Genius Blacksmith's Game

Three-Foot Oath to Heaven, Mountains and Rivers Shake in Color is the power of a debuff.

And One Swing Sweeps All Away, Blood Dyes Mountains and Rivers temporarily neutralizes enemies and maximizes the power of the Twin Dragon Sword’s wielder.

Those two powers were different from the true Twin Dragon Sword Hyunsoo envisioned.

Fighting on China’s side, Hyunsoo judged that he couldn’t do anything about this battle alone.

Like Admiral Yi on that day.

So instead of those two powers, he maximized the power of Now This Servant’s Warship, I Still Have Twelve and Wake up in a new way.

Wake up was the power that had raised Bella to Legend for a moment.

That had been based on Bella’s high potential.

Depending on how much potential someone had, and depending on how much the meaning of this sword aligned with them through Story Stone, it changed.

Compared to NPC Bella, users’ potential was bound to be endlessly lower.

So the Flame he had gained, and Wake up, and Now This Servant’s Warship, I Still Have Twelve combined.

[Now this servant’s warship.]

[Even now, I still have.]

[Twelve remaining.]

[Twelve ships remain.]

In contrast to when he had lent his power to Ian alone, he /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ imprinted power into all of them.

And on top of that—power added by overcoming Wake up’s weakness and using the advantage of his own Flame.

[Burn.]

[It burns the hottest and responds to the story.]

Flames ignited from them as they gathered around the single Twin Dragon Sword.

Even inside the blue flames that looked scorching hot, they felt it.

‘Warm.’

‘It’s not hot.’

‘Power is welling up.’

There’s common knowledge that all high-level users know.

That common knowledge is: raising 1 attack power and 1 defense power becomes far harder at high levels.

There was another piece of common knowledge.

That when 1 attack power and 1 defense power increase, it’s an overwhelming growth compared to a low-level user growing by 1.

And strength is, by nature, that kind of thing.

A single tiger can face a pack of ten wolves.

And the advantage of Burn comes from that.

Even if it can’t explode based on potential, it finds their specialized power and explosively maximizes it.

Bark exclaimed in awe.

[All stats increase by 19%.]

[Physical defense and magical defense increase by 39%.]

[All skills related to growing increase by 3.]

[It burns the hottest for 30 seconds.]

Bark was a user.

When NPCs’ stats grow stronger, it’s displayed as level.

But users aren’t.

Yet in this moment, it felt like his level was being measured like this.

[Bark Lv.402]

Bark couldn’t believe it.

[The tanker’s legend is written.]

Because, even if only for a moment, he had come close to Legend.

He looked around. It wasn’t only burning from him.

Flames were burning from everyone holding the Twin Dragon Sword.

[The legend of iron blood is written.]

The notification the Olympic trio heard.

[The legend of the Divine Archer is written.]

[The priest’s legend is written.]

[The knight’s legend is written.]

Because they were high-ranking users, they knew the truth.

The notification “a legend is written” was originally the exclusive domain of crafters.

For that notification to be heard by combat-class users meant this.

‘We’ve been able to step one step closer to Legend.’

Even if only briefly, it announced that they had approached Legend.

It wasn’t simply because their levels were high.

It was a notification sent because the system judged that one day, they might become true Legends.

It told them possibility.

“You fuckers are really doing it—do you think you can stop this many people with just eight of you!?”

The Chinese users crossing the broken gate mocked them.

The situation was disastrous.

Korean users: 126 surviving. Chinese users: 451 surviving.

It was true—they were afraid.

Inside that fear, at the question from the Twin Dragon Sword’s story, we had no choice but to answer like this.

Because we had to board.

Because right now, only by boarding that ship could we stop them somehow.

Because if we stayed still, nothing would change.

With this power or without it, we would have stopped them.

And those who each had their own reasons, too, sometimes wanted to be the protagonist.

Bark, for the new goal he’d set after leaving behind a tedious reality.

Ressel, for Chairman Lee Taeseong of Daehan Group’s approval and the executives’ cheers.

The Olympic trio, to break free of being called people who lived in the past and fly.

Those simple reasons gathered.

[It is carved into history.]

Just as one Chinese user who’d been spewing curses tried to cross the gate—

FWEEEEEK—

KWAAANG—!

They were blasted backward by a single arrow Ian fired.

“KHUAAAAAGH!”

The user, stopped by the packed mass of Chinese users behind them, panicked.

[HP drops below 60%.]

“W-what is this...?”

They were a vile one.

While allies fought, they didn’t fight the enemy and conserved their strength.

They’d dodged so well their HP was 100%.

Watching allies take direct hits from Ian’s arrows and suffer 15–25% HP drops each time, they’d thought Ian was a lunatic.

Because Ian’s attack had clearly been basic attacks.

But with one arrow, 40% of their HP vanished.

“Get over it!”

At that moment, Ian and Hyeji stepped forward.

Arrows were drawn from the quiver on their backs.

Normally, Ian and Hyeji’s reload-and-fire time was 1.4 seconds.

But now it was different.

[Reload time is greatly reduced.]

In just 1 second, they fired one shot each.

BANG, KWA-KWA, KWA-KWAAANG, KWA-KWAAANG—!

Users trying to cross the gate were sent flying one after another.

Just two archers.

With arrows fired once per second, those two made the Chinese users trying to cross hesitate.

“Use skills!”

At that moment, one man burst forward.

It was Bark. Gripping a shield with the name Aegis written on it, he charged, and his shield began to grow gigantic.

It became a single wall.

A massive wall that prevented them from crossing the gate.

And with the massive amplification of the skill, its defense surpassed common sense.

KRRRCH—

KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!

The shield, four meters tall and blocking the front of the gate, didn’t budge even under a storm of massive skills and magic.

“Spearmen and knights, forward!”

Chinese users rushed at Bark like mad.

“UUUOOOAAAAAA!”

Bark, straining with everything he had, was finally pushed back by that force.

In that moment.

A dragon three times larger than usual.

HISSSSS—

A gigantic dragon exhaling an enormous snort came into view.

At the same time, Bark returned the enlarged shield to its original size.

The moment the enemies lost the wall, they collapsed in a heap.

And it poured down on them.

“Dragon’s Cry.”

KIIIHIEEEEEE—!

A single dragon, far beyond its original size, fired a massive breath into the midst of the enemies.

Watching around thirty enemies rapidly vanish, Pond was shaken.

A Chinese user shouted.

“What is this? Four hundred can’t break through that!?”

“This doesn’t make any senseeeeeee!”

At that moment, Bark, who liked history, dropped between them and said:

[One man blocks the road.]

“When one soldier blocks the road.”

[Enough to make a thousand fear.]

“It’s enough to make a thousand enemies fear.”

KRRRRAAACK—

Dozens of enemies began to freeze. Dozens of Chinese users rushed at Bark.

“What is that, you bast—”

Taehun appeared behind Bark.

THUD, THUD-THUD-THUD, THUD-THUD-THUD—!

With kicks that moved like a ghost, the armor plated in Unique—or the closest-to-Legend armor—crumpled or shattered.

“War Diary.”

Taehun murmured softly and glanced to the side.

Beside him, Hanul’s sword passed through, cutting only the enemies’ throats.

SLAASH, THUNK, THUNK, CLAAANG—!

Chinese users scattered like leaves in an autumn wind.

Around 350 Chinese users surrounded them and pressed in.

By any measure, it was a terrifying moment.

But they showed ingenuity.

“.......”

World rank #4, Pond, couldn’t believe it.

Allies scattering wherever they passed.

He couldn’t bring himself to approach. The thought—could he even kill them while they were strengthened, even for a moment—grabbed his ankles.

Fierce and desperate—yet it was nothing more than a small event.

No. Pond realized.

Ares had, before anyone noticed, become someone’s life—and someone’s reason to live.

‘Dad, will you watch the continental war?’

In one chaebol family, the chairman who’d said, “When do I have time to watch that kind of game,” stood up in his office and kept his son in his eyes.

Koreans who gathered like it was the Olympics, like it was the World Cup—enjoying chicken and beer with the continental war—hugged and cheered as they watched the heroes of the past Olympics.

And someone else’s, “There’s nothing fun anymore.”

He remembered the secretary who hadn’t been able to say anything to that.

‘I have a new goal.’

‘A new goal?’

‘Yeah. I’m going to make our Hyun’s Forge the best guild in the world.’

The CEO who’d said that goal and looked happy. Watching his exploits, the secretary folded their arms and smiled broadly.

All for different reasons.

Their fierceness, their desperation, their advance.

Pond had to admit it.

SHHHHH—

Watching the ash of his allies scatter past him, he took a step back.

A momentary fear settled in his eyes.

With shaking eyes, he swept his gaze around.

Of the 451 Chinese users who’d been full of momentum, around 300 were gone.

The scorching flames that had burned from them dispersed.

Seeing them panting with rough breaths, the surviving Chinese users stepped back.

[Burn has ended.]

But soon they felt relief. Because their heat was dispersing.

And even in this moment, Pond and Liu were sly.

They hadn’t intervened in their battlefield. They hid behind and watched.

Because they were minimizing their own losses to aim for MVP.

The people of Hyun’s Forge were exhausted to the point it wouldn’t be strange if they died on the spot.

No—because of Burn’s side effects, it looked hard even for them to stand.

Only now did Pond step forward.

Sneering at them as they gasped for breath.

“You Korean bastards can’t do anything without patriotic hype!?”

Still, nothing had changed.

The remaining forces overwhelmingly favored China.

Now that Hyun’s Forge’s people had become trivial, Pond didn’t need to personally kill them.

Other Chinese users would kill them miserably.

Striding forward at last to cross the gate, Pond stared at the Twin Dragon Sword.

“A world-famous general? If you suck him off and make him, what is it if not patriotic hype!? Every day you get drunk on your own patriotic hype and throw yourselves a party!”

The Chinese commentators fell silent.

Because it was a dangerous remark.

But Chinese viewers didn’t.

-Who’s “Admiral Yi”? What’s that?

-Only fifty million lololol

-Wasn’t he some imaginary figure you made?

-Koreans like deifying people. As expected of the country of patriotic hype.

Hearing the sound of Hyun’s Forge people being forced to log out behind him, Pond crossed the gate.

‘Why is it taking so long to cross one little thing....’

Then—

“It’s not patriotic hype.”

Pond’s face was dyed in shock.

Beyond the gate, there was a single user already waiting.

In the short span of thirty seconds,

standing alone, watching the Chinese users crossing the gate.

A brown coat stained with blood.

Gauntlets and boots shining black.

Pond and the Chinese users couldn’t help but sneer.

A cool entrance—but wasn’t the situation too hopeless?

And with all the cameras in the world in close-up, they captured Hyunsoo saying it wasn’t patriotic hype.

At that moment, something unexpected happened.

He reached his hand toward the Twin Dragon Sword embedded in the ground.

SHING—

A saber over three meters long wrapped smoothly into his hand.

In his left hand, the masterpiece Supreme Saber.

In his right hand, the Transcendence Twin Dragon Sword.

He pulled the two weapons he held in both hands toward the center.

[Artifacts are combined.]

The strongest weapons in existence met in one place.

With every camera close on him, he spoke in a firm voice.

“It’s history.”

[The sentence begins.]