The Return of the Transcendent Blacksmith - Chapter 97

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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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Return of the Transcendent Class Blacksmith – Chapter 97
After regrouping, Shin Tae-ho’s party resumed their investigation of Karnix.
Given that they’d just fought orcs, it was a situation where the body naturally wanted to contract inward.
Yet Shin Tae-ho and his companions did the opposite—they launched their investigation with renewed confidence and vigor.
The situation was completely contrary to expectations, but none of the party members seemed troubled by it.
Orum, the dwarf moving with Shin Tae-ho’s group for the first time, felt the same way.
‘I’ll admit I underestimated them—outsiders from who-knows-where. But I never imagined they’d be this strong. There must’ve been a reason the chief asked them for help.’
As they moved deeper into Komuto Mountain, orc sightings grew more frequent, and they fought several more battles.
Yet with each engagement, far from growing exhausted, they took fewer injuries and grew ever more familiar with combat.
Bianca too had come to realize that using her magic for direct attacks in the geothermally intense Komuto Mountain was inefficient, so she’d found another approach.
“Squeak!”
“Pipi says there’s a pack of orcs hiding on the left cliff. Looks like about ten of them!”
“In that case, it’d be best to bring down the whole cliff. Bianca, would you mind?”
“Not at all. This time the distance is a bit far, so I’ll pour plenty of mana into it.”
Bianca drew up mana and wove her spell.
It wasn’t Ice Magic, which she typically used for direct attacks.
It was a support spell meant to extend the range of her Ice Magic.
Dense mana and thick magical power coalesced into a powerful enchantment that settled upon the spear Shin Tae-ho held.
At the spear’s tip were ten bolts bound together, each infused with the Ki Explosion technique he usually fired from his crossbow.
Shin Tae-ho took aim with his left hand, then executed a running start like an Olympic spear thrower before hurling the spear with all his might.
Boom-boom-crash!!
Crack-crack-rumble!
“Screee?! Screee-reee!”
The orcs hiding behind the cliff in preparation for an ambush were crushed under the falling rocks and perished with terrible screams.
A few lucky orcs managed to jump down the slope and survive.
But those were finished off by Pipi’s attacks from above—not a single one escaped.
Orum swallowed hard.
‘To eliminate entrenched orcs so easily… that’s something we could never have attempted.’
Despite their excellent craftsmanship, dwarven weapons remained limited to melee arms.
Moreover, to face enemies at such a distance would require a large siege weapon like a Caterpillar, but even transporting such a thing was problematic.
Yet now, with Shin Tae-ho’s party, Bianca’s magic and Pipi’s reconnaissance
combined with Shin Tae-ho’s monstrous spear-throwing ability were producing results that surpassed even siege weaponry.
‘If I work with them… perhaps we really can find the Karnix.’
Orum’s grip tightened on his hammer.
The truth was, the village dwarves had attempted to find Karnix in Komuto Volcano several times before.
But each time, they’d been forced to turn back due to interference from the orcs.
Now they numbered only four, compared to the more than twenty who’d gone then.
Yet Orum found this endeavor far more trustworthy than that one.
Above all, watching the three of them fight, Orum felt an emotion rise within him that he’d never experienced before.
‘I want to forge weapons for them.’
Orum had always gripped his hammer solely for the safety of the village and for his own satisfaction.
That wasn’t unusual for him—it was the ordinary response and way of life for most dwarves.
But now, for the first time in his life, Orum felt the desire to voluntarily create something for others.
As Orum grappled with this unfamiliar emotion,
Yong-ryong-i, who’d gone scouting with Pipi, came rushing back like an arrow.
Shin Tae-ho gripped his spear upon seeing Yong-ryong-i.
“More orcs? How many?”
“No way! This time I found something else, not orcs!”
“Something else?”
“This!”
Yong-ryong-i rummaged through his pouch and pulled out a bright red stone.
Bianca gasped as she felt heat radiating from the stone like smoldering charcoal.
“Hey, Yong-ryong! Your hand! Your hand!”
“Huh? What about my hand?”
Yong-ryong-i looked at Bianca with a puzzled expression.
Bianca, who’d been shouting in alarm, went slack-jawed.
“Oh, wait. I’m sensing an incredibly intense heat. Doesn’t it burn?”
“It doesn’t burn. It’s just a bit warm!”
“Orum, would you check this?”
Shin Tae-ho called to Orum, eyes fixed on the stone in Yong-ryong-i’s hand.
Orum, approaching from behind, caught sight of what Yong-ryong-i was holding and cried out in alarm.
“You madman! Grabbing it bare-handed?! Put it down this instant!”
“Orum? It’s not hot! Why do you keep shouting at me?”
Yong-ryong-i bristled after hearing him yell a second time.
Only then did Orum’s jaw drop as he confirmed that the stone in Yong-ryong-i’s hand showed no signs of injury.
“How… how can you grip an unrefined Karnix crystal bare-handed and be completely unharmed?”
“This is Karnix, correct?”
Shin Tae-ho asked, pressing the matter. Orum nodded.
“Y-yes. Absolutely certain.”
“Yong-ryong-i. Where did you find this? Are there more of these there?”
“There were lots over there! Pipi said it was warm and just settled down and stayed put!”
“Wait—Pipi did?”
Choi Yu-hwa looked bewildered.
She’d sent out a scout who found it warm enough to sit down on her haunches, and now Yong-ryong-i was the only one coming back?
“This is no time for this. Let’s go see it. You said Yong-ryong-i, right? Where exactly is the Karnix?”
“This way~.”
Yong-ryong-i led the way, walking with quick, hurried steps.
As they climbed the mountain, Yong-ryong-i ducked into a cave barely wide enough for a single person to squeeze through.
The moment they followed him inside, a scorching heat washed over them—intense enough to sear skin.
“From here on, the heat grows severe. Everyone, wrap yourselves in Ki.”
“I’ve been doing that since before, but does it get even hotter than this?”
“I don’t think I can go any further in.”
As Choi Yu-hwa and Bianca showed reluctance, Shin Tae-ho turned to Orum.
“We only need to confirm whether there’s Karnix inside. Would it be alright if I went in with just you?”
“That’s fine. We’re not here to fight anyway.”
“Then let’s go in, the two of us. You two keep watch out here and stay alert to your surroundings. I’ll confirm everything and be back shortly.”
“Yes, of course! And please bring Pipi back out when you come!”
“Don’t stay in there long. At that level of heat, just protecting your body will drain an enormous amount of Mana.”
“Understood. We don’t know when the Orcs will arrive, so please be careful. If they do show up, don’t engage them—call for me immediately.”
Once the conversation ended, Choi Yu-hwa and Bianca, unable to withstand the heat, stepped back outside the cave.
Orum, wearing specialized equipment that gave him strong heat resistance, and Shin Tae-ho, his body wrapped in dense Ki, followed Yong-ryong-i deeper into the cave.
Beyond the long entrance, a chamber opened up with a narrow stream of lava flowing through it.
Beside it, the Karnix Crystals that Yong-ryong-i had brought were clustered together like glittering gems.
Inside them, Pipi had wedged herself in, savoring the warmth, and now jolted awake from a doze in surprise.
“Squeak, squeak?!”
“Sleep well? Choi Yu-hwa is waiting outside.”
“Chirp!”
Realizing she’d dozed off without meaning to, Pipi hurried out of the cave in a flurry.
Orum approached the Karnix crystals, his hands trembling as he traced their surface.
“This… this really is Karnix. And such a quantity. Extraordinary!”
“Then we’ve finished surveying. We just need to report back and we’ll be set.”
“Y-yes. That way we can gather miners and come back. You’ve worked hard. Let’s head out!”
Orum draped the Karnix crystals with a long, thin cloth.
The moment the cloth covered them, the crystals vanished instantly, as if they’d ceased to exist.
Seeing this technique for the first time, Shin Tae-ho’s curiosity sparked.
“What is that cloth?”
“Heat makes it transparent. But it’s not permanent—at most ten days before it loses function and burns away.”
‘It’s like Yong-ryong-i’s concealment technique.’
As he listened to the explanation, Shin Tae-ho’s eyes widened in alarm.
Yong-ryong-i, having returned to his dragon form somewhere along the way, had his mouth wide open, biting off a large chunk of Karnix crystal.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Let’s go.”
Just as Orum was about to turn his head to follow Shin Tae-ho’s gaze, Shin Tae-ho hastily intercepted his attention.
He gave Orum a firm push toward the cave entrance and glanced back to see Yong-ryong-i had already swallowed the Karnix crystal.
‘He ate it? No, is that… even safe to eat?’
Though shock gripped him, Shin Tae-ho said nothing for fear Orum would notice.
Just then, Choi Yu-hwa’s voice echoed from outside the cave where she’d emerged first.
“Sh-Shin Tae-ho—! Orcs! Orcs have appeared—!!”
“Damn!”
Hearing the scream, Shin Tae-ho raced past Orum and bolted outside.
As they reached the cave entrance, spears bristled from the ground outside—countless shafts driven deep into the earth.
When Shin Tae-ho edged his head forward, he saw a horde of orcs that dwarfed any he’d encountered before, encircling the cave mouth.
“Kraaagh! The rats are out!”
“They killed our warriors! We will have our vengeance!”
“Bring the whole cave down on them!”
The orcs howled with bloodlust, their Caterpillars swiveling toward the entrance.
Choi Yu-hwa and Bianca, who had been holding the entrance, quickly explained the situation.
“They knew we were inside! They showed up and surrounded us from the start!”
“You didn’t counterattack?”
“There were too many of them—Pipi couldn’t even get out. And it’s so much hotter in here that my Ice Magic is nearly impossible to use!”
As they spoke,
the orcs had finished their aim and were loading bolts into their Caterpillars.
At this rate, they’d truly be trapped in the cave and left to die. Shin Tae-ho’s brow furrowed.
‘Should I step out and stop them? No—if I do, they’ll notice my armor’s durability is abnormally high. Then maybe Yong-ryong-i with his hard scales….’
“Stand back for a moment.”
Shin Tae-ho was just considering calling Yong-ryong-i
when Orum, his short legs pumping furiously, raced past him and stepped forward.
Before Shin Tae-ho could stop him, the instant Orum emerged, bolts erupted from the Caterpillars toward the cave entrance.
“No—!”
Shin Tae-ho lunged forward to intercept the deadly volley.
But as the bolts flew, Orum calmly raised the hammer in his hand without flinching.
And then.
Crash!!
“Kraaagh?!”
The orcs, who had been anticipating Orum turning into a pincushion, froze in shock.
Every bolt from the Caterpillars and every projectile the orcs hurled was blocked by a stone barrier that erupted when Orum struck the ground with his hammer.
“The earth…? Did he use a skill…?!”
Bianca’s eyes widened like lanterns as she stared in amazement.
Orum pulled the hammer free from the stone and glanced back at Shin Tae-ho and the others.
“You’ve fought long enough. This time, let me clean up. Rest yourselves.”
Orum stepped forward toward the orcs, one deliberate stride after another.
His compact frame belied an overwhelming presence that made the orcs hesitate, unable to attack recklessly.
Feeling the sudden shift in Orum’s aura, Shin Tae-ho’s eyes narrowed.
‘He’s using it.’
That mysterious hammer—the one that had left Shin Tae-ho speechless when he saw its Item Information.
A destructive aura emanated from the replica of the Sacred Hammer, and anticipation gleamed in Shin Tae-ho’s gaze.
To be continued ▶
The Transcendent Class Blacksmith’s Return
Author
Bong In-haejae
Publisher
Kim Seok-hwan, Choi Se-ra
Published by
Grae Publications
Inquiries
[email protected]
Publication Date
May 26, 2026
UCI
G720:N+A327-20260227067
※ This e-book is protected under copyright law. Unauthorized reproduction and distribution are strictly prohibited. Violators will be subject to both criminal and civil liability.
※ Pentagram is awaiting 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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