Genius Blacksmith's Game

A little while ago.

Kabel saw one of the crows in Atlas watching him.

So you finally noticed?

Kabel knew Tyrant Jebar had been using crows to watch this place.

So they controlled the flow of information, letting only trivial stories reach him.

And by preventing them from hearing the real stories, they had instead been feeding Tyrant Jebar confusion.

Now, that too was over.

After having around fifty Black Hawks kill the crows, Kabel walked on, burdened with worries.

Atlas ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) must not clash with Tyrant Jebar.

Tyrant Jebar was dangerous.

The power he possessed was itself monstrous, something only a handful in the current age could stand against.

Even now, the bastard was the sort who wandered the continent in search of the strongest undead and the strongest creations.

Then Kabel, who had been walking, came to a dead stop.

[You begin a new story.]

“......”

He foresaw misfortune.

A moment ago, it had been no different from briefly coming face-to-face with Tyrant Jebar himself.

Ding!

[Class Quest: Tyrant Kabel]

[Grade: ???]

[Restriction: One who has received Tyrant Jebar’s offer]

[Reward: Dual Class Tyrant]

[Failure Penalty: ???]

[Description: Tyrant Jebar wants you. Accept Tyrant Jebar’s offer.]

Kabel’s eyes shook as he read the quest.

It was a Tyrant class, equal to a Saint King class.

Someone might think, Can someone really become that so easily?

But Kabel knew about Tyrant Jebar.

He’s someone who pretends to be insane on purpose.

A man who feigned madness, sat upon a throne, and observed everything.

He may even have been gathering information on Kabel all along.

And Kabel now understood what those words meant.

I would have to live like Tyrant Jebar.

For a moment, Kabel looked toward Atlas.

Living as a tyrant would be lonely.

That doesn’t suit me.

And yet Kabel had originally been someone who enjoyed solitude, wanted power, and had ended up standing at its very peak.

Then—

[20 seconds remain until the acceptance time limit expires.]

“......”

This was the first time Kabel had seen a coercive quest of this sort.

Why is he going this far? Ah, no. My thinking was wrong. In the end, he’s an unpredictable madman.

This short window was meant to confirm Kabel’s heart immediately.

If he were someone who wanted it,

he would accept within less than three seconds.

The problem was that Kabel was caught by the quest content’s “Restriction: ???.”

[1 second remaining.]

In response, Kabel answered with silence.

Ding!

[Your own story begins.]

[Sudden Quest: Submission]

[Grade: SSS]

[Restriction: One who refused Tyrant Jebar’s offer]

[Reward: None]

[Failure Penalty: Tyrant Kabel] 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

[Description: You have rejected Tyrant Jebar’s offer. Accordingly, Tyrant Jebar sends his proxy, Valon, and his followers. With them will be Tyrant Jebar’s creations, capable of opposing good.]

Kabel’s eyes narrowed.

The reward was “None,” and the failure penalty was “Tyrant Kabel.”

Which meant—

“So he knew from the start I would refuse. He was planning to remind me of the tyrant’s power, make me submit, and drag me away.”

Like a dog that had fought with all its strength, only to meet a tiger, get its throat torn open, and then be dragged off while still barely breathing.

If I stay here, Atlas will be swept up in it too.

Kabel decided to prepare a feast.

After calling a meeting, Kabel spoke in the conference room.

“...If I fail in this fight, I will become Tyrant Kabel.”

Nell understood.

To keep Atlas from being harmed, he intended to become Tyrant Kabel, keep Jebar close to his chest, and use him in reverse.

Nell refused him.

“Lord Kabel, let’s discuss this with us a little more before moving. If we work out a way together with Lord Hyunsoo, somehow we’ll find an answer.”

At that, Kabel swept his gaze across the conference room and met the eyes of the people from Hyun’s Forge.

“Don’t be presumptuous. You think you can offer me some solution? If you can, then say it. A way to fight Tyrant Jebar and win.”

“......”

“......”

“Have you mistaken being together for long enough to think we actually became friends?”

He was someone who had always been alone.

“Take care of yourselves. What a pathetic bunch you are, unable to do anything without Hyun.”

And he had always been a cold man.

To look at them with emotionless eyes, and then turn back one last time—

All of you, protect this Atlas.

That was his final farewell.

Then he headed for the secret vault.

His secret vault was special.

Kabel was known as someone who knew the information on everything in this world.

Inside were hundreds of items he had gathered over time in preparation for moments of crisis.

Among them were things that could only be used after their materials were combined,

and things that would only display their power once certain conditions were fulfilled.

He took them out and looked at them.

[Heart of the Great Archdemon Agares]

[Ancient Immortal’s Grail]

[Snake Tobacco]

Then he swept them into his inventory and gathered the other items he had hidden in various places.

[Mandrake Potion]

[Demon’s Breath]

[Arachne’s Rope]

Even as he continued collecting them, he also gathered information about Valon and the creations.

Valon and followers, total count 50. Average level 470 Necromancers. Average creation level 490. However, with the tyrant’s power dwelling within them, their estimated strength is close to 500. The creations are drakes. Approximate number, 40 to 50.

They are currently passing through the Parkro Kingdom, destroying everything underfoot as they advance toward Atlas.

The kingdom army has been unable to stop them. Casualties among the kingdom forces have reached 140,000. But among the creations, only three have been hunted.

Before long, as he approached the Parkro Kingdom, he took out the most important thing.

[Kabel: I have a crafting request for you.]

*****

Parkro Kingdom.

Measured against the kingdom average, it was a somewhat lacking nation.

Its people and military were fewer than those of ordinary kingdoms, and its finances were poor as well.

And so Antro, king of the Parkro Kingdom, had always walked the most reasonable path his kingdom could take.

Namely, not becoming a thorn in the side of other kingdoms.

Because of that, Parkro was a country where everything had run peacefully.

But today, he could not understand it.

Drakes.

An inferior version of dragons that Tyrant Jebar had supposedly made in the past.

They could do nothing but fly low, and they could not use magic.

But they were fast, strong, tough, and enormous.

Standing six meters tall, they reminded him why Tyrant Jebar had once been the terror of the continent.

And moreover—

“H-how, how...!”

The drakes did not suffer so much as a scratch from the soldiers’ attacks, and even the magical bombardment of the mages failed to shake them.

Power was relative.

Antro knew that if those things were to be stopped, something on that level had to come.

And so he despaired.

By the army of undead summoned by Valon and the Necromancers at his head, together with fifty creations, more than 140,000 troops had died.

And that number was still increasing by the moment,

while the damage among the people was growing as well.

Standing atop the wall, Antro asked Valon,

“Why are you doing this!”

Valon’s answer was simple.

“Because you happened to be along the way.”

“......”

The words of the man who had massacred 140,000 were light.

Those words told a king that the Tyrant Jebar who had once made the entire continent tremble in fear had returned, and they brought him to his knees.

With a faint smirk, Valon looked around.

It really was because they had been along the way.

But the other reason was that they needed noise,

and they needed a display.

Valon, who had lived in the shadows for a long time, had made a flashy entrance with the help of the creations.

And he, having personally seen those creations and experienced them, was horrified by Tyrant Jebar’s power.

To think he had hidden an army like this.

And he was astonished.

He told me to go to Dragon’s Mine.

He had sent a crow and changed that destination.

Confirm Kabel’s qualifications and make him submit?

Valon did not understand.

No matter how legendary he may be, he’s still just one person. Why does Tyrant Jebar want him so badly that he would even summon the creations? Is he supposed to see the creations, feel my power, and inherit it?

His eyes narrowed.

Or is Kabel really that exceptional?

Valon let out a hollow laugh.

So what if he was?

He was the unofficial world Necromancer rank #1.

What was more, the followers gathered here were all unofficial rankers as well.

It was impossible to estimate the number of undead each one commanded.

The total reached a full thirty thousand.

He really is just a madman.

Tsk, tsk. Valon clicked his tongue.

Because in a situation like this, the very idea that Kabel would show up was ridiculous.

Then—

the wailing cry of an annoying child rang out.

The noisy sound of a nuisance, as worthless as artificial intelligence, broke Valon’s train of thought.

Of course, he did not move.

The undead merely pressed the woman holding the child and prepared to tear her to pieces.

Then—

SKREEEECH!?

SKREEEECH!?

Nothing had appeared, yet the undead recoiled and fled backward.

Clearly, nothing had appeared.

And yet—

“......”

A man arrived nearby without the slightest trace of presence.

“Asura...”

Valon turned to look at him and could not believe it.

Just as the tyrant had predicted, he had appeared here alone.

“It really is Kabel?”

“He’s insane.”

“...Isn’t that bastard a lunatic?”

“To think he came here alone.”

“I wish he’d drop that dagger...”

The greedy Necromancer rankers looked at the legendary Asura as if he were mere prey.

And at his appearance, the drakes that had been smashing buildings and devouring soldiers all over the place also stopped moving.

They too had been given Tyrant Jebar’s command.

—Make Kabel submit.

The eyes of every being turned toward him.

And Valon smiled.

“...It is an honor to meet Asura Kabel like this. Just as I heard, you really do have eyes like a psychopath.”

It was mockery aimed at those sunken black eyes.

“Tyrant Jebar seems to want you as his successor because you resemble him. But I’m curious—did you really come alone? Where is Hyun’s Forge? Where is Master Blacksmith Hyun?”

Valon found it amusing.

“Then again, it suits you. You were always someone alone. Looking at you now, you really do resemble Tyrant Jebar. Tell me, do you even have anything like a friend?”

Kabel pulled out Snake Tobacco from inside his coat and lit it.

FSSSSS—

Hooooo.

“I have one. His name is Hyunsoo.”

“Khah, khahahahaha...!”

That only delighted Valon further.

He was intoxicated by the fact that he could mock someone while leaning on the power of the great legend Jebar.

Kabel exhaled smoke.

“...There’s something my friend taught me. I think I’ll try using it.”

“Something your friend taught you? What, did Master Blacksmith Hyun teach you how to run away for dear life!?”

At that, Kabel only smoked the tobacco.

Once, twice, three times.

And when the last ash burned down—

“......”

Valon, drunk on self-importance, finally realized it.

Tobacco? There’s no ordinary tobacco in Ares.

That was right. Ares was not reality.

They did not sell cigarettes.

Which meant that only now did he realize that Kabel’s act of smoking the tobacco had some kind of meaning.

The moment Kabel ground the dropped tobacco underfoot and snuffed it out, he stepped one pace closer to what Asura considered the most perfect plan.

[You have burned Snake Tobacco.]

[The level of the designated skill increases by up to +4.]

Second.

Poof—

[You have consumed Demon’s Breath.]

[Your total HP is temporarily increased threefold.]

Third.

[You have used Ancient Immortal’s Grail.]

[For a short time, you gain the power to command undead.]

And last.

As already mentioned, the things he had brought with him would only reveal their power when they were “combined,” or when “something” had been accomplished.

[You have used Snake Tobacco, Demon’s Breath, and Ancient Immortal’s Grail together.]

[The combination left behind by the God of Death forms the most perfect trinity!]

[You may invoke the godly skill left behind by a god one time only!]

“That bastard—kill him!!!!!!”

Valon sensed that something was wrong and shouted as thousands of undead and the drakes tried to charge.

By coincidence, it has the same name as the one you use, Hyunsoo.

Thinking of his close friend Hyunsoo, he stretched out one arm and carried it out in Kabel’s own way.

“Awaken.”

The 140,000 soldiers of the Parkro Kingdom rose as undead and swarmed over Valon and the drakes.