Chapter 65
Chapter 65
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: They've Finally Come
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I knew you'd show up someday.
It wasn't for nothing that this assassin group from the Night Slaughter Society had struck deep fear into the hearts of everyone in Korea.
I was certain that once it came out that the Reaper Guild wasn't behind it, they'd come looking for me before long.
And now...
That moment had arrived.
Thud!
Yong-un stepped out in front of the group of Night Slaughter Society assassins—who had been moving stealthily, away from prying eyes—and Hwasal.
The assassins, who had been sprinting forward, halted mid-stride and surrounded him in an instant.
"I had my doubts, but it's really you."
A quiet back alley where hardly anyone passed by.
Hwasal slowly approached Yong-un from the front.
Before Hwasal could take another step...
The shadow sorcerer had already relayed the aura he sensed through his Shadow skill to every assassin present.
And upon feeling that aura, Hwasal had decided to pull back, recognizing it matched the target he had in mind.
None other than...
"Ranked Hunter Yong-un."
The powerhouse known worldwide as the number four S-Rank and hailed as Korea's hero.
There he stood, boldly facing Hwasal.
"To think you were the one who hit the Night Slaughter Society. Well, no one else could have turned Chang'an-dong upside down single-handedly."
Even with Yong-un—the man who could be called Korea's top hunter—standing before him, Hwasal's composure didn't waver.
If anything, he looked relaxed as he raised his dagger toward Yong-un.
"Investigating Chang'an-dong's final commission gave me all the answers. The Reaper Guild's got some guts, messing with the family of Korea's hero, Hunter Yong-un. Tsk tsk."
The razor-sharp dagger pointed straight at Yong-un's throat.
Yong-un, at the end of that blade's path, turned his head to look at Hwasal.
Then he spoke.
"Planning to stall for time?"
Hwasal's lips curled into a smirk at Yong-un's out-of-nowhere remark.
"What? Did the shadow sorcerer tip you off? Nah, that can't be..."
"Your plans won't come to fruition. You'll all die right here."
Yong-un reached out, lifting two nearby assassins into the air and yanking them toward him.
In a flash, both assassins were in his grasp, throats clenched in his fists.
Before they could even speak, Yong-un squeezed, snapping their necks.
"Gahk!"
"Kek!"
Thump.
Two second-class assassins, the pride of the Night Slaughter Society, were dead in less than a second.
Hwasal's eyes hardened coldly as his smirk vanished.
"You've killed before, huh? No hesitation. Oh... right, you wiped out dozens in Chang'an-dong, didn't you? And brutally, at that."
Slash! Slash!
Even as Hwasal spoke, Yong-un's hands didn't stop.
He swung both arms, and the heads of the assassins at either end flew off, spraying blood.
"Keep talking."
"You bastard..."
Was it because his plan to stall through conversation had fallen apart?
Hwasal furrowed his brow, his face twisting in anger.
"Begin as planned."
At Hwasal's command...
The assassins encircling Yong-un began gathering their energy, as if charging at him.
But only for a moment.
Tap!
"Hmph."
With Hwasal's scoff, the charging assassins scattered in all directions.
As every assassin dispersed, Yong-un fixed his gaze on the lone remaining Hwasal.
"You know our goal, don't you?"
Hwasal's vanished smile returned as he hurled the dagger in his hand straight at Yong-un.
Whoosh!
The elite assassin's dagger sliced through the air at blinding speed, hurtling toward Yong-un's throat.
Thud!
But as if mocking its velocity, Yong-un caught it effortlessly in his hand.
Yet Hwasal didn't flinch. Instead, his smile deepened as he slowly began to channel his energy.
"You know what makes it easy to take down a mother tiger or bear? Grab the cubs first and deal with them."
The energy he gathered soon blurred his form.
As his body faded away, Hwasal grinned at Yong-un and said,
"Here's the question: Who's the mother tiger, and who's the cub? Beats me."
Hwasal's silhouette, now fully translucent, vanished completely.
The seven elite assassins of the Night Slaughter Society.
Their ultimate skill had just been unleashed before Yong-un.
The elite assassins' stealth ability was the society's secret technique, flawless enough to have never failed a single commission.
But Yong-un remained unfazed even after Hwasal disappeared. He channeled his demonic energy.
"Now it's certain."
With those cryptic words, he thrust his hand into the empty air where Hwasal had vanished.
A grip so confident it bordered on madness.
And in an instant, it forcibly revealed Hwasal's form from thin air.
"Wh... what?"
For the first time, Hwasal's face showed genuine shock.
"I've already caught half-baked stealth like yours before."
Staring straight at Hwasal's stunned expression, Yong-un smiled and slammed him down into the ground.
Boom!
"Guhk!"
The pristine asphalt cracked, burying Hwasal within.
Hwasal spat blood, his eyes wide as he glared up at Yong-un.
In response, Yong-un slowly let his eyes turn pitch-black with crimson hues, locking gazes with Hwasal as he asked,
"What's the next plan?"
The Night Slaughter Society's secret technique—which had never been broken or detected—proved utterly useless against Yong-un.
As Hwasal met those jet-black crimson eyes, his focus blurred. For the first and last time in his assassin career, he etched a mission failure into his history.
By spilling every detail of the commission in the worst possible betrayal.
"The next... plan..."
The assassins from the Soul-Reaping Ghosts squad—Il-gwi-hon and I-gwi-hon—arrived in front of Yong-un's house.
"What's this about? Guarding the house...?"
Myung-su, the Il-gwi-hon, scanned the entire place with a puzzled look.
Cheon-il, the I-gwi-hon, shrugged with a grin.
"Doesn't matter. It's an order from Supreme Brother, so there must be a reason."
Myung-su chuckled softly at Cheon-il's words.
Cheon-il yawned widely as he checked the quiet house.
"Yawn. I'm gonna catch some sleep. Wake me if anything happens, Il-gwi-hon bro."
With that bold request to Myung-su, the leader of the Soul-Reaping Ghosts, Cheon-il leaped onto the roof.
And there, he lay down like it was his own bed and dozed off.
"Well, we have been grinding gates pretty hard lately."
Even at Cheon-il's audacity, Myung-su just smiled back.
Crossing his arms, Myung-su leaned against the wall by the front door, ready for any surprises as per Yong-un's orders.
Figuring nothing would happen, he started to close his eyes—but a flicker of doubt made him snap them open again.
'Is something really up?'
Tensing up at the rare guard order, Myung-su pondered a quick patrol of the area.
That's when a man approached him.
"I don't recall hearing about a guard here."
At the meaningful words, Myung-su pushed off the wall to block the man's path.
But in that instant, his eyes widened in shock.
Shh...
A shadow sorcerer rose from the approaching man's shadow.
Myung-su froze, eyes bulging.
The shadow sorcerer stepped toward the man and said,
"The intel from the shadow sorcerer with Lord Hwasal didn't mention anyone like this. Has the plan gone wrong?"
Shadow sorcerer. Hwasal.
Those two words sparked one name in Myung-su's mind.
'Night Slaughter Society.'
Myung-su's face twisted in fury.
In the same motion, he drew his sword from his back and swung.
Whoosh.
Aiming to cleave both at once.
But these weren't amateur assassins—his blade sliced only empty air.
"That's the look of someone who knows us."
"What should we do, Lord Susal?"
Susal!?
Realizing the man before him was an elite assassin—not even first-class—Myung-su bit his lip.
His gaze darted around.
The surroundings, which he'd thought quiet, now felt ominously off.
"An elite assassin means... the entire Night Slaughter Society assassin squad is on the move."
Graver than expected, Myung-su slowly channeled his energy.
But he wasn't the only one startled.
Susal and the shadow sorcerer's faces darkened at Myung-su's murmur.
"Who are you?"
Susal approached Myung-su with a grave expression.
"Back off."
Myung-su surged with mana, thrusting his sword forward.
Yet Susal showed no sign of retreating, leaning into the blade as he shouted,
"No one calls the Night Slaughter Society's assassins an 'assassin squad'!"
Killing intent flared in Susal's eyes.
Myung-su swung his sword with full force at the encroaching Susal.
Clang!
Susal's dagger—drawn from who-knows-where—parried it.
Then, with his other hand, Susal's dagger shot toward Myung-su's throat.
Faster than Myung-su could pull back.
Facing instant death, Myung-su stayed calm, tensing his body and bellowing,
"Hah!!!"
Clang! Slash—
Not enough time for a full swing.
Still, Susal's dagger rang out louder than the first clash and flew upward.
Blood sprayed from Susal's recoiling hand.
With distance gained, Myung-su heaved ragged breaths.
"Hah... hah..."
Rough breathing after just two swings.
Susal, having tasted blood, glared at his wounded hand and clenched his fist tight.
Ignoring the dripping blood, he fixed on Myung-su.
"You... what are you?"
More precisely, the green sword energy in Myung-su's grip—matching the aura on Susal's dagger.
The shadow sorcerer with Susal gaped at Myung-su.
"Green aura...?"
What was green aura?
It wasn't the black masks or crescent emblems that symbolized Night Slaughter Society assassins—anyone could fake those.
It was the green energy, usable only by first-class assassins and above.
The green energy on Myung-su's sword was the truest mark of a Night Slaughter Society assassin.
'How can someone not from the Night Slaughter Society wield green aura?'
The surrounding assassins, including the shadow sorcerer, couldn't hide their shock.
If regular assassins were stunned, imagine the elite Susal.
His shock turned to rage and killing intent, filling his mind with one thought.
"I'll kill you for sure. And uncover what you are."
The initial intent to talk was gone.
Susal drew four throwing knives from his robes, infused them with green aura, and charged at Myung-su.
Speed incomparable to a first-class assassin, presence so faint only trained eyes could detect it—he began pressuring Myung-su.
The shadow sorcerer's abilities were boundless.
Not just detecting presences, but relaying their details to nearby assassins. And shadow sorcerers could share information regardless of distance or space.
Thus, their duty was to share everything they experienced with other shadow sorcerers and relay it to the assassins around them.
But the sight before him was so shocking, even the shadow sorcerer forgot his mission.
'Green aura clashing with green aura...'
A collision of green auras he'd never witnessed.
And the scattering fragments of green energy.
What stunned the shadow sorcerer most was Myung-su's swordsmanship—holding firm against Susal's assaults while guarding the house.
Hunters and swordmasters typically fought monsters, not people.
Assassins were different.
Their killing techniques targeted humans more than monsters, so ordinary hunters and swordmasters wouldn't even notice them.
Yet here...
Crash!
Myung-su was blocking even the invisible blind-spot throwing knife techniques exclusive to elite assassins.
Attacks impossible to counter without the same killing arts—Myung-su dodged or perfectly parried them all.
As if he'd learned or knew them all.
However.
"It'll be over soon."
The shadow sorcerer judged Myung-su's anomaly ended here.
Susal's blurring form. His extended, bluish daggers stretching left and right.
He'd blocked well so far, but from now on, he couldn't.
'He's resolved to kill.'
One long sword against multiple daggers.
The difference in weapons and elite-only killing prowess couldn't be overcome with a single blade.
"I'd love to know what you are, but the commission comes first..."
No sooner had Susal spoken than he proved his words.
Clang! Thunk!
By burying a dagger in Myung-su's side.