A brief silence engulfs the arena.
“Argh!”
Hit directly by an arrow, the stone golem flies about 23 feet before crashing to the ground.
The arrow doesn’t penetrate the stone golem, but it spins violently upon impact at the creature’s chest, delivering a significant blow.
“Ughhhh!”
The continued screams of the stone golem left the players speechless.
Amid the onslaught of golems.
A lone player stands in front of them all.
Every player’s eyes are fixed on his back.
“That’s the super rookie…”
One player murmurs.
The super rookie, though low in level, has potential surpassing all others.
Outperforming peers of the same level and accomplishing what they cannot.
Hyun-soo, turning his back to both players and golems, shouts.
“There’s been a change in the tournament. With this level of power, the organizers must be expecting total annihilation!”
An undeniable truth.
“What if we defeat these stone golems and safely conclude the tournament?”
One player, mesmerized by his back, asks.
“The Kingdom of Goyard will reward us all…”
“Defeat the stone golems? Is that even possible!?”
“I’ll do my best. Please hold off the golems.”
Everyone internally doubts him. A level 50 player defeating a stone golem alone seems impossible.
“But it might just work.”
His arrow’s destructive power is proving it.
Hyun-soo takes steps closer to the stone golem.
[Stunned for 4 seconds.]
The stone golem is immobilized, pierced by the arrow.
A player charges at the golem.
“Let’s give it a shot!”
“Yaaaaa!”
“Kingdom of Goyard, give us our rewards!”
Ding!
[Over 30 players are listening to you and acting upon your words.]
[You have earned the title: Commander of the Battlefield.]
(Commander of the Battlefield)
Multi-title
Grade: B
Special Abilities:
· Charisma increased by 1%.
· More people will pay attention to your words.
Hyun-soo’s eyes calm down.
He decided to hunt the Blood Golem alone.
He had thought the creation of an Orichalcum arrowhead might make this possible.
But now, that’s uncertain.
Still, there’s no turning back.
[The Piercing Arrow is ready for reuse.]
Reload.
Swish!
He draws the bowstring back with all his might.
Hyun-soo, now closer to the stone golem, fires another Piercing Arrow.
Boom!
“Argh!”
He targets the right leg. The golem’s right leg is shattered.
[Stone Golem’s HP falls below 69%.]
Bang! Bang!
Two more arrows further reduce the golem’s HP.
[HP falls below 62%.]
“Argh!”
The golem recovers from the stun.
Hyun-soo slings the bow over his shoulder.
Holding his sword, Light, he charges.
He has conserved his skills for this moment, fearing cooldowns might not reset in time.
A heat haze rises from Hyun-soo’s charging form.
[Unyielding]
[Physical attack power increased by 13%, cutting power by 7%, and critical hit chance by 20% for 1 minute.]
The skills taught by a lord, renowned for his swordsmanship despite ruling a small novice area, empower him.
“Wasn’t he an archer?”
“Wasn’t he going to fight with arrows?”
Players blocking the golem’s aggro are taken aback.
Then the golem recovers from its stun.
“Raaaargh!”
With one leg gone, the golem flails, reaching for Hyun-soo.
Dodging and simultaneously delivering an uppercut.
Clang!
Swordsmen players are astounded. His swordsmanship is too excellent for a mere side character.
No unnecessary movements?
Rather, it’s overwhelmingly superior to theirs.
Hyun-soo didn’t just learn this from a skill book.
He spent days and nights learning and practicing these movements from the successor of this sword technique.
“Rrrrgh!”
The infuriated golem’s eyes blaze at Hyun-soo, who fearlessly thrusts his sword, Light.
[Critical Strike]
[Identifies enemy weak points, dealing 45% additional damage on successful critical hits.]
[15% chance to deal 60% damage.]
Thrust!
He stabs hard into the golem’s chest.
But the blade doesn’t pierce the stone creature.
[The durability of Light has significantly decreased.]
Hyun-soo’s face contorts.
‘What…?’
He looks at his sword as he pulls it out. The tip is blunted.
The golem strikes back reflexively.
Boom!
Hyun-soo is sent flying, quickly reloading.
Click!
He swiftly loads an arrow and shoots.
Crash!
“Argh!”
The struck golem’s head snaps back.
Overwhelmed by rage, it roars and slams its fist into the ground.
Crack!
The shockwave spreads throughout the arena.
Boss monsters are tough because of their high HP, defense, and attack power compared to those of the same level.
Even if they’re the same level, boss monsters are formidable, mainly due to their unique traits.
Boss monsters often possess unique characteristics.
These traits can defy logic and confuse players.
One such trait is now revealed.
[Golem’s Fury]
The tremors engulf Hyun-soo.
[Stunned for 2 seconds.]
[Weapon Breaker is applied to the Stone Golem for 30 seconds.]
Hyun-soo loses 2 seconds. The one-legged golem crawls towards him. It reaches him almost instantly.
The golem grabs Hyun-soo with one hand.
And strikes with the other.
Boom!
[HP falls below 80%.]
He’s dazed by the massive impact.
Another hit follows.
Boom!
[HP falls below 60%.]
[You’ve suffered multiple heavy blows.]
[You are dizzy.]
[Vision blurs, making it hard to focus.]
[Stun is lifted.]
The stone golem flung Hyun-soo to the ground. Hyun-soo, somewhat clumsily, regains his composure.
He attempted to swing his sword, Light, which he held in both hands.
Snatch-
The stone golem’s hand grabbed the sword.
The golem’s strength was overwhelmingly greater than Hyun-soo’s.
Ssssh-
The gauntlet in his hand also crumbled and vanished.
Crack-
A chilling sound echoed from the golem’s grip.
As his vision cleared, Hyun-soo saw his sword, Light, breaking in the golem’s hand.
Clang-!
[Weapon Breaker]
The second ability of the stone golem.
Weapon Breaker crushed Light in its palm.
Crunch-
The moment Hyun-soo’s grip loosened, the golem kicked fiercely.
Wham-
The golem scattered hundreds of shards of the blade on the ground.
Clink-!
[Damaged artifacts will be restored after the match.]
“Damn it, this was impossible from the start.”
“Darn, why did I even bother?”
Hyun-soo, hearing the other players behind him, looked at the scattered pieces of his sword.
“Man, get out of there!”
“How are you going to fight a boss mob without a weapon!”
The stone golem, as if mocking Hyun-soo, cackles, “Kukukuku…”
A drop of sweat trickles down Hyun-soo’s forehead to the ground.
Drip-
“The sword’s broken.”
Orichalcum arrows were Hyun-soo’s ultimate weapon. Even so, they couldn’t decisively kill the enemy.
In close combat, a bow could be a liability, and with just the bow, he couldn’t defeat the golem.
His plan was falling apart.
“Man, I said run!”
“Are you in shock because your sword broke?”
But Hyun-soo just smirked. He had received a special notification a few seconds before his sword broke.
“If there’s none, I’ll just make one.”
His eyes still held a fighting spirit.
***
Beckel entered the arena in invisible mode. No one could see or touch him.
The king wished the tournament to continue.
He saw Hyun-soo, the foreigner, stunned not far from the stone golem.
‘This was impossible from the start.’
The foreigner named Hyun-soo muttered.
“The sword’s broken.”
The most terrifying aspect of the stone golem.
Its ability to destroy or damage the weapons of players.
It was natural for the man to look so utterly lost.
He was a man without a weapon.
A bow?
In close combat, fighting a golem with a bow was a weakness.
‘Why did His Majesty insist on continuing the tournament?’
Of course, someone like him couldn’t fathom the king’s will.
He had only one task.
The king had ordered him to delete the cooldown of one of the mystical powers that the foreigners believed in.
This notification had already spread to all the foreigners before the man’s sword broke.
[You can use one skill without a cooldown period.]
This applied to the man in front as well.
But Beckel shook his head.
‘He’s wrong.’
Beckel imagined if it were him.
If his weapon shattered into hundreds of pieces, he’d probably lose all will to fight.
But the man named Hyun-soo was slightly smiling.
And his eyes were still sharply focused on the golem.
‘Why is he smiling?’
Had he gone mad?
He muttered.
“If there’s none, I’ll just make one.”
Beckel frowned. What did he mean?
‘Ah…!’
Then it hit him.
Earlier, the man had created and donned a gauntlet using some unknown power.
At that moment, hundreds of scattered sword pieces in front of the foreigner, Hyun-soo, levitated into the air.
Watching these unexpected fragments, Hyun-soo let out a small laugh.
“Got my materials? I’ve already made a weapon that can cut through stone.”
‘Materials?’
Beckel didn’t understand.
Materials appeared?
Ah!
In the tournament, bringing in potions or artifact-making materials was prohibited.
Only artifacts worn on the body were allowed.
Hyun-soo quickly inputs something into the air.
The hundreds of floating sword fragments melt away.
From the air, the melted material quickly takes shape, forming dozens of thin, holographic tree branches rising up.
The branches swiftly intertwine, solidifying into a long, stiff spear shaft.
A mysterious bladed weapon is completed, its end curved and much shorter than a sword, now joined to the spear shaft.
Click-
Beckel recognized the weapon that was created.
‘Is that a crescent moon blade?’
The advantage of a crescent moon blade lies in its long reach.
‘But what difference does it make creating a crescent moon blade?’
The stone golem, which was mocking Hyun-soo, had now approached him, pulling its arm back.
‘He’s going to die.’
Beckel was certain.
A faint light flickered momentarily in the golem’s fist.
That one blow was going to gruesomely obliterate Hyun-soo.
But Hyun-soo was quicker.
Swoosh-
He swung the crescent moon blade with one hand.
Suddenly, everything in Beckel’s vision seemed to slow down like in slow motion.
An indescribable sound.
That sound twisted Beckel’s understanding.
Swoosh?
That sound was incomprehensible.
It should have been a clanging noise.
The sound of the blade clashing with stone – that was common sense.
At that moment, in front of the man, grinning and spreading his arms.
Thud-
The golem’s arm fell off.
“Argh!”
‘He cut through stone…!?’
Hyun-soo observed the golem writhing in pain with its arm severed.
Then everything that seemed like slow motion returned to normal.
Hyun-soo then forcefully thrust the crescent moon blade into the chest of the suffering stone golem.
***
One-time cooldown deletion.
With it, Hyun-soo, the blacksmith, coldly watched the stone golem struggling with one arm cut off.
Through divine emergency crafting, he created an artifact, reminding himself of who he was.
‘I’m neither a swordsman nor an archer.’
Hyun-soo was a blacksmith.
As such, he displayed his combat ingenuity as a blacksmith.
A weapon useful against an opponent with much longer arms and legs.
A weapon defying the common understanding of blades clashing with stone.
“Raaaargh!”
Hyun-soo precisely pierced the suffering creature’s chest with the crescent moon blade in his hand.
Thwump-!
The weapon he created was named the Damascus Crescent Moon Blade.
“How can a spear pierce stone?”
“Did you hear that? There was a ‘thwump’ sound…!”
Amid the players’ astonishment, Hyun-soo, who had plunged the Damascus Crescent Moon Blade into the golem’s chest, gripped the spear shaft tightly with both hands and muttered.
“Whirlwind Dance.”
Cliche Novel 
Thanks for the chapter!!!!!
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Why are we jumping between present tense and past tense (mostly present tense)? It should just be past tense when the “narrator” is, well, narrating, as it has been thus far.
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