Part 14
GLUG-GLUG.
TAP.
FWOOSH—!
Yugeon poured the oil over Mincheol’s hammer and touched it with the burning Godslaying Sword.
Flames immediately surged from Mincheol’s hammer.
“Oh!”
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, sir!”
DASH!
Yugeon kicked off the ground and leaped into the forest of vines.
“SKREEEE!”
Sensing the intruders, the vines lashed toward him from every direction.
Dozens—hundreds—of thorny vines came at him.
They formed a defensive barrier that an ordinary Awakened couldn’t even approach.
Yugeon didn’t stop.
WHIRL.
SLASH!
The Godslaying Sword traced an arc, effortlessly severing the approaching vines.
Instead of dark-red sap, flames erupted from their severed ends.
“Hup!”
Mincheol followed close behind.
Thin branches descended upon him, but the Bastion Shield and Steel Skin prevented them from causing any damage.
CLANG! CLANG!
Spikes of ice flew at him, only to bounce away without penetrating his skin.
Whenever an entire vine attempted to wrap around him, he immediately struck it with his burning hammer.
“Good. Let’s increase our speed. Keep your eyes on my back and follow me.”
SWISH—
What kind of movement is Boss using…?
Yugeon moved swiftly and smoothly, as though gliding across ice, without leaving even a footprint in the snow.
Treading Snow Without a Trace.
Gliding forward, Yugeon immediately began ascending the tower.
Mincheol chased after him tenaciously, refusing to fall behind.
***
They had already climbed ninety meters.
The observation deck was directly ahead.
Just then—
RRRRUMBLE!
The entire tower shook, and the observation deck’s windows shattered.
Something enormous burst out from within.
It was a gigantic eyeball measuring at least three meters in diameter.
The grotesque monster floated in the air, suspended by countless strands of blood vessels.
【Lv. 21】 Abyss Watcher
Its pupil glowed crimson as it stared at Yugeon and Mincheol.
At the same moment, a piercing ringing burrowed into their minds.
[Intruders… have… no future…]
A mental attack.
The monster read an intruder’s brainwaves and showed them hallucinations of the most horrific possible future, driving them to suicide.
“Aaargh!”
Mincheol screamed and clutched his head.
A horrifying vision unfolded before his eyes.
His mother was beheaded by Lee Hyeoksu, while Yugeon abandoned him and walked away.
“No… Mother… Boss…”
Mincheol’s eyes grew unfocused.
His hand began slipping from the tower railing.
A fall from this height would kill him instantly.
“Cha Mincheol, snap out of it!”
Yugeon’s thunderous shout rang out.
His voice, infused with Inner Arts, struck Mincheol’s eardrums.
“Gasp?!”
Mincheol abruptly regained his senses and tightly gripped the railing again.
Cold sweat poured from his body like rain.
“What… did I just see?”
“It was one of that thing’s tricks. Keep your eyes on my back.”
Yugeon glared at the enormous eyeball floating in the air.
It was playing games from the very beginning.
Ordinarily, the Abyss Watcher didn’t immediately become hostile.
It would remain still and wait for intruders to approach, driven by curiosity and uncertainty.
This time, however, it had launched a mental attack the moment it appeared.
It must be because we cut down all the vines on our way here.
The monster’s crimson pupil turned toward Yugeon.
[I can see… your death…]
With a droning noise, the Abyss Watcher forced a hallucination into Yugeon’s mind.
DING!
【No-Mind】 resists the Abyss Watcher’s hallucination.
[What… is… this…?]
Yugeon gave a sinister smile when the Abyss Watcher recoiled in confusion.
“Too bad. That kind of bullshit doesn’t work on me.”
HMMMM—
Killing intent flowed from Yugeon’s eyes.
DING!
【One Sword to Annihilate Heaven】 has been activated.
SLAAAAASH—!
KABOOOOOOOM—!
When Yugeon swung his sword, an immense wave of sword energy bisected the Abyss Watcher in a single strike.
“Wow…”
The attack even split the sky.
Mincheol unconsciously exclaimed in admiration.
After cleaving through the Abyss Watcher, the sword energy continued onward and tore the sky apart.
Yugeon had already arrived directly before the monster.
“This is the future where you die.”
FWOOSH—
GRAB!
A crimson crystal fell from the sky, and Yugeon swiftly snatched it.
【Item: Abyss Watcher’s Single Eye】
Grade: Heroic
Category: Auxiliary Weapon
Reveals an opponent’s weaknesses and shows the future one second ahead.
The item’s description was exceedingly brief.
However, its power was anything but insignificant.
“Boss! Are you all right?”
Mincheol finally caught up and examined Yugeon’s condition.
“I’m fine. We obtained what we came for, so let’s go back down.”
“Already? Aren’t we taking anything else?”
Various items were scattered throughout the observation deck, apparently left behind by Awakened who had reached this place in the past.
Some of them even appeared quite valuable.
“Those are useless.”
They had been exposed to poisonous energy for so long that their durability had undoubtedly fallen to its absolute limit.
Furthermore, the poisonous energy itself had seeped into them.
They were like objects found within a radioactive zone that continued emitting radiation.
“We’re finished here. Besides, the other thing we need is down below.”
“I see. Then let’s head down!”
Yugeon and Mincheol descended the tower without any lingering attachment.
***
Two blocks away from the TV tower stood a wooden building that appeared strangely intact among the crumbling commercial buildings.
It was located at the edge of the Tanukikoji Shopping Arcade.
The shabby forge had no sign, only a picture of an iron hammer.
STEP. STEP.
“Is this the place?”
When Yugeon stopped, Mincheol looked toward the building beside him.
It was a strange shop with no sign or indication of what business had once operated there.
GRAB.
CRUNCH!
Yugeon tore away the closed shutter and entered.
The interior was even colder than outside.
The poisonous energy and cold had settled inside the building, covering everything in white frost.
An anvil, tongs, and a quenching vat had all been abandoned where they stood.
At the center of the forge—
A skeleton sat before the furnace.
It appeared the blacksmith had refused to release his hammer even at the moment of death. The skeletal hand still tightly gripped the handle of the hammer resting on the anvil.
“Did you know him…?”
“No.”
Yugeon had never met the man.
However, he knew the blacksmith’s story.
He had heard it in the future.
“He refused to release his hammer until the end… He was a true master craftsman.”
“That’s right. He was Japan’s greatest blacksmith. I heard that when the poisonous energy spread, he refused to flee and attempted to complete his final masterpiece.”
Yugeon approached the skeleton and observed a brief moment of silence.
They might have belonged to different nations, but the man’s dedication to his craft deserved respect.
Yugeon carefully removed the hammer from the skeleton’s grasp.
HEFT.
It was heavy enough that an ordinary person would’ve struggled to lift it with one hand.
Constellations were engraved across the hammer’s head, while its handle had been crafted from Dragon Bone and emitted a faint radiance.
【Item: Hammer That Strikes the Stars】
Grade: Mythic
Category: Enhancement Item
The gods engraved a limit into every armament from the moment it was created.
However, one blacksmith believed that even those limits could be hammered apart.
When he delivered his final hammer blow upon an old sword, the hammer shattered—and the sword was granted an undetermined future.
—Unique Authority—
Can enhance an item into a Growth-Type Item.
“Found it.”
A smile spread across Yugeon’s lips.
“Is it really that extraordinary?”
Seeing Yugeon’s expression, Mincheol stared curiously at the hammer.
It wasn’t a weapon but merely a blacksmith’s tool, yet Yugeon appeared remarkably pleased.
“It isn’t an ordinary hammer.”
It was a blacksmith’s hammer forged from a fragment of a meteor.
What ability did it possess?
It could draw out the potential of anything it struck to its absolute limit.
“To be precise, striking a piece of equipment with this will transform it into a Growth-Type Item.”
“Pardon?! A-a Growth-Type Item?!”
“That’s right. Even an item that isn’t currently Mythic can be transformed into something capable of growing to Mythic Grade.”
However, it couldn’t be used indefinitely.
Five times.
The hammer could only be used five times.
“An item like that actually exists…”
“I’ll use it on one of your items.”
“Are you going to use it on this shield?”
“No. Not that shield.”
The shield Mincheol currently carried was the Bastion Shield.
It was reasonably useful.
It would become even better if it grew to Mythic Grade.
However, “reasonably useful” would still be its limit.
Suppose the hammer were used on a Common-Grade scrap sword.
Suppose that scrap sword continued growing until it reached Mythic Grade.
Would that sword ever become equal to the Godslaying Sword in Yugeon’s hand?
Absolutely not.
In other words, the target needed to possess the potential to become a true Mythic item.
“I’ll replace your current shield later. I intend to use this hammer on the new one.”
“I think it would be better to use all five charges on your own items instead of mine…”
Mincheol scratched his head.
Why would Yugeon use an opportunity to create a Mythic item on him?
He had already received so much from Yugeon that accepting anything more felt shameless.
“Don’t waste your time thinking about that. I can obtain Mythic items whenever I want.”
PAT.
As Yugeon began walking, he patted Mincheol on the shoulder.
Hammer acquired.
He had completed two of his objectives in Sapporo.
The Abyss Watcher’s Single Eye, which allowed him to see one second into the future.
And the Hammer That Strikes the Stars, which could transform equipment into Growth-Type Items.
There were now two things left for him to retrieve in Sapporo.
“Two. We only need to find two more.”
Before leaving the forge, Yugeon looked up at the sky.
Violet snow continued falling through the collapsed ceiling.
“What are the other two objects?”
“A lantern and a lotus.”
“Hmm? A lantern? Do you mean a light fixture like this one?”
Mincheol pointed toward a light mounted on the wall of the shop.
The light was currently dark.
Ever since Sapporo had been abandoned, electricity no longer flowed anywhere in the city.