Genius Blacksmith's Game

Hyunsoo was, honestly, embarrassed to say the name of his swordsmanship.

Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship? What kind of name is that?

But the moment he actually said it out loud, he realized something.

“Hy-Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship?”

The battlefield had been taut with tension after the descent of Million Bow.

Fond burst out laughing, and Liu let out a dry snort.

Yongwol, with only 20% HP remaining, hurriedly tried to drink a potion, then stopped because the whole thing was so absurd.

And the hundreds of thousands in the User Kingdom Union, who had been wound tight with nerves just moments ago, looked at Hyunsoo like he was a complete idiot.

That was the effect the name Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship had. Just hearing it loosened their tension.

“What kind of fucking idiot skill name is that?”

“Puhahah!”

“...Didn’t he say he still had one shot left?”

Soon, the ones who had relaxed too early froze in confusion.

They were definitely making sounds.

And yet those sounds were being swallowed.

It resembled Silence, the kind of effect that prevented speech.

But this was a far higher-order force than that.

The endless clash of weapons, the sounds of horses, the pounding of feet, even the words their own allies had just been shouting a moment ago—none of it came out. All they could see were mouths opening and closing uselessly.

A chill ran down their spines.

Then, in that instant—

“Sword of Stillness.”

Those words alone were heard.

Hyunsoo swapped out every artifact that had formed Million Bow and returned to his original set.

Clad in black full plate armor, he pointed the Sword for the One Who Follows the King—engraved with the words For the New King.—to one side.

In stark contrast to the ridiculous name of the technique, his eyes were razor-sharp, fixed on the enemy as though he meant to devour them whole.

Every sound was devoured.

Soundless blades moved through a 50-meter radius.

And where he had aimed, the ones desperately trying to force their way into the castle were packed together.

One of the men guzzling potions in mute panic was forcibly logged out before he even realized what had happened.

Humans react to sound before sight.

By the time they became aware of it, they were seeing blood fountain from their own bodies.

Or the ally beside them collapsing into a handful of ash.

——————!!

Hundreds of soundless blades carved them apart.

Only those standing outside the radius, watching from beyond it, could even see what was happening.

And it was also the first time Hyunsoo had clashed directly with users since the Great Atlas War.

Hundreds of high-rankers had analyzed Hyunsoo’s footage from that war and reached the same conclusion: because he was a blacksmith, he would eventually fall behind users like them, people who kept gaining new offensive skills.

But—

FWOOOOOOSH—!

Exactly 961 users were reduced to handfuls of ash.

[The stillness scatters like mist.]

The instant sound returned, they realized every prediction they had made had been wrong.

And shattered.

“...”

Fond, who had barely survived by throwing himself outside that 50-meter zone, stood there with his mouth hanging open.

Then—

[Yongwol: Fond, get a grip. We need to push in right now. Order everyone to chug potions and charge!!!]

But Fond wasn’t the only one shaken.

The world’s greatest high-rankers were moving in four separate groups, keeping deliberate distance between them.

And they made him understand that the same thing would not happen to them.

GRIND—!

Fond clenched his teeth.

From the start, if one excluded the hundreds of thousands of small-fry users—

there were roughly 8,000 of them.

Users ranked within the world’s top 100,000, each under command in one of four sectors, ready to break through.

Of course, behind them were the opportunists who had hung back, waiting for the walls to collapse, and they too had taken damage from Million Bow.

But however devastating Million Bow had been, they only had to drink potions.

Though that came with the worst possible drawback:

potion cooldown.

Then, with Yongwol’s words snapping him back to himself, Fond finally understood.

A nuclear bomb? That was bullshit. And saying he had one more shot left was even bigger bullshit.

He understood Hyun was strong.

He understood Hyun was capable.

But one thing was certain.

No matter how strong a single person was, one man could not dictate the outcome of a war.

[Fond: Everyone advance! Rankers within the top 100,000, enter Atlas alongside the strongest users from the nations in front of you!]

[Fond: The hundreds of thousands of other users are to keep pressuring Atlas and tighten the noose around Master Blacksmith Hyun!!!]

From the four divided fronts, a massive tidal wave surged forward.

The four groups punched through the expendable users thrown ahead as shields and drove toward Atlas at the speed of light.

The moment they abandoned the idea of minimizing losses and simply charged for maximum victory, their momentum became terrifying.

Then—

[Yongwol: ...Do you remember what you said at the press conference? About how Hyun keeps all the artifacts he makes inside Hyun’s Forge and monopolizes them.]

[Fond: Of course I do. Well, it wasn’t exactly true, but...]

[Yongwol: ...How many Unique artifacts do you think Atlas possesses?]

“...”

Fond faltered, then thought about it.

How many?

Now they knew how many troops were stationed in Atlas.

Hyun had raised them far beyond expectation.

And Atlas was a blacksmith territory.

If I average it out and factor in how exceptional he is...

[Fond: I’d estimate 20,000 Epic, around 2,000 Unique, and maybe 12 Legendary.]

[Yongwol: Just now, a woman named Nell blocked the front with a knight who looked like some kind of Demon King. And then she told me.]

[Fond: ...??]

[Yongwol: 11,000 Unique.]

“...!!!!!!”

Goosebumps crawled up Fond’s back.

He saw the Atlas army rushing out in newly equipped gear.

A kingdom held more than three million citizens.

But Hyun’s Forge had not even reached one million yet.

And Fond had estimated around 2,000 Unique artifacts.

Instead, the real number was more than five times that.

And worse—

[Yongwol: As for Legendary artifacts... apparently there are 51.]

[Fond: ...What?]

Fond rejected it outright.

It made no sense.

Of course, the number of Legendary artifacts had risen sharply compared to the past.

Compared to the Continental War era, the total amount in circulation had increased nearly tenfold.

And as a result, their value had been cut in half.

Even so—

a Legendary artifact was still the dream every blacksmith wanted to forge.

And the dream every user wanted to own.

To say Atlas possessed 51 of them meant only one thing.

That number would keep growing in the future.

...We have to stop them.

Urgency flooded Fond.

Then he realized his connection with Yongwol had been cut.

[Fond: Yongwol? Yongwol...!]

At the same time, Fond fixated on one particular phrase Yongwol had used.

A knight who looks like a Demon King? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Then—

THUMP—!

A small knight appeared, carrying something wrapped in cloth.

The armor she wore called the sun to mind.

It was painted entirely red, and silver hair spilled through the gaps of a helmet that revealed only her eyes, nose, and mouth.

That alone told him who she was.

Bella?

She was the woman who had once been the Heir to the Sword King.

But she had not been able to play a major role in this war.

There were simply too many high-rankers.

And the lives of NPCs were far too precious.

Then why?

NPCs could not be sent into battle carelessly.

Fond could not understand Hyun’s intention.

But—

FWOOOOOOSH—!

The moment she pulled the cloth away, the Twin Dragon Sword Hyun had once given her was revealed.

Originally, it had been a sword with an ordinary iron-gray blade.

But the Twin Dragon Sword, now forged entirely in black, declared that it had become something wholly different from before.

And Bella herself seemed wrapped in infinite honor and glory.

[+5 Hero’s Twin Dragon Sword]

Enhancing something above Transcendent Grade was difficult.

Yet Hyun had ignored that impossibility and forged a +5 Hero’s Twin Dragon Sword.

And Hyunsoo had said:

“Of everyone I know, you’re the one best suited to the Twin Dragon Sword, Bella.”

Before he fired Million Bow,

Hyunsoo had gathered four knights together, distributed artifacts to them, and handed those four alone even more extraordinary sets and weapons.

And Bella had received this very +5 Hero’s Twin Dragon Sword.

Fond’s eyes swept across her body.

Unfortunately for him, he lacked the eye to grasp the true worth of the artifacts she wore.

And Bella’s level was currently displayed only as ???.

There was also something else Fond could not understand.

Hyunsoo, standing atop the wall,

was simply watching all of this in silence.

Meanwhile—

Yongwol was panicking.

Because of the knight who had appeared together with Nell, the one who looked like a Demon King.

The man wore a horned helmet and black armor from head to toe.

But the problem was not merely that this Demon King-like knight wore a full suit of black armor.

What is that sword?

The sword hanging low in the man’s hand.

To Yongwol, it looked impossibly beautiful.

Just a moment ago, an assassin had rushed in shouting, What the hell is this bastard?—

and died in a single strike.

In that instant, the sword had bloomed beautifully, like cherry blossoms made of blood.

That was right.

The sword in the knight’s hand now

was Full Bloom,

the first sword Hyun had ever forged that led an era.

And Yongwol shared the same question Fond did.

[Yongwol: ...Something’s wrong. Why... ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ why isn’t Hyun moving?]

In another sector—

the place where Vera and the densest concentration of the world’s greatest high-rankers were gathered—

a knight in silver full plate sat astride a black horse, looking down at them with imperious calm.

Behind him stood the strongest cavalry unit, one that wore matching silver armor and bore the name Blackwind, all of them gripping cavalry lances.

And the most striking figure of all was, of course, the knight on the black horse.

The long crimson feather attached to his helmet, likely Kkoko’s, gave him overwhelming flair.

The black horse snorted.

And at that alone, everyone there except Vera and Poison King Liu stiffened where they stood, unable to move as though frozen in place.

And in his hand he held not a cavalry lance,

but a different spear—

one that Hyun had forged long ago and given to a king.

Why was that spear here?

“Hyun, I can’t help you directly. But didn’t this spear come from your own hands?”

That question began with the rough laughter of an old friend.

People had called him the Trident, and the spear had originally belonged to Ben of Azure Heaven.

Vera and Poison King Liu also saw the arriving chat message.

[Yongwol: ...Something’s wrong. Why... why isn’t Hyun moving?]

That made Vera suspicious too, and she looked up at Hyunsoo atop the wall.

At some point, his vassals had placed something in front of him.

A chair that evoked a throne.

N-no way...

The moment Vera became certain, she hurriedly typed into guild chat.

And in another place—

“...”

He was unlike the ordinary users here.

He was one of the hidden top-tier high-rankers who had never shown himself openly.

The alias he usually used was Pearl.

His true nickname was Lexus.

He was one of the members of the dark gamer group Valon belonged to.

And there was only one reason he had come here.

The Parion Empire had secretly commissioned him to carry out an assassination.

His target was Akao, the Pirate King who had betrayed the Empire.

This man named Lexus had hidden his identity among the User Kingdom Union forces, yet in the past he had fought the former world number-one-ranked Bahala without ever being pushed back.

His class was Bounty Hunter.

And now he faced Akao, who was looking down at him from the Turtle Ship.

Akao.

Could even someone like Lexus assassinate him?

Yes.

He could.

As already said, Lexus was one of the strongest figures who never showed himself openly, and one of the core damage dealers of the dark gamer group.

And yet—

Lexus was now facing a variable far beyond his expectations.

Akao had appeared aboard the Turtle Ship together with the pirates.

He wore blue armor that looked ragged, yet sturdy.

And the massive scythe that had been on his back was now in his hand.

RATTLE-RATTLE-RATTLE—!

A giant chain was connected to that scythe.

[Transcendent Grade. Pirate King’s Scythe.]

This is getting interesting.

Lexus looked at Vera’s chat message.

[Vera: I have no idea what this crazy bastard is trying to do. It’d be easier for him if he joined this attack, so why the hell is he standing there as a bystander!!!]

Hyunsoo sat crookedly in the chair, watching the four knights as though he found them amusing.

But Lexus had already realized what Hyunsoo intended.

That guy is twenty-one? He’s insane...

Reading that intention, Lexus felt pure admiration.

At last, Hyunsoo rose from the throne where he had been lounging crookedly, stretched out his right hand before the eyes of the entire world, and said:

“Give me your loyalty.”

He was speaking to the User Kingdom Union.