The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 385

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 385
385.
-Entering the Tower of Fire and Soul!
-A curse descends upon you.
The moment Jin-woo stepped into the tower, a powerful curse wrapped around him.
-The curse is consumed by the job effect.
Of course, even a formidable curse proved useless before the Necromaster job class.
Jin-woo waved his hand and erased what remained of the curse entirely.
“Hmm.”
‘From the way it’s being consumed, it’s not that strong a curse.’
Jin-woo surveyed the tower from one end to the other.
The atmosphere of the tower was formidable.
Dark and viscous, with an aura of darkness rippling through the surroundings.
It was the very embodiment of a necromancer’s dwelling.
“I wondered if this tower might be the one from the main quest, given the name.”
From what he could see and sense, it didn’t appear to be the main quest tower.
Jin-woo examined the tower’s walls closely.
“Hmm.”
There was something with a peculiar aura there.
“It’s closer to a temple. Except instead of venerating a sacred god, it venerates the God of Darkness.”
Thud-. Thud-.
The sound of footsteps echoed from far away.
Crack-.
Along with it came the sound of bone.
“I smell one of my own kind.”
With those words, a man in a pitch-black robe emerged.
He was half skull and half living human.
-The Twin God of Fire and Soul speaks to you!
-The Twin God of Fire and Soul tells you that this half-skull, half-man was once their most prized necromancer!
“To pierce through the magical storm of the tower. For a necromancer, that would have been easy. You would naturally have sensed the aura of the Dark Doorkeeper. Did he grant you the power to rend the storm from that doorkeeper?”
Jin-woo shook his head at the man’s words.
‘There must have been a separate quest to eliminate the magical storm.’
And it seemed like the kind of quest that Jin-woo, being a fellow necromancer, could clear easily.
“No?”
But Jin-woo hadn’t cleared the quest. So he spoke honestly.
“I blasted it with a cannon.”
“……?”
The man stared at Jin-woo without understanding.
“I simply destroyed the barrier made of magical storm and came through.”
“…….”
The man’s expression darkened.
“You didn’t complete the quest strategy?”
“No.”
“You just… blasted it?”
“Yes.”
“Why… How…?”
“The Twin God of Fire and Soul told me to seek you out. Are you the great necromancer Velasquez?”
“The Twin God?”
The great necromancer Velasquez looked upon Jin-woo.
“That one has forgotten everything. So you’ve come to find the legacy of a forgotten god. I was cast aside by that one and have endured here for a long time. To protect that one’s legacy.”
He spoke with bitterness and resentment.
‘Forgotten?’
Jin-woo raised his hand to the Twin God of Fire and Soul.
“What has happened?”
-The Twin God of Fire and Soul tells you that this great necromancer, who once managed the legacy, has fallen into corruption.
-They tell you that though they tried to help him, the connection was severed and they could not.
-They tell you that he was cast out from this place.
It was like Baxter’s story.
‘So a being strong enough to banish a god was the one who corrupted this necromancer.’
“Corruption…”
Crackle-.
Jin-woo observed Velasquez.
‘He’s certainly contaminated.’
Like the materials outside the tower, Velasquez too showed significant contamination in progress.
‘But something’s different.’
There were several places that seemed too clean to be merely contaminated.
‘Perhaps a powerful being is responsible for this contamination?’
Jin-woo frowned slightly, then focused his eyes.
“Soul Sight.”
Jin-woo activated Soul Sight.
Shatter-!
But with a sound like breaking glass, Soul Sight was dispelled.
-A powerful force is resisting Soul Sight!
-Soul Sight has lost its power.
“Interesting.”
His soul was invisible.
This was the first time Soul Sight had ever been directly countered, so Jin-woo found himself quite intrigued.
‘If that’s the case, Soul Forging would be difficult to use too.’
“You don’t seem to have fought necromancers before. You don’t understand how crucial a soul is.”
He smiled.
“A soul is the essence of a necromancer. That is precisely why it must always be hidden. So other necromancers cannot interfere.”
Whoooosh-.
As Velasquez extended his hand, the souls around him materialized all at once.
“Awaken.”
Crash-. Boom-.
Countless corpses began rising up through the ground. With a gesture from Velasquez, the corpses were imbued with powerful souls.
‘Oh.’
Jin-woo observed the souls.
Roar-.
‘These aren’t just ordinary souls.’
They were enhanced souls.
‘Great Fire.’
Blaze-!
That flame dwelt within the souls, giving them power far greater than ordinary ones.
“You’ve come to find the Great Fire, haven’t you? The ultimate flame. Power that every necromancer desires.”
‘It functions similarly to the Soul Furnace.’
But there was one difference.
‘It might work even better inside the furnace.’
Along with soul enhancement, that flame seemed quite useful when handling materials too.
Roar-!
Jin-woo’s eyes were fixed on the blazing flame.
Rustle-. Rustle-.
The revived souls stirred and blocked Jin-woo’s path.
“First.”
Jin-woo deliberately summoned only First.
Whoosh-. Whoosh-.
Emerging from the darkness, First laid eyes on the corpses.
As fellow undead, First had plenty of experience fighting in the Underworld.
But something was different.
They were carrying equipment. Equipment made from Dark Energy.
‘So this is it?’
-The Twin God of Fire and Soul tells you that this power is precisely what they mentioned—the Necromancer’s Ultimate Technique!
Velasquez’s subordinates all carried Darkness Equipment. Black darkness rippled as it took the form of equipment, and these were pieces crafted entirely by Velasquez’s power.
‘So that’s what the Twin God of Fire and Soul was talking about.’
“With this…”
The problem Jin-woo had been contemplating was entirely solved and more.
‘And beyond that, there’s something unsettling about this darkness.’
The power of darkness was formidable.
The necromancer before him was of a much higher tier than Jin-woo.
One who had inherited the will of the Twin God of Fire and Soul and refined necromancer techniques over a long period.
‘In terms of dark power alone, he surpasses even me.’
In sheer necromancer skill, Jin-woo fell short of Velasquez.
When Jin-woo raised corpses that he hadn’t directly created through the Proclamation of Thousand Names, there were many shortcomings.
One of those issues was equipment.
‘With that power, things would certainly improve.’
When dealing with enemy numbers through numbers of his own, the revived corpses wouldn’t need to charge forward bare-handed anymore.
He could equip them with gear he created.
‘The key is learning how to create that.’
Jin-woo focused on that darkness.
‘Can you manipulate darkness with your bare hands? Actually, it might be even easier.’
Jin-woo smiled and gestured to First.
“First.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see. How strong are you?”
“Yes.”
It was a deliberately ambiguous statement. First stamped the ground and charged straight at Velasquez’s subordinates.
“A magnificent familiar.”
Velasquez marveled as he watched Jin-woo’s First.
“Did you… create him yourself? I too can sculpt darkness to craft equipment, but… that’s not darkness—that’s simply material.”
First, crafted from bone, was no mere undead subordinate made only of bone.
The soul that dwelt within him.
And machinery hidden inside the bone itself.
“What on earth…?”
Velasquez had initially assumed Jin-woo was simply a new successor of the Twin God of Fire and Soul seeking their legacy here.
But now it seemed as though an even more formidable god stood behind him.
And more than that…
“…This would be impossible unless you were a blacksmith.”
He had never seen anyone who was both a necromancer and a blacksmith.
Rustle-.
He studied Jin-woo more closely.
Taut, rippling muscles and a menacing expression.
Simultaneously, that worn appearance was unmistakably that of a necromancer and blacksmith combined.
Crash-!
Clang-!
Boom-!
As First charged at Velasquez’s subordinates, they attacked him directly with their Darkness Equipment in hand.
“Give it everything you have.”
Velasquez commanded his subordinates. It felt necessary, or else they wouldn’t stand a chance.
Whoooosh-.
Having received Velasquez’s command, the subordinates began attacking First with all their might.
First raised the Eternal Cronium Shield.
Crash-! Bang-!
He held back their assault. With hundreds of subordinates attacking simultaneously, First had no choice but to hunker down like a turtle. But with such a massive body, an ordinary shield would have struggled to block such an onslaught.
-Activating Cronium Magnification!
Yet the Eternal Cronium Shield could magnify itself proportionally with First’s enormous frame.
Whoooosh-.
The doubled shield maximized defense.
Boom-! Boom-!
The Darkness Equipment was certainly formidable. These were not hastily-forged weapons, but pieces tailored by darkness for each subordinate, and with every strike, darkness scattered into the surroundings.
Crash-!
Yet for all their powerful Darkness Equipment, Velasquez’s subordinates could not move First even a single step.
“!”
First, having experience using the Eternal Shield before, felt the sensation of a shield that was completely transformed.
This was an entirely different shield bearing only the same name.
“Didn’t I tell you to give it everything?!”
Velasquez roared at them.
But his subordinates felt wronged.
“We… are… giving… everything…”
“It… won’t… move…”
The subordinates spoke in halting tones. It was a pitiful situation.
Boom-!
The subordinates struck the shield simultaneously. Since they were attacking at different intervals, it meant nothing to First.
In an instant, a tremendous force was transmitted to the shield, and no matter how legendary the Eternal Cronium Shield was, it could only be pushed back.
But only slightly.
As First slid back and dispersed the damage, his body came to rest in that same spot.
“…….”
“…….”
Velasquez’s subordinates retreated backward. Though First made no threatening move whatsoever, they withdrew.
They had instinctively given ground before an opponent who presented no answer.
“First.”
Jin-woo snapped his fingers.
The Mechanical Engineering Trinity transformed into the form of a great scythe.
Gripping the scythe in both hands, he swung it cleanly.
Whoooosh-!
“Full… rotation.”
All hundreds of subordinates fell within the scythe’s arc.
Slice-!
The struck subordinates were cleaved in two. Then they dissolved back into the earth. Rustle-.
“They landed hundreds of strikes on us. Only getting one swing in return doesn’t seem like a fair trade.”
Jin-woo remarked.
Velasquez found the situation absurd.
All the subordinates he had revived had returned to the earth.
Only First stood tall before Jin-woo and himself.
Moreover, Velasquez now stood well within reach of First’s scythe.
“…….”
Velasquez fell silent for a moment.
Then he opened his mouth.
“……Why have you come to this place?”
He adopted a peaceful demeanor.
“I think we’ve both misunderstood each other. Let’s resolve this through words, shall we?”
There was no way for him to win against Jin-woo in combat.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————