Genius Blacksmith's Game

PvP’s god Rolander was one of the hottest names leading into Great Atlas War.

There were a lot of reasons, but the biggest one was his mouth.

Rolander had declared it in front of millions of subscribers.

“Hyun? The moment Great Atlas War starts, I’m killing him. A blacksmith bastard can’t fight worth shit anyway.”

And Rolander’s PvP ability truly was head and shoulders above the rest.

At the very least, in a one-on-one, there was nobody who could beat him.

Skills, artifacts, class—everything about him was optimized for 1v1.

And his fundamentals were ridiculous.

There weren’t many clips out there, but experts compared a handful of videos from Bahala—world rank one, still largely hidden behind a veil—with Rolander’s footage and said that in pure PvP, Rolander wouldn’t lose to Bahala.

That Rolander, the instant Great Atlas War began, had announced he would kill Master Blacksmith Hyun.

That was why all eyes were on him.

People wondered.

Can Rolander really take Hyun down in under a minute?

Rolander had another certainty, too.

“Hyun did perform in the continental war, that’s true. But the Twin Dragon Sword was made during the continental war, and it only showed power suited to that situation.”

It was a sharp analysis.

He’d noticed in advance that Hyunsoo would use Pull, and in the split-second span of 0.2 seconds, he finished every calculation.

[100-ton Strike.]

[It strikes the enemy with power equal to 1,540%.]

SLICE—!

Even while riding that rush, Rolander panicked—because he’d been cut by Hyunsoo’s sword.

Hyunsoo had barely even swung.

And then—

SLICE—!

The cut revealed a clean cross-section as Rolander’s body split in two.

W-what is this?

He’d planned to allow a single hit.

Then, with overwhelming power, hand user Hyunsoo a loss.

Rolander had thought all of this was an opportunity.

An opportunity to become the alliance’s hero!

If Hyunsoo died, Great Atlas War was basically over.

But the damage from that one strike was beyond common sense.

[You have taken 431,181 damage.]

A damage notice he’d never heard of in his life.

And Hyunsoo—smiling coldly—had read the entire flow from the start.

The five peaks were cautious people.

But PvP’s god Rolander was hot-blooded, and he repeated the same lines on broadcast like a parrot—so it was easy to prepare for him.

So how did Hyunsoo “prepare” for the ultimate technique, a passive skill?

The answer lay in a single power inside Gremory’s Ring.

(Gremory’s Authority)

Active Skill

Mana Cost: 1,000

Cooldown: 30 minutes

Effect:

· You can borrow and use the power of one of the 22 legion commanders.

· However, you may use only one of the 22 legion commanders’ powers, and once chosen, you cannot change it for 3 months.

You could borrow the power of the 22 legion commanders—and choose one.

But you can’t change it for three months.

Hyunsoo had agonized for a long time, checking the powers of the 22 legion commanders.

And he made his decision.

I choose Alpuo’s power.

For Alpuo, there was no such concept as “passive.”

Everything was an active skill.

Because Alpuo possessed the power to convert a passive into an active.

However—

[You may change only one passive skill into “use at will.”]

[You have chosen the ultimate technique.]

[The grade of the ultimate technique is too high.]

[You can trigger the passive skill “ultimate technique” instantly only once every 10 months.]

It was restricted to once every ten months.

But you could also look at it like this:

A passive that might not trigger once in thousands of times... I can force it once every ten months?

Hyunsoo was sure he’d made the best possible choice.

With an ultimate technique granted once every ten months, someone could hunt a named monster they otherwise would never be able to.

A perfect example was right in front of him.

Hyunsoo couldn’t guarantee victory against PvP’s god Rolander.

That was how strong Rolander was—he had no choice but to acknowledge it.

“...PvP’s god is kind of pathetic.”

“...!?”

Rolander had bragged that he’d show what kind of power PvP’s god possessed.

And now he’d turned to ash and vanished.

-R-Rolander—one-hit logout!

“...How did he kill Rolander?”

“This makes no sense.”

“WAAAAAAAAH!”

Atlas’s forces’ morale shot through the roof.

The five peaks, who had witnessed Rolander’s hollow death—and the eyes of the remaining 800 rankers—changed.

“We go all out.”

“We stop hiding our power and dump our ultimates.”

The reason the Second Army had put the First Army forward was simple.

The Second Army was overwhelmingly strong—a concentration of those who maintained the very top.

Top users didn’t want to show the whole world their power.

It was only natural.

If someone became an enemy later, they’d analyze you through those videos and build counters.

But now the story was different.

“We poured in half our total wealth, didn’t we?”

They’d bet on the alliance winning in Ares Play Toto.

The alliance—down from 800 to 700—unleashed every ultimate they had...

A ranker’s ultimate was essentially impossible to resist.

And in raw strength, the alliance still crushed them.

“Yellow Dragon’s Cry!”

“Blizzard.”

“Ceremony of Advance!”

The spectacle of seven hundred ultimates crashing down was beyond description.

It would be etched into Ares history as a scene no one would ever see again.

Even if high-rankers’ skills looked similar, their base damage operated on an entirely different level.

Once they fought seriously, the twenty-thousand Atlas forces began getting swept away.

THUNK—!

“...!?”

The peaks then focused their fire on Captain Bon of the Black Wind Corps.

“You think we’ll let you reach the lord!?”

Musashi, Japan’s peak, couldn’t help admiring it.

Just like that general who’d swung the Twin Dragon Sword before.

Why...?

Musashi asked himself.

Musashi’s guild, in practice, was a group crushed into obedience by his power and authority.

If someone could grow stronger than him, they’d leave at any time.

And yet, these people—stronger than Hyun, wielding power greater than Hyun—kept crying out his name.

After a brutal fight, Musashi—helped by Kali—finally managed to bring Bon down.

[Captain Bon of the Black Wind Corps has died.]

It’s over!

The moment Captain Bon died, Atlas’s army began collapsing fast.

They were driven back all the way to the front of the lord’s castle, trying to hold on however they could.

Alliance Leader Kali exulted.

“There was no upset.”

Honestly, Kali had been shocked.

Facing three thousand of the world’s peaks—this was something a single user had accomplished.

You’re better than me.

If you asked Kali whether she could build forces like this in four months, she couldn’t honestly say yes.

No—she couldn’t even do one-fifth of it.

That’s why you have to fall today.

If Hyun fell in Great Atlas War, collapse would come rapidly afterward.

He’d shown the world he commanded this kind of army—he’d effectively announced he was the likeliest to become king first.

And the one with the highest chance of becoming king—

always becomes the greatest target.

Yes. If Hyun lost, his kingdom would crumble.

[18,000 of Atlas’s forces have died!]

[123 of the alliance forces have died!]

SLICE—!

THUNK—!

KRAAAAH—!

“We can’t enter through the main gate!”

The alliance’s remaining numbers were around five hundred.

The problem was their average level hovered in the 480s.

They weren’t as strong as named NPCs at the same level, but they were still near–named monster class.

They could carve apart even exceptional knights.

And in this situation, the defenders had only two thousand left.

“We won’t let a single one of you in—”

“Shut up.”

THUNK—!

Carving through the ones blocking the way without hesitation, Kali and the peaks climbed the steps.

Some soldiers clutched desperately at the peaks’ ankles.

SLICE—!

They cut them down without slowing.

“You can’t go in there!!!!”

And Kali slammed a knight blocking the path into the ground.

KUUUUNG—!

The knight hit back-first and choked, unable to even scream properly, writhing in pain.

Kali and the five peaks climbed the stairs—

and finally entered the lord’s castle.

Now it’s fifteen hundred.

There was no way a mere fifteen hundred could stop them.

With that, Hyun had been perfectly defeated—

“Didn’t I ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) tell you not to go in?”

“...?”

Kali’s expression turned strange.

The knight pinned into the ground—

the one who couldn’t even scream—

had spoken.

Why were they that desperate?

They’d clung to them with too much desperation.

Because they couldn’t let them enter the castle?

No... did they pretend to lose so we’d enter?

Images of those countless desperate soldiers flashed through her mind.

“...Did Atlas not know?”

Kali swallowed hard.

“What are you talking about?”

“That if we went all out and dumped a full assault, the twenty thousand would get swept.”

“That’s obvious—”

Musashi stopped.

Maybe the others hadn’t known.

Maybe they’d trusted only their numbers and thought it would be enough.

But the lord—Hyunsoo—was different.

At the very least, he was exceptional at reading a battlefield.

A memory surfaced: in the continental war, from far away, he’d killed China’s top strategist Zhuge with a single arrow.

They looked around.

The approach inside the lord’s castle.

Ahead, fifteen hundred Atlas soldiers gripped weapons and stared them down.

Whip—whip.

The peaks’ eyes snapped around.

The most important target wasn’t there.

Then the target appeared behind the rankers.

SPLAT—!

The lord flew in and sealed off their rear in an instant.

In front: fifteen hundred Atlas soldiers.

Kali laughed.

So that was the plan—to wipe them out while they were clustered in the middle.

That only worked when the enemy had overwhelming power.

But the ones with overwhelming power right now were them, so the situation didn’t change.

The five peaks thought the same thing at once.

It’s Link.

Master Blacksmith Hyun’s Link and Gather—and the principle of One Strike, Two Halves.

He’ll use the power that split hundreds in an instant back in the continental war.

They prepared.

As expected, Hyunsoo moved the Twin Dragon Sword.

“Gather.”

“Now!”

The five peaks each activated skills in their own way.

Musashi kicked off with a BOOOOM—! and launched into the air, while Kali dramatically raised her defense.

Mio drew a bowstring with no arrow and fired an “Arrow of Nullification,” trying to suppress Gather.

Kassandra snapped on a cloak said to boast infinite defense.

But nothing happened.

“It’s a lie.”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

Every skill had a cooldown.

And these five hundred high-rankers were so exceptional that they’d reacted simultaneously—burning their counters at once.

Hyunsoo had no intention of letting that chance slip.

He would kill them with a power they didn’t know.

“Fenrir.”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

“Charge.”

KWAHHHHHHHANG—!

The castle ceiling shattered.

A massive shadow fell over the five hundred rankers as debris rained down.

A height of fully 11 meters.

A mass of over 10 tons.

The moment the king of all wolves hit the ground—

KWAHHHHHHHANG—!

The shockwave swallowed the rankers.

[Fenrir tramples everything!]

[If trampled, you take an additional 250% damage.]

[Splash damage is triggered.]

[If you are within a 4m radius, you take an additional 250% damage!]

With every stomp, the rankers’ armor shattered into pieces.

KRAAAAH—!

“NGH—!”

Even worse—when someone else got trampled, they still took damage from the splash.

[1 second.]

[2 seconds.]

[3 seconds.]

Rankers flailed desperately to escape Fenrir’s range.

Musashi managed to break out with only 50% HP remaining.

Musashi was a ninja-class.

He shared the same nature as an assassin—he couldn’t endure inside that.

If I hadn’t gotten out, I would’ve died. Thank god I’m al—

Musashi’s face hardened the moment he got out.

“......”

Hyunsoo was waiting—stance like he was holding a baseball bat.

Hyunsoo poured strength into the Twin Dragon Sword and swung.

CLAAANG—!

Musashi’s destination as he went flying—

“You fucking bastard!!!!”

Was inside Fenrir’s attack range.