The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 264

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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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Chapter 264
264.
Nordin had encountered demons on his way up to this point.
“Screeeeeee!”
Demons were squeezing the life from their own kind.
He’d climbed upward through a battlefield filled with screams, rescuing those he could save.
“Hah… hah…”
Gulp.
He didn’t know what he could do now.
But one thing was certain.
“Protect our kin!”
Right now, he had to protect them.
Nordin raised his hand high.
The Spirit Knights fell in step behind him.
“Forward!”
Crash-crash-crash!
The Spirit Knights, imbued with wind’s power, charged at tremendous speed.
Each carried their own weapon in hand.
Swords, spears, and twin blades that seemed outsized for their forms.
As they advanced and drew near the center of the Southern Region, they made a grave resolution.
“This could be the end for all of us.”
Nordin spoke.
“But do not despair. To our very last breath, we resist for our kin!”
“Charge!”
“Charge!”
And so they reached the heart of the South.
Strangely, the center lay deathly silent.
“Are they all dead…?”
Nordin’s eyes filled with blood.
He had failed to save them.
“Then so be it. If these demons are all that remain…!”
Nordin raised his sword roughly and cried out.
“We are here! Do not lose hope!”
Nordin’s voice rang out loud.
“?”
But something felt wrong.
“What…?”
There was someone at the edge of his vision.
It wasn’t a demon.
“…A human?”
Nordin’s eyes narrowed.
“Could it be…”
He broke into a desperate run.
“Your Majesty!”
The Spirit Knights followed in his wake.
They felt a surge of hope from Nordin’s urgency—because he was smiling.
“Huff… huff… huff…”
When they reached where the screams had come from, Nordin saw it.
“Nordin.”
Hope had arrived.
* * *
Jin-woo greeted the Nordin he’d been waiting for warmly as he arrived.
“How is this possible…! Is it truly you, Jin-woo?”
“It’s me, Nordin.”
Jin-woo welcomed him.
“You’ve come to help us!”
“I’m a bit late.”
“No… no, you’re not!”
Nordin wept as he looked at Jin-woo.
Behind Jin-woo’s back, a mass of Spirit Race members had gathered.
From small young spirits to aged ones—all the spirits from the Southern Region that he’d been unable to save stood there.
“Your Majesty!”
“This person saved us!”
“The reinforcements you called for have rescued us!”
At Jin-woo’s side stood familiars radiating an enormous aura.
“He’s far stronger than when I last saw him…”
Jin-woo had grown in power.
Seeing the fallen demons, Nordin and the Spirit Knights clenched their fists.
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
“Good thing I arrived before it was too late.”
Jin-woo gestured to Nordin.
“Tell me the details.”
Just then, demons began approaching from the distance.
“!”
“Lord Nordin!”
“The demons are coming!”
The Spirit Knights took a combat stance.
But Jin-woo remained at ease.
“Tell me the details. I only have the rough picture.”
“We’ll assist you!”
The Spirit Knights advanced toward the approaching demons.
The task that should have been theirs, Jin-woo had done for them.
Now it was their turn again.
Since Jin-woo had come, they had to fight alongside him and drive out the enemy.
But Jin-woo shook his head.
Snap.
He snapped his fingers.
“Proclamation of Heavenly Fate.”
Blue flames ignited in the eyes of six familiars.
Whoooosh—
Black aura spread outward in all directions.
The spirits trembled at an intensity almost beyond bearing.
“Leave this to me.”
Then he gestured for them to sit.
“Just tell me how I can help.”
Jin-woo spoke.
“Tell me everything.”
* * *
“So what happened was…”
Nordin began his explanation.
After what Basago had done to him,
three additional towers had appeared in the Spirit City of Elementia.
“Those are the three towers you see.”
Three Grand Demons ruled as bosses in each tower, and once Basago confirmed this, he distributed his power before returning to his own tower.
“After the towers appeared, the war began.”
Just as the small spirit had said, the towers pressed heavily on the Spirit Sovereigns of each region.
After the North was occupied, then the East and West, the claws of destruction reached even the South.
“That’s when I returned.”
With Jin-woo’s help, Nordin was freed from his seal and came back to the Spirit City.
“At first I tried to halt the Grand Demons’ advance, but they possessed overwhelming power.”
Only one of the three towers’ Grand Demons faced Nordin.
The others were engaged in something of critical importance to the Spirit City itself.
In the process, Nordin lost far too much.
Defeat. Defeat. And defeat again.
Barely clinging to life, he was driven further south until reaching this moment.
‘Now I’m curious.’
“Who’s controlling these towers right now?”
The towers appeared suddenly.
There had to be someone orchestrating the occupation of the regions.
Jin-woo was genuinely curious about who that orchestrator was.
‘It’s connected to my Ten Thousand Demon Palace too.’
It was safe to assume that Jin-woo himself was somehow linked to the heart of this matter.
‘Knowing won’t hurt.’
“I don’t know all the details myself…”
Nordin spoke.
“But they said they’re gathering energy to revive the greatest being in this land.”
‘Even in the dwarven lands, I felt hints of energy being gathered.’
The greatest being.
‘Some Grand Demon-level boss?’
“But why didn’t the other Grand Demons all come at once? They could’ve just killed you and been done with it.”
Many spirits were already dead, and the survivors had turned traitor, siding with the demons.
With just Nordin to eliminate, it should have been finished—so why hadn’t the Grand Demons simply killed him?
“Perhaps… killing me would prevent them from achieving their goal. What exactly they want, I’m not certain.”
“Then what’s this important task the Grand Demons have been doing all this time?”
“That’s… where it becomes most crucial.”
Nordin continued his explanation.
“I must explain the foundation of this Spirit City. Elementia exists between worlds—it holds tremendous energy but is inherently unstable. Because of this, we’ve installed Artifacts and Artifact Objects across each region, maintaining Energy Balance through these great objects.”
He explained it briefly.
They’d placed Artifacts and Artifact Objects in each region, and through these great objects, they maintained Energy Balance.
“Likely because they believe I possess knowledge of those objects… they haven’t killed me.”
At the same time, the Grand Demons were destroying and damaging those objects, channeling the energy to a single point.
“They’re trying to absorb that energy?”
“Yes.”
“And the energy’s already become unstable. Even if we drive out the demons, Elementia could still explode.”
“…Yes.”
It was a situation like a candle before the wind.
Checkmate.
Nordin found himself in a position where solutions were nearly impossible to find.
‘I really did arrive late.’
But it wasn’t beyond repair.
“I’m truly grateful you came…”
Nordin looked at Jin-woo with a sorrowful expression.
“But everything’s already too late.”
Nordin said the situation had become irreversible.
“Doesn’t seem too late to me.”
“…Excuse me?”
Nordin blinked rapidly.
“My explanation was lacking, I apologize. What I’m saying is…”
“All the Artifact Objects protecting each region have been destroyed. That’s why you’re on a path to ruin—because Energy Balance has collapsed.”
Jin-woo stated it simply.
“So we just make new ones, right?”
“…Huh?”
Nordin’s hands trembled.
It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered it.
If it’s broken, repair it.
If it’s gone, make it anew.
It was an astonishingly simple approach—but there was a problem.
“We have no blueprints, and no one has ever repaired or remade them before…”
Suddenly, a memory flashed through his mind.
In Basago’s Tower, Jin-woo had needed to find a Blueprint to release his seal.
Normally he’d have needed to gather all the torn Blueprints, reconstruct them into a complete version, and then craft equipment from those blueprints—but Jin-woo had simply crafted equipment from the torn pieces.
And his seal had been broken.
“…!”
If it was Jin-woo, he could do it.
Perhaps… he could remake the Artifact Objects.
But another thought crossed Nordin’s mind.
The blueprint problem could be solved.
“Materials! We don’t have materials!”
“Didn’t you say you have plenty of Spirit Stones?”
“…We do have plenty of Spirit Stones!”
“Then that’s enough.”
Jin-woo showed him his necklace.
“Brilliant Moonstone. This is Elementia’s material, isn’t it?”
“!”
Seeing the ancient mineral in Jin-woo’s possession, Nordin’s eyes widened in bewilderment. How did Jin-woo come to have such a thing?
“Got it from the royal family.”
Jin-woo smiled slightly.
Then he spoke the words he’d been holding back. Now he could say them legally.
“Bring all the Spirit Stones. Every last one of them!”

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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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