Genius Blacksmith's Game

Rain after drought cannot save dying, barren land.

It is nothing but a false blessing—torture disguised as hope.

Humans rejoice at the rain that falls that year, but when it doesn’t come the next year, they despair, ache for it again, and die of thirst while waiting.

And yet Hyunsoo changed how he described it.

A storm.

Grout, humiliated, denied it.

“You don’t even know what a storm is!? A storm is a danger humans can’t even dream of touching!”

That was right.

His metaphor wasn’t appropriate.

It looked like nothing more than a remark meant to shame it, to shake its mind.

But—

“No matter how barren a place is, the place that survives that dangerous storm is bound to change.”

Yes. The sky after a storm is bluer than ever, and in that barren land, grain ripens, flowers bloom, and trees surge upward.

Grout’s eyes wavered.

“Again.......”

Hyunsoo spoke, leveling the Twin Dragon Sword at it.

“In a place where rain after drought falls, storms don’t come.”

Right now, he was a weak existence standing on land where rain after drought fell.

But by overcoming a storm called Grout, he meant to become an existence standing on land where storms came.

He would meet storms without end.

And that land would become sturdier each time it survived them.

He would build stronger buildings, plant trees so they couldn’t be uprooted, and with those preparations, harvest richer grain.

But Grout burst into manic laughter.

“The delusion you’re trying to make real!!!”

That was right.

What he wanted—using it as nourishment.

What he was trying to achieve through it. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

All of it was nothing but lies.

“Have you forgotten why I was the Blood Demon!?”

Grout had only felt humiliation for a moment.

It knew its own value.

There was a reason its level was higher, and a reason its epithet had become “lord.”

From the start, Grout—

Was an existence that regenerated endlessly.

Rising, glaring at Hyunsoo, Grout released blood droplets that were sucked back into its body.

[Grout’s HP recovers to 16%.]

[Grout’s HP recovers to 20%.]

[Grout’s HP recovers to 23%.]

Grout watched Hyunsoo’s expression grow grim.

He’d survive the storm and step onto better land?

“It’s nothing but nonsense. Storms can’t be defeated!”

The moment Grout kicked off the ground—

PFFT PFFT PFFT PFFT PFFT—BANG—

Blood-red spheres erupted from its body, moving freely, striking Hyunsoo from every direction.

Even as it did, Grout thrilled.

He had tried to overwhelm it early and seize the advantage.

He had tried to break its spirit with arrogant words.

But thinking about it, the reason he was the Blood Demon was the infinite power he possessed.

In contrast, that human in front of him was finite.

He couldn’t unleash the same power again once it was spent, and he would only grow more exhausted.

From the start, Grout was an existence that knew its strengths and weaknesses.

Compared to its level, it had been weak.

But in Eternal Hell, it overcame that weakness.

It gained endurance, agility, attack power, and new traits.

Growth earned by killing prisoners day after day.

[HP falls below 64%.]

[HP falls below 62%.]

[HP......]

Watching his HP drop, Grout thrilled.

From the start, everything was proven to be nothing but that bastard’s arrogance.

The one wearing that grim expression couldn’t even react to its fast movement!

But that was Grout’s mistake.

Hyunsoo, breaking free of that grim expression, smiled brightly—like he always did.

“No, you really are a storm. Because......!”

KRRRIIING—!

His movement changed.

In a flash, Hyunsoo struck Grout, staring at it with eyes seething with desire.

“You gave me inspiration for forging a real demonic sword!”

‘What......?’

A chill ran down Grout’s entire body.

It was a chill born of unbearable disgust—of realizing that its very existence was becoming true nourishment.

Not a chill of joy, but a chill of despair—so intense it almost froze its body and dropped it into a stagger.

That was how shocking it was.

‘The one I want to kill—you......?’

It had endured only while expecting his despairing face.

What is the greatest growth for a blacksmith?

It is realization.

And it is inspiration for a new artifact.

And that becomes growth as a blacksmith.

The fact that it was truly becoming Hyunsoo’s storm made Grout lose its mind.

“GRAAAAGH! I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you, I’LL KILL YOUUUU!!!!”

Hyunsoo’s eyes sharpened as he watched Grout’s eyes roll back.

Making it lose its mind was exactly what he wanted.

In truth, Hyunsoo’s grim expression had been real—its infinite regeneration and the newly acquired regenerative blood truly had sparked inspiration.

He only said it because he knew how to enrage it right now.

“Do you know how much I struggled to kill you? I crossed a mountain of corpses. If I made it through one day, there was another day, and if I made it through that day, there was another day!”

Grout was making multiple misjudgments.

“You know I can’t unleash any more power!”

First—

The delusion that Hyunsoo had already used up most of his power.

Second—

“You think you’re the only one who crossed mountains?”

“.......”

He hadn’t just been sucking his thumb.

As Grout rushed in at high speed, its body was pulled in.

“Combo. Pull them in.”

Grout was yanked right in front of Hyunsoo.

As Hyunsoo’s brown coat flared, the existence called Grout was crushed under massive telekinesis—

RUMMMMBLE—

And under that huge pressure that made the ground tremble, Hyunsoo—hunting for growth like greed itself—smiled in exhilaration.

This was proof.

The place he stood after six months, because he had worked just as hard.

The reason his competitive spirit had boiled so hot.

The reward for the road he had walked.

“Sever in Two.”

SHHHHK—!

A demon is cut.

A demon that had climbed mountains as the Blood Demon and risen higher—falls into the illusion of being split apart before someone who had crossed even more mountains.

And its blood surges upward.

That blood recovers it through the effect of its past—Grout’s Blood Ring.

An effect that restored HP equal to the damage dealt.

[HP recovers to 85%.]

The demon that snapped its eyes open finally resolved to release its true power.

Even though it wasn’t complete yet—if it used this power, it would suffer a penalty that reduced the strength it had painstakingly built.

Someday, it had meant to descend to the surface, sweep away humans, devour them as nourishment, increase its underlings, and challenge for the seat of great archdemon.

It was only forcing that day early, before it was ready.

Furious at Hyunsoo for pushing it this far, it reached behind itself and slashed through the air.

In that moment, to Hyunsoo—

[Warning.]

[Warning.]

[Eternal Lord Grout’s level decreases to 501.]

[Eternal Lord Grout rouses the Eternal Legion.]

[Its legion is summoned.]

Endless notifications kept surging, again and again.

And Grout retreated, using its specialty to fill its HP back up—74%, 79%, 99%.

At last, it manifested.

KRRRIIING—!

The existence that summoned the legion of Eternal Hell—its own power.

The Fish of Eternal Hell, the Eternal Fish, opened its massive mouth wide.

From a space large enough to fill an entire area, they finally crawled out.

SKRRRCH—

KIHEHEHEHEHE

KRAKAKAKAKAK—

KHEHEHEHEHEK!

Eternal Hell was a place where only those who had committed evil beyond most others were imprisoned.

The hell inside hell.

Those who ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) lived there.

They clawed their way up through its belly, one after another.

Grout’s feelings were new.

That bastard who said it would use Grout as nourishment would see it.

The legion forged through its subjugation.

An elite force reaching the mid-400s.

“I meant to show you tens of thousands of elite troops at first.”

The number was still far too small. Only 300 at most.

But it was enough.

Grout pictured Hyunsoo stammering in despair before that strength.

Then Grout turned its head—and froze.

“.......”

Its final misjudgment revealed itself.

Hyunsoo had known a fierce storm was coming.

To fight that storm, he had bound the building he’d solidly built one more time with rope, to hold it up.

He had dug the land and made drainage channels in advance—where would it flood when the downpour came?

He knew.

That Grout’s strength was regeneration.

And he had noticed it.

“A guy who’s basically got ‘LORD’ written on his forehead talks like I didn’t know.”

And that his new ability was summoning.

“???”

Of course Grout was confused. It had ‘LORD’ written on its forehead?

That was what happened because it didn’t know the players’ advantages.

Anyway, Hyunsoo had known it was a lord, so he had only been waiting for the last step.

Prepared for the storm, he stretched his arm toward the “half” mystery falling from the sky.

Grout’s eyes wavered.

‘......W-what is that sword?’

A sword made entirely of black light.

The aura rising from it was suffocating.

Even its underlings crawling out of the Eternal Fish’s body feared it, just like Grout did.

But the difference between them was that it still had reason, so it held back its screams—

And they had no reason, so they couldn’t.

KIHEHEHEHEEEK!

GHAAAAAGH!

KYAAAAAAAGH!

They trembled in fear at the sight of that sword.

Then Grout saw the name engraved on it—and stumbled backward.

‘Th-this is impossible......’

Even though it knew, it had been denying it.

Because it was a demon, it had heard of that sword.

“Babylon...... what the hell are you!?”

A ruined Divine Sword so feared by demons that it had been thrown into hellfire until its form could no longer be recognized.

That Divine Sword being held in Hyunsoo’s hand told Grout something.

That to Hyunsoo, Grout had been nothing but a fear from the past.

And Hyunsoo—having finished preparing to fight the storm—gripped the sword with both hands.

Before the existence everyone feared and despaired before—

He became the only one who ran toward that storm.

He sprinted at full speed.

“Destroy Evil.”

[It destroys all evil!]

To pierce the storm.

As he ran, the storm called Grout and its legion were cut apart.

Watching them being cut down, Hyunsoo leaped in, starving for it.

If I kill them......!

The sun would rise.

Grain would grow. Fruit would set.

Standing before it, Hyunsoo watched in exhilaration.

SHHHHK—!

Grout, cut by Destroy Evil, collapsed after losing 80% of its HP, and the Eternal Legion near it was swallowed by boiling lava.

Because the splash dealt 2,300% damage.

Melting but still not dead, Grout tried to raise its body again.

It would regenerate one more time.

But Hyunsoo had prepared for everything.

Because from the start, Destroy Evil only took 80% of its HP.

He stretched his large hand toward “them,” and pronounced sentence.

“Summon. Fenrir.”

KRAKAAAANG—!

A massive wolf fell from the sky.

[Fenrir Charge]

A Legendary monster, 11 meters tall at the shoulder, trampled down.

KRAKAKAKAKAKAKAK—!

With only 20% HP left, Grout and its legion couldn’t endure it.

And as Grout was ruthlessly crushed, it looked at Hyunsoo’s mouth.

“.......”

It was a demon that had tormented Hyunsoo’s friend, Arte.

A murderer who killed countless humans for fun.

An existence that had fallen into hell and sharpened its blade for this day alone.

And now it met the most horrific death.

That it was the most horrific death came from what Hyunsoo said.

“Thank you, storm.”

There was no death more horrific than making the one you hated grow.

Through it, Hyunsoo would take even bigger steps forward, and become many layers sturdier.

But as Grout closed its eyes—

It was becoming comfortable, little by little.

Fine. Maybe this is better......

In Eternal Hell, Grout had fought until it was exhausted beyond exhaustion.

Now, it thought that meeting peaceful rest was better.

Sometimes death made you put down all pain, greed, desire—even life itself—and tried to grant comfort greater than anything.

It grew comfortable.

Like forgetting everything and going into the warm arms of a mother.

But Grout didn’t know.

What Hyunsoo meant by “thank you.”

It hadn’t been something he said just because he killed it.

“I won’t allow you any peaceful rest.”

When it opened its eyes, it had become a demonic sword.