- It is said that the school years of Hyunsoo, a world-famous user and the king of the nation of Hyun, were far from easy.

- Master Blacksmith Hyun, who had learned forge work from childhood, was darker-skinned than most children his age, and because he would sometimes be seen selling kitchen knives in a corner of the market, he was reportedly mocked a great deal by his peers.

- As a result, during his school years he had only one friend. And even that friend was recently blocked. According to rumor, the reason for the block was jealousy. A beautiful example of classic childhood friendship, one might say.

Before logging in, Kumar read the entry about Hyun on a Korean community wiki and slowly nodded.

Kumar.

Like Hyunsoo in that wiki entry, he too had lived without a single friend.

For Kumar, who had been born and raised in the slums, it would have been stranger to have friends.

Friend, huh.

Kumar was deeply moved by the sincerity Hyunsoo had conveyed through Kabel, and he felt an emotion he could not quite name.

Come to think of it, we’re the same age too, aren’t we?

And from Hyunsoo’s offer, he had understood one more thing.

He still doesn’t really have any friends. He wanted to keep me as one.

Twitch, twitch—

A smile formed at the corners of Kumar’s mouth for no reason at all.

Himself.

He had been the first to receive an offer of friendship from the first king in Ares.

Sure, it had started with slavery, but still, the offer had come first.

Damn, he must’ve been really lonely!

Kumar smiled warmly.

And on top of that, Hyunsoo clearly thought highly of his potential.

The Blacksmith King and the Thief King...

Kumar resolved that he would definitely become the Thief King.

He would become the Thief King and be the dependable friend Hyunsoo needed—the one friend Hyunsoo wouldn’t even get blocked by.

The moment I get there, I should throw an arm around his shoulders!

Kumar sat in front of his ancient junk computer, grinning to himself.

Then, while scrolling through the entry about Hyunsoo on the wiki, Kumar stopped at one section.

He clicked on the part labeled “Current Status.”

- Current Status.

- Hyunsoo, who once had no friends at all, is apparently very different now. He is known to be close with Lee Taeha, the youngest son of the Ilhwa Group.

- His relationships in Ares are also notable. It is said that Sword King Barad and Azure Heaven Ben occasionally visit the nation of Hyun asking him to hang out, only for the busy Hyunsoo to chase them out. Recently, King Antro of the Parkro Kingdom has reportedly started joining them as well.

- There are even rumors that world rank No. 1 Valhalla keeps sending him whispers in an effort to get closer to him(?), but gets blocked every single time.

- According to an interview with Hyunsoo, he also once had a family in Ares. He reportedly had a younger sibling, a granddaughter, and a son, but all of them have now been struck from the family register.

The wiki recorded information about all sorts of people, but anyone could write there.

That meant it could be used for jokes, but it was generally based on facts.

Kumar blinked.

He had been ready to slap Hyunsoo on the back and laugh, saying, “Hahaha, my friend. Let’s get along from now on!”

But now he was flustered.

Wait, he’s friends with Sword King Barad, Azure Heaven Ben, and Antro? Even world rank No. 1 Valhalla gets blocked every time!?

There was an even more shocking part.

- It is also said that he is friends with Asura Kabel. However, after compiling various pieces of information, the conclusion is that Asura Kabel is most likely Hyunsoo’s lackey.

- Asura Kabel has completely denied this, but to anyone looking, Asura Kabel displays all the classic signs of being Hyunsoo’s lackey.

Asura Kabel is a lackey...?

Even if he had been in India, the moment he heard Hyunsoo’s words, Kabel had immediately come to meet him.

The wiki had proof.

Kumar went into no small shock as he realized that his idol was Hyunsoo’s lackey.

Kumar looked at the old clock.

The time...

It was almost the appointed login time.

[You are connecting to Ares.]

Hyunsoo was waiting with a small smile on his face.

And then Raon logged in.

The blazing friendship of friends!

Raon had been planning to throw an arm around him and produce a scene of the two of them walking toward the setting sun together, but after being influenced by the wiki, he changed his mind.

“Friend and slave. Grand Slave, Slave King Raon has logged in. Let us go.”

Huh?

What’s wrong with him?

Hyunsoo had been wondering how to greet him as a friend once Raon logged in.

In any case, Hyunsoo had gained a Grand Slave—and a friend.

*****

“...Interesting.”

Examiner Ren felt amusement for the first time in a long while.

He had entered the Heavenly Realm and killed Cerberus.

And it seemed even one hundred candidates had died at his °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° hands.

Of course, one could simply select a hundred new candidates.

More than that, Ren felt interest and pleasure toward the one who had taken two things he had cultivated.

Is he coming this way?

Three minutes remained until the execution.

Even Examiner Ren could not betray the three minutes promised to Ares.

Ren glanced aside and looked at Purung, unconscious, his arms spread wide and bound by ropes.

After looking at him, Ren spoke to Ares.

“Lord Ares, because one from the human world has dared set foot here while the opening of this land has not yet been permitted, I judge that punishment must be carried out.”

The temple.

Ren made his plea to the faceless statue of Ares seated upon the divine throne.

At that moment—

[A great good flows.]

[He is one protected by the two sacred goods of the human world.]

“...?”

Examiner Ren’s face hardened.

There were two sacred goods in the human world.

One was Pope Karsel, and the other was the noble Saintess Aria.

Through Ren’s prayer in the Heavenly Realm, his voice reached them, and for the sake of their benefactor—and for the sake of that great good—Karsel and Aria acted.

[Saintess Aria offers a prayer that Ren’s wish be denied.]

[Pope Karsel offers a prayer that Ren’s wish be denied.]

Ren’s face twisted in dismay.

For a brief moment, the eyes of Saintess Aria and Pope Karsel came into view and met his.

Those two pairs of sharp eyes looked down upon Examiner Ren.

Their lips moved.

You will not threaten our dear friend

with Lord Ares’s power.

TAAAAT—

Ren returned to reality at once, flustered.

Impossible...

Saintess Aria and Karsel had recognized that the “petition of a being of the Heavenly Realm” aimed at that unidentified person was dangerous to him, and had offered prayers to block it.

“Lord Ares, the time You have permitted has not yet come!”

The opening of the Heavenly Realm was six months away.

Ren had intended to use that as leverage to receive the Heavenly Army.

Heavenly Army.

A legion raised solely to protect Ares.

If they came, they could kill the one who had slaughtered his Cerberus and one hundred candidates with absurd ease.

But—

Ares did not respond.

Ren realized it.

His resentment over Cerberus’s death.

His grievance over having sent one hundred candidates only for them to be killed.

All of it stemmed from Ren himself, and the anger flowing through him was not righteous anger on behalf of Ares, but merely an attempt to force aid from Him.

Realizing the truth, Ren smiled, and Ares was responding in another way.

[The execution ceremony will proceed in 2 minutes 3 seconds.]

Was killing Purung Ares’s order?

No.

Then who had arranged it?

Ren and the examiners.

The execution ceremony was something they had decided upon, and Ares had merely responded. Even if the other side took Purung away, Ares would simply let it happen.

Indifference.

As always, the god intended to remain indifferent.

And within that indifference was Ren himself.

In other words: settle it among yourselves.

“Kuhahah!”

On the contrary, Ren burst into laughter. That indifference pleased and delighted him even more.

The Heavenly Army?

In truth, he could resolve this without something like that.

Thanks to that indifference, Ren was free to enjoy killing, and it had also given him a certain liberty.

Part of that liberty was that he had kept Bao as his successor—an examiner candidate brought in through privilege.

And also—

the remnants of Ren, once known as the Martial God, still remained scattered throughout the human world.

More than tens of thousands of followers of the Martial God.

“You remain indifferent yet again! Hahaha!”

The clear reason they had been able to remain even after all these long years was that Ares had remained indifferent.

While working as an examiner, whenever I had time in the human world, I met with my followers.

Like the candidates, the followers of the Martial God had received Ren’s teachings.

But unlike the candidates, they were not taught directly. Instead, it had been handed down through generations by means of the Martial God’s Secret Manuals, making them strong.

Having inherited the secret manuals and trained for a long time, their strength had grown higher and higher by the day.

And as they grew stronger because of that, their loyalty deepened as well, and they waited.

That one day, the Martial God would return to the human world and lead them once more.

There was a special reason Ren had become an examiner.

He too had been called by Ares while standing at death’s threshold, and he had searched and searched for a way to escape Ares’s constraints.

He sought that method so that he could descend once more to the surface and become the god of the human world.

That was what he wanted.

Please continue to remain indifferent. You incompetent god.

It delighted him that this god only watched and did not intervene.

Then the divine voice sounded once more.

[The execution ceremony will proceed in 1 minute 32 seconds.]

He spoke to the followers he had been connected to all this time.

“Answer.”

It was a noble and powerful voice, as though he himself had become a god.

Ren’s hair whipped in the air, and from the sky of the Heavenly Realm, more than a thousand lights began to form.

And at last, Ren’s gaze caught sight of that bastard, who was finally coming into view.

He was charging in alone.

[The execution ceremony will proceed in 47 seconds.]

And as he saw him rushing desperately after hearing that sound, Ren realized it.

The god has informed not only me, but him as well.

That meant he too could hear that less than a minute remained.

But it was too late.

PAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAPAT—!

[The followers answer the summons!!]

[They are summoned!!]

The number of followers summoned in light was no less than one thousand.

Those who had grown steadily stronger through the Martial God’s Secret Manuals would drive the man trying to stop the execution into despair at Ren’s side.

“Loyalty!!!”

They saluted sharply, dressed in pure white uniforms with cloaks bearing the sword emblem that marked them as followers of the Martial God.

[Follower of the Martial God Lv.536]

“Force that bastard to his knees and offer him up before me.”

The thousand followers of the Martial God began to charge, stepping through the air, kicking off the ground, or using Martial God’s Step to move with blinding speed.

KWAAAAAK—!

One follower of the Martial God was sent flying the moment he collided with the man.

And even amid nearly one thousand followers of the Martial God, the man did not give ground.

[The execution ceremony will proceed in 32 seconds.]

Ren was surprised.

But no matter how much that man kept charging, it looked difficult for him to break through the layered wall of followers piled before him.

Although—

even amid all that, he kept advancing, advancing, advancing, steadily closing the distance.

[The execution ceremony will proceed in 8 seconds.]

By the time the man had drawn near, Ren, who had been standing with his arms folded, reached toward his waist to cut Purung’s throat.

This is delightful.

A smile of pleasure settled on Ren’s lips.

The man before him was unquestionably strong.

Ren did not know exactly why he was trying to save Purung.

All he intended to do was cut off Purung’s head right before the man’s eyes, then toss it before him with a dull thud.

And the panic that would appear on his face when that happened, the sense of loss, the despair—

just imagining all of it filled Ren with joy.

He gripped the hilt of his sword and moved to draw it.

At that very moment—

“Huddled up together. Easy money.”

“...?”

The man said something incomprehensible.

Easy money?

Ren’s expression turned puzzled.

Before the man who sought to become a god, the power of the Blacksmith God who created the “Myth” called Unparalleled revealed itself.

[Unparalleled Sovereign]

[By adjusting its size, you manifest a gigantic Unparalleled that can cover the entire world.]

[It grows large enough to swallow everything within a 60-meter radius, and upon activation it is imbued with four times the power of Unparalleled’s normal strike damage.]

[It is defined as your ultimate skill because it is the greatest power you have ever unleashed.]

[Congratulations.]

[You have discovered your ultimate skill!!]

[When Unparalleled Sovereign is unleashed, an additional 5% damage is applied!!]

A gigantic hammer descended, covering the entire sky.

Enormous thunder cracked dozens of times in a single instant, making the world flash white.

KRAK, KRRRAK, KRRRRRRAAAK—!

Endless sparks flew from the hammer that covered the sky.

CRACKLE, CRACKLE-CRACKLE-CRACKLE—!

That gigantic hammer began to fall over the heads of Ren and his followers.