Genius Blacksmith's Game

Beond, Gremory’s 3rd Legion Commander.

He had not understood why Lady Gremory had entrusted the position of 1st Legion Commander to nothing more than an outsider, but after hearing {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} her voice transmission, he came to understand the deeper meaning.

“There is a high probability that Asura and Luxiu are in Atlas.”

At the time, the 22 legion commanders had not been by Gremory’s side.

In other words, Gremory had faced them alone back then, and had been no more than half-complete.

Even so—

“If it is Asura and Luxiu, they become variables. Vera will lead several legion commanders and strike the front gate. You will strike the rear gate and destroy Hyun’s territory.”

That existence named Vera.

Hidden behind the title of 1st Legion Commander, she had been no more than bait to draw attention.

The real force had been gathering in the rear.

The proof of that was what Relly, the 6th Legion Commander, had collected while traveling all across the continent.

“These are fragments of Lady Gremory.”

“As expected of Lady Gremory.”

Fragments of Gremory.

The source of her power scattered across the continent.

She had originally possessed the power to nullify the legion commanders’ penalty on the surface, but she had not exercised it.

Because in the end, the 22 legion commanders had all been scattered and acting as individuals.

Even for great archdemons, launching indiscriminate attacks on the surface was no easy thing.

And so, to prevent them from crawling freely out of their dungeons as they pleased, Gremory had never revealed the locations of the fragments until now.

Also, they had been hidden away for the time when she was sealed.

The fragments Relly had gathered.

The true reinforcements among the thousand Calamity Church followers she had led here.

They were followers superior even to the reinforcements currently fighting the Ares Church.

Their number was only one thousand, but even that was enough to bring down the capital of a kingdom.

Then—

“.......”

Legion Commander Beond clicked his tongue in admiration.

At the very least, Beond could sense the auras of the other legion commanders.

The aura of several legion commanders was weakening.

That only left him with more reason to praise Lady Gremory.

Using this, she stripped that outsider Vera of her power.

Using a fake army, she confused the one called Asura.

And now, the board that Lady Gremory had laid out was about to overturn every last move that man Asura had made.

By their own hands.

[Gremory’s Fragment takes effect.]

[All restrictions disappear.]

Before long, Atlas came into view before them.

As they looked at the seductive cat dwelling within the moon, they felt it was truly mysterious.

And they thought only that it was beautiful.

Then, a bizarre phenomenon began to unfold.

*****

Emperor Bolond, who lacked for nothing.

For the first time, something had appeared that he wanted.

“Find the Brightest Moon.”

His subjects had no choice but to strive to find the Brightest Moon.

Because on the day when the Brightest Moon shone, the power it displayed at its peak surpassed imagination.

On such a day, when the moon shone brightest,

Pretty leaped up from the tree and seeped into the moon.

At that moment, the legendary existence Emperor Bolond had coveted—

the trait of the Brightest Moon was activated.

[You have seen the moon superimposed upon a cat.]

[For a short while, you lose yourself in that beautiful figure.]

There were many reasons Bolond had desired the Brightest Moon.

The first was its absurd status ailment ability.

The moment that status ailment activated, it applied even to beings on the level of legends.

Why?

Because the Brightest Moon was a “legendary existence.”

The second reason lay in the fact that it displayed a power different from any status ailment they had known until now.

Ordinary status ailments directly inflicted debuffs.

But this was different.

[You have been afflicted with the status ailment Charm.]

[For a brief moment, you suffer the most dreadful fear.]

And what happened as a result of the most dreadful fear linked by Charm?

A strange phenomenon soon began.

The color of 3rd Legion Commander Beond’s eyes turned completely white.

And the thing he did while floundering in the most dreadful fear—

“Blade Wind.”

Beond was the legion commander known for controlling the wind freely.

True to the name, a blade storm swept through the area and struck the legion commanders present there, and beyond them, the thousand elite troops.

KRAAAAAK—!

KRAKAKAKAKAK—!

Those there, slashed and torn apart in madness, had already fallen into the most dreadful fear.

Some were imagining Lady Gremory abandoning them.

Some were imagining being tortured by a certain existence.

Some had fallen into the fear of dying at the hands of nothing more than a human.

And after experiencing “pain” in that state, they believed it was real, and that delivered self-destruction upon them.

KRAKAKAKAKAKBOOOOM—!

“U-uaaahhh! Dieee!”

“Just die already!”

“You damned bastard!”

The immense powers possessed by the thousand elites burst forth and instead struck even the legion commanders.

The reason the Brightest Moon was so attractive was that it displayed its greatest power when “the strong were gathered in concentration.”

Why?

Because the strong possessed correspondingly powerful force, and if they attacked one another, the damage would be beyond description.

At minimum, five powerful beings inflicting damage upon themselves.

That was no different from annihilating well over ten thousand ordinary soldiers.

And also.

As already mentioned, the reason it was called the Brightest Moon was that on the day when the moon rose at its brightest, its power grew stronger.

Ordinarily, the Brightest Moon could not display this power on a normal day.

But today was different.

The vast moonlight was shining only on them.

[Brightest Moon]

[All Stats decrease by 25%.]

[All attack power and all defense decrease by 20%.]

The Brightest Moon created a chain reaction with Charm.

By nature, whenever any being encountered its greatest fear, it would bring forth the greatest wit and power it could possibly muster.

In the same way, they fell into unconsciousness and ended up using their greatest powers.

That was when the Brightest Moon’s status ailment became most deadly.

[The cooldowns of all skills are frozen.]

It meant exactly what it said.

Skills they had not used yet could still be used, but the cooldown of any skill already used would no longer refill.

For how long?

[Applies for 1 hour.]

It was for an absurd length of time.

Of course, this was not completely broken power.

To begin with, it was a power that could not be exercised unless the bright moon was out.

And if they had not used any skills, then it was effectively useless.

But they were different right now.

It meant they had just lost one or two of their greatest authorities.

Still, the Brightest Moon was not all-powerful.

Because the duration of Charm was barely around thirty seconds.

And yet, what had happened during those thirty seconds—

“Meow.”

It was shocking in contrast to Pretty calmly licking its paw atop the tree.

“Ghk.......”

“Ugh.......”

“Kuh.......”

There had been eight legion commanders who came here.

To begin with, when people refer to someone who serves a great existence, they call that person someone’s “right arm,” not their “left arm.”

The reason was simple: because most people were right-handed, it conveyed that this one was the greater force.

The military strength here was at least twice as strong as the force Vera had led.

And yet Gremory’s right arm, which could be called her core force.......

[11th Legion Commander Vegas’s HP falls below 59%.]

[20th Legion Commander Gandre’s HP falls below 74%.]

[16th Legion Commander Ankas’s HP falls below......]

[18th Legion Commander Bongdeun’s HP falls below......]

Having suffered a massive shock, it was being cut in half.

Beond, now back in his senses, was horrified when he saw that over a hundred of the thousand elite priests had been killed by their own side.

And all of this—

“Meow?”

“.......”

“.......”

When he realized that it had all happened because of nothing more than a single black cat up in a tree, he was deeply shaken.

It was not even some legendary demonic beast from the demon realm.

It was no more than a cat that existed in the human realm.

‘How did that bastard get a cat like that?’

‘Just what exactly is that Hyun bastard.......’

He felt like he was beginning to understand why Lady Gremory harbored such resentment toward him, and why she had wanted Atlas destroyed first.

“Kill it!”

Dozens of black magic spells unleashed by the priests rose up all at once.

That Hyun had obtained it—that had been nothing but their misunderstanding.

FWAAAAH—!

One giant burning hawk appeared, snatched up Pretty, and vanished as fire.

They were impressed.

By the majesty of Kkoko, who had appeared and vanished in an instant.

But—

“What kind of bird-brain is this?”

“.......”

There was still the fact that Kkoko was unstable.

The place where Kkoko had appeared—

it was right where Beond could snatch them up if he only reached out his hand.

And just as Beond was about to unleash his authority, Blade Dance, to rip the two of them apart—

FWAAAAH—!

The hawk that vanished once more appeared again.

Beond tensed as he looked there.

The bushes behind where they had landed rustled.

The real “beings” hiding behind them, the ones controlling them, were about to appear.

And when he finally saw their true forms—

“What kind of fucking idiots are these......!”

Beond’s fury shot so high it seemed ready to pierce the sky.

The other legion commanders and priests felt the same.

Because the beings standing before them looked far too pathetic.

*****

“Even a small action must carry meaning.”

It was one of the famous sayings of Kabel, the man called the King of the Underworld.

Other people did not understand it, but in truth, every one of Kabel’s actions carried meaning.

And when he built this chessboard, he handed one such meaning to someone.

Lucky Lump.

When Lucky Lump moved to form Lucky Lump Assemble, Kabel had mobilized every scrap of information he possessed and gone to meet a certain old man.

That old man was a retired figure who had once been called a legendary tamer.

Through him, Kabel obtained a necklace.

A pet-only necklace from legend.

(Atro’s Necklace)

Grade: Legendary

Durability: 8,000/8,000

Defense: 23

Restriction: Pet only

Special Abilities:

·Active Skill Guardian’s Detection

·Passive Skill Awakener

·Passive Skill My Pet

Description: A necklace once put on pets during the prime of the legendary tamer Atro.

It was true that it came as a shock that this necklace, inscribed with the words Beware of Dog, was actually legendary grade.

Also, at a glance it hardly looked legendary.

But that was not the point.

The source of this necklace’s power lay in the ability called Awakener.

(Awakener)

Passive Skill

Effect:

·Can unlock hidden abilities possessed by a pet.

·There is no set limit to the number of abilities unlocked.

·However, it will not activate if the pet possesses no hidden abilities.

·If the pet performs actions similar to its hidden power, the probability of awakening becomes very high.

·This skill is deeply connected to the pet’s potential.

·Remaining uses: 2/2

They said Atro had used it to draw out many hidden potentials from monsters.

Kabel had believed.

Lucky Lump was the one who had kept him behind in Atlas with the words Lucky Lump is cute.

Its true value lay in drawing in certain beings, and if it drew in even one monster, then that power would be unlocked.

Also, once the necklace’s power manifested, the linked owner could become aware of it.

But then Kabel’s chessboard collapsed for the first time.

That was because Lucky Lump was a far more extraordinary existence than he had expected.

[Atro’s Necklace attempts to awaken a power.]

[Atro’s Necklace cannot shine brightly enough to dare awaken that power.]

It had literally nearly awakened.

In other words, Lucky Lump Assemble itself had become a complete failure.

At the time, in order to fix the collapsed chessboard, Kabel went to see Atro, the legendary tamer and the old man who had sold him the necklace.

The old man’s reaction after hearing the whole story was bizarre.

“Hohohohohoho!”

He laughed so hard his stomach nearly split, and Kabel could not understand it.

“So right now, you, the legendary Asura—are worrying about four other legends?”

“......!?”

That rang like an alarm bell through Kabel’s head.

“The legendary Myriad Mile Bird that can go anywhere.”

“.......”

“The strongest existence on the surface, the dragon.”

“.......”

“The cat called the Brightest Moon, desired by the whole world.”

“.......”

“And on top of that, that puppy you’re talking about is not one of the Four Divine Beasts. The Four Divine Beasts are the White Tiger, Phoenix, Black Tortoise, and Hydra. That means he is a higher existence than even those. And though he appears to be nothing more than a little puppy, he will know the difference between a fight he can lose and a fight he can win. His instincts will be telling him so.”

“.......”

“You said you’ve seen the legendary monster Fenrir before, didn’t you? Then this would be the easiest way to put it.”

“.......”

“Four Fenrirs that had hidden their true nature are baring their fangs.”