The Returned Genius Blacksmith has Awakened as an all-Master - Chapter 94

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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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Chapter 94
094. Too Many
The moment Roentes finished speaking,
a cry loud enough to split eardrums erupted.
“Waaaaaaaaaaa!”
The mage legion arrayed across the plaza.
Their eyes held no trace of fear or confusion any longer.
Only a burning resolve to protect their city, their master, and the innocent citizens burned there.
“Children of the Stars.”
Roentes’ final words to the assembled mages.
“Release your mana.”
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom—
In an instant, mana boils over.
Hundreds of mages simultaneously unleashed their mana, completing their battle preparations.
The legion’s mana overflowed beyond merely filling the plaza.
The legion moved.
A blue tide of mana surged forward against the crimson tide of monsters.
Geumson watched the sight unfold before him.
At that, Roentes turned his body toward Geumson.
On his face hung not the solemnity directed at his mage legion, but a faint, playful smile.
“Take first place. Of course, I can’t tell my disciples to hold back on you.”
With that, Roentes scattered like mist.
Left alone, Geumson let out a soft laugh.
“I’ve been had.”
Geumson, like all the players participating in this record-breaking quest, had overlooked one critical element.
The existence of the mages themselves.
They had overlooked the very beings who made Aeratos the city of magic.
‘If the mages are also competing for Contribution Points…’
The competition wasn’t simply against other players.
The mages of this city—
They had all become rivals.
A complete pandemonium.
Yet Geumson’s footsteps carried him toward the battlefield.
Without a moment’s hesitation.
Just as the players had overlooked something, there was one thing even Roentes, the Tower Master, had overlooked about Geumson.
“Walker! Tia!”
Roentes had called Geumson an “individual.”
But Geumson didn’t see it that way.
Because Geumson had companions: Iron Walker and Tia.
And there was one more thing Roentes had overlooked.
He had never witnessed Geumson’s combat.
His unique style of fighting, different in texture from any other player.
“Walker, watch the overheating when you use flame spray.”
“Wor-wor-ker! Hot… yes! Heat!”
“No, overheating. And Tia…”
Geumson paused for a moment in thought, then spoke.
“Devour them all.”
—Tee-sheet! Tee-tat!
Whether pleased by Geumson’s words or simply eager, Tia circled overhead.
Geumson didn’t seem to have abandoned the quest for first place.
No—his footsteps only grew faster.
* * *
[Title: (Breaking News) Current Situation in Aeratos Defense—.jpg (Data Warning)]
[Title: Did you see the quest rewards? I told you to listen to Geumson, didn’t I?]
[Title: [Analysis] 3 Reasons Why the Aeratos Defense Must Fail.txt]
[Title: Yeokcheon vs. Geumson—is it possible? ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Title: But is this Monster Wave actually related to Arachne Guild? How did they gather so many?]
[Title: Are the monster numbers real? Can this even be stopped?]
.
.
.
The moment Roentes’s quest began, the Lepion Net became flooded with news from Aeratos.
Opinion fractured into irreconcilable camps.
Some rallied behind the Aeratos quest, while others jeered blindly, hoping for its failure.
And then there were those who simply relished the prospect of Aeratos’s collapse, feeding on the chaos.
The forums had become a battlefield themselves—utter pandemonium.
└ [RegretNeverSince]: Ah, why didn’t I believe him…… I should have rushed over when Geumson said something was off around Aeratos……
└ [DungeonMania]: LMAO I only saw the post late! Went to the “City of Giants” dungeon and came back to this madness? That was just a regular honey pot, but this is like hitting the lottery.
└ [Analyst]: Guys, aren’t you all getting ahead of yourselves? Right now monster respawn speed is twice as fast as players can kill them. If this keeps up, the defense line breaks in twelve hours and Aeratos falls for sure.
└ [MyBellyHurts]: Day 1 of hoping the quest fails. I really hope Geumson and Kang Mu-jin both fail and get thirty-day login bans lmaooo
└ [OnlyPatriot]: I agree with MyBellyHurts. Isn’t that traitor the one who sold ancient items to Panteria? Whatever that guy does in Aeratos now is suspicious. He might be a Chinese spy trying to wreck the Korea Server.
└ [Pragmatist]: That guy still hasn’t come to his senses. Thanks to that chain, the whole world is watching the Korea Server because Panteria’s hunting the Lich King now. Is that treason? That’s patriotism. If you’re dumb, just keep your mouth shut.
└ [Realist]: Everyone stop fighting. We can’t hold them anyway. News just dropped—the first of the three outer defense lines at Aeratos already broke. It’s just a matter of time. There are way too many of them.
└ [AeratosVeteran]: Yo, I’m on the ground right now and it’s absolute hell. Even the mage corps are getting pushed back. Kang Mu-jin and the Yeokcheon Guild are barely holding the line…… honestly, it looks rough.
└ [PopcornPopping]: But what’s Geumson doing in all this? He was talking to the Tower Master earlier, then went dark. Just bailed solo?
└ [BreakingNews]: Yo, are you serious. Just got an alert. Geumson went live!!!!
└ [ㅇㅇ]: Wait, really? But the title is even more insane??? He’s definitely baiting lololol
Opinion began to tilt sharply toward failure.
Then, at that exact moment, a new comment appeared.
Geumson had started his personal broadcast.
* * *
“Phew…… they’re ridiculously numerous.”
Geumson drained an entire Health Recovery Potion and checked the system messages.
At the front lines of the Monster Wave on Aeratos’s outskirts, he’d been hunting like a madman.
[Level increased! Lv. 66]
[Level increased! Lv. 67]
[Infinite Chain Strike skill is now Lv. 4]
[Giant’s Strength skill is now Lv. 5]
.
.
.
[Level increased! Lv. 73]
[Solar Strike skill is now Lv. 5]
[Mac’s Insight skill is now Lv. 7]
[Boundary Awareness skill is now Lv. 4]
His level skyrocketed to 73, and his combat-related skills grew sharper by the second.
Tia consumed the special items the monsters carried and even awakened a new attribute.
.
.
.
[Darkness attribute increases.]
[Phantom Elementian ‘Tia’ absorbs the attribute of ‘Desert Raider’s Poison Pouch’.]
[A new attribute ‘Poison’ has bloomed in Tia.]
[Poison attribute increases by 1%.]
[Attributes Held]
[Flame: 31%], [Light: 15%], [Darkness: 8%], [Poison: 1%]
And Iron Walker, overheating from unleashing torrents of flame, cycling through the edge of thermal shutdown again and again.
From these battles, Geumson had amassed enormous quantities of material items.
[Corrupted Forest Spirit’s Crystal acquired.]
[Scalabar’s Scale acquired.]
[Troll’s Blood acquired.]
[Frozen Mane Hair acquired.]
.
.
.
The results were undeniable.
The players fighting alongside him groaned about the difficulty, but they seemed satisfied by the insane leveling speed.
Yet Geumson’s expression had grown darker.
‘This…… there are way too many.’
The monsters kept pouring in—far too many to count.
If things continued as they were, Aeratos would collapse just as Seoul, the capital, had in the Age of Ruin.
The reason Aeratos had managed to endure thus far, unlike Seoul, was simple.
The players.
Unlike the real capital’s defense of Seoul where death meant the end, here in Lepion, players could die and come back to life.
They could face monsters without fear of death.
‘There’s value in experiencing a large-scale siege like this, at least.’
These were battles they would genuinely have to face in the Age of Ruin.
From the perspective of gaining early experience, there was undeniable merit to it.
Moreover, the rapid leveling of the players would undoubtedly help raise the overall strength of Korea’s player base.
But still.
‘We have to win. Only victory makes this meaningful.’
This battle absolutely had to be won.
Protecting the magical city on the Korea Server mattered, certainly.
But something mattered more.
Imprinting a powerful memory of victory into the players’ minds.
‘Back then, plenty of them panicked and ran.’
Players who had hidden in fear when hordes of monsters converged on Seoul.
He couldn’t fault them for it.
After all, it had been their actual lives on the line—not a game like Lepion.
But a memory of victory.
If that memory took root, everything would change.
Even when a Monster Wave crashed down on Seoul, players would step forward with confidence.
For Geumson, preparing for the Age of Ruin, this quest was a battlefield he had to seize.
But if he lost this battle?
The annihilation of the capital Seoul would come all the faster.
The memory of defeat would carve itself into every player’s mind.
“This won’t do!”
Geumson opened the Contribution Points ranking window.
[Aeratos Defense Battle Contribution Points Ranking]
1st: Kang Mu-jin (Yeokcheon) – 1,254,800P
2nd: Red Lion (Yeokcheon) – 687,100P
3rd: Delphine (Mage) – 655,400P
.
.
.
51st: Geumson – 412,300P
Far more modest than he’d expected, given how confidently he’d aimed for first.
The gap with Yeokcheon hadn’t closed as much as he’d hoped.
In fact, as time wore on, the distance between him and the Yeokcheon Guild led by Kang Mu-jin only widened.
They moved as a coordinated guild, systematically slaughtering monsters through disciplined team play.
Kang Mu-jin truly was something else.
He’d had some sense of it, but the reality exceeded his expectations.
No matter how formidable the individual power of Geumson, Iron Walker, and Tia, they hit a clear wall against organized strength and sheer numbers.

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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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