guild members.

If asked why she feared death, it was because she would not be able to walk together with the Second Sun, my lord.

She cherished a dream.

‘Someday, I, too, will be bestowed a weapon.’

She feared not being able to achieve that.

But she felt it from the sword before her, the sword inscribed Twin Dragon Sword.

‘More powerful than the Sword King’s sword.’

[The Twin Dragon Sword chooses you.]

‘More great than the Azure Sky’s spear.’

[The Twin Dragon Sword’s power is unlocked.]

That it was greater than any weapon in this world.

[Grip the sword.]

At that moment, Bella realized.

The power the Twin Dragon Sword held.

Hyunsoo forged this sword not as merely a strong sword, but as a sword for everyone.

[A skill is activated.]

Bella gripped the large hilt with both hands.

At that moment, Bella heard the Second Sun’s voice.

[Wake up.]