Genius Blacksmith's Game

Surveying the battle, Hyunsoo quickly read the flow.

If one more Orc Warrior breaks in, the subjugation force will be wiped out.

By shooting the Orc Warrior locked in fierce combat with Hans, he had confirmed one thing.

Not even with Radiance, not even with the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn, can I pierce that armor.

Things were turning serious.

In particular, Subjugation Captain Hans looked in danger.

Of course, if he took Radiance and the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn and fought the Orc Warrior together, the situation would improve somewhat.

But he was certain that, because of that thick armor, they still wouldn’t be able to kill the Orc Warrior.

Then, one kind of arrow brushed through Hyunsoo’s mind.

An arrow as fast as a shotgun and with shotgun-grade penetration.

As a handcraft blacksmith, Hyunsoo had a habit.

Everything he saw in nature while walking, he matched in his head to blacksmithing materials.

In fact, many things made by hand do use natural materials.

Which is why, as he marched with this subjugation force, he had noticed something.

Bamboo...

Bamboo would serve as a necessary component for that arrow.

While Hans and the Orc Warrior were locked in a deadly fight, Hyunsoo sprinted.

And he cut bamboo at speed.

Then he pulled “Beginner’s Arrow” from his inventory.

With the two materials in hand, Hyunsoo was about to start working them.

“In the end... we still couldn’t pierce it...?”

Came Subjugation Captain Hans’s voice.

Hyunsoo needed it.

A stalwart man who would hold out while he made this arrow.

“It can be pierced.”

Hyunsoo’s voice brimmed with certainty.

Hans looked at him with trembling eyes.

“One minute. Hold for just one minute!”

“Uwooooooh!”

Hearing him, Subjugation Captain Hans burned with fighting spirit.

Now what Hyunsoo could do was repay Hans for believing in him.

Spreading bamboo and Beginner’s Arrows on the ground, he immediately began rapidly working them with a dagger.

****

Special User Management Team.

Team Leader Kim Taeseok and Associate Lee Jihee wore faces taut with tension.

“There’s no way the Orc Warrior’s armor can be pierced.”

The Special User Management Team also had a high understanding of monsters.

The Orc Warrior, classified as the boss monster of the Orc Subjugation Force, had physical capabilities equivalent to roughly Level 30.

But because of the armor and horned helm he wore, he was set at Level 50.

A monster’s level is usually the sum of everything—which meant the armor he wore was hard and exceptional to the point of being unpierceable.

The two soon watched, puzzled, as Hyunsoo performed an incomprehensible task.

“He says he can pierce it?”

To Team Leader Kim Taeseok’s eye, it looked impossible.

No matter how excellent his Bow of Water Buffalo Horn was, that was all.

They watched closely as User Hyunsoo built something using bamboo and arrows.

Then a particular arrow flashed through the mind of Kim Taeseok, a die-hard historical film fan.

“...Hah!”

“Why?”

At Team Leader Kim’s shocked tone, Associate Lee Jihee looked puzzled.

Kim’s fingers rattled the keyboard.

[Short Arrow]

[Refers to an arrow far shorter than a typical arrow. This short arrow is inserted into a split bamboo guide-tube and shot.]

[Its hallmark is that it is launched inside a half-split bamboo tube used as a guide; it was called a “final weapon” of Joseon.]

[Amazingly, it possessed power on par with a shotgun and was known for armor-piercing penetration.]

“...Is he making this right now?”

Kim’s eyes went wide.

On the monitor, Hyunsoo was already inserting a shortly whittled arrow into a half-split length of bamboo.

****

The short arrow.

Perfectly paired with the horn bow, this short arrow was something Hyunsoo had made many times.

Whenever he had nothing but spent arrow shafts and a bamboo tube.

The ancestors had answered enemies firing shotguns with this very short arrow.

It had pierced the armor the enemy wore.

If you fired ordinary arrows, the enemy split them or picked them up and shot them back.

But the short arrow was completely different.

An arrow that could neither be split nor blocked.

An arrow called the final weapon.

[With excellent craftsmanship, you have rapidly produced arrows.]

[Grade will be assessed.]

[Grade: Rare.]

[All arrows produced the same way henceforth will be assessed at the same grade.]

Hyunsoo, having finished, checked the newly crafted arrow.

(Short Arrow)

Grade: Rare

Durability: 100/100

Attack: 95

Restriction: None for maker; Level 5+.

Specials:

·Penetration +70%.

·Arrow Speed +60%.

Description: With a shortened shaft, it flies faster than any other arrow and has such destructive power it may even break stone.

As expected...

One of the things that made Ares great was that everything appeared quantified.

In reality, Hyunsoo knew the short arrow was far superior to a normal arrow.

But once he made and checked one himself, the difference showed starkly.

The Beginner’s Arrows I’d used up to now had Attack 22 and Accuracy +5%.

By contrast, the short arrow had—

Penetration +70%, and Arrow Speed +60% on top of that!

And he mustn’t forget:

At his level, Hyunsoo possessed the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn—something no other user could have.

A bow’s damage is bow + arrow.

Finishing his check, Hyunsoo swiftly slotted the short arrow into the half bamboo guide-tube.

[The horn bow and short arrow trigger a Set Effect.]

[Arrow Attack +5% and Penetration +10%.]

Hans’s face, neck gripped in the Orc Warrior’s brutal hand, was flushing red.

“C-Captain...!”

“Captain Hans!”

The soldiers’ cries and despair filled the air.

Just before Hans’s neck snapped—

[Bulls-eye]

[70% chance to hit precisely the part you aim for.]

As a blacksmith, Hyunsoo sometimes felt it.

What level the piece he was making would reach.

A flash of certainty or intuition that skimmed through in a split instant.

And Hyunsoo now realized it the moment he loosed, like an archer of exceptional skill.

“Done.”

That the short arrow would pierce the Orc Warrior’s head!

Shweeeeeee—

Kwahjaaaak—

With a harsh rip of air, the arrow punched through the Orc Warrior’s head.

Puseok—

The short arrow’s force gouged even the tree behind him.

Srrrr—

“Kuh-hek!”

Hans’s breath returned as the Orc Warrior crumbled into ash.

[You have hunted the Boss Monster, the Orc Warrior.]

[You have gained 1,560 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up...]

[You have obtained 34 Gold.]

[You have obtained the Orc Warrior’s Old Greatsword.]

[You have obtained the Orc Warrior’s Plate Armor.]

[You have achieved Contribution 65%.]

In an instant he leveled up four times, reaching 10.

Considering that a common orc had granted around 75–85 EXP, he had obtained nearly 18× that amount.

Even more astounding was the contribution.

From under 30%, his contribution jumped by roughly 37% at once.

But Hyunsoo still thirsted.

He still needed more.

“Y-You...”

Ben looked at Hyunsoo with eyes for something wondrous.

One step.

Two steps.

With each step Hyunsoo took, the soldiers watching him opened a path.

Click—

Hyunsoo seated another short arrow in the guide-tube.

“Grrrrrr!”

The second Orc Warrior, loosing a vicious snarl, had already closed to near-touching distance.

The brute raised his greatsword behind him and sprang at Hyunsoo, who stood furthest forward.

Fwoooo—

Hyunsoo’s breath paused for a beat.

This time, the Bow of Water Buffalo Horn’s Bulls-eye effect didn’t trigger.

But the repeated twang of the bowstring had already settled into his hands.

“GRAAAAAH!”

The brute’s greatsword reached right overhead.

Hyunsoo was faster by a beat.

Twuunnng—

As he loosed, the short arrow flew true toward the brute’s chest.

Thwuuump—!

With a great boom, it punched through the brute’s hard armor; from the shock, the Orc Warrior flew about 1 meter.

“Kuhyeeeek!”

The Orc Warrior, flung skyward, crashed awkwardly to the ground.

Thud—!

The Orc Warrior wore an expression of incomprehension.

Though he was a monster, he knew how grand and hard his own armor was.

He enjoyed strutting in it among humans.

But now the armor had been cleanly pierced.

“GRAAAAA!”

Denying it, he lurched up, raised his greatsword, and rushed.

But Hyunsoo had already nocked another short arrow to the horn bow and loosed.

Puh-uhhhht—!

His arrow bored through the helm hiding the Orc Warrior’s glabella.

Srrrr—

The last sight the Orc Warrior saw was a human turning his body away, gazing at him with a flat, emotionless look.

****

Silence filled the field.

Turning his body, hanging the bow across his back, Hyunsoo was stared at blankly by the soldiers and Subjugation Captain Hans.

At the appearance of two Orc Warriors, the orcs’ morale had soared to the heavens—but seeing their two chiefs erased in an instant, the orcs wore faces pale with fear.

“Ch-Chriiieeek...!”

“A monster...”

“Chriiiek—run, we have to run!”

“Chriiieeek, chriiieeeek!”

The ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ silence shattered with the orcs’ screams.

Snapping back to himself, Subjugation Captain Hans gave the order.

“This time we drive every last orc out. Don’t let a single one escape.”

“Yes!”

Hyunsoo heard the notices.

[You have hunted the Boss Monster, the Orc Warrior.]

[You have gained 1,600 EXP.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up...]

[You have obtained 38 Gold.]

[You have achieved Contribution 92%.]

[You have obtained the Title Orc Slayer.]

(Orc Slayer) 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Unique Title

Grade: A

Specials:

·Against orcs, Attack and Defense +15%.

·When orcs encounter you, they fall into the Status Ailment: Fear.

This time he leveled up three times; unfortunately, no artifact dropped.

Contribution at 92%, huh.

Hyunsoo smiled faintly.

Tower Master Deng of the Blacksmith’s Tower of the Sword had said that if he returned with 70% contribution, he would guide him onto a path others couldn’t walk.

And Hyunsoo had just achieved a contribution of fully 92%.

Can I become a Legendary class now, too?

Ding!

[You have completed the new episode with astonishing results.]

[Subjugation Captain Hans grants a reward commensurate with your astonishing results.]

Looking around, Hyunsoo saw most of the orcs had been swept away.

Subjugation Captain Hans walked up to him.

Hyunsoo sensed that what he had accomplished was quite extraordinary.

Isn’t “Subjugation Captain” a very high post?

Of course, Hans was “only” a Level 48 Subjugation Captain.

But reward and NPC rank are matters of perspective from a user’s level.

From Hyunsoo’s vantage—he was only Level 13 now—Subjugation Captain Hans stood very high indeed.

Proof? He was presently commanding some fifty soldiers.

Also, ordinarily, when you completed this Orc Subjugation Force, a user could receive a reward of 1 Gold.

Subjugation Captain Hans, standing before Hyunsoo, bowed his head with courtesy.

“Thank you, outsider. No—thank you, warrior.”

[Subjugation Captain Hans bows his head and conveys his thanks to you.]

Considering his position, it was unimaginable.

Hyunsoo knew it by instinct. He was about to receive an extraordinary reward.