Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 220

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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
Bone Dragon (3)
Eight hundred years ago.
Baladra, the Dragon of Ruin, was a transcendent being that had plunged the world into terror.
The entire continent trembled beneath the shadow of Baladra, the Dragon of Ruin.
The number of castles that fell to his devastation was beyond counting, and even the mightiest kingdoms proved no match for him.
It was then that Baladra heard tales of the legendary Saint—the most powerful being of that age.
Baladra laughed.
After all, legends had melted away in the inferno of his breath.
The notion that a mere human could bear the title of absolute being offended Baladra deeply.
And so he unleashed his breath upon the great territory of Atlas.
The great territory of Atlas vanished into history that day, eight hundred years past.
On the day Atlas crumbled entirely, Baladra, the Dragon of Ruin, clashed with the Saint in battle.
Baladra was astounded.
Baladra’s nature was evil.
Though neither demon nor undead, he had wrought countless deaths.
By Baladra’s measure, the Saint was someone he could easily slay.
Yet this Saint wielded a power against him alone that proved formidable.
It stemmed from the force of goodness that dwelt within him.
And partly, the influence of the dark magic that Baladra himself had mastered contributed to the Saint’s overwhelming advantage.
He was the sole dragon capable of wielding dark magic, and even in death, he could become a Bone Dragon.
His will to destroy and shatter persisted even beyond mortality.
In the end, Baladra was defeated and transformed into a Bone Dragon.
Then, gravely wounded, the Saint entombed himself deep beneath the earth and sealed himself away from the world.
Baladra remained trapped in this place for countless ages, awaiting the day he might return to the surface.
And today, some human had found him.
The human was not strong.
Thus Baladra, the Bone Dragon, intended to toy with this amusement that had appeared after eight hundred years.
Yet something was amiss.
-???
The human gazed at him with a ravenous grin, laughing.
Baladra deemed the human mad.
-A worthless creature dares tread upon this land? Perish.
He unleashed his breath in a single, devastating torrent.
An ultimate technique that even legends could scarcely endure, though none could escape grave injury.
Moreover, the breath extended across a radius of four hundred meters—his most devastating attack.
Baladra was bewildered.
‘What is this?’
The human, whose entire body should have melted away, stood pristine in an instant.
Baladra, undeterred, unleashed his magic.
He was a being capable of unleashing 8-class magic without restraint.
Yet no matter what spell he cast, the man recovered.
Baladra, flustered, lashed out with his tail this time.
The Twin-headed Ogres would shatter into fragments when struck by his tail.
‘…?’
But this human emerged unscathed once more.
He brought his front claws crashing down.
CRASH—!
The ground caved in four meters deep, and the man was driven into the crater.
Yet he emerged pristine again.
Baladra bit down with his fangs.
He tasted the man’s blood, warm and flowing, grinding between his teeth.
And yet….
‘What in the abyss is this creature!?’
What bewildered him more was the expression on the man’s face—that ravenous, drooling grin as he stared back.
And as Baladra listened to what the man said while pummeling him with Basic Attacks, one certainty crystallized.
‘This human is using me to conduct some kind of experiment…?’
Daring to treat a dragon—himself—as a test subject?
Of course, this was Baladra weakened to nearly half his true form’s power.
Yet even now, Baladra was a dragon whose strength rivaled that of legends.
What manner of being could use such a creature as an experimental subject?
Only one who could subjugate him with ease.
It was only logical.
And the Destruction Dragon Baladra perceived confidence in the way the man attacked without casting a single spell.
‘The confidence that he could kill me whenever he wished….’
Moreover, the holy power infused in the blade he wielded brought Baladra immense agony.
As mentioned, Baladra was a colossal monster standing twelve meters tall.
Even such a being felt tremendous pain when struck directly by an Artifact imbued with potent holy power.
It was a pain as though that very section was melting away.
Of course, without the holy power alone, the pain would not have been so unbearable.
And the madman continued, relentlessly, striking him again and again with that blade.
The sword swung nearly 1.5 times per second.
In other words, every two seconds, the same spot melted away three times over in waves of agony.
When that exceeded one thousand strikes.
‘Please…stop….’
The Destruction Dragon Baladra was a being who had reigned as an absolute.
He did not believe in his own submission. And he had scarcely ever known fear.
Yet precisely because he had never known fear, it struck him all the harder.
This emotion he now possessed was utterly foreign to him.
‘Please…stop.’
That unfamiliar emotion terrified me beyond measure.
Fear, dread, pain.
Each time those three sensations struck, he screamed silently within.
Yet the dignity of a dragon compelled him to endure.
And when the count exceeded three thousand, he understood.
‘This creature has reached the realm of immortality.’
Baladra knew nothing of the Saint’s Sword—the weapon that had become a bug born from error.
He only grasped that the very recovery Hyeon-su now performed represented immortality, the dream of all species.
One who had attained immortality was an existence that even a mere dragon like Baladra could not overcome.
Fear, dread, pain.
Engulfed by these three forces, his mind crumbling, Baladra finally accepted that Hyeon-su possessed immortality and began to surrender.
‘Yes, perhaps my defeat is inevitable for one who possesses immortality.’
Baladra too had once dreamed of immortality, which was why he had walked the path to becoming a Bone Dragon.
When the count exceeded four thousand, he surrendered completely, harboring but a single wish.
‘If only this pain and fear would end….’
The agony intensified with each passing moment, showing no sign of cessation.
Though he tried not to show it, had he possessed eyes, they would surely have rolled back.
And when five thousand was reached, an inexplicable emotion suddenly began to seep in.
‘What is this incomprehensible power?’
This mysterious force was controlling him.
That power even kindled within him a reverence for the one who neutralized him so effortlessly.
And he surrendered completely before the magnificent might of the man before him.
Now there was but one thing he desired.
‘For this pain to end swiftly….’
Baladra contemplated how this suffering might conclude.
*
*
*
[Liege’s Grace activates.]
Hyeon-su, who had been harvesting (?) the Bone Dragon, was startled by the notification.
‘Why would Liege’s Grace activate on the Bone Dragon?’
Liege’s Grace activates on those in the vicinity.
Which meant the only target here was the Bone Dragon.
What puzzled Hyeon-su most was that the activation condition for Liege’s Grace did not align with the current situation.
(Liege’s Grace)
Unique Title
Rank: S
Special Ability:
·Activates with an 8% probability when someone is judged to have received a grace from you they will never forget in their lifetime.
·Upon activation, they develop a desire to be with you or possess high respect and loyalty, and may develop other emotions as well.
I can pledge myself as your Retainer.
When someone judges they’ve received a favor from another, or when they wish to stand alongside them—
Profound respect and loyalty are maximized and drawn forth.
Then a notification surfaced.
[A special phenomenon occurs hidden within the Lord’s Grace.]
[Fear possesses the greatest power to subjugate its target.]
“…!?”
Hyeon-su understood.
It wasn’t necessary for a title or skill to explicitly state ‘a special phenomenon may occur’ for additional power to unlock.
Fear held the greatest power to subjugate any target.
No one opposes a king; they follow him because of the power he wields.
Yet Hyeon-su wore a puzzled expression.
‘By that logic, countless monsters should have felt fear toward me until now.’
And it should have triggered indiscriminately across many monsters.
And Hyeon-su realized.
‘My form—wielding the Saint’s Sword with infinite recovery—must have instilled incomprehensible terror in the Bone Dragon.’
In other words, this hadn’t occurred haphazardly.
That fear seemed to activate only when it surpassed one’s own understanding of reality.
In other words.
‘Except for today, it will be difficult to subjugate anything through fear alone.’
It was possible only because I possessed the Saint’s Sword.
Yet Hyeon-su ignored the notification and struck the creature faster and more brutally.
Then finally, the Bone Dragon revealed its hidden emotion.
-Please, stop. Stop!
The Bone Dragon’s current state was pitiful.
Its entire skeleton had been cracking and shattering from my relentless Basic Attacks.
It did not kneel, but it lowered its head.
-I acknowledge my defeat to your strength. I will follow you.
Yet Hyeon-su harbored one doubt.
‘Me? Taking this creature?’
[The Bone Dragon cannot leave the Dungeon.]
The notification itself confirmed it was impossible.
Of course, the Bone Dragon’s power was tremendous.
But Hyeon-su’s mind immediately filled with concern.
If the Bone Dragon’s great power could be utilized, it would greatly benefit Hyeon’s Forge going forward.
But I couldn’t take it outside, and bringing it along would create far too many complications.
“You can’t leave anyway, right?”
Hyeon-su struck at the heart of the matter.
The Bone Dragon acknowledged him.
-You who have subjugated me, there exists a way for me to follow you. Can you grant what I desire?
Hyeon-su’s expression turned puzzled.
—Grant me peaceful rest.
Bone Dragon surveyed his own body.
From the start, Bone Dragon was an entity incapable of recovery.
Of course, if brought to some tremendously powerful necromancers, things might differ.
In any case, bones throughout his entire frame were shattered or collapsed.
In other words, Bone Dragon wanted to die in a single stroke rather than suffer further from Basic Attacks.
But it didn’t align with reason.
“How will you serve me if you’re dead?”
—After death, I shall be reborn. Though I will be nothing but a hatchling, and lose all memories of my former life.
“So you’re saying you’ll find peaceful rest, and the newly born creature will follow me? That’s a scam.”
—….
Part of it was true.
Yet this arrangement suited Hyeon-su better regardless.
First, I couldn’t even take Bone Dragon with me right now, and even if I could, bringing along a fully mature Bone Dragon carried greater side effects as mentioned.
But there remained another question.
“How do I trust that creature will follow me?”
—Dragons recognize the first being they see upon birth as their parent.
That made sense.
In truth, whether I continued striking with Basic Attacks for the next ten minutes or killed Bone Dragon in one blow made little difference.
‘I’ve already collected all the materials anyway.’
Hyeon-su had nothing to lose.
“What form will it take when born?”
Hyeon-su anticipated an imaginary creature—a hatchling.
—It will be born in the form I possessed at death. It will be born as a Bone Dragon hatchling.
This was quite disappointing.
Compared to a true dragon, it would be far weaker upon reaching maturity.
Hyeon-su asked the most crucial question.
“How long until it reaches maturity?”
—It will need to be at least one hundred years old.
In reality time, that was approximately thirty years.
‘I’ve obtained Bone Dragon, yet haven’t obtained anything?’
As mentioned, Hyeon-su had no regrets.
‘I was going to kill it soon anyway.’
Hyeon-su maximized the resonance of the Twin Dragon Sword using the buff variant.
Simultaneously, I swapped to the offensive Twin Dragon Sword and severed with its resonance.
Crrrrrunch—
The collapsing face of Bone Dragon finally bore the expression of one greeting peaceful rest.
And an enormous notification was appearing before Hyeon-su.
But I set the notification aside for now.
His attention shifted elsewhere.
Among the completely shattered fragments of the Bone Dragon’s skeleton.
A creature within shook itself free of the debris.
Soon it rose fully from the bone dust.
‘So small?’
Its size resembled Bok-deung-i.
Barely larger than two fists pressed together.
It was composed entirely of bone, and in its current form, it looked precisely like a baby Bone Dragon.
The creature glanced around nervously.
When its eyes met Hyeon-su’s, it tilted its head in confusion.
“Kyuu kyuu?”
A dragon’s cry, yet remarkably adorable.
“Kyuu gyuu gyuu, kyuu ang!”
Then it charged toward Hyeon-su like an ostrich.
It leaped with all its might, but only reached his knee, so he caught it swiftly before it fell.
The creature in his arms was delighted.
“Kyuu kyuu!”
[The Bone Dragon hatchling recognizes you as its parent.]
“Kyuu uuu ung!”
Then it buried its head in Hyeon-su’s embrace.
[The Bone Dragon hatchling loves your embrace.]
“Kyuu uuu ung….”
The creature in his arms made sounds requesting sleep.
Hyeon-su smiled wryly.
The Bone Dragon’s words were true, and thus Hyeon-su had acquired a baby Bone Dragon as a pet.
‘It’s a shame it’s not a true dragon, but….’
Rumble rumble rumble—
As the Dragon’s Tomb collapsed, Hyeon-su was engulfed in light.
And in this moment, Hyeon-su did not know.
That the creature born as a Bone Dragon hatchling would become a true dragon.

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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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