Chapter 31

Chapter 31. The British Doctor as Iron (3)

"It is the weak human who cannot endure my sword…"

The master blacksmith of the Dwarf Kingdom, Muratan.

Despite his unrivaled skill, he had been branded with the shameful name of demon-sword maker.

In the end, even his title as blacksmith of the Dwarf Kingdom was stripped away, and he was cast into the Abyss.

"For releasing demon swords into the world and accelerating chaos, I exile Muratan to the Abyss!!!"

The charge had been that he had made and distributed vile demon swords that drove their wielders mad.

Cast into the Abyss, Muratan had every ounce of his blacksmith's power sealed away, and he waited for death.

That was when it happened.

——I shall let you walk the path of the true blacksmith.

A certain sword that had lain on the ground spoke to him.

A crude-looking shortsword.

But…

"Oho—. An Ego Sword?"

Muratan, being a blacksmith, recognized the foreign power dwelling in the sword.

And so he picked it up.

—If the ones who wield swords are the problem, how about reforging them?

The sword was a deeply peculiar existence.

It spoke as though it could reforge humans, likening them to iron.

Comparing living people to iron!

Didn't that sound absolutely mad at first hearing?

"Reforging people?"

And yet, those words caused Muratan's mind to flash with insight.

For Muratan, who had hammered iron his whole life, a new perspective had been presented.

Muratan recalled the swords he had forged.

'Without a doubt, my swords were perfect.'

Decayed knights, drunk on the empty name of chivalry, had failed to wield their swords.

Wicked slaughterers, drunk on the power of their swords, had destroyed themselves.

Yes — the sword wasn't the problem.

"The people were the problem."

He had attained enlightenment.

There had been nothing at all wrong with his blacksmithing!

The ones handling them had been the problem.

So if he reforged people to be hardened, it would be resolved.

"To only now realize this…"

He had attained enlightenment, but regret remained.

Because his achievements had been trivial.

"Sword without a name, that is impossible for me."

All of the blacksmith's powers had been sealed and were gone.

He wanted to reforge people as the sword advised, but Muratan was no warrior.

But the sword presented the solution.

—You shall become the hardest hammer and reforge every iron in the world.

I myself am the hammer.

And all that I strike is iron.

A dictum that shook the heart of a dwarven artisan.

And at the end of it — what did he obtain?

"This world becomes my forge."

Muratan devoted his life to that iron rule.

"Sword, even hammering humans, they cannot overcome me as the hammer! Did you deceive me?"

—Strike the heads of the demon worshippers. Strike the demonic. Strike the Outer Gods. There is still much iron in the world you have yet to master.

Following the voice of the sword, he reforged every iron in the world.

And what was the result?

「Skull-crusher, Knight-slayer, Demonkin-slayer, Executioner of Dark Gods, Natural Predator of Outer Gods.」

「He crippled the most mighty among humanity — yet, paradoxically, through that very power, he saved the world—」

And so.

「Mad Demon, Muratan」

He acquired an idiot epithet of that sort, and his life came to an end.

Having reforged and smashed to pieces the horrifying monsters surrounding the world, he was sucked directly into the sword.

He had thought he would meet his death just like that, but lo.

'There are this many beings similar to me.'

A new life began for Muratan.

The other souls that slept within the sword.

Every one of them was fine iron that felt worth reforging.

It seemed they would never break.

But…

'Dreadfully hard.'

He could feel power comparable to his own.

Even for Muratan, who possessed the special power to reshape the world into a forge, they were opponents of a difficult level.

"If a sword that cuts anything met a shield that blocks anything, what would happen?"

Once, there had been a riddle that circulated across the continent.

Muratan, who had crafted both the strongest sword and the sturdiest shield as a blacksmith, knew the answer.

"Both would break."

By the same logic, if he — the sturdiest hammer — clashed with another iron of similar rank, the result would be the same.

In other words, Muratan would die and so would the other sword.

He was just about to give up when—

"This is Our subject—."

One day, he saw a demon.

A small child with an impertinent tone — yet one who bore terrifying demonic power — rode atop a horrific monster.

A monster called a demon.

The child, who called it her subject, handed him an amusing plaything, and Muratan developed a profound enthusiasm for reforging this new iron.

"The more I strike, the stronger it grows!!!"

The demon — the summon of that impertinent child.

And this demon was a tremendous joy to hammer.

Even under hammer-strikes that had burst the heads of the foremost knights of the Ruzbella Empire, the demon endured, asserting its presence.

Through this, Muratan found a new milestone.

"This iron can be alloyed."

The iron called demon was different from what he had struck before.

Muratan recalled his research.

—When the iron of a knight is mixed with the iron of a mage, both irons die.

And yet this thing called a demon could have something new layered over it to become a stronger iron.

In technical terms—

'An alloy.'

Now it was time to find a new iron suited to the demon.

Just in time for that, the Sword Master presented several new irons, but from Muratan's standpoint, none caught his interest.

The metal called [Mystery].

It was a peculiar thing seen for the first time, but even before meeting the Sword Master, he had hammered irons of that sort countless times, so it held no particular interest.

To Muratan, such metals were no longer iron in the truest sense.

But…

"The Duke of the British Empire, Doctor—."

The iron he had faced this time was different.

It was the iron called Doctor.

And the iron called Doctor carried a peculiar greatsword named 'Scalpel.'

That struck the heartstrings of the dwarf Muratan.

<Muratan's forge encroaches upon the region.>

The world whispered.

* * *

The British Doctor, Duke of the British Empire.

The asymmetric power of Britain, favored by My Queen.

And an unofficial EX-rank Hunter.

[A world-class Authority encroaches upon the region.]

[The Operating Theater of Guaranteed Life and Guaranteed Death is temporarily deactivated.]

The reason the Doctor was called EX, if only unofficially, was this 'Operating Theater.'

As long as he could operate, the space itself would be transformed into an operating theater — a mighty Authority.

Clearly this place had been filled with patients, and every patient had been within scalpel range—

"M-my Operating Theater…"

Had this place become Jesus's church?

The British Doctor stared into the empty air, his face stunned.

A phenomenon that should only occur in a church imbued with Jesus's Authority.

But this was Japan.

And the one he was up against was not Jesus.

"What is your objective?"

A being approached the Doctor.

The SSS-rank Transcendent who had appeared in South Korea, Shin Si-woo.

He had clearly been holding a small sword, but…

"Wh-what is that sword?"

At some point, an obscenely large greatsword was in Shin Si-woo's hand.

But the edges were all dead, blunt — it was not wrong to call it simply a hammer.

From that hammer came a terrifying heat.

Chiiik——.

It was a heat that carried the blacksmith's passion — to melt and strike every metal in creation.

In that heat, the Doctor's entire body flushed red.

Piercing the searing heat.

"———."

A voice reached the Doctor's ears.

It was the name of something.

A name he was not permitted to hear.

After muttering that name, Shin Si-woo spoke the next words, and those reached the Doctor's ears with perfect clarity.

"Make the iron pliant."

What was iron?

He could tell that the 'iron' Shin Si-woo spoke of didn't simply mean steel.

He was referring, in broad strokes, to any metal in the world that could be reforged.

"Shin Si-woo, I acknowledge you are stronger than I expected. However—."

Even so…

Nevertheless…

"—I am the Doctor."

A Duke of the British Empire, favored by My Queen.

Noblesse oblige.

If one is a noble, one must conduct oneself as a noble.

"The Queen's dream shall come to pass."

Even without the aid of the Operating Theater, the Doctor was a strong enough being.

What had brought South Korea's SS-rank Awakened Sword Emperor to his knees had been a single thing: the Doctor's skill with the scalpel.

And so, the Doctor raised his scalpel.

Hu-ung——.

In an instant sliced and sliced into pieces.

Shin Si-woo's sword came toward the Doctor.

An overwhelming speed that an ordinary person could not perceive with the naked eye.

But the Doctor's body had been enhanced by his medical arts.

So he perceived the sword Shin Si-woo thrust forth.

He blocked his sword.

But…

Kuung———!!!

It was a sword clashing against a sword, yet the result was nothing of the sort.

Bouncing off or being deflected would be common sense.

Instead, along with an enormous shock, the Doctor's body was slammed into the floor.

'Clearly…'

He had parried the descending sword by angling his own blade upward.

He had clearly blocked it.

But the result was strange.

He had blocked a sword with a sword, and yet his entire body was crushed into the floor.

Some kind of phenomenon seemed to have occurred.

And the result of it?

"Kkeuk——."

The Doctor was being crushed by something.

Mercilessly, and savagely.

Like a piece of iron laid upon an anvil.

Kuung———!!!

Kuung———!!!

Kuung———!!!

The greatsword Shin Si-woo swung was clearly in the shape of a sword, yet every time he swung it, it tenderized him like a hammer.

Unidentified hammer-blows pouring down without end robbed the Doctor of his freedom.

'Toying with a patient is my joy alone—'

Just as he had toyed with the Sword Emperor he had defeated — severing his tendons so he couldn't hold a sword.

Now, Shin Si-woo was pinning him down with a hammer and toying with him.

A mere commoner.

A newly Awakened man without so much as a proper epithet.

"H-how dare…"

The pride of the British Empire, the Doctor.

He had to preserve the dignity of a man who held the rank of Duke.

The British Doctor held on.

With the power of guaranteed survival, he revived his body over and over.

At some point, years had passed.

'An unending eternity of—'

The actual time that had passed was but an instant.

But under the influence of the [Forge], the Doctor was tempered over an eternity.

And so, the Doctor.

No — the man once called the British Doctor, Charles.

Jjeong—————.

He broke.

Losing his original [form].

Losing the power gained from his trial.

Losing even the title of Duke of the British Empire, and his identity as a loyal subject of the Queen.

Paat!

[The domain of Guaranteed Life and Guaranteed Kill has been separated.]

[The ownership of the Scalpel has been stripped.]

[The British Doctor's overall rank is downgraded.]

[The dukedom granted by the Queen is automatically recalled.]

He was reduced to a mere Hunter and a commoner.

And…

<The world is watching this.>

The entire scene spread to every corner of the world.

* * *

The British Doctor, commonly known as the Doctor.

The man who had driven South Korea's SS-rank Hunter Sword Emperor to death.

He had been savagely defeated.

The news set South Korea ablaze.

—Feel the resentment of South Korea!

—For the lost Sword Emperor…

The Sword Emperor, Elder Kim Hong-sik.

He had been 78 at the moment of his Awakening, and if he were still alive today, he would be 90.

Right after his defeat at the British Doctor's hands, he had driven himself to the edge and gone missing in the [Tower].

Several years had passed since then.

—Even the Patriot had just let it lie…

—At last, Sword Emperor's revenge!!!

The Patriot was a man of character who observed jang-yu-yu-seo and upheld South Korea's long-standing traditions.

That was why he addressed the Sword Emperor publicly as 'Elder' and treated him with deference.

Yet even the Patriot had said little about the Sword Emperor's defeat.

Considering that when Japan held the Takeshima Day ceremony, the Patriot had unilaterally launched a bombing, it was a truly curious thing.

"Old man Sword Emperor got a bit too greedy for a win, and for me to make an international issue out of that…"

In fact, the Patriot had said exactly this to the President.

But was that really how it was?

"Listen, Kang Mu-jin. Isn't the Patriot actually strong-to-the-weak, weak-to-the-strong?"

"Th-that would be—"

"Think about it. It's because there are only a handful stronger than him, so it's never been tested — maybe the reality is different?"

Having watched Shin Si-woo's lesson-delivery footage, President Lee Seok-hyeon had some doubts.

He had served the Patriot for years.

In all that time, he had never seen the Patriot make contact with the British Doctor or Jesus.

Not even once.

"Mr. President, perhaps we can think about that after Shin Si-woo and the Patriot have met face-to-face."

In Kang Mu-jin's view, the theory that the Patriot was strong-to-the-weak and weak-to-the-strong wasn't a particularly important matter.

"Just where is Shin Si-woo's limit?"

"A good question, indeed."

President Lee Seok-hyeon and Senior Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin watched WorldNet with serious faces.

«May the Authority of Jesus illuminate all things.»

For some reason.

The clash between Shin Si-woo and the British Doctor was being broadcast to the whole of humanity through Jesus's power.

It was a fight between superhumans where watching wouldn't let one comprehend anything.

A high-speed battle fought within Transcendent cognition.

Even so—

""A—men.""

Jesus, who loves all mankind, had taken measures so even ordinary people could witness it.

In truth, the President and Kang Mu-jin had one particular concern.

With this footage, that concern vanished entirely.

"How many swords of that kind does he have?"

"It might be more accurate to say he's restraining himself, rather than the power having a short duration."

Every sword Shin Si-woo had summoned had been on the scale of 'seconds.'

And yet, by now, the feeling was that the short sword-use was to protect the world.

Naturally so — because—

<Announcement. The Transcendent Shin Si-woo of South Korea has brought a new species into the world.>

It was something even the living Jesus had yet to accomplish, and yet…

Shin Si-woo had brought a new species into the world.