Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 194

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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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The Genius Blacksmith’s Game
Continental War (6)
Kou, ranked 15th in the world, had hidden among the undead and charged forward with approximately 200 Knights clad in dark armor.
With all the undead eliminated, he now faced the Korean Users in direct combat.
When plans go awry, it is unsettling.
Yet having actually fought, it proved worthwhile.
After fighting for roughly an hour, the Korean Users had only managed to log out about 50 Chinese Users.
The battle with Lee Hwan was particularly impressive.
Lee Hwan, Korea’s only ranker within the top 50.
He was certainly an exceptional User. However, Wang Gang did not log out in his battle against him.
Rather, he forced Lee Hwan to flee inside the Castle.
If I were to describe Lee Hwan now, it would be this.
‘He wears clothes that do not fit.’
He, who primarily wielded the great blade, still seemed unable to find an Artifact that truly suited him.
It could not be helped.
The number of Legendary Artifacts in Korea was merely one-thirtieth compared to China.
Moreover, the Artifacts crafted by Blacksmiths rarely possessed the exact effects he desired.
A pitiful User—born into the wrong nation, Lee Hwan could not even grasp a proper weapon.
Kou clicked his tongue with a tsk.
But then….
“He’s come again.”
Kou smiled faintly.
Though Lee Hwan’s level was higher than his own, he felt no fear.
Yet something was different from before.
Lee Hwan was now wielding a great blade.
Kou charged forward lightly.
Crash—!
As their blades met, Kou’s expression shifted in shock.
‘What is this?’
His face betrayed incomprehension.
From just a single exchange of blows, his entire body tingled and vibrated.
Kou possessed considerable understanding of weapons.
Great blades are difficult to wield and slow.
While a standard longsword can be swung three times, a great blade can be swung only once.
Yet the speed just now was fast enough to swing twice when a longsword could swing three times.
“My Sword Mastery is Advanced Rank 6, but my Great Blade Mastery is Supreme Rank 7. Additionally, this Legendary Sword called the Twin Dragon Blade possesses an effect that makes it 40% lighter than an ordinary great blade.”
Kou was taken aback.
“Where in this world does such a weapon exist?”
“Here.”
Crash—!
It was real.
The speed of Lee Hwan’s Twin Dragon Sword defied the conventional understanding of a standard greatsword.
What was even more shocking was its destructive power.
While maintaining a certain level of speed, the destructive force was several times greater than that of a longsword.
Crash—!
The moment it struck armor directly, even Kou’s legendary-tier armor shattered.
“This was made by Blacksmith Hyeon. You don’t have Hyeon, do you?”
Kou was taken aback twice over. Lee Hwan’s expression resembled that of a child proudly showing off some wonderful new treasure.
Lee Hwan looked around the battlefield.
“Come on! Come on!”
“You don’t have Hyeon, do you!?”
“Look how amazing the Artifacts our Hyeon made are!”
The tide of the battlefield had shifted.
And even as Lee Hwan overwhelmed Kou, it felt surreal.
‘How did he create such a perfect Artifact….’
The advantages of a greatsword were maximized, while its weaknesses were compensated for as much as possible.
Typically, Artifacts came with unnecessary features.
Moreover, Hwarang Guild Master Lee Hwan had been consistently sending recruitment offers to Hyeon, only to be ignored.
Because of that, he harbored a slightly twisted(?) grudge and hadn’t subscribed to Hyeon’s channel.
But his mind had changed.
‘The moment this continental war ends, I’m subscribing.’
Suddenly, Lee Hwan felt a chill run down his spine.
“Hahahaha, you don’t have Hyeon, do youuuu!”
“These, these bastards are insane!”
Hyeon’s Forge sold weapons at roughly 40% above market price, yet it had given Korea wings.
Even he had decided he would subscribe to Hyeon’s Forge.
Then….
‘What about the viewers…?’
He swallowed dryly.
But he had to admit one thing.
‘Long live Hyeon.’
Suddenly, the duration of his weapon rental came to mind.
‘1 hour and 32 minutes.’
In 1 hour and 32 minutes, the rental fee had climbed to 30 million won.
“Ooooooh!”
Lee Hwan gritted his teeth to squeeze out every ounce of value.
*
*
*
Nel, observing the battlefield, could see that 8 hours had passed.
‘We’re beginning to lose ground.’
After the initial clash, a tense back-and-forth battle ensued.
Combat between high-rankers lasted far longer than anticipated.
We endured several hours beyond what global experts had predicted.
Surprisingly, the Korean Users proved quite formidable as well.
But Nel faced reality head-on.
514 Korean Users remained alive, while 631 Chinese Users survived.
With each passing moment, Korean User numbers dwindled faster than Chinese ones.
Polarization had begun.
‘This polarization will eventually accelerate like a collapsing dam, becoming unstoppable.’
Nel observed the situation with cold clarity.
‘We performed well.’
Excellently, even.
Anyone asked would shower us with praise.
In truth, the members of Hyeon’s Forge Guild themselves struggled to make an impact here.
They ranked among Korea’s strongest, but this place overflowed with such warriors.
‘Everyone satisfied….’
Soon Nel glanced at the expressions of those from Hyeon’s Forge and realized her own naïveté.
“Just one more! One more enemy!”
Ian gritted his teeth as he fired arrows, while Bark swung his shield against five Users, straining with all his might.
Belia prayed ceaselessly while Tae-hoon and Han-ul fought on with bodies already pushed to their limits.
“….”
Nel realized she had been complacent.
Their competitive fire still burned fiercely.
She hadn’t understood because she wasn’t fighting.
“Uuuaaahhhhh!”
They thrashed desperately, refusing to yield even as they began to lose ground.
Nel clenched her fists and trembled, knowing there was nothing she could do for them.
She felt their anguish.
The inferiority, jealousy, and desire hidden behind Hyeon-su’s brilliance.
It was unavoidable.
Everyone yearned to be a star.
But now they were merely one among a thousand.
…Clang
…Clang
Then a sound pierced through the chaos of the battlefield—audible only to Nel.
That sound burned hotter than ever before.
‘…Hyeon-su.’
Perhaps he understood such feelings as well.
At that moment, Nel’s eyes wavered.
‘Pond, Liu….’
They began to move.
*
*
*
Pond and Liu waited for the Korean Users to exhaust themselves.
Though Pond had been caught up in the scheme, he possessed enough intellect for this.
Now was the time to push the polarization to its extreme.
Kurrrrrr-
A sphere of sickly green light shot skyward.
Liu, the Poison King, was a User of such renown.
The one capable of inflicting Ares’s most devastating debuff.
That sphere of green light ascending into the heavens descended upon the Korean Camp like rain, bursting forth like fireworks.
Poppoppoppoppop-
Screeeech-!
[You have been afflicted with Abyss Poison.]
[Resistance is impossible.]
[All stats decrease by 20%.]
[Nausea, chills, and dizziness occur.]
A power nearly equivalent to that of a Named NPC.
Liu’s ultimate ability was nothing short of catastrophic.
It was more than sufficient to ignite the already intensifying polarization.
“Ugh, uuuaaaagh!”
“Cough hack!”
“Damn it, I was winning just moments ago…!”
“Hey, why are you two ganging up on me… gah!”
The polarization grew steeper because Korea’s numbers dwindled while China’s remained constant, forcing Korean Users to face increasingly overwhelming odds.
Liu’s poison accelerated this collapse.
“Ugh, uuuaaaagh!”
“Cough hack!”
“Insane….”
The Korean Users, who had been locked in fierce combat before the Castle Gate, began to fall back.
Another figure descended upon the battlefield.
Screeeech-
It was Pond.
His blade severed the necks of three Korean Users in a single breath.
Landing on the ground, he drew his sword with blinding speed.
Screeeeeech-!
In that instant, with 450% cutting power, twenty Korean Users were bisected.
Pond’s face twisted into a delighted smile.
‘Now the slaughter begins!’
The moment Pond raised his hand, Chinese Users unleashed a barrage of skills.
Boom boom boom boom boom boom—
Crash crash crash crash crash—
He sneered as Korean Users scattered without a trace.
Already, roughly a hundred Korean Users had fallen to the Chinese Users.
It wasn’t an intentional display.
They simply collapsed without resistance.
“Please, have mercy on us.”
“This is a public execution, too much!!!!”
“Are you using skills?”
“Commander, we’ll use skills.”
Liu shook his head.
“Kill them with Basic Attacks. We still have far to go.”
An excuse.
Not because they had far to go, but to broadcast the killing with Basic Attacks.
Yet the claim of distance ahead provided justification.
Soon a horrific spectacle unfolded.
Crack, squelch, smash
Someone fired an Arrow, logging out a Korean User.
Someone else struck a head to log them out, while another slashed wildly.
The numbers dwindled at an exponential rate.
Finally, the gate opened.
Creak—
Pond, Liu, and over five hundred Chinese Users attempted to cross through the shattered gate.
That’s when Pond’s expression turned puzzled.
Whoooosh—!
Something erupted from somewhere.
‘A Blacksmith Shop?’
It moved too fast for him to locate it.
Glint—
When he finally spotted it in the sky, Pond squinted, trying to see it clearly.
But he couldn’t make it out.
In that instant, it plummeted downward.
The unidentified object pierced into the Castle.
Crash—
A colossal Blade over three meters long, inscribed with crimson patterns, was being carved into the stone.
[The God’s Warship of This Moment]
[Still to the Divine]
[Twelve Remain]
[Twelve ships remain.]
“Kee, kee-hya-ha-ha-ha, keu-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Pond laughed.
Zhuge had meticulously analyzed Hyeon’s Twin Dragon Sword.
The Golden Divine Celestial Line Twelve.
Its power granted a single target the strength of Blacksmith Hyeon himself.
Just as it had allowed Ian to touch legend, if only for a moment.
“What could a mere one person possibly accomplish!”
Yes, they might kill someone. But what difference would one person make?
Then.
[Black Night]
Darkness descended upon the world once more.
Humans are creatures of habit.
The fear of something experienced once becomes trivial the second time.
Even swallowed by darkness, Pond laughed.
And then, as suddenly as it had come, the world snapped bright again.
‘…What?’
Pond’s laughter faded in an instant.
Bark, Risel, Belia, Hye-ji, Tae-hoon, Han-ul, Ian.
They had placed their hands upon the Twin Dragon Sword as its center.
Some upon the blade, some upon the hilt, others upon the flat.
-What, what is this?
-The members of Hyeon’s Forge are converging upon the Twin Dragon Sword.
-What, what is about to happen!?
Their forms were being magnified across the entire world.
*
*
*
‘You look well, Director.’
The once-tedious existence of real estate magnate Bark had found new purpose.
‘…Participating in the Continental War? I trust you will distinguish yourself.’
Risel, the youngest of Hanseong Group, carried the expectations of Chairman Lee Tae-sung.
‘The three geniuses? Still, in a continental war like this….’
Hye-ji, Tae-hoon, Han-ul.
Deep trauma still lingered within them, and they feared the gaze of the masses.
‘I’m scared….’
Belia disliked combat, yet she fought to protect her guild members.
Each carried their own reasons, yet shared a common resolve.
‘Powerless….’
‘To think I was so unremarkable.’
‘Damn it….’
Nothing but despair.
Like ordinary people claiming they were special, I had expected our own contributions to matter.
But in truth, our accomplishments were negligible.
Just one among a thousand participants.
Then, in the darkness, I saw Hyeon-su’s guild message.
[Hyeon-su: I’ve imbued the Twin Dragon Sword with its true meaning.]
Drawn like a moth to flame, I approached that blade gleaming in the darkness.
‘The true meaning of the Twin Dragon Sword…?’
‘What could that be?’
[Hyeon-su: Become twelve warships for me.]
Twelve warships.
Us, who had accomplished nothing here?
Before long, everyone had gathered before the Twin Dragon Sword.
[Hyeon-su: The power I’ve infused this time differs from what I gave to Ian. I drew inspiration from the flames I obtained not long ago.]
Bark reached out first, and the others followed one by one, grasping the Twin Dragon Sword.
The Twin Dragon Sword erupted with a tremendous resonance.
[The most perfect twelve warships are completed.]
We were not such remarkable people.
Bark possessed much, yet fell into emptiness every night.
Risel endured the pointed fingers of executives asking, ‘Is the young master playing games these days?’
The Olympic trio lived with commonplace jealousy, hearing whispers of ‘Aren’t they living off what they earned long ago?’
[Hyeon-su: Protect it.]
He and we shared the same heart.
We were nothing but selfish people, not patriots.
Yearning for applause beneath the spotlight, we pursued Hyeon’s Forge better than yesterday.
But the Twin Dragon Sword saw them differently.
[The legend that saved the nation responds.]
The Twin Dragon Sword asks a question.
Why did you board this vessel?
If you board this turtle ship, you may die. To the five hundred Chinese Users beyond that castle gate ahead.
The answer was simple.
‘Because we had to.’
Because we had to protect this ocean.
No. Because we had to prevent this castle from being breached.
At last, the flames blazing from the Twin Dragon Sword consumed them.
[It burns most fiercely.]
They became twelve warships and collided with five hundred enemy vessels.
[It is recorded in history.]
When they regained consciousness, they had drawn a new chapter in Ares.
And I came to understand.
[Legend (說話). Those who had no choice but to ascend are recorded.]
Perhaps on that day, Joseon too had no choice but to board the ship.
Just as we did.

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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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