The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 340

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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 340

I bit my lip as I watched the lion saunter toward me with a leisurely gait.

‘A lion, out of nowhere…’

I had brought vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, sweets, chocolate, and even candy in the spatial pouch Dorian had given me just in case, but none of it would be useful now.

‘I’m doomed.’

A rabbit could have been appeased with fruit. But there was nothing in this pouch fit for a lion to eat. I couldn’t exactly stuff chocolate into that massive maw.

‘Should I let it tear off an arm?’

The situation was so unexpected that I found myself entertaining the absurd notion of offering my own flesh.

‘But why a lion in the first place?’

Even in a sparsely populated area, this place had only a small lake and a shallow forest. I couldn’t fathom why a lion would be here. She truly is an incomprehensible woman.

-That… that thing really isn’t in its right mind…, Wrath muttered, shaking his head as he glared at the lion housing Merlin.

-That creature chasing the True Demon King was bizarre enough, but this takes it to another level! Next she’ll show up as an elephant. We should kill it now!

He gestured for me to strike, his shoulders trembling.

‘He’s right.’

I nodded at Wrath’s words.

‘Merlin’s the one who’s lost her mind. This isn’t my fault.’

It was Merlin’s doing that she appeared in the form of a lion, and it was her responsibility to feed it. Though I had grown accustomed to the repeated task of feeding her, I shouldn’t have to worry about it.

It’s originally Merlin’s job to make it leap out in the form of a lion, and to feed it as well.
I thought feeding had become routine and something I should naturally do, but it wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

‘I almost got swept up without realizing it.’

I looked down at Merlin and straightened my posture with confidence.

“Hehe.”

Merlin stopped before me and settled down gracefully. Now that I looked closer, the lion wasn’t just any lion—it was a male with a magnificent mane. This was even more absurd.

“Why did you appear in the form of a lion this time?”

I asked what puzzled me most of all.

“As I said before, I don’t rule unilaterally. We make a deal where we each fill in what the other lacks.”
“Then that creature also….”
“Yes. This child has desires too.”

Merlin winked in lion form. Goosebumps rose on my forearms.

“Fulfill that wish yourself and then disappear.”

I frowned deeply. I would have given it food if I had any, but this lion was beyond my ability to handle.

“I watched well.”

Merlin, as expected, didn’t answer and simply spoke what was on her mind.

“This time, you weren’t like yourself.”

She smiled softly and tilted her chin up slightly.

“Until now, you’ve avoided witnessing much bloodshed. Even when you killed, you displayed overwhelming power so enemies couldn’t dare attack.”

She was right. It wasn’t that I feared killing itself, but I didn’t want to take unnecessary lives.

“But this time, you didn’t hesitate to kill your enemies. It was a chill-inducing killing intent.”

As Merlin spoke, she licked her own paw with her tongue—a grooming behavior characteristic of felines.

“Sigh….”

Raon exhaled deeply and closed his eyes.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

It was impossible to concentrate when watching a lion lick its lips while discussing serious matters.

“Especially the man who appeared to be in charge—you killed him with unnecessary cruelty. I didn’t know you had such venom in you.”
“So you’re disappointed?”
“No.”

Merlin slowly rose to her feet.

“I was thrilled. So excited that my hands were drenched in sweat.”
“Ugh…”
“You suit everything—elegance, composure, and cruelty alike. You’re always the best…”

The lion’s cheeks, which housed her consciousness, flushed crimson, and its limbs began to tremble. Her true emotions seemed to be bleeding through completely.

Tsk.

Raon clicked his tongue sharply.

‘I wish she would have just backed off.’

Since I’d never seen Merlin kill anyone directly before, I’d wondered if she disliked blood, but I was wrong.
She showed no signs of ever letting go of this obsession.

-Seriously, she’s a complete madwoman! She’s lost her mind!

Wrath groaned before fleeing through the ice flower bracelet.

“So what favor are you asking for this time?”

Merlin nodded as if telling me to speak freely about anything.

“There’s no favor.”

Raon shook his head and reached out his hand.

“Tell me your wish. I have no intention of wasting time, so I’ll decide after hearing it here.”
“A wish, then.”

Merlin stepped closer with a faint smile. It was remarkable how well she could express such emotions with an animal’s face.

“My wish is….”

She trailed off and gazed at me intently.

‘I can’t even imagine what she’s going to say.’

Just as Wrath had said, she was a woman whose mind operated in unpredictable ways. I couldn’t foresee her wish at all. I watched her lips nervously, waiting.

“Give me a hug.”
“Huh?”
“You don’t know what a hug is? A hug.”

Merlin raised her thick front paws and waved them back and forth. Seeing her demonstrate an embrace with limbs that could tear flesh from bone if they struck me left my mind reeling.

“In that form?”
“Yes. Even in this state, I can feel the sensation. Since I have no choice, I’ll settle for this for now. It’s a wish you can easily grant, isn’t it?”

She laughed as if I couldn’t possibly refuse.

‘She has a point.’

If she’d asked me to kill someone or sell information, I could have refused outright. But a simple embrace was harmless. Especially since I wouldn’t be doing it directly.

‘However….’

She could kidnap me just like before.

There was a possibility she could take me away using an artifact like she had before, so I couldn’t simply accept without precautions.

“I’ll swear an oath, staking my soul and body. I will never take any action that would harm you.”

The moment Merlin raised her hand, mana rippled around her. It was a soul-and-body contract—a constraint she imposed upon herself.

“It’s not you who takes the shock—it’s the lion’s soul and body that bear the impact, isn’t it?”
“Absolutely not.”

Merlin shook her head in denial.

-…That’s the truth, it is.

Wrath lifted his head above the bracelet with a swift motion.

-That’s a covenant she’s binding upon her own body and soul. Should she break her promise, tremendous damage will befall that mad woman’s body and soul. That’s why….

He trembled, his lips quivering.

-It’s far more terrifying! She’s truly insane!
“…Fine.”

I nodded. I had no choice but to accept, given what I’d already promised.

“Ufufu.”

Merlin flicked her front paw, beckoning me forward eagerly.

“I’m looking forward to this.”
“Sigh….”

I exhaled deeply and stood before Merlin. Since the lion was quite large, I bent my knees slightly.

‘Just endure it once.’

I shut my eyes tight and embraced Merlin—or rather, the lion. Her mane was soft, but her skin felt rough as sandpaper.

‘Just three seconds.’

The moment I began counting to three before pulling away, the lion’s body suddenly softened like pudding and began to thin.

-Hey! Hey! Hey, you!
‘What… what is this?’

As I opened my eyes at Wrath’s urgent call, the lion had vanished, and before me stood Merlin wearing a mask of an old woman. Her pristine fragrance tickled my nose.

“That was nice. I’ll have pleasant dreams tonight.”
“You!”

I clenched my teeth and pushed Merlin away.

“Ufufufu!”

Merlin stepped back with a bound, waving her hand dismissively.

“There’s nothing quite like feeling human warmth directly.”
“You swore an oath and still pulled this stunt.”
“I didn’t cause you any harm, did I?”

She waved her hand as if it were nothing.

“Hah…”

I exhaled sharply. She was right—since no harm had been done, the oath remained unbroken.

“It was fun spending time with you.”

She rose into the air and dissolved into foam, vanishing.

“I’ll be away for a while, but I’m looking forward to seeing what you accomplish.”

With those final words, Merlin’s presence disappeared completely.

I let out a hollow laugh and dropped my shoulders.

‘I’m exhausted.’

More tired now than I’d been from running all day.

Still…

“At least I don’t have to feed the lion.”

I felt relieved that with Merlin gone, I wouldn’t need to provide food for the beast.

“Thank goodness.”
-That’s all that madwoman’s scheme, I tell you!

Wrath lifted his head slightly, rolling his eyes.

-From what I can see, that lunatic’s head must have your portrait hanging where her brain should be!

He trembled, saying it was creepy.

-Now I don’t need your body anymore….

Is that all?

*

*

*

The Cloud House orphanage—outwardly filled with children’s laughter, inwardly echoing with screams—had become a desolate haunted mansion guarded by Owen’s knights.
It was Owen’s knights who now guarded that place, which had become a desolate haunted house.

“I still can’t believe this orphanage was a place that raised assassins.”

The blonde knight sighed as she looked at Cloud House.

“It’s brutal. Kidnapping children and raising them as assassins was something you’d only see in novels… but…”

The dark-haired knight lowered his eyes and shook his head.

“Exactly. No human could conceive of such a thing.”
“Yeah. It’s a thought that a person couldn’t have.”

While the two knights ground their teeth, recalling the culprit who had raised the children as assassins, two more knights were approaching from the direction of Camelun. They were the personnel who had come to relieve them.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

The blonde knight drew his sword and pointed it at the approaching knight.

“Hands up! Move and I’ll cut you down!”

The knights approaching from this direction raised their hands.

“Who is it?”
“Ah, it’s me. Your classmate.”

The tall knight lifted his helmet and smiled.

“Beer.”
“Chicken.”

Only after confirming the secret password did the blonde knight lower his sword.

“You’ve worked hard.”

The newly arrived knights patted the shoulders of those who had been on duty.

“How are the children?”

The blonde knight gathered his equipment and asked the newly arrived knights.

“Same as always. They don’t speak, don’t laugh, just move mechanically according to orders.”
“Looking at them makes me want to die from pity.”

The knights who came for the shift change clicked their tongues.

“There’s no way for them to recover naturally?”
“They were brainwashed for too long.”
“They said someone would come to treat the brainwashing, so we’ll just have to wait.”

The knights sighed, picturing the vacant eyes of the children like dolls.

“If that demon bastard who did this had been in front of me, I would’ve sliced him to pieces right then.”
“Hold on. You’re… huh?”

The blonde knight waved his hand and turned around.

Thump.

A tall man draped in a black cloak walked toward us. A gray mask covered his face up to his eyes, and his pupils were an eerie white.

“Stop! Stop! Stop!”

The newly assigned knights drew their swords, but the man continued advancing without pause.

“Halt!”
“Come any closer and we’ll cut you down!”

All four knights unsheathed their blades and released their killing intent, yet the man’s footsteps never faltered.

“It is I.”

He raised his hand above the cloak.

“What?”
“I said I am the one who runs this place.”

A sinister smile bloomed at the corners of his mouth.

“You madman!”
“Strike!”

The four knights moved in unison. Executing their practiced formation flawlessly, they rushed from all directions, unleashing dense sword auras.

Splorch!

As the man slowly lowered his raised hand, the knights’ bodies were severed into dozens of pieces and scattered across the floor. It was as if the outcome had been predetermined from the start—not the result of swordsmanship or aura, but fate itself.

“Vermin.”

As he twirled his finger, the corpses and blood of the knights turned to dust and dispersed. It was as though nothing had ever existed—no trace of humanity remained.

When the man stood before the Orphanage building, masked figures in black robes rose like shadows behind him.

As the man removed his mask, Derus Robert’s face was revealed—cold enough to send a chill down one’s spine.

Start.

At his command, the Shadow operatives scattered in all directions and began searching for traces.

Derus Robert issued his orders and then entered the Orphanage himself. His gaze, sharp as a blade’s edge, scrutinized the floor, the walls, and even the lingering aura residue that remained in this place.

He thoroughly combed through the Orphanage building, the Underground Cavern beneath it, and the secret passages before ascending back to the Orphanage.

‘Not a single trace.’

Borini Kitten was a knight among knights. His nature was far too noble to resolve this matter so cleanly. Surely someone from the House of Shadows—someone who had been dragged through mud before—must have been involved, yet there was no trace of them anywhere.

‘This makes no sense….’

No matter how much the knights tore through this place, as long as they were human, they always left traces behind—yet the only traces left at the Facility were those of Shadow and the knights. The presence of that entity that had intervened in between had been completely erased.

“Exterior of the Facility—no traces found.”
“Interior of the Facility—no traces found.”
“External and internal passages—no traces found.”

With each report from the Shadow operatives, the veins on Derus Robert’s forehead bulged.

A deep, guttural roar tore from his throat.

A sinister smile bloomed at the corners of Derus Robert’s mouth. The patience he had endured since Owen—restraining himself again and again—shattered, and his fury began to overflow.

An earth-shattering explosion erupted.

The moment his eyes blazed with a hollow, ashen light, the Orphanage and the Underground Cavern beneath it collapsed entirely into dust.

A tempestuous wind swept across the landscape.

From within the swirling sand storm, Derus Robert removed his gloves. He brought blood trickling from the back of his hand to his lips and tilted his chin upward.

“I will kill you.”

Derus Robert gazed down upon the world with eyes so parched they seemed to bleed dryness, a chilling smile spreading across his face.

“Wherever you hide, whoever you are—I will annihilate you all….”

*

*

*

I used my new identity to ride the dimensional gateway south, then alternated between footwork and horseback travel to reach Robert Territory, deliberately taking a route far from the Robert Family.

I arrived much faster than expected, but such thoughts never crossed my mind. Every sense was fixed only on the Robert Family Estate in the distance.

‘Has it been twenty years…?’

Mansions as beautiful and elegant as an emerald sea. Swordsmen radiating noble dignity. Retainers supporting the family from the foundation up.

In that place, warm as sunlight filtering through scattered clouds, there was not a single spot for me. Nothing could be grasped.

‘Because the place I came from was a sewer.’

That place belonged to humans living in the light. I was nothing but a hunting dog buried underground, grinding my fangs.

Gooooooo.

Rage boiled up from the deepest depths of my soul. As the fury spreading through my veins threatened to consume my entire body, I dispersed it by operating the Ring of Fire.

‘It’s not time yet.’

This rage was not to be squandered uselessly. These were precious and valuable emotions I would repay one by one to Derus Robert and the executives who followed him.

-What’s there to see in such a pathetic little estate that you’ve been standing here for an hour! I’m dying of boredom!

Wrath grabbed my sleeve with a frown.

-You country bumpkin! If you saw the True Demon King’s castle, your jaw would drop to the ground!
‘That might be true.’

I chuckled softly. Thanks to this creature, my sinking mood lifted slightly.

-Since you’re bored, treat me to the local cuisine! I’ve been smelling delicious aromas and can’t stand it anymore!

Wrath gestured toward various restaurants, saying he wanted seaweed.

‘I understand.’

It was mealtime anyway.

I let out a soft chuckle and lifted my head. As I was about to leave after imprinting the Robert Family Estate one last time into my memory, the Red-haired Boy approached me.

“Isn’t it magnificent?”
“Hmm?”
“That mansion. You’ve been staring at it for an hour straight.”

He seemed to have approached because I continued gazing at the Robert Family.

“Yeah, it is magnificent.”

The Robert Family’s buildings were indeed more elegant than even Zigheart, so I nodded in agreement.

“I’m going to become a swordmaster there too!”

The way he spoke with such pride made it clear the boy believed he loved the Robert Family.

“I’ll become the greatest swordmaster on the Continent, protecting the Southern Region just like Cheongeomseong!”

I lowered my gaze to look at the boy properly. A wooden sword hung loosely from the waist of the boy, who appeared to be in his early teens.

‘He’s similar to Fine.’

He appeared to be around the same age as the children I had rescued from the Orphanage.

But his expression was entirely different.

Unlike this boy, whose face bore the playfulness characteristic of early adolescence, Fine and the other children could not muster such expressions.

The same age. The same human. Yet a demon had erased their very personalities.

There was nothing I could say to a boy who admired the demon that had committed such atrocities, and that realization felt sorrowful.

Because of this, I understood once more what I had to do.

“I see.”

Raon smiled and gently stroked the child’s head.

“Work hard.”

*

*

*

After indulging Wrath’s every whim—lobster pizza, octopus steak, grilled squid on an iron plate, chili shrimp, gambas, and pearl ice cream—Raon moved toward the direction of the Underwater Dungeon.

-What fortune is this!

Wrath laughed heartily, rubbing his shoulders. It was the highest expression of contentment.

-At last, you’ve come to serve the True Demon King!

Wrath’s voice, now satisfied from the delicious feast, rang clear as jade marbles rolling across stone. It had been far too long since I heard him speak this way.

‘Not a chance.’

I shook my head. I had indulged his appetite for an entirely different reason. I had no intention whatsoever of serving beneath him.

‘Things will get chaotic soon enough. I need to move quickly.

Ignoring Wrath’s endless chatter, I moved along the Eastern Coast. The Robert Family’s surroundings had been crowded with tourists, but as I traveled further, the crowds thinned considerably.

‘Time to prepare.’

I changed into the clothing worn by Southern Region natives and suppressed my presence. I deadened my aura until even someone standing beside me would struggle to sense me, then continued along the coast.

After a full day of travel, signs warning of marine monsters and cordoned-off lines marking restricted access appeared.

‘This is it.’

More than twenty years had passed, but the coastline hadn’t changed much, so the dungeon’s location came back to me clearly.

‘The more certain sign is….’

I gazed at the beach and the trees, a cold smile crossing my face. The presence of Shadow operatives guarding this place. Their concealment between the sand and trees only confirmed my suspicions further.

The Underwater Dungeon was undoubtedly submerged beneath the waters ahead.

A low wind howled across the shore.

I suppressed my presence even further. Rather than appearing as a living being, I reduced every bodily function to its absolute minimum—as if I were nothing more than scattered sand—and quietly observed the sea.

A day passed, and night fell, yet I remained motionless. My posture unchanged from before, I continued my vigil over the waters. Even when the Shadow operatives hidden before me grew restless and shifted their bodies, I didn’t twitch a single finger.

-Uuuugh! I’m dying from boredom! And I’m starving!

Wrath finally couldn’t hold back and let out a sharp cry.

-A whole day without moving, without food—this is torture!
‘That’s why I fed you plenty two days ago.’
-Ugh….

He fell silent, his mouth hanging open.

-W-wait, so that’s why you bought me everything I wanted….
‘I prepared for this because I knew it would happen.’
-I don’t need that! Three regular meals a day is what makes me truly happy!
‘Then what about some bread?’
-That’s just rubber that fills the belly! You madman!
‘If you’re hungry…’
-I’d rather drink seawater than fill my stomach with that!
‘Oh, that’s actually a good idea.’
-N-no! I misspoke!

Wrath shook his head frantically. He seemed genuinely afraid I’d actually do it.

I let out a quiet laugh and turned my gaze back to the sea.

-You exploitative boss! Labor law violations! You didn’t even feed me, so that’s a food safety violation too!
‘That’s not how food safety laws work… be quiet.’

I silenced Wrath and swallowed dryly. Someone was emerging from the sea after just two days.

Splash.

From the sea emerged thirty Masked Men, a woman who appeared to be a mage, and a tall dark-skinned man, stepping carefully onto the shore.

‘As expected.’

Matio.

Just as I had anticipated, while Derus Robert was elsewhere, it was Matio, the butler of the House of Shadows, who was exploring the dungeon.

‘Following the dungeon’s collapse…’

A deep crimson light flickered across my eyes.

‘I can take my revenge.’

—————
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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