Genius Blacksmith's Game

Time flew by, and it became the day before the Great Atlas War.

Hyunsoo came to his father’s hospital room after completing every last preparation.

“Tomorrow. The day we fight the people aiming for Hyun’s Forge.”

To be honest, even Hyunsoo couldn’t guarantee the outcome.

“I... I finished preparing as best as I could.”

Ten days after Atlas was promoted to a great territory.

It was a short period, but Luxiu had taken on the position of Atlas’s commander.

Because of that, Atlas now had a fairly large force—and it was being managed without issue.

If anything, Atlas was achieving remarkable growth.

“Most likely... it’ll be decided in the Great Atlas War.”

Whether Hyunsoo could become a king.

If Hyunsoo lost the Great Atlas War, everything he had built could collapse.

First of all, there was a high chance it would take more than a year to craft twenty artifacts again.

And once a worldwide defeat was recorded, Atlas would be subjected to countless invasions.

But if he won, everything changed.

Atlas would imply it held the greatest possibility of {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} becoming a kingdom, on the glory alone of having defeated the strongest user alliance.

After talking with his father for a long time, Hyunsoo rose to his feet.

To sleep deeply—and face tomorrow’s Great Atlas War.

*****

-There is one clear fact.

-What is it?

-This Great Atlas War. It’s the first event ever held by a user.

-That’s right. For several days now, previews announcing the Great Atlas War have been broadcast across game channels worldwide.

-And as you’d expect, this Great Atlas War will be live-streamed in real time to the entire world.

-20 minutes remain until the Great Atlas War.

-Could you explain the rules?

-The Great Atlas War is “a concentration of those who wanted to test themselves against Hyun.” The alliance side has 3,000 participants.

-3,000. An absolutely staggering number. What’s even more shocking is that all 3,000 are above level 400.

-That’s correct. The share of top-ranker class participants from each country is also as high as 20%.

-The ones leading the alliance participants are the peaks of their respective countries. You could say many participants decided to join this war for their sake.

-How many will Hyun’s Forge have in total?

-Ah, this is a rather interesting fact—and also a rather sad one.

-Why is that?

-Hyun’s Forge has unlimited participants.

-...Excuse me?

-It’s the stance Alliance Leader Kali delivered under the agreement hosted by Pureum Co., Ltd.

-Well, with that many people, they could probably even take a shot at a typical kingdom capital. That confidence must be part of it, too.

-The rule is that Hyun’s Forge and the alliance side fight until one side is annihilated, and each army advances once every hour.

-The alliance is composed of two armies. The First Army consists of 1,800 users.

-Is the First Army the core?

-No. The peak users are in the Second Army, and considering their levels are generally higher as well, the Second Army can be called the overwhelmingly superior force.

-At that moment, Atlas’s walls begin to appear on the broadcast.

The exterior of Atlas, which had been hidden by fog, revealed itself.

-The length of Atlas’s walls is so long it’s impossible to measure.

-Unexpected.

Even the viewers who had been waiting for the Great Atlas War were shocked.

-Is that Atlas fake Atlas? Made for the event?

-That’s real. If you look at the event rules, it says the Atlas shown in the event is 100% identical to the real Atlas.

-Doesn’t that mean this might actually be doable?

-No no. Don’t you know how it goes? A famous feast house and all they’ve got is banquet noodles.

-Yeah, for real, LOL. Hyun spent a ton, huh. Building walls is just money.

-The key is troop numbers. You know why Kali set it to “unlimited”? Because even if Hyun drags in everything, it won’t even hit 2,000.

-But isn’t 2,000 still amazing...?

-Yeah. One user leading 2,000 troops? That’s insane talk, LOL. For real, leading NPCs is brutal.

-Looking at it like this, Hyun really is something.

-So where’d you bet on the toto?

-Obviously alliance, LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

-You too? Me too. And him too.

Five minutes before the match began.

The Atlas toto betting hosted by Pureum Co., Ltd. closed.

The betting ratio had reached 99.1% for the alliance and 0.9% for Hyun’s Forge.

-Who are the idiots betting on 0.9%?

-Hey, honestly, how does a territory built by one user fight a worldwide alliance?

-True.

The viewers were convinced there would be no upset.

Meanwhile.

Alliance Leader Kali and the peaks of each country were talking before capsule connection.

Kali gave a bitter smile.

“Did you put money into the toto?”

“I bet fifty percent of my assets.”

“Me too.”

“Same here.”

“The odds are 99%, so the payout’s small, but this is a situation where winning is basically certain.”

Kali nodded.

Everyone shared the same opinion.

And the peaks including Kali were confident they wouldn’t even reach the Second Army in the first place.

So the alliance had stuffed all the weaker participants into the First Army and held the strong ones back in the Second Army.

Broadcasting our power to the whole world for an event this trivial? That’s ridiculous.

Of course, that didn’t mean the First Army were the kind to get pushed around anywhere.

They were, clearly, an elite force made up of ranker-class users from typical countries.

They focused on the TV screen floating in the air.

As for the Second Army, they only needed to connect after the First Army was completely annihilated, or after one hour had passed since the event began.

On the screen, the First Army began to appear.

[Great Atlas War begins.]

With that sound, the peaks of each country became mere viewers, drawn in.

*****

The viewers couldn’t take their eyes off it.

The opening of the world’s first user-hosted event.

And with it, the most famous rankers in the world were appearing.

-The First Army looks incredible too.

-I can’t believe it. Rankers are usually hard to unify. Yet in the Great Atlas War, the world’s strongest have unified.

The viewers took in the core members of the First Army.

[Agares’s Legion Commander Paeng Lv.476]

Agares.

The second-highest Great Demon.

And Paeng was the name of the person advancing with four hundred users in the First Army.

Paeng was one of the most famous users in the world.

The reason was simple: a mere user who served as the legion commander of the Great Demon Agares.

The evaluation of Legion Commander Paeng was this.

The most terrifying enemy... and the most dependable ally.

Paeng was a user on the America server who repeated plunder and invasion.

The precedent of the demonkin legion Paeng led scorching multiple territories to the ground was famous to the point of being common knowledge.

And Paeng, inheriting Agares’s authority, could transform everyone under Paeng’s command into demonkin—making them stronger.

“I can’t see anything up ahead. And it’s damp, too.”

Because Atlas was at a disadvantage, Pureum Co., Ltd. had granted various benefits.

Of course, most of those benefits were nothing special, so the alliance accepted them all.

The Atlas that had briefly appeared was once again swallowed by fog, disappearing from view.

Paeng advanced toward the east gate with four hundred users.

As they seeped into the fog, they began to transform into demonkin at high speed.

To begin with, every one of them had been among Ares’s strongest dealers.

With this many, we can sweep away even five thousand ordinary soldiers or knights.

It wasn’t arrogance. It was certainty.

Paeng glanced back, then spoke in a mocking voice.

“Let’s finish fast and go eat.”

All they needed, anyway, was the elixir that increased all stats by five. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

At that moment, Paeng reached the east gate—and froze in confusion.

“...?”

Paeng was confused because it was absurd.

Paeng had expected at least several hundred troops to be guarding the east gate.

-What is that?

-Why is there only one?

-We can’t confirm who it is because of the mask.

-Even with a mask, the fact the information itself is hidden suggests Hyun created information and a function to conceal artifact appearances.

-...Was Hyun never intending to take the Great Atlas War seriously in the first place?

-How can it be just one person?

Paeng’s reaction was the same.

“Fuck.”

Paeng spat a curse at the man ahead without hesitation.

By Paeng’s common sense, this was beyond ridiculous.

[Unknown Lv.???]

The man wearing a mask and a robe looked thin, judging by his build.

And the eyes visible between the helmet plates—despite being male—were alluring and beautiful.

“What are you, guarding this alone? Hah, this is annoying. I’ll kill you and move on. These days, some real pieces of shit keep getting cocky.”

SHIIING—!

The robed man blocking the way slowly drew his sword.

That man was someone who had made a promise with Hyunsoo a few months ago.

He had agreed to grant three of Hyunsoo’s requests.

This was Hyunsoo’s final request.

He won’t be some worthless nobody.

He was Bahala, the world’s number one ranker.

Meanwhile, at the west gate.

Grand Mage Rund was the world’s number one ranked mage.

Also called the Golden Mage, he was the master who led Golden Mage, the world’s greatest mage guild.

The firepower poured out by four hundred of the strongest mages surpassed common sense.

If they struck a typical kingdom capital, they could inflict more than two hundred thousand casualties in an instant.

“Wind.”

FWOOOSH—!

With a breeze raised effortlessly, befitting a grand mage, Grand Mage Rund blew away the fog—then immediately frowned.

Assassin?

A single man with a dagger in hand was staring at him through a mask.

Assassins, in most cases, could hide their character information.

The moment their eyes met, Rund flinched—if only for an instant.

Because mages and assassins were a terrible matchup.

“A skilled assassin can assassinate more than twenty people, even if they’re high-level mages.”

Mages had difficulty preventing assassins from landing a successful hit.

And while assassins had extremely high average attack power, mages had very low total HP.

“How ridiculous. One person trying to cut us down—how many could he possibly cut?”

And the one blocking them thought:

Whether you reveal who you are or not—that’s your choice.

He chewed over a friend’s words, then pulled down his mask.

He was someone who had begun living a new life because of Lucky Lump.

And thanks to his nameless friend, his days had been enjoyable lately.

“....”

He thought this.

That while he wanted to protect his friend, he didn’t want to hide himself.

And he wanted to punish them.

They had exploited the fact that his friend’s forces were weak, threatening Atlas without end—and they had ignited this absurd Great Atlas War.

“Nice to meet you.”

“...!?”

“...!?”

The moment Grand Mage Rund saw the face beneath the mask, his expression hardened.

Just a moment ago, he had said a skilled assassin could kill twenty.

And that skilled assassin—

“I’m Asura Kabel.”

The number one ranked assassin, and the second legend: Asura.

Meanwhile, at the south gate.

Sword Emperor Pond, who had suffered humiliation after humiliation at the hands of Hyun’s Forge.

He, too, arrived at the south gate with Ryu, leading five hundred troops.

They also discovered a single, unknown knight.

Pond spoke, because the situation felt so petty and absurd.

“Seriously?”

“.......”

Pond, who had been openly sneering, suddenly stiffened.

THUNK—!

“...?”

A dagger had suddenly flown in and embedded itself dead center in his forehead.

[A critical hit occurs.]

THUNK—!

THUNK—!

THUNK—!

Three more daggers stabbed into the exact same spot.

Then he began to crumble into ash-gray particles.

Finally, the north gate.

KRAAAAH—!

GRRRR, KRAAAAH—!

Relly, the world’s number one ranked tamer, was panicking.

She had been leading a monster army numbering two thousand, together with the tamers.

But then something bizarre happened.

The moment they reached the north gate, where a fog so thick they couldn’t see an inch ahead lay in place, an anomaly began.

[A drake is afraid.]

[A twin-headed ogre is afraid.]

[A giant troll is afraid.]

[An orc chieftain is afraid.]

Around two thousand monsters.

They were sensing the aura of a single existence hidden behind the fog.

And then—

KUUUUNG—!

KUUUUUNG—!

KUUUUNG—!

KUUUNG—!

KUUUNG—!

Something unbelievable unfolded before their eyes.

[They bow in reverence.]

All two thousand monsters knelt—or threw themselves facedown—worshiping some existence crouched beyond the fog.