Chapter 34: The Hammer of Death Awakens

‘Good thing I switched.’

Kang Juho clearly felt the power of his new iron warhammer.

He shouted:

“Seokju! Shackles!”

“Elemental Shackles!”

Kim Seokju, who had been waiting, instantly cast his spell.

Chains shot out and bound the six remaining orcs.

“Hammer of Fury!”

Juho activated his signature skill and swung his weapon.

Swaaak! Swaaak! Swaaak!

Three shockwaves erupted.

Thud! Thud!

The orcs dropped like flies, ending the battle.

Immediately, Juho scanned his surroundings.

The hammer’s shockwaves had made orcs scream—there was always a risk of drawing in nearby mobs.

‘Whew.’

Fortunately, no orcs were coming. Juho breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s manageable with cooldowns!”

Seokju approached, grinning.

“Yeah, switching weapons was the right call.”

Juho replied while checking the loot window:

• 4 Orc Tendons
• 2 Orc Blood
• 2 Orc Hide Fragments

Seven orcs down, and already a pile of materials.

‘Wonder how much this will fetch?’

He was already looking forward to offloading the loot.

“You’ll keep using it every cooldown, right?”

“Of course.”

He recovered HP with potions.

Their win had seemed easy—but only because of Hammer of Fury and Elemental Shackles.

Without either, the battle would’ve been dangerous.

‘I need another offensive skill, not just Hammer of Fury…’

Elemental Shackles could be swapped with Multi-Chain later, but Hammer of Fury had no substitute.

Orcs hit too hard to be taken out with just normal attacks like zombies or ghouls.

‘This can’t be the final version of that skill.’

There had to be an evolution or upgrade to Hammer of Fury.

He hoped for new skills to unlock soon.

***

When the cooldown ended, Juho spotted another orc group 80 meters west and moved in.

“I’ll save the buff for the next wave.”

“Okay!”

The buff duration had increased thanks to skill proficiency.

They could handle this group without using it.

Screech!

Just like the last fight, one orc saw him and snorted, triggering the pack to charge.

“Hammer of Fury!”

Juho cast the skill just before the orcs entered range.

The 20-second duration was enough for multiple waves.

Starting cooldown early was the smart move.

“Elemental Shackles!”

The moment they were surrounded, Seokju cast his bind.

And as the chains exploded—

Thwack! Swaaaak!

The first shockwave burst out.

Suddenly, a system message appeared:

[Skill ‘Hammer of Death’ has increased to Proficiency 2.]

‘Wait, Hammer of Death?’

He blinked in confusion.

He expected Hammer of Fury to level up, not this.

‘Why did that one go up?’

Hammer of Death wasn’t even supposed to work on orcs (who were level 105+), yet its proficiency rose.

‘So it is activating behind the scenes… but the chance must be set to 0% due to level difference?’

It seemed the skill could still trigger, just with no visible effect.

***

Thwack! Swaaak!

The fight wasn’t over—Juho kept swinging.

Then:

[Skill ‘Hammer of Fury’ has increased to Proficiency 3.]

With the orcs defeated and no new threats nearby, Juho finally opened his skill menu.

<Hammer of Death [Passive]>

Proficiency: 2 (1%)

• 30% chance to inflict “no HP recovery” for 3 minutes (Level 1–100)
• 20% chance to inflict “no HP recovery” for 3 minutes (Level 101–200)

‘Hot damn.’

The success rate and effective level range had expanded—just as he hoped.

If this continued:

• Proficiency 3 = Level 201–300
• Proficiency 4 = Level 301–400
• …and so on.

At Proficiency 10, it could possibly work on level 901–1000 enemies.

While useless now, the skill would become extremely powerful later—especially in PvP or boss fights.

‘How will it work on bosses or players, though?’

Skills like this often had reduced effects on elite monsters, bosses, or players.

A 3-minute debuff on normal mobs might shrink to just a few seconds on others.

Still, it was worth leveling and testing.

Next, he checked Hammer of Fury:

Proficiency: 3 (0%)

• Normal attacks trigger shockwaves (4 times, 5m range, 110% of dealt damage)
  Mana Cost: 350
  Duration: 20 seconds
  Cooldown: 2 minutes

‘Whoa, everything got buffed.’

At Proficiency 2, only mana cost and area increased.

But now—shockwave count and damage both went up.

He could already kill orcs in 4 hits, 3 with Shackles.

Now, with 4 waves at 110% damage, he no longer needed Shackles to kill them safely.

‘This is huge.’

Before, he had to tank orcs while waiting for Seokju to bind them.

Now, he could start attacking immediately.

Also, saving Elemental Shackles for emergencies made things even safer.

***

“Seokju.”

As Seokju arrived, Juho closed his skill window and said:

“We don’t need Shackles anymore.”

“What?”

Seokju looked confused.

Juho showed him the updated skill info.

“Whoa. That’s crazy.”

Seconds later, Hammer of Fury’s cooldown reset, and they approached the next orc pack.

“Physical Buff…”

Seokju cast the buff.

The orcs charged.

“Hammer of Fury!”

Juho blocked their attack with his shield, then swung.

***

In the middle of grinding.

[Skill ‘Relentless’ has increased to Proficiency 3.]

The message he had been waiting for finally appeared.

He opened the skill window immediately.

<Relentless [Passive]>

Proficiency: 3 (0%)

• Basic attacks reduce Hammer of Fury cooldown by 5 seconds

It used to reduce cooldown by 3 seconds, then 5.

‘Just Hammer of Fury alone gives me -20 seconds per fight now…’

Juho grinned and set off to find the next group of orcs.

***

Meanwhile…

“I’m telling you, tonkatsu is the best.”

Yoo Janghyuk returned from lunch, visibly satisfied.

He sat down and checked the main episode’s progress.

“Yes! Perfect pace.”

Things were progressing steadily.

At this rate, the main episode would start right on schedule when the Auction House opened.

Next, he checked the Special Monitoring List.

“Hmm?”

A puzzled sound escaped his lips.

“Was Hammer of Fury always this good?”

The player that caught his attention—Kang Juho.

Even with just buffs and two players, their efficiency rivaled that of full five-member meta parties—possibly even faster due to experience gains.

“Might need to bump up that class’s rank…”

“Battle Blacksmith” was considered one of the weakest special classes.

But Juho’s performance suggested otherwise.

Still, changing class ranks didn’t affect live stats or balancing—only the difficulty of the advancement quest.

And nobody had even attempted the Blacksmith class path—except for Juho, who reached level 30 without crafting or refining once.

“Wait a sec…”

Suddenly, a worrying thought crossed Janghyuk’s mind.

“He’s not heading to Evador, right?”

Evador Mountain Range was the upcoming Main Episode zone, and it happened to be near Boredos—where Juho and Seokju were currently farming.

But if they were simply grinding, they had better zones to choose.

“Even if they go, it’s not a big deal…”

They might sense something was odd, but they couldn’t break the event.

Everything was prepared to handle outliers like wandering adventurer players.

Plus, Janghyuk checked the scenario state regularly—he’d catch any problems early.

Satisfied, he leaned back and kept watching his screen with a smile.