The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 891

 Chapter 891

 

Raon narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the plains engulfed by purple energy.

‘What in the world happened here?’

The area where Bodry village was located was originally a mix of vast plains and mountainous terrain. While it wasn’t as fertile as the central regions of the continent, there had always been enough grass to feed livestock. But now, the entire land was drowned in the purple waves, leaving not even a single weed in sight.

‘Energy of death…’

But it wasn't the ordinary energy of death.

The energy of death was born from the concentrated grudges of the dead. Raon had encountered powerful death energy before when battling the Specter of Eden in House Arianne’s swamp of death, but the energy now engulfing the plains was far more sinister than anything he had ever faced.

Kwaaaaaaa!

The problem wasn’t just the energy of death tainting the land. Hideous monsters kept emerging from within the vile purple waves.

Wuuuuung.

Even the Blade of Requiem let out a hum, as if sensing the ominous energy and warning him to be cautious.

This is nasty.

Wrath clicked his tongue while gazing down at the land.

A stench this foul cannot come from just a few deaths. Countless people must have been sacrificed.

He scrunched his brow, saying that whoever had done this must be unimaginably cruel.

‘No doubt about it.’

Raon let out a brief breath as he watched the surging purple waves.

‘They’re still expanding.’

The purple sea appeared to be merely churning in place, but upon closer inspection, it was slowly spreading outward.

" Hey, why are you just standing there instead of going down? Are you tired or— huh?"

Martha was about to mock him but froze when she looked down the mountain.

"What… what is that?!"

Her jaw trembled as she stared at the purple waves that had engulfed the land.

“Purple smoke? Or is that some kind of energy? How could something like that even exist…?”

Burren, unable to believe what he was seeing, swallowed dryly.

"It stinks…"

Runaan pinched her nose with her fingers, frowning as if she had already smelled the foul scent of energy of death.

"Ugh…"

Dorian let out ragged breaths, saying he had never even imagined a scene like this.

"W-what is that…?"

He trembled as he gazed at the dark, flickering purple waves.

"It's the energy of death, created by the grudges of the dead."

Raon snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of the Light Wind swordsmen.

"If you get exposed to it, your body will rot, and your mind will be corrupted. Wrap your entire body in mana to defend yourselves."

After giving them time to steady their breathing, Raon shifted his gaze down the mountain. At the foot of the slope, a large crowd of people had gathered.

‘They must be the residents of Bodry village.’

There were more than he thought.

Originally, Bodry village had been a small settlement, but it seemed that people—those who had grown weary of oppressive lords and the city's tyranny—had gathered there, turning it into something closer to a small city.

"The Warring Steel Division is at the front."

The swordsmen of the Warring Steel Division were battling the monsters at the edge of the purple waves, standing firm to protect the people of Bodry village.

"Trevin…"

He spotted a middle-aged man with blond hair at the forefront of the Warring Steel Division, unleashing powerful sword strikes. Trevin looked exactly the same as before, pushing back the monsters.

'His condition isn't good.'

Trevin had become a Grandmaster after the war with the South-North Union, but he seemed to be trembling in the hand holding his sword, likely because he had been continuously fighting while exposed to the energy of death. He looked very exhausted.

Even so, he refused to give a single step and kept fighting with the Warring Steel Division, protecting the villagers of Bodry.

"We should get down there quickly."

Mark Goetten bit his lip, urging them to move and help them.

"Light Wind Division, move at full strength and take position in front of the Warring Steel Division!"

Raon nodded and gave the command.

"Yes!"

With a deep breath, the Light Wind swordsmen stomped down on the hardened ground, descending the mountain at a speed far greater than when they had first set out on their journey.

Goooooooo.

Following behind them, Raon spread his aura perception in all directions.

‘There’s nothing unusual.’

It wouldn’t be strange to assume there was no necromancer present if his senses weren’t detecting anything, but after all the battles he had fought, he refused to lower his guard. He sharpened his focus as he moved forward.

Sigh…

Wrath shook his head as he watched the purple waves.

Looks like it’ll be Nadine bread for dinner after all.

‘You think it’s just dinner?’

Raon glanced at the purple sea stretching across the plains and shook his head.

Huh?

‘We’ll be having it tomorrow and probably the day after that, too.’

You’ve got to be kidding me!

Wrath scrunched his nose in frustration.

Whoever caused all this, come out right now! The King of Essence shall deal with you personally!

He raised his clenched fist and declared that he would finish off whoever was behind it—even if it was a Demon King.

*   *   *

“Huff…”

Trevin let out a rough breath as he beheaded a decayed werewolf emerging from the sea of energy of death.

"There’s no end to them."

The surging purple sea before them had once been even smaller than a creek. But after devouring the corpses of the monsters slain by him and the Warring Steel Division, it swelled. Then, it consumed the villagers as well, growing to the point where it was now completely uncontrollable.

As the waves grew larger, the number of monsters emerging from within increased as well, forcing them to fight relentlessly, only to be pushed back again and again.

"Division leader! The right flank is collapsing!"

A Warring Steel swordsman clenched his teeth as he blocked the fist of a decayed ogre.

"The left side can’t hold much longer either!"

Another swordsman on the left spoke with trembling lips, his face pale.

"Hold your ground! Even if you die, do not retreat!"

Trevin took a short breath and thrust his sword into the purple waves. The astral sphere blooming on his blade rotated diagonally, unleashing a powerful explosion.

Kwaaaaaaa!

Even though it wasn’t perfect, an astral sphere was still an astral sphere. The explosion tore apart the monsters and shook the purple waves violently.

Fwooooosh.

However, as if nothing had happened, the sea of energy of death filled the empty space once more and surged toward them again.

“The Reinforcements will arrive soon! Just hold on a little longer!”

Trevin urged his men to endure as he tightened his grip on his sword.

‘This won’t be easy.’

Even as a Grandmaster, he wasn’t immune to the effects of the energy of death. The poison released by the decayed monsters as they died also made it difficult for the less experienced swordsmen to keep fighting.

But since the villagers had not finished their preparations yet, no matter how difficult it was, they could not afford to retreat.

"If we fall here, the villagers will all die! Hold the line to the end!"

Trevin continued launching astral sphere attacks to support the exhausted swordsmen, even as the tainted air seeped into his lungs.

"S-Sir Swordsman… we’re fine, so…"

An old man with white hair, covering his mouth with a damp cloth, approached. He was the chief of Bodry village, the one who had first requested their help.

"Please, leave now. I shouldn't have called you here in the first place…"

The village chief bowed his head in deep regret. His cheeks and ears were already rotting from exposure to the energy of death, yet he still trembled in guilt rather than pain.

“Don’t say that!”

Trevin shook his head firmly.

“As a Zieghart swordsman, I can’t just walk away from a crisis like this. Besides, if I left you here, my friend who’s on his way would give me quite the scolding.”

He told the chief to stay back before turning his gaze forward.

‘Yeah. I can’t let him see me in disgrace.’

He accepted Karoon's proposal to serve under the Light Wind Palace, believing that Raon was someone capable of leading him. If he wished to follow Raon, who truly carried righteousness and chivalry in his heart, he could not back down here.

Kwaaaaah!

Just thinking about Raon made him feel a little stronger. He channeled astral sphere over his sword and pushed back the incoming purple waves before him.

Whoooosh!

The repelled purple wave surged violently. Judging from how things had been so far, this was a sign that an incredibly strong monster was about to appear.

“Huh…?”

Trevin let out a breath of air when he saw what emerged from the wave of energy of death.

‘A person?’

This time, it wasn’t a monster, it was a person holding a sword. However, his skin was as pale as a zombie’s, and there wasn’t a trace of life to be felt from him.

“What in the world...?”

Just as Trevin furrowed his brows, the swordsman suddenly lunged at him, thrusting his sword forward.

Kyaaaaang!

Trevin barely managed to block, but the zombie swordsman was wielding the energy of death as if it were aura. He wasn’t particularly strong, but the overwhelming presence of his energy of death made it difficult for other swordsmen to fight.

‘I need to deal with this quickly.’

To prevent further casualties, he crushed the zombie swordsman’s skull completely.

But it was only the beginning. As if proving that the fight had just started, the purple sea spewed out an endless horde of decayed monsters and zombie swordsmen.

“Gah….”

A young swordsman from the Warring Steel Division collapsed, his face turning deathly black.

“I-I can’t breathe….”

“Damn it!”

“Division leader….”

The other swordsmen couldn’t withstand the energy of death and poisonous energy seeping into them. One by one, their swords fell from their trembling hands as they dropped to their knees.

“D-Damn it!”

“Aaaah!”

Even those still standing suffered injuries while trying to protect their fallen comrades, forcing them to retreat.

The front lines, which the Warring Steel Division had barely held together, crumbled in an instant.

“Division leader! We can’t hold them here any longer! We must retreat!”

Caman, the Warring Steel vice division leader, beheaded a zombie swordsman as he let out a desperate shout.

“Retre—”

Just as Trevin was about to order a retreat, the wave of energy of death surged violently, crashing down upon the injured and fallen swordsmen of the Warring Steel Division.

‘No….’

Trevin reached out with his sword to block the energy of death, but he couldn’t protect everywhere at once. As he extended his hand toward the left, his eyes caught sight of the right flank being swallowed by the wave.

He wanted to save them, but there was no way. If he turned to the right now, the left would be doomed instead.

‘Damn it!’

It felt as if he were seeing their lives flash before his eyes instead, as the memories of his subordinates and everything they had built together surfaced in his mind. His insides felt like they were being torn apart.

“Grrrgh!”

As Trevin let out a despairing scream, time seemed to slow.

Kwaaaaah!

The pitch-black night split apart as a crimson streak, like the tail of a comet, slashed through the darkness. A blade engulfed in blazing red flames tore through the purple wave that was about to engulf the Warring Steel Division. Kugugugugu!

The red flames didn’t just push back the wave of energy of death, it had power to spare, burning away the monsters attempting to crawl out from within.

“That sword….”

Trevin's face, twisted with exhaustion, loosened into a smile as he saw the blazing sword cutting through the sea of energy of death. Turning back, he called out the name he had been waiting for.

“Raon!”

*   *   *

“It’s been a while, Warring Steel Division leader.”

Raon greeted Trevin with a nod.

“But really, you had to request help from the house just because you couldn’t handle a bit of energy of death? That’s disappointing.”

He smirked, throwing Trevin’s own words back at him, the same ones Trevin had used when he first arrived to help Raon and the Light Wind during the House Arianne incident.

“That—that’s not wh...”

Caught off guard by the jab, Trevin stammered.

“We can catch up later. Let’s clear things out first.”

As Raon casually flicked his fingers, brilliant lights flashed across the darkened sky.

Kuwaaaaaaa!

The swordsmen of the Light Wind division had formed their Light Wind Formation. Their synchronized strikes rained down like a meteor shower, obliterating the monsters and zombie swordsmen emerging from the purple sea.

But the sea of energy of death didn’t stop for long. After a brief pause, it began writhing and surging forward once more.

“This is worse than I expected.”

The concentration of energy of death was even denser than it had seemed from the mountaintop. It was a wonder that the Warring Steel Division had lasted this long.

‘Something is hiding within that wave.’

Deep within the writhing purple sea, something sinister was lurking, it was clear.

“Aura-based attacks won’t work. It’s like cutting through water. It just fills back up instantly.”

Trevin shook his head, explaining that even when he fired astral spheres, all he could do was briefly halt the purple sea.

"I heard it was dangerous, but I didn’t expect the energy of death to have spread this much."

Raon shook his head and asked why he hadn’t mentioned this part.

"When I sent the request for reinforcements to the family, the energy of death hadn’t expanded this much."

Trevin frowned as he watched the undulating purple waves.

"At first, it was nothing more than a small stream, with only goblin-like creatures crawling out. But that stream kept growing, and before we knew it, it had expanded to this size, completely surrounding us."

He bit his lip as he looked down at the blackened, dying land.

"The people here fled from the corruption of other cities to find refuge in this place. I wanted to protect their home... but I failed."

Trevin’s fists trembled as he blamed his own incompetence.

"Then let’s take it back, starting now."

Raon twirled Heavenly Drive in his hand, his lips curling into a faint smile.

“What…?”

"If a new subordinate wants something, I don’t see why I shouldn’t grant it."

Raon smiled, casually wagging his finger.

"T-This was my responsibility! You don’t need to waste your strength on it!"

Trevin insisted, shaking his head.

“There’s no point arguing.”

Martha sighed, shaking her head in exasperation.

“That guy never listens to anyone.”

"She’s right. Once he decides on something, there’s no stopping him."

Burren smirked and nodded.

“Welcome….”

Runaan patted Trevin’s shoulder, as if to say he had made the right choice.

“No, you guys…”

Trevin let out a hollow breath, as if unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Welcome to the hell you willingly walked into."

Krein, his face darkened with exhaustion, gave a slow nod.

“You don’t have to feel so burdened.”

Mark Goetten spoke calmly.

"Division leader wouldn’t have made this decision if he didn’t believe he could handle it."

He lifted his hand, pointing forward.

Kwaaaaah!

From the white blade of Heavenly Drive, a brilliant flame of heat surged forth, splitting the purple sea in half.

 

 

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