Genius Blacksmith's Game

There was a swordsman.

He had started playing Ares roughly half a year later than everyone else, yet he advanced so overwhelmingly that he acted as if such a delay meant nothing.

He alone accomplished what others could not, to the point that he possessed thirteen times more titles than ordinary users.

He solo-raided boss monsters others could not defeat, and the rewards he earned far surpassed those of ordinary users.

Then one day, the rankings began to shift rapidly, and only one year after Ares opened—

despite having started four months later than everyone else, he had become the unrivaled supreme powerhouse.

However, as if proving that no one man could hold everything in the world, the world mocked him.

More precisely, because of the sense of duty bound to his class—the duty to destroy evil—he had chased Babylon for far too long, and because of that, aside from the sword called Babylon, he had never managed to obtain an outstanding blade.

In truth, there were all kinds of eyewitness stories about him, but he had never once heard these words.

That guy’s sword is insane.

He had everything, but that man had not possessed a sword worthy of him.

But now—

the greatest sword rested in his hand.

That sword’s name was the Twin Dragon Sword.

[You are the greatest swordsman acknowledged by all, and one who walks the path of the Sword God.]

[The Twin Dragon Sword is the greatest greatsword acknowledged by all, and possesses the highest attack power.]

[Hidden Piece. One Who Must Not Wield It has been achieved.]

[The attack power of the Twin Dragon Sword increases by 150.]

[All swordsmanship skills you use increase by 1 level.]

[The probability of your attacks failing decreases by 40%.]

[The probability of landing a critical hit increases by 30%.]

That swordsman, Bahala, could hardly believe it.

Your prediction was right. Hyunsoo...

The Twin Dragon Sword had been lodged in Gremory’s body and left there.

Was that really a coincidence?

No.

The two of them had already spoken over the phone in real life.

Bahala was in a position where he had to punish evil, and just in case, he had been present on this battlefield.

But when he saw Gremory, he had realized something.

That the current him could not kill her.

Naturally.

Back then, it had only been possible because Luxiu, Kabel, Hyun, and he had all been there.

It had never been something he could do alone.

But Hyunsoo had said this over the phone—

“The Twin Dragon Sword... if it goes to the greatest swordsman, wouldn’t it grant some special effect?”

The Twin Dragon Sword.

Was it the greatest?

In Bahala’s view, and in Hyunsoo’s view, it was the greatest.

Babylon looked incredible, but in truth, it displayed its greatest power only when facing evil.

And Full Bloom, forged by Hyunsoo, was still ultimately nothing more than an artifact of a lower grade.

The same was true of the most beautiful sword in the world.

It was a great sword because it ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) carried the most beautiful meaning, but when it came to cutting down enemies, it was not the best.

That was right.

The present age acknowledged it.

The Twin Dragon Sword was the greatest sword.

And now the greatest swordsman had come to wield that greatest sword.

*****

The entire world was being thrown into shock by a number of things.

Bahala—who was he?

He was World Rank #1, and the gap between him and Rank #2 Kali was enormous.

And beyond that, his appearance alone was enough to make Ares viewers switch channels.

“Bahala has revealed himself in front of the entire world’s viewers for the very first time.”

That was right.

Everyone had been curious, yet he remained shrouded in mystery.

That was Bahala.

And while that was one reason for the explosive surge in viewership, there was another as well.

“What kind of sword is the Twin Dragon Sword?”

“The Twin Dragon Sword. It is the first Transcendence artifact forged by Master Blacksmith Hyun during the continental war. Several months have now passed since the war, and multiple Transcendence artifacts have entered the world. But shockingly, not a single one of those Transcendence artifacts has yet surpassed the value of the Twin Dragon Sword.”

“And why is that? Is it because of the modifier ‘the first’?”

“No. The reason is this: it was forged by Hyun, a manual blacksmith. It possesses absurd attack power. And while most other Transcendence artifacts were drop items or quest items, this was the first artifact made by a blacksmith—and even now, still an artifact that no one else has been able to create.”

That was the greatest reason viewers were in a frenzy right now.

Bahala was wielding the Twin Dragon Sword.

That alone was enough. In truth, people all over the world were nearly falling into ecstasy.

A sharply handsome man—that was Hyun.

He gave off something like the feeling of a general.

Some said he resembled the actor once famous in the past, So Ganzi, So Iseob.

Then what about Bahala?

He was beautiful, striking, and long-limbed.

“If Master Blacksmith Hyun used to evoke So Ganzi, then Bahala gives off the feeling of Kang Dong-eon in his prime.”

And in the hands of a man like that was the Twin Dragon Sword.

Bahala stood there with noble poise, flicking the blood from the blade, while Gremory writhed where she had crashed into the ground.

But Gremory—

splashed cold water over all of it.

The instant she, collapsed and panting, pointed a finger at Bahala—

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM—!

Massive explosions that blew away three meters of space at a time erupted without pause.

“Butterfly Dance.”

And the whole world marveled at Bahala moving through those explosions with divine control.

But it was not something that could last long.

To evade condensed explosive demonic force detonating four times per second—

that had already gone beyond the realm of humanity, but Gremory’s explosive power was superior.

BOOOOOM—

Bahala, who had been blown away in the blast, stopped in midair as if the empty sky were solid ground.

“Do you think merely wielding Hyun’s sword will make any difference?”

Gremory remembered very clearly.

“You, who were trembling.”

That was true.

The first time Bahala had faced Gremory, he had been too afraid to move.

It had been Hyun who awakened him.

And Gremory could also see something else.

“The greatest among humans? Kihyahahahahak!”

She could only mock him.

What use was being the greatest among humans?

From the start, so what if the human called Bahala wielded the Twin Dragon Sword?

To the eyes of the entire world, Bahala’s information was not visible.

That was the effect of the artifact he possessed—Outsider’s Earring.

But Gremory was a being capable of insight.

[Bahala Lv.506]

The difference between her and Bahala was a full hundred levels.

No matter how godlike his control was, no matter how well he fought—

what if he were a ten-year-old child?

A child could never defeat an adult.

That was the reality she believed in.

But there was something she did not know.

Even an adult fighting a ten-year-old child would fear a ten-year-old holding a sword.

And it changed even more if that child held the greatest sword of all—the Twin Dragon Sword.

“Heavenbreaker.”

It shattered the heavens.

[A tremendous pressure bears down on you!]

“...!?”

Gremory faltered.

That power, which folded space in an instant and allowed movement up to fifteen meters—

arrived right in front of the sneering Gremory and detonated with 1,700% damage.

KRAAAAAABOOOM!

Watching Gremory’s entire body explode apart into fragments—

“Pull them in.”

“...!”

“......!”

“......!”

The commentators were aghast.

“Wow, why does Bahala using Pull them in look so damn cool!!!!”

“It was cool when Hyunsoo used it too, but......”

“It feels different, totally different!”

Gremory was dragged forcibly toward Bahala.

What is this...!?

Ordinarily, she possessed multiple powers that allowed her to resist all kinds of status ailment skills and techniques like this.

And yet she could not resist something cast by a being one hundred levels below her, and that threw her into confusion. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

“Dance of a Hundred Steps.”

KRAAAAAK—!

And with that, Gremory’s HP, which had already fallen below 16%, plummeted sharply.

Dance of a Hundred Steps, from the very first strike, in an instant—

22 hits.

34 hits.

45 hits.

[Critical hit triggered!]

[Critical hit triggered!]

[Critical hit triggered.]

[Critical hit triggered!]

And within that—

[One more hit.]

[3x damage is applied.]

THRUUUUNK—!

[One more hit.]

[3x damage is applied.]

[One more hit.]

[3x damage is applied.]

[One more hit.]

[3x damage is applied.]

Through the power of titles, skills, stats, and legendary stats he possessed in quantities twelve times greater than ordinary users—

“KHUHEEEEEEEK!”

Great Archdemon Gremory’s mouth released an endless stream of screams.

The world of Ares.

“What are we even watching?”

Watching Gremory’s HP plummet, the viewers and commentators were shaken.

One viewer even asked—

“Are great archdemons... originally weak?”

To that, another viewer shot back—

“She’s level 600...... you think you could kill her by blowing on her?”

And then a commentator corrected him.

“Bahala is just too strong......!”

“And you cannot think of it as Bahala merely being strong. The level difference between Gremory and Bahala should originally be so large that attack misses would be normal, but the Twin Dragon Sword’s high attack power and the advantages of it being a greatsword are allowing him to ignore that!”

“A greatsword, unlike a normal longsword, possesses far higher destructive power, so it also has a greatly reduced chance of attack failure!”

“Come to think of it, once ownership transferred, the Twin Dragon Sword should originally have returned from Bahala’s hands to the user Hyunsoo!”

“The reason it has not—this was part of a plan Hyun and Bahala made from the start!”

The commentators and viewers were stunned.

They had thought the Twin Dragon Sword had simply been sent over because Hyun’s mind went blank.

But there had clearly been a reason behind that sword.

And one more fact was revealed here.

“Was Bahala one of the Lamps too?”

“Th-then Hyun and Bahala already knew each other from the start!!!!?”

As if the Twin Dragon Sword and Bahala should never have been allowed to meet.

The synergy created when the world’s greatest master blacksmith and the world’s greatest user joined hands would be absurd.

They understood it now.

Why the Lamps had illuminated the users that day.

And under that Lamp burning like a wildfire—

[Gremory’s HP drops below 2%.]

Gremory’s HP, which Hyun had already cut down below 30% through some unknowable power—

Bahala shaved off the rest of it alone.

So fast that even the devil’s absurd regeneration could not keep up!

The whole world was awestruck.

If Bahala actually finished this here and now, his status afterward would become unimaginable.

And for the viewers, it would bring a thrill like watching their country score a goal live at the World Cup.

As everyone watched with pounding hearts and sweat-damp palms—

Great Archdemon Gremory, after being driven back so miserably, twisted her lips.

BOOOOOOOM—!

Gremory, capable of using the attributes of the 22 Legion Commanders.

One of the attributes she manifested.

[Puppet Devil]

It was the very moment Great Archdemon Gremory used the resurrection skill called Puppet Devil.

This power was on a completely different level from an ordinary resurrection skill.

“How is that possible?”

“How did HP that was at 2% jump straight back to 100%?”

What Bahala had carved down—

was nothing more than a puppet holding the power of a fully intact 100% Gremory.

And that puppet—

THRUUUUNK—

was cut apart by Bahala’s hand.

But in the end, it was only a puppet.

[You have executed Puppet Gremory.]

There was no experience.

No drop.

What revealed itself instead was the real, true body of Gremory.

Her severed body reattached itself again in an instant.

With HP at 100%, she mocked Bahala.

“Have you forgotten why I am a great archdemon?”

Within this petty game, Gremory planned to lightly toy with Bahala while most of his skills were being spent away, then kill him.

But then—

“In my opinion, you are definitely stupid.”

“???”

To call a transcendent being stupid?

What an insulting word that was.

And Gremory was shaken.

Bahala had known from the beginning that she would revive.

He swapped to Babylon.

“Destroy Evil.”

KRAAAAAABOOOM—!

He split her torso in half.

“And the reason you’re stupid is......”

Bahala, clinging to her body, pulled out the other Twin Dragon Sword still embedded in one side of Gremory’s chest.

FWAAAGH—!

And only then—

[Awaken.]

KRAAAAAAGH—!

Bahala, realizing at last the true meaning behind the two Twin Dragon Swords being embedded in her, went berserk and surged even stronger.

KRAAAAAOOOAR—!

And then he swapped once more—from the buff-type Twin Dragon Sword to the attack-type Twin Dragon Sword—

[Accumulation]

“Sever in Two.”

BOOOOOOOM—!

He smashed Gremory’s head apart.