Blacksmith: The Tempering Begins With One’s Flesh - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Enemy Attack

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

It had been a week since those local authorities charged down Lin Feng’s door at once. 

On that day, Lin Feng had placated all of them and then promised them that any other Grade-2 weapons he might make from now on would go straight into Whitewing’s armory, even if they did not pay him a thing.

All of them had a newfound respect for Lin Feng’s dedication.

Once he saw them off, Lin Feng accepted the iron and steel that Captain Acht had scraped together from Whitewing’s stores. It was all of their savings from the past few years.

A week had passed, and Lin Feng had somehow managed to fulfill the defense corp’s order an entire week before their fortnight deadline.

Acht counted the armor and sharp swords laid out in front of him, and then he tapped his chest with his right fist, looking exceptionally excited.

“Master Lin Feng! If the defense corp manages to defeat the beast tide this time, it’ll all be thanks to you!”

Lin Feng shook his head and then frowned, thinking over Acht’s choice of words.

“This time, you say?

“Has the defense corp already engaged the beast tide before?”

Since Lin Feng already figured it out, Acht nodded, his brow dark with worry. He even sighed heavily before saying,

“The extermination squad’s scouts say that this beast tide is particularly ferocious, and they’re moving really fast too.

“The defense corp has been setting up defenses since a week ago, but at the rate the beasts are coming, we don’t think we’ll be able to complete the defense line in time.”

Lin Feng looked vaguely worried now too.

“What’s the worst-case scenario?”

Lin Feng’s question made Acht clench his fist quietly. The vice captain then grabbed one of the swords Lin Feng had just forged, unsheathing it as he said,

“The worst-case scenario is that the beast tide manages to infiltrate the city, after which we shall fight to the death!”

Acht’s tone made Lin Feng rather uneasy. After the former left, Lin Feng spent the rest of the night working tirelessly to create a few more suits of armor.

Forging armor was completely different from making swords, and the difficulty levels were naturally completely different too.

After Lin Feng obtained the system, he had constantly been trying to create a suit of Grade-2 armor. It was only after Acht’s words woke him up that he truly managed to forge a Grade-2 piece of defensive equipment, though.

The full-body suit of heavy armor before him sparkled vaguely, as though loudly proclaiming its worth.

Lin Feng reached out his hand to caress the surface of the armor. There was a warmth that radiated from within it, a natural result of its forging process.

[Grade-2 defensive equipment, Shadowmoon Armor. This suit of armor was created with the power of moonlight, and thus it has a 5% chance of absorbing damage when struck. The wearer gains a speed increase when traveling at night.]

Lin Feng put the armor down and nodded rather cheerfully.

As the moon shone down from the sky, though, he peeked at his arm and reacted with a sigh.

Over the past few days, he had reinforced all of his flesh and muscles from head to toe, using more molten iron.

The more he forged his flesh, though, the less effective it felt to him.

Right now, his bones aside, all of Lin Feng’s muscles had reached the strength of a Grade-3 weapon. At the same time, that was why his bones would creak and threaten to collapse every time he tried to exert any strength beyond his normal capacity.

Not only that, although his muscles and tendons had been reinforced, his internal organs were completely unimproved.

The reason behind that was somewhat related to the difference between forging weapons and armor.

When he tried to reinforce his muscles, he just had to watch his technique and the temperature of the forge.

However, if he wanted to do the same to his internal organs and skeleton, he would need a specific metallic instrument.

The five main organs of a human body corresponded to the five elements. The true theory behind this was difficult to grasp. It was not as though Lin Feng had never tried to use his normal iron ore to reinforce his bones and organs.

However, the elemental clash only resulted in an intense pain that he could not withstand.

It was especially difficult to forge his bones. Lin Feng had tried before, but his experience taught him that he would probably need to endure six rounds of despair-inducing pain before he could be able to centi-forge all of his bones.

That was just not practical in a short amount of time.

While Lin Feng was lost in thought, his gaze suddenly hardened.

Just now, he thought he heard a strange vibration from somewhere. 

Lin Feng had spent all his life with his forge, after all, and that meant he had trained his hearing well. Just by hearing the sound his hammer made against the metal, he could tell how pure the metal was. Now, he perked up his ears and his expression instantly changed.

“Shoot…

“Those footsteps, so many, so chaotic…

“Could they be the demonic beasts? Has the beast tide truly broken through the defense lines? Are they already attacking the city?!”

Recalling Captain Acht’s warning from yesterday about the beast tide, Lin Feng felt his heart leap into his throat.

After all those years living here, Lin Feng had naturally seen demonic beasts before.

He knew what they looked like.

These beasts seemed to harbor an innate hatred for humanity.

Lin Feng had once witnessed a kind neighbor of his being ripped to shreds by a demonic beast’s sharp claws.

He had also seen how several dozen demonic beasts pounced on a soldier and ate him alive during the defense corp’s battle to protect the city.

As those memories resurfaced in his mind, a vein began to throb in his temple.

This time…

This time, Lin Feng did not want to hide any longer!

The system had given him hope, allowed him to continue living. In that case, he wanted to relive this entire life again!

“Citizens of Whitewing! Gather at the city defense tower!”

“Break through! Prepare to lead the people and break through their lines!”

There was a cacophony of shouting. Lin Feng’s eyes shone, and he grabbed a rather old and worn cape, throwing it over his shoulders. Armed with a sharp sword and wearing that suit of Grade-2 armor, he strode out of the smithy.

Right now, Whitewing was in complete disarray.

The soldiers of the city defense corp were already trying to stop the beat tide with their lives.

The weapons they wielded also shone strangely in the dark of this cloudy night.

Those were the Grade-2 weapons Lin Feng had forged!

However, even if there was the occasional burst of flame from the swords and axes, the human soldiers were still hopelessly outnumbered at least ten to one.

Under those circumstances, all resistance was futile.

“Regional guard! Defense corp! Break through, break through!”

A familiar voice rang not far away. Lin Feng turned and saw Vice Captain Acht dressed in full armor, cutting through the beasts with one of the Grade-2 swords Lin Feng had forged.

His armor was covered in blood, but the situation was so chaotic that Lin Feng could not tell if the blood was the beasts’ or Acht’s own.

The few human soldiers did all they could against the demonic beasts, but just then one of the beasts went berserk, its sharp claws going straight through the throat of a young soldier who looked barely eighteen.

Blood poured from the soldier’s throat. His body collapsed to the ground, his bright eyes pointed straight at the sky.

Just then, his broken throat trembled, soundless words falling from his lips…

“Break through!…

“Break through…”