The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 360

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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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Episode 360
360.
“We’ll head straight for the castle. Before the Special Months Guild members are revived, we’ll strike and reclaim everything.”
He had to push forward while momentum was on his side.
‘The mood among my subordinates is excellent.’
The subordinates who had overcome the weaknesses of the undead through Mechanization were in remarkably high spirits.
Especially Bone, who had benefited most from Mechanization, was eager to unleash his Breath endlessly.
“But something feels off. I don’t see any sign of Hamus. If things had gone this badly, there should be some trace of Hamus.”
The head of Sacra was the Special Months Guild Leader and Hamus.
More precisely, Hamus bore all the responsibility while the Guild Leader moved as his sword.
Yet there was no trace of Hamus anywhere. If things had come to this pass, he should have taken some kind of action.
But he was nowhere to be seen.
“Is there some other scheme at work?”
Baxter stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“Perhaps even Hamus can’t handle the outsiders from the Special Months. It’s possible the two factions have turned against each other.”
The strength of Special Months they’d witnessed today was overwhelming.
It was so powerful that Jin-woo’s victory against them seemed impossible to comprehend.
With power like that, they could swallow all of Sacra without needing Hamus.
Perhaps internal chaos had erupted from the very beginning.
“But wouldn’t the residents of Sacra have resisted?”
“As we saw today, they don’t resist what’s already decided. They’re engineers, after all.”
Baxter spoke with bitter irony.
‘Hmm.’
That meant as long as safety was guaranteed, they wouldn’t care whether it was Hamus or the Special Months Guild ruling them.
‘Then both factions have every reason to fight.’
“So Hamus might not be here right now?”
“It’s just speculation… but something likely went wrong. No matter who Hamus is, this kind of silence doesn’t make sense.”
Baxter replied to Jin-woo’s observation.
‘If that’s true, it might actually be better.’
Hamus’s strength remained an unknown quantity.
But if they didn’t have to face Hamus directly, the situation seemed like it would resolve cleanly.
‘The Special Months Guild has no more reserves.’
If they just dealt with the depleted Special Months, they could reclaim Sacra.
‘Of course, there’s still much work to be done.’
Simply seizing the castle wouldn’t normalize Sacra.
There remained the task of persuading the prominent families of Sacra who had gone into hiding under heavy pressure from Special Months and Hamus.
While persuading them, he’d need to make the existing residents understand the situation as well. For them, having uncertainty linger in the city was far from ideal.
“I’ll go to the castle alone. Baxter, Tabuk—I’m counting on you.”
Jin-woo made his request to Baxter, Tabuk, and Mate.
“Please persuade the prominent families of Sacra.”
To truly reclaim Sacra, he ultimately needed the power of its residents. And the power of the prominent families that had produced Council Members.
Without their approval, he’d only gain an empty engineering city.
That’s why Baxter had to take the lead in persuading them.
“So that a rightful and proper ruler can govern Sacra.”
‘And I know exactly who’s suited for that role.’
“I believe you’re the perfect fit for that position. I’d like you to become the new center of Sacra.”
Sacra was now operating under Hamus the Council Leader’s sole control.
Unlike before, there were no Council Members beneath the Council.
‘It’s essentially been dismantled.’
So a new ruler was needed.
‘A new Council Leader. And Baxter could reorganize the Council anew.’
Either way, Sacra needed new leadership. Baxter was the optimal choice for that role.
‘And I’d benefit greatly from the arrangement too.’
Placing Baxter there would yield considerable advantages.
Tabuk nodded at Jin-woo’s words.
There was no one else but Baxter to lead Sacra forward anew.
“…Understood.”
Baxter didn’t refuse. Numerous Council Members and families had already lost their power.
“I’ll persuade the families first and draw them over to our side. Then I’ll convince the rest and bring them all back to my faction.”
The prominent families of Sacra that had produced Council Members were currently in District A.
He was planning to persuade them not just with force, but through legitimacy.
If done right, Sacra could be completely normalized.
“I’m counting on you.”
Baxter nodded at Jin-woo’s words.
“I’ll do my best.”
Ding—!
-Quest updated!
-Sacra Engineering City Conquest Progress: 80%
Only twenty percent remained.
If he captured just the castle in District A, he could not only restore Baxter to Sacra but make him the new Council Leader of the engineering city.
‘But no matter how I think about it, Hamus wouldn’t have just taken this lying down.’
Hamus was the beginning of all this.
Yet that same Hamus had simply disappeared from the inside after being defeated so easily by the Special Months Guild?
‘That doesn’t add up.’
And things were unfolding far too smoothly.
‘If someone planned to use and discard something, it wouldn’t be the Special Months—it would have been Hamus.’
He would have wielded the Special Months like a blade and discarded it once its usefulness ended.
‘That’s where things went wrong.’
So Jin-woo remained on guard.
-Entering the central district of District A.
The moment Jin-woo entered the central district, an alert came through.
-You are a Twin God of Fire and Soul Quest Progressor!
-Quest marker is glowing!
“Finally, I can progress it.”
He’d finally be able to progress the Twin God of Fire and Soul Quest.
And a new quest had been activated as well.
-New Continent Quest activated!
This Sacra engineering city seemed to be adjacent to the New Continent.
‘The quest marker doesn’t show exact details.’
Since it was literally a new continent, specifics didn’t appear.
‘So that’s why it popped up here.’
When Jin-woo first arrived at Sacra, he’d anticipated something related to the New Continent would appear.
‘It seems it appeared as the closest place he could reach from here.’
And judging by the situation, there were apparently many paths leading to the New Continent.
‘This is one of them.’
From this location, it seemed he could reach it directly from Positano.
‘And from the opposite side as well.’
From anywhere with a harbor, one should be able to reach this New Continent.
Jin-woo set aside the two quests for now.
‘What I need to do right now is reach the castle.’
Whether he pursued the New Continent Quest or the Twin God of Fire and Soul Quest, he couldn’t afford to leave this situation unresolved.
Jin-woo caught sight of the massive castle.
“Pur.”
Jin-woo called for Pur.
The Mechanized Pur was exhaling a brilliant cold that billowed like steam.
All the subordinates with Mechanical attributes had also gained the ability to strengthen their skeletal structure.
In essence.
‘Their bone structure became stronger.’
Put simply, their raw strength had increased.
Crack-crack-crack—!
With a sound like grinding bone, Pur charged toward the main gate.
“Nothing beats a War Hammer for smashing gates.”
At Jin-woo’s gesture, Pur immediately swung the War Hammer.
-Thunderous Shattering Strike!
The devastating power of the Fusion Aktos War Hammer struck the main gate dead-on.
Crack-crack-crack-crack—!
The main gate shattered completely.
“Receive your guests.”
With each step Jin-woo took, darkness rippled around him.
First emerged from the darkness.
One step.
Then came Fin, Moltus, Speed, Bae, and Bone.
All his subordinates had gathered to his side.
“Mechanic.”
Mechanic, Abyss, and all the other JU series assembled together.
These subordinates of Jin-woo were both undead and mechanical.
Whoosh—.
“I’d say this qualifies as a proper army.”
Jin-woo deliberately slowed his pace, and First naturally advanced to the front. The army moved in his wake.
“Mechanical… colleagues…”
These mechanics lacked a soul, so they didn’t possess the loyalty of undead subordinates.
But the mechanics understood.
That First was leading this force. The mechanics naturally fell in line behind him.
“Heh! You cold metal lumps, fall in behind me. You are my juniors.”
Bone issued a warning, and Abyss extended its tentacles, but when Bone unleashed a stronger force, Abyss let out a sharp sound and fell back in line.
More precisely, it took position as if guarding Jin-woo.
Boom—! Boom—!
A distant sound echoed out.
Squad leaders commanding their units stood in formation. Their expressions were all grim.
The core guild members hadn’t yet recovered from the Death Penalty.
Moreover, the Guild Leader had suddenly disappeared.
Without a control center, they had no guidance. These members had stepped forward based solely on their own judgment.
They couldn’t even tell if they were right or wrong.
‘The Guild Leader’s gone?’
If Jin-woo knew the Maker correctly, he wouldn’t abandon his guild members and flee.
‘That ambitious fellow would never run away in a situation like this.’
“The Guild Leader’s nowhere to be found.”
“…”
The squad leaders didn’t answer.
“Has something happened?”
“A… hidden trump card is being… prepared!”
“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of keeping it hidden?”
Click—. Click—.
Then combat mechanics appeared with a sharp sound.
‘They’ve gathered everything. About a hundred units, I’d say.’
A hundred combat mechanics and roughly seventy guild members were the castle’s final defenders.
The moment First, the legion commander, moved forward at Jin-woo’s gesture.
Kaboom—!
An explosion erupted from the castle behind them.
“!”
The startled squad leaders spun around to look. Jin-woo’s gaze followed as well.
“That’s not the hidden trump card, is it?”
“That’s… that’s where the Guild Leader’s quarters are…!”
Jin-woo observed the guild members.
‘The Guild Leader has suddenly vanished.’
They don’t know why.
‘Gorden knew I’d come right away. So he would have needed reinforcements.’
If so, there was only one person he would have sought out.
‘Hamus.’
Mate and Tabuk had assumed Hamus was already ousted, but Jin-woo didn’t think so.
‘They must have maintained their partnership until now.’
And now.
‘For some reason, that partnership has broken, and now the Guild Leader might be dead.’
Death Penalties were long.
The duration varied by level, and for a Guild Leader of Special Months’s caliber, half a day’s waiting was required.
That essentially meant Special Months was finished.
‘The real question is how Hamus dealt with the Guild Leader.’
Jin-woo had seen Gorden clearly in the earlier battle.
He’d watched him fight against his own subordinates.
Though he’d strategically retreated, Gorden was fundamentally powerful—he’d demonstrated the authority befitting a Guild Leader of the top-tier Special Months.
‘A Guild Leader like that gets killed by Hamus?’
Him, armed with multiple artifacts and top-tier equipment? He’d continuously endured attacks from First and Pur, even surviving the explosion using Runes.
There’s no way Gorden would die easily.
‘Which means Hamus must possess something powerful…’
Kaboom—!
Before Jin-woo could finish his thought, something began rising from the fractured tower.
“Hah.”
Jin-woo let out a hollow laugh.
“A tower?”

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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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