The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 76

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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-Grade Blacksmith’s Return – Chapter 76
One hour later.
Tsukuyomi, standing before the Management Bureau Chief whose expression had gone blank, found herself at a loss for words over the unbelievable report.
‘Impossible!! Mystery took 90% of all the Qi that Japan has accumulated up to now, by himself?!’
Japan, counted among the world’s great powers.
The amount of Qi that such a nation had amassed was several times greater than Korea’s, even if not quite matching the United States.
Yet for someone to absorb 90% of that Qi alone?
In a mere ten minutes, no less?!
“What exactly were you doing beside him while Mystery was taking the Qi?”
Tsukuyomi’s voice came out glacial, heavy with reproach.
The anger was so intense that the Qi responding to her emotions let slip a faint, murderous aura.
At Tsukuyomi’s chilling words, the Management Bureau Chief snapped back to awareness as if burned, cold sweat pouring down his face.
“I-I don’t know either! Suddenly Mystery began absorbing the Qi, and I tried to stop him, but his control over the Qi was too overwhelming—I couldn’t block him!”
“As I understand it, the place where the Accumulated Qi Storage is kept is always guarded by one hundred Challengers. You’re saying Mystery alone was stronger than all of them?”
“I-I have no excuse! I am truly sorry!”
The Management Bureau Chief dropped to his knees with a sharp sound, his forehead striking the floor.
It was the Japanese form of the deepest apology—a dogeza.
But performing a dogeza would not bring back the Qi that had flowed to Mystery.
“Do you believe that an apology can make up for everything?”
“I-I am truly sorry!”
“No. Since you cannot offer a solution, it is clear that your heart is not matching your actions.”
“I-I will commit seppuku! I will take responsibility for the matter my ignorance has caused and repay it with my life!!”
“My. What is all this commotion?”
Just as the Management Bureau Chief drew a sword from his Inventory.
Amaterasu’s voice came from behind Tsukuyomi.
The moment Tsukuyomi heard her voice, she recognized it as Amaterasu and immediately bowed respectfully.
“Welcome, Miss. It is nothing to concern yourself with.”
“Is that so? But the Management Bureau Chief is holding a sword…”
Amaterasu tilted her head, looking puzzled.
The Management Bureau Chief’s face drained of all color at Amaterasu’s arrival, and he dropped the sword from his trembling hands.
“F-Forgive me, Amaterasu! I have committed a sin worthy of death!”
“First, could you explain to me what has happened?”
At Amaterasu’s words, the Management Bureau Chief explained the situation while trembling.
His words were so stammered that it was difficult to follow, but Amaterasu, who grasped the situation, smiled gently.
“My. Tsukuyomi, why did you frighten him so? It is hardly a grave matter.”
“Miss. But the Accumulated Qi Storage is gathered through the blood and sweat of Challengers who have climbed the tower—”
“I understand. And by giving him that Qi, we are protecting our nation’s people, are we not? Do not press him so harshly.”
“Th-Thank you! Thank you so much!”
The Management Bureau Chief’s expression brightened at Amaterasu’s gentle words.
But Amaterasu’s words were not yet finished.
“However, since more Qi has been taken than expected, you shall face considerable difficulties, Management Bureau Chief.”
“Pardon? How… why would that be?”
“Well, the government will conduct periodic inspections, and you shall have to account for this situation when they discover it, will you not?”
Amaterasu answered as if wondering why he would even ask such an obvious thing.
The Management Bureau Chief’s mouth fell open, shocked by something he had not even considered.
Yet what Amaterasu said was undeniably true.
Tsukuyomi was Japan’s official Ranker, and Amaterasu was Japan’s unofficial Ranker, whom the nation kept hidden.
But neither of them had the right to judge or exempt the Management Bureau’s actions.
“Well then, I shall take my leave. Oh, and my visit here is to remain secret, yes?”
Amaterasu asked with an innocent smile.
Though it felt as though his insides were rotting away, the Management Bureau Chief forced his facial muscles to work and produced a smile.
“O-Of course… it is.”
“Thank you. Then I shall go now.”
Pulling up the Face Cloth around her neck to cover her nose, Amaterasu rose to leave.
The disguise was so half-hearted that anyone who knew her would recognize her immediately as Amaterasu.
Tsukuyomi, who had been about to add one last word before departing, saw the Management Bureau Chief’s expression of resignation and simply shook her head before taking her leave as well.
* * *
Shin Tae-ho, having charged himself with Qi, boarded a helicopter prepared by Japan and traveled to Kofu, which lay beside Tokyo.
Seeing the terrain surrounded by mountains and forests, Shin Tae-ho immediately grasped the gravity of the situation.
‘So this is where that Gate Break occurred.’
To the right lay Tokyo, close at hand.
To the left stood Mount Fuji itself—the worst possible place to hide or breed, yet ideal for both.
The Gate they were heading toward was the very one where the Break had actually occurred before his regression.
Shin Tae-ho recalled the sparse details he’d caught from the news back then.
‘The casualties were staggering, and they never did recover everyone.’
The monsters that poured from the Gate into reality after the Break had turned the surrounding area into a wasteland.
Later, thanks to countless Challengers and modern weaponry, Tokyo had managed to survive.
But the monsters that scattered and fled took shelter deep in the lush mountains surrounding Mount Fuji, breeding and multiplying unchecked.
As a result, Mount Fuji—once Japan’s sacred spiritual peak—became a breeding ground from which monsters poured forth in periodic swarms.
Only after Japan spent astronomical sums hiring world-class Rankers could the monsters finally be fully exterminated.
Yet there was one detail that didn’t sit right with him.
‘Japan had plenty of strong Challengers back then, even ones like Tsukuyomi. So why couldn’t they stop the Gate Break?’
In the past, he’d been neither curious nor concerned enough to ponder it.
But now, having witnessed a Gate firsthand, Shin Tae-ho finally understood the reason.
“Gate Overlap….”
Gate Overlap was a phenomenon rarer than winning the lottery jackpot—two Gates forming simultaneously at the same location, merging into one.
The Gate Japan was now asking him to subjugate had broken through those astronomical odds and become immensely powerful and vast through overlapping.
As Shin Tae-ho stood wordless, staring at a Gate three times the size of a standard one, Tsukuyomi drifted up beside him and spoke in a low voice.
“I must warn you in advance—we cannot withdraw the commission now. You’ve already taken far more than sufficient advance payment.”
“Quite the nerve. You provide barely that much Qi and expect me to handle this?”
“Oh my. It seems you’ve confused the advance payment with the final compensation. There’s no need to worry. Once the subjugation is complete, you’ll receive additional payment accordingly.”
Tsukuyomi parried sharply.
Yet Mystery, pleased with her response, didn’t counter her provocation as he had before.
“But why are you coming along? I’ve got this covered—you could rest easy.”
“Your confidence is admirable. But as you can see, the number of monsters inside surpasses imagination.”
Tsukuyomi mentioned her assistance while secretly taking credit for it.
But to that claim, Shin Tae-ho responded not with gratitude but with a dismissive snort.
‘Ridiculous. If she were genuinely worried I’d be in danger, she’d have filled all nine remaining slots.’
The number of Challengers already inside the Gate was ninety-one.
Since the Gate’s total capacity was one hundred, nine more could still enter.
Yet those entering now were Mystery, Marcus, and Tsukuyomi—
And Amaterasu, disguised as a civilian, for a total of four.
That made it clear she intended to maximize his use.
But he harbored no resentment.
‘Besides, I agreed to help on those terms anyway. And the Qi I’ve gained here is more than enough, so I should earn my keep.’
Shin Tae-ho withdrew two Throwing Hammers from his Inventory, one in each hand.
“Let’s go.”
“Now? At this very moment? I admire your confidence, but you should know that confidence and recklessness are separated by paper’s thickness.”
“True enough. Just as caution and a coward trembling with fear are separated by paper’s thickness.”
“What—what did you—!”
Before Tsukuyomi could finish, Mystery cut off the conversation unilaterally and stepped into the Gate.
Marcus chuckled as he passed the trembling Tsukuyomi, her expression one of disbelief.
“Well, this is surprising. Lady Tsukuyomi trying to stop him? So Mystery is her natural enemy.”
“Natural enemy? That’s simply acting without—”
Marcus entered the Gate.
Having been cut off twice now, Tsukuyomi began to tremble like an aspen leaf.
Then, into her hand came a warm presence.
“Tsukuyomi. Compose yourself.”
“Ah, Amaterasu.”
Tsukuyomi came to her senses and felt her face flush crimson.
‘To lose my composure over such crude behavior!’
As Tsukuyomi struggled with her embarrassment, Amaterasu seized the hand she’d been holding and urged her forward with urgency.
“Tsukuyomi! I understand you feel ashamed and humiliated at being contradicted and dismissed by Mystery, but we must hurry! If we don’t, we won’t be able to see what unfolds inside!”
“…Yes. I’m going now, miss.”
Realizing Amaterasu’s concern was not meant to comfort her, Tsukuyomi swallowed her bitterness and headed toward the Gate.
* * *
The interior of the overlapped Gate was vast.
According to ITRO’s survey data, a standard Gate’s size did not typically exceed twenty kilometers in the forward direction.

According to investigations conducted in Japan, this Gate exceeded a hundred kilometers in size.
Before Mystery’s arrival,
the hundred Challengers who had entered to subjugate the Gate remained at their base camp, continuing their suppression efforts,
and now, in addition to monster subjugation, they were also conducting search operations for those who had gone missing within the Gate.
“Welcome. It’s an honor to meet you, Mystery.”
The Survey Team Leader, head of the Gate investigation unit, greeted Mystery.
Mystery asked tersely.
“What’s the situation?”
“Currently, ninety-one personnel remain inside the Gate. Of those, thirty-nine are unaccounted for.”
“You haven’t found a single one.”
The Survey Team Leader bristled at the cutting remark but offered no rebuttal.
As those words implied, whenever monsters attacked, they’d either skirmish briefly or retreat outside the Gate the moment they found themselves losing ground.
They’d been too preoccupied just keeping casualties from mounting to conduct any proper search operation.
Then, a loud bell chimed across the base.
“We’ve detected a massive monster assault! They’ll reach the base in ten minutes!”
At the soldier’s report, the Survey Team Leader clenched his teeth.
Given the rarity and scale of such an attack, the proper response would normally be to evacuate outside the Gate without a second glance.
But with Mystery, Tsukuyomi, and Marcus watching, an order to withdraw wasn’t forthcoming.
Then Mystery, wielding the Throwing Hammer, walked in the opposite direction from the Challengers fleeing toward the Gate’s exit.
“M-Mystery! What are you doing! The monsters are coming! If we retreat for now and they leave—”
“Stop worrying about useless things and get yourselves outside the Gate.”
Behind the fleeing soldiers, a dark swarm of monsters surged into view.
The sight resembled a recreation of the trials from the sixty-seventh floor and beyond.
The Dire Beasts and Ogres interspersed among them were an exact match.
‘All right. What will you do, Mystery?’
Tsukuyomi’s sharp eyes fixed on Mystery.
Passing all those who were withdrawing, Mystery reached the very front and immediately hurled the Throwing Hammer.
Crash-boom-boom-boom!!
With sparks erupting among the monsters, Mystery’s battle began.
To be continued ▶
The Return of the Transcendent Master Blacksmith
Author
Bong In Haejae
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publishing
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and copying are prohibited. Violators may face criminal and civil legal liability.
※ Pentagram awaits your precious manuscript.

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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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