The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 504

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

Chapter 504

I didn’t miss the faint, delicate aura of the assassin controlling the water puppets. Hidden within the explosions tearing through the earth, I observed his movements with meticulous care.

‘Not particularly fast, but his presence is even fainter than a corpse.’

Whether Derus Robert had created a new footwork technique or not, this assassin moved with a footwork that possessed even less presence than the Black Shadow Step.
If not for Merlin, I would have only discovered him after activating Seolhwa’s senses.

‘I absolutely cannot simply chase after him.’

The fact that he’d noticed I hadn’t died meant he was an experienced operative.

Despite nearly perishing from Merlin’s magic, the assassin didn’t retreat recklessly. The composure he displayed—controlling the water puppets to minimize damage while maintaining vigilance against me—clearly marked him as a high-ranking executive of Shadow.
Given the composure of manipulating the Whisper Guests to cause harm while maintaining vigilance against us, it was clear that this was definitely an executive of Shadow who had completed many assassinations.

If you approach hastily, you’ll be caught in the suicide bomber’s blast and end up knocking on death’s door.

“The situation is at its worst right now.”

I had to continue the battle as originally planned.
I had to continue the Assassins’ fight as originally planned.

“I’m confident in a battle of endurance.”

Raon endured the explosion and moved in the same direction as the Assassin. The shockwave from the blast was hitting his body, but he held his breath, trusting in the protection of the Black Dragon Robe.

Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo.

The earth was completely torn asunder, and the bodies of six water puppets lay shattered.
The ground was all torn up, and the bodies of six deaf-mute guests were scattered about.

But the Assassin didn’t stop his pursuit. He continued to circle around endlessly without releasing his concealment technique, ready to respond to any situation.

Raon bit his lip firmly.

“My lower dantian is aching.”

White Shadow Step was a technique that concealed oneself within nature, consuming far more aura than Black Shadow Step.
Having forcefully operated my aura while sustaining internal injuries, my insides churned and throbbed painfully.

A sharp exhale escaped.

The assassin finally ceased his technique and concealed himself behind a massive tree whose trunk had been shattered by the pillar’s eruption.

‘Finally, he’s settled into position. But….’

The time wasn’t right yet.

The assassin’s guard remained unbroken. His senses still swept the surroundings with razor-sharp vigilance.

‘Still, there’s a way to penetrate his defenses.’

The assassin’s awareness naturally concentrated toward the rear, and the water cultivator had positioned himself to my sides and back for protection. I could sense the path to approach him.

I wrapped myself in the still-swirling dust and the darkness of night, advancing forward.
Not left, not right. I walked directly toward the base of the tree where the assassin hid.

‘Slower than a tortoise.’

If I grew impatient as my aura dwindled, the water cultivator would rush in and detonate himself. In moments like these, composure was paramount.

‘I can’t expect any more help from here on.’

Merlin had poured magical bombardment onto this location while battling the 10th Apostle.
If I couldn’t end this situation alone, I had no right to survive.

Like an infant taking its first steps, I advanced one foot at a time toward the tree’s base.
The assassin, true to his nature, kept his focus concentrated on the rear. He showed no interest in the front, which was becoming increasingly visible.

Using the settled dust and damp shadows as my foundation, I crept forward until I stood before the tree where the assassin hid, then lowered my body.

‘This is where it matters most.’

No matter how concentrated his awareness was on the rear, striking now risked a counterattack. I had to wait for the moment he let his guard slip.

I straightened the Soul Reaper Sword I’d been gripping in reverse grip and held my breath.

‘It’s definitely coming.’

*

*

*

Siris suppressed his presence and bit the inside of his cheek.

‘Damn it.’

I was just about to kill him, and now this happens!

Just as I had assessed from the hill, Raon Zigheart’s condition was dire.
It was unexpected that he escaped the self-destruction using the water spirits, but the aura remaining in him was minimal.

All I needed to do was scatter the remaining water spirits to find him, but suddenly magical bombardment rained down from the sky and ruined everything.

‘Six of them died.’

Six water spirits exploded from the magic. I detonated four myself, and two were damaged beyond movement, leaving only twelve remaining.

‘No, this much is sufficient.’

The magic used moments ago must have been Merlin’s doing.
Since I was targeting Raon, it was probably her way of saying not to kill him, but she’s currently fighting the 10th Apostle. Using a bombardment of this scale again would be impossible.

‘I need to kill him as quickly as possible.’

The situation had changed from before. I had to eliminate Raon as fast as I could, either before Merlin cast magic again or before someone else came to help.

Siris scattered the twelve water spirits around the area. After positioning them in places where Raon might hide, I adjusted the artifact lodged in my left ear.
It was an artifact that spread murmuring sounds from my mouth to wherever I desired.

[I know you’re alive. With that leech-like survival instinct of yours, you’d crawl even if….]

I tried to provoke Raon like before the magical bombardment, but my words never finished.
A red dagger was already pressing against my lower abdomen.

Screeeech!

A sickly yellow aura flickered across the blade of the dagger that had burrowed into Siris’s abdomen.

“Gack!”

Siris’s body went rigid from the aura’s explosion, and the crimson dagger—seizing that opening—tore through his dantian.

Crackle, crackle, crackle!

A sound like his dantian was splitting apart erupted, and Siris fell backward, his entire body trembling violently. The agony was so severe that his eyes rolled upward.

“Ughhhh!”

Raon, the owner of the crimson dagger, looked down at the groaning Siris and curled his lips into a smile.

“Now we’re even.”

*

*

*

I exhaled in relief as I watched the water cultivators, now frozen like statues.

‘That was close.’

I didn’t know exactly how the water cultivators received their orders, but it was clear they were using aura to do so.
Since I needed information from this assassin, I targeted his dantian instead of his heart or throat—and fortunately, it landed perfectly.

“Grrrrgh….”

The assassin’s groans continued in an endless stream. For someone from Shadow, trained to endure pain, to emit such sounds meant his dantian was completely shattered.

I removed the assassin’s mask. Beneath it was a young man with blue hair and a kind expression you’d see anywhere.

‘Siris?’

In my past life, when I was the head of Shadow, he was the vice-captain of the Fifth Division. He looked older than back then, but I couldn’t fail to recognize him since I had trained him directly.

‘Has he risen to the point of commanding water users?’

Well, his skill was certainly undeniable.

As this battle alone demonstrated, Siris possessed exceptional situational awareness, concealment techniques, and adaptive capabilities.
It wasn’t particularly surprising that he had survived this long and been promoted.

However, he had a tendency to kill people with unnecessary cruelty and commit massacres, and judging by the way he commanded those water users, his nature seemed unchanged.

“Ugh….”

As the aura wave bursting from his shattered dantian subsided, Siris slowly lifted his body. His forehead was drenched in cold sweat, whether from pain or something else.

‘For an assassin, he’s still weak to pain?’

The chances of extracting information had increased significantly.

“You… you bastard….”

Siris raised a hand with veins bulging across it.

“What are those things?”

I knocked Siris’s hand away and pointed at the water users standing motionless behind me, feigning ignorance.

“I… there’s nothing I can tell you.”
“I see.”

I placed my hand on the left side of Siris’s chest as he clamped his mouth shut.

“Kill me quickly. Torture is a waste of time….”

I silenced Siris’s muttering and struck his chest with the Rage Worm knockout technique I had grown accustomed to using.

Crack!

Siris’s body bounced through the air from the impact before crashing down.

“Gah, this pain is nothing, I can—”
“I know. It’s nothing at all.”

I nodded slowly.

“So let’s begin now.”

I drew every ounce of aura pooling in my dantian and forced it into Siris’s body. I activated the torture method I’d used on Cloud—this time three times stronger.

“Torture is meaningless, I won’t—AAAAAAHHHHH!”

Siris couldn’t endure even ten seconds. He screamed, his entire body convulsing violently.
The pain tolerance he’d developed as an assassin proved utterly useless as veins bulged grotesquely across his neck.

‘Of course he can’t bear it.’

The torture method I was using forced him to experience pain, itching, heat, and cold simultaneously.
As these four sensations stimulated each other, their intensity compounded exponentially—no human, regardless of pain tolerance, could withstand such agony.

Siris’s silence and his lifespan wouldn’t last much longer.

“Kgh… kgh…”

I left the writhing Siris alone and rapidly recovered my aura using Manhwagong and Glacia.

‘A bit longer and he’ll break on his own.’

Siris knew he was dying, but he’d definitely open his mouth for a quicker, easier death.

“P-please stop! I’ll tell you everything!”

Before ten minutes had passed, Siris grabbed my pant leg and screamed. I’d estimated fifteen minutes, but true to form, the man lacked patience.

“What are those things?”

I cast a cold gaze downward, pointing at the water-fire users.

“Th-they’re called water-fire users.”
“Water-fire users?”

I feigned ignorance and asked in return.

“It’s an assassin zombie created using the corpse of a swordmaster.”
“Using a corpse? Did a necromancer create it?”
“Y-yes. It was developed through research by both a necromancer and a corpse mage.”
“So that’s why its movements were so natural. I understand the poison in its blood and why it explodes now.”

If a necromancer makes the dead move like the living, then a corpse mage infuses poison and explosives into the sluggish movements of a corpse.

With both of them working together, a monster like the Shuihua Guest was born.

Crack.

Raon clenched his fists until they bled, staring at the Shuihua Guest standing vacant without orders.

‘Derus Robert….’

This demonic bastard.

Not content with placing a noose around the necks of the living, he even mocked the dead—my chest burned with a fury so intense it felt ready to burst at this demon’s depravity.
Derus had already shed his human mask. He was more evil than any Oma.

“Huff….”

I forced down the rage churning within me and glared at Siris.

“Where are the Shuihua Guests created?”
“Hmm….”

Siris did not answer. He seemed to be waiting for the Rage Worm hiding in his heart to awaken.

“How annoying.”

I narrowed my eyes and resumed the torture I had paused.

“Aaaaaargh!”

Siris couldn’t endure it long, his trembling jaw shaking violently.

“I-I’ll tell you! It’s Capoli Village! There’s a factory there… cough!”

He choked on his words the moment he mentioned the factory. It seemed the torture had compounded the shock of his shattered core.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

As their master fell, the Soulbound Servants standing behind him collapsed like puppets with severed strings.

‘At least I extracted the final piece of information.’

I was grateful to have obtained details about where the Soulbound Servants were created.
However, the name of the village he mentioned felt strangely familiar.

‘Capoli?’

Why did a place I’d never visited feel so recognizable?

As I pondered this oddity, the ground beneath Siris trembled, and the mole that Merlin had possessed poked its head out.

“I knew you could do it.”

Merlin nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Thank you. I’m alive because of you.”
“I protect what’s mine.”

She closed her eyes, dismissing the need for gratitude.

“Please don’t say things like that….”
“Ugh!”

Merlin, who had been chuckling, suddenly clutched her chest and let out a groan.

“Merlin?”
“It’s nothing. I was just struck by a spear.”

Merlin waved her hand dismissively, insisting she was fine.

“A spear? From the 10th Apostle?”
“Yeah. That makes twice now. It didn’t hit my heart, so don’t worry.”
“Hah….”

I understood why she said twice. The magical bombardment from earlier had come from where Merlin’s true body was located. I was certain she’d been struck by a spear then as well.

“Are you alright? Can you hold on?”
“What? Are you worried about me?”

Merlin touched her flushed cheeks and swayed her tail playfully around her waist.

“If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve taken a few more hits.”

She murmured that she was happy and nodded, though her words grew choppy—a sign the situation was taking its toll.

“I need to focus a bit. Don’t worry about me, and get out of here.”

With Merlin’s smile, her presence vanished. The mole that had poked its head out startled and retreated back into its burrow.

‘Hit by a spear….’

For an ordinary soldier, it might be manageable. But a spear wielded by a Grand Master like the 10th Apostle would certainly inflict grave wounds. I found myself worried about her condition.

‘The debt just keeps mounting.’

Rather than repaying the accumulated favors, I continued to receive help, and the mountain of debt only grew higher.
Especially since she seemed to want nothing in return, which made my heart ache all the more.

“Sigh….”

I rose to my feet as I cremated Siris’s corpse in the Manhwa Palace.

‘I need to send them off too.’

I wanted to give a proper rest to those who had been tormented by Derus Robert even in death, but their bodies were far more resilient than Siris’s, requiring far more aura to cremate.

‘I don’t have time to recover here.’

As I pondered what to do, Wrath’s energy flowed into me from the ice flower bracelet.

“What is this….”
-Touching the dead is a filthy act.

Wrath poked his face out from above the bracelet.

-The True Demon King would always crush the skulls of those who engaged in such vile deeds.

He retreated back into the bracelet, his tail swishing playfully.

-It’s tedious. Handle it quickly.
“You’re softhearted after all, aren’t you?”

Raon chuckled and tapped the bracelet lightly.

-Who! Who is softhearted?! The True Demon King is the cruelest in the Demon Realm….
‘Right, some Demon Lord from somewhere.’

Once we arrive safely at Camelrun, I’ll have to buy him an ice cream.

*

*

*

“To lose focus in my presence—you’ve lost your mind.”

The 10th Apostle narrowed his eyes as he observed Merlin, whose shoulders and chest bore gaping wounds.

“Why did you cast magic there?”

He raised his spear, pointing it toward the forest where Raon and Siris were located.

“There was a filthy insect there.”

Merlin shrugged her shoulders with casual indifference. As her hand brushed across the wound, the torn robe filled in and the blood vanished.

“Still mad, I see.”

A brilliant aura bloomed above the 10th Apostle’s spear, wrapping itself in an eerie light.

“Let’s finish this quickly. I need to kill you and offer him to the Cult Leader.”
“That’s impossible.”

As Merlin flicked her fingers, countless magic circles materialized behind her. Seven rays of light ignited above the magic circles that spread like wings.

“I won’t hand over what’s mine to anyone.”
“You can’t defeat me in that state.”

The 10th Apostle released a grim voice as though dragged from the depths of hell, thrusting his spear forward. The storm of brilliant aura erupting from the spear’s tip tore through space itself as it surged toward her.

“Sorry about this….”

As Merlin swept both hands downward like conducting an orchestra, the radiant clusters of light dancing above the magic circles flashed with a crimson brilliance.

“This is my prime.”

With her smile visible through the mask, a violent flash of light burst forth from the unified magic circle.

Kuwaaaaang!

*

*

*

Whoooosh!

After burning the corpses of Siris and the water mages, I turned my head.

‘That sound just now….’

A tremendous clash of power erupted in the distance. Judging by the flow of mana reaching here, it seemed to be Merlin and the 10th Apostle.

‘Should I go?’

No. I’d only get in the way.

Thanks to the energy Wrath had transferred and my partially recovered aura, I felt considerably better than before, though not enough to engage in combat with someone of comparable strength.

Now was not the time to aid others—I needed to rendezvous with the Gwangpung Corps and escape this place as swiftly as possible.

‘I should move immediately.’

I oriented myself toward Camelrun’s location and pushed off the ground, moving with minimal presence in case other enemies lurked nearby.

-Coward! The True Demon King carried himself with pride even when bereft of power!

As I leaped between trees, Wrath grumbled incessantly.

‘I’m not a virtuous demon lord.’
-Ugh! You lack such audacity! The resolve to overcome anything! The composure to remain unflinching no matter what unfolds….

As he continued muttering, a message materialized before my eyes.

[You have achieved an impossible feat.]
[All stats have….]
[Trait….]

The rewards for overcoming Cloud and Siris’s battle had arrived all at once.

-Nngh….

I smiled, pointing at Wrath’s trembling eyelids.

‘You just blinked, didn’t you?’
-Shut your mouth!

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