└Metallurgist : You said you’d only catch one and come back, so what’s this about twenty!
└Metallurgist : Did seeing the difficulty suddenly make your heart race? Did it light a fire in you to challenge it?
└Metallurgist : And how did you even lose the gun! Get your head on straight, seriously.
└Metallurgist : If you die, who’s going to help me with my research!!!!
I got thoroughly scolded by the Metallurgist.
No, is this really something I should be scolded for?
Shouldn’t I be the one getting angry and feeling wronged here?
Thankfully, once I explained the whole situation, the Metallurgist’s fury gradually subsided.
└Python : So, well, that’s how it ended up.
└└Metallurgist : Ah! You should’ve said so;;
└└Python : You weren’t giving me time to talk.
└Yoiyoi : (reading the room) Nightmare difficulty…! Don’t tell me it was because of me-yoi?
└└Dagger Lord : Huff huff huff huff huff!
└Watermelon Thief Han : Damn it, Python, are you saying you’re a genius at combat too…! Why did heaven give birth to Watermelon Thief Han, and then give birth to Python as well!!! O heavens!!!!!
└└Yoiyoi : Why did heaven give birth to Watermelon Thief Han, and Python, and Yoiyoi, and Metallurgist, and Imperial Hammer, and Intangible Cultural Asset, and Blade Master, and Bowman, and SpearIsKingOfAllWeapons, and… (the rest is omitted-yoi)
└└Dagger Lord : Include me too!
└└Yoiyoi : You’re still 100 years too early-yoi!
Once they confirmed that I was alive, their tension seemed to ease.
The artisans slowly began exchanging jokes.
Normally, I would have joined in too.
But today, I didn’t have the leisure.
└Python : Anyone able to give me a crash course in hammer combat?
└Python : Until now I’ve been catching the ones that were alone by going soul-to-soul in straight-up fights, but I think I’ll have to start heading into the mine soon.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Do you seek me?
└└Python : Who are you?
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Well met, human beneath the mountains. I am Dwaglin Steelbeard, dwarf king of the Black Mountain. You may also call me Dwaglin of the Burning Hammer.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : I have heard much of your heroic deeds!
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Ahh! Kobolds! Ancient enemies of the dwarves! If you are an enemy of kobolds, then calling you a friend of dwarves would not be lacking at all!
He seemed like a strange dwarf.
Was there no one else?
└Smile : Me?
Let’s go with the dwarf.
Hammering is all about dwarves, after all.
At my request, Dwaglin immediately began the lesson.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : I suppose I must first teach you what kind of weapon a hammer is.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : A hammer is very slow.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Perhaps because of that, by the time I land a second blow, everyone is already dead and lying on the ground.
From what I understood, he meant I had to decide the fight with the first attack.
The combat methods he went on to explain were also focused on delivering a single powerful strike.
Smash down hard.
Swing hard.
Block hard.
Live life hard.
After hammering away at empty air for a while, a question occurred to me.
└Python : Is there anything like that, by any chance?
└Python : Like shooting lightning from the hammer, or throwing the hammer and having it automatically return….
Mister Mountain King was probably built like iron and had spent his entire life rolling around on battlefields.
Even if he just swung a hammer normally, he could probably crack kobold skulls open.
But I was a human who had only just awakened.
I had obtained a passive body enhancement, but it wasn’t at a level where I could feel much difference.
My combat experience and instincts were just as lacking.
If I clumsily tried to imitate him, my own head would be the one to burst first.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Of course there is a way!
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : However, human beneath the mountains, you are still an inexperienced warrior! Could you handle such mighty power right away?
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Well…. It should not hurt for you to at least know of it. I shall explain it very simply, so listen well.
The Mountain King’s lecture began again.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : You said you wished to shoot lightning, did you not? The key is to resonate with the material.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : The first step is to sense the vibrations in the process of crafting arms and attune them so that a specific power dwells within. Unfortunately, that will be impossible for you right now.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : But loading great power into a hammer strike works on the same principle. If you control the resonance when you strike down with the hammer—
It wasn’t an easy lesson to understand.
The very concept was unfamiliar.
What was resonance supposed to be, anyway?
└Metallurgist : Isn’t that talking about nodes, by any chance?
└└Watermelon Thief Han : Seems similar? In the end, it’s about connecting mana to a weapon.
└└IDidn’tBuyAShield : I was wondering what you meant by resonance and nodes, but now I get it. In the end, it’s the same principle as emitting sword aura.
└└Northern Station Exit 3 : That’s right! When handling sword aura, it also feels like my body and my sword are connected!
A feeling similar to handling nodes?
It was quite fascinating that the same magical principle was used when making a weapon and when attacking with one.
└Metallurgist : Of course, it won’t be easy. If those two were the same, then every blacksmith would’ve become a swordmaster spewing sword aura, right?
└└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : Precisely, wise blacksmith! The result differs vastly depending on how one resonates!
└└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : But it seems it will not be easy to explain such delicate yet instinctive work here and now. I shall ponder a method for a moment, so practice on your own in the meantime.
And then the Mountain King disappeared.
‘You should at least tell me how to practice before telling me to study on my own!’
There was no helping it. I couldn’t waste time grumbling.
I moved to a more secluded place so the kobolds wouldn’t find me, then sat cross-legged.
I closed my eyes and focused.
Maybe because I’d done it once before, it felt somewhat more familiar.
I could sense the flow of mana faster than before.
When blue energy drifted beyond the darkness,
I opened my eyes.
As expected, I could see sources of light surrounding the hammer.
Strangely, the energy I felt from the wooden handle and the steel head was different.
The hammerhead felt much colder, should I say.
I reached out with my third arm and felt the light.
Different results came depending on how one resonated.
Resonance meant connecting the nodes.
Didn’t that mean I could use different techniques depending on where and how I connected them?
I split my fingers and connected nodes at random.
If I kept trying blindly, one of them was bound to work.
After linking them here and there for quite some time,
“It’s different.”
The energy I felt changed depending on how I connected my fingers and the light.
Sometimes the discomfort surged so badly that I cut the connection within a second.
At certain points, mana was transmitted very stably.
I couldn’t understand what principle was causing the different results.
For now, I could only look at the given values and eliminate the wrong answers.
Then, for a moment—
Wooooong—
The hammer vibrated.
It had been a node that felt good. When I violently shoved mana into that spot as if making it explode, the hammer began to tremble.
The hammer rattled as though it might shoot off at any moment.
While maintaining the connection, I carefully grasped the handle.
The thing that had been shaking violently calmed down a little.
But the power contained inside it was still pulsing.
“It doesn’t seem like anything’s gone wrong.”
If asked whether that power felt unstable, I could answer with absolute certainty that it did not.
Rather, a strange sense of exhilaration seemed to rise within me.
Holding the trembling hammer, I stood in front of a nearby tree.
I’d know what this meant once I tested it.
“Phew.”
I steadied my breathing.
Then struck the tree.
Kwaaaang──!!!
With an intense explosion, a shockwave spread outward.
It was powerful enough that even I was caught in the reaction and fell on my backside.
“Waaah….”
The result exceeded my expectations.
About half the tree had been shredded away before it fell.
And as if showing how the shockwave had spread, an area about five meters in diameter from the tree had been swept clean in a fan shape.
“Heh, heh heh heh.”
A hollow laugh escaped me on its own.
Until not long ago—no, until just an hour ago—I had never imagined I would produce this kind of power.
‘An incomprehensible power….’
Only now did it feel real that I had awakened.
I’d lived my life hating Hunters so much that I ended up awakening.
I’d tried to use my strength for the sake of the unawakened by making artifacts, and now I had even learned combat techniques in the Tower.
So was I happy about it? Or did I despise myself?
I didn’t know. Not yet.
I could worry about such indulgent things after I got out alive.
I gripped the hammer again.
This time, I intended to use the technique in a different way.
It bothered me that even I had been swept up in the shockwave.
If there were enemies behind me, it would only expose my weakness.
It had to be a technique that guaranteed my safety and was destructive as well.
I retraced my memory and connected the node again.
Once more, the hammer vibrated in my hand.
Dropping to one knee, I struck the ground with all my might.
Kugugung─!!!
The earth shook with an explosion heavier than before.
The shockwave surged upward, making my body jerk as if it might float.
When I raised my head again,
the area around me had been completely devastated.
“………That should be enough self-study, right?”
I uploaded the video I’d recorded with the status window to the Artisan Gallery.
[That’s it for today’s lesson!]
Author: Python
(Video)
Somehow, it worked.
Taking suggestions for the technique name.
└Watermelon Thief Han : Ah……………….
└└Yoiyoi : Give up-yoi. When it comes to geniuses, you just have to let them go on ahead-yoi.
└└Dagger Lord : You can only feel inferior to someone on a similar level-jwa!
└Metallurgist : Who said students get to end class whenever they want?
└Blade Master : How about Thunderclap?
└└Python : That feels a little too much like plagiarism;;;;
└DressedCold : Oh, so that’s what the newbie looks like.
Was it because they were artisans that they had no interest in combat?
The reaction was rather lukewarm.
Just as I was starting to feel needlessly embarrassed, the combat personnel raised the tension.
└King of the Black Mountain Dwaglin : What!!! You have already achieved resonance with the hammer! Such a sturdy physique, and even solid talent! Truly, it would not be unfit to call you an honorary dwarf!
└└Python : Honorary dwarf doesn’t feel all that great, honestly.
└IDidn’tBuyAShield : (standing ovation)
└Northern Station Exit 3 : Hah! If one were caught in that, surely it would cause an area stun! I must practice creating shockwaves with sword aura too…!
└BlackMagicIsSobSob : You’ve got talent for combat too, huh? Instead of something so crude, how about black magic? You can use that raccoon collapsed behind you.
Ah, black magic is a bit much.
**
I filled my stomach with an energy bar and bottled water, then headed straight for the mine.
I desperately wanted to rest, but I couldn’t delay.
On the way to the mine, I had ended up making eight kobold corpses.
I had hidden them in suitable places, but they would surely realize that something strange had happened.
No one knew what would happen then.
They might come at me with pickaxes in both hands, or call for reinforcements.
“Kerek! Krrr!!”
“Grrr! Grrr!”
I heard angry kobold cries in the distance.
I quickly hid myself among the nearby trees.
Kobolds were approaching, pushing carts loaded full of iron ore.
Were they transporting it themselves because the minecart hadn’t returned?
For me, it was a good thing.
I climbed up a tree and continued scouting.
Eight kobolds.
Two carts.
Four were attached to each cart.
Even though it was an eight-on-one fight, rather than fear, all I felt was excitement.
I vibrated the hammer and waited for the carts to pass beneath me.
The carts must have been quite heavy, because they were terribly slow.
Then, when the distance grew close enough,
I raised the hammer high and leapt down between the two carts.
Kugugugugung─!!!
Perhaps the jump multiplied its destructive power, because the ground shook violently.
The shockwave transmitted to me was also far greater.
If it was hard for me to endure, then the kobolds didn’t even need to be mentioned.
When the world settled down again,
the carts had been completely smashed apart and were rolling around with the iron ore.
Large and small cracks had appeared in the ground as well.
Even trees some distance away bore sharp wounds as though scraped by a cutting wind.
As for the kobolds…. There was no need to confirm the kills.
***
Dealing with the remaining kobolds was not especially burdensome either.
When I’d been holding the gun, I had fought with painstaking care.
But now that I’d learned Seismic Wave—the name I’d just come up with—I felt as if I had lost all sense of fear.
I really shouldn’t get drunk on power already.
I slapped my cheeks to get my head back on straight and headed down into the mine.
Before that, I thoroughly farmed the dark iron I’d gotten from the three kobolds.
One kobold left.
Meaning I was one short of the target I needed to kill.
Not that there was only one kobold left in this entire mine.
“Where did they all go?”
Even so, the mine was quiet.
Since three of them had been loitering around right from the entrance, I’d thought the inside of the mine would be swarming with kobolds.
I heightened my guard and slowly descended the shaft.
The farther down I went, the higher the temperature rose.
Just when it was starting to get so hot it was hard to endure,
a fork in the path appeared.
And from both the left and right came the hacking sounds of kobolds.
“Kekek!”
“Grrr-grrrr!”
“Keng-kerung! Kerung!”
Three. Four. Five.
No, at least more than ten.
“Ah. I’m fucked.”
What would happen if I hit them with a seismic wave here?
No need to even look. The tunnel would collapse.
Then would the rocks fall on the kobolds’ heads first, or would my head burst first?
I had no desire to run that kind of experiment.
“Fuck!”
I immediately ran back the way I’d come.
Behind me, I heard the shouts of the kobold pack.
They chased after me insanely fast on those short legs.
A few of them threw everything they had in their hands at me—hard hats, pickaxes, whatever they could grab.
“Haaah…! What kind of kobolds set traps…!”
The world really was full of unfair things.
For now, I ran like my lungs were about to burst.
My side throbbed. I didn’t know if I’d been stabbed by something or if it was from running with everything I had.
My breathing grew more and more ragged.
Just as my legs were about to give out,
I saw light in the distance.
“The exit…!”
I got the hammer started in advance.
Trying to connect the nodes while running was hell.
I wasn’t even sure if I’d properly handled my mana.
For now, judging by the vibration in my hand, something seemed to be working.
“Almost there….”
The moment I reached the exit,
I leapt like a figure skater and twisted my body 180 degrees.
Then, gripping the hammer’s handle with both hands, I struck the wall.
Ruuuuumble—
The mountain range screamed.
Crack! Craaack!
As if answering it, the sound of support beams snapping overlapped from inside the tunnel.
And soon, along with the kobolds’ panicked screeches—
Kugugung!
The mine completely collapsed.
“Haaah…….”
Let’s be humble.
The 1st floor is seriously fucking hard.
[You have cleared Nightmare Difficulty 1st Floor.]
[You are the first to clear Nightmare Difficulty 1st Floor.]
[You have cleared Nightmare Difficulty 1st Floor with the highest score.]
[You have exceeded the target.]
[You have achieved the achievement 「Wipe Out the Kobolds」.]
[You have acquired additional combat proficiency.]
[You have acquired additional magic stones.]
[You have achieved Combat Rank D.]
[You have acquired a combat skill.]
[Returning in 1 minute.]