Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyunsoo’s condition when he woke up was at its best.

Through breaking news, broadcasts, and all kinds of channels, he quickly put together the current situation.

Goyard will inevitably fall.

After thinking through countless angles, he managed to find a way to twist it.

When Hyunsoo logged into Ares, a notification rang out.

[Sudden Quest: Kingdom of Goyard is created.]

The crisis spelled out in raw detail inside the quest—Barad’s crisis—made him clench his fist hard.

But he calmed down right after.

There were 44,000 Blood Ghoul Corps left.

And the scariest part about them was their commander-class officers.

Their average level is 450...... insane.

Each one of them was on the level of a Sword Duke like Roman or Lysen.

Which only meant one thing: the China server was overflowing with talent.

But the moment he looked at the person in front of him, he realized.

Just like they can take on more than twenty knights.

That “person” was staring at him with a curt, What are you looking at? face.

Luxiu can take on more than twenty commanders too.

The problem was whether Luxiu would actually participate in this war.

Hyunsoo explained the situation.

“I don’t want to. I’m sick of fighting.”

Unfortunately, Luxiu looked utterly disgusted.

Fair enough.

Luxiu had been sliding into demonization for a long time.

And after finally becoming human, it was war right away?

Of course, if Luxiu had gotten to rest long enough in Atlas—and gotten bored—the answer might’ve been different.

But right now, Hyunsoo was essentially saying:

Now that Luxiu had become his subordinate, Luxiu should risk Luxiu’s life and lead the war to victory.

“Just give me a map of Atlas. I’ll go there alone. Still... I’ll keep wishing you win.”

That was Luxiu’s sincerity, in Luxiu’s own way.

Hyunsoo was, at least, Luxiu’s benefactor.

And Luxiu still had a lot Luxiu wanted to see from Hyunsoo, too.

Luxiu took the map, turned Luxiu’s back, and started walking away.

Watching Luxiu, Hyunsoo grew anxious.

Can the tide really change without Luxiu?

It might.

But he was sure it would be brutally difficult and exhausting.

A “magic phrase” he’d seen on social media suddenly floated up in his mind. Unsure whether it would work, Hyunsoo said it anyway.

“Scared?”

Luxiu didn’t even slow down.

Hyunsoo raked a hand through his hair.

There’s no way that works.

Then—

“Don’t tell me ‘scared’ is short for ‘are you scared?’”

“...?”

“Hah... how absurd.”

Luxiu snorted, then started beating the drum and rattling the gong all alone.

“Sure. They’re people from after my time. I guess it could look like I’m afraid to fight them.”

Luxiu nodded along, then said,

“I’m Luxiu—the one they called the Unbeaten Knight. I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to rest. But for you to see me that way.”

“...?”

“Commander-class? If they want to fight me, at minimum they’d need to be something like Parion’s commander.”

“...?”

“Hmph. You want to hide that you’ve got someone like me at your side.”

That part was true.

Luxiu was a powerhouse who would act in secret later in the Great Atlas War.

A hidden powerhouse was strength the enemy couldn’t predict.

“Fair enough. A subordinate stronger than the lord. Then let’s do this—I’ll enter as an unnamed knight and butcher every last one of them.”

Luxiu exhaled through Luxiu’s nose, gripping the Supreme Blade tight, confidence filling Luxiu’s face.

And Luxiu wanted to test it.

I’ll admit it. I got stronger thanks to that bastard lord.

How far this strength went.

“Let’s go.”

And Hyunsoo hadn’t just thrown out “Scared?” randomly.

Even if Luxiu’s loyalty was low, Luxiu being Hyunsoo’s subordinate was still a fact.

And because of that, Hyunsoo could grasp Luxiu’s baseline disposition.

The personality section was written like this:

“High self-esteem.”

“Likes the nickname ‘Unbeaten Knight.’”

“Once Luxiu commits to something, Luxiu gives it everything.”

Of course, that personality wasn’t a bad thing.

Having high self-esteem to match real strength was good.

And Luxiu had only recently returned to being human after despairing as a lesser demon.

If it had been Hyunsoo, what would he have done?

The target of vengeance was sealed, so he’d achieved part of the goal.

And if the king he served had thrown him away, he might’ve fallen into endless helplessness.

Hyunsoo had been worried about that, honestly.

But Luxiu was the kind of person who made it obvious why Luxiu had been called the Unbeaten Knight.

“My blood’s boiling.”

Luxiu held the Return Scroll to the capital that Hyunsoo had given Luxiu, wearing an impatient expression.

THUNK—!

Luxiu turned into light and vanished first, and Hyunsoo felt the greatness of “Scared?” all over again.

*****

The small force hitting the south gate is special.

Count Pere—leading 800 Blood Ghoul Corps—smiled.

The spies he’d planted in Goyard had analyzed the capital’s weak points and sent the report.

The south gate was farthest from the castle, and it was also where soldiers clustered most heavily during war.

So the south gate was both the sturdiest and the most careless.

Because the south gate’s troops have to keep sending support everywhere under the Blood Ghoul Corps’ overwhelming strength.

He used that.

He’d included around thirty exceptional knights with the south gate Blood Ghoul Corps.

They were knights stronger than the Blood Ghoul Corps.

They would carve into the south gate, infiltrate quickly, annihilate everything inside the walls, and bring down the royal family.

As Pere was sweeping away Goyard’s troops at the south gate, he suddenly spotted the light of a warp.

Huh?

Only two ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ men appeared, emerging with the light.

Tsk.

They had to face eight hundred soldiers with only two people.

There were plenty of outsiders showing up in this war, sure.

Pere almost pitied them.

And then, in just two seconds, it happened.

Rudal.

One of the best among the thirty knights.

An elite knight that reached Level 438.

He was already thrusting his sword into the chest of one of the two—someone dressed like a ragged beggar, worn down from years of wear.

Dead in two seconds?

Then—

“What the hell is this?”

SHRK-SHRK-SHRK—!

In a single slash, Knight Rudal’s sword—and Rudal’s body—were cut clean in half.

“...!?”

Pere froze.

The thirty knights sensed something wrong.

“Who are you?”

“You’re dressed like a beggar.”

Luxiu—just as the detailed description said—had high self-esteem, and once Luxiu did something, Luxiu did it with everything.

“Thirty swings will do.”

“...!?”

Meaning: one kill per strike.

Thirty knights.

Parion’s elite knights, from the nation of the Sword Emperor.

As the man walked through them, one slash sent a head flying—

SHIIING—!

A thrust pierced straight through a heart.

And—

GRIP—! GRIP—! GRIP—! GRIP—!

Strike after strike, knights dropped.

Normally, no matter how strong someone was, killing an enemy in a single blow wasn’t easy.

Only going for vital points?

Luxiu was minimizing Luxiu’s use of power.

Then, after killing all thirty knights in about a minute, Luxiu said,

“Boring, my lord. I’m going somewhere else.”

And Luxiu vanished like the wind.

“...?”

Pere was stunned.

Those had been men from a knight order.

And after killing them all in a minute, Luxiu called it boring?

Then Pere looked at the one left behind—the other man, flashy only on the surface.

Absurd monsters on the battlefield were extremely rare.

Pere decided to vent the hatred of losing thirty knights on that man instead.

“That damned bastard...!”

Then Pere froze again.

Slash—!

With one swing of a greatsword, three Blood Ghoul Corps were cut down.

W-What am I looking at right now?

Those who created “relative strength” on a battlefield were extremely rare.

In Goyard, only Barad existed anywhere near Level 500—and that one powerhouse was what held the kingdom up.

But Pere couldn’t believe what was in front of Pere’s eyes.

It isn’t Barad—so who the hell are they?

*****

Hyunsoo’s calculations were off.

[Vassal Luxiu has annihilated the 12th Knight Order.]

Luxiu was that strong? Who did I even end up keeping at my side?

He realized why that miscalculation happened.

Just a few days ago, it had taken everything they had to seal a single demon Gremory.

Gremory had been so strong that, by comparison, Luxiu had looked weak.

And Hyunsoo realized something else, too—another calculation that was off.

Slash—!

[A critical hit triggers.]

[You have defeated three Blood Ghoul Corps.]

With a single greatsword swing, three Blood Ghoul Corps were cleanly split in two.

It was a miscalculation about himself.

A user was different from an NPC.

An NPC’s overall strength was displayed as level—but a user’s level was displayed regardless of actual combat strength.

And the time he’d spent not showing himself in front of the public flashed through his mind.

He’d hunted dragons in Atlas.

Lucky Lump, Bahala, Arte, and Gremory’s blessing...

To Luxiu, the Unbeaten Knight, he had given Give me, your loyalty.

And then there was the massive level gain rate from hunting Gremory.

All of it combined—until he was wearing a Transcendent grade artifact called the Dagger of Desire around his neck.

[Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo Lv.399]

That was the displayed level—but the reality was nothing like it.

Hot.

Today, he could confirm what kind of existence he was.

[Blood Ghoul Corps Rok Lv.400]

Eight hundred Blood Ghoul Corps were staring at him.

“Kill the suspicious man blocking the south gate!”

The Blood Ghoul Corps had been trained not to feel fear—and trained to minimize pain.

And eight hundred Blood Ghoul Corps were the kind of force that could crush most territories without breaking a sweat.

The eight hundred surged at once, becoming the tactic: “tidal wave.”

A tidal wave—something that swallowed the enemy in an instant and swept them away.

And like water devouring everything, the Blood Ghoul Corps filled every gap, leaving no empty space.

They charged, packed tight with no openings—

And then the Blood Ghoul Corps, incapable of feeling fear, suddenly faltered.

KRA-KA-BOOOOM—!

With all his strength, Hyunsoo dragged the Twin Dragon Sword through in a single slash, and the tidal wave collapsed.

With the second slash, ten Blood Ghoul Corps were swept away.

“Gather.”

They were already packed together—so compressing them even more was easy.

350 Blood Ghoul Corps were compressed into a single mass.

Controlled by the lord’s command, unable to move.

[One Strike, Two Halves.]

[Cutting power is maximized to 641% and slices horizontally across a 5m radius.]

SHIIING—!

With the third slash, over 300 Blood Ghoul Corps scattered into gray dust.

“W-What... what is that monster...!?”

Count Pere’s body trembled.

Beyond the shattered, scattered tidal wave, Hyunsoo strode forward—exultant.

When he made the Twin Dragon Sword, he’d infused it with many powers by drawing from the Supreme Blade.

“Gather” being an upgraded version of Pull was proof enough.

And there was another one.

[One more time.]

With the Supreme Blade, “One more time” could trigger at a high 40% rate—but it had a restriction.

The restriction was: your HP had to be below 10% for the 40% trigger chance.

But that restriction was gone now—replaced by a lower probability.

[Activates at a 6% probability.]

[You use the most recently used skill one more time.]

Since it was “recent,” it might be incredible—or it might not.

And besides, Gather and One Strike, Two Halves were part of the process of the skill [Link.]

Hyunsoo, wearing a brown coat, looked at Pere—and Pere doubted Pere’s ears.

“One more time.”

“...!?”

That monstrous power from just before came again.

Out of the 500 survivors, around 350 were compressed together one more time.

And the Blood Ghoul Corps—trained to know nothing but killing—felt a new shock under overwhelming strength and suppression.

“U-Uheeek!”

“Hiiiiiik!”

“Monster!”

[One Strike, Two Halves]

With only the fourth slash, 300 Blood Ghoul Corps scattered.

And as Hyunsoo stepped over the ash again, a massive pressure surged out of Hyunsoo. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It was the dignity of someone destined to become king.

The bearing of a relative powerhouse—someone whose presence on a battlefield made everyone afraid.

[Overwhelm]

Raised Overwhelm, plus the perfect situation, sparked fear.

“...L-Legs, move!”

“You piece of shit!”

Ghosts bred for one purpose: to kill people.

Those ghosts couldn’t even move.

Fifth slash. Sixth slash. Seventh slash......

By the thirteenth slash, they were wiped out.

“......”

Pere was speechless.

Hyunsoo had crushed eight hundred Blood Ghoul Corps and arrived right in front of Pere.

But Pere decided to think differently.

No matter how incredible—one powerhouse, no, two—had crashed into the battle, there were still 40,000 Blood Ghoul Corps left.

Human wave tactics.

Pere believed that alone would force the man in front of Pere to kneel.

Then the next words made Pere cancel that thought.

“Oh, I didn’t even get hit once.”

“...!?”

Pere pissed himself.

Thoroughly. Soaking wet.