Genius Blacksmith's Game

The viewers doubted their own eyes.

What am I even watching?

East gate.

A single masked knight.

If a god existed, would a god move like that?

With two swords, the man who unleashed divine might turned Agares’s Legion Commander Paeng—and the four hundred demonized rankers—into a handful of ash.

-The unidentified man is presumed to be displaying absurd attack power against evil.

-And that man’s sword also seems to be showing maximum efficiency against evil.

The viewers listened to the commentary and let the scene pass.

West gate.

Asura Kabel.

In the Hell Path he unfolded, the four hundred of the strongest mage guild thrashed helplessly.

Watching Grand Mage Rund and the best mages get swallowed by Hell troops without being able to properly cast even a single spell was astonishing.

-It was a terrible matchup.

-Even if there were four hundred of the best mages, that one person was the best assassin and the killing ghost Asura.

North gate.

Pond had sneered at one man, said, “Seriously?”—and been forced to log out.

Before the horrified viewers, light burst from the sword the man raised straight up.

That light was like the first beam that pierces darkness.

“Dawn.”

The viewers were entranced by Dawn’s light.

Between the light spreading through the darkness, hundreds of sword-energy strands bloomed out and swept a strong army of exactly six hundred.

That man didn’t have an evil-slaying finisher like Annihilating Evil.

And he didn’t have an advantage like Asura’s Hell Path.

But—

SLAAASH—!

FWOOM—!

THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—THUNK—!

KRAK—!

KRAK-KRRRK—!

KUUUUNG—!

He had one single thing that was superior.

Insane strength.

-...

-...

-...Who is that?

-Who is he?

-Who the hell is he!

People kept trying to pin reasons onto it.

The man at the east gate was optimized to kill evil.

The man at the west gate, Kabel, was a terrible matchup for mages.

After stacking on explanation after explanation, the worldwide viewers threw out a question.

And that question fused into one.

-Why the hell is this happening!!!!

-Why are those incredible people at Hyunsoo’s side!

Hearts burned hot across the world.

Finally, the north gate.

Dragon Fear.

With a single cry from a baby bird made of bones, seven hundred monsters and four hundred tamers locked up.

Dragon Fear’s power was immense.

It didn’t end at a one-minute stun.

[Unless you have resistance recognized by the System, those struck by Fear will suffer fear and headaches for over 10 minutes!]

The tamers, with their low status resistance, still couldn’t move easily.

And a tamer without monsters was no different from a mage with no MP.

They were captivated by the man who appeared—his relentless swing, swing, swing.

People looked at Hyunsoo and said—

-You can tell this is gonna be boring as hell, right?

-Yeah, for sure.

They criticized, they sneered, hiding behind the name “netizen.”

-Who the hell is Hyun, you freak!

-He’s a loser. What even is this?

-You know why the Great Atlas War even happened?

-Why?

Because we didn’t have it, we wanted Hyunsoo to have nothing either.

-Running away.

-Huh...?

-He’s not confident facing rankers, so he hid in a rat hole called Atlas.

-That’s it, LOL.

They called him a coward.

But that man—cutting down every enemy, holding the cameras in his eyes—

The wolf they believed was a coward.

The exhausted beast they thought was fleeing with its tail between its legs.

He stared into hundreds of cameras with cold eyes, flicked the blood off his coat—tap, tap—and set Twin Dragon Sword diagonally on his shoulder.

That gaze said it.

Come.

He knew, and we knew.

The First Army was nothing but small fry.

The ones who led them—

Agares’s Legion Commander Paeng.

Grand Mage Rund of Golden Mage.

China’s peak, Pond.

The king of tamers, Relly.

Everyone aside from them was level 400-plus, but not a high ranker—mediocre.

SPLAT—!

Watching him turn away, people finally felt it.

He wasn’t a cowardly wolf that ran.

He was the kind of existence that had hidden sharp claws, waiting only for today.

A fierce beast that didn’t tire, and didn’t retreat.

At last, they began to walk slowly into his Atlas.

The viewers who had stared for a long time at the lingering, vanished silhouette—

The screen showed only the place where he disappeared.

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

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

The commentators fell silent at the alerts on screen.

In a world swallowed by quiet—

A sound began to rise.

THUMP—THUMP—THUMP—THUMP—

It was the viewers’ heartbeats, the kind you only notice in silence.

A heart pumping like crazy. Hands wet with sweat.

Looking at him, most viewers had the same thought.

In this Great Atlas War, the one thing they needed—

This is fun.

That was what most viewers were feeling right now.

And if it wasn’t fun, viewers didn’t need it.

And that fun turned into admiration for Hyun, awe, delight, and cheers.

As twelve minutes passed after the Great Atlas War began,

A wave of breaking-news alerts spreading worldwide drew in new viewers.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“What?”

“They say the First Army got wiped out in less than twelve minutes at the Atlas War.”

“What!?”

Breaking news flooded the entire world.

-Lord Hyunsoo. Something he kept hidden.

-The starving wolf bares its teeth.

-Who is the prey.

Rumors spread fast.

People kept asking.

“Then why...!”

“What?”

“Why did those monstrous people gather for Hyun!”

“Did he just hire them for a moment?”

At someone’s sharp question, another sharp answer came back.

“Hey, even hiring them is ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) insane!”

“Hyun...!”

“What kind of power does he have!”

“I’m going to watch the broadcast!”

Pureum Co., Ltd. was stunned too.

The moment the broadcast began, Lee Sejin had received a report from the “Great Atlas War Hosting Team.”

“Worldwide viewership is 4.3%.”

In other words, it bombed.

That was the team lead’s face.

But Sejin’s face looked like this.

Is that really so?

Only twenty minutes had passed.

The hosting team lead rushed in again, face drained white.

“C-CEO... worldwide viewership has risen to fifteen percent....”

Sejin’s chest began to pound hard, just like the viewers.

In truth, the reactions from broadcasters worldwide—who had been asked for cooperation—had been lukewarm.

We’ll air it, but we hope you won’t expect more than that.

Internet broadcasters were the same.

Why?

Because the alliance would win anyway, and with viewers not having fun, high viewership was hard to expect.

The only reason they permitted a live broadcast was because picking a fight with Pureum Co., Ltd. brought no benefit.

Now it was different.

“...B-broadcasters are competing to request live broadcast rights.”

“Networks that said they’d only air it are starting to roll ads.”

“JoyTubers are starting to scream like crazy!”

“Viewership is rising.”

“CEO, it’s rising even more.”

“The best JoyTubers in the world are starting to stream!”

“Viewership breaks 23%.”

“Viewership breaks 25%.”

“The speed is extremely fast.”

“According to analysis from the supercomputer Ares, there were 1,161 articles about the war before it began, but now articles related to the Great Atlas War have reached 16,314! The number of articles and breaking alerts is growing exponentially! In particular, keyword searches for Atlas and Master Blacksmith Hyun are overwhelmingly high!”

“Most major portals worldwide have their top ten filled with keywords related to Hyun and the Great Atlas War!”

“......”

Sejin smiled as he listened to the reports.

The impact was far bigger than he had expected.

Because of this, Pureum Co., Ltd. would be able to gain enormous profit.

But Sejin knew.

This was overwhelmingly more beneficial to Hyun’s Forge than to Pureum Co., Ltd.

“Hyun’s highlight is heating up the whole world!”

At the hosting team lead’s flushed face, Sejin tilted his head.

“A highlight?”

“...Yes?”

“The real highlight hasn’t started yet.”

Even after wiping out the First Army with only four or five, the highlight still hadn’t started?

So there was still something left that would make viewers even more curious—more entertained?

“......”

The hosting team lead, staring at the monitor, realized it.

With the First Army wiped out, an empty screen was being broadcast.

In that moment, the hosting team lead became curious.

...What the hell is inside there?

And he understood.

Viewers across the world were asking the same question.

*****

“What the hell is inside there...”

One of the world’s peaks.

Mio from Vietnam muttered.

Outside was noisy.

The peaks were preparing to connect in a place Pureum Co., Ltd. had provided.

Reporters were causing a commotion, wanting to capture how they felt right now.

Normally, Kali would have gone out, worn an arrogant smile, and talked.

But not now.

Click.

Kali locked the door.

“...Everyone focus.”

What they thought was child’s play was now threatening them.

They were the strongest, representing their countries.

Even Pond, China’s peak, couldn’t be included in this room.

That was how strong the people gathered here were.

Strong enough that no one could argue against the claim that the Second Army was several times stronger than the First Army.

For a short time, they immersed themselves, analyzing.

“First, Kabel is exhausted, so...”

“At the north gate, Dragon Fear can’t be triggered again, and...”

“Rather than spreading out, we should concentrate our force and break through at a single point...”

No experts could be this perfect.

The output produced by the world’s very top minds pressed together.

If we lose...?

They ended the operation meeting and met each other’s eyes.

Everyone here loses more than half their assets...

Cold sweat ran.

Kali said with a savage face.

“...We’re being played by Hyunsoo. Atlas is empty inside. We have to prove that.”

“That’s right.”

“It’s only been four months since the server merge.”

“Those four were all he had. Even if there’s more, it’ll be at most a thousand troops.”

They connected.

A brief gap.

With viewership hitting 32% and surging, a vastly expanded audience captured them.

As expected, the puppy and the baby bird at the north gate were gone.

The alliance made a reverse play.

All 1,200 moved—straight for the north gate.

The masked knight, Kabel, and the commander holding Twin Dragon Sword met the 1,200 who focused the north gate.

“Kabel first!”

This wasn’t human.

Asura, with only 20% HP, butchered eighty people inside the gaps of 1,200 high rankers.

[Asura Kabel dies.]

This one was even crazier.

KRAK-KRRRK—!

THUNK—THUNK—KRAK-KRAK-KRAK—!

KRAK-KRAK-KRAK—!

It was like watching divine might.

If a war god existed, would it look like this?

With only a single sword, he cut and cut and cut again, hacking through whatever was in front of him.

If you fought him one-on-one, he was a tiger that could swallow even the peaks.

No—this felt like fighting the king of tigers, the White Tiger itself.

He killed one hundred forty alone, then vanished.

And then the one holding Twin Dragon Sword, a buff-type weapon.

Each strike, each strike swept through the allied side.

It shattered their formation, made the so-called peaks run.

“So it was you. The ones who tormented my lord Hyunsoo that badly. I’ll chew you down to the bone.”

“.......”

He was the most desperate, the most tough, the most ferocious.

What was even more unbelievable was the word he used.

Lord.

A knight who looked like he would do anything to protect his lord—

He cut down one hundred eighty alone, and died gloriously.

“.......”

All the peaks were shocked.

To kill three of them, four hundred had died.

Kali moved toward the gate right in front of him.

The peaks thought,

How much money did he pour in to hire monsters like that!

Hyunsoo was the one who made absurd artifacts.

If it was tens of billions, hiring them for a short time would’ve been possible.

At last, Atlas’s gate opened by Kali’s hand.

CREEEEAK—!

Hyun... I’ll strip your mask down to the bone.

He was prey.

They chased, he ran.

And because he was prey, he had no choice but to dangle “the right to craft twenty artifacts.”

CREEEEAK—!

It would be revealed to the whole world.

Between the viewers holding their breath, and the commentators shouting, “The gate is opening!”

Kali was filled with bliss.

You’ll show, at most, a thousand troops—

Kali couldn’t finish the sentence.

KUUUUNG—!

Beyond the wide-open gate—

The real Atlas revealed itself.

-...

-...

Viewers and commentators lost their words, and the peaks stumbled backward.

In that moment, every camera pointed only at Hyunsoo standing far away.

“Welcome, to my Atlas.”

Looking at Hyunsoo—the owner of Atlas—welcoming them with an arrogant, magnificent smile,

Kali realized it.

We thought we were the hunters...

But they were his prey.