Genius Blacksmith's Game

A ship was clearly different from an artifact.

More than ninety-nine percent of artifacts were made by an individual.

But to build a ship, truly a great many people had to take part.

And depending on the skill of those building that ship, the ship’s durability was determined.

And while an artifact only needed a single object to be made, a ship was different.

Every single weapon loaded inside it.

Those weapons were the heart of the battlefield.

Geran.

He was capable enough that Akao would later want to make him vice-captain, and the reason was that he possessed an outstanding understanding of ships.

Geran was one of the people who had directly participated in the construction of the Parion Empire’s ships.

And so he understood the power of the Super Dragonfire Cannon better than anyone.

Ships also had durability, and to reduce it, a normal Dragonfire Cannon had to hit at least three or four times.

But the Super Dragonfire Cannon produced five times the power of a normal Dragonfire Cannon, so it sank most ships in a single shot.

And if that Super Dragonfire Cannon came flying back?

Their own ships would sink as well.

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKWAKABOOOM—!

After the eighty-nine Super Dragonfire Cannons were fired, Geran’s pupils widened as he watched the returning Super Dragonfire Cannons.

KABOOOOOM—!

One Super Dragonfire Cannon literally ripped through the front of the ship Geran was riding and punched straight through it.

As the ship sank, the soldiers and knights aboard it fell with it, screaming, “Aaaagh!” “S-save meeee!!!”

No...!

Geran knew it. The sailors aboard the Parion Empire’s ships were not hardened sea men who had lived off seawater for ages.

They were soldiers and knights who had never once even drunk seawater.

Their mission had been to land on Goyad and advance, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) not to survive after falling into the sea.

And there were not many aboard those ships who knew how to swim, and there were no life jackets or emergency boats.

He had received the order.

Build nearly one thousand ships.

And the one who had commanded that work was Geran, with a total budget of about 9.5 million gold.

It was enough money to build around nine hundred decent warships, but to load nearly a thousand ships with life jackets, emergency boats, and the like, it was nowhere near enough.

That was right. Once the reality of these ships was laid bare, they looked like splendid ships protecting His Majesty Bolond of the great Parion Empire, but in truth they were impractical ships that did not even carry the goods needed to save sailors who had fallen into the water.

Because the empire was too vast and too grand.

Their outward appearance had been fashioned to look splendid, majestic, and dignified, but if one looked inside, they were hollow.

That was why.

“Swim, all of you...!” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“Gurgle...!”

“Khuurk!”

“U-uaaah!”

Unlike ships, the soldiers and knights who had trained for a long time, improved themselves, and grown stronger for the sake of the Parion Empire were still fleeting beings before nature.

FWOOOAAAAAAK—!

With a single wave, those who had stretched out their arms and begged to be saved were swept away and vanished from sight.

Clinging to the sinking ship’s netting and holding on, Geran wore a hollow expression.

[34,415 soldiers of the Parion Empire have died.]

[313 knights of the Parion Empire have died.]

Then he hurriedly came to his senses.

“Black Hawk, hurry and inform His Majesty the Emperor of this—!”

Then he realized it.

“...”

That even the beings who could have delivered this news for them were already gone.

Soon Geran leaped onto another ship.

And proving himself one who had helped create the Parion Empire’s ships, he examined that ship with a grave eye.

To find its weakness.

The force that had knocked back those shells just now clearly looked like a one-time power.

And then, as Geran confirmed what the core material of that ship was, he was struck speechless.

“Y-you insane bastards!!!”

As already mentioned, the amount granted by the empire to build 957 ships was merely 9.5 million gold.

About 10,000 gold per ship.

Of course, that was by no means a small amount, being worth more than the total assets of many quasi-baron knights.

But Geran also knew of Ironwood, harvested by the lumberjacks of the north.

No matter how many layers of wood were stacked onto it, it did not grow heavier, stayed as light as wood, and was as hard as iron.

The problem was that the money required to make a single ship out of Ironwood could make five hundred ships.

Just how much did they spend on this thing? No, are these bastards out of their damn minds...?

Then Geran came to understand one fact.

Ships, too, ultimately followed something similar to artifacts.

One Legendary blade was better than a hundred Rares.

One Legendary blade was superior to a thousand Normals.

A single Normal sword could not cut apart a Legendary sword.

It was an eternal law.

But one Legendary sword could cleave a thousand Normal swords in two.

And Geran’s scan finished.

They spent 5.5 million gold on a single ship... Then... ?

That much was only to form the ship itself.

And what did that mean?

You had to account for the fact that weapons were also loaded onto the ship.

Hiiik...!

More than 15 million gold.

In other words, enough money to buy several ordinary territories.

And right now, he was misunderstanding.

In truth, the amount poured into the Turtle Ship was 10 million gold.

But the reason he misunderstood was simple. The Turtle Ship he saw up close was simply too incredible.

He was mistaking pure skill plus money for nothing but money.

And before he knew it, Geran could see ships from all sides surrounding the motionless Turtle Ship and climbing onto its deck.

Geran was on one of them.

“We have to break it. The ship may be made of Ironwood, but not the shell-like section on its back!”

On the contrary, that part was its weak point.

KABOOOOOM—!

Geran flew into the sky.

Now he belonged to the sea, but in the Parion Empire, which boasted a population of over one billion, Geran had once made a name for himself as a great swordsman.

And Geran was also famous for having split dozens of ships in half with a single greatsword.

Along with him—

“Concentrate your attacks on one spot!”

—a spectacular scene unfolded as countless knights rose into the air around the ascending Geran, and most of them wore greatswords suited for cutting ships apart.

But once Geran rose up, he was soon flustered.

The shell-like section was lined with hundreds of spikes, all maintaining the same length and sharpness.

Geran had already realized these spikes were devices meant to prevent boarding.

And he had thought it an excellent idea.

But this, he had not expected.

That the one who had made those spikes was Daeng, the master of the Sword Blacksmith Tower, a craftsman who had spent decades making nothing but weapons.

CLANK—!

The click of someone pressing a lever rang out in Geran’s ears as he froze in silence.

And those things he had believed were simple spikes—

FWOOOHAHAHAHAHAHAK—!

—bloomed into a full flowering of blood.

At the same time, they shot outward, piercing the knights and Geran, and then, with heavy thudding sounds, embedded themselves into multiple ships.

“Khaaaargh!”

Geran, his body pierced in multiple places, stared in shock at how many of the knights who had flown up with him had died on the spot.

But the moment he gritted his teeth and tried to swing his greatsword once more—

those things that had been stuck in the ships,

that had pierced through the bodies of soldiers and knights,

that had flown far away—

CLANK—!

—with the sound of the lever being pulled once again—

RUMBLE—!

—came flying back and reattached themselves to the Turtle Ship.

“...?”

They weren’t one-time-use weapons?

FWOOOHAHAHAHAK—!

Geran desperately hacked at and fought against the raining spikes once more, but soon his whole body was pierced and soaked in blood.

One precious talent of the empire had been reduced to rags in an instant.

And after collapsing onto a ship, Geran coughed up blood and came to understand.

If they paid this much attention to durability... what kind of weapons are loaded onto it? Don’t tell me... ?

He quickly realized it.

For over a hundred years, no Legendary ship had appeared on this land anymore.

Partly because there were no craftsmen left who could make one, and partly because naval warfare no longer broke out often.

Yet this thing possessed this level of durability and had plunged into nine hundred ships with a single vessel.

A Legendary ship... has appeared for the first time in a hundred years...!

And then, suddenly, a chill ran down Geran’s back.

He turned around.

The ships including Captain Akao’s, and many others, did not accurately understand the current situation.

Because ships were piled upon ships, the Turtle Ship blocked their view, and without the Black Hawks, they had no eyes.

So those ships were rushing in to help them.

And Geran realized something else—

that this unmoving Legendary ship of the first time in a hundred years had not yet attacked first even once.

RUMBLE—!

And the ship began burrowing between enemy vessels once more, while at the same time the sound of chains winding rang out from the Turtle Ship.

By the time part of the reinforcements had already layered in around it, if the Super Dragonfire Cannon was a Unique weapon, then the Dragon Harpoon, a Legendary weapon, revealed itself.

From the port and starboard sides of the ship.

KHHHHRRRR...

Beginning with a bizarre sound like a dragon’s belch, along with the rattling sound of chains—

FWOOOAAAAAAK—!

Two pointed Dragon Harpoons shot out like flashes of light, pierced through one ship, and then kept going.

PZZZIK—!

Two ships.

PFFT—!

Three ships, four ships, five ships.

PFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFTPFFT—!

They pierced through dozens of ships.

Fifty-one from the port side, forty-six from the starboard side.

And at the end of those giant steel spears with ships hanging from them in a long row—

CLANK—!

—they opened wide like the claws of a crab and dragged the ships together, smashing them into one another.

KRRRK, RUMBLE—!

The ships dragged by one ship kept colliding, colliding, colliding into one another.

CRRRRACK—!

Ships that had cost only 10,000 gold each to build—

could not endure the power of a ship that had cost 10 million gold to make.

They were shattered, swept up, and twisted apart.

THOOOOOOM—!

And Geran’s eyes shook.

Because once again, the broken remains of 136 ships were filling the vast sea.

Their real attack had begun.

And only a little over ten minutes after the battle had started,

it was the moment when 250 Parion Empire ships were annihilated.

And then a foreigner aboard one of the ships reported it.

“It’s Yi Sun-sin...!”

He was a Japanese user, and users who had gone fishing in little boats had spotted Yi Sun-sin standing aboard the Turtle Ship, posted it on the community boards, and that post was now spreading rapidly.

“Yi Sun-sin?”

Geran heard that unknown name, listened to his exploits, and soon could not help but be shocked.

“...”

He was not Yi Sun-sin, but there had once been a legend of the sea who resembled him.

A distant land.

A legend of story, one who had led an era, said to have stood alone against a great archdemon in a land veiled from the world.

“...”

Geran now understood, as he learned that it was that man who had created this ship and was commanding it.

Yes. If it’s him, then leading a ship like this, making it, and advancing with it is more than possible.

The return of an old legend of the sea.

And then, at the very moment he turned to withdraw under the briefly issued order to retreat,

Geran saw one figure reveal himself from one side of the ship.

That man is Yi Sun-sin...!?

He was awed.

Because only he was aboard that ship.

And Geran also knew him as a famed marksman who could even shoot down birds in flight.

The reflection of light where sea and sun met wrapped that man in beauty.

Clad in black armor and black full plate, that figure put on some kind of gauntlet that had descended from the sky.

CLANK—!

And watching him pull back the bowstring with all his strength, Geran marveled at the sight of Yi Sun-sin, the one who had once been a legend of the sea.

But at that moment,

the Japanese user who had informed him of that fact grew flustered.

“Captain...!”

Geran was already unable to move, his body reduced to a wreck.

He could not stop him, and having learned he was the Story King, he acknowledged his astronomical strength.

But then...

“That isn’t Yi Sun-sin.”

SHHHHK—!

The man set an Aegisal Arrow to the bowstring.

Geran, who had been staring at that magnificent figure, grew confused.

That man who looked exactly like the Story King himself wasn’t Yi Sun-sin? Then who was he?

“It’s Atlas’s lord, Hyunsoo...!”

The moment he heard those words—

[This is the most perfect trinity.]

RUMBLE—!

A single Aegisal Arrow that shook heaven and earth left the fingertips of the one Geran had thought was Yi Sun-sin and tore across the sea.

Its target was Pirate King Akao.