Genius Blacksmith's Game

Lee Sejin spoke about the record of history.

“A record of history announces that a story is beginning.”

“And a record of history could be manufactured arbitrarily, but the odds of that are extremely slim.”

A representative example would be the Folklore Stone.

“What’s certain is that a record of history will act either as the start of a certain path, or as a highlight of what’s happening right now—something that will be passed down for generations somewhere.”

A reporter asked.

“What are the exact activation conditions?”

The number of users etched into the record of history was so small you could count them on ten fingers.

That made people wonder.

What kind of conditions could possibly trigger it?

“If you think about our country’s folklore, it’s easy. Like how King Sejong completed the Hunminjeongeum, or how Admiral Yi Sun-sin protected the sea time and time again and left a historical record—one could say it begins with something created by an outstanding someone who leads their era. Beyond that, it can also be heard due to various things the System acknowledges, so we can’t say you can hear it for any reason with one hundred percent certainty.”

It was vague.

But Lee Sejin gave one clear example.

“Probably, if the first king is ever born among users, then I think you’ll definitely hear it.”

In other words, a record of history was not something that came easily.

And yet, such a record had erupted.

Hyunsoo was curious why history was being etched right now.

If the conditions were that finicky, then what, exactly, had triggered it?

[It is recorded from a forsaken knight and a worthless lord.]

Luxiu had undergone countless shifts in his heart.

When he smashed through the gate and crossed over, he threw out dozens of questions.

Why, for me...?

Am I worth that?

Is it because of yesterday’s humiliation?

And realistically, it was hard to believe he could even make it here.

“Friends, I called you.”

Luxiu knew. They were called friends, but to gather them, Hyunsoo must have handed over a great deal.

He couldn’t understand it.

Not long ago, Hyunsoo had asked Luxiu—

Can you join the Great Atlas War? I need your strength, Luxiu.

No.

He’d refused bluntly.

First, because he knew he would be leaving soon. Second, because back then Luxiu was mentally exhausted.

He understood, at least a little, Hyunsoo’s stubborn insistence.

As a lord doing everything he could to protect his territory, Hyunsoo had been showing Luxiu his true appearance.

But Luxiu couldn’t tell him his circumstances, and only spoke what he was feeling.

...Darkness.

...

Despair, sorrow, pain, rage, fear, frustration...

...

Those are the words that describe me right now.

He’d simply passed by Hyunsoo, who’d been left speechless.

Even though he’d been that harsh, Hyunsoo still came all the way here.

And Luxiu’s change didn’t happen only there.

Luxiu saw it.

Captain Sun.

“Sir Luxiu!”

There had been a kid named Sun who loved swinging a wooden sword.

A child who’d idolized him, who’d said he’d become like him, who’d grown fast and become a knight.

That knight looked at Luxiu with tears of blood and swung his blade at Hyunsoo.

He saw other knights.

“Sir Luxiu....”

“Siiir Luxiuuu!”

“Please—give us rest...!”

“Grant us rest!!!”

He could feel it: this was a life they’d never wanted.

The Blood King had said it with his own mouth.

Die after being absorbed into him, or live by becoming demonkin.

Those who had lived for over a hundred years after being handed two insane choices.

Those who had watched the population of the Kingdom of Enya slowly dwindle, unable even to age.

Even if they chose becoming demonkin out of fear of immediate death, they regretted it, and regretted it again.

To them, cutting down Hyunsoo felt like cutting down Luxiu himself.

Hundreds of children who used to charge at him with wooden swords, delighted—now grown into proper knights, praying for an end to their lives.

So he would raise his sword, and take a new lord into his heart. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Through reasons tangled and layered in countless ways.

And the biggest reason of all was this—because of what Hyunsoo had said to him, back when Luxiu had said there was nothing but darkness and despair and walked away.

Light, hope, rapture, joy, laughter...

When Luxiu turned back with a baffled expression, Hyunsoo had scratched the back of his head, awkward and embarrassed...

I’m going to give you those. I swear I will.

[He was a knight whose heart was harder to win than any knight in the world.]

[However, the sincere heart shown by a worthless lord makes him take a new one into his heart.]

The reason the record of history had begun was revealed.

A narrative that begins from some scene, some historical situation, or something great.

[An unbroken knight takes a new king into his heart.]

It was the announcement that the prologue had risen for the story of someone who might one day become king—and the strongest knight who chose to follow him.

[It is recorded in history.]

And on the first page of that record, he cuts.

SHRRRKK—!

Unlike the king who used him and discarded him, for the sake of the man who gathered friends—over just one insignificant me—and tore his way all the way in here.

He cuts the Blood King, whom he had served only in a single battle, once.

Then he grips the sword with both hands and cuts again.

“KHUAAAAGH!”

He leaves behind the man who vomits blood in a gush.

He sprints—so he can protect the king he must now serve.

But he asks himself.

Can I win—against that Blood King and that many knights?

And as the Blood King rages, spraying streams of blood, their strength swells even further.

“Luxiuuuuu—things will not go the way you want!”

[Command of the Blood King]

[Demonkin become 25% stronger.]

[Captain Sun’s level is updated!]

[Captain Sun Lv.525]

[Knight Rang’s level is updated.]

[Knight Rang Lv.476]

[As a penalty from berserk, they begin to forget themselves, and human emotions begin to be erased.]

“Because of you, they lose everything they have as humans!”

It gouges into his chest.

They become stronger, but in exchange, they start to forget the one they idolized.

They forget the joys of life, rapture, happiness, rage, sorrow, pain.

With eyes rolling back, Sun shouted.

“...Cut me down. Please—cut me down, the knight I idolized, the knight I loved!!”

Under that screaming wail, Luxiu’s heart pumps as he runs.

He sees the hallucination of hundreds of children who once cheered around him.

I will cut you down.

A reason is born—why he must cut them down.

But as he is now, he is too weak to cut them down.

A seedling who hasn’t been free of the demon state for long.

As he is now, the power to grant them rest...

“Luxiu!”

In that gap, everything clears—because of the new lord buried in the fray.

WHIRRRR—!

A greatsword Hyunsoo pulled from his inventory and threw.

That greatsword is caught and gripped hard in Luxiu’s hand.

At his original level.

[Luxiu’s level is updated.]

[Luxiu Lv.487]

He feels the lack, once again.

In this moment, without either of them needing to say it, Hyunsoo and Luxiu were connected.

The instant he saw Hyunsoo slowly nod.

A massive awakening energy that gets drawn into the Twin Dragon Sword.

I’m curious, Luxiu.

A being with the astonishing potential stat of 165.

A man once called the Undefeated Knight—the greatest among millions of knights.

How much power would that knight display, if he embraced his original strength?

It is revealed.

[Awaken.]

KWAHHHHHHHANG—!

A brutal light erupts from Luxiu.

[A knight who never once tasted defeat awakens.]

Ding!

His status window changes.

[Undefeated Knight Luxiu Lv.538]

Hyunsoo’s eyes go wide.

It isn’t just because he’s passed 500.

Named and unnamed— even at the same level, the difference in strength exists on a different plane.

The Undefeated Knight was the NPC among named NPCs.

And Luxiu, unexpectedly, was a talentless seedling.

Because he knew, innately, that he must protect someone, he was a dullard who trained only to protect someone.

When others practiced once, he practiced ten times—and became strong.

The power of the Undefeated Knight—power even Hyunsoo couldn’t see—reveals itself.

“KHUOOOOOOOO!”

“KHUYAAAAAA!”

“KHUAAAAAAAGH!”

Watching hundreds of wooden swords—children—rush him, having lost all reason, Luxiu gives a small smile, the same one he wore back then when he used to look at them.

“...Go to sleep now.”

The Twin Dragon Sword rises, set perfectly vertical.

“Dawn.”

Between the darkness covering the world, his sword becomes the sun, slowly rising.

And as the sun’s light begins to spread, little by little—

KRRRRRUMBLE—!

Hundreds of sword lights shoot out from his blade, butchering and cutting down every knight in front of him.

Drip. Drip—

Before blood, tears run from Luxiu’s eyes.

The expressions on the faces of those hundreds of knights who had been shrieking are different.

Their black skin returns to human skin.

Even as blood bursts from their bodies like fountains, every one of them wears a peaceful expression as they see the “idol” they once had.

“...Please don’t cry, my idol.”

Sun smiles brightly, tilting backward as he falls.

“....”

His chest burns and aches.

At the fact that he is cutting down and killing—by his own hand—those he cherished and loved.

But the new lord tells him the truth.

“It’s not death.”

When Luxiu looks to the side, Hyunsoo is there.

Hyunsoo speaks with a subtle smile.

“I opened a path they can choose.”

Luxiu’s eyes shake.

Hyunsoo, a user, knew a fact Luxiu didn’t—because he was an NPC.

He quickly relays part of the Hidden Quest: Purification.

Those who met death can awaken again as humans, and they can choose—whether to sink into eternal rest, or to keep living.

“...Is that so.”

Luxiu grips his sword tight.

Beyond ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the purified knights, he can see the endless tide of the Kingdom of Enya’s army pushing in.

Tap. Tap—

With Hyunsoo’s light pats on his shoulder, his heart feels unburdened.

And with the thought that he must purify even more, Luxiu moves his feet.

Behind him, one massive power gives chase.

“You... you dare... you dare bite me!?”

The Blood King’s eyes blaze, veins bulging red with rage.

The source of his power is, for the most part, blood.

The blood of the knights Luxiu cut gathers in one place, forming a sphere.

[Blood Festival]

[A blood explosion that covers a 60m radius occurs.]

Before detonating it, he throws a blood dagger honed razor-sharp.

THWUMP—!

A blood dagger is clearly embedded in Luxiu’s back, but he doesn’t even look behind him.

He exits through the door without a care.

“.......”

The Blood King’s eyes waver.

He understands why Luxiu didn’t look back.

Luxiu doesn’t even feel the Blood King’s face is worth looking at ever again.

“...I’ll kill you!”

The enormous Blood Festival finally begins to fall to the ground.

But before it can—

KWAANG—!

The sword of a worthless lord slams the Blood King into the wall.

[It fails to cast.]

The Blood King’s face twists with rage.

He shakes his head hard, regains his senses, and realizes.

A worthless lord—someone who couldn’t even open his mouth from fear. A lord too weak to face hundreds of thousands of troops and the Blood King.

“You’re fighting me.”

When he thinks that, a sneer leaks out.

Certainty settles in.

For him, seated upon the five thrones, Hyunsoo should be far too easy—

“...!?”

The Blood King, now fully conscious, freezes in confusion.

What is that?

He witnesses an unbelievable sight.

And Hyunsoo hears it, too.

[Hidden Quest: Purification changes.]

Ding!

[Linked Quest: Blood King is generated.]

[Linked Quest: Blood King]

Grade: SSS

Restriction: Those who fight the Blood King

Reward: Purification of the Kingdom of Enya

Penalty on failure: Death

Description: The fall of the Kingdom of Enya began with the Blood King.

If you kill the Blood King, all demonkin will be purified into humans.

Hyunsoo had wondered whether he could purify that many.

But the notice makes him feel that it’s possible.

And the Blood King was the one who had deemed Hyunsoo not even worth facing—then stabbed him in the solar plexus with contempt.

Hyunsoo had been waiting for this moment.

GRIP—!

He grips the Sain Sword of National Peace and Prosperity in his right hand.

GRIP—!

He grips Babylon—who annihilates everything that falls from the heavens—in his left hand.

[Artifacts are combined.]

An indescribably massive light erupts.

[All evil trembles!]

That evil would surely include even a great demon. Maybe it would even include the god of the Calamity Church.

A single sword becomes the form of a long greatsword, and on the flat of the blade, the words Sain Sword that Annihilates Evil are carved.

[It is a Transcendent-above-Transcendent grade!]

Hyunsoo drags the now vastly stronger Sain Sword that Annihilates Evil behind him, plants his foot, and loads power into his legs.

“Let’s end this.”

KUUUUUGGGG—!

[All evil is annihilated!]

The Blood King panics.

SHRRRKK—!

In a single strike, his body is being cut clean into two halves.

The wretched lord who trembled before the name of hundreds of thousands—and the name Blood King.

This bastard...

The Blood King begins to realize.

That man has the makings of a king.