Genius Blacksmith's Game

[You have achieved a marvelous feat and obtained the Sword of Judgment.]

[A new Story begins.]

DING-

[Sudden Quest: Judges]

Grade: S

Reward: 2,000,000 EXP per person

Restriction: One who possesses the Sword of Judgment

Failure Penalty: Unparalleled is plundered

Description: The Sword of Judgment is originally a sacred possession of Ares. However, Examiner Purung gifted the Sword of Judgment to you. In response, the examiners seek to recover the Sword of Judgment through the Judges. Defeat the Judges and protect the right you have earned.

It was a new Story that broke out for Hyunsoo, who had been sensing some kind of threat approaching through Absolute Senses.

Here, Hyunsoo realized that Purung had given him the Sword of Judgment by stepping beyond his own authority for Hyunsoo’s sake.

But as the description said.

This was a right he had earned.

Even if Purung came back later and explained everything from start to finish, there was no “reason” for Hyunsoo to give it up.

And the very fact that this quest had triggered made him angry.

So these bastard sons of bitches barged into my kingdom whenever they pleased and tried to steal Unparalleled, the symbol I made? After screwing up themselves?

A nation was not a place just anyone could walk through at will.

And to invade another nation on your own terms to seize something, while aiming for the king’s “property” itself, was high treason.

Hyunsoo already knew they were coming, so he waited calmly.

Then, at that moment—

[Legendary Plunder]

[The enemy plunders an artifact you possess.]

A chilling alert rang out.

Something like this can actually exist?

Of course, whoever used a power like that probably paid some kind of penalty or labored under some kind of restriction.

Something like only being able to use it once every six months, or suffering a drop in stats and levels after using it.

That was only natural.

Absurd power always came with a price.

But even this, in the end, was tied to status ailments.

[You resist.]

[The enemy attempts to plunder the artifact you possess again.]

[You resist.]

Then, at that moment.

Hyunsoo remembered what made Unparalleled special.

I don’t know what kind of result this will produce, but...

No one other than its owner could ever possess Unparalleled.

Unparalleled’s description made that clear.

So Hyunsoo accepted it without worry.

The moment he did—

[Unparalleled leaves your side for a short time.]

Unparalleled floated up in empty air, then immediately crashed into the ground with a tremendous roar.

“Kuheok!?”

BOOOOOOM-!

From the scream he heard, Hyunsoo could tell that the one trying to seize Unparalleled had collapsed onto the ground.

A tingling sensation ran through him.

His own senses told him just how high the enemies’ level was.

But Hyunsoo trusted in the power of this thing called Unparalleled, and he was looking forward to seeing just how much force it could bring out.

And besides—

2,000,000 EXP per head?

The presences he felt through Absolute Senses numbered a little over fifty.

Which meant that if he killed them all, he would gain an absurd 100,000,000 EXP opportunity.

And—

You dared to invade my nation and try to steal what’s mine?

Hyunsoo strode forward, looking at the Unparalleled that had fallen to the ground and the enemy hidden in stealth standing before it.

Then he said,

“Everybody line up your heads.”

If anything, he was grateful.

Thanks to them, he could confirm Unparalleled’s effects.

BOOOOM-

And as Hyunsoo lifted the hammer—which weighed no more than 500 grams to him and came up with absurd ease—Raon, who had gotten back to his feet with his shoulder dangling uselessly, stared in confusion.

What the hell? How is he lifting a 150-kilogram hammer like that...?

Raon was rattled.

He had no way of knowing that, for its owner, it weighed only 500 grams.

Those in stealth could see one another.

And so the Judges chatted through the group chat they had made, “Thieves.”

[Kala: He says he’s going to crack all our heads...?]

[Row: What do we do? It looks like Master Blacksmith Hyun knew we were coming.]

What Hyun had just said was proof enough.

He had known they were on the way.

Even with one arm hanging loose, Raon grinned.

[Group Chat Owner Raon: So what if he did!? We’re in stealth, he can’t see us, and he doesn’t even know who we are! A kill order? He can’t issue one!]

The terrifying thing about attacking a king was the kill order.

But didn’t Hyunsoo have no idea who they were right now?

[Group Chat Owner Raon: This plunder failed. But I have a skill called Corpse Plunder. Corpse Plunder is uselessly easy once status ailment resistance stops mattering.]

[Row: Why?]

[Group Chat Owner Raon: Because corpses don’t have status ailment resistance.]

Everyone who heard that grinned.

He had a point.

No matter how strong Hyun was, what could he do in a situation where they were invisible?

[Group Chat Owner Raon: Kill him. We’ll take the pearl out of his corpse. And he’s holding a hammer right now. This is our chance. Even if he hits us with a hammer, how much could it hur—]

KWAJAAAAAK-!

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied and thunder occurs.]

Sensing an assassin creeping toward him from the side, Hyunsoo casually swung Unparalleled.

The assassin, struck cleanly on the side of the head, flew far away.

RUMBLE-!

What was that?

Thunder rolled across the sky.

The assassin did not even realize what had just happened to him.

He rolled across the ground.

It felt like he was seeing stars from the shock to his head.

He hurriedly tried to get up.

But he could not.

“What just happened?”

His hidden voice drifted through empty air, and the Judges panicked.

The assassin’s head had cracked apart, and he was turning to ash in a single blow.

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

The stunned ones clamped their mouths shut.

They had realized they could not make a sound.

And Raon, who had just been saying how little a hammer strike could hurt, was the first to shut his mouth.

What the hell did he make!?

Spit threatened to slide down the back of Raon’s throat.

He held even that in.

When it began to feel like they could not afford to make a single breath, a single rustle, a single sound—

“Hide all you want. I can still see your heads.”

“......”

“......”

“......”

A chill shot down their spines.

Hyunsoo, gripping Unparalleled, stopped in front of one of the users.

Then—

KWAAAJAK-!

RUMBLE-

FLASH!

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied and thunder occurs.]

[You have taken 554,315 damage!]

[You have been forcibly logged out.]

This time, a mage user scattered away as a handful of ash.

Then once again—

“Hide all you want. I can still see your heads.”

Standing right in front of Raon, Hyunsoo gripped Unparalleled and swung with all his strength.

PUUUUUUCK-!

Raon nearly lost his breath.

He had thought it was him, but it was the warrior-type Judge standing beside him.

The man staggered, unable to keep his balance, as if he were seeing stars.

At the same time—

RUMBLE—

The thunder made it impossible for him to register what had happened to him.

But unlike the assassin and the mage, the warrior was different.

He did not die in one hit. He endured and stayed on his feet, and Raon felt relief.

He should not have.

WHIP-!

Hyunsoo raised the hammer high, his eyes wide and wild like a murderer’s, and lifted Unparalleled again.

PUUUUUUCK-!

When Hyunsoo’s Unparalleled struck a second time, the warrior-type user vanished into ash.

“Heh-heh. Fo-und you.”

Watching Hyunsoo grin like a killer, one user muttered,

“The Headcracker Killer...?”

The user slapped a hand over his own mouth the instant the words slipped out, but it was already too late.

KWAAAAANG-!

Hyunsoo kicked off the ground and smashed his head apart.

KWAJAAAAAK-

By then, Raon had realized it.

[Group Chat Owner Raon: That bastard definitely knows where we are!]

With Absolute Senses elevated to the extreme, Hyunsoo could feel roughly where they all were, and luckily Absolute Senses had activated twice in succession—but it would soon start to blur.

[Group Chat Owner Raon: Kill hiiiiim!]

The users who had given up on hiding rushed Hyunsoo all at once, but he threw the hammer into the air like a boomerang.

[At Will]

[For 30 seconds, Unparalleled, having received your command as though infused with ego, strikes the heads of all beings at the speed of light in connection with the passive skill Headcracker.]

At that moment, Unparalleled flew in and smashed the head of the user charging at the front.

[Headcracker]

KWAJAAAAAK-

RUMBLE-!

Like a streak of light, the flying Headcracker smashed the skulls of seven users in the blink of an eye.

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied and thunder occurs.]

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied and thunder occu...]

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied and thunder occu...]

PUHPUHPUHPUHPUHPUHPUNG-!

As heads burst apart and the others stared in shock—

during that brief 30-second span, Unparalleled shattered the heads of over twenty users before returning to Hyunsoo’s hand.

The warrior-type users survived.

The low-HP classes died on the spot.

And the users who had actually managed to attack Hyunsoo panicked.

KWAJAAAAK-

KWAKWAKWAKWAKWAK-!

Thanks to his absurd defense, Hyunsoo’s HP was barely dropping at all.

Even if they were not high rankers, every Judge besides Raon was clearly a high-level user.

But before a single user—more precisely, before a user holding Unparalleled—there was nothing they could do.

We tried to steal the weapon of a monster like this?

They regretted it, but Raon made the call for them at once.

[Group Chat Owner Raon: Everyone, retreat. Master Blacksmith Hyun still doesn’t know who any of us are! Now that we know stealing it is impossible, there’s no reason to keep fighting!]

That was right.

In the end, Hyun had never seen their faces.

And only about fifteen users had died.

Thirty-five were still alive.

Quest failure?

Better that than this.

Looking at the gold and treasures that had dropped where the broken-headed ones had fallen, Raon had no desire to end up like them.

If Hyun learned who they were, he would issue a kill order. If he did not, this ended here.

[Group Chat Owner Raon: Everyone, use your Return Scrolls!!]

Raon truly felt fortunate.

By the power of those holy and mighty examiners, they were all still in stealth.

Hyun’s got to be furious.

The men who had aimed for him would slip away like this, and he would not even know who they were.

Raon reached into his chest, pulled out the parchment Return Scroll, and was just about to tear it open.

Then—

looking straight at them, Hyun declared in a powerful voice,

“I take everything from you.”

[Command of Unparalleled]

[All effects are nullified for 1 minute, and the use of all items such as Return Scrolls and potions is restricted.]

[Stealth is canceled.]

“...?”

Behind that embarrassingly chuunibyou-sounding line, everyone’s stealth vanished at once.

Raon and the Judges were seized by overwhelming fear, and Hyunsoo’s lips twisted as he looked at the character information floating above the revealed users’ heads.

“Warrior Kass.”

“Mage Erem.”

“Assassin Bala.”

“Ron.”

“Kur.”

“Thorn.”

“Heavy.”

“Rain.”

[The name is recorded in the nation of Hyun’s kill-order register.]

Every time one of their names was spoken, they sank deeper into despair.

Some broke down.

Some looked at him with desperate pleading on their faces.

But Hyunsoo, gazing over them with a king’s cold eyes, spoke the final name.

“Grand Thief Raon and every one of you knows what I can approve right now.”

And they did.

[The nation of Hyun’s kill-order register is awaiting approval.]

That hopeless alert was ringing out for them.

“......”

“......”

“......”

“......”

But contrary to what they thought, Hyunsoo had no intention of casually throwing around kill orders.

A kill order was a kingdom-wide quest, and for the nation of Hyun, still in its early stage, activating one recklessly would be a burden.

But the enemy had no way of knowing that.

So Hyunsoo chose his own method.

“Don’t want a kill order?”

“...Please.”

“Please.”

“Yes...”

The thirty-five remaining users begged for mercy.

Hyunsoo smiled mildly.

For a moment, Raon wondered if he really was showing mercy.

But then—

“First, take out everything in your pockets. And any artifacts worth satisfying me.”

“???”

“???”

“Want me to approve the kill order?”

One by one, they pulled out everything they had.

But Raon and the others thought that, compared to the price of attacking Hyun, this was far too light.

They did not know Hyunsoo.

“All fifty users. Whenever I call, you come running. Understood?”

“...?”

“...?”

“...?”

They could not refuse.

It was better than a kill order.

Is it over now?

Grand Thief Raon smiled in relief.

But Hyunsoo gave him a bright smile and said,

“One last thing. Everybody line up your heads.”

“...?”

“...?”

That day—

KWAAAJAK-!

KWAAAJAAAK-!

KWAAAJAAAK-!

KWAAAJAAAK-!

Every last one of their heads was shattered helplessly before the power of an absolute being.

And afterward, an anonymous user who had been there made a post on the community board.

-Don’t mess with Hyun...

-Why?

-If I say don’t mess with him, then don’t mess with him, you fucking little shit!!!!

-O-okay... sorry...

-D-damn.

It was later said that the message carried such overwhelming sincerity that every user who read it felt it in their bones.