The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman 1348

 Chapter 1348

 

Raon followed Bjorn toward the western edge of Viking Island. As he walked along the neat path, unlike the ones before it, completely free of any undergrowth, he recalled what Bjorn had said moments earlier.

'The flames and swordsmanship I displayed are here as well?'

Before Raon was about to leave, Bjorn had told him that the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's flames were here on this island. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't make sense of what Bjorn had meant.

"Chief."

Raon moved up beside Bjorn as he walked ahead.

"What do you mean my swordsmanship and flames are here on this island?"

He lowered his chin slightly, asking him to explain before they arrived.

“This is a path that only the chief among the Vikings is permitted to walk.”

Bjorn nodded as he pointed to the path they were walking.

"It is the Path of the Warrior, established since the time of our distant ancestors. And the reason this path was created..."

He looked back at Raon and gave a solemn nod.

"...was said to be for a true warrior."

Bjorn flashed eyes burning with heat as he spoke the words true warrior.

"A true warrior?"

Raon tilted his head, his confusion only growing deeper.

“To be honest, when I first became the chief, I couldn't understand why we had to uphold something like this.”

Bjorn let out an awkward chuckle, as though he himself hadn't understood it back then.

"But now I finally do. This path was never meant for us Vikings..."

He raised the fingers shaped by a lifetime as a warrior and pointed at Raon.

"It was meant for you."

Bjorn smiled broadly as he said that the path they were walking now had been made for Raon.

"A path meant for me? What does that..."

Raon's eyes widened even further, feeling as though he was sinking deeper into a maze of confusion.

"It'll be much faster to show you than explain."

As though they had nearly arrived, Bjorn turned back around and continued down the path as it gradually widened.

The King of Essence smells a scam.

Wrath flew over to Bjorn's back and sniffed the air.

The King of Essence believes that viking is trying to sell you off.

He waggled his eyebrows, urging Raon to run while he still had the chance.

'Your instincts are always dead wrong.'

Raon waved a hand, telling him to stop talking nonsense, and continued following Bjorn.

Fwoooosh!

Just before they reached the western edge of the island, where the scent of the sea drifted through the air once more, Bjorn suddenly changed direction. Instead of heading toward the crashing waves, he turned north, where the roar of a waterfall echoed.

After following Bjorn a little farther, Raon caught sight of a colossal waterfall pouring down as though it would smash the island apart. He had never expected such a magnificent waterfall to exist on Viking Island, and his jaw dropped before he realized it.

Its shape, however, was bizarrely twisted, unlike any ordinary waterfall, making it look almost man-made.

"Let's go!"

Declaring that they had finally arrived, Bjorn sprinted toward the waterfall. In a single bound, he leaped across the rocks and disappeared behind the curtain of falling water.

'Is it in there?'

After steadying his breathing, Raon kicked off a moss-covered rock, passed through the torrent, and entered the space behind the waterfall.

'This is the place?'

Darkness.

It was a cave hidden behind the waterfall, where not a single ray of light entered, leaving nothing visible.

'But...'

As Raon walked through the pitch-black cave, he narrowed his eyes.

'It's warm.'

Outside, water colder than ice poured endlessly from the waterfall, and not a trace of light reached the cave's interior. Yet, strangely enough, the cave felt warmer than the world outside.

'And...'

Raon lowered his brows.

'I can feel a familiar energy too.'

The moment he let out a quiet breath and followed Bjorn deeper into the cave—

Fwoooosh!

Golden light bloomed across the cave walls.

No, it wasn't merely light.

It was flame.

Golden flames, radiant like the sun itself, stretched across the cave walls, burning softly like lingering embers.

"This is..."

Raon swallowed hard as he stared at the flames blazing across the walls.

'It's the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.'

The golden flames burning across the walls were flames created by the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.

'And...'

Those lines formed by the flames are sword paths.

The lines woven by the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's flames were the trajectories of swordsmanship. It meant that the flames kindled through those sword strikes had remained upon the cave walls until this very day.

W-What is this?!

Even Wrath's jaw trembled in astonishment.

The traces left behind with aura all those years ago are still burning?

He bit his lip, unable to believe it.

"I told you, didn't I?"

Bjorn turned around with a faint smile.

“I said it would be better to see it for yourself than to hear me explain it.”

He spread his arms, as though presenting the sight before them.

“You're right. This isn't something words can do justice to.”

Raon gave a heavy nod as he looked at the golden flames burning behind Bjorn.

“I'm sure you already know this, Sir Raon, but the lines etched across that wall are the traces of swordsmanship. They were left behind by the warrior who came to this land a thousand years ago.”

Bjorn clenched his fist tightly as he emphasized that they had been left not by the Vikings, but by an outsider.

"Yes. I know."

Raon let out a slow breath and lightly bit his lip.

'I had a feeling they were the first head of house's traces. But...'

I never imagined that the flames the first head  of house left behind would still be burning to this day.

"The Viking Island where we stand today was not originally an island."

With utterly earnest eyes that left no room for doubt, Bjorn spoke words that were difficult to believe.

“It was torn away from the edge of the continent during the war between that warrior and the black monster.”

He lowered his eyebrows while saying something that would only appear in a myth.

"Those traces were left behind by the warrior from that distant past as he fought the black monster."

Bjorn drew a deep breath, saying that the traces of the first head of house's battle had continued burning even after all this time.

"Hmm..."

Raon frowned as he looked once more at the traces of swordsmanship.

What nonsense!

Wrath scoffed.

Your ancestor lived a thousand years ago! How could flames from back then still be burning?!

He shook his head, saying that even he couldn't accomplish such a thing.

If it were ice, that would be one thing, but flames with nothing left to burn are—

‘No.’

Raon cut Wrath off without hesitation.

'Those are my ancestor's flames. And...'

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the black substance crackling within the golden flames.

'There is still something left for them to burn.'

The first head of house's flames were not simply burning the cave walls. Even now, they continued to sear the black monster's energy clinging to their surface.

'So the black monster really was anima.'

The black monster has to be anima, whose black-and-white eyes are reversed. Just as I suspected before, it seems the first head of house was unable to bring the war to an end even after defeating the Dragon of Destruction.

'Ha...'

Raon slowly clenched his trembling hand into a fist.

‘Splitting the land apart to create an island... and flames that have burned for a thousand years…This wasn't a war between gods and demons, so what in the world...’

Even seeing it with his own eyes, it was so unbelievable that he couldn't help letting out a hollow laugh.

'But...'

Raon narrowed his eyes slightly as he studied the swordsmanship traces carved across the wall.

'What sword technique is this?'

After reaching Absolute realm, I've become capable of wielding every sword technique of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, yet the sword technique the first head of house left behind on this island is something completely unfamiliar to me.

'I don't understand.'

Even at my current realm, I still can't fully comprehend the sword technique left behind by the first head of house.

'Let's see...'

After steadying his breathing, Raon activated both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire at the same time.

Wooooong!

The moment he activated both the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation, the first head of house's flames burning across the cave wall responded as though answering his call. Their light and heat steadily intensified as they resumed burning away anima's energy.

'Hmm.'

Watching the flames grow ever brighter, Raon lightly bit his lip.

'I can see it... just a little.'

Only after pushing both the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation and the Ring of Fire to their utmost limits did he finally understand what the first head of house had left behind.

'This isn't merely a sword technique meant to kill enemies.'

It was a sword that cleaved the world.

Even after being cut down time and again by the first head of house, anima continued to revive and return. To destroy such an existence once and for all, it seems the first head house went so far as to alter the very laws of the world.

Unlike before, the first head of house's memories aren't surfacing within me, so I have no way of knowing how that fight ended. Perhaps it was such a desperate struggle that even the first head of house was unable to leave behind any memories.

Gasp...

Wrath gasped and trembled.

T-To think such a madman actually existed!

It seemed that, through the intensified flames, even Wrath had sensed the first head of house's true martial essence lingering within those traces.

"What do you think?"

Bjorn raised his chin as he pointed toward the wall.

“Just as I told you, Sir Raon's flames and swordsmanship are here, aren't they?”

He smiled, saying he had known those flames and that swordsmanship were connected to Raon.

“You're right. This person and I are indeed connected. However...”

Raon walked over to the cave wall and gently ran his hand over the first head's flames, which still radiated heat.

"This isn't something I can replicate as I am now."

I thought I'd reached the point where I could at least imitate the first head of house's swordsmanship to some extent, but I was completely mistaken. I'm still a long way from reaching his level.

'Perhaps...'

Raon traced the first head of house's lingering traces with his fingertip and lowered his brows.

'The first head of house was probably at both his strongest and his oldest when he left these behind.'

Although his swordsmanship had surpassed even the Absolute realm, the body that wielded it had clearly grown old and frail. It seemed the first head of house had been on the verge of death when he left these traces.

Fwoooooosh!

As Raon traced the first head of house's swordsmanship from beginning to end with the tip of his finger, the golden flames lingering upon the wall flared violently, as though they were about to erupt.

KWAAAAAAH!

Blazing with heat like molten lava, the first head's flames completely burned away the last faint remnants of anima's energy before slowly dying down. For the first time in a thousand years, darkness descended upon the cave.

"Gah!"

Startled by the flames' sudden disappearance, Bjorn frantically waved his large arms.

"W-What happened?! How did the flames suddenly disappear?!"

Believing them to be the traces left behind by the warrior of old, he stamped his feet, unsure of what to do.

"No. They haven't disappeared."

Raon thought of the first head of house's flames and swordsmanship, not at his fingertips, but engraved permanently within him. He slowly closed his eyes before opening them again.

Although he had not witnessed the first head of house's memories, it seemed today's experience had allowed him to find yet another path to grow stronger.

"His sword remains with me."

Resolving to continue pursuing the first head of house's swordsmanship, Raon grasped Heavenly Drive.

*   *   *

"Then I'll be on my way."

Raon bowed his head to Bjorn.

“Thank you truly for the final gift.”

Thanking him for showing him the traces left behind by the first head of house, he rested his hand on Heavenly Drive, which still seemed to radiate warmth.

“No, no! We're the ones who owe you a great debt!”

Bjorn shook his head vigorously, insisting Raon should never say such a thing.

“As promised, when the day of war comes, every Viking will fight on the side of the Five Kings. No... at the forefront of Zieghart!”

Clenching his massive fist, he declared that the Vikings would wage war against Eden beneath Zieghart's banner.

“I look forward to it.”

Raon nodded, thanking him once more.

“Our benefactor is leaving!”

As Bjorn stomped the ground and raised his fist high, the Vikings behind him all stepped forward at once.

“See them off until the sea opens!”

Bjorn pounded his chest with his fist as he let out a roar powerful enough to shake the island, and the other Vikings followed suit. Though fierce and intimidating, the Vikings' salute was so spirited and boisterous that Raon could feel the warmth of their camaraderie.

"Pay your respects to the comrades who trained with us!"

Receiving the Vikings' salute, which resonated deep within his chest, Raon drew Heavenly Drive and offered a sword salute in return.

Shiiing!

The Light Wind swordsmen likewise drew their swords and returned the salute to the Vikings, with whom they had trained over the past week.

Schiiing!

After exchanging his final farewell, Raon turned away without a trace of hesitation. A satisfied smile spread across his face, knowing he had gained yet more people to whom he could entrust his back.

“We're finally heading back.”

Aris yawned and shook her head.

“Looks like you all had plenty of fun, but I was bored out of my mind.”

She clicked her tongue, saying everything had wrapped up so quickly that it had been far less entertaining than she'd expected.

"Ugh, I bet the trip back is going to be boring too."

Aris waved a hand dismissively, saying the voyage back was nothing but the same old stretch of sea.

“Then shall I make sure it isn't?”

Raon gave Aris, who had let out a sigh, a faint smile.

"Make sure it isn't boring? How?"

Aris blinked, looking completely puzzled.

“If you'll permit me...”

Curling the corners of his lips into a faint smile, Raon beckoned toward the sea with a finger.

“I'll make sure our trip back is anything but boring.”

 

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