Namgung Heavenly Demon - Chapter 116
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 116
Gwiju Guiyang, Sable Alliance Branch.
The Guard Captains of the Saeongdae who had returned from Manmangok held their breath with hardened faces like beasts dragged to a slaughterhouse.
Cold sweat trickled down the spines of those who didn’t even dare to raise their eyes to look at the head seat.
Soon, breaking the heavy silence that had settled, an angry roar erupted along with a thunderous sound as if the table would shatter.
Bang!
“Damn it! It was just one man, one man! To think we couldn’t catch just one man!”
Sohan’s face twisted crimson with rage.
Moreover, it didn’t stop at just letting him escape – thirty percent of the deployed forces were annihilated.
The damage suffered while rushing to kill just one person was far too devastating a result.
His bloodshot eyes turned toward the burly man standing like a rock in one corner of the room.
“Black Wind Division Leader! How does it make sense that someone called the Sword of the Alliance couldn’t subdue a mere youngster like that?”
Akmugyeol casually touched the bloodstained bandage wrapped around his left arm and replied.
“He wasn’t at the Transcendent Realm.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“He was at the Supreme Realm.”
In an instant, Sohan’s pupils shook violently.
Supreme Realm.
A level that completely transcends human limitations.
To think such a realm was reached at barely twenty years of age?
It was utterly unbelievable.
“The Military Strategist clearly said he was at the Transcendent Realm. So you’re saying that information was wrong?”
“It was wrong. Very wrong at that.”
Akmugyeol nodded heavily.
“It was precisely because he was at the Supreme Realm that he could break through all those encirclements single-handedly. The fact that I ended up in this state despite using my full power is proof of that, isn’t it?”
Akmugyeol’s gaze pierced through Sohan as he stared at him.
“If Division Leader So had faced him directly, you wouldn’t even be standing in this place now. Consider yourself fortunate that your head is still attached.”
“…”
Sohan’s complexion flushed again.
He moved his lips to retort, but when he recalled that azure sword energy he had witnessed at Manmangok, his throat became blocked.
However, he couldn’t back down like this.
It was obvious he would end up shouldering the responsibility for the defeat.
“So you plan to report back empty-handed? When the Military Strategist learns of this fact…”
“Handle the report yourself. More importantly, we’ll be returning now.”
Akmugyeol’s sudden announcement.
Sohan, who couldn’t grasp the situation, stared blankly at Akmugyeol, then soon burst into hollow laughter as if dumbfounded.
“…Are you in your right mind? You’re saying you’ll return to headquarters after letting Namgung Cheon escape and failing to complete the mission?”
“We received intelligence that something has happened to the Small Alliance Leader.”
Sohan’s expression hardened coldly.
“What kind of dog-like nonsense is that all of a sudden? Where exactly did you hear such rubbish? Present your evidence!”
Sohan screamed and blocked their path.
To abandon the Alliance’s orders and retreat without evidence was clearly insubordination and treason.
If things went wrong, the entire Black Wind Division could be purged – it was a critical matter.
However, Akmugyeol didn’t even blink.
“I cannot show you. It’s classified.”
“Classified?”
“Besides, is there any reason I should explain matters related to the Small Alliance Leader’s safety to assassins? Especially when you’re the most suspicious ones in the first place.”
Blatant distrust, as if saying aren’t you the main culprits trying to harm the Small Alliance Leader.
At those words, Sohan’s reason snapped.
“Akmugyeol, how dare you!”
The moment Sohan shot up from his seat and unleashed killing intent.
Kwaaaaang―!
Explosive momentum burst forth from Akmugyeol’s entire body along with the sound of air tearing.
His overwhelming aura, having reached the peak of the Transcendent Realm, shook the entire space.
Furniture vibrated, and the teacup on the table cracked, unable to withstand the pressure.
“…!”
Sohan was also pushed back by that aura.
He looked at Akmugyeol with trembling eyes.
The Saeongdae had already lost thirty percent of their main force at Manmangok.
In contrast, Akmugyeol’s Black Wind Division was still intact except for their injured leader.
Above all, the killing intent Akmugyeol was now emitting was genuine.
A clear will that he would really cut off their heads if they didn’t step aside.
“Don’t stop me. Let my blade not be used to cut down a fellow Sable Alliance Division Leader.”
Akmugyeol’s eyes gleamed coldly.
Sohan bit his lips and trembled with clenched fists.
The Military Strategist’s orders and the Small Alliance Leader’s safety.
If someone were asked which of these two held greater justification, a hundred out of a hundred would say the latter.
Moreover, if he drew his sword now, a battle with the Black Wind Division would break out.
Not only himself, but all of the Saeongdae would die.
Sohan gritted his teeth and spat out words as if chewing them.
“…I will definitely report all of this.”
“Do as you please.”
Akmugyeol casually waved his hand, then turned and left the office.
Soon after, the sound of over a hundred Black Wind Corps members waiting in the branch courtyard mounting their horses could be heard.
Thud thud thud thud―!
With the sound of hoofbeats shaking the earth, the Black Wind Division instantly departed from the branch.
Sohan stood blankly by the window, watching the black dots growing distant.
Anger, futility, and an inexplicable anxiety all surged at once.
“…Damn bastard.”
He spat murky phlegm on the floor and ground his teeth.
But soon after, a bitter sneer spread across his previously contorted face.
In the end, regardless of justification, Akmugyeol had directly defied the Military Strategist’s orders.
“He’s going to dig his own grave.”
Therefore, there was no need to be angry anymore.
Rather, anticipation began to rise.
“He’ll learn exactly how devastating it will be.”
What the price of defying the Military Strategist was.
And who the true master of the Alliance was in the Alliance Leader’s absence.
A strange smile eerily played around Sohan’s lips.
* * *
In one corner of the branch’s inner quarters, the stone chamber used as a temporary treatment room was filled with damp humidity and the metallic scent of blood.
In the darkness where not even torches were lit, the only sounds were the rough breathing of Saeong Daewon members groaning on straw beds.
There were ten wounded brought from Manmangok in total.
Among them, in the furthest corner where shadows lay thick, a man was lying down.
With thick bandages wrapped around his head covering his face, he hadn’t moved at all since being brought in on a cart.
Rumble rumble rumble―.
Then, rough vibrations echoing through the stone chamber.
“….”
The assassin who had been lying as if dead, Namgung Cheon, slowly opened his eyes.
Flash.
Without raising his body, he expanded his ki sense.
The remaining energies within the branch were insignificant.
Akmugyeol had kept his promise and taken all of the Black Wind Division with him.
What remained were only the Sayeongdae and branch warriors whose levels weren’t particularly high.
‘In that case.’
Namgung Cheon slowly raised his upper body.
Rustle—.
At the sound of the straw moving, one of the assassins lying right next to him turned his head with difficulty.
Namgung Cheon’s hand moved at lightning speed.
Slice.
The assassin’s throat was cut.
At the same time, a strange green light flowed from the dagger in his hand.
Hiss—.
The sound of the throat melting away.
Unable to even scream, the assassin met his death with eyes wide open.
Soon after.
Stab.
He precisely pierced the heart of one who was tossing and turning in his sleep.
The blackened heart instantly stopped functioning.
Stab. Stab. Stab.
Namgung Cheon’s form blurred faintly in the darkness. Life was extinguished wherever he passed.
In the span of just ten breaths, all the assassins in the stone chamber were dead.
Ten grotesquely melted corpses were scattered across the floor, and black blood flowing along the ground reached Namgung Cheon’s feet.
Namgung Cheon lightly adjusted his clothing.
Crack—.
With a bizarre noise, Namgung Cheon’s original face was revealed.
‘I should eliminate the branch warriors first.’
Namgung Cheon opened the door of the stone chamber and stepped outside.
The corridor was dark, but everything was clear to his eyes.
“…Hmm?”
At the end of the corridor, two warriors who had been chatting turned their heads at the sound of the door opening.
The moment puzzlement crossed their eyes, Namgung Cheon’s form disappeared as if folding space.
Whoosh.
Slice.
Blood spurted from the throat of the warrior in front.
Before the warrior beside him could open his mouth in shock, the poison dagger in Namgung Cheon’s hand pierced his nape.
Having eliminated the two guarding the corridor in an instant, Namgung Cheon thought.
‘I’ll need to be a bit more careful from now on.’
Namgung Cheon’s form using the Shadowless Stealth Technique flickered faintly, then completely melted into the darkness.
After that, turning the corner of the corridor, he saw a warrior dozing while leaning against a pillar.
Swish—.
Namgung Cheon brushed past him.
The warrior felt nothing.
Only a cool sensation that brushed across his nape.
Thud.
Having quickly dealt with one, Namgung Cheon climbed the stairs where two warriors on patrol were walking toward him.
Namgung Cheon pressed his body against the ceiling beam.
And the moment they passed directly beneath him.
Slice. Slice.
Two hearts stopped almost simultaneously.
The motion of falling from midair while swinging the dagger was clean without any excess.
The one-sided slaughter continued after that.
Having eliminated all the branch warriors standing guard, Namgung Cheon’s steps finally stopped near a pavilion.
A magnificent pavilion located in the innermost part of the branch.
The security here was different from before.
‘Assassins are guarding it.’
Namgung Cheon immediately climbed the pavilion wall and went up to the roof.
Then he looked down from the rooftop.
The positions of the assassins guarding the main gate and back gate came into view at a glance.
‘The most troublesome one first.’
Namgung Cheon leaped from the edge of the roof.
A small stone separated from his body flew to the opposite side and made a sound.
The moment one assassin turned his head toward where the sound came from, Namgung Cheon’s shadow pounced on him from behind.
Stab!
The dagger precisely pierced between the ribs from behind and penetrated the heart.
‘What remains… two.’
Namgung Cheon melted back into the darkness.
Stab. Stab.
In an instant, all presence around the pavilion disappeared.
Having finished the cleanup, Namgung Cheon lightly leaped from the roof and stood at the pavilion entrance.
Tap.
A light landing that didn’t even make a footstep sound.
Without opening the door, he stopped for a moment and examined the presence inside.
“Do you need to die before you come to your senses! You worthless bastards!”
From beyond the door, rough curses and angry shouts continuously burst forth.
The Sayeongdaeju.
He was venting his anger at his subordinates, unaware that the outside had become a massive tomb.
Namgung Cheon quietly looked down at the poison dagger in his hand.
Mukhon and Cheoncheon were hidden in Manmangok.
All he had now was this single dagger.
‘This is enough.’
After all, this wasn’t a battle between warriors now.
‘Just as you did, I’ll kill you all using the assassin’s methods.’
Using everything available without regard for means and methods.
Namgung Cheon’s eyes gradually turned purple.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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