Genius Blacksmith’s Game - Chapter 229

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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
Housewarming (5)
The murderous intent of Named NPCs is a form of abnormal status—a power that ordinary Users cannot possibly endure.
A User in the Ares Community once spoke of this.
When encountering legends, the oppressive aura they radiated alone caused one’s legs to tremble and made it difficult to maintain consciousness.
Thus, the oppressive force emanating from legends is something even the formidable struggle to withstand.
Yet just now, three legends.
Ben, Barad, and Aria—they unleashed genuine murderous intent.
The reason stemmed from Bon’s words.
‘Should I not break one of your lord’s legs before we begin?’
Saint Aria.
She had known Hyeon-su for only a brief time.
‘Break my benefactor’s leg, you say?’
Yet he was undoubtedly her benefactor—the one who had saved her life.
‘Heh, you mean my Hyeon-su’s leg?’
To Ben, he was like a grandson, and at times, a friend.
‘My successor’s leg…?’
To Barad, he was a cherished friend and a precious treasure destined to lead the nation.
Their murderous intent surged forth.
Even one person’s was something an ordinary human could not endure.
“Gaahhh…”
“Khack!”
“Ugh, ugh…”
The elite force of one thousand could not withstand that aura.
Their breath caught in their throats, their legs gave way, and all of them collapsed.
And the most bewildered was Bon.
‘What in the…?’
The aura radiating from the three made it nearly impossible to maintain his composure.
Bon’s level was approximately 470.
He too was a formidable being who transcended common sense.
Yet the murderous intent that felled the elite soldiers converged upon Bon.
And Barad posed a question to those elite soldiers.
“Will you fight?”
Bon soon witnessed a shocking sight.
Looking at the two pitiable(?) figures caught between them just moments before, he had thought their shoulders were trembling and their faces had gone pale.
But now.
Shake, shake, shake—!
All one thousand elite soldiers, with the same pallid expressions as before, were shaking their heads with all their might.
Bon felt an unbearable sense of humiliation.
“What are you doing, have you forgotten who you are!? If you will not fight, I shall cut you down myself!”
His shame lay in the fact that his elite soldiers, who had once marched across battlefields alongside him, were losing morale and succumbing to fear.
Upon hearing Bon’s cry, they overcame their dread and rushed toward the massive, muscular man.
Bon himself was trembling like an aspen tree.
Yet Bon had once been a commander who dominated the battlefield.
He conquered that fear and gripped his spear with all his might.
A tremendous force erupted from the tip of his spear—the manifestation of an Aura Spear.
Crash-crack-crack!
“What manner of sorcery are you employing?”
But his opponent was formidable.
Bon was a man who had wielded the spear for countless years.
Yet his strength’s forte lay not in spear technique, but in the maximization of his aura.
The being he now faced with his spear—
A genius who would never appear again, one who had become Spear Heaven itself.
“That is not how one wields a spear.”
The gaunt old man lightly struck down with his own spear, executing a perfect spear technique.
The Aura Spear instantly lost its power and dissipated.
“…!”
Bon was ordinarily a skilled warrior ranked somewhat below Ben.
And Ben now stood buffed by Saint Aria.
In terms of skill, he was several ranks above Bon.
Bon recalled that he was an examiner.
‘I must not kill him.’
Thus, rather than executing a lethal spear technique, he brought the spear shaft down upon Bon’s head.
“Kugh!”
Bon’s vision spun dizzily.
After that, the gaunt old man began striking his body repeatedly with the spear shaft.
Thwack, thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack, thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-crack!
“By the way.”
The old man spoke.
“You were the one who attacked first, and you were the one who said you would break the Lord’s legs.”
“…!?”
Yes, it all began with Bon’s words and deeds.
On this day, Bon was beaten like a dog.
*
*
*
Saint Harun awakened for a different reason than Bon.
Bon had awakened due to an abnormally high acquisition of Life Seeds, to verify through force whether he truly deserved such a blessing.
Saint Harun, by contrast, had acquired an abnormal seed himself, and through it, the overwhelming power he possessed—Dominance—had been inherited. He needed to verify this transfer.
‘If Dominance has been taken by the Tyrant’s descendant, this is grave indeed.’
The Tyrant was once a figure who had clashed with Saint Harun when he was a sage king, and he had long coveted the great Atlas Territory.
‘Time is running short.’
Unlike Bon, Saint Harun could not linger in this place for long.
The Seed of Life had been applied to all except Harun.
In truth, Harun had succeeded in slaying the dragon, and he and the people of Atlas had met their rest on different days.
And upon discovering the new Lord standing above the Lord’s Castle, Harun marveled.
‘The aura I left behind is flowing through them…?’
Eight hundred years ago, the Saint had visited the Ares Church.
‘Please bestow this blessing upon one worthy of the Saint’s legacy.’
It had been conveyed to the Saint of that era, and it must have been passed down through the generations until now.
Harun felt relieved.
‘Then my stats were obtained because they walked the path of my descendants, and it was thanks to their excellence?’
Moreover.
“Fear not. This is the Atlas you have protected for so long. I shall surely awaken your Atlas.”
These were the words the Lord spoke to the territory’s people, who had guarded this place for eight hundred years.
It was only natural that the territory’s people feared.
Those they had awaited to awaken and the current master of Atlas were about to collide.
Observing the territory’s people, Harun smiled faintly.
He seemed like a good Lord.
‘I’m curious about the evaluation results.’
Unfortunately, Harun would not see the evaluation results.
His body kept flickering between translucent and solid.
Having finished his thoughts, Harun turned his body.
But Harun was taken aback.
“Woof!”
A small, adorable puppy blocked his path, and a tiny Bone Dragon rode upon its back.
‘What is this…?’
The moment he faced the creature standing majestically with clear mucus dripping from its black nose, his fading body returned to its original state.
‘I’m not disappearing…?’
That he could awaken in the Atlas Territory he had once ruled was only possible because a fragment of his soul remained here.
For Harun, who should have soon become one of the dead again, this was somewhat unbelievable.
Furthermore.
“Arf!”
“…?”
As the creature looked at him and wagged its tail, Harun realized something.
‘On purpose…?’
Yes, this was not a power manifested from encountering this mysterious puppy.
The puppy was deliberately helping him avoid dissolution.
Then.
Harun felt an immense force he could not dare resist.
‘Why is my hand moving on its own…?’
His hand drifted toward the belly of that plump, rosy creature.
The moment Harun stroked its belly, his mind became crystal clear.
“Haah….”
The body that had not been dissolving was incomplete after all.
Yet the moment he touched it, the dissolution ceased completely.
The puppy had bitten its leash and placed it in his hand.
“You want me to walk you? This is the price you demand?”
It was far too light a price.
And Harun could discern several truths.
This puppy’s master is the new Lord.
Should he act in a way that harms the Lord, his dissolution will resume.
Furthermore.
‘This being stopped my disappearance. Perhaps it even knows the way for me to awaken once more.’
To awaken again.
Of course, it was merely speculation, but it was a possibility.
And Harun felt the sacred aura and heart emanating from this creature.
“…Is it to protect your master?”
“Woof, woof!”
“Kkyu-kkyu!”
Yes, this was a transaction between this being and himself.
One reason Harun was shocked upon seeing the new Lord of Atlas was the pathetically meager forces at his command.
‘You protect the Lord, and I will find a way to awaken.’
It was a most favorable bargain.
And he sensed another truth as well.
“Grrr…!”
“You’re warning me that if I try to seize this territory, you’ll dissolve me instantly? Do not worry. I lack even the strength for such a thing now, and I have no such intention.”
Indeed, the Saint had grown considerably weakened, and there was another task he had to accomplish.
Then Harun suddenly turned his head.
He was startled.
He did not know where the examiner Bon was now or what he was doing.
Yet he could predict how desperately the current Lord sought the seed of life.
Through what power he had left that was being inherited to him.
Harun gazed toward the forest, his expression grave.
‘Bon, what in the world is happening that the Ultimate Principle is reacting?’
The Ultimate Principle.
The mightiest passive skill the Saint Harun possessed.
Yet it seemed the confirmation stage had not yet been reached.
The Saint turned his head toward where the Lord had been, then started in surprise once more.
‘Where did the Lord go?’
He had vanished.
*
*
*
Bon could not comprehend what had transpired.
That Old Man who had beaten him like a dog.
Bon had thought he would be beaten to death.
Then the Old Man uttered words of incomprehensible meaning.
‘That should suffice to calibrate things properly.’
‘I concur, Spear Heaven.’
And then he vanished.
‘What was that?’
Bon was utterly bewildered.
And he beheld his own pitiful state and that of his elite soldiers.
Exactly half of the elite soldiers had scattered into ash.
And had Bon been a User, he would have received this notification:
[HP has fallen below 50%.]
Precisely half. That was the extent of the damage sustained.
And Bon could not help but acknowledge it.
‘Who were they? Subordinates of the new Lord?’
That was something he could not discern.
What was certain was that whether they were retainers or not, the very fact that they had grown so enraged at the mention of breaking the new Lord’s legs spoke volumes of his power.
And the essence of examiner Bon’s role was not only to witness the Lord’s strength but also to report the assessment results.
Thus, he led the remaining elite toward Atlas Territory.
One elite soldier posed a question.
“Will the Lord be as formidable as those men?”
Bon shook his head.
“I doubt it. Assuming those were his subordinates, that is.”
Bon had a clear reason for thinking this way.
“Not all Lords are strong. Moreover, if they possessed subordinates as formidable as those, it would mean their gift for cultivating strength was highly specialized. Yet if the Lord himself were equally strong, that would defy all logic.”
Yes. Logic. Power must be balanced.
There cannot exist a being capable of grasping everything.
‘No, there must not be.’
Bon rationalized it to himself—that no being should ever possess everything.
Then. Bon’s eyes widened.
“…!?”
Kugugugug—
He felt an incomprehensible psychic force bearing down upon him and all his elite soldiers.
‘Upon all of us…?’
A voice reached the bewildered group.
“Gather.”
The moment Ben closed his eyes and opened them again.
Some five hundred of his soldiers stood clustered before a single man.
The man in the brown coat towered over Ben by a considerable margin.
Even the armor and boots he wore beneath gleamed with an otherworldly sharpness.
In all my years, I have never witnessed a being so thoroughly armed with concentrated Artifacts.
The man with raven-black hair was handsome too—the kind of beauty one might expect of a nobleman.
He opened his mouth.
“Greetings. I am Hyeon-su, the new Lord of Atlas Territory.”
Ben felt his expectations shatter completely.
A new Lord appearing without warning.
The one who had planted his right foot and drawn back a Sword inscribed with Twin Dragon Blade with tremendous force.
From his Sword emanated a power that transcended all comprehension.
Meanwhile.
Two legends observed this sight.
They could see that the Examiner’s appearance was a happenstance born from the housewarming.
The problem was that this happenstance had brought upon Hyeon-su a trial he could not bear.
‘This is our mistake.’
‘We nearly brought calamity upon Hyeon-su.’
Of course, their housewarming gift had been born from affection for Hyeon-su.
And they understood the true nature of an examination.
Even if they were to beat down and eliminate these soldiers endlessly, it was Hyeon-su’s own recognition that would carry the greatest weight.
Thus, they had calibrated the trial to a level Hyeon-su could manage.
Yes, now these soldiers had become something Hyeon-su could handle.
In other words.
“Now begins Hyeon-su’s time.”

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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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