Reincarnated as an SSS-Ranked Blacksmith Who Refuses to Forge Weapons-Chapter 43. EX Creation

Chapter 43: 43. EX Creation
Everyone had to cover their eyes because the light from Greg’s creation was so bright. When the light finally went out, what they saw made no sense at all.
It was huge, at least twenty feet tall, and made of all the random things Greg had put together. The church bell looked like a head, the bathtub looked like a chest piece, chains wrapped around iron bars made limbs, and the wagon wheel spun slowly in the middle like a core.
"Holy shit..." For the first time the hairs on the back of Greg’s neck stood up.
It looked like a golem, but it wasn’t right. It wasn’t symmetrical or organized and was held together by pure silliness and desperation instead of real engineering. Steam hissed out of holes in its armor, and the runes that had carved themselves into its surface glowed with unstable energy.
[ITEM CLASSIFICATION COMPLETE]
[Name: Desperate Guardian]
[Rank: EX]
[Properties: UNKNOWN - Item is too big for the system]
[WARNING: The structure is not safe anymore. Estimated time of operation: 3 minutes before a major failure]
[Note: You made something that shouldn’t be there.]
[The gods are fighting over whether to be worried or impressed.]
"Three minutes," Greg gasped, his arms shaking from pain and exhaustion. Blood dripped from the places where his veins had burst from the stress. "I only have three minutes."
"And at least this doesn’t count as a weapon... it’s just a thing to... protect... maybe? I don’t know, fuck that..." Greg didn’t care if he made a weapon for the first time because his creation is something urgent.
The Berserk Titan let out a loud roar and ran straight at the Desperate Guardian that Greg created. When the two giants hit each other, it sounded like thunder, and the shockwave that followed broke windows all over the village. The Guardian swung one giant arm, and the Titan caught it, and their fight shook the ground.
Greg could already see it, though. Yes, his creation was fighting, but it was also falling apart.
Things were coming loose, the glow was fading, and the whole thing was starting to shake in a scary way. The Titan, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be getting weaker. If anything, it seemed like its anger was getting worse.
"It’s not enough," Marina said, her voice shaking with fear. "Greg, your guardian can’t beat it."
"I know," Greg said through clenched teeth. "I was hoping to buy some time, maybe make it weak enough for you all to finish it off."
"But—"
The Guardian’s left arm suddenly fell off and broke into pieces on the ground. The Titan took the lead and slammed into the Guardian’s chest hard enough to break the bathtub part. The system had predicted that structural failure would happen faster than it actually did.
"There are only two minutes left, maybe less. I don’t even know if time flows the same here as in my previous life." Greg bites his lip.
The defenders around them were worn out, their weapons were broken or dull, and their mana was low. The Crimson Falcons looked tired, too. They were moving on pure willpower instead of real energy. They couldn’t fight a Class S monster in this condition.
The Titan raised one giant claw to kill the Guardian and, by extension, to destroy the village square where dozens of terrified civilians were still hiding.
Then, in a flash of silver light, the Titan’s arm vanished.
SLASH!
Those who watched were surprised because the damage that the titan received wasn’t a cut off or something ripped apart. It was gone, and the wound was so clean that it didn’t even bleed for a moment. The Titan stumbled back, roaring in shock and pain. Elias Grimhart stood where its arm used to be, looking bored as he looked at his sword.
Elias said, "Pathetic," loud enough for everyone to hear. "Are any of you capable of handling even a single Class S monster together?"
And that thing?" He waved the Guardian away, which was now missing both arms and was slowly falling over. "That horrible thing you put together? It makes the concepts of crafting and forging seem ass."
"We didn’t ask for your help," Marina said, her voice cold even though she was clearly relieved to see him.
Elias said, "No, you were too busy dying." He looked back at the Titan, which was rapidly regenerating its lost arm. "Great healing factor. This should give me a good amount of experience points."
The Titan seemed to see Elias as a bigger threat and directed all of its rage at him. It charged with terrifying speed, its strong arm reaching out to crush this arrogant human who dared to hurt it.
Elias didn’t even blink. He raised his sword, and the weapon started to glow with a golden light that hurt to look at. He swung when the Titan’s claws were only a few inches from his face.
The world seemed to stop.
Thereafter, the Titan’s whole upper body blew up, sending a shower of blood and bone fragments flying everywhere and painting the area red. But Elias’s attack didn’t end there. The energy wave from his attack kept going and destroyed three houses behind the Titan in an instant.
People screamed when buildings fell down. A family that had been hiding in one of those houses barely got away.
The parents threw themselves over their kids as debris fell all around them. A support beam fell where a young girl had been standing just seconds before her older brother pulled her away.
"What the hell are you doing?" Denna yelled as she ran toward the buildings that had fallen down. "There were people there!"
"Who cares," Elias said, not at all worried. "They made it, didn’t they?"
"When dealing with Class S threats, some damage to property is okay. Would you rather I let the monster kill them?"
"You should have been more careful!" Kael said, and he was already helping to pull survivors from the wreckage. "Why did you have to destroy half the village?"
Elias laughed because he thought it was funny. "More careful?"
"Do you know how much power it takes to kill a Berserk Titan in one hit?"
"The damage to you people is small compared to what I did. Instead of complaining about a few broken buildings like a bitch, you should be expressing gratitude to me."
"How dare you fucking say that after all of this...!" Ryn pointed to the damage. "You just ruined people’s homes! Their way of life!"
Elias waved his hand dismissively and said, "Which can be rebuilt."
"The most important thing is that the monster is dead, and that means my mission is complete. You’re welcome, by the way."
Greg felt anger building up in his chest. Yes, his creation was rough and desperate, but it was trying to keep people safe.
He had made everything he used in the fight to protect himself without hurting anyone else. And this rude asshole just tore down homes, put lives in danger, and acted like it was no big deal.
"You’re not a hero," Greg said in a low voice, his voice shaking with rage. "You’re just someone who really has a big mouth with a power that doesn’t belong to you..."
"There is a difference."
Elias’s golden eyes were on Greg, and for the first time, they weren’t just bored because there was anger in them. "Oh, the pacifist blacksmith wants to tell me how to be a hero?"
"Greg Greyson, how many people did your little craft project really save? From where I was standing, it looked like a complicated waste of materials that didn’t do anything but buy a few worthless seconds."
Marina stepped between Greg and Elias and said, "It kept the Titan busy until you got here. And every second counted when people were leaving."
Elias said in a mocking tone while laughing like a manic, "Hahahahahaha!!! How touching."
"You’re standing up for him. Is this the time when you all hold hands and discuss how strong friendship is?"
"I hate to tell you this, but power is what matters in the real world. Not plans, not hard work, just results. And my results speak for themselves."
He pointed to the Titan’s dead body and then to his clean, blood-free clothes. "I stopped the threat in seconds."
"I saved the fucking town."
"Yes, some buildings were damaged, but that’s a fair trade-off."
"You’re too naive to live in this world if you don’t get it."