Chapter 34
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: What Are You Doing? (4)
Mission!
Vanguard had said they needed to assassinate the Merchant Wanderer.
That was the mission given to him by the Heavenly Commander.
In other words, Vanguard had received orders as well. It was a command that had to be carried out no matter how dire the situation.
Vanguard had no choice in the matter.
Everyone carried out the mission because they had no choice. Sit if told to sit, stand if told to stand, lie down if told to lie down, live if told to live, die if told to die.
It's fate. All of it was fate.
He descended the mountain slowly.
One step, one step... There was no need to rush. He breathed in the morning air that might be his last. He gazed at the trees that might be his last sight. He listened to the sound of water that might be his final melody.
He walked, savoring the world.
This time, many had staked their lives on it.
Jaja had predicted mission failure. That judgment was probably right. It was a conclusion reached after coldly weighing both sides with an impartial eye, so it had to be accurate.
Did that mean Vanguard was just blindly pushing forward with the mission because it was an order?
No. Continuing the mission implied successfully completing it.
He wasn't pressing on with something obviously doomed to fail.
Vanguard... he had staked his life on this.
He could feel it. When Vanguard spoke of continuing the mission, his heart was frozen solid. Like the heart of the dead, it was locked in ice, showing not a trace of warmth.
It meant he had been contemplating death from early on.
Hanbi and Jaja had staked their lives too.
When Vanguard spoke with the heart of a dead man, Hanbi and Jaja accepted the order without a flicker of hesitation.
Because it was the natural thing to do? No. They had known in advance. They knew they had to die.
The one who would lead this mission was himself.
When Vanguard gave the order, Jaja and Hanbi looked at him. But their gazes held no pity. They were the eyes of those looking at someone doomed to die, yet far too calm.
- You're not the only one dying.
He heard their unspoken words.
The Manual of Killing described the mindset one must have when taking a life.
The mindset for killing!
The ultimate killing technique arose from empathy.
Empathize with the dying. Understand how they want to go. Foresee the scene they'll envision in their final moments as life slips away.
Once you connect through empathy, you can grant the most peaceful death.
Honestly, he hated this empathy the most. It was written in the manual, so he had tried it... but while it might ease the victim's passing, it left a lifelong sin for the killer.
The face of the slain haunted his mind forever.
Of course, the manual also taught ways to forget the dead.
Something called the Art of False Forgetting, but it was utterly useless. No matter how hard he tried, those killed in a state of empathy could never be erased. He couldn't forget them.
That's why he avoided empathy.
But he tried to follow the manual as much as possible.
At the very least, he made an effort to understand what the dying felt in their last moments. He tried to read their hearts. Ending a life on this earth... he couldn't make murder a habit.
Feeling the target's emotions—that was the first duty of any killer.
Reading the opponent, reading their heart... it was the basics of basics for a killer.
Just kill the Merchant Wanderer? Yes.
Ha! The "yes" carried the weight of death.
He descended the mountain. There was no need to go down with them.
He knew exactly what his role was in this.
Direct charge!
Recklessly, like a wild boar struck by lightning... He was the bait, meant to crash into them and stir up as much chaos as possible.
Is that what they called bait?
He had to seize the attention of all five hundred of them in one go. The two hundred from the Euldok Gate, the three hundred from the New Moon Gate, and even the Merchant Wanderer's four disciples—they all had to look his way.
All he had to worry about was how to pull that off.
Vanguard had told him to kill the Merchant Wanderer.
He couldn't. Absolutely couldn't.
How do you kill someone like the Merchant Wanderer? Martial force alone could never do it. The only ways were a sneak attack—setting a fire or poisoning his food.
The one to kill the Merchant Wanderer was Vanguard.
But were they idiots? Would they drop their guard just because some madman charged in head-on, kicking up a fuss? Not a chance! That would be a grave mistake.
Many would focus on him, but the true masters would stay vigilant. No, the bigger the commotion, the sharper their guard. They'd be on high alert.
Hanbi and Jaja would draw their eyes.
They had resolved to die just like him. They'd steeled themselves for death even before him. They might have already accepted it when leaving the mountain nest.
He would die here, and at least one of Hanbi or Jaja would join him. Maybe all three.
Vanguard's legend of only the One-Four-Six dying was over.
That's why he came down first.
He knew his role, so he just had to amplify it to the max. Focus on how to draw the most eyes possible.
Such things couldn't be solved by staring at a map. He had to see it with his own eyes, feel it, find it himself.
Was it by noon today that the Merchant Wanderer had to die?
Plenty of time.
He charges straight in, Hanbi and Jaja pull eyes from the flanks, and before anyone knows, the infiltrated Vanguard strikes the Merchant Wanderer.
This sequence would unfold in the blink of an eye, like frying beans in lightning. The moment he charged... perhaps the instant he met his end, the Merchant Wanderer's head would roll too.
He descended the mountain.
Without snapping twigs, kicking stones, or rustling grass...
When he left, no one noticed.
He hadn't deliberately tried to fool them. He had simply walked quietly.
If reading hearts was the foundation of mindset, walking silently was the principle of action.
Silently... without being detected by others.
He knew how to walk quietly. He had done it before, and he did it the same way now.
How to walk silently?
Just know who hears sounds the fastest in this world, and you can walk silently. Guard only against the quickest listener, and any step becomes quiet.
So, who hears sounds fastest in this world? Himself. His own self. He heard his own footsteps first.
So, he just had to guard against himself.
He walked so quietly even he couldn't hear it. When his foot touched the ground, he focused all his senses there.
One step, one step... carefully.
If he couldn't hear his own footsteps, no one else could. No need to worry about others. Just stay vigilant against himself.
Being locked in the Nineteen Hells had helped greatly.
The Nineteen Hells were so quiet you could hear your own breathing. Pitch darkness ruled, blinding the eyes and opening the ears wide. Your hearing sharpened to catch every sound in the world.
He walked so no one—not even he—could hear.
With hearing honed in the Nineteen Hells, he moved silent as a ghost. Do it a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand times, and you gain a gait no one can detect.
He treaded lightly.
He hadn't deliberately shaken off Vanguard's group. He hadn't even used a movement technique like Fox.
He had simply walked in his own way.
Yet it was silent. No one noticed him going. No reason to wake them and shout, "I'm heading down!" Just do what needed doing.
He went down the mountain.
"Doesn't look like he went down the mountain."
Hanbi and Jaja couldn't find any trace of Four Thousand Four.
"We checked all the way to the base. No traces means he must've come back up."
Jaja said with a blank face.
"Hm! He's not the type to run."
Vanguard thought of Four Thousand Four.
Was the guy really that skilled? Skilled enough that Hanbi and Jaja couldn't track him?
Four Thousand Four was known for killing over three hundred.
But only he knew the true number. What was public was just pieced together from circumstances after his capture.
In reality, his victims were surely far more.
The exact count didn't matter. What did was that during those three hundred-plus kills, none were discovered.
Let him slip away, and it'd be like unleashing a beast on the world.
Vanguard believed Four Thousand Four wouldn't flee, yet he couldn't shake the ominous feeling.
To move without Hanbi and Jaja detecting him...
The old woman hadn't said his martial arts were that advanced. She'd said he barely knew any.
Had Four Thousand Four fooled even her?
If so, he was a brutally cunning and ruthless killer.
What did that letter he read say? Did headquarters really think they could control him?
'Should've read it myself.'
Vanguard regretted for the first time handing over a letter unread.
If he'd peeked before giving it to Four Thousand Four, he wouldn't feel this uneasy.
Of course, he still didn't think Four Thousand Four had run.
He'd talked with him. The guy had shown perfect obedience.
If he'd thrown his whole body into groveling subservience back then, Vanguard wouldn't have trusted him.
Four Thousand Four's obedience didn't run that deep. Absolutely not.
He wasn't truly obedient. He obeyed outwardly while resisting inwardly. He submitted only to the Heavenly Annihilation Division's orders. Everything else, no.
He spoke with obedient airs... but look at what he said. He only talked about the mission. He seemed suddenly talkative. No. He was only subservient about the mission. Silent on everything else.
That's why Vanguard trusted him. Knew he wouldn't bolt.
But the guy had thoroughly hidden his abilities. Fooled everyone.
If he was really concealing his skills... if he'd duped them all...
'Fine! He can fool me!'
Vanguard frowned.
Say he hid his power and tricked him. Possible. If he fooled Vanguard, fooling Hanbi or Jaja was nothing. Sure.
If he duped Hanbi and Jaja, tricking Wild Boar or Fox was easy.
He could fool them all.
If he'd fooled Vanguard, fooling everyone was simple.
But the mountain nest old woman... Iron Ball Granny? No way he fooled her.
Few knew how terrifying Iron Ball Granny was. She always smiled, treated people kindly, granted any request—so no one imagined her wrath.
Her weapon, as the name implied, was iron balls.
Two steel orbs the size of a child's fist, wielded like spirits, mainly smashing skulls.
She was one of the Heavenly Annihilation Division's top ten masters.
No matter how skilled Four Thousand Four was, fooling Iron Ball Granny was impossible.
But he had.
He hadn't trained martial arts at the mountain nest. His seals weren't fully released.
Meaning he still didn't know martial arts properly.
Even if he'd learned before the Nineteen Hells, he couldn't use it fully.
Yet Hanbi and Jaja found no trace. He vanished perfectly.
Vanguard said,
"You two stay here. Double- and triple-check what I told you yesterday. Our lives are in your hands."
"Understood."
Wild Boar said through gritted teeth.
With Four Thousand Four gone, an already tough assassination got tougher. He didn't think Vanguard had pinned it all on Four Thousand Four. Vanguard had other plans. And those included roles for Hanbi and Jaja.
Now even that was harder.
Really... now if pursuit started, they'd have to flee for their lives.
"You come with me. Four Thousand Four's gone, but the Merchant Wanderer still dies by noon. Hm! Have to tweak the plan a bit. We'll think on the way down."