The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1250

 Chapter 1250

 

Shraaah!

Runaan launched herself forward, her silver footwork tearing up the earth. In a blink, she slipped behind the robed man and plunged her razor-sharp frost blade straight down.

“Urgh!”

The robed man let out a short cry and twisted his body hard. By the narrowest margin, he deflected Runaan’s strike and kicked off a tree, leaping far away.

“Seriously….”

Runaan exhaled a rough, irritated breath, unable to suppress the annoyance bubbling up inside her, and chased after him.

She pushed through the forest with footwork so fast her vision blurred, but the robed man made perfect use of the terrain, refusing to be caught to the very end.

“Stop running already….”

The moment she burst out of the forest and saw the brown field spreading out before her, Runaan bit down on her lip until it bled.

“Just die….”

She erased her presence completely, like a predator, and fired a sword strike at the robed man as he slipped through the reeds.

Kwagagagag!

The ground struck by Runaan’s attack froze over in pure white, and the reeds swaying in the wind stiffened as if time itself had stopped.

“Urgh!”

The robed man screamed as he burst out of the reed field, yet not a single visible wound marked his body. It meant he had perfectly avoided even that wide-ranging attack.

Thududududu!

Judging that he could no longer rely on terrain, the robed man began tearing across the open field at full speed. Perhaps he hadn’t been running at his true limit until now, he shot forward so fast he was barely visible.

“Haa….”

Grinding her teeth, Runaan bent her knees and lowered her center of gravity. She was just about to activate her footwork again and chase him down to the end—

Thump!

Two figures dropped down in front of her, swords in hand.

“That’s enough!”

Martha blocked Runaan’s path and shook her head.

“Stop chasing him.”

She regripped her sword, making it unmistakably clear she wouldn’t let Runaan continue acting on her own.

“Martha’s right.”

Burren stepped up beside her and nodded calmly.

“I never thought I’d be the one saying she’s right, but this time she is.”

He also told Runaan not to pursue the robed man, cutting off the path she would have taken.

“Why…?”

Runaan lifted her darkened eyes, clearly unable to understand.

“He’s the enemy…. Eden, at that….”

She clenched her teeth as she stared at the robed man’s back beyond Martha and Burren.

“You saw it too….”

Her breath came out thick with killing intent.

“They’re all… bastards who need to die….”

She bared her white teeth, insisting that not a single demon of Eden should be left alive.

“Yeah. On that, I agree.”

Martha nodded in agreement with Runaan.

“Then move aside….”

Runaan tightened her grip on her sword until it creaked, saying she would finish it herself.

“No. Still not happening.”

Even faced with Runaan’s murderous gaze, Martha calmly shook her head.

“That bastard….”

She pointed at the robed man, who hadn’t fully fled but was lingering at a distance, hidden and catching his breath.

“He’s luring you.”

Martha frowned, saying the Eden executive in the robe was deliberately luring Runaan.

“I could tell for sure from behind.”

Burren let out a low sigh.

“From the start, he’s been maintaining a distance where you feel you can catch him, but never quite do. He’s been intentionally drawing you this way.”

He glared at the robed man, saying he thought the same as Martha.

“Lure….”

Runaan clicked her tongue softly.

“I know…. Even so… I have to catch him….”

Whether it was a trap or not, she didn’t care. A cold energy wave poured out of her as she declared she would kill him no matter what.

“I said no!”

Martha stomped her foot in frustration, and the ground shook as if a small earthquake had struck, fueled by her surging emotions.

“Who knows what’s waiting out there!”

She snorted like an enraged bull.

“The swordsmen who died at the border were stabbed from behind without even a chance to resist, and their bodies were already rotting! There could be a Transcender warrior or sorcerer waiting!”

She shook her head fiercely, insisting they must not go beyond Zieghart’s boundary.

“It doesn’t matter… what’s there….”

Runaan parted her dry, cracked lips.

“I can… kill them all….”

She raised her sword, revealing strong confidence in her own might.

“Damn it, talking to you is like talking to a brick wall!”

Martha shouted, having reached her limit.

“Runaan.”

Burren stepped forward, placing a hand on Martha’s shoulder.

“Our mission isn’t to wipe out Eden. It’s to escort the Shadow Agents. All we have to do is protect them until their investigation is finished, there’s no need to chase the enemy.”

He shook his head and continued, calmly explaining why pursuing the enemy made no sense.

“Especially that guy, he’s openly luring us. The right move here is to pull back. No, we’ve already gone too far.”

He rolled his eyes, noting how much farther they’d strayed from Zieghart’s border than expected.

“As palace master, I order you. Full Moon Squad leader, withdraw immediately and rejoin the investigation squad.”

This was no longer a request as a friend, but an order given as vice palace master.

“…Hmph.”

Runaan lowered her sword and frowned, as if she couldn’t ignore Burren’s words spoken in his role as vice palace master.

“Finally, something gets through.”

Martha shrugged.

“And don’t forget, think about Raon too.”

She sighed, asking what Raon would say if he saw Runaan like this.

“Raon….”

The moment his name left Martha’s lips, purple light and deep black rose together in Runaan’s eyes. The air around her felt both heavy and strangely bright at the same time.

“Huh…?”

Martha tilted her head at the sudden change.

Sssss.

The robed man, who had been keeping his distance, walked toward the center of the frozen field and slipped a hand into his robe.

“Careful!”

“Don’t let your guard down.”

Martha and Burren raised their swords, eyes locked on him.

But what the robed man held wasn’t a weapon, it was a flower crown woven from several blossoms.

It was crudely made, like something a child would put together, and strangely, every flower was soaked in blood, staining the whole thing red.

“Flowers?”

“A crown…?”

Martha and Burren stared, eyes wide at the unexpected sight.

“Doesn't look like an artifact...?”

Martha scrunched her nose, unable to comprehend it.

“Stay alert.”

Burren let out a slow breath.

“It could be an object imbued with sorcery.”

He gestured behind them, suggesting they withdraw carefully.

“Runaan. Like I said, we’re pulling back. We head straight to Birdnew village, hmm?”

He was in the middle of telling Runaan to retreat as well when—

“Haa….”

Runaan stared at the flower crown in the robed man’s hand, breathing hard. It was as if she’d forgotten Burren’s order and Martha’s words entirely, her body was already coiling to spring forward.

“That crown….”

Runaan pressed her lips together while looking at the crudely made flower crown.

“He killed them…. That bastard… those children too….”

In her dark, dead eyes, an urgency and desperation never seen before began to bloom again. It was a change so drastic it felt as if she had become a different person.

“Children? What are you talking about right now!”

“Snap out of it!”

She grabbed Runaan’s shoulder and shook her hard.

“Is it sorcery?”

Burren narrowed his eyes as he examined Runaan’s condition.

“No. I don’t feel any disturbance in the mana flow.”

Biting his lip, he said the problem had to be the flower crown in the robed man’s hand.

“That damn midget, playing dirty like this!”

Martha snapped, glaring at the robed man—

Paaak!

Runaan roughly knocked away Martha’s hand.

“Move.”

Rare for her, she didn't draw out her words. She ended it firmly.

“Huh…?”

“R-Runaan….”

Not only Martha, but Burren too stared at her in shock.

“That flower crown… it’s something I was given.”

Runaan ground her teeth, her resolve to kill the robed man hardening.

“No!”

Martha shook her head, refusing outright to let her go.

“I can’t allow it either. I won’t knowingly send a comrade, no, a friend, to her death.”

Burren pressed his foot hard into the ground, making it clear he wouldn’t back down.

“Then I’ll fight my way through.”

Runaan shook her head, utterly unwilling to retreat. Her eyes reddened, the desperation she was holding back finally beginning to show.

“Damn it all… this is a mess.”

Grinding her teeth in irritation, Martha raised her sword.

“So it really turned out the way you said, Martha.”

Burren let out a short chuckle and shook his head at her.

“Let’s just hope the outcome matches as well.”

As long as the ending was good, he said, he’d ask for nothing more, lifting his sword.

“……”

Runaan leveled her frost-covered blade at them, her stance making it clear she had no intention of backing down.

“Come at me.”

“I thought I might fight Martha for real someday, but Runaan? Life is full of surprises.”

Martha and Burren steadied their breathing, ready for battle.

“Don’t stop me. If you try, you’ll get hurt.”

Silver light washed over Runaan’s body. Snow poured down from the sky, and the ground began to freeze over in stark white. When she fully unleashed her power, it felt as though she was seizing control of the very weather.

Ruuuumble!

The snowflakes she created struck with power greater than even astral energy, smashing the ground apart and freezing it solid on impact. Frost bloomed across the land, radiating a vicious cold that seemed capable of imprisoning even a living soul.

She gazed down at Burren and Martha, exuding a terrifying majesty, as though she herself had become a goddess of winter.

Kuuuuwoong!

When Martha planted her left foot at a sharp angle, magma-like heat erupted from the ground, wiping away the cold Runaan had spread.

“I haven’t exactly been slacking either. It’s a bit early, but…”

She lifted her chin and breathed out a chill-laced sigh.

“I’ll take you down.”

A cold smile curved her lips, as if telling Runaan to look forward to it.

“And after that, I’m killing that bastard too.”

She let murky killing intent spill toward the robed Eden executive, who was watching the scene with clear enjoyment.

“Haa….”

Burren gripped his sword with both hands, exhaling a hot breath. The snowflakes and frost approaching him melted, sliced apart as if cut by invisible blades. With sharpness as if a human had transformed into a sword, it felt like even the air of the field was being cleaved.

“Let’s see how far father’s training really carries me.”

Burren, too, released an energy wave that did not yield even an inch to Runaan, who had become an ice goddess, as if full of confidence.

Ruuuumble!

The pressure radiating from Runaan, Martha, and Burren collided at the center of the field. The sky bled into three distinct colors, and the ground began to split apart, as if the land itself were on the verge of collapsing.

Bang!

At the instant the three energy waves collided and a burst of sparks shot into the air, Runaan leapt straight between Burren and Martha. From her blade, silk-like threads of frost unfurled, crushing down on the space between them.

Zzzrrrk!

Just before the attack reached their skin, Martha and Burren unleashed their own swords. Martha’s heavy strike shoved the frost aside, while Burren’s sharp blade tore mercilessly through the cold.

Like enemies meeting on a battlefield, the three fired killing blows at one another, each aiming for the smallest opening.

Kraaaash!

As warriors standing before the wall of Transcendence clashed, fierce winds tore across the field.

The sharp, north-like wind caught the hood of the Eden executive who had lured Runaan there, pulling it back slightly.

“A-ah….”

Not a monster, but a small-framed man wearing a forest wild rabbit helmet trembled, his voice thick as if he were holding back tears.

“Big sister Runaan….”

 

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