The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 588

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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 588

Siyan lifted her trembling eyelids and opened her eyes. Joy bloomed in her blue irises, which had always remained so calm and composed.

‘It’s… changed.’

During the resonance training just moments ago, I felt as though I and the world had become one. Though it lasted only an instant, something within me had undeniably transformed.

‘A crack has opened.’

A hairline fracture had appeared in the unyielding wall that had always barred the path of my soul. If I could widen that fissure, I might be able to merge my will with the world itself.

“Haaah….”

Siyan exhaled a turbid breath and collapsed to the ground.

‘I’ve finally reached it.’

For a lifetime, I had walked through a dark cave with no visible end in sight.
Despairing at where this tunnel might lead, I had forced my feet forward through sheer will—but now, at last, I could see the light beckoning from the exit. My entire body had gone limp; even lying here felt exhausting.

‘So it’s true—one must never give up….’

I had practically surrendered, yet thanks to my idol Raon, I was able to steel my resolve one final time. It was no exaggeration to say this achievement was born from his influence.

‘I must tell him tomorrow… wait.’

Siyan paused as she recalled Raon, her hand hovering over her chest.

‘Now that I think about it, I sensed his aura….’

Within the crack that had formed in the wall imprisoning my soul, I had felt a warmth and coolness simultaneously—both reminiscent of Raon’s aura.

‘Could it be…’

Raon had said he could change my current state, and he had infused his aura into me while examining my body internally. It seemed the aura he had left behind had shattered the wall that bound my soul.

Siyan clasped her hands together, a gentle smile gracing her lips.

‘It was all thanks to Raon….’

She was rising to her feet, resolved to thank him when they met tomorrow, when—

“Siyan! Come out!”

The door shook as though it might splinter, and Rimer’s rough voice cut through the air—urgent and strained, far different from his tone when he’d arrived moments before.

“O-older brother?”

Siyan’s instincts screamed that something terrible had occurred. She yanked the door open immediately.

“What’s wrong? Why—”
“Get out now! The Barrier is collapsing!”
“The Barrier?”

Following Rimer’s gaze upward into the void, she watched in horror as the World Tree’s Barrier—the one that concealed and protected Sepia within the Grand Forest—began to dissolve.

“This… what is this….”

The impenetrable Barrier she’d believed unbreakable was crumbling into fragments with almost pathetic ease, scattering like dust.

“There’s no time to gawk.”

Rimer wrapped his left arm around Siyan’s waist, pulling her dazed form close as he bolted toward Sterin’s residence.

“What on earth is happening!”
“I don’t know yet either.”

He pressed forward faster, as if to outrun the scorching heat of the infernal flames spreading across the entire forest, his eyes fixed on the crumbling Barrier.

‘It’s not just the entrance—all sides are being breached.’

And not through force, but naturally.

Whoever was breaking this Barrier had to be of the same kind.

‘Is there a traitor in Sepia as well?’

The moment I finished organizing my thoughts, Sterin’s residence came into view. I immediately opened a gap in the barrier that concealed the World Tree.

Rimer gestured to Siyan as he watched the barrier open with a blue glow.

“Stay right next to the World Tree.”

The barrier protecting the World Tree possessed a durability far superior to the one that had hidden Sepia.
With the Grand Elder standing guard inside to protect Sterin, along with the Guardians, it was no exaggeration to call it the safest place in all of Sepia.

“Rimer!”

The moment I opened the path to the World Tree, the Grand Elder burst outside.

“What in the world is happening!”
“It appears there’s a traitor among us.”
“A t-traitor?”
“The moment Grandfather entered meditation, someone opened the barrier and set the fire. That means there’s a traitor on the inside.”

Rimer relayed the conclusion he had reached on the way here.

“Hmm, that’s certainly a strong possibility.”

Despite his stubborn nature, the Grand Elder quickly accepted Rimer’s reasoning.

“Sigh…”

He bit his lip as he gazed at Sterin’s motionless body.

“We must bring all of Sepia’s people inside this barrier.”

Rimer waved his hand, ordering the barrier to be opened.

“That’s impossible.”

The Grand Elder shook his head firmly.

“You yourself said there was a traitor among us. Yet you don’t even know who the traitor is, and you’d accept everyone? If something happens to the Guardians or the World Tree, we cannot bear the consequences.”
“So you’re just going to leave them out there and let all your kin burn to death?”

Rimer furrowed his brow as he looked at the Grand Elder.

“I’ll stop them! Just let everyone in for now!”
“Your grandfather could be in danger!”
“Grandfather would have done the same as me!”
“Hmm….”

The Grand Elder didn’t refute the point, seeming to agree, yet he made no move to let the kin inside.

“Sigh….”

Even Rimer found the choice difficult this time and couldn’t speak easily. As a brief silence fell between them, an arrow flew down and embedded itself at their feet.

“It’s Leiran’s arrow.”
“That girl….”

Rimer unfolded the paper attached to the arrow. Written in red ink—whether from blood or dye—was information about the current situation.

“The traitor wasn’t from inside!”

Upon reading that the deserters had broken the barrier, he clenched his fist.

“Grand Elder.”
“Very well. Accept all of Sepia’s kin into the secondary barrier. Right now!”
“Grand Elder?”

The other elders widened their eyes in shock at the Grand Elder’s command.

“Even if they are deserters, the barrier protecting the World Tree cannot be broken easily. Fighting while receiving the World Tree’s power from within the barrier is our best option.”
“Finally, you’re speaking sense.”

Rimer nodded vigorously and snapped his fingers.

“What are you all doing? Go out there and bring everyone back!”
“Y-yes!”

The Guardians who had been standing in a daze nodded and rushed outside.

“O-older brother! What about Raon?”

Siyan crawled forward on trembling legs and asked about Raon.

“Don’t worry.”

Rimer pointed with his finger at the entrance of Sepia, where vicious flames were raging. The silver light spreading across the sky and the flames and smoke that had seemed ready to consume the entire forest suddenly froze as if shattered into fragments in a single instant.

“That guy doesn’t die easily.”

*

*

*

I furrowed my brow as I gazed at the enemies standing before me.

‘So it was Eden after all.’

The man draped in crimson flames wore a helmet shaped like a single-horned lizard. Only the ghosts of Eden wore such vividly monstrous helmets.

‘Powerful.’

I sensed a rank and momentum higher than my own, now that I had ascended to Grand Master. The intense heat piercing through my fire resistance made it feel as though my entire skin would burn away.

‘Just dealing with this one is already overwhelming….’

I examined the ashen-skinned elves positioned beside the Eden ghost, my expression darkening.

‘And these strange elves on top of that.’

Their beautiful elven features remained intact, but their skin was a deathly ashen gray, and instead of the essence of nature, they were wrapped in a gloomy aura that reeked of death. It felt like looking at Necromancers.

“Y-you came quickly.”

I turned around at Erian’s halting voice. Both of his arms were oozing from severe burns, and large holes pierced through them as if struck by arrows. He was barely clinging to life.

‘He wasn’t fighting—he was protecting.’

Erian’s footwork was exceptional. Even if he couldn’t defeat them, he could have bought time by retreating, but seeing his current state, it appeared he had stood his ground at the entrance to Sepia to defend it. It was remarkable resolve.

“Erian….”
“I’m fine. Look at the enemy instead.”

Erian, having overcome the pain through sheer willpower, spoke in a low voice, directing my attention not to himself but to our foe.

“That helmet. It’s Ifrit’s helmet.”
“Ifrit…?”

I widened my eyes and repeated the name.

“Ifrit—the Fire Spirit King?”
“That’s right….”

Erian nodded weakly.

“The crimson flames that consume all things, and looking at the helmet’s form, I’m certain. It possesses the power of Ifrit, the Fire Spirit King.”
“That can’t be….”

As I bit my lip in confusion, crimson flames burst through the silver aurora and erupted outward.

-Hmm….

Wrath, who had been thrashing about just moments ago complaining of hunger, smacked his lips as he gazed upon Ifrit’s helmet.

-Indeed, that fire demon’s aura is unmistakable.
‘So it really is the Fire Spirit King?’
-Aye, it is. However….

He let out a thin chuckle.

-Compared to the original fire demon, it’s absurdly weak. It seems he failed to inherit the true power properly.

Hearing those words, I looked at Ifrit’s helmet once more.

‘Indeed….’

If the Spirit King were truly transcendent, they would rank quite high, but the aura I sensed from the creature before me was merely at the Grand Master level.

It was undoubtedly stronger than me, yet the power fell far short of what one would expect from an heir to the Fire Spirit King’s legacy.

“Hongryeom-gwi.”

The ashen-skinned elf standing at the center narrowed her eyes as she gazed at Ifrit’s helmet.

“What are you doing?”

She shook her head in displeasure at Hongryeom-gwi’s vacant stance.

“And that elf?”
“A traitor of Sepia. Her name is Cassandra.”

Erian ground his teeth as he glared at Cassandra.

“A traitor?”
“Yes. Those who once parted ways with Sepia and left as defectors have returned as traitors.”

He let out a hollow laugh, as if he couldn’t believe they would repay kindness with betrayal.

‘Those defectors…’

I recalled what Rimer had said about the defectors before the purification ceremony. He’d mentioned they left due to differing opinions, but now it seemed their very race had transformed entirely.

“Hongryeom-gwi!”

At Cassandra’s cry, Hongryeom-gwi’s eyes flashed with an intensity like hellfire ignited.

“That human is strange.”

Hongryeom-gwi narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. His fierce gaze trembled faintly.

“Strange, you say?”
“I sense an aura far greater than the power he possesses. Is he truly human?”

He flicked his fingertips, suggesting I might be a transformed dragon.

“Dragon or whatever….”
“It can’t be a dragon. That human is a dragon slayer.”

As Cassandra frowned at Hongryeom-gwi, a calm voice reached them from behind. It was a voice I felt I’d heard somewhere before.

A man wearing a red serpent helmet emerged from between the bushes turning to ash and sinking away.

‘That helmet….’

Except for its crimson color, it had the exact same form as Geummyeonsa’s helmet I’d seen when kidnapped by Eden.

“Geummyeonsa?”
“Geummyeonsa is dead. I am the Red Ghost Knight.”

He introduced himself as the Red Ghost Knight and took his place beside Hongryeom-gwi.

“Leave this to us and go about your business.”

The Red Ghost Knight pointed his finger at Sepia. The barrier had burned away entirely, and the entrance to Sepia was now fully visible.

‘Your business?’

I narrowed my eyes as I observed Hongryeom-gwi and the Red Ghost Knight.

‘This isn’t just a simple attack?’

If the ash-gray elf, Hongryeom-gwi, and the Red Ghost Knight combined their strength to kill me, that would be the best way to shatter Sepia. Yet they were trying to send Hongryeom-gwi ahead first. They clearly had another plan in mind.

‘Then I can’t let him go.’

Raon advanced with such force in his thighs that deep footprints were left behind, and he drew down Seoryeon toward Hongryeom-gwi, who was trying to disappear. The silver blade and the frost blade that followed like a shadow behind it poured toward Hongryeom-gwi’s neck.

Crash!

Hongryeom-gwi raised a shield of flames on his forearms, blocking both strikes of Frost Chain simultaneously. Fire and cold clashed, filling the air with white steam.

“You bastard….”
“We haven’t even greeted each other yet, and you’re trying to leave?”

I planted my left foot at a right angle. The foundation of the Moonless Art lay in the lower body. Drawing the power upward from below, I connected it through the Heavenly Sword’s blade and unfolded the Snowwind Sword Form.

Shing!

A single sweep connected from the first stance through the fifth, and azure radiance streamed across the Heavenly Sword’s blade.

Crash!

Brilliant light shattered Hongryeom-gwi’s shield and surged toward his heart.

Clang!

Just before the blade pierced through the glowing red skin, the Heavenly Sword’s trajectory was forced to the right. Not by Hongryeom-gwi—the Red Ghost Knight standing beside him and Cassandra’s arrow had deflected the Heavenly Sword.

“Go. This isn’t your position.”

The Red Ghost Knight gestured urgently for Hongryeom-gwi to move.

“Don’t kill him. Come back, and I’ll burn him to ash.”

Hongryeom-gwi glared at me as if to devour me, then moved toward where Sepia lay. His body, wreathed in crimson flames, advanced at a terrifying speed.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

I stepped into the Three Paths of Harmony and clung to Hongryeom-gwi’s side. I tried to trap him by raising a frost tree with the tip of the Heavenly Sword, but the Red Ghost Knight’s sword strike and Cassandra’s arrow shattered the unfinished tree.
They tried to confine Hongryeom-gwi by raising a spectral tree of frost built on the tip of the Heavenly Sword, but the Red Ghost Knight’s sword strike and Cassandra’s arrow shattered the tree before it could fully form.

Honk!

In the end, Hongryeom-gwi removed Hwaryeong and entered Sepia.

Tsk.

Raon clicked his tongue briefly as he looked at the Red Ghost Knight and Cassandra.

“We have our own business. Cut us some slack.”
“You really want to die that badly?”
“To be honest, I kind of do.”
“To be honest, I’ve been thinking about dying.”

The Red Ghost Knight let out a sharp laugh and swung his sword.

“You’re all under a grave misunderstanding.”

I summoned a crimson aura atop the Heavenly Sword and advanced toward the Red Ghost Knight.

“Do you truly believe the two of you can stop me?”
“Your arrogance pierces the very heavens.”

Cassandra’s brow furrowed deeply, irritation evident in her expression.

“That’s just how he is.”

The Red Ghost Knight shrugged and tightened his grip on his blade. From the way he spoke, it seemed he was indeed Geummyeonsa, merely wearing a different mask.

“He’s grown arrogant after slaying a dragon, but ultimately it was the Pirate King who accomplished everything….”

The moment the Red Ghost Knight opened his mouth, I stepped into Taehwa’s Second Form. Moving with such speed that the world blurred into darkness, I thrust the Heavenly Sword forward in a devastating strike.

Manhwa Palace’s Heavenly Flame.
Red Slash Thirty-Six Formations.

A blade of flame piercing all thirty-six directions enveloped the Red Ghost Knight’s entire body.

As the Red Ghost Knight’s eyes trembled, realizing there was no escape, Cassandra’s hand moved. She wielded her bow like a sword, and a sharp black aura extended forth with lethal precision.

Crash!

Thanks to Cassandra’s swift intervention, the Red Ghost Knight managed to escape the Red Slash Thirty-Six Formations, though his right shoulder and thigh bore deep wounds.
Yet his eyes trembled as though staring into the face of death itself.

“Hah, it’s only been a short time, yet you’ve grown impossibly strong.”

The Red Ghost Knight let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.

Boom!

I gave him no time to speak further, stomping the ground with savage intensity. Following his retreating form to his left, I sheathed the Heavenly Sword in a scabbard of flame.

“Hmph!”

Cassandra twisted her fingers, releasing six arrows in rapid succession. They collided mid-flight, their trajectories so intricate and layered that they were nearly impossible to track.

‘Impressive archery, but….’

It doesn’t even come close to matching the Guardian’s speed.

I resonated with the ring of fire and drew the Soul Reaper Sword with my left hand.

I deployed a rosary barrier using demonic energy to block five of the threatening arrows, and kicked the final one away.

Boom!

Using the recoil from the kicked arrow, I closed the distance to the Red Ghost Knight even faster.

“Ugh!”

The Red Ghost Knight panicked and thrust his blade forward. The sharp strike aimed for my heart, but I ignored it and poured strength into my grip.

Raon Zigheart’s swordsmanship.
Third Form: Silver Dream.

The blade, drawn as if through a dream, traced across the Red Ghost Knight’s neck.

“Guh… ugh….”

The Red Ghost Knight clenched his fists, trying to stem the crimson line that appeared on his neck, but he couldn’t stop the blood that poured forth.

Thud.

The Red Ghost Knight’s headless body toppled backward.

“So… you really have become a monster….”

Even as he died, the Red Ghost Knight’s lips trembled with a smile still lingering on his face.

“But the plan remains unchanged. This will be the last time I see you….”
“That won’t happen.”

I ignored the Red Ghost Knight’s words and looked at Cassandra. Red lightning flickered in my eyes as I shook the blood from the Heavenly Sword.

“Now it’s your turn.”

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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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