Genius Blacksmith's Game

(Ares’s Sword)

Grade: Legendary

Durability: 7,000/7,000

Attack Power: 721

Restriction: examiner candidate

Special Abilities:

· Sword Attack Power +30%

· Sword Mastery +5

· Sword-related skills +2

· Active Skill: Rush

Description: Ares’s weapon bestowed only upon examiner candidates.

The Ares series could be called mass-produced.

There was nothing especially outstanding about it.

And yet it was a “Legendary” artifact.

That was the result of two things combined: the advantage of being a sword bestowed by Ares, and the inclusion of 100 grams of Adamantium. Judging by appearances alone, it was not a famous blade.

The proof that it was mass-produced lay in the fact that it had no special skills, while only its Attack Power and weapon-related skill levels were high.

If a weapon of this type

had been forged on the surface without bearing Ares’s name, and without even Adamantium mixed into it, it would have topped out at Rare or Epic at best.

In other words, these were weapons granted by Ares to the candidates, made possible solely through Ares’s power and Adamantium.

On the other hand, it was also true that these weapons were still ultimately “Legendary,” and that their Attack Power and similar values far exceeded ordinary Legendary gear, placing them among the very best.

That was precisely why

the candidates had no choice but to become highly dependent on these weapons bestowed by Ares.

And then, all at once, they were left empty-handed.

Unless they were classes like fighters or grapplers—

when someone lost the weapon that gave them supreme offensive power and was reduced to “bare hands”—

and on top of that,

when the user named Hyunsoo was already wearing the Overlord’s Set and possessed defense superior to that of ordinary high-rankers—

THUD, THUD-THUD, WHAM-!

[You have dealt 531 damage.]

[You have dealt 624 damage.]

[You have dealt 613 damage.]

it was only natural that their punches posed no threat.

After striking Hyunsoo, the candidates turned their heads and froze.

“What the hell are you staring at, you idiots?”

There was a pile of more than sixty kinds of weapons bestowed by Ares Himself.

And seated arrogantly atop that mountain, mask lowered, was a man grinning down at them.

Until just moments ago, they had dismissed him as nothing more than a thief and paid him no mind.

What shocked them even more was that he had plundered everyone’s weapons.

Of course, they had not been stolen permanently. It was only temporary. But for people whose dependence on their weapons was this high, it was the worst possible situation.

Just how bad was it?

At this rate, this is worse than Demon Advent...

For thirty seconds, every single one of their attacks could do no more than 100 to 200 damage at best.

And Hyunsoo could see Raon winking at him.

[Raon: I understand now why you told me to steal the Judgment series. Kkhk, your discerning eye must have recognized my potential.]

No, it hadn’t.

How could Hyunsoo possibly have known Raon had a crazy skill like this?

This isn’t just some simple skill.

It was the same kind of thing as Ghost Step.

That meant control mattered, and Raon must have practiced it thousands upon thousands of times.

It also meant he had natural talent.

[Raon: That is why you returned the Grand Thief’s Mask to me, and why you had been expecting a performance like this from me. Thanks to you, I—who had shrunk into nothing more than a cub—was able, for a brief moment, to become a true beast and tear into the enemy.]

Why is he talking like that?

Hyunsoo was taken aback.

It was fine that the cowering beast had become a real beast, but now it sounded like a real beast with eighth-grader syndrome.

Either way, it didn’t matter.

The important thing was that he had acquired an extraordinary slave(?), and that slave—

[Raon: I’ve laid the board for you. Don’t let it go to waste.]

—had set the stage for Hyunsoo.

[Your HP falls below 45%.]

Hyunsoo’s HP had plummeted in just a few dozen seconds.

The candidates’ skill and damage output were even better than he had expected.

They were dealing thirty percent more damage than ordinary high-rankers.

But even in the midst of that, Hyunsoo had remained crouched low.

[Divinity accumulates.]

Back when he had gained a god’s swordsmanship,

the Passive Skill Divinity had said this:

‘When engaged in battle, Divinity may accumulate as time passes.’

To use a god’s swordsmanship in the first place, Divinity had to accumulate, and Hyunsoo had learned several things about that condition.

The Divinity that built up as time passed while in battle—

It increases exponentially when fighting strong opponents. And especially when fighting people.

The proof:

[By fighting a great and powerful enemy, the speed at which Divinity accumulates increases.]

[By fighting many powerful enemies, the speed at which Divinity accumulates increases.]

[You have fulfilled the conditions for Divinity.]

“Divinity.”

An immense power stirred within Hyunsoo.

One might mistake it for the sort of top-tier buff skill users tended to have one or two of.

But this was of a different order.

Divinity surpassed any buff skill in existence.

The white light flowing from his body announced the arrival of one who possessed the dignity of a god.

[All stats increase by 28%, and all Attack Power rises by at least 10% to 25%.]

[When Divinity is activated, all incoming damage is reduced by 50%.]

[Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship can now be used.]

[1 minute 13 seconds remaining.]

Part of the reason Hyunsoo had deliberately stayed crouched

was to detonate all of his damage at once.

In fact, the synergy from a 28% increase to all stats and a 10% to 25% increase in all Attack Power—

and beyond that,

he had learned one more thing.

The incantation.

Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship.

It did not actually need to be spoken aloud.

Hyunsoo’s Swordsmanship.

After reciting it inwardly, he found that he had already switched from Unparalleled to the Sword for the One Who Follows the King as he spoke.

“Sword of Stillness.”

[Within silent sound, those recognized as enemies within a 50-meter radius are cut down before they can even become aware of it.]

[The number of silent sword energies is four times the number of enemies.]

[Enemies who are cut are afflicted with the status ailment Confusion.]

SHHHHKKK—!

The candidates, staring at Hyunsoo in dismay over having lost their weapons, felt only silence.

And though Hyunsoo swung the Sword for the One Who Follows the King in a great arc, they panicked when nothing seemed to happen.

There was only—

-------------!!!

[You have taken 194,013 damage!]

[You have taken 187,914 damage!]

[Critical Hit!!]

[You have taken 254,613 damage!]

—the sight of the comrades before them being silently carved apart.

Bao watched the candidate in front of him turn to ash.

Another candidate beside him had their head drop with a thud, roll across the floor, and then collapse as their whole body came apart in pieces.

That invisible, inaudible wave of sword energy reached even him.

SSSHKRRRK—!

[You have taken 173,103 damage!]

Having taken massive damage, Bao staggered.

He had already identified the man before him as Hyunsoo, and that realization threw him into panic.

Bao was someone who had thought he might even be comparable to Valhalla.

But forget being comparable—Hyunsoo’s power itself was on an overwhelming level.

He was the same man who had told his friends that if they were ever going to bet on Hyunsoo vs. Valhalla, they should put everything on Valhalla.

Now he realized just how foolish that had been.

The candidates were being swept away and scattered like fallen leaves before the wind.

But they had been put through brutal training by their instructor and examiner, Ren, and so they possessed grit.

BOOOOM—!

Even while being cut down, they lunged forward and struck Hyunsoo.

[You have dealt 672 damage.]

[You have dealt 865 damage.]

The result was disastrous.

No matter how much they punched or kicked, since they were not fighter classes, it amounted to nothing more than powerless resistance.

[Punishment is in effect!!]

[You are eliminating many candidates in a short period of time!!]

[As a special benefit, all EXP gains are increased by an additional 30%!!]

[You are eliminating many candidates in a short period of time!!]

[As a special benefit, artifact drop rate is increased by an additional 30%!!]

Bao finally realized that Hyunsoo was currently under Punishment, and his lips fell open.

SHHHHHHHH—

[You have eliminated 31 candidates.]

Watching the candidates turn to ash, Bao felt relieved that at least he had survived.

[6 seconds remain until weapon ownership is transferred.]

[5 seconds remain until weapon ownership is transferred.]

At least the weapons that Raon had stolen would soon return.

The thirty surviving candidates, Bao among them, all spun at once and tried to run toward the mountain of weapons Raon had piled up.

That skill is already over!

That was why they thought there was still a chance.

But by then, Hyunsoo was already standing in front of the pile of weapons.

And then—

“Reset.”

“...?”

The candidates had no idea what the word Reset meant, so they only looked puzzled.

Bao was different.

Bao was a user, so he knew that reset meant to return something to a previous state.

What is he resetting?

[Reset]

This too was power imbued in a god’s swordsmanship.

It could trigger when using an Active Skill or a Passive Skill alike. It activated probabilistically, and it was the power to immediately use a power that had just been used moments before.

“Sword of Stillness.”

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

“......!”

-------------!!!!!!!

Once more, silent sword energy forced its way through the candidates.

Some who had already experienced it managed to evade it by instinct.

But in that silent gap—

[38 seconds remaining.]

—Hyunsoo, holding Unparalleled, brought the hammer down on the head of one who had just barely dodged with astonishing movement.

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied, and Thunder occurs.]

KRRRRAAAACK—!!!

[You have dealt 431,301 damage.]

[You have dealt 395,011 damage.]

[Headcracker]

[You have struck the head.]

[Double strike damage is applied, and Thunder occu—]

KRRRAK—

KRAK, KRAK, KRRRRAAAK—!

FLASH, FLASH, FLAAAASH—!!!

Each time the light flashed, another candidate scattered into a handful of ash.

Bao could not avoid the critical hit either.

[Critical Hit!!]

[You have dealt 433,015 damage.]

TWAAANG—!

Bao’s head rang after being smashed.

[All candidates have been annihilated.]

He realized that he too was included among those candidates.

Of course,

Bao was a special case.

He was merely someone training here through privileged connections as a descendant of the Martial God.

He could simply go back down to the human world and continue operating there.

And also—

[You have been forcibly logged out.]

[You drop Geren’s Fang.]

Whew...

As his vision darkened, he felt relief.

The penalty from losing EXP hurt.

But there had been no artifact drop, which had been his greatest worry.

Geren’s Fang?

It was a worthless piece of junk that users in the level-200 range could get from killing a wolf called Geren. Something you could find lying around on the street.

Compared to what I was aiming for, the damage is minor.

Bao had already realized that the man hiding his identity was Hyunsoo, and if he had managed to bring him down, he had dreamed of Hyunsoo dropping his hammer—or perhaps the Sword for the One Who Follows the King.

Compared to what he had hoped to gain, this loss was trivial, and that was why he relaxed.

Right then,

Bao froze.

His vision had gone dark, so he should have already been coming out of the capsule, but that did not happen.

What is this?

Bao—and the hundred candidates who had died here with him—remained in a soul state.

At that moment—

[Soul Theft begins.]

SHA, SHASHASHASHAK, SHASHASHASHASHASHASHAK!

Raon darted through the souls, stealing as he went.

Bao could not hide his shock.

[Stealing succeeds.]

[You gain 1,235 gold.]

[Stealing succeeds.]

[You gain 2,451 gold.]

[Stealing succeeds.]

[You obtain Candidate’s Ring.]

As Raon wove between the souls, the bundle on his back grew heavier and heavier.

Of course, he failed often among the hundred.

But each time he succeeded, the increasingly heavy bag filled Bao with dread.

At last—

[The Grand Thief peers into your inventory.]

When that alien sensation of someone rifling through his possessions swept over him—

[The Grand Thief succeeds in stealing from you.]

Bao panicked.

N-no... the cloak I got from Examiner Ren...!

It was an artifact he had obtained after passing Examiner Ren’s many tests in the human world and becoming a descendant of the Martial God.

And now it had been taken from him.

It also carried a special effect, and in terms of value, it was worth over 4.5 billion won.

Bao screamed as it was stolen.

You goddamn thief son of a—!@#!@!!!!

But his voice could not reach them.

Soon, Bao’s vision went black.

*****

[13 seconds remaining.]

[Sudden Quest: Authorization complete.]

As the 100 Ares weapons entered his inventory, Hyunsoo let out an impressed breath.

Khh...!

He could already imagine the power of the artifact that would be reborn once all of them were melted down.

Then Hyunsoo frowned in confusion.

What’s he doing?

Raon was moving quickly through the places where the candidates had fallen.

Then, soon—

“Hngh.”

Raon came back carrying a mysterious bundle on his back.

“Slave among slaves. Grand Slave, Slave King Raon offers this to Lord Hyunsoo.”

He spread the bundle open before Hyunsoo, laying bare his loyalty.