The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 474
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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 474
I approached the castle gate of Barene, a city in the Divine Continent Five Regions, drawing Glacial up with me.
I spread the cold aura very slowly, careful not to reveal that I was manipulating my energy.
“It’s a bit chilly here, isn’t it?”
“At most it’s moderate. Compared to Zigheart, it’s child’s play.”
“True. The gloves and boots aren’t even penetrated.”
I moved my aura carefully, and because it was winter, even the Gwangpung Corps swordsmen standing right beside me failed to notice that I was controlling the cold.
I brushed my sleeve down and examined the people standing before the castle gate.
Warriors from the Divine Continent Five Regions stood before the castle wall with spears gripped tightly, and the entrance was packed with onlookers who had come out to see the famous visitors entering the city.
‘If I were her, I would have started from here.’
When Heekyukje came to Zigheart, she deliberately sent swordsmen to apply pressure from the main gate.
If she truly despised losing as I suspected, she would have prepared to provoke me from the entrance in the same way to seek revenge.
-Huh.
Wrath turned his head and opened his eyes wide.
-So your sudden spreading of cold aura wasn’t because you’d gone mad.
‘Of course not.’
-The True Demon King thought you’d cracked your dantian.
‘No, I’m trying to find the schemers working inside that crowd.’
The reason I spread the cold aura beforehand was to identify the agitators Heekyukje had planted among the spectators.
-Did you oil your brain? Why does it work so smoothly!
Wrath shook his jowls and began writing on his palm. Strange characters appeared, though I had no idea where they were actually being recorded.
I shifted my gaze from Wrath and looked back toward the main gate.
‘It’s quite possible they don’t exist at all, but if they do, there won’t be just one.’
When orchestrating public opinion campaigns, a few agitators are typically planted among the masses.
With nearly a hundred people gathered at the entrance, those receiving orders from Heegyukje would number at least five or more.
‘Then this should be easier.’
I just needed to find the signal.
Agitators don’t simply move on their own. They exchange signals with one another, then gradually raise their voices at the most crucial moment.
If I could identify the signal they used, finding how many there were and where they stood would be straightforward.
A low hum resonated through me.
I quietly activated Seolhwa’s senses. As her eighth-star perception merged with the aura I’d already woven throughout the area, the movements of everyone before the castle gate became vivid—as if I could touch them with my own hands.
‘Not the guards.’
The guards’ eyes sparkled like those of creatures witnessing something wondrous, their gaze fixed straight ahead—incapable of sending any signals.
‘Then they’re among the spectators?’
I focused my senses on the onlookers, examining every pupil movement, facial muscle twitch, and gesture. Yet I detected nothing amiss.
-Maybe they don’t exist?
‘That could be the case.’
After scrutinizing all the spectators without detecting any signals, I nodded slightly.
‘If that’s true, I’ll need to revise the plan… wait?’
Just as I was reconsidering my entire assessment of Heegyukje’s character, a spectator on my right trembled at the shoulder.
It was an ordinary movement, but six others scattered throughout the crowd simultaneously brushed their right shoulders lightly.
I concentrated my senses on the seven who’d moved their shoulders. All possessed moderate combat ability and were remarkably young—perfect candidates for agitation.
‘Found them.’
I feigned indifference, deliberately suppressing my presence as I walked toward the castle gate.
When my eyes met those of the Guard Captain standing before the gate, the seven men who had sensed me moments earlier turned their gazes toward me in sequence.
It wasn’t killing intent. Rather, it was an uncomfortable gaze of observation and scrutiny. Among the other spectators, there were looks mixed with disdain, but the quality of their attention was fundamentally different.
-So they really were here….
Wrath furrowed his brow.
-What exactly are you, anyway?
He blinked his eyes rapidly, unable to comprehend.
‘Just an ordinary person.’
I replied lightly while gradually shifting the aura I had laid out beforehand, dispersing it around the seven agitators.
When the moment came, that energy would become a razor-thin barrier, trapping them.
‘Now is the time to speak.’
Typically, when agitators wanted to provoke someone, they would stare like this before dropping a casual remark.
It wouldn’t quite qualify as an insult or curse—just cutting enough to make anyone who objected appear petty.
If they had actually cursed, they likely wouldn’t be true agitators.
When I had passed halfway through the path the spectators had created, a young martial artist on my right opened his mouth.
“Is that Raon Zigheart?”
“Seems like it.”
“He looks frail, not like what I heard….”
Not quite an insult, not quite criticism—just a remark that grazed the nerves without giving grounds for retaliation. This confirmed they were agitators sent by Heekyukje.
When I turned my head, he smirked. His expression was one of provocation, as if daring me to respond.
In that instant, I unleashed a barrier.
Whoooosh!
Rather than enveloping the space itself as I usually did, I created an infinitesimal barrier that wrapped around only myself and the agitator—the technique that creature had called “flickering.”
It was the method the White Lotus Society leader Airand had employed, but now I could execute it far more cleanly.
“What are you gawking at with those dead fish eyes?”
I hurled the insult within the barrier, audible only to him. The agitator’s expression betrayed that he was struggling to suppress laughter.
“What did you just say! How dare you speak that way!”
The agitator apparently believed everyone had heard what only he’d heard, and he cried out loudly.
The moment he did, I released the barrier, and his voice carried to all assembled.
“Huh?”
“Um….”
Naturally, everyone else regarded him as if he were mad.
“What, what is this! Why are you all looking at me like that! Didn’t you hear what that bastard just said to me!”
The agitator’s face flushed crimson as he pointed accusingly in all directions.
Had I sent it via aura message, he wouldn’t have been deceived, but the microscopic barrier left him no choice but to misunderstand.
Still, it wasn’t enough. To drag this agitator away for interrogation, I needed words with considerably more bite.
‘Should I bring up Heekyukje?’
I raised the barrier again the moment the agitator, flustered, closed his mouth.
“Listen here, fish-brain. Is your head made of scales too? What good does it do if I speak so only you can hear? Is that how your master taught you?”
I maintained a grave expression while delivering words as raw as uncooked flesh.
“Grrgh!”
Already reeling from the psychological blow, hearing his master insulted this way caused veins to bulge across the agitator’s face. I immediately released the barrier.
“You bastard! Do you know where you are!”
The agitator gnashed his teeth and unleashed a murderous intent as if to charge at me immediately.
“Ugh….”
“Why, why is he like that?”
“I don’t know. Has he lost his mind?”
“He speaks well enough. It’s just that what he’s saying is suicidal….”
Everyone standing before the Main Gate stared slack-jawed at the agitator who had suddenly spiraled into madness.
The other agitators couldn’t decide what to do and merely rolled their eyes in confusion.
“What nonsense! You didn’t hear him insult us? Did you all stuff your ears with cotton?”
The agitator continued trembling with rage, still unaware of what had been done to him.
Raon raised the corners of his mouth again, his eyes narrowing with satisfaction.
“Thank you. I’ll have much to gain from your master because of this.”
Laughter threatened to burst from within me, but I couldn’t let it show with so many eyes watching.
“You, you bastard!”
The agitator, whose composure had already shattered, hurled curses without understanding what was happening to him.
-…Are you truly a demon?
Wrath’s jaw dropped.
-No human with even a shred of conscience could do such a thing.
He trembled at the realization that such wickedness could exist among mankind.
“Hey, Allen!”
The one who had signaled the agitator moments before tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
“Hold on!”
Martha rushed forward first, positioning herself in front of the agitator.
“What did that toad-faced bastard just say to our unit commander? Do you have a death wish?”
“Ugh…”
Intimidated by her fierce presence, the agitators stumbled backward and collapsed onto the ground.
“W-we made a mistake! This friend sometimes sees things that aren’t… Ack!”
Another agitator trying to defend his companion waved his hand, only to feel a blade press against his neck and let out a scream.
Lunan had moved without warning, his sword held to both their throats.
“Should I kill them?”
Lunan blinked his vacant eyes as if asking me to give the word. In a way, he was the most terrifying of all—speaking of death with such drowsy indifference.
“We greet the White Dragon.”
The Guard Captain approached and bowed his head.
“We shall handle this matter.”
“No.”
I shook my head. This man was openly connected to either Heegyukje or the Divine Continent Five Regions. I couldn’t be foolish enough to hand him over.
“He insulted me and drew killing intent. I’ll deal with him directly.”
“But such matters are… Ugh!”
I released the aura I had been suppressing. A fierce, wildfire-like energy erupted, causing the Guard Captain to break into a cold sweat and retreat.
“Does this mean he is connected to the Divine Continent Five Regions?”
“N-no, that’s not it.”
“Then I may take him with me.”
“Hmm…”
The Guard Captain bit his lip and turned his gaze away.
The onlookers also nodded, seeming to agree that it was right for the insulted party to handle the matter directly.
“Take him.”
“Understood.”
Crain and the swordsmen of the Gwangpung Corps hoisted Allen, the man who had been called by that name, and another agitator who had tried to stop him onto their shoulders and followed behind.
“How naive.”
I lifted my head as I crossed the castle gate, thinking of Heekyuk Je who would be watching this place. A faint smile played at the corners of my lips.
“Do try a bit harder.”
*
*
*
Crunch!
The window frame Ariel held in her hand crumpled like paper.
“Try harder?”
That rat-like bastard….
She ground her teeth as she watched my retreating figure heading toward the Zigheart Dormitory with the guide.
“W-what just happened?”
Mekain swallowed hard and approached Ariel’s side.
“Why was Allen captured instead….”
“Raon Zigheart used a trick.”
Just moments ago, I had created an incredibly thin aura barrier that enclosed only myself and Allen.
It was so exquisitely crafted that not only could the others not sense it, but even Allen, who was surrounded by aura, failed to notice he was within the barrier.
‘A cunning bastard.’
No matter how exceptional my aura control was, it would be impossible to discern Allen’s true identity in such a brief moment and set up an aura barrier that no one could sense.
‘He must have read our intentions from the very beginning.’
It was clear that from the moment he entered Barene, he had anticipated and prepared for the placement of individuals like Allen.
‘But how?’
I had instructed Allen and his agitators multiple times not to touch overtly, merely to scratch at nerves subtly.
Any other observer could have made the same remarks and expressions, yet I couldn’t fathom what he saw to uncover them.
“Ah….”
Mekain understood Heekyuk Je’s words, his pupils trembling.
His expression betrayed disbelief at Raon Zigheart’s judgment in that fleeting moment—how he had turned the tables and consumed Allen entirely.
“The greater problem is….”
Ariel furrowed her brow deeply while running her fingers across the purple tome tucked at her thigh.
‘The fact that I failed to read this scene.’
After confirming that Raon Zigheart was coming to Barene, I had read the overall celestial patterns.
Multiple events would unfold here, yet that particular scene had not appeared.
‘It was the same back then.’
When I visited Zigheart directly, I had read the celestial patterns beforehand and felt confident, but all my plans and schemes shattered against Raon Zigheart’s unforeseen movements.
Reading the celestial patterns does not grant perfect knowledge of a situation, and read patterns often change.
Yet this was the first time an entirely different situation had unfolded to this degree.
Crunch.
Ariel lifted her left hand, which had been gripping the window frame. Stone fragments scattered from her clenched fist.
‘Raon Zigheart….’
What in the world is this boy?
If he had ascended to the heavens like Glen or the other leaders of the Six Emperors, I could understand it. But that a mere Master-rank child would escape my foresight was incomprehensible.
‘An investigation seems necessary.’
If things proceeded this way, I had no choice but to exert both my mind and body, troublesome as it was.
It was right to discard all the information I’d gathered thus far and ascertain what kind of person Raon Zigheart truly was through fresh intelligence.
“M-my lord….”
Mekain lifted his eyes slightly.
“Allen and Keupl have been taken. Will you be alright? If they come looking and cause trouble….”
“Those two aren’t registered as belonging to the White Whale anyway.”
Ariel exhaled softly.
“He already knows I gave the order. What he just demonstrated is a warning to be careful going forward.”
By taking Allen and Keupl, Raon Zigheart had sent a signal: do not touch me or the Gwangpung Corps. I could no longer employ the same methods.
“After this matter concludes, he’ll likely return them while subtly making demands.”
Ariel bit her crimson lips thinly.
‘It feels like I’ve been stabbed in the gut again.’
My barely healed internal injuries seemed to flare up anew, my stomach churning. I steadied my mind and turned my head.
“Mekain.”
Ariel beckoned Mekain with a finger.
“Skip phase two. Move directly to phase three.”
“…Understood.”
Mekain bowed deeply and left the office.
Yet before thirty minutes had passed, he came rushing back into the office.
“M-my lord! Raon Zigheart has arrived!”
Ariel squeezed her eyes shut.
‘This reckless bastard!’
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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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