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“The soul trapped inside the Ring of Life Suppression will be gone forever the moment you destroy the ring,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. He took out a bottle of alcohol made by the corrupted fairies to quench his thirst, enraging the Blacksmith of Fire even further.
“Do you think you’ll live after doing something like this?!” the blacksmith shouted angrily.
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo nonchalantly replied while taking a sip from the bottle.
The Blacksmith of Fire did not stop at shouting loudly this time, as his gigantic hammer spat out a blazing hot flame that surrounded the party. However, Kang Yoon-Soo leisurely walked toward the fire and waved the black ring on his finger over it. As he did so, the fire quenched itself before being able to inflict any damage on the party members.
“I’ll destroy this ring the moment you hurt any of them,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“You damned bastard…!” the blacksmith shouted in rage. His voice was so loud that it made an entire stone mountain crumble.
The men gulped nervously while admiring Kang Yoon-Soo.
“To think he would threaten a Colossus so brazenly… He’s really an amazing guy.”
“That guy is weaker than us, but none of us will ever be able to beat that dirty and evil mind of his.”
“It’s a huge relief that he isn’t an enemy…”
Kang Yoon-Soo extended the Ring of Life Suppression and said, “Give me the Holy Chalice of Blood if you wish to save your assistant.”
“Are you even aware of how dangerous that chalice is? It’s a dangerous item that can awaken the Dragon of Destruction from its slumber,” the blacksmith replied.
“We need to awaken the Dragon of Destruction to be able to kill it,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
The blacksmith replied with a scowl, “Are you telling me that an insignificant human like you can kill the Dragon of Destruction?”
“Yeah,” Kang Yoon-Soo casually replied.
“That’s impossible,” the blacksmith objected.
“It’s possible,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
The blacksmith asked, “Why are you trying to kill the Dragon of Destruction? I’m certain that there are countless other creative ways to die besides that.”
“To get to the Colossi’s Magic Tower,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. He had to kill the Dragon of Destruction to set foot into the magic tower.
The blacksmith was taken aback for a moment. He asked with a grimace, “Magic tower? How do you know about that place?”
“None of your business,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“What business do you have in that dangerous place…?” the blacksmith muttered, gradually trailing off.
The Ancient Emperor of Time, Kartheon had mentioned before his death that the person who held the secret of Kang Yoon-Soo’s regressions and current predicament was in the magic tower. There was no doubt that the person he had been referring to was none other than the King of All Things, Sirian.
The Blacksmith of Fire quietly looked down at Kang Yoon-Soo for quite a while before slowly saying, “What a bizarre human.”
Then, he raised his gigantic hammer high into the air, casting a huge shadow over the party members. They closed their eyes, preparing for their demise.
However, the hammer did not fall upon them; instead, it struck a huge boulder the size of a castle.
Baaaaam!
Creak… Crack… Crack…!
A single strike by the Blacksmith of Fire was sufficient to smash the boulder into pieces. In time, the dust settled, leaving behind fiery debris and stone fragments, as well as a brightly shining red chalice.
The blacksmith waved his finger, and the chalice floated into the air. He said, “It’s none of my business whether the Dragon of Destruction kills you or not, but I’m worried about the safety of my assistant. I’m only doing this to save her.”
[Holy Chalice of Blood]
A holy chalice with unknown origins. Not an ounce of holy power can be felt from it. It resembles a goblet to pour alcohol in, but it was made to hold blood.
+You may obtain the pure blood of a dragon if you kill one of the descendants of the Dragon of Destruction.
The legendary quest was suddenly updated.
[Legendary Quest—Awakening of Blood]
The Dragon of Destruction is currently in hibernation. The dragon’s scales harden while it remains in its slumber, making it impossible to inflict a single scratch on its body. You will need to awaken the Dragon of Destruction to be able to kill it.
There is only one method to forcefully awaken the Dragon of Destruction from its slumber. You will have to fill up the Holy Chalice of Blood with the Dragon of Destruction’s blood and spray it all over the dragon.
Kill the Dragon of Destruction’s descendants and fill the Holy Chalice of Blood with its blood.
+The titans will refuse to cooperate with you because you failed the previous quest.
+Your relationship with the titans will sour and turn hostile if you claim the lives of innocent titans.
The quest to collect the Dragon of Destruction’s blood was a very complex and difficult one.
While Kang Yoon-Soo was focusing on reading the updated legendary quest’s details, the Blacksmith of Fire called out loudly, “Are you happy now? Let my assistant go!”
“Not yet,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
He then took several materials out of his backpack. They were the various rare minerals he had obtained from the Kolod Abandoned Mine and the various rare gems he mined from the secret jewel mine, such as the Magma Rubies, Frozen Sapphires, and Bright Moonstones.
“Refine these minerals and craft these gems into trinkets,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
The Blacksmith of Fire’s enraged voice reverberated across the entire area. “Do you think I’m your slave?! I see you really have a death wish!”
Kang Yoon-Soo raised his finger and once again showed the black ring he was wearing.
The blacksmith grimaced. However, through gritted teeth, he began to strike the materials wildly with his hammer.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
It seemed as if the force of the gigantic hammer would turn the rare minerals and gems into dust. However, they turned into refined metals and trinkets instead by the time the Blacksmith of Fire finished hammering.
[13 Top-Class Silver Ingots]
[16 High-Quality Rubies]
[22 High-Quality Sapphires]
[Inextinguishable Fire Ring]
[Earrings of Sorrow]
[Shining Moonlight Necklace]
The Blacksmith of Fire’s skills were top-notch indeed. He had been able to create such an outstanding result with the bare minimum of materials.
As Kang Yoon-Soo collected the crafted items, the blacksmith said angrily, “Let my assistant go now.”
“I’ll come back after filling the chalice with blood. Then, I’ll free her once you open the path to the Dragon of Destruction’s lair,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, his face expressionless as always.
The party members’ faces turned pale when they heard Kang Yoon-Soo break his promise.
The Blacksmith of Fire seemed to have had enough of the arrogant human. His rage sounded close to berserk fury as he shouted, “How dare you break your promise!”
“You’ll just attack me and take the chalice back if I set her free now,” Kang Yoon-Soo said, unfazed.
“Krwaaaaaah!” The Blacksmith of Fire roared, then smashed a stone mountain with his gigantic hammer.
The party members’ faces turned ghostly pale when they saw an entire mountain being destroyed in a single strike, and they felt as if they were standing before death’s door.
The blacksmith tried his best to maintain his composure before shouting angrily, “Then we shall exchange hostages!”
“Explain,” Kang Yoon-Soo said curtly.
The blacksmith breathed deeply a few times before explaining, “You’ll give me one hostage to hold onto, since you’ve taken my assistant as a hostage! I’ll keep the hostage with me until you’ve filled the chalice with blood. I’ll give the hostage the cruelest death imaginable if you break the ring or your promise this time!”
Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “I have no reason to agree to that. I have the upper hand in this situation.”
“Upper hand? Against me? Do I look that flimsy to you?! I can crush all of you and turn you to dust without lifting a finger!” the blacksmith exclaimed, lashing out while raising his hammer above the party.
The flames surrounding the hammer writhed at the party. It seemed that the giant blacksmith was trying to show he was capable of burning an arm or a leg without even having to swing his hammer.
Someone stuttered, “T-Then… Who will be the hostage…?”
The party members looked at each other before Swemer suddenly shouted, “Let’s just give him one of the undead! We have plenty of them with us!”
“I will not agree to that! We undead are not disposable goods!” Kalriven growled in response.
The men and the undead began glaring and snarling at each other.
It was then that Shaneth grimaced and said, “If we’re only going to quarrel among ourselves otherwise, I’ll volunteer to be the hostage. We’ll only end up fighting against each other if this keeps going on.”
Iris smiled and took Shaneth’s hand before replying, “No, who will cook delicious food for us if Shaneth is gone? Nobody can replace Shaneth, so I should be the hostage instead.”
“Unni…” Shaneth murmured in response.
Kalriven watched the two women before saying, “There is no need for my ladies to do that. I should be the one to sacrifice myself for my lord. I will be the hostage.”
Henrick nodded and said, “Alright, sounds good to me. One of you three can become the hostage then.”
Harpoon stared at him for a moment before asking in disgust, “Aren’t you one of their comrades? Shouldn’t you at least offer to become the hostage…?”
“I learned pretty late in life that being a hero doesn’t suit me at all. No, hold on a minute,” Henrick said before walking over to Kang Yoon-Soo and pulling out the glass bottle. He looked closely at it for quite a while.
Inside the bottle, Quishow smiled nervously and said, “Hello, handsome human-nim. Why are you looking so intently at Quishow right now? Hihi… Is it because Quishow is too cute?”
“Can’t we just use this one as the hostage? It’s our enemy, after all,” Henrick said.
Quishow jumped in surprise, getting to its knees and pleading, “Kyaaaah! Human-nim! Please! Don’t let Quishow become a hostage! I’ll do whatever you want me to do!”
Kang Yoon-Soo took the glass bottle back from Henrick and stuffed it in his pocket. He would need every single one of them in order to fight against the Dragon of Destruction, and thus he had no intention of wasting a single one of the people with him.
He looked up at the blacksmith and said, “I can’t choose a hostage.”
The fire from the hammer flared once again, and the Blacksmith of Fire replied, “What did you say?! Then I’ll kill them one by one until you can decide…”
Kang Yoon-Soo interrupted, saying, “Blacksmith of Fire.” Then, he continued, “You control the essence of fire and forge civilizations from it. You would be able to choose the most suitable hostage if you were to look with your wise eyes.”
The Blacksmith of Fire stared at Kang Yoon-Soo for quite a while, his huge, amber eyes reflecting the human before him. He scanned the human from head to toe with the observant eyes of a blacksmith, then once again with the discerning eyes of a Colossus.
Finally, he nodded after observing the human for quite a while. He said, “Alright. I’ve chosen the hostage.”
The party members all froze and gulped nervously. Who was going to be the hostage? It would definitely be the most precious person to Kang Yoon-Soo.
‘It’s definitely going to be me,’ Shaneth thought, steeling her resolve.
Just then, the Blacksmith of Fire waved his hammer in the air.
Afterward, the bottles of alcohol in Kang Yoon-Soo’s backpack floated up. However, that was not all. Every bottle and barrel of alcohol from the titans’ cities flew toward the giant blacksmith.
The sorrowful cries of numerous alcoholic titans lamenting their alcohol being taken away filled the air from a distance.
An astounding number of bottles and barrels began to stack up on top of each other, and there were so many that the height of the pile rivaled the nearby mountains. All of the alcohol underground had been gathered in one place.
The Blacksmith of Fire pointed at the mountain of alcohol, as if to say he could smash all of the alcohol bottles and barrels in one fell swoop. He declared, “This will be my hostage. I’ll immediately be able to sense if you got rid of my assistant or ran away. You’ll never be able to taste a single drop of alcohol for the rest of your life if you fail to fill the chalice with blood and return!”
Shaneth was dumbfounded by the blacksmith’s declaration.
Meanwhile, Kang Yoon-Soo let out a sigh and said, “How cruel…”
He had deliberately made the Blacksmith of Fire examine him and choose the hostage so that none of his party members would have to be taken. The blacksmith had thus decided that it would be better and easier if he were to take all the alcohol in the underground hostage instead of having to deal with a human hostage. After all, the discernment of a Colossus seemed to indicate that there was less of a chance of Kang Yoon-Soo betraying alcohol compared to the alternative.
In any event, the hostage exchange concluded. Kang Yoon-Soo had to complete the legendary quest—as if his life depended on it.
***
The party descended from the stone mountain. Kang Yoon-Soo showed the Holy Chalice of Blood to the party members and explained the updated details of the legendary quest. “We’ll be able to fill the chalice with the Dragon of Destruction’s blood if we kill its descendants.”
“Alright, then we just have to massacre all of the titans,” the men said, fighting spirit visibly burning in their eyes
However, Shaneth seemed to be uncomfortable with that idea. She asked, “Do you plan to massacre the titans just to hunt the Dragon of Destruction?”
“No,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
The titan scout leader, Renolk, had previously explained that the titans only had a few drops of the Dragon of Destruction’s blood flowing in their bodies. Filling the chalice with blood would be difficult even if they massacred all of the titans underground. Additionally, they could end up facing annihilation even before fighting against the Dragon of Destruction if they carelessly attacked the titans.
“We can’t fill this with just the blood of the titans,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
Besides, he needed the titans to help in the final war against the Dragon of Destruction, so they were not the ones he had to kill. Instead, he had to hunt down the creatures that had gone mad because of the Dragon of Destruction’s blood flowing in them.
Kang Yoon-Soo looked into the horizon across the boiling lava and said, “We’re going to the ice fields.”