The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 140

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 140

I turned completely around, tapping my sword hilt against the locked door of Frost’s Branch.

‘What was that just now?’

An ominous presence emanated from the Restaurant Manager I had just encountered. It was an instinct beyond the five senses—a quality my sixth sense had detected.

‘There was nothing particularly strange about him.’

The Restaurant Manager’s face, gaze, gait, and manner of speech were no different from usual. He looked exactly as he did every time I visited Frost’s Branch.

But beneath the surface, something had changed. It felt as though an incomprehensible mass was wearing the skin of a human.

‘Am I imagining things? Have I been overthinking lately?’

I pressed my temples and furrowed my brow. Perhaps I had been so focused on mimicking the blonde swordsman’s technique recently that I was seeing illusions.

‘No. It can’t be a mistake.’

My instincts—especially those honed by learning the Ring of Fire—could not be wrong. It was impossible to misread something at such close range.

-Hmm.

Wrath was staring at Frost’s Branch with certainty.

‘Right.’

I activated Glacial. Small waves rose in the sea of sensation spreading in concentric circles.

It was the presence of the Restaurant Manager who had just entered the tavern. Instead of the gentle undulation I normally felt in my sensory sea, there was a mechanical tremor as if emotion itself had been erased.

‘As I thought.’

I clenched my fists. My instinct had not deceived me. An unknown entity was wearing the Restaurant Manager’s skin like a suit.

“Raon, sir. Aren’t you going in?”

Dorian, who had been heading to the Dormitory, turned back with a puzzled tilt of his head.

“Dorian. In a moment, run toward wherever you hear a loud noise.”
“Huh?”

I left the bewildered Dorian behind and bolted toward the rear of Frost’s Branch.

-Why don’t you go right away?
‘If I move through the door, there’s a chance he’ll take Yua hostage.’

Without knowing his true identity, I couldn’t afford to act recklessly. I moved silently around back and positioned myself against the wall where Yua was leaning her back.

The moment an attacker grows most careless is when they’re about to strike. That was precisely the instant I was waiting for.

Crackle, crackle!

Something wearing the Restaurant Manager’s face reached toward Yua. The moment a sinister aura unfurled like a cloth, I unleashed a full-power strike and shattered the wall.

Boom!

While the creature recoiled from the exploding wall, I yanked Yua toward me and drew my blade.

“What are you?”

Through the cascading gray dust, its true form emerged. It was the Restaurant Manager’s face—eyes wide open in shock.

“Why! Why are you doing this to me!”

He trembled, bewildered, and retreated backward.

“Hide that hand and speak.”

I smiled coldly, pointing at the Restaurant Manager’s hand. A massive claw bristled with black snouts that gaped open rhythmically.

“How did you know? How? How? How? How?”

The Restaurant Manager’s mouth split into a crescent shape, and his head swelled round like a jellyfish before deflating—a cycle that repeated. It was neither human nor Monster; something far worse.

“Ahhh…”

Tears fell from Yua’s cheeks onto the back of my hand wrapped around her shoulder. My grip tightened involuntarily.

“Grraaahhh! W-what is that thing?!”

Dorian’s jaw dropped as he beheld the Monster, which looked as if someone had kneaded clay or mud into a grotesque form.

“What is that Monster?!”
“It has Yua. Take her and go.”

I handed Yua to the panicked Dorian and stepped forward to face the Monster.

‘What is this thing?’
-A doppelgänger.
‘A doppelgänger? But doppelgängers can’t transform perfectly.’

Doppelgängers were Monsters that consumed humans and transformed into their likeness, yet their behavior and speech patterns always differed markedly from the original.

I couldn’t believe this creature was a doppelgänger—not only did its appearance match perfectly, but its mannerisms and words were flawless.

-It’s been modified through dark magic. They’ve torn apart the sanctity of life itself to create a new species. It’s merely a doppelgänger in foundation; what stands before you is no different from a chimera.

Wrath muttered that even demons wouldn’t commit such an atrocity, his gaze fixed upon the doppelgänger.

“The Siren’s Vessel. We must obtain the Siren’s Vessel by any means necessary.”

The doppelgänger’s eyes weren’t on me, who radiated killing intent, but on Yua behind me. Its gray tongue flicked greedily.

The Siren’s Vessel.
That single phrase was enough. This modified doppelgänger had been sent by Eden, and what they sought wasn’t a magic stone—it was Yua.

“The Siren’s Vessel!”

The doppelgänger released a grotesque laugh and extended its hand. Its arm stretched like rubber, lashing toward Yua.

“You’re underestimating me.”

I’d anticipated this moment from the instant its arm began to writhe.

Shhwooooosh!

I twisted my arm’s trajectory to block and drew my sword. The strike fell like lightning, severing the doppelgänger’s arm clean from its body.

“A Siren’s vessel must be….”

Despite losing its arm, the doppelgänger didn’t even whimper. It simply glared at Yua. It seemed they had erased all pain sensation during the modification.

Uuuuuung.

The severed arm sprouted back in an instant. Its regenerative power exceeded even that of the Ice Troll Lord.

“Don’t interfere.”

The doppelgänger’s left hand swelled like a boulder, while its right hand wielded a whip bristling with thorns.

“Kiaaaaah!”

It kicked off the ground and rushed forward, bringing down a colossal fist. Terrifying pressure crashed down, but I didn’t retreat. Instead, I tilted my blade backward.

Just before the doppelgänger’s fist reached my head, my sword rose to meet it. The thrust that the golden-haired swordsman had once used to sever an Orc Lord’s arm manifested anew through my body.

Puuuuuang!

A tremendous wave of force erupted, and the doppelgänger’s entire left shoulder was torn away.

“A Siren’s vessel!”

True to a monster that felt no pain, the doppelgänger immediately swung its right-hand whip. The thorned whip coiled around my entire body like a serpent.

I summoned the Blossom Bloom in the direction the whip was curving. The petals that danced upon my blade fluttered and scattered.

Hwaaaaaah!

Blooming flowers of flame climbed along the whip and incinerated the doppelgänger’s upper body. I thought I could suppress it this way, but I was mistaken.

“Kiiii.”

The doppelgänger severed its own burning flesh and regenerated its body as if rewinding time itself.

The regeneration speed was so extraordinary that an ordinary person would think nothing had happened at all.

“Seiren. I must obtain Seiren’s vessel.”

As if that alone were the purpose of its existence, the doppelgänger repeated the same words from beginning to end.

“Kiiiiaaaa!”

The doppelgänger unleashed a piercing shriek. It transformed both hands into greatswords and swung them wildly as it charged forward. While there was no finesse to its swordplay, the terrifying power and speed made it impossible to ignore.

Shhwaaack!

I captured every movement of the doppelgänger in my eyes before pressing forward. I tore apart its descending arms and split open its chest.

Splurt!

Gray blood poured from the doppelgänger’s chest where I had struck it with the Mana Convergence technique, but only for a moment. The wound in its chest healed instantly.

“Kiiiii.”

Whether burned by fire or cut by blade, the doppelgänger’s body continued to regenerate like a lizard’s tail. Since it felt no pain, it seemed this could go on endlessly.

“It’s been a while since I’ve used my fists.”

I sheathed my sword and clenched my fists. The aura of Mana Convergence wrapped around my knuckles like thick gloves.

“Kiiiaaaa!”

The doppelgänger’s hands transformed into war hammers, and sharp spikes erupted across its entire body. It seemed intent on injuring me in return if I dared to attack.

“Will that be enough?”

I stomped the ground and burrowed into the doppelgänger’s space. A war hammer the size of an adult’s torso rushed toward my head and heart—an attack imbued with the fierce determination to eliminate the obstacle swiftly.

Because of that, it was easy to read.

I deflected the first hammer with the back of my hand and extended my left fist. The power of Mana Convergence combined with the rotation of the Void Fist technique completely shattered the doppelgänger’s war hammer.

Boom!

My right fist followed in succession, aimed at the doppelgänger’s right upper body. It sharpened its spikes further, but the tremendous force contained in my fist suppressed the spikes and burst apart its upper half.

“Now it begins.”

The energy of the Ten Thousand Flowers bloomed within my lightly clenched fist. The fist force burning like wildfire became a torrent, overwhelming the doppelgänger’s entire body.

Against an attack of surfaces rather than lines, the doppelgänger’s regeneration could not keep pace. Its clay-like body began to vanish as if erased by an eraser.

“Siren’s Breath!”

I shattered the doppelgänger’s muttering mouth and struck its chest. Though it felt no pain, fear had not disappeared—its eyes began to tremble increasingly.

“No, please!”

Just before the doppelgänger’s upper body was completely crushed, Yua’s scream pierced the air.

“Grandfather! Our grandfather is alive inside it! Please save him!”

Yua fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

“S-Swordmaster!”
“Kiiieee!”

The moment my gaze turned toward her, the doppelgänger pinned beneath the floor transformed its body into a serpentine shape and burst outside.

“….”

I said nothing. Meeting Yua’s desperate eyes, I dashed in the direction the doppelgänger had fled.

-You let it escape on purpose.
‘I couldn’t kill it in front of that child.’

No matter how much of a monster it was, it still wore Grandfather’s appearance. I couldn’t kill it before Yua, so I hadn’t unleashed my full strength, and in the end, I deliberately let it go.

‘There’s no need to lose it anyway.’

I had already grasped the doppelgänger’s essence. I could find it no matter where it fled.

‘It’s heading out of the Castle.’

The doppelgänger was fleeing northward, beyond the Castle, toward the Sturrin Mountains.

Climbing onto the Castle Wall, I spotted a doppelgänger wearing the Restaurant Manager’s form, racing across the Snowy Plain like a wolf.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

I stomped the ground with such force that cracks spiderwebbed across the stone. My body surged forward like a boulder launched from a catapult, and I struck the doppelgänger’s back with a devastating blow.

Crunch!

With a sound like flesh tearing apart, the doppelgänger crashed into the snow.

“Screeeee!”

It rose immediately, its torn flesh beginning to regenerate, but clear panic flickered in its gray eyes.

“Your end is here.”

I drew my sword again. I summoned my mana with intensity and lowered my stance. I wanted to kill it immediately, but the memory of Yua’s gaze from moments before made me hesitate—my blade wouldn’t move recklessly.

‘Is there truly no way to save them?’

Doppelgängers were extraordinarily rare monsters. Few had ever encountered one, and I’d never heard of any method to counter them or any account of someone being rescued after being consumed.

-Pathetic.

Wrath let out a scoff and materialized above the bracelet.

-Didn’t the pineapple girl say so? That the old man is inside that thing. That’s the truth.
‘What?’
-Use Glacial to examine that creature carefully. Not its exterior—its interior.

I glanced down at Wrath, then activated Glacial. I spread my sensory sea in concentric waves, focusing it entirely on the doppelgänger before me.

“Kyaaaaa!”

The doppelgänger hurled a fist as large as the boulders that formed the Castle Wall. I evaded using Garam’s technique while keeping my sensory sea concentrated.

Its aura, its essence, and its liquid-like flesh became tangible beneath my perception.

‘What am I supposed to feel… wait?’

Within the doppelgänger’s body, which rippled like water trapped in a bottle, I sensed a faint vitality. It wasn’t the creature’s own. Dim as a candle burned to its end, yet unmistakably human life force.

-Now you understand. The old man from the Tavern still lives. This creature is rolling him around in its mouth like a child savoring candy, extracting his memories piece by piece.
‘Is there a way to save him?’

I adjusted my grip on the sword. I owed Yua so much. If there was any way to save him, I wanted to do it, no matter what.

-That’s beyond your current ability.

Wrath shook his head firmly.

-To kill only the doppelgänger shrouded in dark magic, not the old man within, your current realm is insufficient.
‘What realm are you talking about?’
-In human terms, it’s when weapon and spirit become one….
‘Blade Unity?’

I dodged the doppelgänger’s fist by a paper’s thickness as I asked.

-Correct. You must become one with the blade to cut only the doppelgänger, and your current self cannot achieve this. Even the slightest mistake would kill that old man alongside it.
‘That’s fine then.’
-What?
‘I can’t do it alone, but with help, I can manage.’

I sheathed my sword and drew the Soul Reaper Sword from my back. Raising the crimson blade wreathed in spectral flame, I asked:

“I want to save the person inside. Can you help me?”
Uuuuuung!

The Soul Reaper Sword sang out a clear, resonant cry as if asking what kind of question that was. Spectral flame shimmered like heat haze across the crimson blade.

Kiiiing!

The Flame Sage’s fire and spectral essence intertwined, wrapping me and the Soul Reaper Sword in a blood-red aura. The Soul Reaper Sword’s spectral power flowed seamlessly into the Flame Sage’s energy, like a river becoming the sea.

-So it’s not Blade Unity achieved through realm, but Blade Unity achieved through shared will between sword and human?

Wrath let out a hollow laugh at the natural harmony of aura and spectral essence becoming one.

-I don’t approve, but it seems possible.

I nodded as I heard Wrath’s definitive answer.

“Now all that remains….”

Is deciding what to sever.
Since I had to isolate only the doppelgänger’s soul, determining where to strike was paramount.

-You have but one chance. The old man’s condition cannot withstand more than that. Choose your target carefully.
‘I understand.’

I nodded. Through Glacsia’s perception, the Restaurant Manager’s state was such that his breathing could cease at any moment. I had to strike decisively, without hesitation.

“Kiiieeeek!”

As I examined the doppelgänger’s entire form in my focused state, it shrieked and stretched its arms wide.

Kwaaaa!

The doppelgänger’s undulating body began to swell like rubber that had been tightly compressed and suddenly released.

In an instant, it grew to nearly six meters tall, and its massive fist—the size of a house—came crashing down.

I ignored the colossal fist that eclipsed the moonlight and resonated the Ring of Fire. The world slowed. Within that frozen vision, my crimson eyes traced through the doppelgänger’s interior.

‘Found it!’

Near the doppelgänger’s left flank, a speck—smaller and thinner than a grain of rice—erupted with void energy like a fountain. That granule was the very source of the doppelgänger’s power.

Zzzt!

I gripped the Soul Reaper Sword in reverse.

The aura of the Mana Palace and demonic energy harmonized like two colors of paint dropped into water, and a blood-red radiance surged across the blade.

Divine Blade Unity was originally a state of oneness achieved only by swordmasters. But now, I had achieved true Divine Blade Unity by aligning my will with the Soul Reaper Sword itself.

I stepped into the true stance and extended my hand. The Soul Reaper Sword moved as naturally as if it had become my own arm.

Sensing death, the doppelgänger attempted to relocate its internal core, but my heightened senses did not miss that minute movement.

The crimson brilliance blooming from the blade’s edge pierced through the doppelgänger’s very soul.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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