Chapter 149: Two Long Nights, One Short Night (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 149: Two Long Nights, One Short Night (1)
The first group Yona sent after the trio consisted of high-level assassins. Nameless King Oul’s prediction—that she would send them in order of intermediate, high-level, and then elite—had been proven spectacularly wrong.
The two of them were currently moving across the tops of the spires, watching the assassins pursue the three young men.
“Yona… are you certain about this? Sending high-level assassins right from the start… Your brother could actually die. That isn't what you want, is it?”
“The youngest is very strong.”
“I am well aware his achievements are unbelievable for his age. However, being strong and fending off trained assassins are two very different matters…”
“And those two clinging to my youngest brother, acting so friendly? They absolutely deserve to die.”
“Ugh.”
“I’ve decided that if those assassins fail to kill them, I’ll personally oversee a special training session for the entire high-level squad.”
Oul pressed a hand to his forehead, feeling a headache coming on. Among the Nameless assassins, Yona’s training was notorious for being the most cruel and agonizing.
‘If that’s the case, the assassins will be coming at them with everything they’ve got… I wonder if Jin can lead those future patriarchs through Samil safely.’
He felt the urge to let out a deep, heavy sigh that would sink into the very ground beneath him.
Regardless of his concerns, Yona continued to watch the trio with eyes burning with intensity—specifically targeting Veradin and Dante.
Under Yona’s gaze, which alternated between sudden giggles and fierce glares, the chase continued.
“Aaaagh! A free meal from Jin isn't worth this! The cost-benefit analysis is completely off!”
“It feels like there’s no end to them!”
“And what kind of assassination is this? This is a hunt! Isn't this Samil? Why are they chasing us so openly?”
“It’s still an assassination as long as there are no witnesses. I haven't seen a single person on the streets for a while now. It’s as if the entire city is targeting us.”
The three of them charged through the streets like mad bulls. Close behind were assassins wearing the white masks that signified them as true members of Nameless.
“You look so scrawny, so why the hell are you so heavy?!”
Jin was carrying Veradin over his shoulder. With Veradin’s running speed, there was no way he could escape the assassins’ pursuit on his own.
“Sorry! I have a lot of stuff in my bag!” Veradin shouted back, raising his staff and beginning to chant a spell.
Giant’s Hand. A 6-star earth magic. As the incantation finished, mana erupted from the tip of his staff and slammed into the ground. It immediately coalesced into a massive hand of stone and earth, blocking the assassins’ path.
Out of the ten assassins, five were momentarily halted, forced to slow down. Kwooom! However, not a single one was injured as the hand slammed down like a hammer.
Swish! Sh-shak!
Bounding from roof to roof with inhuman agility, the assassins began hurling daggers. Though thrown with apparent ease, the daggers pierced deep into solid brick walls and paved roads—the mark of a true assassin’s throwing technique.
“M-Madness! The spots where the daggers hit are melting!” Veradin, the only one looking backward, shouted in horror. The sight of solid brick turning into mush was enough to make one’s skin crawl.
Dante stole a glance back and gasped. The potency of the poison was on an entirely different level from what the academy cadets had used.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Jin and Dante’s footwork grew faster. Before long, a dead end appeared before them—a solid wall formed where two buildings met.
“Dante, break it! I’ll hold the rear!”
“Understood!”
“And dodge immediately! There’s bound to be a trap set—”
Kagak! Pshhh!
The crack of sword energy shattering the wall was immediately followed by the hiss of pre-set traps. What fired from beyond the wall weren't poison needles, daggers, or arrows.
It was a cluster of hooks—the very same kind that had shredded Jin’s robe not long ago.
“Whoa!”
True to his status as the nineteen-year-old future patriarch of Hairan, Dante displayed incredible prowess, severing two of the hooks even as he completed his swing to break the wall.
However, the two severed hooks didn't fall. Instead, they twisted like snakes and lunged at him again. The other three hooks that his blade hadn't touched did the same.
In that split second, Jin gritted his teeth and threw himself toward Dante.
Ting! Ting!
If he hadn't been carrying Veradin, he could have cleanly deflected all three. But even with his intervention, one hook was still lunging for the nape of Dante’s neck.
But Dante hadn't surpassed his elders to become the future patriarch for nothing. In that brief window, he mimicked Jin’s earlier movement and deflected the hook with a sharp thrust.
“I avoided injury thanks to you. My gratitude!”
“It was my fault for forgetting to tell you about the hooks’ properties,” Jin replied.
Just as he finished speaking, the pursuing assassins began throwing more projectiles.
They didn't realize, however, that Jin had been intentionally running toward this dead end from the very start.
‘I was so surprised when I checked my pockets after the Nameless King left this afternoon.’
A map.
The Nameless King hadn't just talked to him; he had secretly slipped a map into his clothes. A map that helpfully marked the exact route they should take to evade the assassins.
It was a route that led toward the center of the city but looked suspicious enough that Yona wouldn't question why they had run into a dead end during the chase.
Beyond the wall Dante had breached, a grand boulevard stretched all the way to the heart of Samil.
In the vicinity of that boulevard, there were no low buildings, stone walls, or even drainage ditches for assassins to hide in. It was a wide, clean road, reminiscent of the pilgrimage paths used by the saints of the Vankella Holy Kingdom.
In other words, on the road leading to the center, assassination was impossible no matter how ghost-like the Nameless assassins were—unless they were someone on Yona’s level.
“A perfect open field! We should lure those wicked assassins there and engage in a frontal battle!”
“Agreed. In a space that wide, we don't need to run anymore. They're all dead men walking,” Dante added, his eyes flashing as he gritted his teeth.
However, Jin had a different thought.
‘This is just a road for now, not the center itself. There must be a reason the Nameless King insisted we go all the way to the center.’
Furthermore, as great as the three of them were, they had their limits.
Jin still couldn't use magic or spirit energy, and their opponents were ten high-level Nameless assassins—handpicked by Yona, no less.
‘Still, it wouldn't be a bad idea to clash with them for a bit, see what these guys are capable of.’
Of course, having a different thought didn't mean he wouldn't fight. He wanted to verify Dante and Veradin’s progress and pay back the assassins who had been treating them like cornered prey.
“Veradin.”
“Yeah?”
“The two of us will cover you. Use the strongest area-of-effect magic you’ve learned. Ideally, something that can wipe them all out in one shot.”
Clang! Clang-clang! The three of them deflected projectiles as they stepped onto the boulevard.
“Buy me ten minutes. I have just the right spell.”
“What is it?”
The assassins began to encircle them, forming a wide, circular formation.
“Destruction Flame Orb of the Dark Heaven: Demon Emperor Form 1.”
“Oh,” Dante remarked. “The name of that spell is certainly majestic.”
Upon hearing the name, Jin nearly choked.
‘He learned that?!’
Dante only thought the name sounded grand; he seemed to have no idea what it actually was.
It was only natural.
Even among mages, very few knew of that spell. It was something that Riol Zipple, the former patriarch of Zipple who earned the title of Demon Emperor two hundred years ago, had cast only once in his life. Nevertheless, that single casting had filled several pages in the long history of magic.
In his previous life, Jin had seen his magic teacher perform an incomplete recreation of it. He also knew exactly where the magic tome for the final form of the Destruction Flame Orb of the Dark Heaven was located.
“They’re coming.”
As Jin spoke softly, having regained his calm, the assassins lunged.
Being assassins didn't mean they were only trained in stealth. Each of them was a martial artist of at least the 6-star rank, and the leader in charge was a mid-level 7-star expert.
Kagang! Kang! Two swords clashed against ten. Jin stayed by Veradin’s side, who had cast a shield, providing direct cover. Meanwhile, Dante took the lead, drawing the assassins toward the center of the battlefield.
Seven assassins swarmed Dante, while three went for Jin and Veradin. The assassins planned to take Dante down first before finishing off the other two.
However, Dante showed no signs of being pushed back, even as seven assassins descended upon him.
It was because of the blue aura swirling around his entire body like a ribbon—a secret technique of Hairan.
‘He said he went into closed-door training… I guess he learned that.’
Every time an assassin’s blade tried to push through the ribbons, the aura sparked like fire. The ribbon-shaped aura was blocking the blades like a suit of armor.
The name of that secret technique was Imperial Sword Dragon Armor. On the surface, it looked like a uniquely shaped aura shield, but its true power was something else entirely.
Every time the Dragon Armor took an impact, the aura ribbons would lash out and stab back at the opponent. Therefore, no matter which direction the attack came from, if the attacker's power wasn't enough to pierce the Dragon Armor, they would inevitably suffer a counterattack.
“Urgh!”
Already, two assassins were thrown back, pierced in the shoulder and thigh. The remaining five grew cautious, their attacks less reckless.
As for Jin… for some reason, he felt proud of them.
‘A shield that even counterattacks… I’ll have to be careful of that technique in the future. And can Veradin really cast that? The mana gathering inside his shield is no joke.’
Unlike Dante, Jin was overwhelming his three opponents with light footwork. Even though the mid-level 7-star leader was among them, he was being pushed back by Jin’s sword.
This was despite Jin’s aura still being at the late 6-star level.
‘As I thought, my body is finally starting to bloom.’
The blessed physique of a Runcandel.
His monstrous, innate strength—the very foundation that had kept the Runcandel clan at the apex for centuries—was compensating for his still-developing aura.
Jjeong!
As Jin swung with his full power, the sword of an assassin who had just lunged at him shattered.
Even the leader flinched, widening the distance in a moment of shock. The eyes of the now-unarmed assassin trembled behind his mask.
“Fighting isn't your specialty anyway. Don't take it too hard.”
Just as he was about to flash a triumphant smile after saying that…
“Jin!” Dante called out with an urgent voice. The aura of his Dragon Armor had noticeably dimmed.
After evading the assassins’ pursuit from evening until now, he had unleashed a secret technique in the heat of the moment, causing his chronic stamina issues to flare up.
‘That idiot! He should have paced himself!’
It wasn't that Dante hadn't been pacing himself. He had simply judged that it was safe to push his limits because Jin was there. Among martial artists his age, Jin was the only one Dante placed such absolute trust in.
The same went for Veradin.
Veradin nodded toward Jin. It was a signal. The spell was complete. Jin could go to Dante.
Clang!
The moment Jin left, Veradin’s shield was shattered by a strike from the leader. At the same time, Jin pushed back the assassins surrounding Dante.
And then… Kuooooo…!
From within the remnants of the shattered shield, the flames of the Destruction Flame Orb of the Dark Heaven: Demon Emperor Form 1 began to soar.