Genius Blacksmith's Game

Beings that would begin to be slowly released in the Second Ares.

However, even if they were released in the Second Ares, they were beings presumed to only be truly huntable in the Third Ares.

Hyunsoo and Bahala felt an enormous wall.

Why now of all times!

Bahala, with the Sword God quest, and Hyunsoo, with the chance to make the lesser demon Luxiu into a vassal right in front of them!

There was something fortunate, too.

[A demon offering descent has been cast by Demon Gremory.]

A demon offering descent.

In other words, it meant awakening on the surface through the medium of one of her subordinates.

[Demon Gremory’s level is being updated!]

[Demon Gremory is restricted from summoning legion commanders, demonfolk, and demonic beasts to the surface.]

[However, Demon Gremory’s physical strength is preserved.]

[If you succeed at hunting Demon Gremory, it will not be killing her, but sealing her.]

Transcendent species. You might think their innate physical strength “only” being at the level of a Lv.604 force was something you could manage.

That was the wrong way to think.

Demon Gremory, to begin with, was an existence whose strength came from an army—just as her epithet, “the demon of legion commanders,” implied.

Only when she gathered all of those existences together did she become something that even most demons couldn’t touch—Gremory.

And with that kind of army behind her, the fact that she could still output power in the 600s as a single demon was a scam.

Finally finished stretching out, Gremory smiled with decadent lips.

“Are you so afraid you can’t even move?”

She was speaking normally, but her voice carried an alien quality, like Satan’s whisper.

In reality, Hyunsoo and Bahala had been unable to move under her majesty.

And then the power of the Sword God that Bahala possessed reacted.

[She is an existence even the Sword God cannot dare to covet.]

The phrase “even the Sword God” referred to Bahala as she was now, and to this situation.

[Chance of victory: 0%.]

[Move forward while pledging the future, and extinguish evil.]

It was the first time Bahala had ever seen a 0% chance of victory.

Of course, right now, she was comparable to the lesser demon Luxiu.

But there was something that needed to be viewed differently.

In Luxiu’s case, their levels were similar from the start, but they had begun after shaving off 80% of Luxiu’s HP.

And Bahala had obtained a hint from Hyunsoo that Luxiu had once been human.

Luxiu was definitely strong, but his total HP pool was only about twice that of the human legends.

That was a huge weakness of a lesser demon.

But Gremory was different.

Just looking at her now, the amount of HP the true Demon Gremory had was double Luxiu’s.

Her mana pool would be double as well, and she would have more traits.

Even now, the fact that she was triggering more status ailments than Luxiu was proof enough.

At that moment, Bahala couldn’t see any possibility of victory—just as the name Infinite Helplessness implied.

What do I do?

No method came into view.

For the first time since playing Ares, she floundered, falling into helplessness, frustration, and despair.

As long as Gremory is guarding him, there’s no chance of cutting down the lesser demon.

She was so hollow she couldn’t even laugh.

And then—

SHKAAAA—!

“......?”

A crisp cutting sound rang out.

Unlike Bahala, who had gone rigid and couldn’t move her sword, Hyunsoo overcame it.

WHOOOOSH—

The lesser demon Luxiu, cut by the Twin Dragon Sword, slammed into the wall and lost consciousness.

Bahala looked at his arm.

THUNK—!

The hand that had urgently popped open a potion bottle was trembling.

Even though he was afraid, he moved—and if she had overcome it too and cut just now, Luxiu would have died.

“Are you going to keep trolling?”

Hyunsoo overcame it—Hyunsoo, who’d hoped she wouldn’t become dead weight.

[Master Blacksmith’s Pride]

[You resist all status ailments.]

In contrast to the thought that there was no way to accomplish the Sword God quest, Hyunsoo still burned with pride, determined to get Luxiu.

Was it because he couldn’t hear that 0% probability?

No—today, Bahala learned one more thing about Hyunsoo.

That he was someone with the pride to find a way even in an impossible situation.

THUNK—!

Bahala, too, popped open a potion bottle.

Thank you.

Without a sound, she said it, and gulped it down.

Hyunsoo sent a signal with his eyes.

[Hyunsoo: If you can just buy me time, I can......]

WHOOOOSH—

In that moment, Hyunsoo was struck by massive demonic energy, blasted away, and slammed into the wall.

“Something like a bug.”

Gremory didn’t even have interest in someone like Hyunsoo.

She could feel the aura a human carried, too.

Even Bahala’s aura looked trivial to her.

So Hyunsoo’s aura felt like less than a bug.

“All you have is reckless bravado.”

To her eyes, it really was.

In extreme fear, for the weak—someone who wasn’t the stronger one—to resist first could only look like bravado.

“Luxiu is my masterpiece in progress. I prepared him at all times, so I could be ready for dangerous situations whenever.”

Every time she walked, an effect like demonic energy scattering bloomed.

“A while ago, I learned through the aura that threatens demons. That three months ago, you would arrive clutching the new Babylon.”

As Gremory drew closer, strength began to pour back into Bahala’s body.

“But you, too, are trivial. Those trembling eyes of yours, that body of yours—everything. The only thing that isn’t trivial is a single Babylon.”

She smiled.

But then, when the trembling across Bahala’s body began to subside, she brought her arm down on the one holding the sword.

SHHAAAAK—!

Bahala fiercely swung Babylon through empty air, finding his own pride.

Bahala now—like Hyunsoo—had pride, even in the impossible.

Gremory’s lips parted.

“I—”

In that instant, Bahala moved like light.

SHKAAAA—!

The moment Bahala killed the unconscious lesser demon, Bahala awakened.

That opened the possibility of this battle.

“—knew you—”

KRRRRAK—!

In that moment, five condensed masses of demonic energy rained down toward Bahala.

“—were clinging to possibility.”

Bahala’s sword split three of them.

But the instant the remaining two orbs struck Bahala—

WHOOOOSH—!

With a massive explosion, Bahala was flung away.

“I know. After you kill the lesser demon Luxiu, you intended to hold your companion and escape this place...... hm?”

But Gremory’s eyes changed.

Bahala, flung back by the explosion, caught their balance in midair.

Sliding through the air, they bent their knees, tilted Babylon back—

The reason Gremory could call Bahala trivial.

Bahala right now—

After using every skill just to shave off 20% of Luxiu’s HP, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) all of it was on cooldown.

But borrowing the explosion’s force, Bahala accelerated in a burst.

All within Bahala’s calculations.

SHKAAAA—!

Like light, Bahala cut Gremory’s throat.

It was control that didn’t waste a single word—godlike hands, someone close to the Sword God, Sword-God-class skill.

Drip.

Blood flowed from Gremory’s neck.

Her face twisted.

She realized her prediction had missed.

And in that opening—

Left. Right-right. Up. Up.

Shk— slash— SHRK-SHRK-SHRK—!

The users’ idol carved into Gremory’s body with nothing but basic attacks.

“Kh.”

The first groan that slipped from her.

Babylon was a sword that extinguished evil.

The small cuts, the insignificant damage—yet that massive aura made her sick of it.

GRIP—!

Starting from the moment Bahala snapped their foot and dragged the blade across her throat again—

SHKAAAA—!

Seven slashes in total.

As she was being cut, Gremory thought this:

...If you were in a state where you could use all of the Sword God’s power, you really would’ve been something. Even I would’ve taken heavy damage. Well—so that’s why you made Luxiu into that.

It was an honest impression.

But “impression” meant understanding and enjoying a work of art.

And now, that impression became an evaluation: Bahala was nothing more than a copy left behind by the true Sword God.

Before Bahala’s sword strikes could even finish, dozens of condensed masses of demonic energy pierced through Bahala.

KABABABABABABABABABAM—!

Plummeting HP—yet even then, without letting go of Babylon, Bahala struck the neck once more.

KRAAASH—!

“I have not even shown half my power. And yet you have taken none of it from me.”

[Gremory’s HP drops below 96%.]

Bahala’s direct-hit basic attacks—at least ten of them.

And just now, the blade Bahala drove in had clearly been buried in her neck.

Gremory assumed another status effect was activating because Bahala was afraid.

But something strange happened.

KRRRRAK—!

Bahala didn’t lose their fighting spirit—Bahala drove the blade in deeper and deeper.

GRIIIND—!

“You said it, didn’t you? That everything besides Babylon is worthless.”

Gremory still didn’t change that thought.

But the words that followed tried to change it.

“Sorry, but Babylon isn’t just one sword.”

“......!?”

Her brain stopped.

In an instant, an enormous aura began to rise behind her.

The moment she turned—

A man was there, descending from above, gripping another Babylon in both hands.

*****

[Reversal activates.]

Gremory said it. The only thing in this place that wasn’t trivial was Babylon.

Hyunsoo—who had been blown away—descended from above, gripping another Babylon in both hands.

“I’ll ask you.”

“.......”

Gremory’s once-relaxed expression was twisting.

She remembered it.

The only thing that isn’t trivial is a single Babylon.

The words she herself had spat out.

And that bug she’d dismissed as worthless, hair soaked in blood.

For an instant, like a Sword King, he spilled killing intent—wearing a brown coat, lips twisting as he stared down the Transcendent species Gremory.

“I made Babylon. So what am I?”

“......!!!?!?!?!”

Gremory’s head went pure white.

[Overwhelm]

Something happened for the first time.

Gremory—the demon who had scorned humanity all her life—was engulfed by a mere human.

That was—

[You are afflicted with the Fear status ailment.]

[You are afflicted with the Fear status ailment.]

[You are afflicted with the Panic status ailment.]

The first status ailments ever inflicted on a demon because it was overwhelmed by a human’s killing intent.

And it wasn’t fear of the Babylon being swung.

[It will extinguish any evil!]

It was fear of the human who had forged it.