Genius Blacksmith's Game

The worldwide viewers’ anticipation for the Great Atlas War wasn’t that high.

Because even if a single noble from a small country became a lord, people assumed he would command around a thousand troops at most.

So there were only two things they were looking forward to.

First: the growth of Master Blacksmith Hyun, the one who had led the continental war against China to victory.

Second:

How much power the strongest, most famous rankers in the world could truly unleash.

The Great Atlas War was a gathering of the world’s strongest users in a way no one had ever seen.

And the longer Hyun’s Forge held out, the longer viewers could enjoy their insane control, skills, and outstanding artifacts.

East gate.

-...Are you kidding?

-Hyun’s lost his mind.

-Isn’t this basically trolling the viewers...?

The worldwide viewers were dumbfounded.

Because only a single tall man was blocking the most important road into Atlas.

The angriest and most baffled person was Paeng.

Agares’s Legion Commander Paeng had been deeply impressed by Hyun’s performance during the continental war.

The fact that a tiny country called Korea had a master like that had made Paeng’s chest burn.

So even in a situation where victory seemed guaranteed, Paeng hadn’t let his guard down.

He had been expecting some kind of upset—wondering what else they might create like they had in the continental war.

But the moment he saw the single knight guarding the east gate, Paeng realized it.

Atlas was nothing but a show.

Hyun had avoided high rankers for months.

The outline of Hyun’s territory had only taken shape more and more, and he had sparked the Great Atlas War just to buy time.

“Fine. I’ll solve this simply.”

[Demonization]

Paeng’s appearance twisted grotesquely.

Two huge, curved horns rose from his forehead like a true demon’s, and his skin dyed itself pitch-black.

The veins throughout his body swelled, and overwhelming power surged up.

At the same time—

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK—!

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK—!

Agares was a calamity-class demon capable of causing earthquakes.

Paeng possessed only a degraded version of that power—so the range was smaller—but it was still absurd.

[An earthquake covering a 50m radius occurs.]

KRRRRT-KRRRRT—!

RRRRRUMBLE—!

By Paeng, the so-called calamity-type ability user, the entire ground before the east gate warped and twisted.

“Swallow him.”

Paeng didn’t doubt for a second that the man would be swallowed by the contorting earth.

...What?

Paeng stiffened.

The ground rose and sank in irregular waves.

And that single man up ahead was stepping on the rising points, approaching at an impossible speed.

RRRRRUMBLE—!

Those stones had even been given a function to shatter the instant they were stepped on.

Yet the man cleared them with light footsteps—and murmured.

“God’s Step.”

It was instantaneous.

The man was right in front of Paeng.

Demonized, Paeng’s level reached 564.

At times like this, even ordinary legion commanders would fear Paeng.

But Hyunsoo had already run every simulation in advance.

At the east gate, “Paeng” would come—along with four hundred demonized high rankers.

And Paeng was exceptional even among demons.

[You have killed 11,613.]

[Evil overflows.]

The reason Paeng—a mere human—had been able to become a legion commander was his cruelty that rivaled a demon’s, and the sheer number of humans he had slaughtered.

But that was exactly what became his blunder.

PAAANG—!

With a light jab, the man sent Paeng flying backward.

“Ghk!?”

[A critical hit occurs.]

[HP drops below 89%.]

Paeng panicked.

How high did someone’s stats have to be for eleven percent of his HP to vanish from a single punch?

“Butterfly Thread.”

TATATATATAT—!

For two seconds, the man ran around them dozens of times.

The four hundred users flinched as they saw dozens of afterimages.

Then he swung his sword.

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

At that moment—

[All evil is annihilated!]

Paeng’s eyes went wide.

[80% of HP is deleted.]

[HP drops below 20%.]

Paeng reeled.

He had never, in his entire life, even heard of a skill like this.

What was even more horrifying was that the man’s sword pierced Paeng’s heart once again.

SHIIING—!

Paeng began to disperse after only two hits, and it took only seven seconds for him to log out.

And right before Paeng vanished, Paeng looked around.

“.......”

The man who had chanted Butterfly Thread and run around them for two seconds.

By that man, translucent threads were connecting between the users.

[Splash damage is triggered.]

The man gripped hundreds of thin threads and yanked with all his strength.

RIIIP—!

All four hundred rankers were dragged into the point where the splash damage would erupt.

He calculated all of this?

[It deals 2,300% damage to evil within a 30m radius.]

And they didn’t know it, but the world’s number one ranker Bahala’s 2,300% attack power was beyond common sense.

KWAHHHHHHHANG—!

Flames bursting up from underground swallowed all evil in this world.

The four hundred demonized rankers began to scatter into bone dust.

Amazingly—

[1 minute 13 seconds have passed since Atlas began.]

It had all happened in barely one minute.

[First Army. Paeng’s 413 are annihilated.]

Except for that one man, no one remained standing.

-...

-...

-...

The worldwide viewers’ reactions began to flip.

People who had been slouched back watching TV, or wearing bored expressions until moments ago—

They straightened their posture, focusing on the variable that had just entered the Great Atlas War.

And then, on the next shifted screen—

[Asura Kabel Lv.532]

The moment the worldwide viewers found him, they stood up.

There was a man hidden behind a veil, second only to Bahala.

A figure said to know all information in the world, and rumored to have killed the greatest number of people.

Asura.

*****

Grand Mage Rund knew the story of the “ghost.”

There is a user who assassinates without a sound.

Thirty world high rankers have already fallen.

Hiding is meaningless.

He knows all information in the world, so you can’t hide from him.

What’s his name? Kabel.

If you meet Kabel, it might be better to accept death quietly.

Even though Rund himself was a top-tier user, the story sounded absurd.

Half bragging, half truth—that was what Rund thought.

After all, even Rund had written more than fifty percent of his own story by inflating things grounded in fact.

But it was true that Kabel had abruptly changed jobs into Asura, the lord of Hell.

“Why would someone like you—”

Rund swallowed the rest.

Hyun was the enemy, undeniably.

“Today, I’ll reveal those false stories to the entire world.”

RRRRRUMBLE—!

The Storm Wand in his hand let out a howl.

At the same time, four hundred mages prepared their casting.

[Run d: Do not use wide-area magic. Prepare short-cast instant spells instead!]

Rund had crossed countless killing fields with these four hundred mages.

The world’s best mage unit.

The fact that an empire had tried to recruit them as imperial mages had caused widespread shock.

That was how strong and exceptional the mage unit Rund had built was.

With these four hundred, we can raze a territory in ten minutes—

[Hell Path.]

[You fall into Asura’s space.]

[All skill use is restricted.]

“...!?”

That’s impossible...

Skills had balance.

No matter if Asura was a legendary killing ghost, was it really possible to nullify the skills of all four hundred?

...It’s possible.

This wasn’t power that “suppressed four hundred.”

It was dragging four hundred into his own Hell Path.

The instant they stepped into his trap, they couldn’t move.

[All defense drops by 50%.]

[All of Asura’s attack power increases by 25%.]

[Hell Path lasts for 1 minute.]

But the duration was only one minute.

Killing all four hundred mages within one minute was impossible.

The moment this power releases, we’ll—

But again, Rund couldn’t finish the thought.

In the space they had been dragged into—Hell Path—

Five thousand Hell troops appeared, moving under Asura’s command.

“Devour them.”

Those five thousand Hell troops began to sweep over every mage, literally like a tidal wave.

And weaving through the gaps—

THUNK—!

THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—!

A true killing ghost began to run wild.

Yes. Massacre.

They were standing inside its scene.

[Hell Path is released.]

As Hell Path scattered and vanished, Rund faced the killing ghost Asura.

Of course, among the mages, quite a few had the power to break through restrictions once or twice and use magic.

Asura’s HP had been reduced to only twenty percent by attacks from all directions—yet even that was monstrous.

THUNK—!

With his heart pierced, Rund looked around.

Golden Mage, the world’s best mage guild.

It was collapsing, scattered—destroyed by a single man.

*****

[They bow in reverence.]

Relly, the number one tamer ranker, was panicking.

A monster legion numbering two thousand.

Creations forged by the world’s best tamer users were kneeling or pressing their bodies to the ground, worshiping some existence beyond the fog.

“Move!”

“This is insane...!”

“Move!”

“What the hell is behind that fog!?”

The tamers’ faces turned white.

Tamers had a Summon Room.

[A twin-headed ogre flees to the Summon Room.]

[A giant troll flees to the Summon Room.]

[A drake flees to the Summon Room.]

“.......”

Out of two thousand, thirteen hundred fled to the Summon Room.

[It does not respond to summons.]

Even the ones that fled gave no response no matter how many times they were called.

Then—

FWOOOSH—!

A wind blew in, slowly peeling back the fog.

Relly and the tamers tensed.

What kind of existence could be blocking the gate—something that made monsters flee?

“Bark, bark!”

The moment the revealed figure came into view, Relly froze.

A puppy, sniffles running down its nose, barking bravely.

It was Lucky Lump—a mixed-breed mutt.

This is happening because of that puppy?

There was one more presence.

A baby bird made of bones, trembling in fear as it rode on top of the puppy.

“Kyoo....”

Even its cry was unbearably cute.

“Bark, bark!”

But Lucky Lump had a special power.

Lucky Lump kept KyooKyoo from being stained by evil.

And Lucky Lump had begun to breathe vitality into the bone-made KyooKyoo little by little—turning it into a real hatchling.

In that process, KyooKyoo awakened a power.

“What the hell is this for these little—”

Relly drew her bow.

Her aim was KyooKyoo on the puppy’s back.

The instant she plucked the string—

“KyooOOO, KyooKyoo!”

KyooKyoo screamed in fear.

But ignoring it, the arrow flew, targeting KyooKyoo’s forehead.

Then—

Everyone’s thoughts went blank.

The frail little sound that had been crying “kyoo” changed.

KRAAAAH—!

Dragons possessed an innate power from birth.

[Dragon Fear]

KWAHHHHHHHANG—!

A massive wave spread across all of Atlas.

“.......”

“.......”

Monsters foamed at the mouth, fainting and collapsing—

[You have fallen into the status ailment: Fear.]

And the movements of all four hundred users were restricted.

[You cannot move for 1 minute.]

An absurd status ailment had activated.

All ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) four hundred tamers—and all the monsters—couldn’t move.

And then—

STEP—STEP—

“Good job, KyooKyoo.”

At last, he appeared.

The one who had created the Great Atlas War.

And Pureum Co., Ltd. had given Atlas various benefits, adding multiple elements “for fun.”

[The lord appears.]

North gate.

Wearing a brown coat, Twin Dragon Sword slung over his shoulder, the user Hyunsoo finally revealed himself.

[Lord of Atlas Hyunsoo Lv.???]

At that time—

SLASH—!

SLICE—!

THUNK—THUNK—!

Sword Emperor Kali, ranked second in the world, couldn’t take his eyes off the TV screen.

Dragon Fear...?

What the hell happened in Atlas?

As that thought passed—

In barely over a minute,

Master Blacksmith Hyunsoo ran through monsters and users who couldn’t even twitch.

There were no skills.

Hyunsoo killed them all with nothing but basic attacks, absorbing dozens of cameras with his entire body.

“.......”

GULP—!

Kali began to notice.

This Great Atlas War that had seemed like it would be won too easily—

[11 minutes 32 seconds have passed since Great Atlas War began.]

[The First Army’s 1,800 are annihilated.]

It had a massive variable.

At last, Hyunsoo’s cold face filled the screen.

Through that gaze, Kali could feel it.

Hyunsoo wasn’t speaking to the First Army’s small fry.

He was speaking to the real ones in the Second Army.

Come.

The lord, Hyunsoo, was waiting for them.