Genius Blacksmith's Game

“By then, I’ll be a king.”

It felt like a king’s decree. Gremory could feel it.

The words he’d spat out a moment ago—and the face that said he wasn’t afraid because of them.

It wasn’t arrogance.

It was certainty.

A king...?

That word dragged up memories even demons had avoided—kings of the past.

Not kings as such.

Kings with special epithets.

Overlords who had never lost, even to demons.

Tyrants who had stormed into the Demon Realm and rampaged like lunatics.

And during the Human-Demon War—

A human king once unified an entire continent.

His subordinates were made up of the finest humans alive.

And the demon Agares, who had meant to invade the human realm with the millions who followed behind him, felt fear.

In the end, that king succeeded in driving demon Agares and the legion back.

A “king” wasn’t, by itself, something a demon feared.

What demons feared were the exceptional kings—those with names that carried weight.

And now—

The holy aura flowing from the Twin Dragon Sword drawn back behind him.

He saved the Ares Church and received the right to wield good.

As if echoing that story, it flowed out of Hyunsoo.

[Saint’s aura flows.]

The world around Gremory went quiet.

It felt like every sound had been cut off—like everything had turned to slow motion.

Her gaze caught Kabel, Bahala, Luxiu charging at her.

He had few under him, but he had gathered the strongest of humanity.

Someone who will become the Holy Lord...?

Gremory’s eyes slid back to Hyunsoo’s back again.

To the back of the blacksmith—no, the man who would become king—floating in the sky.

And a projection appeared behind him: a million-strong army, ready to welcome Gremory and her legion when she awoke from sealing two years from now.

The reason he didn’t fear her.

Right now, he was stepping onto the path of a king.

Gremory’s mind went white.

My sealing...

Would gather even more allies to his side.

My spoils...

Would make his vassals stronger.

And two years...

Was a short time—but for a man with infinite possibility, it was more than enough time to sit on a throne.

The hearing that had been blocked finally snapped open—FWOOSH—

[The sword’s cry]

Hundreds of unprecedented, strongest blades crashed down on her.

Even here, even now—Hyunsoo was still the weakest one in this place.

KABABABABABABABABABAM—!

But that damage was no less than theirs.

Because through the Twin Dragon Sword’s profound principle, her artifacts had already been smashed to pieces.

“KYAAAAAA—!”

The demon was swept up by the blades, and the final inscription burning into the Twin Dragon Sword announced the situation.

[Blood Stains Mountains and Rivers.]

The demon’s blood dyed the world.

The end of demon hunting was closing in.

*****

[Gremory’s HP drops below 17%.]

Thirteen percent deleted. A triumph Hyunsoo had carved out.

But the situation wasn’t good.

Hyunsoo’s HP was at 44%.

Kabel and Bahala were below 15%.

And Luxiu was at 28%, but slowed by status ailment: Burn; their movement was duller than usual, while their attack and defense had surged by a wide margin.

[KkakkaoTalk chat room]

[Hyunsoo: I’ll take the front.]

He gave the order to Bahala and Kabel as they closed the distance at speed.

Unlike them, if Hyunsoo’s HP dropped below 10%, he could manifest Anium’s power and avoid forced logout.

Then—

[Kaire’s Power.]

From Gremory’s battered body, thick demonic energy went berserk.

Kaire.

He was the current First Legion Commander. Unusually, Kaire served as a priest within the legion.

His authority was buffs.

Gremory had been borrowing legion commanders’ trait powers and only producing 70% effectiveness. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

[For 1 minute, you can draw 100% of every legion commander’s power and use it.]

[The time you can use a legion commander’s power is cut in half!]

Even the minimal cooldown was reset.

Gremory’s eyes flew wide.

“Die before you become a king.”

If Gremory won here, the entire path for Hyunsoo to become king would collapse from the start.

And with him—

Without a beat, it triggered again.

[Azaka’s Power]

The four party members who had been charging faltered.

Right now, Gremory alone was already too much for them.

Azaka was the legion commander who commanded the greatest number of demonfolk.

Two hundred demonfolk came into view, blocking Gremory’s front and charging like mad.

Left: Bahala. Right: Asura. Above: Luxiu.

And straight ahead—Hyunsoo.

He knew it.

The other three could break through the demonfolk.

But Hyunsoo, as he was now, wouldn’t have it easy.

It wasn’t a matter of raw strength.

Like the world judged him, Hyunsoo wasn’t someone with god-tier control like Kabel, Asura, or Luxiu.

What he had was stubbornness, reckless bravado, and willpower.

Feeling the other three collide, Hyunsoo fixed his eyes on Gremory.

His blood boiled.

And the situation wasn’t only bad.

When he’d first encountered her, there had been no black light flowing.

Meaning there had been no materials Skill ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) Collection could obtain.

But not now.

[Transcendent grade. You can acquire Gremory’s horns.]

[Transcendent grade. You can acquire Gremory’s wing bones.]

[Transcendent grade. You can acquire Gremory’s blood......]

The most valuable materials in the Second Ares shone from her.

Like this, she was the existence that would build Hyunsoo’s greatest growth.

And Hyunsoo—who had been full of nothing but stubbornness, reckless bravado, and willpower—had spent only a few months inside Atlas.

But after logging out, his life wasn’t like everyone else’s.

Before sleep, every day, he trained by imagining for more than two hours.

Sometimes imagination becomes reality.

He had accepted Sword King Barad’s teaching.

And now, he could feel it: if Hyunsoo collapsed, the whole party collapsed.

With seventy demonfolk charging at him, Hyunsoo took a brief, deep breath.

“Hoooo...”

Then he made the training in his imagination real.

[Even if I break]

Hyunsoo fixed his eyes on nothing but the present and started cutting through the demonfolk.

He stabbed, cut, took a step back, then kicked off the ground and charged.

After swinging like a madman, Hyunsoo was closing in on Gremory at speed.

Watching him—Kabel and Bahala—

When did he grow like this?

He’s insane... his growth is too fast.

They marveled.

“KYAHAHA!”

The moment all four arrived, Gremory unleashed her power as if she’d been waiting.

She, too, sensed this would be the last battle.

So she borrowed the power of Rusper—the one legion commander among the twenty-two whose power guaranteed 100% hits.

[Rusper’s Power]

Legion Commander Rusper’s power lay in this: greatswords that shot out fast from within a single space, striking enemies in proportion to the number of targets.

Even legion commanders acknowledged the lethality of these greatswords.

RIIIP—!

In an instant, four greatswords, summoned from a space that had just opened, thrust in unison—aiming for the abdomens of all four.

Gremory thrilled.

The party members stiffened.

If we take that head-on...

We get forced logout.

Bahala and Kabel’s remaining HP was low.

But as if the system itself could feel their will to win—

VMMMMMM—!

The Transcendent-above-Transcendent-grade Dagger of Desire hanging at Hyunsoo’s neck burst black light.

The power contained within the Dagger of Desire.

[Emergency Saving]

[With a 2% chance, it stores the trait used by the enemy and returns it, producing 70% effectiveness.]

The greatswords reaching for the four scattered like a mirage—

[Rusper’s Power]

Hyunsoo gripped the necklace and thrust his hand forward, and in the space in front of Gremory, a greatsword shot out and stabbed.

THUNK—!

[Gremory’s HP drops below 12%.]

“KYAHK!?”

She panicked.

Was this luck?

No. It was possible because Hyunsoo had created an irrational weapon called the Dagger of Desire.

And Gremory’s face went pale.

That strike had dealt lethal damage—and it had created a sliver of an opening.

With Hyunsoo at the center—left, right, sky.

The four strongest humans surrounded Gremory.

This was the first time.

The first time Gremory had been this close to all four.

And the other three had no intention of letting the opening Hyunsoo created go.

This time, Hyunsoo had taken command—

And there was a power he had intended to trigger together with this opening.

It was called a time chain.

A time chain meant the power to move multiple times within a split-second of time.

“Asura’s fast blade.”

“Sword God’s ascent.”

“The demon’s movement.”

“Ghost Step.”

Four ghosts walked—to seal a demon.

Only one to three seconds of time passing.

SHRK-SHRK-SHRK—

KRRRRAK—

THUNK—!

KRAAASH—!

[Gremory’s HP drops below 7%......]

[Gremory’s HP drops below 5%......]

Under an onslaught she couldn’t even respond to, Gremory couldn’t even scream.

And with her body rapidly pushed into fatal wounds, she feared sealing.

But—

[Gremory’s HP drops below 2%.]

When the four-person time chain ended, Gremory barely managed to survive.

[Galbert’s Power]

She made one choice.

Galbert was the one who created a shockwave that could shake huge armies within a radius of 2 kilometers.

FWOOM—!

A massive shockwave surged out, restraining the four humans so they couldn’t move for a moment—

FLAP—!

The demon, carrying transcendent power, spread her wings and flew to escape at an irrational speed.

The owner of this prison was Gremory to begin with.

The moment she tore open the ceiling and shot upward at the speed of light, relief curving on her face—

Tuk—

“...?”

A single arrow flew in and tapped her.

No damage.

Just a tap.

Hyunsoo opened his mouth.

“The end.”

“???”

Still wearing that baffled look, Gremory dropped—like she’d been strapped to a ten-ton weight.

FWOOM—!

And the four who had been waiting for her—

Not one of them missed by even a hair as they cut upward with their blades.

SHIIING—!

CLANG—!

As Gremory hit the ground, her eyes captured one man for the very last time.

Hyunsoo.

[Gremory’s HP becomes 0.]

The four couldn’t loosen their tension.

A Transcendent-species demon was an existence that could produce variables no one could predict.

And even if they succeeded at hunting, no one could yet guess what kind of enormous reward it would grant.

Without realizing it, they fell silent, staring at Gremory slammed into the earth.

At that moment—

They weren’t the only ones swallowing dryly as they watched.

CEO Lee Sejin sprang to his feet.

“...It really happened?”

Even seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.

So he couldn’t be certain.

He only knew.

If this was truly real, enormous changes would come to users’ Ares.

And somewhere else—

The branch heads could feel it too.

John, the U.S. branch head, watched the screen with shaking eyes.

Gremory pinned into the ground, and the four strongest surrounding her.

“To users... it may suggest that nothing is impossible, and it might even be proven to the entire world?”

Every branch head knew it.

Every branch head stared at the screen in silence—still unwilling to believe—when a single notification arrived.

The moment they faced it, every branch head felt every hair on their body stand on end.

Back to the present.

The four still couldn’t quite make it feel real.

Bahala—new awakening.

Asura—protecting what they meant to protect.

Luxiu—one hundred years of revenge.

And Hyunsoo—hearing the story that would prove the path of absurd growth.

That story became proof called a world message, spreading across the entire world.

And that notification, that proof, made the world—and them—marvel as it announced they had succeeded at sealing.

[The first transcendence collapses.]

Their legend struck the world.

*****

Amid the endless notifications, Hyunsoo felt one regret.

The black light he’d seen through Skill Collection, and the materials he could have obtained.

But in the end, it was probabilistic acquisition—so he couldn’t obtain anything through collection.

As he sank into that regret, Hyunsoo was flustered by the flood of notifications—then heard it clearly.

Why didn’t I know this?

When users hunted a Legendary monster, they expected a “legendary artifact.”

And Gremory was a Transcendent species.

Something buried among the notifications—

One thing—blew away his regret over the collection that hadn’t triggered.

[You acquire Gremory’s Ring.]

Transcendent grade artifact...!

It was a moment of insane loot.