Genius Blacksmith's Game

The Heavenly Realm.

The temple where the examiners served Ares.

Purung hung in midair with both arms bound, his entire body drenched in blood.

Blood trickled from Purung’s mouth as his arms were spread wide.

“I never liked you from the start.”

Examiner Ren.

He seized Purung’s face in one hand as Purung’s fading mind drifted in and out.

“I never understood why Lord Ares allowed a bastard like you to become an examiner.”

Among the examiners, Purung had been the only one to volunteer.

“And then Ares even gave you the post of chief examiner.”

Watching him from the side, Examiner Ren had never been able to understand him.

Purung had received the greatest blessing of all, and had even been granted the Sword of Judgment, the symbol of that position.

Ren had always believed the one who would receive the Sword of Judgment would be himself.

CRUSH—

“Ghh...!”

The pressure of Ren’s hand tightened as if it would crush Purung’s jaw.

Drip. Drip-drip.

The inside of his mouth split open, and even more blood spilled out.

“And yet you handed that Sword of Judgment over to some mere king. As if that were not enough, a man bearing the rank of examiner dared to harbor the foolish desire to serve some other king. You deserve heavenly punishment.”

Ren loosened his grip.

Purung let out a faint laugh.

“And yet... why are you the ones delivering that heavenly punishment?”

“...?”

The moment Purung had harbored disloyal thoughts, his examiner status had been stripped away.

Even though Ren was not descending to the lower world under Ares’s command to conduct an evaluation, he had still been able to go down and bring him back.

“Did Ares order my execution?”

Nowhere in that order had there been a divine voice commanding Purung’s execution.

“The moment the Sword of Judgment is placed in an examiner’s hand, it becomes that examiner’s. How it is used and how it is exercised is for the examiner to decide. As an examiner, I gave the Hyun King the highest score. And since there was no reward left for me to give him, I simply gave him the Sword of Judgment. Is that truly reason enough for my annihilation?”

“Shut up.”

“Or is my execution merely the product of the inferiority and resentment of examiners who failed to receive the Sword of Judgment and could not rise to the post of chief examiner they coveted?”

“Shut up!”

“I heard it as well. The one who holds the post of chief examiner and wields the Sword of Judgment—five hundred years later, that one is reborn as a god who governs the Human Realm while retaining that power. Laughable. You know it too, do you not? Ares appointed me an examiner because he knew I had no greed for becoming the god of the Human Realm. And in doing so, he made it clear that you were unqualified.”

STAB—!

Ren’s sword drove into Purung’s abdomen.

Purung’s eyes rolled back, and he fought desperately not to let out a groan.

Everything Purung had just said was true.

The most outstanding examiner could become a god of the Human Realm.

But Ares had not permitted Ren to walk that path.

GRRRK—

Wanting to make Purung suffer, Ren slowly pulled the blade back out, then uncorked a potion and poured it over the wound in his abdomen.

Pour—

“You mustn’t die yet. I intend to kill you far more painfully than this. First I’ll grind your bones to powder, then tear your limbs apart piece by piece. Only when you finally beg me to let you live, writhing in agony, will I kill you. And then I’ll erase you completely so that you can’t even reincarnate.”

Ren mocked Purung thoroughly.

“Should I keep tormenting you while the execution ceremony is being prepared?”

Then Ren turned away.

“No... the greater torment is the dread and fear of one waiting to die.”

With that final remark, Ren moved away from the temple.

When were most humans afraid? 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Probably when they became aware that they were about to die.

It was only natural that a death you knew was coming was more terrifying than a sudden one.

But Ren was wrong.

I am not afraid of death.

Purung, his hands bound, gave a faint smile.

Even at that moment, only one man came to mind.

You damned bastard.

The lunatic who had ruined a kingdom and then walked away alone.

For some reason, it was one of those days when he came to mind.

*****

Ren.

His diversion had been ruined.

What he had said about savoring the terror of waiting had been a lie.

What is this?

The other examiners had left everything in Ren’s hands and gone back.

None of them doubted that Ren would now become chief examiner.

And in truth, Ren had once been known as War God Ren.

He was stronger than any other examiner, and thanks to Ares’s favor, he had become stronger still.

And now his senses told him something.

Cerberus is dead?

Cerberus’s presence had vanished completely.

To Ren, that could only mean it had died.

Did it kill itself?

Cerberus’s condition had been unstable.

So unstable that taking its own life would not have been strange.

It was unlikely to have killed itself with no outside influence. Someone had probably helped it.

So a new intruder has entered the Heavenly Realm...

Whoever had entered the Heavenly Realm now was certainly not someone easy to deal with.

And besides—

Ares still has no intention of opening the Heavenly Realm yet.

He intended to open it only after a year had passed.

But more importantly—

This is perfect. I was bored.

Ren was someone who enjoyed killing.

And he was also the sort who acted however he pleased, under the pretext that no one was supposed to enter yet.

With Purung’s “examiner qualification” stripped away, Ren had risen to the post of acting chief examiner.

The chief examiner was a super Named NPC.

There were many things such a being could do.

And Ren had long served as the examiners’ instructor.

He had personally selected them and trained them himself, and true to the name War God, the results had been extraordinary.

With his hands behind his back, Ren flicked one hand.

Space twisted, and the “candidates,” who had been sweating as they focused on training, appeared.

Every one of them had once made a name for themselves in the Human Realm.

Some through the spear, some on battlefields, some across entire kingdoms.

Of course, Ren could not simply walk up to them and make the offer outright.

A candidate was selected at the moment that person met death.

Like a grim reaper.

Somewhere on a battlefield.

Or while trying to protect someone they loved.

Or at an execution ground, after being branded a traitor.

To those on the verge of death, Examiner Ren would make an offer.

Would you care to become an examiner?

Of course, with Purung’s position now vacant, only one among them could rise to that seat.

Exactly one hundred.

The candidates were special.

And the candidates, too, received Ares’s favor.

It did not compare to the Judgment relics, but at Ren’s appearance, they gripped the weapons bestowed by Ares.

One held a mace.

Another held a sword.

Another held a spear.

Most of them were shirtless, their muscular bodies bare and slick with sweat as they gathered before Ren.

Ren stood there with his hands behind his back. In thirty minutes, he had to attend Purung’s execution ceremony.

“Rats have slipped in. Bring them to me.”

[Examiner Candidate Kass Lv.491]

[Examiner Candidate Reden Lv.496]

After looking over their imposing figures, Ren turned away.

“It will not be easy, since they are the ones who granted repose to Cerberus. However, they stepped into the Heavenly Realm at a time Ares did not permit. Those who set foot here at an unpermitted time will fall under an irresistible Punishment.”

Walking on with his hands behind his back, he stopped in front of one man.

That man’s name was Bao.

In the Human Realm, astonishingly enough, he had been one of those chasing the title of Successor of the War God.

What was even more surprising was that he had been one of the hidden unofficial rankers, and was now training here, growing stronger.

Then a quest triggered for Bao.

[Hidden Quest: Punishment]

Grade: S

Restriction: One who accepted Ren’s offer

Reward: The punished one’s artifact

Penalty for Failure: Successor of the War God revoked

Description: Unidentified intruders have infiltrated the Heavenly Realm, and great expectations rest on you, the Successor of the War God. Capture the intruders and present them before Ren.

To put it bluntly, Bao was a parachute case.

He had no interest in becoming an examiner. The only thing he cared about was becoming the Successor of the War God.

Ren had shown mercy to his own successor and given him the opportunity to grow here.

Bao’s growth here had been dazzling.

Under Instructor Ren, his stat gains had become overwhelmingly greater than those of ordinary users.

He had also learned multiple skills of the War God and grown stronger.

He was convinced of it.

Valhalla? Even that bastard wouldn’t be a match for me now.

What Bao trusted most of all was the Punishment Ren had spoken of.

Those who stepped into the Heavenly Realm without the proper qualifications would be constrained.

That was what they collectively called Punishment.

And there was another reason Bao’s heart was pounding.

The punished one’s artifact?

This was the favor of Ren, a super Named NPC.

If Bao dragged that mysterious bastard in before him, Ren would plunder that intruder’s artifact and hand it over to Bao.

“I have great expectations for you.”

That proved that even a bastard like Ren cherished his own successor.

“Yes, sir.”

Ren walked away with his hands behind his back, and Bao saluted before he and the other ninety-nine examiner candidates moved at once.

As Bao and the others ran, following the intruders’ trail, they realized it was leading toward the temple—the execution ground.

And as Bao chased them down, he heard the start of the Punishment.

[The Punishment against those who have stepped into the Heavenly Realm begins.]

[All damage dealt by the punished is reduced by 40%.]

[You cannot resist.]

A full forty percent reduction in damage.

That included everything, from ordinary attacks to skill attacks.

A user’s damage being reduced by forty percent?

That meant becoming absurdly weak.

TATATATATAT—

This is an easy quest.

Bao smiled as he searched around the place where the execution ceremony would soon begin.

Then he heard voices.

“A 40% damage reduction? Isn’t that going way too far?”

“Well, I’m fine with it. If we’re facing this much danger in exchange, then the reward will probably scale up to match.”

“You can say that in a situation like this? It’s 40%, 40%! Not 4%!! If we get attacked now, we’re dead for sure!”

“Wouldn’t that still be better than getting killed by me?”

“...Hehe, now that I think about it, what’s a 40% damage reduction, really? More importantly, what exactly did you get in the treasure vault?”

“Hmm... for starters, there was about 15 billion piled up in there. Other than that, there was one necklace sitting there nice and bold.”

“Ghk... 15 billion? Isn’t that a total jackpot? Then what kind of necklace was it!?”

Treasure vault?

Bao could not make sense of what they were talking about.

All he knew was that the one hundred candidates had already finished encircling them and were fully prepared to attack.

“Shh. Birds hear words spoken by day, mice hear words spoken by night. You’re about to see it anyway, so why ask?”

At that moment—

the man holding the hammer let his gaze sweep all around.

Toward where Bao was.

Toward where the other candidates were.

Toward the places where the candidates were closing the distance.

“...!”

Bao and the others realized they had already been found out.

“Kill them!!!”

The hundred candidates moved all at once.

In their hands were the weapons bestowed by Ares, and [N O V E L I G H T] they burst with light as they charged in from every direction.

BOOM, BOOM-BOOM, BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

“What on earth were you stalling for— Hiiiiiik!”

The one beside him panicked at the sight of the hundred candidates launching themselves upward all at once.

The man pulled a necklace from his chest and put it on.

It was a necklace bearing the face of Gremory.

(Gremory’s Necklace)

Grade: Legendary

Durability: Infinite

Defense: 99

Restriction: Level 450 or above

Special Abilities:

· Active Skill: Demon Descent

Description: A necklace belonging to the demon Gremory, containing the source of that demon’s power.

(Demon Descent)

Active Skill

Level: None

Penalty: None

Mana Cost: 8,000

Effect:

· You can use Demon Descent, one of Gremory’s status-inflicting techniques.

· Applied for 30 seconds.

· An incantation exists.

The man’s eyes sharpened as he looked at the hundred candidates surging toward him.

Then—

[An incantation exists.]

Gripping the necklace, he stretched out his hand toward the candidates, and Gremory’s bleak, satanic woman’s voice flowed from his mouth.

“I am the demon.”

[Demon Descent]

[You have been afflicted with the status ailment Extreme Despair.]

[You have been afflicted with the status ailment Extreme Frustration.]

[You have been afflicted with the status ailment Extreme Fear.]

[Status ailment...]

[All stats are reduced by 20%.]

[All attack power is reduced by 20%.]

[All defense is reduced by 23%.]

[All agility is reduced by 28%.]

[Skill activation may fail.]

“KUHEEEEEK!”

Collapsing to the ground and coughing up blood, Bao saw the other candidates doing the same—vomiting blood and trembling violently.

He himself was no different.

His whole body shook like a reed in the wind, and blood poured endlessly from his mouth.

Wearing an expression of disbelief, he stared at the man standing there with the hammer.

The man grinned and asked:

“Now then—who’s more weakened?”