The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 287

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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 287
287.
Screeeeeech—!
Aktos began pressing his familiars with manic ferocity. Against an onslaught that transcended anything before, they deployed their full strength.
“First, Pur, Speed, Bom.”
Jin-woo called out to his four familiars.
“Same as before, but faster. Keep attacking without pause.”
“Yes.”
“U-n-d-e-r-s-t-o-o-d.”
Crash—!
The four familiars moved at Jin-woo’s command.
The remaining familiars withdrew slightly. Now was the time for these four to shine.
‘I need to identify what power is negating the attacks.’
Crash—! Bang!
The fusion of three Arch-Demons made Aktos’s strength overwhelmingly dominant.
Boom—! Boom—!
Strikes laden with attributes came down heavily upon the familiars. Speed evaded all the attacks, but while she dodged direct hits, damage accumulated steadily.
Screeeech—!
The familiars counterattacked the moment they slipped past the assault.
Once again, the attack proved fruitless.
Despite landing a clean hit, no damage registered.
Yet the familiars pressed their attacks without complaint.
“How foolish.”
“What utter stupidity.”
“Krkrkrkrk.”
Aktos drove his familiars forward with abandon.
Suddenly, his fists lashed toward First and Pur.
Screeeech—.
It was no mere barrage of blows.
First and Pur were driven back hard by a strike where attribute power was maximized.
Rumble and crash—!
As the familiars reeled backward with thunder, Jin-woo’s M-grade Equipment suddenly blazed with light.
……
Aktos’s expression shifted entirely as he beheld First and Pur holding firm despite the full-force blow landing.
This was an attack on a completely different scale than before.
The fused Aktos’s blow contained enough power to topple even a colossal mountain.
And yet they held.
Only then did Aktos comprehend: without this fusion, he would have had no chance of victory against such an opponent.
Yet in that same moment, he smiled.
“That equipment is shielding everything.”
“But it won’t last long.”
“Our attacks are getting through.”
……
Crash—!
The barrage resumed, but this time Speed and Bom moved swiftly to drive Aktos back.
Yet Aktos charged forward toward First, taking Speed and Bom’s attacks head-on.
First’s body trembled but he did not retreat. Pur stood equally firm.
“Now I feel it.”
Boom—. Boom—.
The Arch-Demon gathered all his strength. Suddenly, a tempest whirled around him and shockwaves began to spread.
Screeeeeeeech—!
Thunder accompanied the mighty power coalescing in his hands.
……
First and Pur sensed it instinctively.
This attack was extraordinarily dangerous.
Yet neither First nor Pur felt fear.
As though indifferent to any Arch-Demon’s assault, they swung their weapons.
Crash—!
The Arch-Demon’s deep-crimson Aura-imbued fist collided with their weapons.
It was a killing blow that tore through space itself, dragging even sound in its wake.
Tremendous crash—!
The impact was enormous.
Before Speed and Bom could seize the opening, they were thrown back and took damage; far behind, the Spirit Craftsmen clung desperately to the wobbling colossal statue and could not continue their work properly.
“Ugh……”
“Grrrgh……”
Nordin and the Spirit Knights, who had only watched from afar, clutched their chests and fell to one knee.
They had sustained damage from the shockwave.
By this furious blow, First and Pur too were driven far back.
……
Yet they endured.
They took greater damage than before, but still they stood.
“You’re withstanding the Inferno Destroyer?”
The Arch-Demon’s brow furrowed as he watched First not merely endure but immediately counterattack.
“What in the world have you crafted—! Master of Ten Thousand Demon Palace!”
Seeing the roaring Arch-Demon, Jin-woo smiled.
“Not bad.”
Thanks to him, he could confirm it clearly.
But.
‘I can’t just laugh this off. They didn’t block it perfectly. They merely endured.’
Aktos’s Inferno Destroyer was a potent technique.
First and Pur were simply performing well.
In truth, they had sustained severe damage.
‘The Inferno Destroyer penetrated their weapon.’
Though they had blocked with their weapon, the shockwave passed through and struck their armor.
It was a technique that could be lethal even if the opponent blocked with a weapon.
The weapon itself remained unscathed.
‘The armor cracked.’
Its durability had dropped significantly. Of course, they could still endure further—but now that was all they could do.
‘From Aktos’s perspective, this must be extraordinarily frustrating.’
He was attacking unilaterally, yet he kept experiencing the sensation of being pushed back.
In reality, however, Aktos held far the greater advantage.
Aktos continued to draw strength from Elementia.
‘If this continues, it will shatter.’
Jin-woo had not yet grasped the full picture.
“We can do more!”
“We’re still fine!”
“P-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y-f-i-n-e.”
First gripped his weapon slowly.
They could endure more.
“Three times.”
Jin-woo spoke.
“Just three strikes—give me all you have and show me.”
With three swings, Jin-woo would discern the true nature of Aktos’s power.
“I-o-b-e-y.”
First stamped the ground with force.
“At once!”
And Pur followed.
Speed and Bom had already reached Aktos.
“No matter how many times you try, you’ll never touch me.”
Aktos gathered his strength anew.
Crash—!
First.
Crash—!
Second.
And First raised the Void Blood Ruin Sword high.
Third.
Tremendous crash—!
“Inferno Destroyer.”
In an instant, Aktos’s fist shattered the Void Blood Ruin Sword—a long, spider-web crack spreading across its blade.
“At last!”
Aktos laughed brightly, his body quivering.
He had not slain his opponent.
He had merely cracked a single piece of equipment.
Yet Aktos rejoiced greatly.
Such was the scale of Jin-woo’s equipment—a mountain itself.
“Kahahaha—!”
Watching the Arch-Demon laugh madly, Jin-woo laughed as well.
“At last.”
Jin-woo immediately summoned the Workshop.
“I’ve discovered it too.”
Three strikes.
Jin-woo had grasped the source of Aktos’s power with certainty.
“Splendid. Truly splendid. Yes. To have found it—that is cause for celebration.”
Yet Aktos’s tone carried ease even as he spoke.
Naturally.
“You’ve discovered it, haven’t you?”
Aktos said.
“That this power is invincible.”
“Certainly.”
Jin-woo nodded.
He had determined the Exploitation Method with certainty.
He had grasped the mechanism by which this power operated.
But there was a grave problem.
‘It’s not something I can do right now.’
That Exploitation Method would be extraordinarily difficult for Jin-woo in his current state.
Indeed, it might be called impossible.
Through three strikes, Jin-woo’s familiars had pierced through to the essence.
‘The Exploitation Method I used before relied on timing.’
The individual Arch-Demons could maintain only one Attribute Immunity each.
That was the basis of the Exploitation Method.
‘They’ve overcome it.’
After fusion, they had transcended that timing weakness.
To overcome Aktos now meant foregoing any advantage of speed or timing.
The three fused Arch-Demons had achieved near-automatic attribute conversion, rendering themselves perfectly immune.
‘The Exploitation Method is simple.’
Unleash two attributes simultaneously.
‘Not two separate weapons, each with its own attribute.’
A single weapon bearing two attributes would suffice.
But therein lay the problem.
‘They cannot be divided into Primary Attribute and Secondary Attribute.’
Power split that way would not cut Aktos.
First, Pur, Speed, and Bom had proven it themselves.
‘Even when they attacked simultaneously, no damage registered.’
So there was only one answer.
Aktos watched Jin-woo grip the hammer and fall into thought, then he took a deep breath and laughed again.
He had won.
Victory was his.
It was finished.
Behold the Master of Ten Thousand Demon Palace—now brought to a halt!
“I penetrated your equipment, and you could not touch me.”
Aktos stretched his arm cheerfully.
Checkmate.
Everything had ended here.
“It is now impossible for you to defeat me.”
Aktos rushed toward Jin-woo in an instant.
But his fist was intercepted by the familiars.
“T-o-r-e-a-c-h-m-y-m-a-s-t-e-r-f-i-r-s-t-d-e-f-e-a-t-m-e.”
First swung the cracked Void Blood Ruin Sword.
Though cracked, the blade’s power remained undiminished.
Screeeech—!
Despite knowing no damage would register, Aktos instinctively evaded.
“……Damn.”
His pride was considerably wounded.
“It cannot be helped.”
“You were that strong.”
Aktos brushed it off.
Now the time belonged to him.
Then Jin-woo seized Spirit Stones.
Whoosh—.
He stoked the forge and cast the Spirit Stones into the flames.
Whirrrrrr—!
Aktos smirked watching Jin-woo.
“You’re going to try?”
Aktos could proclaim victory with such certainty for an exceedingly simple reason.
Forging two Primary Attributes into a single piece of equipment was nearly impossible.
Of course, “nearly impossible” did not mean entirely impossible.
A Craftsperson of legendary renown might accomplish it.
But.
“Do you truly believe you can create such a thing in these circumstances?”
Using a portable Workshop rather than a proper one—there was no chance of crafting such equipment.
There were limits, no matter how sharp one’s focus.
Admittedly, the crafting Jin-woo had demonstrated moments ago was utterly overwhelming.
The Arch-Demons had even glimpsed their own deaths.
But that was merely equipment emphasizing attribute and speed—a shortcut.
No such shortcut could forge equipment that would wound him.
“This is power born from consuming an entire world.”
For Jin-woo alone to bear the authority gained from burning all of Elementia was impossible.
Ssshhhhh—.
Aktos gathered strength throughout his entire body.
He had no intention of granting further time.
“It ends now.”
But Jin-woo paid Aktos’s words no mind.
Clang—!
And right there, he struck the heated Spirit Stones.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
Aktos was right.
It was near impossible. Jin-woo knew this well.
But knowing that did not mean one should refrain from attempting it.
Clang—!
‘The thing is.’
I have made the impossible possible before.
Clang—!
“You know best of all!”
“Yes. I do know.”
Jin-woo smiled and brought the hammer down.
“But why should that stop me from trying?”
“Fear of failure……is absent?”
“Are you claiming to be some prodigy of the ages!”
“Yes.”
Jin-woo spoke with conviction.
“I cannot claim otherwise.”
Modesty had its proper measure.
Then he brought the hammer down.
Clang—! Clang—! Clang—!
“Why fear trying once more?”
Jin-woo looked toward Aktos.
“It’s doing something enjoyable a second time.”
The method was clear.
Then all that remained was to move forward.
If even that should fail.
“Until it works.”
Jin-woo smiled.

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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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