(Great Horse Tendon)

Grade: Legendary

Restriction: Blacksmith Level 450 or higher

Difficulty: High

Special Abilities:

·When crafting a bow, the probability of passive skill activation increases by up to 80%

·When crafting a bow, piercing power increases by 420%

·When crafting a bow, range increases up to 1 km

·When crafting a bow, accuracy decreases by up to 25%

·When crafting a bow, the bowstring’s durability becomes unconditionally infinite

Description: The tendon of a Great Horse is difficult and troublesome to handle. Tough and hard, it will never snap.

(Astagio’s Essence)

Grade: Legendary

Restriction: Blacksmith Level 400 or higher

Difficulty: High

Special Abilities:

·When crafting a bow, accuracy decreases by up to 20%

·When crafting a bow, Strength and Agility increase by up to 25%

·When crafting a bow, draw strength increases by up to 30%

·When crafting a bow, it becomes possible to create skills related to various explosions

Hyunsoo entered the forge and laid out the materials he possessed.

How is this even possible?

The two materials Antro had handed over.

The things taken from the Great Horse and Astagio.

Both were known as Legendary monsters.

And the Great Horse was a creature said to have teeth sharper than a tiger’s—and to eat humans.

The Great Horse Tendon he had just obtained reflected the creature’s nature perfectly, and in some ways its effects leaned heavily toward the kind users would not like.

Namely, accuracy decreases by up to 25%.

Astagio’s Essence is the same way.

Astagio was a monster wreathed in flames from head to toe, known for monstrous strength.

One trait both of them shared:

reduced accuracy.

25% from the Great Horse Tendon, 20% from Astagio.

This is awful.

If someone took these two materials to any craftsman and said they wanted a bow made, there was a high chance they would hear something like this:

...What exactly are you planning to do with a trash bow that can’t even hit anything?

Any blacksmith, one hundred out of one hundred, would probably react like that.

But Hyunsoo would answer like this:

“A risk like accuracy dropping by 20% or 25% means there’s just that much more room to raise the other effects.”

Other blacksmiths would look at him like he was insane.

And Hyunsoo understood that too.

But—

If the owner of this bow doesn’t need accuracy correction, then the story changes.

In the end, accuracy was little more than a holy grail for users who had never actually learned how to shoot a bow.

There were a truly absurd number of archers in Ares, and 99.9% of them had never fired a bow even once in their lives before coming here.

And among them were high-rankers praised with words like, “A Divine Archer!” and “What incredible accuracy!”

Because of the passive skills, titles, artifact effects, and countless other things they had acquired.

Just as Hyunsoo had effects focused on increasing the probability of better artifacts appearing, they had theirs focused on accuracy.

But for the person who would become the owner of this bow, it was a completely different story.

For her, it would actually be better for accuracy to fall to the floor while the other effects rose even higher.

The proof?

If I use Great Horse Tendon, piercing power rises by up to 400%, and it extends to 1 kilometer... I’ve never seen anything like that before. And Astagio’s Essence can raise Strength and Agility to a ridiculous degree, and even lets me imbue arrows with explosive force.

Coincidence?

No, he corrected the thought.

An absurd stroke of luck.

Antro was one of the finest archers in all of current Ares, on the same level as Hyeji.

As a descendant of the nation of bows, he had held a bow since the day he was born.

He was skilled enough that his accuracy could drop into the negatives and it still would not matter.

Which was why, from the very beginning—

When I first set out to make the Heavenslaying Bow, I already built all twenty-seven attempts around the idea of abandoning accuracy correction entirely and maximizing the other effects instead.

That was right.

The four ingredients before him now:

the Horn of the Great Archdemon Gremory,

the Great Horse Tendon,

Astagio’s Essence,

and the accumulated feel he had built through repeating the process twenty-seven times.

The best materials.

And also—

the best owner.

Let’s begin.

[God’s custom crafting begins.]

[You may perform custom crafting for a certain person, or for yourself.]

[Through custom crafting, you may add desired effects, and depending on probability, those desired effects may manifest at up to 100%.]

“Lowest possible accuracy, maximum amplification of all other effects. Especially the various status ailments contained in the Horn of the Great Archdemon Gremory—I’ll push those to the extreme. In exchange for giving up accuracy, I’ll raise the piercing power and range to absurd levels. And most of the bow’s functions will be built around passive skills and standard attacks, while I’ll also add a wide-area attack terrifying enough to make the entire world fear it, like the descent of a demon.”

The words spilled out in a rapid stream.

Right now, Hyunsoo wanted to create the most terrifying bow in the world.

A bow that made everyone’s knees go weak the moment they saw it.

A bow that would leave anyone who faced it unable even to move.

Yes.

“Something grotesque and magnificent and, at times, elegant—just like Gremory.”

There was only one thing that worried him.

The repeated notification he kept hearing the moment he held the Horn of the Great Archdemon Gremory.

[This is a concentration of the resentment, pain, and demonic energy of the Great Archdemon Gremory.]

[Something special may occur because of the Great Archdemon.]

Crafting through the fear of humanity.

That could not possibly be a field easily permitted to humans.

But Hyunsoo scoffed.

Because even that Great Archdemon had been nothing more than prey for him.

THUUUUNG—!

Ignoring it, Hyunsoo picked up the Horn of the Great Archdemon Gremory and began working.

“Let’s do this, Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.”

A great bow whose name meant it could kill even demons.

It would be far larger than an ordinary bow.

First, he shaved down and refined the Horn of the Great Archdemon Gremory.

That horn would become the core that formed the body of the bow.

The crude, massive demonic horn gradually changed into a long, curved shape of black.

Next came the Great Horse Tendon.

Something that had once been nothing more than the tendon of a monster, under Hyunsoo’s fingertips—backed by twenty-seven repetitions—

and in the hands of a master blacksmith who was, truthfully, better at making bows than swords, took the form of a bowstring around fifty percent longer, harder, and thicker than a normal one.

At the midpoint of the string— 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

TWING, TWIIING—

He flicked the part archers usually drew several times, then found himself marveling at its perfect elasticity, hardness, and toughness.

This string is completely insane.

He finished the preparations for dyeing it, as well as the preparation of the base materials.

Slowly, it began to take shape as a great bow following the methods of a horn bow.

Sweating profusely, he sank into an extreme state of Trance as he worked.

The string that formed the bow, what was called the cord, the horn tips, the leather wrapping, the outer skin, the grip core, the notch, the straightening wood, the horn plates, the core layer—

The pieces named the tip of the back section, the near curve, the far curve, the triple section, the rear bow wood, and the point beneath the arrow rest—

[You are reaching the most original and perfect craftsmanship!!]

[The system is in awe.]

Dozens of parts, all binding together into one and advancing toward perfection.

Twice the size of an ordinary horn bow.

Its string dyed black as well.

And at the upper and lower bent ends of the bow, two horns rose outward, while on one side of the bow’s body a demon’s face was engraved.

Now all that remained was to hook the bowstring onto the two horns at the ends and complete it.

And in that moment, something happened that he had foolishly thought he could overcome.

[Something special occurs because of the Great Archdemon.]

At that, a chill ran down Hyunsoo’s spine.

What is this...?

His entire body stiffened as if he were staring down a car racing toward him at 150 kilometers per hour.

His legs screamed, Move, but he could not. He became exactly what humans truly were in the face of terror—frail creatures frozen by numb fear.

All throughout the forge, tens of thousands of yellow, narrow, elongated pupils were staring at Hyunsoo.

And then he understood.

The “something special” caused by the Great Archdemon did not mean dead Gremory.

It meant something grotesque that watched those who forged demonic horns.

[The Evil God laughs.]

The corners of tens of thousands of eyes lifted, and they all blinked at once. He had thought it was a moment of fear and horror, but it was not.

[The Evil God praises you.]

[The Evil God proposes a deal.]

It was extending a hand to Hyunsoo.

[God Class. You are offered Descendant of the Evil God.]

[100,000,000 gold is offered for the Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.]

[If you advance to Descendant of the Evil God, your level will immediately increase by 100.]

[If you advance to Descendant of the Evil God, all stats will rise evenly by 1,200.]

[It is the strongest class in Ares currently in existence.]

The instant Hyunsoo encountered it, longing took root in his mind.

All stats up by 1,200.

An immediate jump of 100 levels.

The moment he saw that, an enormous greed swallowed him whole.

From now on...

He would never have to suffer again.

He would never need to stay up for days forging weapons and armor like this again.

The moment he accepted this, Hyunsoo would reign forever as the supreme being of Ares.

And the Evil God wanted only one thing.

The Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.

[The Evil God acknowledges you.]

And he truly was being acknowledged.

By the Evil God, parent of the 72 demons, said to hold more power in this land of Ares than any being except the god Ares himself.

[The Calamity Church will protect you.]

And it told him he could instantly come to rule hundreds of millions.

If only he offered this single Great Bow of Demon-Slaying.

A giant mouth as large as Hyunsoo himself opened in one corner of the forge and smiled brightly.

—My child.

He could feel a voice softly laughing, warmly embracing him.

—Who do you think it was that acknowledged you?

It was true.

His had been a life where even sleepless nights earned no recognition, and where effort only brought denial.

But now the greatest of gods acknowledged him.

—Did Ares ever do this for you? Hmm?

Ares had never treated Hyunsoo like this.

And more than that—

100,000,000 gold was equivalent to 100 billion won.

With that kind of money, he could do anything.

Hyeji might never become a Divine Archer?

That was fine. Faced with an amount of money no one could refuse, he found himself turning away from that problem.

I’ll just peel off ten billion won for her or something.

There was too much he could do with it.

The founding of the nation of Hyun? The moment he accepted this, the creation of that nation could be completed immediately.

And the Calamity Church would protect it.

No one would ever look down on him again, and the whole world would call him the supreme ruler.

Bahala.

The man once called the sky would kneel before him and surrender with words of acknowledgment.

You’re incredible, Hyunsoo.

The thought that he could throw everything down now, embrace happiness, and live in comfort made him want to let go of it all.

And there was another reason he had to make the trade.

—You do know this bow is only Transcendent.

The fact that the Evil God was willing to buy a mere Transcendent bow for 100,000,000 gold was already irresistibly tempting.

And there was something Hyunsoo did not know.

The Evil God tempted humans.

Those humans chosen by it were seduced, consumed by pleasure, greed, and desire, and corrupted.

It was a drug.

But humans were fleeting and weak, and even as they soaked in the pleasure of that drug and crumbled into ruin, they generally never realized it.

—String the bow.

SHHHHHHRIP—

He drew the bowstring and hooked it onto both ends, finally completing it.

—Give it to me.

All he had to do was place it into the black hand that emerged from the darkness.

“Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha!”

In the end, Hyunsoo too was only an ordinary human.

It was hard to refuse when someone offered 100 billion won for the Transcendent bow before his eyes.

Tears rolled from Hyunsoo’s eyes.

Drip—

He felt as though his long endurance had finally come to an end, and that from this point on, only joy remained.

He held it out.

And just as the Evil God began to close its hand around it—

Dad, why do you insist on handcrafting everything? The customers won’t know anyway. You could make it so much more easily.

The words his father had once said snapped Hyunsoo awake.

He looked at the furnace.

He looked at the hammer.

He looked down at himself.

The tears vanished.

In the vision reflected before his eyes, the extinguished furnace blazed to life, and Hyunsoo pulled the bow back.

“There is no such thing as something easy and perfect at the same time...”

There were fools who rejected comfort and chose the harder road.

Were they really fools?

Were the ones who did not rely on lucky breaks, who did not take shortcuts, and who refused the easy way truly idiots?

Hyunsoo did not think so.

“Get lost.”

At that instant, tens of thousands of eyes widened.

Of course, Hyunsoo also agreed with what the Evil God had said.

This bow’s grade was only Transcendent, and if he handed over that Transcendent bow, it would be no different from stepping onto the easiest road imaginable.

100 billion won and limitless power could have been his.

But he did not regret it, and in that moment he realized—

[Something is hidden behind the Evil God’s lie.]

[You have been brainwashed into believing that the bow about to appear is Transcendent.]

Hyunsoo’s pupils expanded.

He had believed this was Transcendent. The Evil God had said so, and he himself had thought it would probably be around that level.

But there was no way the Evil God would [N O V E L I G H T] appear for something as trivial as a mere Transcendent artifact.

[The Evil God’s lie is revealed!]

[You encounter the true truth!!]

A great bow of pure black, around 150 centimeters long, too large for an adult woman to lift easily, with a string so hard and stable it did not tremble in the slightest.

RRRRRRRRRUMBLE—!!!!

A vast hymn of praise came crashing down from the heavens.

This bow was not like the White Tiger Sword, which had borrowed the power of three tigers.

Nor did it have a single special title, or powers like increased probability of an artifact grade rising.

And yet—

A certain foolish blacksmith, one who never relied on luck and never took the easy road, had reached this place.

[The third Myth is written.]

Onto the road of supremacy he had carved with his own two hands alone.