The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 118

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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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The Legendary Blacksmith’s Return – Episode 118
After undergoing the Trial, Shin Tae-ho and his group departed toward the base where the informant was being held.
It was an Orc base, and one where Northern Dwarves were also expected to be present.
The path to the base was guarded by numerous Orcs who had established watchtowers along the way.
However, unlike on Floor 11, the group had made thorough preparations before departure.
Having synchronized their movements together in the meantime, they were able to navigate past the surveillance using the optimal approach.
Thud!
“Gruk?”
An Orc guarding the watchtower cocked its head in confusion at the sound of something falling.
There lay the severed neck of a fallen comrade, and the collapsing corpse of another.
Before the Orc could even cry out in shock at the sudden turn of events,
a line appeared across the throat of the creature as it opened its mouth—drawn with the precision of a brush stroke.
Thud!
The Orc’s head fell from its shoulders without a sound.
Tsukuyomi, whose eyes alone were visible beneath a dense shadow like that of a crocodile, withdrew back into the darkness.
“All taken care of. Shall we move on?”
When Tsukuyomi, who had returned to the shadow where the group was hiding, spoke, the party clasped hands and stepped into the shadow.
Connected to Tsukuyomi by hand, the group traversed the shadow and arrived at the watchtower where all the Orcs now lay dead.
“You’ve done excellent work, Tsukuyomi. I’m always grateful for you.”
Amaterasu smiled as she praised Tsukuyomi’s effort.
“I am honored. It is only my duty as one who serves you, Miss.”
Tsukuyomi bowed his head slightly, displaying humility.
Yet despite his words, satisfaction was evident on his face.
Tsukuyomi, who had fallen into a trap on Floor 11 and put Amaterasu in danger.
Though it was true that he had been caught off guard by the trap laid by the Chinese challengers,
being captured by Gakrak and failing to protect her even with her right before his eyes had dealt a deep wound to his pride.
‘I am an assassin class. No matter what happens, I must not act on impulse or be swept up by circumstance—I must move with deliberate planning.’
In truth, if he prepared meticulously enough, Tsukuyomi’s abilities ranked among the upper tier of World Rankers.
Even now, the way he glided through shadows and severed necks with force channeled through the darkness was profoundly threatening.
Shin Tae-ho, who had been carefully surveying the surroundings, returned to the group.
“I think we should rest here tonight and move tomorrow.”
“If you’re concerned about me, there’s no need. I’m not even out of breath yet.”
Tsukuyomi replied to Shin Tae-ho with composed ease.
But Shin Tae-ho shook his head.
“The distance between watchtowers, which had been steadily decreasing, has become almost adjacent here.”
Shin Tae-ho raised his hand and pointed in one direction.
From the watchtower where the group now stood, another watchtower was visible just roughly five hundred meters away.
“If we can see another watchtower from here, the deeper sections are likely far more densely packed. I believe it would be better to rest today and break through the watchtowers in one push tomorrow. What do you think?”
The group paused to consider Shin Tae-ho’s suggestion.
Tsukuyomi, finishing his deliberation first, nodded.
“If the inner watchtowers are indeed more densely arranged as you say, resting here would be the right choice.”
“Yes! There’s no reason to rush when it means taking on unnecessary risk!”
“Sounds good. If we restore our mana by tomorrow, we should be able to use Ember Rain again.”
Once the decision was made, everyone settled into a comfortable position and began resting.
Shin Tae-ho, leaning against the wall of the watchtower, gazed in one direction.
Not toward where the other watchtower lay, but the path they had traveled.
‘Irritating. Should I deal with them before dawn?’
Through the broad spread of his Energy Sensing,
Shin Tae-ho felt the presence of five individuals who had been following them since they left Dwarf City.
Given that they could manipulate energy and numbered five, they were almost certainly Chinese challengers.
Shin Tae-ho stroked Yong-ryong-i, who lay asleep coiled around his neck, as he mulled over the matter. But he soon shook his head.
‘No. They haven’t done anything yet, so I shouldn’t act hastily.’
If he had been alone here, he could have easily shaken them off, or alternatively confronted them and asked about their intentions.
But here he had three other companions besides himself,
two of whom were World Rankers from Japan, and one a Ranker from Korea.
To display himself suddenly beating a Chinese challenger without clear justification?
If rumors spread incorrectly, it could create problems.
‘Besides, I don’t have the appetite for casual killing.’
Before his return, when Human Betrayers had plunged their blades into the backs of challengers climbing the Tower,
both the Human Betrayers and other challengers had attacked one another despite the Tower’s presence.
The world’s first Awakener War, so to speak.
True to its name, the conflict was waged not simply through force against force, but through every conceivable scheme and stratagem—and in that crucible, Shin Tae-ho had taken lives.
No matter how unavoidable the circumstances had been, he never wished to feel that way again.
‘Though that’s not to say I’d rather feel the sting of betrayal either.’
Shin Tae-ho closed his eyes, confirming through his Energy Sensing that the five presences were slowly withdrawing.
Hoping his worries would prove groundless, he surrendered to sleep, soothed by the warmth radiating from Yong-ryong-i against his neck.
* * *
The next day, as the sun sank beyond the mountain’s ridge and dusk settled long across the land.
The orcs manning the outpost felt the familiar languor of an unremarkable day.
Orcs were a race that loved combat and yearned for strength, after all.
But that applied only to battle; monotonous sentry duty was equally tedious to them.
Yet the orcs did not know that this boredom would be the last emotion they would feel in their lives.
Swoosh.
Thud-thud-thud!
The ground scraped beneath shifting shadows, and the orcs’ heads tumbled one after another.
The sentries were not elite warriors; they lacked the skill to wield the souls that higher-ranked fighters commanded.
Caught in an ambush, they fell without even comprehending they were under attack.
Slip—
Tsukuyomi’s shadow flowed ceaselessly.
As Shin Tae-ho had predicted, beyond the outpost where they’d camped the previous night, the intervals between stations grew shorter, and the next outpost appeared immediately across the way.
After overrunning five more outposts without pause, Tsukuyomi sensed the energy channeled through his circuit running dangerously low.
Gathering the last of his reserves, he leaped across the five outposts at once, carrying the waiting party in a single bound to the foremost station.
“Good heavens. There were so many outposts. Your judgment was correct, Shin Tae-ho.”
Amaterasu marveled at the stations visible in the distance behind them.
Click!
While Tsukuyomi pressed the assault on the outpost, Shin Tae-ho—already prepared for combat—loaded his Crossbow.
“Thank you for your work, Tsukuyomi. I’ll take the lead from here.”
“Wait? I should advance alongside you! Wouldn’t breaking through together be easier?”
“Miss.”
Tsukuyomi called to Amaterasu in a pleading tone.
But Amaterasu’s eyes held the certainty of a decision already made, unyielding.
“Tsukuyomi. I am your comrade in facing this trial. It’s only right that I fulfill my part as well, isn’t it?”
“…Very well. If you insist on shouldering your responsibility as befits a person of your standing, I cannot oppose you.”
“Really?”
Amaterasu was taken aback.
She’d expected to bicker with him further, yet he yielded so easily. What was this about?
As Amaterasu eyed him warily, doubt written across her face.
Tsukuyomi cast a sideways glance at Shin Tae-ho, already poised for battle.
‘If he stands at her side, no great harm should befall her, whatever may come.’
After receiving his aid when danger struck on Floor 11, and climbing to Floor 15 with him since, Tsukuyomi had learned much.
Beyond Shin Tae-ho’s gentle kindness, he was a man far more calculated and formidable than appearances suggested.
Moreover, though Amaterasu ignored even the counsel of her worried advisors, she heeded his words.
Amaterasu, who had worn an awkward, uncomfortable expression, soon let out a small laugh and drew the Ootachi.
“Then, Shin Tae-ho, I ask for your support.”
“The request is mutual.”
Shin Tae-ho and Amaterasu exchanged a quick bow before rushing forward.
The orcs, mindlessly scanning their surroundings from within the outpost, spotted them and their eyes flared with recognition.
“Roaaaagh! An enemy! Intruders!”
“At last the intruders have come!”
‘What? They were waiting for us?’
Rather than alarmed, the orcs’ excited shouts left Shin Tae-ho bewildered.
Accelerating through the Guardian’s Martial Arts, he bounded high and drove a Bolt through the brow of an orc lunging toward him.
Boom!
“Kraaaagh!”
With each explosion of a Bolt, an orc’s breath ceased.
Amaterasu swept the Ootachi in grand arcs, cleaving through the outpost where the orcs stood like bamboo beneath a blade.
Having laid waste to an entire outpost in moments, the pair pressed onward without hesitation.
Crash-boom-bang!
Crack-splinter!
As Shin Tae-ho and Amaterasu made their assault in earnest, more than nine outposts fell in rapid succession.
Concern flickered across Tsukuyomi’s face as he supported the physically fragile Han Ji-hyun and pursued the pair ahead.
‘The moment those two began their assault in earnest, nine watchtowers crumbled in an instant…!’
His young mistress and Shin Tae-ho, not even a Korean Ranker, were achieving such remarkable feats.
And yet he had felt confident destroying merely five watchtowers on his own.
Tsukuyomi’s teeth bit down on his lower lip as shame washed over him.
“Yong-ryong-i. Deploy your Energy Sensing and find the Dwarf’s location.”
“Ryu-ryu~!”
Yong-ryong-i, who had been watching idly while coiled around Shin Tae-ho’s neck, chirped eagerly at having a task at last.
With eyes squinted in concentration, Yong-ryong-i spread his Energy Sensing wide, then lifted his head and pointed one foreleg in a direction.
“Ryu! Ryu-ryo-ro-ryu-ryu!”
“That way, then. Leave it to me.”
“I’ll handle it~.”
Amaterasu’s voice was gentle, yet she took long, powerful strides and swung the Ootachi with both hands with all her strength.
[Skill: Radiant Wheel Slash—Strike activated.]
Light-infused blade energy from the Special Class Luminous Paladin shot forth.
In an instant, a crescent-shaped slash passed through, and everything bisected behind it came crashing down with a roar.
Through the path Amaterasu had carved, Shin Tae-ho advanced like the wind, using Guardian’s Martial Arts.
“Kraak! Intruders are—guh!”
“Stop! Do you know where you—graaaah!”
The Orcs who had fortunately survived the slash blocked Shin Tae-ho’s path.
But they were simply torn apart and felled by Shin Tae-ho’s Bolts, which carried a hit-correction ability granted by the Aeon Relic.
Yong-ryong-i, who had been concentrating on his Energy Sensing like a living sonar detector, suddenly snapped his eyes wide open.
“Ryu-ooo-ng!”
“Good work. But next time, try to keep the noise down a bit.”
Passing through winding passages, Shin Tae-ho reached the door Yong-ryong-i pointed to and delivered a spinning back kick at full running speed.
The sturdy door, made of alternating wood and iron like prison bars, buckled under the tremendous impact and swung inward, revealing what lay beyond.
Through Shin Tae-ho’s eyes, a Dwarf lay motionless on the cold stone floor in a pitiful state.
In that moment, a message window appeared before all of them.
[Confined Dwarf Informant discovered.]
[First Trial cleared.]
[Second Trial beginning.]
[Safely escort the Dwarf Informant to Dwarf City.]
Though Shin Tae-ho read all the messages, he did not approach the fallen informant.
Instead, he tilted his head slightly to one side, and a startled voice came from the darkness.
“Ho. Impressive. To see through my Concealment Wall, which even conceals my presence…”
A Dwarf emerged from behind a partition-thin wall.
The Dwarf, dressed in furs characteristic of the north, regarded Shin Tae-ho with an expression of intrigue.
Continued in next chapter ▶
The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith
Author
Seal Release
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiry
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is prohibited, and violations may result in criminal and civil penalties.
※ Pentagram eagerly awaits submissions from writers.

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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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