The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 137

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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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Transcendent Blacksmith’s Return Chapter 137
As Shin Tae-ho raced toward the Collapsed Mountain, the vibrations rippling through the earth became unmistakably clear.
Yet it did not take long before he realized this was no ordinary tremor.
Within the rhythmic pulses lay an unmistakable intention.
‘It’s calling to me.’
Like knocking before entering a room.
Like a stranded survivor sending an SOS signal from a remote place.
Though he could not put it into words, Shin Tae-ho instinctively knew that the Hammer’s vibrations were summoning someone specific.
Having heard the legends surrounding the Hammer, he understood who that someone was.
‘It’s calling me.’
His running pace quickened further.
As the distance shortened, the vibrations emanating from the Hammer changed.
Thump.
Boom.
Thump-thump-thump!
Boom-boom.
As if synchronized with the quickening pulse,
Shin Tae-ho’s own heartbeat accelerated in response.
By the time he drew within a few kilometers of the circular ravaged city from which the vibrations emanated,
his Ki-enhanced eyes caught sight of the Hammer standing upright at the center.
The moment Shin Tae-ho glimpsed the Hammer’s form, his eyes widened.
‘What? A dragon?’
The head of the Hammer was shaped like a dragon’s, and the handle was entwined with the dragon’s body and tail.
It bore no resemblance whatsoever to the crude copies the dwarves had carried.
Even as bewilderment stirred within him, Shin Tae-ho pressed forward with determination.
Then, as if time itself had frozen, his body came to an abrupt halt.
[Warning. Restricted Area.]
[Access to this zone has not yet been granted.]
‘Granted? By whom?’
Shin Tae-ho’s eyes wavered.
Even before his Regression, he had never heard of such a space existing.
As the approaching Shin Tae-ho froze, the Hammer erupted as if sensing the situation.
Bang-bang-crash! Crash-crash-crash!
The force pouring forth from the Hammer grew incomparably more violent than before.
The Hammer itself trembling like that—it was as if it were wracked with rage.
As the Hammer unleashed this far greater power, the mountain range that had remained stable through long equilibrium with the Hammer’s vibrations began to crumble.
With his body locked in place and unable to move, a new message window materialized before Shin Tae-ho’s eyes.
[Warning. Unauthorized anomaly detected within Restricted Area.]
[Tower Suppression Force activated.]
The moment he finished reading, a bizarre phenomenon unfolded.
As if Shin Tae-ho were trapped in suspended time, a colossal pillar of Ki descended upon the Hammer, crushing its vibrations into silence.
Though it was labeled Suppression Force, the pillar of Ki that his Energy Sensing perceived was clearly intent on destroying the Hammer.
‘No!’
Shin Tae-ho exerted every ounce of his strength to move his body.
But his completely immobilized form could not budge a single finger.
Then something flickered in Yong-ryong-i’s eyes as he alternated his gaze between Shin Tae-ho and the pillar of Ki—a searing rage.
“Roooaaaarrr!!!”
Yong-ryong-i’s furious roar tore through the air.
In that instant, Shin Tae-ho’s immobilized body was hurled backward, away from the Hammer.
“Ugh!”
Shin Tae-ho gasped for breath.
Even as he steadied himself, his eyes remained fixed on the state of the Hammer being crushed beneath the pillar of Ki.
Fortunately, as his body was flung free, the system seemed to deactivate momentarily—the pillar of Ki had vanished from the sky.
Yet the moment the crushing pressure released, the Hammer erupted with even greater fury, tearing at the mountain with renewed violence.
At this rate, the Tower’s Suppression Force would trigger again.
But rushing forward carelessly risked his own body being locked in place once more, so Shin Tae-ho concentrated Ki into his voice.
“Stop!”
At Shin Tae-ho’s Ki-enhanced command, the energy pouring from the Hammer flinched.
As the energy gradually diminished, he continued.
“I cannot approach you right now. Wasting your strength like this only depletes your energy for nothing.”
The Hammer let out a dissatisfied hum upon hearing the explanation.
Though its meaning was unclear, it seemed to be challenging him—was he truly giving up just like that?
Shin Tae-ho accepted the emotion he could feel and offered his reply.
“Of course I have no intention of leaving you here. I will absolutely bring you with me. It’s simply not the right time yet.”
Shin Tae-ho gazed at the message window that still had not vanished.
The window displayed the words: an area not yet authorized.
If that was the case, then this restriction would surely lift as he climbed higher up the tower.
“So wait just a little longer.”
Whuuuuum!
A dissatisfied vibration erupted from the Hammer.
But it was brief.
As if the Hammer had resolved itself, its dissatisfied tremor gradually subsided.
“I’ll ascend the tower as quickly as possible too. So don’t waste your energy needlessly—wait patiently for me.”
So that when I grip you someday, you’ll be at full strength.
Shin Tae-ho swallowed the last of his words.
But it was enough.
Just as Shin Tae-ho had felt the Hammer’s emotion, the Hammer seemed to sense his sincerity, and the Ki flowing from it ceased.
Relieved that the Hammer had accepted his words, Shin Tae-ho exhaled a long breath.
‘It’s all right. If I climb the tower quickly, it’ll be resolved. And I know its location now.’
He couldn’t take the Hammer with him immediately.
But knowing its location and the solution, Shin Tae-ho felt no despair.
“Just wait a little longer. I’ll climb back as fast as I can.”
Hum!
The Hammer vibrated briefly at his words.
Convinced that the Hammer would be far more extraordinary than he’d anticipated, a satisfied smile crossed Shin Tae-ho’s lips.
* * *
Boom-crash!
Sand erupted skyward in the blast.
The fighter jet that had finished its bombing run banked away to rearm its missiles and complete its mission.
But the turn was thwarted as a spear hurled from the ground shattered the jet’s wing.
Kaboom-crash!
The winged fighter plummeted onto the sand and exploded.
The Orc, who had infused the next spear with Ki in case he’d missed, let out a triumphant roar.
“Kraaagh! Caught the steel bird!”
“Well done. Damn those irritating birds!”
Three months had now passed since the Orcs were unleashed into Egypt through the Gate Break.
For the first month, these Orcs—who had known only the world inside the tower—took a one-sided barrage from modern firearms.
Even without Ki-infused attacks, modern weapons held enough force to kill Orcs.
Some people had even harbored the optimistic hope that “even if a Gate Break occurs, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.”
It was only after Orcs capable of wielding Ki began to appear in earnest that humanity realized how wrong that hope had been.
Orcs wrapped in Ki easily withstood distributed firepower from a distance.
When even chemical weapons proved ineffective, humanity had no choice but to change its tactics.
Fighter jets that had attacked from heights beyond reach descended to concentrate their firepower more densely.
They assaulted the Orcs with White Phosphorus Ammunition, a weapon banned even in conventional warfare.
Fortunately, Orcs who didn’t know how to wield Ki, or whose Ki reserves were meager, could not withstand the White Phosphorus Ammunition.
But that only eliminated the weaker among them.
By the Evaluator standard created by ITRO, even E-Rank Orcs proved immune to it.
“Kraaagh!”
“Ugh, aaahhh! Help me! Please—”
An axe flew toward the pilot who barely clung to the Sphinx after emergency ejection.
With a wet sound, the pilot’s severed body fell.
Blood streamed thickly down the Sphinx’s shattered face.
“Kraaaagh—! Forward again!”
“Move! Kragh!”
The Orcs who had halted atop the fighter jets resumed their advance.
White Phosphorus Ammunition from the fighter jets had poured down upon them.
Yet it failed to ignite even their skin—the Ki wrapping their bodies burned it away, and it fell uselessly onto the sand.
Whoooooo-wheeeeee!!
A disaster siren wailed ominously over Cairo, the capital of Egypt where survivors had gathered.
Every other city had been destroyed; now Cairo was the only place where survivors remained.
Screams erupted from Cairo as orcs came charging, stirring the sand into waves before them.
“Oh, oh! Allah, have mercy on us!”
“N-no! I don’t want to die!”
“W-we have to escape! We have to get out of here!!”
The cries of the people mingled into a cacophony of despair.
Most of those who remained were Non-Awakeners with nowhere else to go.
A handful of Awakeners were scattered among them, but even they were those who had refused to challenge the tower, too afraid to climb.
As the distance closed, the screams grew louder, and cruel grins spread across the orcs’ faces.
Orcs were a race that loved bloody combat, testing their strength against evenly matched foes.
But they had no particular objection to crushing their prey beneath their overwhelming power either.
When the gap between the orcs and Cairo’s defense line had shrunk to less than a kilometer.
The savage grins on the orcs’ faces twisted into annoyance.
Vwooooom!
“Krrugh! The steel bird comes again!”
“So irritating! Krrugh! We will not have our glorious hunt interrupted! Bring down the bird first!”
The orcs stopped their charge and raised their spears toward the sky.
But for some reason, the fighter jets that came this time were so high up they were barely visible to the naked eye.
Vwoom…
“…Krrugh?”
Confusion rippled through the orc ranks.
Normally by this point, the fighter should be visible, or bombs should have begun falling.
But the jet’s sound faded quickly, as if it had simply passed overhead.
Just as the orc commander, disappointed, was about to order the advance to resume.
He noticed several of his subordinates still gazing upward and tilted his head in confusion.
“Krrugh! The steel bird has left! What are you all staring at—”
The commander turned his gaze to where his subordinates were looking and froze.
In the jet’s wake, it was not a missile falling—it was a single figure, plummeting with terrifying speed.
Even with Ki Enhancement, the descent was so rapid that the figure seemed moments away from smashing into the sand and dying on impact.
But as the ground drew near, the cloak that had been fluttering behind the descending figure’s armor suddenly billowed open.
And the figure hung suspended in the air, looking down at the orcs below.
“Krrr, krrugh?”
The sight of a human hanging in the sky above them caused the orc commander’s thoughts to stall for a moment.
Only when he saw the figure reach to their waist and draw out a hammer did the orc commander finally cry out.
“Fire! Krrugh, throw your spears, all of you!”
“Krraaagh!”
At the command, the orcs hurled their spears in unison.
The spears shot upward from the ground, their trajectory guided by the orcs’ exceptional throwing skill, aimed with deadly accuracy.
Seeing the spears coming, the cloaked figure raised the hammer before them.
Whiiiiing!!
Wind erupted from the hammer.
As the wind formed a small vortex and effortlessly swatted the spears aside, the orcs’ eyes went wide.
That moment, from within Cairo, the voices of those watching on camera rose in a roar.
“M-Mystery! It’s Mystery!”
“Mystery has come! He’s really here!”
Orcs did not understand human language.
But Awakeners possessed the ability to communicate beyond the barrier of language.
And in the moment an Awakener inside Cairo cried out their enemy’s name, the orcs came to know who stood against them.
“Krrugh. All of you, prepare! We will take down this Mystery and claim our prize!”
“Krraaagh!”
The orcs roared and raised their weapons.
With repeated Gate Breaks, their numbers had swelled to a full two thousand.
And every orc that had survived was a strong specimen, capable of wielding Ki.
Yet despite this, Mystery, standing alone against them, showed not the slightest trace of alarm.
Hwoooom!
Mystery hurled the hammer into empty air.
At the sight of the hammer being thrown not toward them but into the void, confusion flickered across the orcs’ minds.
But the flying hammer began to spin in a wide arc, gathering wind as it moved.
Crack—crack—crack—!
Kraaaaoom—!
“Krrr, krrugh?!”
As the Hammer spun faster and faster, the gentle breeze sharpened into a gale, and the gale accumulated to form a whirlwind.
The moment the Orcs sensed something was amiss, a second Hammer joined the first, rotating in tandem.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!!
The second Hammer, spinning in the wake of the whirlwind, erupted with flame.
As the spilling fire swelled upon the whirlwind’s breath, the whirlwind itself became a massive inferno.
The Chief Orc’s eyes, which had been blazing with bloodlust, widened in an instant with terror.
“Kraaagh! Flee, flee! Escape this place!!”
The Chief Orc’s desperate cry was swallowed by the roar of the violent wind.
Within that whirlwind, even screams from right beside you could not be heard.
In the Orcs’ eyes stretched wide with shock, there was nothing but the inferno of flame that seemed ready to consume the world.
To Be Continued ▶
The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith
Author
Seal Breaker
Publishers
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
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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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