Genius Blacksmith's Game

Before Bahala began the attack, they exchanged small glances.

Something everyone here knew.

The moment even a single summoned beast over level 500 appears, sealing fails.

And when it was summoned, it would be with a high probability—right when Gremory felt she was in danger.

And Hell Path was clearly a threat to her.

Watching them fall into their private space, Hyunsoo prepared Absolute Domination.

The moment Hell Path scattered, a calamity aura wrapped around the one-headed Cerberus.

The summon’s level is higher than I thought.

Cold sweat nearly ran down his face.

If Hyunsoo didn’t have Absolute Domination, they would’ve had to face both the demon and the Cerberus—and they would have been wiped out.

But that strong power became our power.

[Cerberus’s Teeth]

[Cerberus’s bite force rises exponentially.]

Black demonic energy spread from Cerberus’s mouth as its trait took effect.

[Cerberus’s bite force increases to 6 times its usual value!]

A human produces about 50 kg of bite force, and even an ordinary wolf is four times that at 184 kg.

And Cerberus’s sharp teeth could originally injure even dragon hide.

Now it produced ten tons of force as it shoved Gremory into its mouth and chewed.

KRAAASH—!

A Transcendent species’ body warped.

Gremory had allowed Bahala three attacks and taken only 4% HP damage.

Then, weakened inside Asura’s Hell Path, she’d taken Blink and sixteen stabs, losing 10% HP.

With 12% HP remaining, she had regenerated 2%.

But now—

[Gremory’s HP drops below 4%.]

Ten percent of her HP was deleted.

“How is it, getting bitten by the dog you raised?”

Her mind went white.

The one with the most pathetic combat power.

And yet, just like he’d caused the anomaly of deleting 80% of her HP with Babylon—

With a single successful attack, he produced damage on the level of the Sword God’s descendant and Asura.

And Hyunsoo held rage and hatred toward her.

She had tried to destroy Atlas for fun, and she had tried to make him her vassal.

RIIIP—!

The Cerberus’s upper and lower jaws spread wide again while it held Gremory in its mouth.

Just as it was about to chew again—

“Unsummon.”

The party had achieved its initial objective and seen a possibility that sealing could succeed.

But that possibility collapsed in a single second.

Gremory, with less than 4% HP remaining.

People say demons are generally beautiful, handsome.

That’s only the impression of those who have seen the shell.

When they shed the shell and become a true demon, their true form is bizarre and grotesque.

[Demonization progresses.]

[You cannot approach.]

FWOOM—!

All four were flung back at once.

“Tch...!”

“Ugh...!”

Her shell melted away, and the true form of Gremory emerged from inside.

The fact she walked on two legs didn’t change.

And neither did the alluring female upper body.

But her lower body became black camel legs, and against that long neck, a massive camel face revealed itself.

[Gremory reveals her true form while taking on risk.]

[Demonization in the surface world receives a penalty.]

[If sealed, the sealing period increases from 6 months to 2 years.]

[She can no longer regenerate.]

[All attack power increases drastically.]

[She has been borrowing only 50% of the legion commanders’ trait powers.]

[It is increased so she can produce 70% effectiveness.]

She could no longer regenerate, and the sealing period would increase.

Even for a demon, an increased sealing period was a major blow.

Because during that time, other demons would reorganize the hierarchy.

And yet she took the risk anyway.

Even for Gremory, the legion commanders’ powers she could use while wearing a shell were limited.

In barely a minute, she had already used two, and she had reached the brink of sealing.

But demonization partially lifted that usage limit.

The Second Legion Commander’s trait.

[Krut’s Power]

[Instantly restores all HP to 50%.]

Her injured body recovered rapidly.

Even if she could no longer regenerate, having 50% HP alone scattered every trace of anxiety.

“Haaaah....”

A demon’s noise-laced breathing.

It sounded refreshing, like someone stepping out of a shower—yet it only felt nauseating.

[Demon Gremory’s level is being updated.]

Ding!

[Demon Gremory Lv.636]

About thirty levels.

But it was also an absurd increase.

Strength was relative. And among peers, thirty levels was enough to be dangerous.

For the relatively weaker, thirty levels became an unreachable wall.

Of course—

[Sudden Quest: Sealing reward is upgraded.]

The raid reward would be better if they succeeded.

But—

ZZZZT—!

Flinch—!

The three who faced her changed form reacted on their own.

They felt it in their bodies: she was far more dangerous than before.

Just as the four of them were about to move into position—

[Kassandra’s Power]

Now wielding legion commander authority without restraint, she unleashed it.

Kassandra.

A legion commander of the black mage line, with power on the level of a human grand mage.

Hellfire surged beneath all four of their feet at once. It was clearly dangerous.

[Sword God’s Shield]

[Asura’s Blood Armor]

Bahala and Kabel instantly manifested powers that raised their defense exponentially.

FWOOM—!

All four were swallowed by an explosion.

[HP drops below 45%.]

Hyunsoo was stunned by the absurd attack power. And Hyunsoo saw Kabel and Bahala’s HP drop below 20%.

[Hellfire spreads to you.]

[If you try to move for 10 seconds, it will inflict greater harm.]

Flung back, Hyunsoo watched the continuous damage tick.

A trace of fear rose in Hyunsoo.

If they truly failed sealing here, everything would collapse.

But if he tried to move, greater hellfire would gnaw at him—he couldn’t move.

We have to wait for it to go out on its own.

But Gremory wouldn’t spare them.

Bahala and Kabel also stopped moving.

If they moved, they’d be forced into a logout.

In that no-way-forward-no-way-back situation—

FWOOM—!

There was one man who ignored the hellfire spreading even more.

“Didn’t I say I’d take the front.”

THUNK—!

In one motion, he pierced Gremory’s heart.

His name was Luxiu.

[If you move, hellfire will spread more greatly.]

Gremory’s eyes went wide.

Hellfire didn’t just deal massive damage—it came with absurd pain.

Two times, three times worse than burning in normal fire.

And the greatest pain humans felt was fire.

But Luxiu was someone who had waited for today.

Luxiu’s encounter with Hyunsoo. The sword Hyunsoo put in Luxiu’s hand.

And the foundation Luxiu had built each time the brainwashing loosened.

Every time the brainwashing loosened, Luxiu refined and repeated a single swing, forcing it into himself.

More than a hundred years.

A power practiced in endless repetition.

The number was beyond counting, but it was over four million times.

One motion aged by four million repetitions.

Gremory’s eyes widened.

She sensed it.

Flare—!

“GREMOORYYYYY!”

Even as hair and eyebrows burned away, the one who had been a lesser demon burned with fighting spirit and pride.

This single swing would be far more dangerous than she expected.

In that moment, she became cunning.

[Kaide’s Power]

Through legion commander authority, she crossed space.

But she was wrong.

Kuhoooooo—!

From Supreme Blade in the hands of Luxiu—the one who had been a lesser demon—demonic energy rampaged.

It stirred the will to cut the enemy even if it meant dying.

“Pull.”

With the power dwelling in Supreme Blade, he dragged her in.

“......SKREEEEEE—!?”

Even ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) from her true demonized form, a flustered scream burst out of her.

And at last, the single sword strike containing four million repetitions—dragged behind her back—came down.

“Demon Splitter.”

For a moment, silence shattered.

SHRK—!

With a crisp slicing sound, her body was cut on the diagonal.

The wall behind her collapsed, and at last Demon Gremory’s knees buckled.

THUD—!

A moment where someone who had been nothing but a lesser demon forced a true demon to kneel.

[Gremory’s HP drops below 30%.]

Twenty percent of her HP was deleted, and Gremory was shaken—

And the sword of the era-leading one, more ghostlike than Asura and more refined than the Sword God, drew back.

“St-stop...!”

For the first time in her life, the demon fell into instinctive fear and spat out a trembling voice.

Not because of the damage.

Flash—!

But because the lesser demon’s eyes—determined to kill her no matter what—felt like terror.

As that sword was about to swing at her neck—

Thud—

Gremory relaxed.

[Luxiu’s HP drops below 30%.]

Luxiu’s entire body was turning black, and as a status ailment took hold, Luxiu lost strength and collapsed.

Gremory was in true demonized state.

Still shaken, she looked down at Luxiu—who had ultimately collapsed without cutting her—and thought this.

Just now, the human named Luxiu had created a variable.

No one could move inside that hellfire.

So she set arrogance aside and used a power to observe the current situation.

[Berisa’s Power]

Berisa.

The Fourteenth Legion Commander, who possessed “Berisa’s Eye,” a power that could grasp the current situation.

Berisa’s Eye settled into Gremory’s gaze, scanning everywhere, giving her clairvoyant sight.

Clairvoyance that let her see the possibility: if they succeeded with every attack they currently could against her—could they kill her?

Seeing it through Berisa’s Eye, Gremory fell into rapture.

“I have... seen.”

She grabbed the kneeling Luxiu’s head with both hands.

GRIP—!

“Even if you succeed with every attack, you cannot kill me.”

Berisa was called the legion commander of measurement.

In truth, Berisa’s Eye was similar to the system.

It gave an accurate analysis like the system.

Even if they succeeded at everything, they would still be short by 4%, 5%, 10%—and fail to seal her.

All fear forgotten through that result, Gremory put strength into both hands.

GRIIIND—!

“Even if you struggle, nothing changes.”

The more strength she poured in, the more blood ran from Luxiu’s eyes and nose.

Just as he was about to burst like a tomato—

Swooom—!

The dagger of Asura, who had bought time thanks to Luxiu, flew in and sank into her chest.

THUNK—!

The dagger didn’t carry a huge impact, but she felt her consciousness go hazy.

[Killing Wraith’s Puppet.]

[Depending on the target, it controls the enemy for as short as 3 seconds and as long as 3 minutes.]

It was Asura’s brainwashing technique.

Gremory burst into laughter.

“How ridiculous!”

The time Asura’s control could brainwash and command Gremory was only three seconds.

Three seconds.

Even if everyone landed a blow in that short time, she wouldn’t die.

And what could they even do in those three seconds?

Then, falling into complete mental domination for three seconds, Gremory sank into a brief darkness.

Like a human under general anesthesia.

When three seconds passed and she broke free of the brainwashing—

She faced an unexpected situation, and the man before her—Hyunsoo—made her flustered.

Staring her down, he spoke.

“You shouldn’t lay down a definition like ‘absolute.’ Possibilities are something you make.”

She was shaken.

Freed from brainwashing, she was doing something strange.

My hand...?

She was gripping the man’s hand tightly.

And the man’s blurred voice from within the brainwashing moment began to surface in her mind.

The man who had taken her hand had said this, clearly.

“Give me your blessing.”

In that instant, Gremory’s eyes widened.

A Transcendent species that no one in the surface world had ever experienced.

A massive aura blasted off Hyunsoo’s body as coat and hair whipped in the wind.

And the man who had used her—a Transcendent species.

Using her, he was overcoming limits and growing monstrously stronger.