166 – The Craftsman’s Promise – 5

Of course, since Gi-jun was not a craftsman, he could not handle this hammer properly.

Being Ptah’s agent was a complete lie.

However, it was possible to add the overflowing heat of the divine relic to the flame he controlled.

If that eye were Ptah, the god of blacksmiths, there was no way it would not recognize it, but…

―That… is a magnificent item, but so what? It will not be able to match my flame!

The bastard did not recognize it.

In fact, if the bastard were truly the blacksmith god, he would have been able to interfere with Gi-jun in some way at the moment he was wielding that power.

By weakening the power of the divine relic, or conversely, causing it to run wild to burn Gi-jun to ashes, for instance.

But the bastard did not do so—no, it was that he could not.

It was certainly a divine being, but the bastard was by no means Ptah, Hephaestus, or Vulcan!

“A Flame Human… how could he possess Lord Ptah’s divine relic?”

“Ahhh, that person is surely Lord Ptah’s agent who descended to save Uralta!”

“I believed in him from the very beginning! No wonder the heat surrounding his body was extraordinary!”

Meanwhile, the sudden change in attitude of the dwarves who recognized it as the blacksmith god’s divine relic was quite something!

Just a moment ago, they had been overwhelmed by the god’s majesty and had taken the lead in arguing that they should sacrifice Gi-jun, so seeing them change their attitude as if flipping a palm was enough to make one snort in disbelief.

―Foolish creatures! Are you going to deny me, who has protected you all this time, just because you are bewitched by a mere object? The Ptah you worship is right here!

The eye of the god, which had appeared and overwhelmed everyone, roared in furious indignation.

Every time it did so, the volcano erupted fiercely and lava shot up everywhere, but the dwarves did not even bat an eye.

“What is that evil demon, who has toyed with us for a long time, spouting now?!”

“The true agent of Lord Ptah is with us. Ptah has sent his warrior to defeat that bastard!”

“Destroy that eye! Bury our false god back into the lava!”

“The feeling I have right now… I am in the midst of justice. That monster is evil! The hero of Gratia is justice! I can clearly feel evil and justice…! We are executing justice right now!”

Although the god’s name was false, its power would be real, yet the dwarves’ attitude was endlessly steadfast.

Their appearance was just like the Knights of the Round Table who had finally found the Holy Grail they had been searching for over a long time.

“Their attitude changed in an instant. Even the dwarves who argued that we should sacrifice Jun.”

As Unika, who was commanding the Letans and blocking the overflow with them at the front lines, expressed surprise at their firm attitude, Glittertoss, who was shooting a special repeating bowgun next to her, snorted.

“They are desperate. Indeed, since the divine relic that any craftsman would want is right before their eyes, it is natural for dwarves.”

Unika was dazed for a moment upon hearing those words, before recovering her senses and hurriedly asking him back.

“So—you mean they are acting like that because of the hammer in his hand, not because they truly believe in and follow Jun?”

“Wouldn’t that be natural? How long have they even known the VVIP for them to truly follow him? What they see is only one thing: the divine relic.”

Unika raised her head and looked at the figure of Gi-jun standing tall beyond the very front lines.

She saw the hero bravely raising the hammer and shaking off its energy as he confronted the giant red eye that looked down upon the earth and pressured them all.

While imagining such a touching scene of everyone on the battlefield being inspired by his will, denying the name of the god, and carrying out human will, Unika realized her own gaze had also become fixed on the hammer in his hand before she knew it, and shook her head.

The dwarf continued to speak even as he mechanically shot his crossbow.

“Unless Ptah descends in person, the dwarves will be the hero’s slaves. If he tells them to die, wouldn’t they at least cut off an arm?”

“Then what about you?”

“Well, maybe a finger… Ahem, surely since I am his exclusive blacksmith, he will let me hold it just once?”

Glittertoss was already getting ahead of himself, even though he was not Gi-jun’s exclusive blacksmith in the first place.

Although she found it absurd, Unika felt relieved to have understood the dwarves’ true intentions, but problems were still scattered everywhere.

As the true form of the volcano revealed itself, the overflow grew even more intense, and in the sky, the eyeball containing an unusual power was ready to pour out its strength at any moment.

Although the barrier protecting Uralta was holding out for now, the rain of lava and volcanic rock that continued to pour down was pounding the barrier, so there was no telling when it would be breached.

It was a miracle that the front line did not retreat even in this situation.

“If it weren’t for the dishes Jun made in large quantities, we would have already… Seriously, he is…”

Even though the situation was so despairing, her mind calmed down at Gi-jun’s powerful presence covering the battlefield.

Realizing that she was feeling something similar to relief before she knew it, Unika let out a chuckle.

“Lady Unika, step back if it is too hard.”

“No, I am the one who gathered everyone. If I step back, the Letans and the Summoned will not be able to trust each other and fight. …I’m fine, it’s not like I’ve lost my mind from exhaustion.”

She felt the horn on her forehead heating up intensely.

The unique intuition of the Monoceros clan was telling her that the most important moment of her life was about to arrive.

“It is a pity we couldn’t hunt a Divine Beast together, but this isn’t bad either.”

“Is a Divine Beast really the issue right now? We are about to fight a god.”

Glittertoss, who heard her talking to herself, grumbled as he pulled the bowgun.

After accurately piercing the space between a flame wolf’s eyes with a bolt, he casually muttered as he looked at Gi-jun and the giant eye, who were now glaring at each other as if to kill beyond a simple confrontation.

“I do wonder what kind of materials will drop.”

Although it wasn’t that they had heard his words—at that moment, Gi-jun and the eye initiated their clash.

―You must be the one deceiving those foolish dwarves! I shall personally erase you from the face of the earth and return them to the correct path!

As the eye concentrated overwhelming energy in its iris and shot it straight like a laser beam, Gi-jun raised his shield and hurriedly blocked it.

“Damn…! I didn’t expect it to rush in immediately just because its identity was blown…!”

Gi-jun let out a groan at the heat that felt as if it would burn his face off in an instant, and concentrated the power of Adamant into his shield.

Even so, unable to fully withstand the massive energy, he felt his body being dragged backward.

In fact, it was already amazing that an individual was blocking divine power.

―I really do feel divine power. For a minor god shut away in a mere volcano, its status is quite high. …Though it’s clumsy, almost as if its power has been split into several pieces.

Although her tone was light, Lucy, wearing an endlessly serious expression, concentrated her spirit power into Gi-jun’s shield.

While the magic power of light and spirit power concentrated in the Silver Moon of Contradiction scattered dazzling light and blocked the laser, Gi-jun had to devise a countermeasure.

Was it a relief that the bastard’s laser had even swept away the enemies crowding around them?

Under the endless barrage of the laser, Gi-jun gritted his teeth, put strength into his legs to hold his ground, and shouted.

“Lucy, is a god allowed to do this? Even in the last Grand Quest, they didn’t use their power directly like this!”

What Gi-jun had actually expected from the bastard was a standoff, a warning, or an attempt to penalize Gi-jun by evading the eyes of the system, not a direct head-on clash like this.

He had thought that if he pointed out the bastard was not Ptah, they would just have a staring contest and quietly retreat, but who would have thought he would attack with life-or-death intensity!

―The contractor is right. That is probably not a god who governs Leta, namely the system. It means it doesn’t even belong to the category of good or evil gods classified in Leta. If it were a divinity of that caliber, it wouldn’t have needed to impersonate another god and squat in a volcano, would it?

“Huh?”

Gi-jun had assumed that the gods governing Leta had taken an interest in him and appeared in the form of an avatar—but this was the moment that speculation was proven completely wrong.

The gods who ruled Leta were not that bold, and in the first place, that eye was not some avatar, but the god’s main body.

“Then what is that bastard?”

Trying to hide the fact that he had been indulging in a delusion mixed with a bloated ego, Gi-jun asked with a forced calm expression.

Despite having been sealed for a long time, Lucy, who was strangely well-informed about the affairs of the gods ruling Leta, replied with a somewhat complex expression.

―As you can tell since you are facing him, the bastard’s power is endlessly unstable, and compared to a true divinity, it is incredibly weak.

In a situation where he felt as if he would be roasted crisp down to his bones at any moment under the constant downpour of the laser, hearing that the bastard was weak made him feel as if the strength in the arm holding the shield would drain away.

It meant the power possessed by a ‘true divinity’ was that immense.

―Perhaps the bastard is a fallen god who lost his divine status, or conversely, a native god who extorted a god’s power and awkwardly obtained divinity. I… think it is probably the latter. Because the bastard seemed to know about you—and the reason that comes to mind for that, probably…

It was the moment Lucy hesitated, unable to bring herself to continue.

Feeling the intense anger and sadness transmitted through the bond connected to his soul, Gi-jun shut his mouth.

It was the emotion felt from Ur, the other side, not Lucy.

There was no need to hear any more about who that unstable god’s power originated from.

―Shyaaa…

“Ur.”

That Ur was an extraordinary being was something he had known well through the memories that flowed into him the moment he met and healed him.

Ur, who had been guarding something extremely important along with other spirits.

But having suffered an internal betrayal, he had lost his power, been severely wounded, and fled.

But who would have thought—that such an existence would be born from only a portion of his power.

To Gi-jun, who fell silent upon realizing that he knew far too little about Ur, Lucy continued her explanation in a somewhat subdued voice.

―The bastard probably squatted in the volcano and mimicked Ptah to supplement his incomplete power and status. That way, he would have grown in size by devouring the dwarves’ faith for a long time.

“…Did he show himself like this because that faith seemed to be wavering?”

―Or perhaps that is just an act, and he appeared because he found something he wanted even more. That would probably be the contractor, or…

There was no need to hear the rest.

Gi-jun tightened his grip on his shield, his eyes flashing.

“He will not be able to achieve anything of what he wants.”

The next moment, a paler and colder light swirled around the Silver Moon of Contradiction.

Gi-jun activated Silver Moon Wave, which had performed splendidly during his battle with the Lord of Thorns, along with Shock Wave, which amplified its power.

And the moment the laser, which was pouring down in a straight line toward Gi-jun, clashed with the wave emitted by the shield, surprisingly, it bounced right back and shot toward the bastard!

―What…!

Among the options of the Silver Moon of Contradiction, there was one that read, ‘If successful in blocking or parrying an opponent’s attack, returns a portion of the damage to the opponent’—and in harmony with Silver Moon Wave, it had accomplished an even greater miracle!

―Kuaaaaah!

―It was perfect, contractor!

The reflected laser fully contained the power of Silver Moon Wave, which purified all things.

For the bastard, who was forcibly holding onto power that was not originally his own, meaning he was in an endlessly discordant state, it was indeed a fatal blow.

Watching the eye of fire stumble and warp in midair, Gi-jun realized that what Lucy had said was true.

The bastard was certainly ridiculously powerful, but he was just as unstable and clumsy.

And now was the very opportunity to push him into a corner.

―Y-You mere human! For a weak human to run wild after obtaining power beyond his station! No matter how much you struggle, that guy who has already fallen――!

“Lord Ptah shall punish you!”

Revealing Ur’s existence here would probably not be very good.

Gi-jun shouted loudly as if to cut off the bastard’s words, and held Vulcan’s Hammer high in the hand opposite the one holding his shield.

He decided to carry through with his identity as Ptah’s agent until the end.

However, at that moment—the hammer he held was enveloped in flames, and furthermore, those flames enveloped Gi-jun’s entire body and blazed splendidly.

―Divine punishment for the existence impersonating a god. The system acknowledges divine intervention.

―Vulcan’s Hammer temporarily acknowledges you as its master. You are now able to cast the skill ‘Hammer of God’. All combat abilities increase by 20%.

―Divine punishment for the existence impersonating a god. The system acknowledges divine intervention.

―Vulcan’s Hammer temporarily acknowledges you as its master. You are now able to cast the skill ‘Hammer of God’. All combat abilities increase by 20%.

“Oh.”

He hadn’t expected this.

Gi-jun let out a brief exclamation, and coating his mana over the hammer, he shouted loudly.

“Lord Ptah has answered! We shall drive out that false evil god and establish Lord Ptah’s temple in the volcano!”

―It seems our contractor learned some weird things along with Charm Control from the demon… Well, it’s cool, so whatever!

Gi-jun kicked off the ground and leaped high.

Fortunately, the hammer was a weapon belonging to blunt weapon mastery, the predecessor of his combat skill, Moonlight Blood Fangs.

Gi-jun, who was gripping the hammer in a truly perfect posture due to skill correction, slammed it down hard toward the eye, which was still stumbling and unable to compose itself properly, and shouted.

“Hammer of God!”