The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1248

 Chapter 1248

 

“Damn it!”

Martha clamped her teeth down hard and sprinted toward the Birdnew village.

‘Of all the times to be away! No, did they wait for me to leave before they struck?’

The Light Wind Palace was hailed as the strongest armed organization in Zieghart, but that reputation owed eighty percent of its weight to a single monster, Raon.

Without him, the Light Wind Palace alone still struggled against top-tier experts. I had to get there as fast as possible.

Scrrk!

Martha bit her lip until blood welled up.

‘Why am I so slow?!’

My current might was at very peak Grandmaster level. After being utterly crushed by Runaan, I had trained without sleep alongside mom, pushing myself one step closer to the wall of Transcendence. And yet today, my footwork felt unbearably sluggish, like a worm crawling through mud.

‘Just a little faster.’

Grinding her teeth, Martha tore through the dense forest and burst onto the narrow path where Birdnew village came into view.

‘If I just keep running like this, huh?’

She was just about to explode her Titan’s aura and launch herself forward at full speed.

Boom!

Humans in red uniforms who appeared to be Eden’s demons were literally bursting apart. The Green demons weren't faring any better, their torsos were being cleaved in half before collapsing onto the blackened ground.

It was overwhelming might. The Light Wind Palace swordsmen were trampling the advancing demons of Eden while maintaining an even more refined Light Wind Sword Formation.

“…Huh.”

Martha calmed the boiling aura within her and walked slowly into the village.

Craaaash!

Despite being several times more numerous, Eden’s Green Demons and Red Demons could not leave even the tiniest scratch on the Light Wind Palace’s sword formation and were swept away like an ebbing tide. They looked like moths rushing into blazing crimson flames.

“…Did I come here for nothing?”

Martha scratched the back of her head and tilted it.

"I should have stayed and kept investigating... No, wait. I don't know where that bastard might be."

The demon that stabbed the swordsmen from behind and left them rotting. Their identity was still unknown, so getting this information to the others as quickly as possible was the right call.

‘Besides, those guys are just extras.’

The truly dangerous ones in Eden weren’t the cannon fodder, the Red and Green Demons, but the executives wearing monster masks and helmets.

Even if the dirty work was handled by the Red Demons and Green Demons, but most of Eden’s true might lay with the helmeted executives. It was far too early to relax.

“Hoo.”

After letting out a deep breath, Martha headed not toward the center of Birdnew village where the Light Wind Palace was maintaining the sword formation, but toward the outskirts packed with Red Demons and Green Demons.

“Ugh!”

“Hngh!”

The demons spotted her and immediately tried to rush in, barely bothering to raise any sort of guard before thrusting their blades.

“Too slow!”

Martha sneered and brought her sword down. Terrifying aura erupted along the entire blade, blasting apart not just the enemies in front of her, but all the Red and Green Demons around them.

Kaboom!

But as if the emotion called fear had been carved out of them, the Red Demons and Green Demons charged at the slaughtering Martha without the slightest hesitation.

"I like it! At least you lunatics aren't boring!"

Martha ignited her Titan’s aura and ripped through the charging demons like a wild boar, carving a path toward the center of the village where the Light Wind Palace stood.

"Quite the flashy entrance."

Burren, holding the center of the formation, gave a wry smile as he looked at the blood-soaked Martha.

“You know I’m always like this.”

She shrugged, as if to ask when she’d ever done it differently.

“So? What did you find?”

Burren jerked his chin, prompting her for the results of her investigation.

“They were were stabbed from behind. There were no signs they resisted afterward, but most of the bodies were already rotting. I can’t tell yet whether the enemy was so strong they couldn’t react, or if it was some kind of sorcery.”

She nodded as she relayed exactly what she’d seen.

“I see. Stabbed from behind…”

Burren narrowed his eyes as if considering several possibilities.

“By the way, where’s that idiot?”

Martha frowned when she realized Runaan wasn’t inside the sword formation.

“Over there.”

Burren raised a finger and pointed to the right.

Ruuuumble!

From the right side, which was packed with Red Demons and Green Demons, a gigantic mountain of ice rose up. Within the pure white freezing frost, Red Demons and Green Demons were frozen solid, having become the very materials of the mountain.

Haaaah.

The overwhelming cold radiating from the iceberg froze the legs of nearby demons in place. Compared to those trapped inside the ice, they were almost lucky, others were torn apart by the cold itself, dying in grotesque shapes as their bodies were shredded by frost.

“Hoo…”

A silver-haired beauty descended gracefully atop the bloodless corpses of the frozen demons. Her flowing movements made her look like a fairy stepping down from the heavens, or a demon crawling up from a frozen hell.

“…Ugh.”

Martha shuddered as she felt the vicious cold storm raging around Runaan’s blade.

‘This is just ridiculous.…’

She’s gotten stronger again.

Runaan still hadn’t crossed the wall of Transcendence, yet somehow she was unleashing energy waves and might on par with a Transcender. Until now, only Raon had ever done something like that. By all common sense, it shouldn’t have been possible.

‘What kind of sorcery is this?’

Evelyn only said that Runaan had been afflicted by a sorcery. She did not know who had cast the sorcery, or by what method it had been placed, for Runaan to possess might like that.

Crunch!

Runaan crushed the frozen corpses beneath her feet and advanced toward the demons to the north.

“Ghk!”

“Ugh…”

The Red Demons and Green Demons were originally not supposed to feel fear, but crushed by Runaan’s absolute energy wave and killing intent, they let out low groans and retreated backward.

Claaang!

With icy composure, Runaan swung her sword, freezing the retreating demons pure white before shattering them to pieces.

“Eden…”

As if her anger had still not been released, she raised a chilling energy wave and approached the remaining demons.

Ssssh.

It was just as Runaan was about to step her footwork while freezing the ground silver.

Bang!

From among the blood-soaked bushes, figures wearing monster helmets and masks burst out. They were Eden’s executives who commanded the Red Demons and Green Demons. As if they thought the situation had tilted too far against them, they could no longer wait and revealed themselves.

Ruuuumble!

The executives surged forward, releasing combative energy powerful enough to shake the earth as they attacked the Light Wind Palace swordsmen maintaining the formation.

“They’re Eden’s executives!”

“Focus your minds!”

“Maintain the formation more tightly!”

The Light Wind Palace swordsmen also did not let their guard down, reinforcing the formation to block the advancing Red Demons, Green Demons, and the executives’ assault.

Claaang!

The executives were nothing like the fodder. Even the swordsmen who had been slaughtering Red and Green Demons with ease now frowned as they struggled to withstand the executives’ martial arts and sorcery.

In truth, if the Light Wind Palace swordsmen went on the offensive, they could have wiped them out. But their mission wasn’t slaughter, it was escorting the Shadow Agents investigation squad. To protect those in the center, they couldn’t abandon their positions.

“Runaan!”

Martha raised her hand and shouted.

“Now’s not the time for this! Get back in the formation!”

She stomped her foot, telling Runaan to return to where she was supposed to be.

“….”

Runaan lowered the sword she’d been swinging so savagely and turned around. She glanced toward the Light Wind swordsmen, then slashed at the enemy in front of her instead.

Boom!

The monster-helmeted orc and the Red Demons behind it burst into a spray of blood at the same time. She showed no intention of joining the formation, focusing solely on killing.

“Damn it! Shit!”

Gritting her teeth, Martha rushed in and took Runaan’s place in the Light Wind Sword Formation.

“What is wrong with her?! Why won’t she listen?!”

She snarled as she blocked the incoming assault from a troll-masked enemy.

“This pisses me off so badly!”

Stomping forward, she brought her sword down and blew open the troll’s chest just as it raised its axe to strike.

"Weren't you always exactly like that?"

Burren gave a dry chuckle as he looked at the angry Martha.

“W-when did I ever—!”

Martha spun around to face him, her jaw trembling.

“Even when Raon told you to stay put, you rushed out front every single time and swung your sword. You’re not going to say you didn’t know, are you?”

Burren shrugged as if asking why she was pretending not to know when she clearly did.

"Ugh..."

Martha bit her lip, silenced because he was right.

“For now, it’s fine if she runs wild,” Burren said. “They’re not that strong.”

He narrowed his eyes to thin slits as he watched Eden’s executives and demons hammer uselessly at the Light Wind Sword Formation, unable to break through.

“What I don’t get is why they attacked even though they knew they couldn’t win.”

Eden had launched an assault just as expected, yet their numbers and might were lower than anticipated. That discrepancy seemed to unsettle him more than reassure him.

“They might be hiding another scheme,” Martha said, slicing through the necks of four Green Demons at once and smacking her lips.

“Either way, we just do our job.”

She nodded, saying they only needed to protect the Shadow Agents investigation squad, exactly as ordered from the lord’s manor.

“For you to say something like that, tomorrow the sun must rise in the west.”

Burren let out a light laugh, genuinely surprised.

“It feels like you and Runaan have swapped personalities.”

He frowned as he watched Runaan slaughter Eden’s demons and executives.

“She’s gotten stronger again. The rate of her growth is absurd.”

A shiver ran through Burren’s shoulders, as if Runaan’s might gave him goosebumps.

“Yeah. Annoyingly strong,” Martha muttered, lightly biting her lip.

“But I’m not envious.”

Because her personality had changed too.

Normally, when we used the Light Wind Sword Formation, Runaan would use her frost like a defensive wind, blocking powerful attacks and supporting the other swordsmen. She had always seemed to enjoy that role. But now, her very nature was different.

Kraaaash!

Runaan spewed out massive frost, covering every enemy existing before her beneath white frost. Whether the swordsmen behind her were fighting or not, she did not care at all, focusing solely on killing the enemies.

‘I have to stop her. But…’

Martha slipped a hand into her pocket, pressing her lips together as she touched the snake bracelet Evelyn had given her.

‘Can I really do it?’

The gap in their actual strength was growing wider. Even with the artifact imbued with Evelyn’s mana, she wasn’t sure she could stop Runaan.

‘No. Even so, I have to try.’

Martha shook her head and clenched her fist.

‘Just like Raon did for me.’

Raon had not forgotten the promise he made with her when they were young, and without seeking anything in return, he had defeated the White Blood Religion’s leader and saved her mother. She too wanted to save Runaan in the same way, asking for nothing in return.

Ruuuumble!

While Martha was steeling her resolve, the remaining Eden demons began to retreat in terror, as if they had finally hit an immovable wall.

“R-retreat! Fall back!”

“Everyone out! That’s impossible to break through!”

With fewer than three executives left, Eden finally realized they couldn’t even scratch the Light Wind Palace or the Shadow Agents. They ordered a retreat, pulling back in haste.

“Everyone, with—”

Just as the executives tried to scatter in different directions, each desperate to survive—

Whooooosh!

From the sky above Birdnew village, delicate white frost flowers drifted down. The moment the tiny petals touched the ground, they turned the surroundings into a slick sheet of ice. When they touched flesh, they froze not just skin, but bone.

“Aaaagh!”

“Ghhhk!”

Eden’s executives, Red Demons, and Green Demons, those trying to flee the village, were caught in Runaan’s mysterious martial art. They froze solid on the spot, becoming blocks of ice. Terror of the frost lingered in their eyes as they crumbled into white statues.

“Eden…”

Only after erasing every last demons that had attacked Birdnew village did Runaan lower her sword.

“I’ll… kill them all….”

As if venting the fear and trauma she had received from Syria Sullion onto Eden instead, she released a chilling wave energy.

“Uh….”

“L-Lady Runaan?”

“I knew she was strong, but this is… more than I expected…”

The Light Wind Palace swordsmen and even the Shadow Agents members stared, their eyes trembling at Runaan’s overwhelming might and ruthless methods.

“I-I’ll report this to Zieghart immediately.”

The team leader of the Shadow Agents investigation squad cautiously unfolded a sheet of paper. He even took out a pen, deciding this attack had to be reported to the house.

“Hey!”

Martha approached Runaan with her nose wrinkled.

“What is wrong with you?! Your position isn’t there, and you know it!”

In the Light Wind Palace, everyone had an assigned position and role during battle. Today, Runaan had ignored that entire system and rampaged on her own, and Martha wasn't about to let it slide.

“Our mission right now is—”

“They were weak….”

Runaan shook her head, her eyes darkened and scorched.

“They couldn’t even… lay a fingertip… on the Light Wind Palace….”

She jutted her chin, saying that because they were weak, she moved as she pleased.

“That’s not the point! There could have been a Transcender or a vicious sorcerer hiding among the enemy, so we always have to be prepared—”

Just as Martha, unusually serious, grabbed Runaan by the shoulder to make her point—

“Let go….”

Runaan slapped Martha’s hand away and cast a chilling gaze behind her.

“There’s still one left….”

As if she’d sensed a hidden presence from Eden, she kicked off the ground and shot forward.

Baaang!

The Eden executive who had been hiding seemed startled by Runaan’s charge and immediately leapt up into a tree. He was wearing an helmet, but with a hood pulled over it, she couldn’t tell which monster it was meant to represent.

“Die….”

Runaan thrust her sword forward, intent on killing him whether he ran or not. But the executive twisted his body in an uncanny way, slipping past every strike before fleeing west.

“Hah….”

Runaan exhaled coldly and moved with her footwork, releasing a chilling energy wave as she gave chase.

“….”

Martha looked back and forth between Runaan and the executive who had somehow dodged that onslaught. A cold shiver ran down her spine.

‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’

Runaan’s unnatural state, the unidentified Eden executive, and the chaos she’d witnessed so far all flashed through her mind, sending a chill crawling up her spine.

“Burren!”

Martha drew her Titan’s Aura up to its limit and jerked her chin toward him.

“Let’s go too!”

She bit her lip as she gestured toward Runaan’s back, which was growing faint in the distance.

“We’re going after our sleepy little sister.”

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