The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 78

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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 – Episode 78
Shin Tae-ho gazed at Amaterasu’s blade.
It was an Ootachi—a great Japanese-style sword exceeding two meters in length.
For an ordinary person, it would be nearly impossible to wield properly or maintain balance because of its weight and size.
But Amaterasu, an Awakener, held the Ootachi effortlessly despite her small frame.
‘Strange. The Amaterasu I knew wasn’t like this.’
In the past, when Japan was struggling in the aftermath of the Gate Break.
One day, Amaterasu had appeared like a comet, wielding that very Ootachi to rescue civilians in danger.
Since then, she had climbed the tower and risen to become one of the world’s strongest fighters.
Yet fundamentally, she was quiet and unhurried—someone who disliked public activities and hated burdening others. That was the Amaterasu Shin Tae-ho remembered.
So why was she suddenly proposing a match with such boldness?
‘Unsettling.’
Shin Tae-ho, knowing Amaterasu’s true identity, stood frozen, unable to respond easily.
Yet Amaterasu, without waiting for an answer, lowered her stance while gripping the sword’s sheath.
“Then, I’d appreciate a lesson, Mystery.”
“Wait, I—”
Before Shin Tae-ho could finish speaking.
Amaterasu drove her feet hard into the ground, drew the Ootachi, and rushed toward Mystery.
Her spiritual energy clung visibly to the long blade—proof she meant this earnestly.
‘No choice, then.’
In response to Amaterasu’s unilateral assault, Shin Tae-ho raised a Throwing Hammer.
The hammer flew toward him menacingly, but Amaterasu moved like flowing water, evading it with ease.
‘Fluid. And fast at the same time.’
Shin Tae-ho immediately hurled another hammer while retrieving the first one.
Watching the hammer return to Mystery’s hand in an instant, Amaterasu’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Impressively fast. But I’m afraid that won’t suffice.”
Amaterasu spoke gently as she swept her blade sideways.
The long sword edge struck down both the incoming hammer and the returning one.
A smile spread across Tsukuyomi’s face as he watched from behind.
‘As expected of Amaterasu. She even calculated the trajectory of the returning hammer!’
Fire and ice erupted from the hammers as they struck the blade, but Amaterasu ignored them, her body shielded by her spiritual energy.
If she continued her swing, she could strike Mystery undefended.
But her blade stopped short of his armor, blocked by a hammer.
Amaterasu’s eyes snapped wide open in shock.
‘Three hammers…?’
“You’re serious.”
Until now, the hammer he’d held back—the one he’d never drawn to conserve his strength and conceal his full power.
Shin Tae-ho had produced the Storm Throwing Hammer, imbued with an Inferior Wind Rune, and his voice dropped to a low growl.
“If that’s the case, you’d better be prepared.”
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash—!!
A vortex spun to life at the hammer’s head.

Though she barely managed to twist her wrist and block with her blade.
Amaterasu rose into the air, trapped within the vortex, spinning helplessly round and round.
“A—a—a—a—.”
“Amaterasu!”
As Amaterasu screamed from her prison in the sky, Tsukuyomi moved instantly.
The moment shadow rose from Tsukuyomi’s body, a hammer came flying fast and struck his arm.
“Don’t move. Your side started this.”
“How dare you! Do you know who she is?!”
“Don’t forget—you two were the ones who began this match so presumptuously.”
At Mystery’s words, Tsukuyomi’s gaze shifted sharply.
In an instant, his pupils contracted like those of a hunting wolf as he lowered his stance and charged toward Mystery.
Moving with a rippling, serpentine grace, Shin Tae-ho narrowed his eyes.
‘Tsukuyomi. His Class is Shadow Assassin. And his weakness at this point was….’
Crash—bang!
‘His ability is limited when shadows are short or absent.’
Shin Tae-ho, gripping a Throwing Hammer, ignited flames that flooded the area with light.
“Ugh?!”
The brilliance from the flames stiffened Tsukuyomi’s serpentine advance, if only for a moment.
Spotting the opening, Shin Tae-ho rushed at Tsukuyomi and swung his hammer in a wide arc.
Tsukuyomi, calculating the trajectory of Mystery’s attack, shifted his feet to escape.
But as the hammer blazed again, erasing the shadows, Tsukuyomi’s movements stuttered unnaturally, as if the frame had dropped.
‘How does this bastard know my ability’s weakness…?!’
Crack!
Tsukuyomi’s ribs took the hammer’s full force, sending him tumbling several meters across the ground.
Icicles bloomed along his struck ribs where the attack had been charged with an Ice Rune.
As Tsukuyomi drew up his energy to shake the freezing cold that had invaded his body—
Mystery came barreling toward him, dual hammers raised, massive as a falling mountain.
Whoosh!
A massive Slash Attack plummeted from the sky, hurtling directly into Mystery’s path.
Mystery swerved in an instant, evading the descending blade, then glanced upward.
There, having torn through the vortex and righted her balance, Amaterasu was plummeting toward the ground.
“Wow! That was quite impressive. But I assure you, I’m perfectly fine.”
“Maybe fix your disheveled clothes first before you claim to be fine.”
“What? Oh!”
At Mystery’s jab, Amaterasu glanced down at herself and quickly spun around to straighten her appearance.
It was then that Tsukuyomi, his back still turned as he watched Amaterasu, let out a chilling whisper.
“You. You’ve made her suffer an indignity.”
Shin Tae-ho turned his head.
Before him stood Tsukuyomi, his whites gone pitch-black, his pupils burning crimson, glaring at him with intent to kill.
“To dare demean her so. I’ll pluck out those eyes that witnessed what they shouldn’t have, and make you crawl on your knees in atonement.”
‘These lunatics.’
Shin Tae-ho’s brow deepened at Tsukuyomi’s recklessness—starting the sparring on his own terms, now prepared to fight to the death.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!!
Responding to Shin Tae-ho’s force, the hammer drew in a Gale Wind far beyond what had come before.
Genuinely irritated, Shin Tae-ho raised the hammer without hiding his killing intent.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!!
Wind began to swirl around Shin Tae-ho, Amaterasu, and Tsukuyomi, growing stronger by the second.
Once the wind’s movements became visible to the naked eye, both Amaterasu’s and Tsukuyomi’s eyes widened.
“Since you’re so eager to be broken, I’ll oblige you.”
The hammer Mystery released rode the wind upward.
A fully formed Typhoon engulfed Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi in an instant.
They had no time to draw their energy and resist before the wind lifted them off their feet.
A Typhoon—something Shin Tae-ho had rarely unleashed outside of large-scale trials.
A vortex of destruction that had shredded Hobgoblins and Giant Centipedes alike.
That terrible violence swelled around Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, consuming them in its grip.
“Amaterasu!”
Tsukuyomi flailed helplessly toward Amaterasu as she was tossed about in the gale.
But two hammers, having joined the Typhoon from behind, now locked onto Tsukuyomi.
“Ahhhhh!”
Tsukuyomi, unable to steady himself against the wind, was struck by the incoming hammers.
Tracking the arc of an attack meant nothing if your body couldn’t respond to it.
‘I can’t… I can’t do anything!’
Inside the Typhoon it was dark, yet it lived and shifted with every passing instant.
Though Tsukuyomi wielded shadow-based power, in this maelstrom he couldn’t use it at all.
Grinding his teeth, Tsukuyomi squeezed his eyes shut.
“Mystery!! I surrender!! Please, stop the Typhoon!!”
A surrender declaration forced out through humiliation.
But his cry was drowned out by the roar of the tempest—no louder than the flutter of a fly’s wings.
His energy reserves drained, and his ability to defend himself with a protective aura was reaching its limits.
Yet Tsukuyomi’s concern wasn’t for his own suffering, but for Amaterasu, whom he couldn’t protect.
“Mystery-!!”
As Tsukuyomi cried out helplessly within the Typhoon that refused to disperse despite his surrender—
Suddenly, a massive surge of energy erupted from within the storm.
The darkness of the tempest blazed as bright as high noon.
From that light’s center, Slash Attacks poured outward in all directions, battering the Typhoon from every angle.
Boom!!
Unable to withstand the internal onslaught, the Typhoon burst apart like a punctured balloon.
Drained of all energy, Tsukuyomi plummeted toward the ground without control, helpless as a falling stone.
In the instant before Tsukuyomi’s head struck the ground,
a warm light descended in a blur, catching him gently in luminous hands.
“Tsukuyomi. Are you all right?”
“Amaterasu…!”
Wrapped in dazzling radiance, his liege gazed down at him with concern etched across her face.
Tsukuyomi exhaled with relief as he beheld Amaterasu in the form of a Special Class Luminous Paladin.
Light enveloping her body flowed through her hands and into his own.
As healing light seeped through him, the sharp pain from the hammer strike—the fractures, the bruises—began to fade.
“How are you? I’m sorry I was late. I wanted to save you faster, but… it seems this power takes time to manifest.”
“Not at all. It was my duty to protect you. I am ashamed to have shown you such weakness.”
Tsukuyomi knelt on one knee and bowed formally in apology.
Toward Mystery, who had waited with arms crossed while they fumbled with their own shortcomings, Amaterasu dipped her head.
“I am grateful for your forbearance, Mystery. Though the disparity in power was too great to call this a true match, I have learned a great deal.”
“If you seek instruction, the proper order is to ask permission first.”
“I apologize for that. But I suspected you would not fight at full strength otherwise.”
Amaterasu spoke with disarming honesty.
And Mystery likely knew already that what Amaterasu truly wanted was not the enlightenment gleaned from sparring.
“I have heard countless rumors, but I never dreamed you were so formidable. If you don’t mind, may I ask your Class?”
“I won’t answer.”
At Mystery’s curt reply, Tsukuyomi’s eyes widened.
Feeling the gaze, Mystery turned to look at Tsukuyomi.
Tsukuyomi, his spirit dampened by the recent battle, quickly looked away.
“I see… It’s unfortunate, but I understand. After all, revealing one’s Class is to reveal one’s weakness.”
“Think what you like.”
“Then perhaps I may change my question. Would it be all right if I asked just one more thing?”
“What now.”
Mystery exhaled and turned to look at Amaterasu, then flinched almost imperceptibly.
Amaterasu’s eyes fixed on Mystery were soft and unfocused, as though she gazed upon a magnificent work of art.
‘What is this?’
Shin Tae-ho tensed, waiting for what would come next.
Amaterasu spoke then, her voice warm and languid.
“Through that battle, I have become certain. You are the one I have been waiting for.”
“What are you saying? What do you want?”
“If you don’t object… may I call you Susanoo from now on?”
“Wait, Miss?!”
Tsukuyomi cried out in surprise, but Amaterasu did not look away from Mystery.
Mystery stared into Amaterasu’s resolute eyes, then released a deep sigh.
He intuited at once that those were eyes beyond any persuasion.
Reading Mystery’s silence as assent, Amaterasu smiled.
“Hm hm. Then, from now on, I look forward to it. The final of the Three Noble Ones, Susanoo Mystery.”
Tsukuyomi closed his eyes tight as Amaterasu murmured to herself, lost in her own world.
Continued in the next chapter ▶
Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith
Author
Bong In-haejae
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Publisher
Grae Publishing
Inquiry Email
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected by copyright law and is prohibited from unauthorized reproduction and copying. Violation may result in civil and criminal liability.
※ Pentagram welcomes your precious manuscripts.

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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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