The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1058

 Chapter 1058

 

“Ah, father?”

Martha looked at Denier with eyes as dull as a dead fish. As if unable to believe reality, she dropped the sword she had been holding in her hand.

“Why is father trying to… kill King Lecross….”

“An interruption has come.”

Denier Zieghart furrowed his brow as he turned back without even glancing at Martha. Twisting the wrist that held his sword, he looked ready to kill Lecross for certain.

“Stop!”

Raon abandoned pressing against the White Blood Religion’s leader and used the Supreme Harmony Steps. As if piercing through space, he slashed the Frost Pond at Denier’s neck, who was about to cut Lecross' upper body in one go.

Fwooosh!

As if he had predicted the movement, Denier threw King Lecross aside and lightly evaded the Frost Pond.

‘He avoided that?’

Raon bit his lip as he saw Denier casually dodge his sword strike.

‘That’s not something a Grandmaster should be able to avoid.’

Since the sword field was still maintained, Denier as a Grandmaster shouldn’t even be able to see his sword properly, yet he deflected his assault with ease.

“I'll give you that one. Instead….”

Denier withdrew to the right and moved behind the dazed Martha. His speed was as ghostly and stealthy as it was, not falling behind even the Supreme Harmony Steps.

“I'll be taking this human.”

He grabbed the neck of his adopted daughter, whom he had brought and raised himself, as if she were an object.

“Martha!”

As Raon caught the falling King Lecross in his left arm, he clenched his teeth so hard it made a grinding sound.

“F-Father, why….”

Martha shed the droplets that welled in her eyes, as if in pain from Denier’s cold gaze that gripped her throat.

“……”

Denier gave her no answer, and using bloody energy, paralyzed her whole body so she could not move.

“If you touch Martha even a little in that state….”

As the Divine and Demonic Harmony faded, Raon aimed at Denier’s heart with the Heavenly Drive, which had returned to its original form.

“I’ll make you feel pain you wouldn’t be able to experience even in death.”

He roused the wrath he hadn’t unleashed even on the White Blood Religion’s leader and glared at Denier.

“……”

Denier calmly accepted his wrath and tightened the hand holding Martha.

“Kh…ugh….”

Martha let out a painful breath. It seemed the sorrow of being betrayed by Denier was greater than the pain of having her neck seized.

He can’t believe it.

Wrath furrowed his eyes as if unable to comprehend.

To think that black-hearted bastard had been hiding his power until now!

He gave a hollow laugh, saying it was strength even he hadn’t been able to discern.

‘Yes. Denier was a Transcneder….’

Raon heavily nodded.

‘And at a level similar to mine.’

How is something like this even possible?

Even if he were at a similar realm, deceiving Glenn and Wrath was impossible. Denier must surely have some special ability to hide his strength.

‘It wasn't strange that I missed Denier's movement, then.’

Because I never trusted Denier completely, I had kept my aura perception spread out, wary of being stabbed from behind.

Denier must have sensed that, and the moment my focus leaned toward the White Blood Religion’s leader, he opened up the power he’d been hiding and in an instant thrust at Lecross’ back. A man vile yet coldly calculating.

Damn it! Hurry and save the beef girl!

Wrath flailed his hands, shouting that Martha was in danger.

‘I want to unleash my wrath at Denier too, but….’

Now isn’t the time to think about that.

Raon fixed his gaze on Denier while checking Lecross’ condition with his left hand.

‘He isn’t dead yet.’

It was true that sword and bloody energy had pierced into the left chest where the heart was, but Lecross’ breathing had not yet stopped.

Vwooooom!

At once, Raon used the Divinity Blooming from the Underworld to heal Lecross’ wound.

‘But even though he was ambushed from behind, he’s still alive… hm?’

Raon narrowed his eyes at the dagger lying at Lecross’ feet. Since aura still lingered on it, it seemed this dagger had interfered with Denier’s ambush.

“I-it was a hair's breadth of a difference.”

From behind came Balder’s harsh voice. It seemed he had thrown this dagger, pushing Denier’s sword just slightly aside.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing!”

Balder ran up beside him and pointed his finger at Denier.

“Raon asked me to keep an eye on you, so I followed along thinking it'd be as easy as eating rice cake lying down, but what the hell is this!”

He roared so loudly, demanding what on earth Denier was thinking, that the entire city seemed to shake.

“……”

Denier, as if he had nothing to say, didn't even look at Balder, and after completely subduing Martha, he held her in his left arm.

For that guy to actually be of help.

Wrath let out a sigh, saying Balder’s simplicity had prevented the worst possible outcome.

“Kuugh….”

Raon furrowed his brows as he looked at Lecross, who spat dead blood with a pale complexion.

‘The wound isn’t healing as I thought it would.’

Denier hadn’t just stabbed him with a sword, he had left behind vicious bloody energy inside Lecross’ body. That was why, even using the Divinity Blooming from the Underworld, the wound wouldn’t heal properly.

‘I have no choice.’

I’ll just have to use everything.

He pulled up every last bit of the Divinity Blooming from the Underworld and slammed it into Lecross’ wound.

Perhaps because the trait had risen to 10 stars, raising both the quantity and quality of his divine power, he somehow managed to erase Lecross’ wound.

“Haaaagh….”

As if regaining consciousness at last, Lecross exhaled a ragged breath and spat out the blood pooled in his mouth.

“S… sorry….”

His eyes were unfocused as if he had truly come back from the brink of death.

Although Lecross’ breathing had returned, his condition was still poor. It seemed unlikely he could fight.

“No. I’m the one who should apologize.”

Raon gnashed his teeth as he looked at Denier, whose arm was wrapped around Martha’s throat.

“Because I couldn’t stop that bastard.”

It was carelessness. If I had definitively suspected Denier as an enemy and kept him in check, I might have been able to prevent this situation.

Martha’s absolute trust in Denier, combined with my own petty desire to believe in Zieghart itself—the house I love—had brought about this disaster.

“Uwaaaaahhhh!”

With the enraged roar of the White Blood Religion’s leader, Larian was blown away and slammed into the rubble of a collapsed building.

“Damn it!”

Larian tossed aside her broken dagger, her brows furrowed.

“Haaahhh….”

After pulling out the Wooden Ring Sword lodged in her throat and channeling bloody energy, the White Blood Religion’s leader’s body slowly began to heal from all the wounds etched across it. It was regeneration and recovery through bloody energy.

“I have received the call and have returned.”

Denier stepped behind the White Blood Religion’s leader, knelt, and bowed his head.

“Honestly, I hadn’t expected this.”

She twisted her lips as she looked at the flesh growing back in the hole pierced through her chest.

“That I would end up using you today.”

Still incredulous, she wrinkled the bridge of her nose as she glared at Raon and Larian.

“It was a good thing we agreed on a code word beforehand.”

She spat out the blood gathered in her mouth, saying it was thanks to that she had survived.

“A code word? Don’t tell me that code word….”

Raon looked at the White Blood Religion’s “Was it ‘Come’?”

At the moment of death, the White Blood Religion’s leader had shouted “Come!” to herself, Larian, and Lecross.

I did think it was a little strange that the White Blood Religion’s leader wasn’t running away like before and instead seemed intent on fighting head-on, but I never imagined that those words were a code word calling Denier.

“That’s right.”

The White Blood Religion’s leader nodded, stroking her now-clear skin.

“It was a code word I prepared so he could stab Glenn Zieghart from behind, but I didn’t expect I would end up using it in front of you all. How impressive.”

Contrary to her words of acknowledgment, her black eyes flared with a crimson murderous intent, as if she were truly enraged.

‘Because of those words, I couldn’t react.’

Had it been words unfitting for the situation, I might have been suspicious, but since it was during the moment we were preparing for the final battle, it made me focus all the more on the fight before me.

Though I hate to admit it, the code word was perfect.

“What is that bastard’s identity?”

Raon asked, not looking at the White Blood Religion’s leader, but at Denier.

“That child is the thirteenth. He is the thirteenth Apostle of the White Blood Religion.”

As if it no longer mattered to reveal it, the White Blood Religion’s leader gently caressed Denier’s head.

“The Thirteenth Apostle was Denier…?”

Raon bit his lip, never once having considered that the Thirteenth Apostle, whom the Second Apostle had said would move upon his death, was Denier.

“Since when?”

“From the very beginning. The thirteenth is a child I personally created and raised.”

“You personally created and raised him?”

Denier was Glenn’s biological son. To say she raised him was one thing, but to say she created him, that was beyond comprehension.

“……”

Denier himself seemed to have no intention of saying it with his own mouth. He only gazed at the White Blood Religion’s leader with calm eyes.

“It’s unfortunate that I had to use the dagger meant to pierce Glenn’s heart here, but at least you all will certainly die.”

The White Blood Religion’s leader stepped on the ground and put her palms together, and the form of a giant Blood God appeared behind her back.

It was different from what had been seen at Eden’s branch, and different from what had been seen at the South-North Union.

Gooooooo!

The Blood God was so massive it seemed it would bring down the White Blood Religion’s headquarters itself. The arms and weapons in its hands had multiplied even more, and the halo rising from its back shone with a brilliance that looked as though it could push aside the sun.

Within the collapsing White Blood Religion headquarters, waves of mighty bloody energy began to surge.

“Uwooooooo!”

“The leader has returned!”

“O Blood God!”

“The White Blood shall never be erased!”

At the advent of the Goddess of Blood Devouring Anguish, which was nearing completion, the White Blood fanatics pressed their hands together and shed tears.

Both their bodies and minds revealed eyes brimming with madness, as though bewitched by the White Blood Religion’s leader.

“Ahhh….”

“Th-that’s the Blood God?”

“A monster….”

“How are we supposed to defeat something like that!”

“Your Majesty….”

On the other hand, the warriors of Zieghart and Owen, who had fought their way into the very center of the headquarters, trembled at their jaws as they looked at the Goddess of Blood Devouring Anguish, towering as if to reach the heavens, and at Lecross, wounded and gasping for breath.

“Huhu.”

The White Blood Religion’s leader curved her lips upward as if satisfied with the reversed tide of battle, looking down at Raon and Larian.

“Today will be….”

Raon pressed down on his lips tightly as he felt the crushing oppression of bloody energy pressing on his entire body.

“Far from easy.”

*   *   *

“D-Denier betrayed us?”

Karoon trembled in his jaw as he looked at Denier reflected in the Blue Window.

“How did this happen!”

He clutched his head with his hands as if unable to believe it.

“Denier….”

Sheryl clenched her fists so tightly that blood burst from her palms, feeling the fury that came after her initial shock.

“Huhh….”

Roenn, too, had lost his usual carefree laugh, his eyes now wide open.

“Si-Sir Denier?”

“Why. Why in the world would you betray…?”

“I can’t believe it. Of all people, not someone else, but a direct line, our head of house’s own son, betraying us, a traitor!”

The swordsmen of Zieghart revealed both deep betrayal and sorrow toward Denier, who had stabbed Lecross and seized Martha.

“Haaahhh….”

Glenn let out a sigh that seemed to sink into the earth as he looked at Denier’s sunken eyes.

‘When exactly did she get her hands on him?’

The Denier I had seen before falling into distress and the Denier I had observed after regaining my senses had not changed in the slightest.

He had the flaw of looking incompetent due to a lack of initiative as a leader, but his nature was good and he cared for his subordinates more than anyone, so I had trusted him as much as Karoon. I had never imagined it would lead to this result.

‘So he wasn’t incompetent, but only pretending to be incompetent?’

But how?

Seeing how he leisurely dodged Raon's sword strike, Denier was certainly a Transcender. And a high-level one at that. I couldn't understand how he hid his martial strength from my eyes.

‘Is it an ability other than martial arts?’

Before sending support, I checked Denier's emotions and martial strength just in case, but I didn't feel anything strange. I don't know what the White Blood Religion’s leader did to my son.

[Damn it!]

From within the Blue Window came Chamber’s irritated voice.

[What the hell is this! Why the hell is Denier doing this!]

She gnashed her teeth, saying she couldn’t understand the reason.

“I’m sorry. I ruined everything you all prepared….”

Glenn bowed his head deeply, as if at a loss for words.

[Save your apologies for later! Now is no time to care about that!]

Chamber shook her head, saying this was not the time to argue over Denier’s rights and wrongs.

[We have to take down the White Blood Religion’s leader first. If we let that bitch get away here, everything will collapse!]

She furrowed her brow, saying that the balance of the Five Kings and the Four Demons could tilt in reverse.

[Lecross is gravely wounded, Larian has spent her strength, and Raon is exhausted. You can go, can’t you?]

Chamber raised her eyes filled with trust, saying that Glenn was the only one who could move now.

“Forgive me, but….”

Glenn exhaled a short breath as he looked at Chamber.

“I cannot move from here.”

[What? Why not!]

Chamber’s jaw trembled as if she couldn’t understand.

[Derus is being blocked by that madman, isn’t he! And if by chance the Heavenly Demon comes—]

“No.”

Glenn turned his gaze to the window where the soft sunlight wavered. Shaking his head, he felt the rough surge of crimson combative energy rising behind the North  Grave Mountain as if calling for him.

“He is already here.”

*   *   *

Kugugugugugugu!

The White Blood Religion’s leader swelled the energy wave of Goddess of Blood Devouring Anguish even greater, as if she intended to dry up and kill all of Zieghart and Owen.

Just being exposed to that vast bloody energy made the body feel heavy, and the soul suffer the pain of being crushed.

‘This is….’

Raon furrowed his brow as he looked at the bloody demons arrayed behind the White Blood Religion’s leader.

‘I see no answer.’

Lecross was wounded and unable to exert his strength, Larian had used up all the artifacts prepared to face the White Blood Religion’s leader, and I, too, had used the sword field and lost much of my strength.

I had no idea how to stop the White Blood Religion’s leader, Denier, and the fanatics who have gone mad for them.

“I-I’m fine….”

Lecross raised his blood-soaked hand, lifting his sword.

“I can still fight.”

He said it was an injury he could fully overcome, and ignited an energy wave not unworthy of the name of the Five Kings.

“Experiments are never meant to succeed in one try….”

Larian lifted a magic-imbued dagger above her head and pulled out a staff that looked as though it was twisted from wood, then struck it against the ground.

“If you’re a mage, you keep trying until it works.”

She nodded, as if she had no thought of giving up until the very end, like a mage should.

Uwoooooong!

Between the two who had renewed their resolve, a blue dimensional gate opened and Chamber leapt out.

“Lady Chamber?”

Raon’s eyes went wide as he looked at Chamber.

“Sorry. It’s not your grandfather.”

Chamber closed her eyes, then opened them again, as if to say that was how things had turned out. It seemed Glenn truly could not move.

“But that’s fine. I actually work better with those two.”

She smiled faintly with a lollipop between her lips, as if telling them not to worry.

“So Glenn Zieghart is unable to come.”

The White Blood Religion’s leader smacked her lips as though there was nothing left to be concerned about.

“Even if another wingless insect is added, the result does not change.”

Sensing Chamber’s exhausted state, she let out a sneer.

‘No.’

Raon shook his head as he looked over Lecross, Larian, and Chamber.

‘If Lady Chamber is here as well, then it’s not as if there’s no chance at all.’

Though aside from Larian the two weren’t at their full strength, the same was true for the White Blood Religion’s leader.

‘Even if she healed the wounds, the injuries themselves will still remain.’

Though the White Blood Religion’s leader had restored all her physical wounds, inside her body was surely still damaged.

‘And her strength must be greatly drained too.’

Healing her wounds and fighting at the same time, she must have consumed a massive amount of stamina and bloody energy.

It was true that by summoning the Blood God her might itself had grown stronger, but even she wouldn’t be able to last long.

‘If only there were just one more… Transcender.’

It was when Raon was shaking his head, wishing for one more Transcender.

Kuwaaaaaaang!

From the direction of the fortress wall, a terrifying aura exploded, and something wrapped in white bloody energy crashed into a building behind him.

“Kuuhhh….”

The one who crawled out from beneath the rubble of the building was the First Apostle. With wounds so severe that his ribs were exposed, he gasped for breath.

“L-Leader! P-please….”

Just as the First Apostle, blood streaming from his knees, tried to crawl toward the White Blood Religion’s leader—

Chwaaaak!

A white line drew across the First Apostle’s neck, and his head dropped cleanly like a ball children would kick, rolling across the ground. It was a sword that ignored distance itself.

Thud!

On top of the headless body of the First Apostle, Aris descended, emanating blue currents.

“I saw something filthy, so I came to help.”

Aris nodded, saying that the moment she saw the White Blood Religion’s leader summon the Blood God, she had used her sword field and cut down the First Apostle.

“But….”

She lowered her left eyebrow as she looked at Denier standing behind the White Blood Religion’s leader.

“Why is my little brother dyed like some thug and standing over there?”

Aris tilted her head as if she could not understand the situation.

“Denier Zieghart has betrayed us.”

Raon turned his gaze to Aris. He hadn’t wanted to tell this to her, who bore such deep wounds, but he had no choice.

“Betrayal…?”

Aris’ lips trembled as she looked from Lecross, wounded from being stabbed in the back, to Denier, who stood behind the White Blood Religion’s leader.

“That son of a bitch….”

As if recalling the incident with Sif, red currents flared above her eyes.

“I’ll kill that bastard myself. I can never forgive—”

“No.”

Raon blocked Aris, who was about to rush at Denier.

“Aunt, please join the others and stop the White Blood Religion’s leader.”

He pointed at the White Blood Religion’s leader, who was sneering at them.

“I will cut down that traitor myself.”

As Raon released the icy wrath that had sunk to the depths of his soul, blue frost bloomed like snowflakes and began to drive back the bloody energy filling sky and earth.

“As quickly, and as painfully, as possible.”

 

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