Blacksmithing Is Child’s Play for a Dark Mage - Chapter 24

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 24
Tay and his companions had slaughtered orcs, ogres, kobolds, hobgoblins, bugbears, lizardmen, giant spiders, and every other monster that threw itself at them on their path to the region where the Goblin Settlement made its lair.
As a result, they leveled up along the way.
Having defeated so many monsters, advancement was inevitable.
“Leveling up is remarkably easy.”
Yet something peculiar had occurred.
His Black Mage level had not risen.
Mad Engineer had leveled up instead!
Name: Tay
Job: Black Mage Lv 2 / Mad Engineer Lv 2 / Warrior Lv 2
Trait: Reincarnate
Skills: →
Spells: →
Tay reasoned it out.
It seemed the system raised the lowest-level job first, one step at a time.
How was he supposed to understand the mechanics when he’d never even had a dual class before, much less triple? Nobody had experience with this.
In any case, all three of Tay’s jobs had now reached Level 2.
“I’d thought Black Mage would level up next.”
Reaching an odd job level granted a new job skill.
He’d been waiting for Level 3, hoping to unlock a Black Mage skill—but the system had other plans.
“What rises next? I’m hoping for Black Mage, but…”
Living as a melee warrior was dangerous. He didn’t need that level to rise at all.
But if the system locked him into this pattern, the consequences were severe.
The Warrior level would keep climbing whether he liked it or not.
It was nothing but dead weight.
“Are you speaking of your Bloodline Ability, contractor? That Hunter System?”
“Yeah. That’s the one.”
“It does not obey your will, it seems.”
“Well, what can you do about it? The leveling speed itself is fast enough, so it should be fine. Anyway… this place looks quite impressive.”
A fairly large hill rose before them.
A mountain roughly a hundred meters high and surrounding forest came into view.
True to reports of a Goblin Settlement, goblin-crafted structures greeted Tay’s party from the hillside’s entrance.
In other words, this place was already a goblin fortress.
Individually, goblins ranked as lesser monsters, weaker than humans, but their defining trait was moving in swarms.
And when they formed settlements like this, matters grew complicated.
Because they built ‘fortresses’.
Goblins possessed an ability called Gobrelling.
Legend held that these creatures inherited the bloodline of earth spirits from ages long past.
Thus they could mine minerals and stone, and refine or fuse them using their primitive methods.
Because of this, searching goblin lairs yielded rich ore ingots, or so the saying went.
The title ‘treasure goblins’ was not without reason.
Yet such goblin settlements were fortified by that very Gobrelling ability.
Normally, subjugating one required two or three mercenary companies.
That meant roughly a hundred mercenaries would need to march in to complete this contract.
So why had Tay arrived with nothing but a single slave?
Of course, he had his reasons.
“Rant.”
“Yes, Tay.”
“Do you know anything about goblin settlements?”
“Yes.”
“Ah… so you really were a high-ranking noble. And properly educated, at that.”
“The necessary knowledge for domain management is readily obtained through Knowledge Injection.”
Among high-ranking nobility, it was said,
mental-type black magic was used to educate their children. Tay had heard as much.
He hadn’t known if it was true until now, but today he had confirmation.
Among those techniques, Knowledge Injection forced specific information directly into the mind.
There was no need to read books or receive instruction from others—no memorization required.
However, human memory was volatile; even with Knowledge Injection, forgetting happened without regular review.
“Arse. What do you know?”
“I know, but disclosure is prohibited. Though if you offer sufficient compensation, I could provide that knowledge.”
“Done.”
This demon was a contractual entity summoned purely for combat, and it demanded payment for any action beyond that basic purpose.
Occasionally it would provide something gratis when the mood struck, but those instances were almost always related to dark magic.
“So you understand that the defining characteristic of the Goblin Settlement is that it’s a fortress, yes?”
“Yes, Tay.”
“Then what are the specifics?”
“Goblins possess an innate talent for tunnel-digging. They stack various traps and barriers at the entrance to make it fortress-like. The first engagement will be against the fortified entrance itself. After that, we’ll have to navigate through a labyrinth of tunnels.”
“You’ve got the textbook response down pat. So what’s the easiest way to deal with them?”
“I understand that toxic smoke is most effective.”
“Correct.”
Toxic smoke.
Against creatures that live underground, it’s devastatingly effective.
If the burrow has multiple entrances, the effect diminishes somewhat, but it’s still an excellent way to kill multiple tunnel-dwelling creatures efficiently.
“But Master! You haven’t brought any materials to make toxic smoke, have you? Or—oh! Unless you’re planning to create poison using some mysterious method unknown to me?”
The demon’s question came cheerfully.
“No? I’m not making poison.”
And.
Tay’s answer was unexpected.
He’d just said toxic smoke was effective, but now he wasn’t going to use it? Then why ask about it?
“What exactly do you intend, Contractee?”
“I’m going to drive them all mad.”
“Pardon?”
“What?”
Everyone except Tay made confused sounds.
* * *
“Crafting.”
Flash!
The Mad Engineer was a Hunter Class that could manufacture items on the spot—provided it had tools (hammer, anvil, tongs, and so forth) and materials.
Of course, he’d brought all the necessary materials.
What emerged was……
a small catapult.
[Head-Flinging Catapult]
Grade: Special
A catapult designed to launch the heads of living creatures.
Organisms near the impact point of the projectile are exposed to Mental Erosion (Lesser).
The user is likewise exposed to Mental Erosion (Lesser).
Effect: Mental Erosion (Lesser) within a 30-meter radius
And then.
He severed heads from the corpses he’d brought along and arranged them neatly in the catapult.
“Truly you are the Master! Committing madness with such composure!”
“I was aware the Contractee’s abilities were bizarre…… but this surpasses even my imagination.”
Ignoring the chatter of the two beings.
Tay pulled out a bottle of oil and wrapped it carefully around an orc’s skull.
“Right then. Fire in the hole!”
Whoosh!
The catapult fired.
Because it was constructed with the Mad Engineer Class ability, the orc head hurtled an impressive distance before arcing over the fortress wall of the goblins (crude-looking though it was).
Tay’s group had positioned themselves at a spot hidden from easy view of the Goblin Settlement, roughly eight hundred meters away.
Therefore.
The goblins didn’t notice a thing until the projectile was already falling into their fortress.
* * *
One of the goblins standing atop the fortress wall (constructed crudely but sturdily from scrap iron and mud) yawned and glanced around.
Having organized themselves into a society of sorts, this goblin served as a kind of sentry, and with no enemies visible, it was bored out of its skull.
In truth, guard duty is always tedious—nothing but endless scanning of the surroundings.
Then.
Something came flying through the air from far away.
What is it?
The goblin watched as it flew down and passed straight over the inner wall.
The moment it turned to look at where the object had landed.
Something struck deep into the goblin’s mind.
My left arm isn’t mine. My left arm is teeth. Why does it keep moving like it’s my arm? Where did my nose go? My fingers are black. The inside of my head itches. Scratching doesn’t help. Scratch it for me. Someone split my head open. If my head stops being mine, that’s fine. If I paint it red, my head won’t be mine anymore, and if I stab my eyes with a sword, the itching will stop, I think, aaaaaaaa!
A sensation and pain he’d never felt in his life.
The goblin wanted to scream, but couldn’t even manage that.
Instead, he acted.
Crack!
He drove the spear he was holding up through his own eye socket.
“Kyieeeek!”
Only then did he scream, surrendering to the agony, before collapsing dead to the ground.
Such scenes erupted all around.
Some goblins lunged at one another and tore with their teeth; others swung their weapons wildly without restraint.
It was sheer pandemonium—madness incarnate.
There were some goblins still sane, but the problem was that the maddened ones attacked them without mercy.
And then.
Wheeeek. Bang!
Something else came flying down and struck the ground.
Whoosh!
It burst into flames the moment it landed.
The chaos spread in all directions at once.
The goblins began dying in their madness.
* * *
“Burns well~.”
Tay watched with a smile.
The sight of goblins dying inside the settlement filled him with a deep, cold satisfaction.
‘Mental attacks really are excellent for civilian massacre. The only problem is so few black mages can use them.’
Mental magic was classified as a branch of dark magic, but the trouble lay in the rarity of black mages who actually knew how to wield it.
It required an inborn talent, and beyond that, it was extraordinarily difficult to master.
Mental protection magic was also a form of mental magic, but that was merely the foundation of foundations.
When it came to magic that dealt direct damage to another’s mind, the difficulty spiked dramatically.
However, because of his Mad Engineer job ability, Tay could achieve effects similar to mental magic.
Which was why things had turned out this way.
“Now let’s head inside.”
Tay led his party forward toward the Goblin Settlement.
He entered through the open main gate and gestured toward the goblins still clinging to life.
“Kill them all.”
“Gruuuuh.”
“Graaaah!”
The skeletal soldiers began their slaughter.
Black Mage Makes Smithing Too Easy
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Automaton G
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(주) Samyang C&C
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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