The Return of the Legendary Golden-Handed Blacksmith - Chapter 389

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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 389
Episode 389.
It was a one-sided assault.
The High Goblins relied on their Mechanical Engineering equipment and charged forward, but they couldn’t withstand even a single strike from First and fell one after another.
“…….”
Velasquez, who had come with him, was thoroughly taken aback.
Velasquez had already witnessed First fighting before—Jin-woo’s subordinate in battle.
The sight of him cutting down his own subordinates in an instant remained vivid in his mind.
“Was he holding back even then?”
Right now, First was subduing the High Goblin with movements that showed considerable restraint.
With motions that seemed to systematically dismantle their Mechanical Engineering equipment, he thrust, slashed, and crushed.
“It looks like the same weapon, though…….”
What First held was a Mace. But against his own subordinates, he had wielded a massive great scythe.
“We combined three pieces of equipment to create it.”
Jin-woo answered his question.
“……Is that possible?”
“It turned out to be.”
Crack—!
Crunch—!
The High Goblin collapsed.
“Gruuuuuugh—!”
“Our god, hear us!”
A High Goblin called upon their god, wrapping itself in sacred green light.
Jin-woo smiled at the sight.
“Rise.”
Beneath the Thousand Soul Domain, the dead High Goblins began to resurrect.
Slick—. Sliiick—.
Shriiiiek—!
-Extracting darkness!
Jin-woo began to extract darkness and shape it.
Ordinarily, using darkness against divine power would be something to be warned against. Velasquez himself, who had taught Jin-woo the Darkness Refining art, should have stopped him directly.
What Jin-woo created was a Darkness Club.
Jin-woo handed the Darkness Club to the resurrected High Goblin subordinates.
The High Goblin subordinates immediately swung the Darkness Club.
Crunch—!
Ordinarily, the sacred power should have driven back the darkness completely.
But the sacred power was swallowed by the darkness.
Crack—.
The light lost its force to the darkness.
“Can sacred power really be swallowed by darkness?”
Of course, he had heard the tales that overwhelming darkness devours even light. But those were stories of legendary Necromancers.
Only those legendary Necromancers—whose darkness was so powerful it stripped light of its very radiance—could manage such a thing.
“Wait. Legendary……?”
The Jin-woo before his eyes was someone who possessed the special profession of Necro Maister.
His Necromancer techniques were extraordinary, and his Blacksmith techniques equally so.
“Legendary……that’s right?”
The Jin-woo before him could easily be considered a legendary Necromancer.
If that were the case, then this sight before him became explicable.
“Perhaps I’ve taught unfathomable power to an unfathomable person…….”
Velasquez decided to simply sit back and enjoy the show.
Since things had come to this, he would entrust himself to Jin-woo’s actions.
Shriiek—. Shriiek—.
Jin-woo’s darkness began to devour the High Goblins’ sacred power.
Shriiiiek—. Shriiek—.
“Remarkable. Truly remarkable.”
The sight of darkness extinguishing light was a shocking spectacle even for Velasquez, who had long boasted considerable power as a Necromancer.
“Even if this divine power is merely the faint sacred force of goblins…….”
Velasquez had found this divine power quite troublesome.
Yet for it to be completely consumed like that.
“Was my darkness truly this strong?”
Velasquez felt embarrassed.
In truth, it wasn’t that his darkness was strong, but that Jin-woo wielding it was strong.
Had it been otherwise, he wouldn’t have lost the Great Fire.
“Is it because of that dexterity……?”
Jin-woo’s dexterity was on an entirely different level from Velasquez’s.
Even if Velasquez had the advantage in Necromancer ability, his Blacksmith skill was so far beyond reach it was scarcely approachable.
“Heh…….”
Velasquez looked at his own hands.
“I should have trained my dexterity instead of increasing my darkness mana.”
But honestly, moving hands like that seemed difficult even with a thousand years of training.
“It’s definitely the same darkness.”
He had certainly given his subordinates equipment made from the same darkness, yet its power was different.
Shriiiiek—!
The High Goblins began to fall helplessly.
But no souls rose up.
Jin-woo looked at the fallen High Goblins.
‘No more killing. I don’t need to kill anymore.’
Jin-woo deliberately dealt with only some of the High Goblins.
The ones he killed were only those High Goblins who had recklessly charged at him first. The rest he merely knocked down without killing.
‘There’s a more useful way.’
But all the High Goblins kept frantically hoisting their Mechanical Engineering equipment and charging forward relentlessly.
“Intelligent they may be…….”
It seemed they had difficulty restraining their impulses. After being knocked down this much, they should have grown fearful and fled, yet they did not flee.
‘In a good sense, it’s courage.’
“Actually, that’s good.”
This kind of courage might actually be important for assigning to these goblins the role Jin-woo wanted.
“They’d need to be brave enough to hold back enemies too.”
Ding—!
-A new god calls upon you.
-A new god watches over you.
-A new god makes a request of you!
Three alerts arrived for Jin-woo simultaneously.
‘It’s not like three gods are watching me at once.’
It seemed one god had sent him an urgent alert.
-The God of Green Claws sends you a blessing!
-The God of Green Claws begs your mercy!
As the god sent a message, Jin-woo held First back.
-The God of Green Claws expresses gratitude to you.
Seeing his believers being dominated one-sidedly, the god had urgently sent a message.
“Fear not. I came intending to settle this with words.”
This was sufficient.
The High Goblins no longer charged at Jin-woo.
‘They held their ground well enough.’
Jin-woo chose to view this trait of the High Goblins favorably.
“They showed courage. This much qualifies.”
‘I had no intention of killing them all anyway.’
Jin-woo walked across the High Goblins.
‘Thanks to them, I’ve thoroughly tested the Darkness Refining.’
At the end of the High Goblins’ line, there was a goblin noticeably taller than the others, distinctive in build.
‘Its equipment is unique.’
“Did he make it himself? That largest goblin. Something’s different about him.”
Jin-woo examined him closely.
“Oh, interesting.”
There was definitely something different about this goblin compared to the others.
‘The other goblins were aggressive from the start.’
But this massive goblin showed no signs of aggression.
‘He never intended to fight from the beginning.’
Then what was the reason?
Jin-woo followed his gaze.
He was staring directly at Jin-woo.
Or rather, to be precise.
‘He’s looking at my Helmet.’
The Helmet he had made this time could be considered quite symbolic.
A Helmet crafted from Faust’s bones and wings, an artifact that contained the essence of Mechanical Engineering and the essence of Jin-woo, who had reached L-Grade.
‘That he recognizes it means……’
Just as Jin-woo suspected, this High Goblin seemed to be the Mechanical Engineer who had personally crafted all the equipment for this goblin group.
‘He didn’t want to fight because he recognized my skill.’
Perhaps the High Goblins had failed to obey a command.
‘Or perhaps the command never reached them.’
Jin-woo approached him.
“So this one’s a Hobgoblin leading this group. He’s the one who Corrupted me…….”
Velasquez spoke.
“The commander.”
Corruption and Degradation.
Looking closely, the Hobgoblin too was in a state of Contamination.
‘He’s received the favor of a god.’
It seemed the Successor of the God of Green Claws who had just sent him a message was this very Hobgoblin.
“What’s your name?”
“……Mengka.”
“Mengka?”
“It’s Mengka.”
The High Hobgoblin, Mengka, bowed respectfully to Jin-woo. He was merely tall for a goblin, smaller still than Jin-woo.
“I heard you stole the Great Fire.”
“……Yes.”
“And there’s something called Eternal Ore here? You said you were trying to mine it to take over Sacra Central City. Is that right?”
“……Yes.”
Mengka answered.
“Why did you do it?”
At Jin-woo’s question, Mengka squeezed his eyes shut.
Then he spat out his words.
“Was what we did wrong?”
At Mengka’s words, Jin-woo shook his head.
“It’s not wrong. There must be a reason.”
He understood the objective.
But since he didn’t yet know why they wanted to achieve that goal, Jin-woo held his tongue.
“Sacra just recently found stability. There was internal conflict, you see.”
Jin-woo didn’t view these High Goblins merely as targets for subjugation.
‘Special Months was expelled from Sacra.’
And with Special Months expelled, Sacra would likely transition to an open state.
‘Becoming a normal city. Not a place firmly controlled by a single Guild like before.’
When that happened, naturally certain risks would emerge.
‘A second Special Months could move in.’
Beyond that, those looking to cause trouble openly could also enter.
Jin-woo wanted to prepare countermeasures for that.
‘My mine is mine to protect.’
Moreover, Jin-woo had accumulated considerable Contribution in Sacra. If the city’s condition deteriorated due to random raids from users, his Contribution score could evaporate.
‘So I need gatekeepers.’
Jin-woo thought these High Goblins were perfect for that role.
That was why he had deliberately avoided killing the High Goblins in that fight.
‘Nearly to death, but.’
He hadn’t killed them.
‘I need to think long-term.’
When Jin-woo came out in a relaxed manner, Mengka was actually taken aback.
He had expected aggression.
In this situation, Jin-woo was the stronger one, and even if he had crushed these words and killed Mengka, there would have been no objection.
Jin-woo was human, and Mengka was a High Goblin, after all.
But Jin-woo did not.
Instead, he said nothing was wrong and offered a chance.
It was an invitation to state his reasons.
Mengka looked at this Jin-woo.
“……You want something from us, don’t you? Not just me. From all of us?”
Mengka grasped Jin-woo’s meaning instantly. Jin-woo smiled. Indeed, communication was smooth. He wasn’t a Hobgoblin for nothing.
“I want something. But that’s something you and I both want, isn’t it?”
Jin-woo gestured to Velasquez.
“The Great Fire that Velasquez was holding. You wanted that, didn’t you? To mine the Eternal Ore. Then why were you trying to mine that Eternal Ore?”
“……We wanted to reclaim Sacra’s land.”
“Reclaim it? Was it originally your land?”
“No.”
“Then?”
“……This place is barren. As you can see, it’s Contaminated.”
“Didn’t you Corrupt me?”
At Velasquez’s words, Mengka’s expression hardened.
“Corruption is one of the Skills we have. Living on this Contaminated land, we developed the ability to use that Contamination.”
Of course, that didn’t mean they had overcome the Contamination.
“We’re Contaminated too, certainly. But this Degradation is a Skill we created purely to survive.”
Mengka’s expression hardened.
“The city’s Mechanical Engineers dumped all their failed experiments here. That’s how it became Contaminated! This land became unlivable!”
Mengka’s anger flared.
It was the Mechanical Engineers of Sacra who had Contaminated this place.
As they advanced Mechanical Engineering, they produced many undesirable byproducts. They dumped all of it in this North.
“We were the only ones to survive.”
Countless monsters that had lived in the North died. Unable to endure the Contamination.
“Even as we were dying, the god looked down upon us with mercy. So we have the right to reclaim it! We can no longer live on this Contaminated land. Our only path to survival is to have Sacra Central City.”
“…….”
It was something Velasquez hadn’t known. He fell silent. As a human, he could only remain silent.
‘Hm. Well, Velasquez might have his grievances with this story, but.’
Hearing it out, this side had clear justification too.
“So if there was uncontaminated land where you could live, you wouldn’t need to assault Sacra Central City, would you?”
“……Yes.”
“Then that’s settled.”
Jin-woo grinned.
“I’ll resolve it for you.”
“Resolve it……?”
“I’ll remove the Contamination. From this North.”
“Anyone can make promises. If you return the Great Fire but then don’t remove this Contamination…….”
Jin-woo extended his hand.
“Who said later?”
“Then…….”
“I’ll do it now.”
Shriiiiek—!
“Purification.”

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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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