Chapter 125: Forging the Ultimate Assassin’s Blade

“Wow……..”  

I stared blankly at the material that had just been transmitted in front of me.  

A sharp scorpion tail.  

Its identity was none other than—  

[Scorpios’s Tail]  

Type: Material  

Grade: SS  

Description: The owner of the vast jungle that spreads as far as the eye can see and the king of all poisonous insects, Scorpios’s sharp tail and venomous stinger.  

An rank 9 boss monster defeated by Park Kang-chul.  

Material obtained from Scorpios.  

After sending the material as a gift, Park Kang-chul lost consciousness once again.  

Fortunately, thanks to elixirs and potions, his body had fully recovered, and it seemed that Vietnam was treating him properly, calling him a national hero.  

By contract, materials obtained from Gates should be handed over to the guild first, but to send it so boldly as a “gift” was quite touching.  

While admiring the luscious scorpion tail, I muttered,  “Just perfect.”  

I decided to make a weapon for An So-hee using this.  

[Using Crafting Skill.]  

[Please select the type of item to craft.]  

“Dagger.”  

[Please specify the detailed form of the dagger.]  

“Hmmm…”  

Detailed form?  

I took a moment to look it up and found there were more types of daggers than I had imagined.  

Among the daggers I knew were Kukri, Stiletto, Mangoush, Jambiya, and Combat Knife.  

There were also names I’d never heard before, like Pukko, Jamdhar, Pesh-kabz, Khanjali, and more.  

Different types for different uses and countries.  

Of course, by checking system communities or the Auction House, I could get a rough idea of what kind of daggers hunters mainly used, but…  

“She said she uses both slashing and stabbing techniques, right? And sometimes even throws her main weapon if she can’t keep her distance.”  

Thinking about her style, just making a generic dagger felt a little lacking.  

It had to be a dagger that could slash, stab, and be thrown.  

The first that came to mind was the Japanese “Kunai.”  

Known as a ninja weapon, it’s good for close combat and can be thrown using the ring at the end of the handle to generate centrifugal force.  

It seemed perfect for her, but somehow, it still felt like it was missing something.  

Then, I found a strangely shaped weapon.  

“Basilard?”  

Basilard.  

A European dagger with a blade tip that matches the handle end, both shaped like rods running parallel.  

Because the blade is symmetrical, it seemed well-suited for An So-hee’s unique spin-free throwing style, and good for both slashing and stabbing.  

The design would need some modifications, but as a base, it was more than enough.  

[Please select the material for the dagger.]  

For the dagger’s material, naturally, I chose—  

[Scorpios’s Tail]  

An SS-grade material Park Kang-chul had obtained.  

The tail of the king of poisonous insects, an rank 9 monster with instant-kill venom.  

I took the venomous stinger from the very tip.  

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough, so I added premium wood gathered from Zone 3 to craft the handle.  

Then,  I swung the hammer.

“Bang!”   

The Scorpios’s Tail—or rather, the blackened stinger taken from its tip—began to change shape.  

With each precise strike, black poison and toxic smoke oozed from the tip.  

Luckily, it evaporated before it could touch the floor or my body, but the process was more dangerous than expected.  

[Progress: 12%…]  

I sharpened the stinger, which looked like it could only stab, into a double-edged blade.  

Bending a monster’s venomous stinger like an ore is impossible in reality, but the blacksmith skill made this absurd feat possible.  

Next, I crafted the handle.  

“Blaze.”  

Flare!  

I engraved runes onto it.  

Since it was an SS-grade material, the process was challenging, but I’d grown accustomed to it by now.  

After making so many, the work speed that once took over a full day was gradually improving.  

At this rate, I might be able to finish the weapon in less than a day.  

[Progress: 59%…]  

After continuously hammering,  An So-hee’s dagger was complete.

[Crafting complete.]  

[Jinjeokseoksal acquired.]  

Inspired by the Basilard, it had evenly ground dark blades on both sides.  

Made from the venomous stinger of a scorpion, the blade’s tip shimmered with a black scorpion venom.  

Below it, the handle was elegantly wrapped.  

It was a far better dagger than I had imagined.  

Even under light, instead of shining, the dagger seemed to swallow light as if forged from darkness itself.  

Satisfied, I checked the information.  

[Jinjeokseoksal]  

Type: Dagger  

Grade: L (Legendary)  

Restriction: Level 300 or above, exclusive to An So-hee, Captain of Vulcanus’s Elite Guard  

A dark-hued dagger crafted from the venomous stinger of the king of all poisonous insects, Scorpios, designed to shoot and kill all enemies.  

Attack Power: 5,000  

Abilities:  

1. Jandok (Residual Poison) — Leaves poison at the struck area, drastically lowering the target’s defense.  

2. Pildok (Certain Poison) — When secondary damage is dealt to an area with residual poison, the poison spreads, inflicting damage equal to five times the total attack power.  

3. Yeondok (Chain Poison) — Each time Pildok spreads the poison, the damage multiplier for the next Pildok increases.  

4. Sadok (Deadly Poison) — If the poison damage exceeds the monster’s poison resistance, the target is instantly killed.  

5. Dokyeon (Poison Smoke) — When a target is instantly killed by poison, toxic smoke flows from the corpse, poisoning all enemies except the user.  

The dagger’s attack power wasn’t very high.  

Compared to Park Kang-chul’s ‘Blood Sea Devourer,’ which had an attack power of 7,000, Jinjeokseoksal’s 5,000 seemed modest.  

Even considering different combat styles or the way weapon attack power is applied, Jinjeokseoksal’s damage was not particularly high among other L-grade weapons.  

However, its abilities more than made up for the lack of raw attack power.  

No, it was an overwhelmingly powerful weapon.  

“I was worried it might just have ordinary poison, but thank goodness.”  

As an assassin, An So-hee needed to kill swiftly.

Poison that slowly wore enemies down wouldn’t suit her.  

That’s why Jinjeokseoksal’s poison was special.  

It didn’t kill gradually; with every consecutive hit on the same spot, it inflicted damage multiple times greater than the weapon’s base attack.  

The multiplier increased with each attack, and once the damage became high enough, it could instantly kill enemies.  

With the Dokyeon effect, multi-target assassinations would be easier too.  

For an assassin like her, there was no better weapon.  

From appearance to abilities, it was a perfect weapon with nothing to dislike.  

“This should make her happy.”  

An L-grade dagger.  

She wouldn’t be able to say she was dissatisfied with this.  

But my crafting wasn’t done yet.  

There was still something left to make.  

An So-hee’s throwing daggers.  

Until now, she had been using spare daggers casually for throwing, but since I was making her a weapon, I decided to make all of them.  

Of course, I wasn’t going to make them sloppily either.  

I planned to grind and polish the leftover SS-grade scorpion tail material to craft the throwing daggers.  

[Crafting complete.]  

[‘Scorpion Dagger’ acquired.]  

The Scorpion Dagger.  

Unfortunately, it didn’t get an L-grade rating, but all the throwing daggers made from the tail’s shell received SS-grade evaluations.  

All of them.  

Perhaps because they were made from the same material and had the same shape, they were linked with Jinjeokseoksal’s poison.  

After producing a generous supply of backup throwing daggers, I sent all the crafted items to An So-hee.  

As expected, it didn’t take long for the system call to come through from her, accompanied by enthusiastic cheers.  

***

“Hehe, heheh!”  

The Shadow King, An So-hee, took hold of the Vulcanus Equipment.  

She immediately equipped the items and let out a chilling smile.  

The L-grade dagger, Jinjeokseoksal.  

Even just seeing the legendary grade she had never seen before was enough to thrill her, but the weapon’s exclusive stats perfectly matched her, and she couldn’t stop smiling.  

A weapon that grows stronger every time the same spot is hit twice.  

Moreover, her armor set had a ridiculous effect that didn’t break stealth on the first attack while hidden.  

This meant she could start the fight with a stealth ambush, triggering Jinjeokseoksal’s ‘Pildok’ effect right from the beginning.  

“Aaaah!”  

And what about the throwing daggers?  

If thrown well, it looked like they could also activate Jinjeokseoksal’s abilities.  

She was itching to use them immediately.  

Without the hassle of going through the Association’s procedures, she contacted the guild and was promptly assigned an rank 9 Gate that had been pre-reserved.  

“Swoosh—.”  

Her stealth was further enhanced by the Vulcanus armor.  

An rank 8 monster standing right beside her, sticking its tongue out, didn’t even notice her presence.  

She plunged the dagger into the monster.  

“Kyaek?!”  

A deep wound appeared on the monster’s body, and black residual poison oozed from the wound.  

Yet, the stealth didn’t break.  

The monster still hadn’t detected her.  

Taking the opportunity, she struck the wound again.    

“Fssssss—!”  

“Kyaaaaaek!”  

The poison soaked into the monster’s innards.  

As a result,  the rank 9 monster collapsed to the ground, its life cut short by just two strikes. 

“Thud.”  

Her stealth broke, and surrounding monsters realized her presence, but—  

“Sssst!”  

Poison smoke drifted from the dead monster.  

The poison smoke not only poisoned monsters rushing toward An So-hee but also concealed her body.  

She naturally hid herself in the poison smoke and activated her stealth skill once again.  

“Kyaek!”  

Rank 8 monsters fell helplessly one after another.  

This was a standoff with numerous general monsters, something more troublesome for the assassin than facing a boss monster.  

That poison smoke turned the stalemate into her stage.  

“Poof!”  

Monsters were swiftly eliminated.  

Where she passed, there were only blackened monster corpses poisoned by the toxin.  

And then came the final boss monster.  

The rank 8 Gate boss monster couldn’t even graze An So-hee’s body hidden in the poison smoke.  

“Kraaaaah!”  

Black extreme poison spread thickly over its entire body.  

“Boom.”  

It was instantly killed by Jinjeokseoksal’s power.  

And that day—  

[3rd Place: An So-hee]  

The Shadow King, An So-hee’s ranking rose, securing her place among South Korea’s top three Hunter rankers.