The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 969

 Chapter 969

 

"Graaaah!"

After reaching the top of the sand mountain, Martha screamed toward the sky.

"This damn heat!"

She shook off the sand clinging to her arms and legs, saying it felt like she had been thrown into a boiling cauldron.

"I can’t get used to this cursed sand dune."

Burren, standing next to Martha, let out a hollow breath.

"It feels like my flesh is cooking even now."

He muttered wearily and shook off his reddened hands.

"Sa...ve... me..."

Runaan staggered like a reed swaying in the wind, her eyes half-closed.

“H-here, at least have some water.”

Dorian pulled out a cold water bottle from his belly pocket and handed it to Runaan.

"Thank y—"

Before she could even finish saying thank you, Runaan latched onto the bottle like a baby.

"M-me too! Hand it over to me too!"

The Gambling Monster reached out and snatched the water bottle from Dorian’s hand roughly, as if plundering it.
It seemed the drunkenness had mostly been sweated out, as he was now sweating noticeably less.

"Drink slowly, please."

Mark Goetten wiped the sweat running down the Gambling Monster forehead, looking at him with pity.

"Nooooo…."

Krein stamped his foot hard, his mouth twisting in annoyance.

"How can that guy recover so fast and come right back out!"

He yelled, saying he couldn't understand Raon.

"I heard Lady Aris has reached Transcendence again, but how did he manage to pull that off in just three days without even lifting the curse! I thought it’d take at least a week!"

Krein yelled that Raon had gotten out of the cultivation room way too fast and kicked the sand beneath his feet.

"Are you still doubting that monster?"

Trevin smacked Krein lightly on the head, calling him a fool.

"I knew it the moment I first saw Raon. I immediately recognized, 'Ah, that one's a different breed from us.'"

He chuckled thinly, saying he had felt Raon's extraordinariness from their very first spar.

"That guy knows it too."

Burren shook his chin, looking at Krein waving his fists.

"Yeah. He’s just throwing a tantrum because it’s hard."

Martha snorted and smacked Krein hard on the back.

"Guoaaack!"

Hit without warning, Krein screamed as he sprawled out on the hot sand.

"I want bead ice cream…."

Runaan, unusually whiny today, muttered weakly, clearly more exhausted than usual.

"Is this… ice cream?"

In a daze, she mistook the golden sand for lemon-flavored ice cream and leaned her mouth toward the ground.

"She's seriously lost it!"

Martha urgently reached out and stopped Runaan just before she could eat the sand.

"Snap out of it! You sleepyhead!"

She furrowed her brows but gently brushed the sand off Runaan’s face.

"Heh, heh!"

"Ughhh…"

Finally, Yua and Yulius finished climbing the sand dune, and with that, all the Light Wind Palace swordsmen completed the ascent.

" H-have some water..."

Dorian, who had helped create this sand dune in the first place, cautiously sprayed water around while glancing around nervously.

"But where did our palace master disappear to again?"

Martha narrowed her eyes and scanned the surroundings to find Raon.

"Knowing him, he’s probably hiding in some shady spot, watching us…."

"He's right behind you."

Just as Krein clicked his tongue, Raon's voice came from directly behind them.

"Kyahhh!"

"Kehek!"

Krein and Dorian, who was standing next to him, jumped up like startled rabbits.

"I watched all of you climb from behind."

Raon nodded as he looked over the Light Wind swordsmen one by one, from Burren to Yua.

"Seems like you’ve gotten used to the sand now. Your movements have improved."

He smiled in satisfaction, saying their form had gotten better.

"C-couldn’t we stop here already?"

The Gambling Monster sighed deeply with the dead eyes of a rotten fish.

"I really feel like I’m going to die because I can’t even breathe properly…."

He shook his head, asking Raon to consider his age.

"Exactly!"

Krein stepped forward and nodded vigorously.

"Training is great and all, but no matter how many times we climb, we just can’t get used to it. It’s always hard!"

He furrowed his brows, suggesting maybe it was time to change things up.

"For someone who says he's about to die, you look perfectly fine."

Raon shrugged his shoulders as he looked over the Light Wind swordsmen.

"And not just you. Every single one of you."

"Huh…?"

Krein blinked and looked back.

"Hmmm…."

"Come to think of it, maybe we have improved compared to before..."

"It’s still tough, but it feels like we can endure it now."

The Light Wind swordsmen tilted their heads, surprised to realize that they were still standing just fine.

"On the first day, after climbing this sand dune twice, you all collapsed. But..."

Raon raised his hand and pointed to the sand dune they had just climbed.

"Today, you’ve climbed it three times, and you’re still standing."

On the first day, after their second climb, they had all collapsed as if they had fainted. Their stamina and mental strength were drained dry, and there was no way to continue training after that.

But now, even after finishing their third climb, they were still standing.

"Well, I’m not, though…."

Runaan, slumped over like melting ice cream, barely lifted a finger from where she was sagging into the sand.

"......"

Raon quietly turned his head away.

Are you ignoring her?

Wrath glared at him in disbelief.

"And I’ve been gradually increasing the heat of the sand every day. The flames in today’s sand are about twice as intense as they were on the first day."

Raon touched the sand with his hand and tilted his chin.

"Y-you increased the heat?"

"I didn’t notice at all…."

"No wonder we couldn’t get used to it."

Burren, Martha, and Trevin let out dry laughs, realizing now why they hadn’t been able to adapt to the heat.

"You all have grown significantly during this time. Your willpower has been sharpened like a blade, and your physical abilities have improved greatly."

With conviction in his voice, Raon reached out and released the restrictions he had placed on the Light Wind swordsmen’s bodies and energy centers.

"Ah…."

"I can feel the strength surging up from my toes."

"My whole body feels so light, like the weight’s been lifted off me."

The Light Wind swordsmen trembled all over, feeling the changes in their bodies.

It was a sensation much like the exhilaration Raon had felt when he gained a massive increase in his stats.

"And that’s not all."

Raon raised his finger toward the Light Wind swordsmen.

"By climbing the sand dune, you’ve also gained fire resistance. You’ll be able to shrug off low-level fire magic without a problem."

The heat he had imbued into the sand today was stronger than a third-circle fire spell. From now on, the Light Wind swordsmen would be able to withstand any fire magic below third circle without a problem.

"All that just from climbing a sand dune…?"

Burren laughed dryly as he stared at his hand in disbelief.

"So there really was a reason that guy received the head of house’s praise."

Martha nodded, saying she now understood the expressions Glenn and Karoon had worn after Raon came out of the Chamber of Self.

"Ugly Raon…."

Runaan yelled 'Ugly,' as if she didn't care about getting stronger and just resented him for throwing her into this heat. Given her natural affinity to cold, it must have been especially tough for her, yet she had pushed through to the end.

The King of Essence endured it too! Since we’ve endured this heat, let’s have bead ice cream today!

'......'

Raon ignored him.

Hey! Don’t ignore the King of Essence!

Raon let Wrath’s shouting slip past one ear and turned his attention back to checking the Light Wind swordsmen’s condition once more. Seeing that they still had stamina left, he figured it was safe to move on to the next stage.

"Honestly, I feel like I can do anything right now."

Krein, apparently thrilled by the sudden growth, did a flip in mid-air, grinning widely.

"Hey! That's not something you should be saying right now—"

Burren tried to stop him, but it was already too late.

"You feel like you can do anything?"

Raon clamped a hand over Burren's mouth and gave Krein a wide grin.
He had been thinking about how to smoothly move into the second round of training, and thanks to Krein’s comment, now he had the perfect excuse.

"Uh…?"

Krein sensed that he had just made a huge mistake and gulped dryly.

"W-wait a minute. That’s not what I meant…."

"Good. Since we've got the one and only Always Krein’s permission, we can get started right away."

Raon called for everyone to follow him as he descended the sand dune.

"Krein…."

"I knew your mouth would get us in trouble."

"Just wait till training's over today…."

The swordsmen grumbled under their breath, cursing Krein in whispers as they followed Raon down the dune.

"Ughhhh!"

Krein clutched his head and grimaced, already dreading what was to come.

"In the end, you're the poor guy taking the fall."

Dorian came up and patted Krein’s shoulder with a sly grin.

"I’m free now!"

He hummed a little tune as he skipped down the hill, glad that he would no longer be the one blamed for the sand dunes.

"Dammit allllll!"

Krein slapped his own mouth in frustration and screamed.

*   *   *

Raon stood in the fifth training ground, facing the Light Wind swordsmen.

"I-I'm scared..."

Krein lowered his gaze, swallowing nervously with an audible gulp.

"There’s nothing to be scared of! We survived that hellish sand dune!"

Martha smacked him on the back and shouted for him to have more confidence.

"Yeah. Stay strong."

"We'll get through it together."

Burren and Trevin nodded encouragingly.

"T-that's not it..."

Krein bit his lip and rolled his eyes anxiously.

"The palace master is definitely going to call me first!"

He muttered something about Always Krein, sniffling as he complained that he was obviously going to get called up first.

"Ah…."

"That's probably true."

Burren and Martha nodded, understanding his fear.

"Rest in peace..."

Dorian even pulled out a small goddess statue from his belly pocket and started praying, as if Krein were already a dead man.

"You damn bastard!"

Krein gritted his teeth and swung a fist at Dorian.

Thud!

Just then, Raon slammed the ground with Heavenly Drive, drawing everyone’s attention.

"Starting now, the second round of training begins. As you’ve probably guessed, it’s a spar against me. The first opponent is…."

"Guhhh…!"

Even before Raon called his name, Krein stepped forward on his own.

"Martha. Step forward."

But instead of Krein, Raon called Martha.

"Huh? Me?"

Martha widened her eyes in surprise and stepped forward.

"Huh? Oh, ohhh!"

Krein practically cried out in relief and shrank back, his dead-looking complexion finally regaining some color.

"Draw your sword and come at me with everything you’ve got."

Raon gave a slight nod, signaling her to attack however she wanted.

"Fine. Just don’t blame me if you die."

Martha gritted her teeth and charged forward. She unleashed a heavy sword strike, imbued with the power of her fully-formed astral sphere.

Fwoooong!

Martha's sword strike, seeming to carry the very weight of the earth, descended, but Raon casually deflected it with his incredibly thin blade.

"Kgh!"

Martha couldn’t withstand the rebound force from Raon’s sword and was pushed back.

Thwack!

Raon didn’t miss the opening and immediately closed in, slamming his sword into Martha’s side.

"Urgh..."

Unable to withstand the sudden shock, Martha tumbled across the ground.

"You’re not about to tell me you can't even handle that much, are you?"

Raon waved his hand, telling her to give up if she couldn’t even stand.

"Who the hell do you think you're saying that to!"

Grinding her teeth, Martha forced herself to her feet and once again brought down a strike heavy enough to seem like it carried the weight of the sky itself.

Wooooom!

In response, Raon resonated the Ring of Fire.
He mirrored Martha’s sword technique, deliberately showing her the path to becoming stronger.

Kyaaaaang!

Even though they clashed with the same sword technique, Martha was pushed back openly, her feet carving deep tracks into the floor of the training ground.

"Damn it!"

Martha screamed, her pride wounded by being beaten using her own technique, and charged again.

Clang!

Raon effortlessly pushed aside the furious Martha and shook his head.

"Think. Figure out what makes your sword different from mine."

While pressuring her using her own sword technique, he gave her the most important advice.

'What's missing from me?'

Martha narrowed her eyes into thin slits as she stared at Raon's sword.

'Come to think of it...'

Raon wasn’t using his full strength. He was wielding his sword with a strength and speed similar to mine.

'But why? Why am I getting pushed back when the techniques, strength, and aura are all the same?'

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t understand why she was the only one getting pushed back.

"If you don't figure it out, you'll just have to keep taking hits."

Raon smiled brightly, despite his chilling words, as he pummeled Martha from all sides.

Don't tell me you're just pounding on her to get rid of your stress!

Wrath let out a hollow laugh, as if dumbfounded.

'Absolutely not.'

Raon curled the corner of his lips as he looked at Martha, who kept standing up no matter how much he beat her down.

'Look at those eyes.'

Even though her body was covered in bruises, the fire in Martha’s eyes hadn’t died.
If she didn’t have a sword, it felt like she would lunge at him with her teeth.

"Raaah!"

Martha screamed and charged at Raon again. Even when she was knocked down, she kept running forward. Even when she was bounced back, she charged again.

Thud-thud-thud!

At this point, she had been hit so many times it was impossible to count.

'What the hell is different!'

Martha clenched her teeth as she blocked Raon's strikes with her body.

'The sword techniques, the strength, the aura — everything’s the same… wait, hold on!'

She suddenly noticed.

Raon was concentrating so much aura near the blade’s tip, the sword edge.

Unlike herself, who spread aura across the entire blade, Raon concentrated a thick mass of aura only around the sword's edge.

'No way!'

Martha bit the tip of her tongue and kicked off the ground, swinging her sword while concentrating her aura at the tip like Raon.

Kuwaaaang!

The auras concentrated at the tips of their swords collided with a massive explosion.

Crackle!

This time, instead of being blown away, Martha stood her ground, locking blades with Raon.

"Focusing the aura at the tip to add weight... makes this much difference?"

Martha’s shoulders trembled as the realization struck her like a bolt of lightning.

"Turns out, it's the smallest things that make the biggest differences."

Raon patted Martha’s shoulder, which was bleeding from the clash, and said it was good she realized it.

"You could’ve just told me…."

"If you don’t figure it out yourself, it’s meaningless."

A true warrior must be able to recognize their own flaws through their own efforts.
That was surely what the first head of house had also tried to teach him.

"Next, Burren."

Raon motioned for Martha to step back and called Burren forward.

"I’m ready!"

Burren gave a polite bow and moved to the center of the training ground.

"Whoo…."

Krein let out a deep sigh of relief.

'Thank goodness.'

He had been tense watching Martha get beaten half to death, but thankfully, his name wasn’t called. It seemed like Raon was planning to spar with all the executives first before moving on to the regular swordsmen.

'If I’m lucky, maybe I won’t have to spar today at all?'

Raon sparred with Burren for over two hours. At this rate, Krein figured his turn wouldn’t come until the day after tomorrow.

'Should I pretend to be sick?'

He was seriously considering ways to escape when Raon suddenly turned around.

"Martha. Just like I helped you realize something, now it’s your turn to help the others."

Raon motioned for Martha not to rest, but to take care of the swordsmen below her.

"For the first one…"

Raon gave a chilling smile as he turned his gaze toward Krein.

"You know who it is, right? Feel free to pay him back exactly what you received."

He said she could do whatever she liked and turned away again.

"Uh? Uwaaah!"

Krein trembled all over like someone struck by lightning.

"Good. Very good."

Martha grinned savagely as she grabbed Krein’s shoulder.

"Come along. Your big sister here will kindly bestow her teachings upon you."

Her eyes flashed coldly, as if she was intent on paying back everything Raon had put her through.

"W-wait! I'll train under the palace master instead! Please, spare me!"

Krein dropped to his knees, begging not to be matched against Martha.

"Don't worry. I'll teach you personally too."

Raon smiled sweetly as he shook his head.

"Noooo!"

"Yes!"

Martha grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off to a corner.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

"As expected — always Krein."

Raon nodded in satisfaction as he listened to Krein’s screams.

This lunatic...

Wrath shook his head slowly, looking completely fed up.

* * *

After finishing the Light Wind’s training, Raon returned to the annex building just as dawn was breaking.

He was too drained even to admire the garden, and headed straight for his room, but he spotted someone standing in front of the lake.

It was a familiar back.

'Why is he here?'

Raon immediately approached the lakeside and bowed deeply.

"I greet the head of house!"

“Do not speak so loudly. The others are still asleep.”

Glenn slowly turned around. He brought a finger to his lips, signaling Raon to lower his voice.

"My apologies."

"How is the swordsmen’s training progressing?"

"They're following well. Their growth has been faster than I expected."

Raon explained that if things continued smoothly, it wouldn’t be long before all of them advanced by at least one level.

"Applying the training method you gained from the Chamber of Self directly to your subordinates... You truly are an unusual one."

Glenn looked at Raon with a hint of pride in his eyes.

"Most warriors tend to hide their most important training methods, after all."

"Because I believe it's best for everyone to grow stronger together."

Raon answered without the slightest hesitation, saying he wanted everyone in the Light Wind Palace to grow alongside him.

"I see."

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Glenn’s lips as he nodded.

"I'm sorry to bring this up when things are going well, but it seems I have something to ask of you."

He mentioned that Raon might have to pause the Light Wind swordsmen's training for a while, pursing his lips slightly.

"Is it a mission?"

Raon let out a short breath and narrowed his eyes.

"You could call it a mission, but... it will be something far more important."

Glenn pulled out a white envelope from his coat. Five stars were drawn on the front of the envelope.

"The Conference of the Five Kings."

He handed Raon the letter, which exuded an air of nobility.

"I would like you to attend, as the hero who killed the Black Tower’s master."

 

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