Genius Blacksmith's Game

Revealing Hyun’s Forge was something he couldn’t avoid.

Radiance had gathered in one place, drawn the public’s attention, and people would chase after their trail.

That was why Hyunsoo made a choice.

‘Hyun’s Forge is still lacking.’

But a broadcast that 1.8 million viewers are watching.

‘Through this broadcast, Hyun’s Forge fills what it lacks.’

Compared to the Supreme Saber, the greatsword Twin Dragon Sword’s attack power is 200 higher.

On top of that, the force you’d need to swing a longsword two or three times, a greatsword can output in a single swing.

What a longsword can’t cleave, a greatsword cleaves with ease.

And a % damage attack on a state with high base attack power transcends common sense.

[Temporarily, you become equal to the Sword King.]

[Sword’s Cry]

[You cut enemies 100% faster.]

[You indiscriminately cut all enemies recognized as enemies with 380% additional damage.]

[Even if you do not cut directly, if they are within a 40m radius, they are cut, and all defense is ignored.]

For three seconds, the Giant Ants pinned down by oppressive pressure can’t move.

Viewers capture him in their eyes as he draws the greatsword back in the sky.

-Bro, I’m a fan from today! Bro, I’m a fan from today! Bro, I’m a fan from today!

-GATSU!

At last, it comes down.

The finest swordsmanship in this world.

And the damage numbers that popped up whenever Hyun’s Forge, or talented people, or knights struck the Giant Ants were about this much.

[You dealt 11,037 damage.]

But Hyunsoo wasn’t.

SHRAAAK-!

The first blade shatters a Giant Ant.

[You dealt 58,313 damage.]

And soon, within a 40m radius, dozens of blades move at a speed 50% faster than usual.

SHRAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAK-!

The viewers couldn’t believe it.

Damage was popping up over the ants’ heads far too fast.

[You dealt 54,813 damage.]

[You dealt 56,999 damage.]

Damage markers filling the screen.

And a swarm of around seventy ants is slowly scattering.

And what shocked the world most was this.

-A level 330 scrub does that to a level 460 boss mob?

WHOOOOSH-

All the ants scatter into a handful of ash, and at the center of it, Helenya was being indiscriminately cut and torn apart.

“Kyaaaaaaaaak!”

[Helenya’s HP falls below 90%.]

[Helenya’s HP falls below 85%.]

[Helenya’s HP falls below 80%.]

Also, the world loved it.

A boss monster they still couldn’t hunt yet.

And the sight of a named monster they would never even meet in their entire lives getting hunted.

In the end, what viewers watch broadcasts for is vicarious satisfaction.

And if the protagonist in that broadcast is a level 330 user that ordinary users can reach, they get even more excited and love it.

This is proven by a single set of numbers.

[There are too many mission notifications.]

[There are too many donation notifications.]

[Chat becomes unavailable temporarily.]

Too many donations and mission proposals ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) about hunting Helenya.

Yeah, like this, today’s Hyun’s Forge may be insignificant, but tomorrow’s Hyun’s Forge would be different.

However, Hyunsoo knew one clear fact.

[First Calamity Helenya Lv.467]

Helenya now possessed power that reached the eighth monster-grade.

[Helenya’s HP falls below 50%.]

The world’s strongest shot.

And the subtle principles of Sword’s Cry that ignore all defense.

It’s true that power pushed her this far.

But.

BZZT-BZZT-

Hyunsoo could feel it with his own skin.

It was the gap between him and Helenya.

No matter how good a sword Hyunsoo held, and no matter how much higher his stats were for his level.

‘The level gap between me and Helenya is over 130.’

It was different from the time with Graut.

Back then, there were variables named Barad and Ben.

The moment the subtle principles of Sword’s Cry ended, Helenya—her entire body carved to pieces—looked up at him with a furious expression.

“So pathetic.”

The horrifying ant eyes contemplated Hyunsoo.

Hyunsoo was sure.

‘I can’t kill Helenya alone.’

But Hyunsoo had the Twin Dragon Sword.

The moment Hyunsoo clenched the Twin Dragon Sword tight, new letters were inscribed on the massive blade.

[My Warships (My Warships)]

[I still have.]

[I still have twelve. (I still have twelve.)]

[Twelve ships remain.]

[......Activates.]

No power rose up right away.

And Hyunsoo, who had been pouring strength into the sword, was flustered.

‘What......?’

In a split second.

In Hyunsoo’s vision, Helenya had vanished.

“You insolent thing.”

A chill ran up Hyunsoo’s back.

‘Wasn’t she a summoner?’

Helenya was known as a summoner who mainly summoned insects.

That was a mistaken piece of common knowledge.

The reason Helenya mainly summoned insects was because she didn’t have to reveal her true body as a queen ant.

Originally in the 430s, Helenya devoured Rogal and reached the 460s.

And by devouring Rogal, various things including her stats were recreated.

WHOOOM-!

Hyunsoo spun quickly and aimed for Helenya’s neck with the Twin Dragon Sword.

But.

THUMP-

Hyunsoo’s eyes shook.

Helenya lightly snatched the blade with one hand.

Hyunsoo was shocked by two things.

‘What kind of strength.......’

Second.

‘It didn’t cut?’

A swung sword can’t be grabbed just because you want to grab it.

Especially a sword like the Twin Dragon Sword, a greatsword with a thick and strong blade.

There is only one case where that’s possible.

‘When you have overwhelming strength.’

SHRAKAKAK-!

An exchange erupts.

Hyunsoo gripping the Twin Dragon Sword and a spear whose tip and shaft were a stinger collide head-on.

‘Speed, strength, skill. Everything overwhelms me.’

Hyunsoo knew.

‘Right now, I.......’

This is no different from fighting the Sword King.

“Die.”

[Ant Claw]

Eight ant legs that formed around Hyunsoo slammed down on him.

KWA-SHRAK-

[HP falls below 93%.]

It was damage beyond common sense.

“Keugh!”

Additional damage comes in right after.

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAK-!

[HP falls below 50%.]

[You are afflicted with Status Ailment: Bleeding.]

[Your vision blurs, and it is not easy to steady your body.]

But Hyunsoo didn’t just take it.

KUUHOOO-

Raging power imbues Hyunsoo’s falling sword.

[Raging Sword]

[Due to a 40% probability, the sword’s basic attack power increases by 231%.]

[It lasts for 15 seconds.]

Helenya, falling in reverse, tries to pierce Hyunsoo with her spear.

Hyunsoo deploys Calamity Leap before her and gains freedom in midair.

The eyes of the falling Helenya and Hyunsoo meet.

Helenya’s eyes wavered.

All humans, when they take a strong shock, suffer a status ailment.

Because of that status ailment, it isn’t easy to steady the body, and it’s hard to secure vision too.

But in midair, Hyunsoo cut her.

SHRAK-

[9-hit consecutive damage]

KU-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAK-!

Helenya’s HP drops.

However, Helenya’s defense was at a level beyond common sense.

[You dealt 21,311 damage.]

Incoming damage is inversely proportional to the opponent’s defense.

It contrasted with the Giant Ants taking damage in the fifty-thousand range.

Especially when Raging Sword was activated—being only this much was beyond common sense.

“Now do you understand? My strength lies in my thick carapace.”

“.......”

Hyunsoo’s expression darkened.

Even though he cut her in midair, he couldn’t leave even one big wound on Helenya’s body.

And even after cutting nine times, Helenya’s HP had fallen by only 2%.

“Fear.”

The falling Helenya mocked Hyunsoo.

Helenya knew.

There was no one here who could kill her.

[Queen Ant]

[3x defense is applied.]

When she cast aside her human form, even for a moment, and became an ant, she became a distant transcendent species.

At that moment, Hyunsoo clenched his teeth.

“There were a lot of people who said the same thing as you.”

Hyunsoo’s blood-soaked hair and the man’s eyes that didn’t droop even in a desperate situation flustered Helenya.

She knew this one had killed calamities.

She couldn’t understand it.

How could a thing like this?

In this moment, she understood the reason a little more.

“Every time, I cut.”

He uses that point.

The one who can be free in midair is Hyunsoo.

The subtle principles of Calamity Leap.

Between Helenya, who can’t keep balance, and Hyunsoo.

Once, at Helenya’s neck.

“Ki-hyaak!”

Twice.

“Ki-hyaa-aak!”

Three times.

“Nooooom!”

He cut a fourth time.

KUUUUNG-

The two fell at the same time.

Helenya felt relieved at her neck, protected by her high defense.

If her defense hadn’t been transcendent, it would have been severed.

‘This one is dangerous.’

She understood why calamities died.

KWAAAANG-

Helenya pressed him like a madwoman.

Hyunsoo, whose vision was already blurred, couldn’t respond easily.

[You possess Asnium.]

[HP falls below 10%.]

[HP recovers to 15%.]

Helenya saw the end.

SSWOOOONG-

She thrust the spear with all her might, aiming for the end of his throat.

At that moment, Hyunsoo grabbed the spear shaft with both hands.

A strong force stretches toward Hyunsoo’s throat.

Then, a sound came as Helenya’s grip suddenly loosened.

“......Use the Return Scroll!”

It was Barad’s voice. Beyond the barrier, his voice was urgent as he watched this.

Helenya ended up laughing.

“Kyahahahahahaha!”

The difference in strength.

The difference in class.

The difference in level.

Everything was now so utterly distant to her.

Barad’s urgent words meant abandoning the roughly 600 nobles inside and retreating.

A battle that looked certain to be lost.

Within it, he didn’t want to see Hyunsoo die.

Of course, Hyunsoo is immortal, revived again if he dies.

But Hyunsoo said,

“I won.”

Helenya’s laughter stopped.

What kind of bullshit is that?

Did he lose his mind?

Then.

CREEEAK-

Helenya felt an untouchable power behind her back.

And beyond the barrier, Hyunsoo—looking at Barad—said,

“To you, I still have one ship left.”

When she turned her head, Helenya panicked.

An archer was standing there.

FWOOSH-

Flames that stretched from the bow the archer held shot up into the sky.

The surging flames soon turned white and were being imbued into his bow again.

[The legend of the Divine Archer is written.]

*****

[Queen’s Roar]

[It paralyzes reason.]

[You are afflicted with Status Ailment: Fear.]

[You are afflicted with Status Ailment: Overwhelm.]

For Hyun’s Forge, being afflicted with status ailments made it difficult to move.

All they could do was protect the nobles.

Among them, one person.

Ian was there, bleeding from his eyes, ears, and nose.

-Ian, what are you doing lol

-Hi to the guy who lost Rank #1

-Heard Hwarang Guild didn’t take you, and you’re doing this?

-lol, these days they don’t do three visits anymore?

With his HP fallen below 20%, Ian felt wronged.

‘I want to fight like Hyunsoo, too.’

Of course, Ian is far stronger than before.

But not against Helenya.

And the viewers’ blame-laced words poked at his trauma.

At the fact that he couldn’t do anything, Ian’s fist clenched tight.

Then.

[My Warships I Still Have Twelve. (My Warships I Still Have Twelve.)]

[The Twin Dragon Sword’s power is bestowed upon you.]

[You are the undefeated twelve warships.]

The undefeated hero in story was recorded as the greatest.

But in that record, people do not look at Admiral Yi Sun-sin alone.

The twelve ships he led.

Because those existed, the Admiral Yi Sun-sin of later existed.

Ian was shocked.

WHOOOOSH-

Because minerals and branches were leaping up over his head.

[Guild Master Hyunsoo’s power is bestowed upon you.]

[Skill Reverse’s power is applied.]

Ian looked at what was being made in the sky.

They were minerals and tree trunks.

Hyunsoo was smart, and he understood Ares.

The reason Hyunsoo sold Ian Jumong’s Horn Bow.

Was because the bowstring Ian draws is two times, three times, four times stronger than the bowstring Hyunsoo draws.

Even if Hyunsoo made bows day after day and raised Bow Mastery, he could only be weaker than Ian’s arrow with Top-Grade Horn Bow Mastery +9.

It is fitted onto the strongest of such bows.

Gauntlet of Strength.

CLICK-

With that hand, he grips the Orichalcum small arrow that Hyunsoo had been crafting.

TCHIK-

The supreme arrow imbued within maximizes its power.

He steps forward and draws the bowstring.

Hyunsoo couldn’t have it, but Ian has something.

Once Rank #1.

Now, an archer no one can approach.

Perhaps a skill possessed by the one who will become the archer world’s Rank #1.

[Greatness]

[Your single arrow temporarily transcends your usual damage.]

Compared to Hyunsoo’s trinity, it is infinitely great.

KURURURURURUR-

The flames that shoot up into the sky change to white and are imbued into the arrow.

-Wha-what is that?

-That’s insane!

-......?

Viewers who had been mocking Ian until just now are thrown into confusion.

The trinity arrow Hyunsoo shot as usual stemmed from being a blacksmith.

But.

This is a single arrow drawn by the Rank #1 archer.

KUUHOOOOOOO-

[It vastly transcends the strongest shot.]

Admiral Yi Sun-sin had twelve ships.

The twelve ships that cut through the sea protected him, and protected the nation.

Today, Ian becomes the Turtle Ship.

TAH!

The real one was fired.

[Damage cannot be measured.]

Along with the astonishing notification.

[The legend of the Divine Archer is written.]

The world was stunned.