Chapter 303: The Jegal Family (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 303: The Jegal Family (5)
The moment I heard what Jegal Hyang said, I felt like I'd been smacked on the back of the head.
It was something that, by all common sense, should never have come out of her mouth.
But no matter how many times I checked, this was reality.
'…Does she even know what she's saying?'
She was older than me, but she was a woman born into a prestigious family in a conservative world.
I couldn't rule out the possibility that her knowledge of sex was not just shallow, but nonexistent.
'...No, she must know what she needs to know.'
After a moment's thought, I decided to test just how serious she was.
If she tried to stop midway, I planned to teach her a harsh lesson about how dangerous it was to seduce a man she wasn't related to in the middle of the night with such a half-baked resolve.
The consequences?
I could completely hide my identity just by using perception-hindering magic, so I wasn't particularly worried about that.
The reason I didn't usually use it was because it was a hassle, and it felt suffocating, like wearing a mask.
Even Cheon Yeo-hwa had said she'd rather wear a veil.
“Are you serious?”
Jegal Hyang quietly nodded.
Seeing her eyes, which no longer trembled as if she'd made up her mind, I slowly reached out my hand.
As I caressed her flushed, crimson cheek, Jegal Hyang flinched.
Soft.
And hot.
I brushed her hair back, stroking her reddened earlobe, and sometimes traced her lips with my fingertips.
“Hnngh...”
As my touch grew bolder, Jegal Hyang let out a faint moan.
I pulled her in by the waist.
I could feel her body heat, our breaths mingling.
As I leaned in, her eyes began to tremble slightly.
But I had no intention of stopping unless she pushed me away herself.
Besides, I wasn't the only one who had no intention of stopping.
Finally steeling her resolve, Jegal Hyang squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her head.
But she was so nervous that she remained as stiff as a wooden doll.
I suppressed a laugh at the sight and slowly lowered my head to kiss her.
But with just a hair's breadth between us, I was forced to stop.
“...Sir Hyun-woo?”
“Shh.”
Taking a few steps back, I closed my eyes and extended my senses to a radius of 100 jang (about 300 meters).
I could hear the subtle flow of the air, even the breathing of insects crawling on the ground.
I slowly opened my eyes and quietly looked up at the night sky.
Dark clouds had gathered, completely hiding the moon.
“Young Lady, it seems we have some uninvited guests.”
Fwoosh!
At that moment, countless figures leaped up from beyond the garden wall.
The dark sky was obscured once more.
Soon, we were surrounded by what looked to be several dozen men in black.
“Wh-What?!”
They were assassins.
And highly trained, first-rate assassins at that.
Pushing Jegal Hyang behind me, I stepped forward.
“Do night visitors just hop over walls these days?”
Strange.
Dozens of assassins were surrounding us, yet I couldn't feel a single trace of life from them.
It was as if I were facing undead monsters.
'Have they learned some special martial art?'
After a moment's thought, I cast a Barrier on Jegal Hyang.
“This is...?”
“You'll be safe inside it.”
I tried to avoid using magic in front of others, but I had no choice right now. It was obvious their target was Jegal Hyang, not me.
'That aside, how in the world did they get in?'
This was the manor of Jegal Hyang, a direct descendant of the Jegal Family.
There were well over thirty formations set up around it.
No, the bigger question was how they managed to get through the hundreds of formations covering the entire Jegal Family estate.
I didn't know much about formations, but I'd heard that not even an absolute master could escape one without knowing the Life Gate.
It was these formations and techniques that made the Jegal Family's estate known as a heaven-blessed fortress.
It wasn't a place mere assassins could dare to invade.
Even if there was a formation expert among the assassins, there was no way they could have made it this far without being detected.
'...Well, does it matter?'
After a moment's thought, I shook off the distracting thoughts and lightly warmed up.
No need to puzzle over it alone. I could just kill them all and absorb their memories.
I scanned the assassins and deliberately unleashed my killing intent.
This wasn't my usual restrained killing intent, but one so dense it could give a weak-willed person a heart attack.
Fwip!
At that moment, the assassins, who hadn't reacted at all until now, leaped into the sky in unison.
Immediately after, countless daggers filled the air.
I didn't bother to dodge.
Or rather, I didn't need to.
Clang, clang, claaang!!
The Barrier didn't even get a scratch from the rain of hidden weapons pouring down from the sky.
'They can't even imbue their hidden weapons with qi? At best, they're only first-rate.'
Then again, it would be stranger if assassins had profound martial arts skills.
Unless my opponent was the Dark Emperor, of course.
But at that moment.
“?!”
Crack!!
A single dagger flew past my senses, pierced the Barrier, and left a cut on my cheek.
My fingertips came away with blood when I touched the wound.
Immediately, another rain of hidden weapons began to pour down through the weakened Barrier.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!!
I quickly backed away, raising the strength of the Barrier I'd cast on Jegal Hyang to its maximum.
At this level, it should hold for a few hits even if a master who could wield Aura appeared.
'...Is it that one?'
While dodging the hidden weapons, I shot a glance at one of the men in black.
He looked no different from the other assassins. Barely first-rate, at best.
And yet, the dagger he threw had definitely pierced my Barrier.
'At least a Transcendent master, or perhaps even higher?'
Kicking off the ground, I leaped into the air and drew the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword from my inventory.
Now that I knew my opponent was no ordinary assassin, it would be foolish to hold back.
Kiiiiing!!!
The jet-black Aura emanating from the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword revealed its presence under the cloud-covered night sky.
Even the assassins throwing hidden weapons were captivated by the intense, gloomy streak of light.
The price for looking away during battle was brutal.
Formless Sword Art, Formless Moon.
Dozens of sword strikes fell from the sky, tearing the assassins' bodies to shreds.
Not a single one escaped.
It was a downpour of sword strikes that gave them no time to react.
As the garden was stained crimson, my mana detection picked up only about twenty assassins left.
'I'll leave about five for the Jegal Family to interrogate.'
Normally, I would have killed them all, but I had to save face for the Jegal Family, who had allowed an intrusion in the middle of the night.
Of course, it wasn't because I had any fondness for the Jegal Family.
If Jegal Hyang hadn't been the one attacked, I wouldn't have even bothered to step in.
Landing on the ground, I gathered my internal energy to launch another strike.
But at that moment.
Thud.
“...Huh?”
I collapsed to the ground.
My legs had no strength at all.
About 3.91 seconds.
In that time, just a little longer than an instant, I couldn't figure out what had happened to me.
While I was unable to move, the assassins drew their swords and rushed toward me with ghostly movements.
I tried to respond by deploying my Protective Aura, but the circulation of my qi was strangely sluggish.
'Don't tell me... was that dagger poisoned?'
Using Thought Transcendence, I calmly observed the inside of my body.
My 5th-Circle magic automatically analyzes and detoxifies any toxic substances absorbed into my body.
In the terms of this world, it would be something like Immunity to All Poisons.
'A poison so potent it surpasses my magic's detoxification ability.'
After analyzing the poison, it seemed to be a type of Scattering Poison that suppresses the flow of internal energy.
It was quite potent, but if I'd had my Rosary, I wouldn't have been poisoned.
'Tsk... I'll have to look for a detoxification artifact when I get back to Earth.'
Feeling the absence of my broken Rosary, I gathered my magic.
Fwoosh!
Black Flame coursed through my meridians and minor meridians, burning away the poison.
As long as it doesn't suppress both internal energy and magic simultaneously, Scattering Poison is useless against me.
As my body returned to normal, the slowed perception of time began to flow at its usual pace.
I used the 6-star Formless Step to weave effortlessly through the assassins surrounding me.
Clang!
Having lost their target, their swords clashed and tangled together.
I couldn't see their faces because of their masks, but I could tell they were quite flustered.
“You're not swordsmen. Assassins should be thinking about dropping their blades and running.”
The jet-black Aura flashed.
Slice—
The sword strike flew through the air, cutting the assassins in two.
The beautiful garden was once again stained crimson with blood.
Of course, I didn't kill all of them.
Tap, tap, tap.
I approached the ones I had only grazed on the side and used Acupoint Striking to stop them from bleeding to death.
If I was going to hand them over to the Jegal Family, they had to be at least breathing.
Crack.
Of course, it would be a pain if they tried to commit suicide, so I broke their arms and legs and dislocated their jaws.
Hiding a poison pill between their molars is a common trick.
As a finishing touch, I struck their Sleep Point to knock them out.
“...Now.”
Having secured the prisoners, I stood up.
My eyes met with a single assassin standing among the blood-stained roses.
His gaze was like that of a dead man, devoid of life.
“Are you the only one left?”
He was right in front of me, yet I couldn't feel a thing.
It was strange and bizarre.
But he wasn't undead.
I couldn't sense the unique Death Energy of the undead.
'Is this a martial art made purely for assassins?'
Most masters wouldn't be able to read his presence.
No, they might not even find him when he's standing right in front of them.
Fwoosh—
The flames of the Black Flame enveloped the Heaven-Shattering Demonic Sword.
“What are you doing? Planning to end this after a staring contest all night?”
Kuuung—
An intangible pressure made of magic and killing intent pressed down on the area.
But the man showed no particular reaction.
Instead, he opened his heavy mouth.
“...How.”
“Hm?”
“How are you unharmed after being poisoned by Divine Immortal Waste?”
I was slightly taken aback by the bizarre voice coming from the assassin.
I never imagined he would ask me a question.
“Who knows? Maybe it was past its expiration date.”
“...”
With his face covered by a mask, I had no idea what expression he was making.
“So, why are you after the Young Lady Jegal?”
“...I don't know.”
“What?”
“An assassin simply carries out the mission they are given. They must not know the reason, nor try to find it out.”
With that, he drew two daggers from his waist.
Kiiing—
A red Aura rose from the daggers.
“What a fucking stupid creed.”
Immediately after, his figure vanished.
My senses still couldn't pick up anything, but my mana detection was a different story.
I swung my sword lightly to the left.
Kwagagak!!
“?!”
Sparks flew in all directions, and I could see the man's startled eyes behind his mask.
“What, surprised I blocked it?”
Kaang!
I channeled my energy and knocked his daggers away, instantly breaking his stance.
Not only his red Aura, but his daggers themselves shattered into pieces.
From the impact, he coughed up blood and staggered.
But only for a moment. He once again used his strange movement technique to try and escape.
The presence of the man before me vanished in an instant.
Even so, to me with my mana detection, it was nothing more than a cheap trick.
Shhhk!
My sword, swung a step faster, sliced off his left arm.
Even though an arm was severed in an instant, the man didn't even let out a groan.
Instead, he pulled a dagger from his robes and threw it at me.
As if he had unleashed his Innate True Qi, the energy gathered on the dagger radiated an incredible force.
It was clearly the same hidden weapon technique that had pierced my Barrier and cut my cheek earlier.
It would probably pierce my Protective Aura as well.
But I didn't dodge.
Or rather, I didn't feel the need to.
Shatter!
I knocked the dagger away with a fist wreathed in Aura. The dagger shattered and scattered across the garden.
It was the obvious result.
It was common sense that a swordsman wouldn't lose to an assassin in a direct confrontation.
“...Damn it.”
Slice.
With those last words, his head flew into the air.