Genius Blacksmith's Game

The entire world swarmed in to witness the second Myth Blacksmith Hyun had forged.

Every country in the world pushed out article after article and breaking-news alert after breaking-news alert.

The content was mostly the same.

“There’s no way I’m missing this!”

Global ratings exploded like madness.

Even people who had not cared at all about Atlas vs. the User Kingdom Union were drawn in.

And when the world came rushing in to watch, it froze in confusion.

“Heh heh, it seems you quite like it—”

“What are you doing here?!”

Hyun suddenly appeared, snatched up old man Peru, turned into fire together with Kkoko, and vanished.

The roughly ninety million viewers watching the scene were dumbfounded.

other than Hyeji, standing there with her bowstring drawn tight, there was not even an ant in sight.

Hyunsoo had appeared, flames had erupted endlessly, and then he had vanished with the civilians.

Leaving only Hyeji behind.

Then Hyeji, her bowstring still stretched taut, fired an arrow into empty air before the eyes of ninety million viewers across the world, and it vanished beyond the clouds.

But that only lasted for a moment.

RRRRRRRRRUMBLE—!

A massive roar thundered out, and soon the sky darkened.

Then the first of them emerged from behind the clouds.

Then they realized what it was—

arrows, black as rain.

And then the entire world recoiled in shock.

The clouds were swept aside in an instant, revealing what followed behind them—

a rain of arrows covering a radius of 200 meters,

as if tens of thousands of archers in the heavens had loosed them all at once.

Duke Lukael stared at the spectacle in stunned confusion.

The viewers around the world were no different.

But the commentators were people driven by a duty to explain the situation more accurately and completely than anyone else.

After taking Peru away and returning to Balas, Hyunsoo watched the tens of thousands of arrows descend in slow succession.

He was the creator.

He was the one who best understood the combination of Peru and the Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.

Originally, I thought I’d burn through all my strength here and go back...

His mind had changed.

Because Peru’s soul, Hyeji, and himself as the blacksmith had formed the most perfect trinity in the world.

At last, the first arrow fell.

Hyeji’s base Attack Power.

The destructive force and piercing power of the Mythic Great Bow of Demon-Slaying, far beyond those of any ordinary bow.

And the massively amplified strength granted by the gauntlet’s effect.

At last, one arrow struck a soldier square in the chest.

BOOOOM—!

At first, it almost looked like he might endure it—

but then the explosion blew his entire body apart and erased him.

And then the arrows from the sky came down.

[29,012 arrows strike directly within a 200-meter radius.]

29,012 arrows rained down at once.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—

The explosions erupting simultaneously where the arrows landed resembled a single gigantic firework display.

The viewers around the world watched soldiers of the Great Parion Empire in the level-460 range be annihilated, their bodies flung away and blown apart.

Another said this instead.

Under normal circumstances, that still would not happen.

One viewer who had been watching all along added,

The fleeing soldiers could not evade it.

There were simply too many arrows.

And more than that, the arrows behaved almost as if they had wills of their own.

They did not all bury themselves into one target. They struck once each, perfectly, killing one enemy at a time.

Soon, as Hyeji lowered her bowstring, the viewers saw that her level had dropped from 453 to 450.

[29,151 Parion Empire soldiers die.]

DING!

[Your level is updated.]

[Hyeji Lv.458]

This bow carried a devastating penalty.

But if the number of enemy troops was high enough, it could overwhelm even that.

Across the wreckage of the battlefield, littered with weapons and corpses—

Duke Lukael, whose HP had been blasted down by roughly 25% from a single direct hit by Massacre Bow, removed his helmet.

His beautiful hair was soaked in blood.

[Commander Lukael Lv.499]

Commander Lukael had been worn down from a long life in flight, and neither his sword nor his armor was in perfect condition.

Even so, he was still one of the figures who represented the Parion Empire.

Staring at the place that had been turned into utter chaos by a single arrow, he then looked toward the fifty thousand troops that still remained intact.

“You son of a bitch! I’ll take your bow and present it to His Majesty!”

In the end, an ultimate attack was something that could only be fired once.

And yet...

“Really?”

Hyeji made a strange sound.

The reason why:

[Demigod Arreya acknowledges that you have achieved the most perfect Ultimate.]

[Demigod Arreya wishes to see it once more.]

[Demigod Arreya bestows a celebratory blessing.]

[Massacre Bow’s cooldown is reset.]

“Oh, come on! You should’ve watched properly the first time! Hehehehe!”

“...?”

Hyeji suddenly burst into wild laughter.

And once again, Duke Lukael and everyone else saw a single arrow soar into the sky.

The same thing happened again.

One arrow fell first.

The clouds parted.

And then the rain of tens of thousands of arrows revealed itself in all its overwhelming grandeur.

Like a scene from a medieval war film, it poured down like rain and massacred every enemy beneath it.

And within that storm—

“S-spare me!”

“Hiiiiiik!”

“A-aaaargh!”

“Duke Lukael, didn’t you say this would be easy?!”

“D-Duke Lukael!!!”

Screams filled the air.

Even Duke Lukael could not understand what he was seeing.

How could an army of eighty thousand lose to a single woman?

Was this woman truly that extraordinary?

Then a chill ran down his spine.

The woman is extraordinary... but Master Blacksmith Hyun is even more extraordinary.

The one who had forged such a grotesque, terrifying, magnificent bow.

At that moment, he finally understood why Sword Emperor Bolond had been wary of Master Blacksmith Hyun, the lord of a place so small.

And then—

THRUST—!

An arrow flew through the soldiers’ desperate screams for mercy and buried itself in his solar plexus.

BAAAAM—!

[Demon’s Mockery]

[You are afflicted with the status ailment Rigidity.]

It truly was a grotesque and terrifying bow.

A bow that inflicted multiple status ailments, possessed destructive Attack Power and range, and applied debuffs like a demon’s curse.

But—

[You resist.]

Duke Lukael existed on a different level from ordinary underlings.

BOOOOOOOM—!

Drawing out his mana to the extreme, he charged across the battlefield.

Yet no matter how many arrows Hyeji fired, she could not hit that moving streak of light.

BOOM, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

She watched arrow after arrow strike only the ground.

That was the clear weakness of an archer.

At long range, they were mightier than anyone.

At close range, they were weaker than anyone.

At close range, even mages could at least cast spells and attack their enemies.

But at close range, the only thing archers could do was swing their bows like clubs.

Even if the bow in their hands was Mythic—

no, even if it surpassed Mythic—

that truth remained the same.

At last, Duke Lukael reached a point from which he could quickly ascend to the top of the wall, and his sword shone with a clear, beautiful light.

Above him on the wall, Hyeji drew another arrow.

And in that instant, Duke Lukael was certain.

The speed at which he would leap up and cut off her head was overwhelmingly faster.

He drove °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° power into the foot planted on the ground and launched himself upward with all his might.

BOOOOM—!

He meant to feel the explosive force at his own toes—

but he froze in confusion.

“Hi. You’re Duke Lukael, right? I heard about you. They say you gave orders to kill Lady Bellin and hang her body in the most visible place.”

“...”

A violent shiver raced across his entire body.

The one pressing down on his shoulder did not match the stories he had heard.

He had heard this man was strong.

That he had killed Fenrir, become the hero of his nation, and even captured the Great Archdemon Gremory.

But back when he had captured the Great Archdemon Gremory, it had only been possible because he possessed the White Tiger Sword.

The last time the Parion Empire had measured his strength—

compared to then, the man before him now radiated power and pressure on an utterly different level.

A prickling chill ran through him.

H-how can this be?

And to make matters worse, the activated pride of the Master Blacksmith controlled his body so completely that he could not move.

The force in the hand gripping his shoulder was absurdly immense.

The reason:

the benefits of the artifacts he had crafted in that short span of time—

including the stat increases from crafting the Transcendent Heavenslaying Bow

and the stat increases from crafting the Mythic Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.

[You gain 2,000 Fame.]

[You gain 300 Overwhelm.]

[All stats increase by 30.]

The forging of a Myth gave one the power to step beyond one’s limits.

Even if there had been someone on a similar level, if one of them gained 30 to all stats, 2,000 Fame, and 300 Overwhelm, that difference would become overwhelming strength.

“Are you going to hang my head in your territory?”

Lukael thought that if he had to die, that would almost be better.

The moment his head was hung up, the Parion Empire would pour all its strength into crushing Atlas.

And it would be entirely justified in doing so.

But—

“...I won’t become that kind of king.”

“...”

Duke Lukael felt the certainty in his eyes.

This—

was the ease of a stronger man facing one already about to die.

And it was a towering pride.

So much could be felt from the shoulder of this still-young man as he crushed him beneath that hand.

And those sunken eyes made it feel as if they had seen straight through his thoughts.

And above all—

Ridiculous.

Duke Lukael lifted his gaze to the sky.

In that clear sky, where blue clouds drifted by, everything he had built until now—his massacres, his proofs of strength—collapsed.

There were strong men like this in the world.

And if this man had defeated him, then this was undeniably his defeat.

And what struck him as truly absurd—

was that among the hundreds of swarming users who had come calling themselves the Union, he had not found even once what he now saw here.

A king had to be special.

A king had to walk a path that was his alone.

A king had to possess strength.

A king had to understand the people.

And a king had to rise above the impossible.

Dozens of conditions.

The other users had failed to meet them.

But the young blacksmith before him had fulfilled them all.

He more than deserves to become king.

Then, within Duke Lukael’s upward gaze at the sky, he saw arrows drawing near.

And then—

THRUST—! THRUST—! THRUST—!

Three arrows pierced through the center of his forehead.

Duke Lukael dropped to his knees and coughed blood from his mouth.

“...You’ve only crossed a single mountain.”

A grotesque smile settled over his lips.

His defeat was real.

But that did not mean the entire Union had lost.

Spitting blood, he laughed hideously.

“I gave an order.”

“An order?”

Duke Lukael’s consciousness was fading.

In the moment before death, he pictured the expression Hyunsoo would make when despair took him.

“We had eyes watching Atlas too. And because of that, I learned of the academy there.”

“...”

“There must be hundreds of children there, studying and striving for Atlas’s future.”

Lukael had understood something.

The one before him—once he grew older—would become more than enough of a threat to the Parion Empire.

So he would break him through the people he cherished, and through the strength of his mind.

“When you return, you’ll find the academy students butchered by a man named Musashi. Krahahahak!”

Lukael laughed like a madman.

Because even as he approached death, he was delighted.

Then he lifted his head, wanting to see Hyunsoo’s face gone taut with panic.

But Hyunsoo’s expression was unbelievably calm.

“...Kabel really is incredible.”

Asura Kabel?

Why that name would come up here, Lukael could not understand.

“You really have no idea who the principal there is.”

“??”

The principal?

Wasn’t the principal of an academy just some teacher?

And even then, it was only Atlas—a tiny territory.

How much could a principal there possibly matter?

But then Duke Lukael, already scattering into death, stiffened in shock.

“Sage Arte.”

The name of a legend who had disappeared hundreds of years ago.

The wisest, most brilliant individual in the world.

Lukael wanted to deny it.

“W-why...?”

He could not understand why such an exalted legend was standing beside him.

And then, as he sank into his final sleep, he understood.

This man...

He had been preparing for this moment for a very long time.

At that same time—

[Duke Lukael dies.]

Musashi, along with Japan’s highest-ranked users, entered Atlas.

SHHHHHH—

They were racing at high speed toward the academy.