The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 877
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 877
‘What…?’
I turned to Wrath in alarm.
‘You know this creature?’
Moments ago, Wrath had muttered that he seemed to recognize the monster wielding the flaming sword and whip.
Since he wasn’t the type to speak nonsense, if his words were true, the monster that attacked the Grey Hammer Guild was likely a member of the Demon Race.
-Indeed, I do.
Wrath nodded, his eyes narrowing to slits.
-However, I lack sufficient information. It would be wise to hear more.
He gestured with his round hand, urging me to get the Dwarf to speak.
‘Understood.’
After telling him to wait, I turned my attention to the Dwarf.
“May I ask your name?”
I asked for his name first to ease the Dwarf’s tension.
“My name is… eh?”
The Dwarf’s eyes widened as he swayed in confusion, as though I had recognized him.
“Raon Zigheart?”
“You know of me?”
“Didn’t we speak with our clan leader in this place before?”
He grasped his soot-blackened beard as he mentioned that it was during his dealings with Borgos.
“Ah, I apologize for the late recognition. My memory….”
I apologized and lowered my head. Now that I thought about it, I seemed to recall seeing a Dwarf with his beard twisted up like that before.
“No, since I hadn’t even introduced myself, it’s only natural you wouldn’t know. My name is Palentun.”
The Dwarf who introduced himself as Palentun nodded.
“The clan chief would ramble on about your story whenever he grew bored, so I still remember it.”
From the way he spoke, it seemed Borgos hadn’t informed him about the request for help.
“But why are you here….”
“Borgos sent me a letter.”
“The clan chief?”
“Yes.”
I nodded and showed Palentun Borgos’s letter.
“That… that letter….”
Palentun’s eyes widened as understanding dawned on him.
“You recognize it?”
“That’s the letter the clan chief sent while he was troubled! I can’t believe it reached you….”
His beard trembled as his emotions surged just from seeing the envelope.
“The contents are….”
I exhaled slowly and showed him the letter’s contents.
“Help me….”
Palentun closed his eyes tightly as he read the letter.
“The clan chief believes all matters must be handled by our own hands. When he saw the letter from Sepia, he muttered that this too must be fate, and to think he would send a letter to you….”
As if he felt Borgos’s emotions in those words asking for help, he knelt right there and wept.
“Tell me in detail what has happened during this time.”
I met Palentun’s gaze as I said he could only help if I understood the situation.
“…Very well.”
Palentun nodded and struggled to rise to his feet. From the way he moved, it was clear he had sustained a severe injury to his abdomen.
“Our Grey Hammer Guild’s smithy is located beneath the tunnels of Hwaryangsan Mountain. We positioned it there to maximize the use of the earth’s heat, but at some point, that heat began to move erratically. So we…”
*
*
*
As always, I was absorbed in my work, losing track of time, when the flames in the furnace suddenly began to rage uncontrollably.
“What is this?”
Palentun lowered his hammer and furrowed his brow.
When forging a sword, consistent flames were just as crucial as raw power.
The flames diminished, then surged, then wavered—making it impossible to continue working.
“Has something happened outside?”
Palentun removed his headwrap and stepped out of the smithy.
The other craftsmen, sensing the same disturbance, stood conversing with their soot-covered hammers in hand.
“It seems your furnace has encountered problems as well, Master Palentun.”
The clan leader’s finest apprentice approached with a shallow sigh.
“Yes. I couldn’t control the flames at all.”
“We faced the same issue. The flames grew stronger and weaker, making it impossible to regulate the thickness of the metal.”
He furrowed his brow, noting that everyone was experiencing the same situation.
“Certainly…”
I gazed into the tunnel that Palentun had dug to draw out the mountain’s heat. From deep below, an unusual warmth seemed to be rising.
“Hmm….”
“Are the monsters coming again?”
“I’m getting scared now.”
“Why is it so noisy!”
As everyone gazed anxiously into the depths of the tunnel, Borgos stamped his foot.
“Chieftain. The flames are surging violently. Something feels wrong.
Palentun approached Borgos and pointed toward the tunnel.
“It seems the monsters are having another outbreak.”
Borgos furrowed his brow, suspecting it was an issue with the monsters that fed on this burning mountain’s heat.
“That must be it. I’ve never seen it this severe, but….”
“Repair the castle wall and prepare for battle.”
He immediately shouted orders to repair the castle wall erected before the tunnel entrance and to maintain their weapons, as monsters would soon emerge.
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
The Dwarf and the guild’s craftsmen lifted their gleaming hammers as if accustomed to the task, their battle cry shaking the mountain itself.
Two days after repairing the castle wall and maintaining their weapons, monsters began crawling out of the tunnel, just as Borgos had predicted.
Though it was a familiar occurrence, everyone faced something they hadn’t anticipated.
Countless monsters poured forth—from colossal creatures like the Giant Lava Worm, called the volcano’s nightmare, and the Red Dragon Turtle that spewed heat hot enough to melt steel, to mid-sized monsters like the massive army ants that bore no wounds even from sword aura and the Ruby Flies that fed on human flesh.
It was as if a literal crimson lava tide was surging upward.
“Insane….”
“Why, why are there so many!”
“It’s not just the sheer numbers! There are multiple large monsters, not just one or two!”
“Can we… can we really defeat all of them…?”
The Dwarf and craftsmen trembled, their hands shaking around their hammers and axes as the tide of monsters bore down upon them.
Kuuuung!
As panic seized everyone, a thunderous footstep echoed from the highest point of the Castle Wall.
“Do not fear! Trust in the Castle Wall and hammers we have honed with our own hands!”
It was Borgos. His eyes unwavering, he roared at everyone to fight.
“I will stand at the front.”
As he brought down his hammer, crackling with lightning, golden bolts of electricity fell and tore through the torso of the Giant Lath Worm charging at the vanguard.
Kugugugugu!
Emboldened by Borgos’s prowess, the Dwarves erected their grey-gleaming cannons.
Iron cannons—weapons more powerful than magical artillery. They were the Dwarves’ mightiest arms, the Smithy’s craft perfected.
Kuwaaaaang!
As the iron cannons fired in unison, the monsters surging below the Castle Wall exploded without leaving a trace of flesh.
Yet their numbers were so vast that some monsters breached the cannon fire and reached the Castle Wall itself.
“Fight with faith in the Clan Chief!”
Palentun swung his hammer with fierce force. The torso of a colossal army ant crawling up the Castle Wall shattered and fell.
“How dare you come here!”
“Let not a single one cross over!”
“Believe! Our wall will not break!”
The other Dwarves and warriors of the Grey Hammer Guild fought alongside Palentun and Borgos, blood and flesh spraying across the battlefield.
The brutal battle raged for two days. The Castle Wall cracked, the cannon emplacements warped from heat, but mercifully, the endless tide of monsters finally ceased.
“I told you—there’s nothing that can stop a master craftsman.”
Palentun clutched the hole torn through his abdomen and let out a bitter laugh.
The wound was severe, but he couldn’t help but smile knowing that thanks to the castle wall and their weapons, not a single soul had fallen.
“Stop spouting nonsense and help with the cleanup.”
Borgos, wounded even more grievously than Palentun, couldn’t move his right arm properly, yet he surveyed everyone with the bearing of a true clan leader.
“You should be resting, sir.”
Palentun snorted and kicked Borgos on the rear.
“Do you think I’m as frail as you? I could fight for another month without issue.”
Borgos clicked his tongue and jabbed Palentun’s wound.
“Ugh!”
Palentun couldn’t help but cry out, and the other dwarves and craftsmen giggled at the sight.
Everyone bore wounds, yet their expressions were bright—smiles tinged with relief that the war with the monsters had ended, that they could return to striking steel once more.
But peace did not arrive.
Uoooooooo!
The furnace’s flames grew even more uncontrollable, and from deep within the tunnel came a bone-chilling resonance.
“It seems the monsters weren’t actually attacking us….”
Borgos stood in the conference room, shaking his head.
“They were fleeing from below.”
He bit his lip, sensing that something—some unknown creature—lurked in the depths beneath them.
“We’ll have to set aside everything else and rebuild the castle wall first.”
Borgos exhaled a long breath, resolved that they must restore the collapsed wall above all else.
“Understood. This time, I’ll reinforce it so it’s absolutely impenetrable.”
Palentun cried out for me to trust him, pounding his chest.
“You’ve got a hole in your belly and you’re talking about doing repairs?”
“You’re the same, clan chief! And you can’t even use your right arm!”
“At least I still have my left arm!”
Borgos smacked Palentun on the head to knock some sense into him.
“You go out and gather the repair materials.”
He jerked his chin, telling him to head outside and bring back the materials needed for repairs.
“But….”
Palentun’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the letter Borgos was holding.
“What have you been looking at this whole time?”
“A letter from that damned pointy-eared bastard.”
“Sterin, then.”
The only one Borgos called that damned pointy-eared bastard was Sterin, the guardian of Sepia.
“…I suppose this too is fate.”
As if having made some inexplicable decision, he wrote a brief message on the letter, tied it to the leg of a bird that had come from Sepia, and sent it flying back.
“We don’t have time to waste! Move as fast as you can! Palentun, take the young ones and gather those materials. No refusals!”
“Ugh, understood. I’ll be back quickly.”
Despite his severe injuries, Palentun gathered the materials for reinforcing the castle wall as quickly as possible and returned to the underground.
But by then, much was already too late.
Lava that seemed to flow from the abyss itself was engulfing the Smithy, and swords and whips made of hellfire rained down upon the craftsmen’s heads.
Screams echoed throughout the underground as human flesh was flayed, and blood-soaked fabric was torn apart in a gruesome frenzy.
“Flee! Do not return to this place!”
I circled behind Borgos. He struck the ground with the Lightning Hammer that had been holding back the demon, and the staircase leading to the Underground Forge crumbled, causing the lava targeting Palentun to subside.
“Ugh!”
Palentun bit his lips until they bled. He wanted to fight alongside Borgos, but the young craftsmen behind him weighed on his mind.
“Get out! Leave now!”
Palentun gestured for the tearful craftsmen to retreat.
As he tried to exit the tunnel for the last time, a crimson whip came rushing toward him.
Screech!
Had he been even a second slower, the whip would have caught his ankle and dragged him down, but fortunately he managed to pull free.
Boom!
The entrance of the tunnel, struck by the whip meant for Palentun, collapsed completely, sealing off access to the Grey Hammer Guild’s stronghold.
Though the agonized screams still echoed from underground, Hwaryangsan Mountain remained silent as if nothing had happened.
“Ah….”
As Palentun and the young craftsmen trembled in fear, Dialun climbed up the mountain.
*
*
*
“So it came to this.”
Palentun recounted everything that had happened and bowed his head deeply. Both the guilt of not being with his comrades and the fear of the monster weighed heavily upon him.
The guilt of not being able to be with my colleagues and the fear of the Monster were all tangled together.
“Hmm…”
Raon frowned as he looked at Palentun’s trembling shoulders and leather armor soaked with blood.
‘Is that the one you know?’
-I can’t be certain yet, but judging by that ferocity, it seems about right.
Wrath nodded, remarking that the creature’s behavior looked absolutely insane.
‘Then it must be a Demon Race member.’
-Indeed. Among the Demon Race, this one has quite the reputation.
‘Who is it?’
-Balrog.
Wrath uttered the name Balrog with a brief sigh.
-In terms of innate power and characteristics, this creature ranks among the top ten strongest forces in the Demon Realm.
‘That’s all?’
I furrowed my brow. When Wrath spoke like that, it meant the opponent was truly formidable, and tension coiled within me.
‘Does it have any weaknesses?’
-The True Demon King.
Wrath lifted his chin proudly.
-The mere existence of the True Demon King becomes a weakness for those creatures.
He shook his head, saying it was simple.
‘You’ve been spouting a lot of nonsense lately.’
-How dare you! To the True Demon King, lord of the Demon Realm, you speak thus…!
‘Regardless.’
I narrowed my eyes as I studied Palentun.
‘This doesn’t seem to be a trap.’
Considering the situation Palentun had described, everything felt too sudden.
Especially since Sterin sending a letter to Borgos and him requesting my aid was something no one could have predicted—the likelihood of this being a trap was virtually zero.
‘Of course, that doesn’t mean the Oma aren’t scheming behind the scenes.’
I couldn’t afford to lower my guard—this could very well be a scheme orchestrated by the Black Tower in connection with the Demon Realm.
“So what do we do now…?”
Palentun grasped his head, lamenting that there was nothing he could do.
“Let’s go first.”
I rose to my feet with composure.
“Whether we can save her or not remains to be seen, but we won’t know unless we go.”
“Hmm…”
Palentun looked up at me, his jaw trembling.
“You’re saying you’ll go even after hearing all that? With such dangerous beings out there?”
“If I don’t act after hearing such circumstances, my mother and the Head of House will have my hide.”
I nodded, as if this were an obvious course of action.
“Well said.”
Sheryl let out a soft chuckle and stepped closer.
“Demon or not, a blade will still pierce through flesh.”
She cracked her knuckles, as if ready to give it a try.
“Ah…”
A faint spark of hope ignited in Palentun’s eyes, which had been consumed by despair.
*
*
*
I followed Palentun toward Hwaryangsan Mountain, where the Grey Hammer Guild’s Smithy was located.
“Phew, it’s hot.”
Martha fanned herself with her hand, her brow furrowed.
“The geothermal energy seems quite high here. If it’s this intense already, I wonder how scorching that mountain must be….”
Burren’s eyes narrowed with visible concern.
“Ugh….”
Lunan’s shoulders drooped as he let out a weary groan, already exhausted by the oppressive heat.
“Normally it wouldn’t be this intense, but the geothermal energy seems to be growing stronger.”
Palentun exhaled deeply and shook his head.
“It might be because those creatures are controlling the heat….”
He bit his lip hard, his expression bitter at the mere thought.
I gazed toward the distant stone mountain and gestured to Wrath with a tilt of my chin.
‘So Balrog is an entire race?’
-Indeed. They’re not just strong—they’re ferociously savage creatures. Some of them could have become Demon Lords, yet chose not to.
Wrath shook his head, calling them battle-obsessed maniacs.
‘They could have become Demon Lords but didn’t?’
-There was one who abandoned the Jade Throne because he wanted to fight freely on his own terms.
He snorted derisively, muttering that the creature was arrogant.
‘Then….’
I clicked my tongue briefly.
‘All the dwarves must be dead.’
-That may not be the case.
‘What?’
-If the ones attacked had been elves, they’d all be dead. But since they’re dwarves, they might have survived.
Wrath raised his hand as if telling me to wait and see.
‘What are you talking about?’
-As that dwarf said at first, Balrog uses a flaming sword and whip. Those weapons are innate to Balrog from birth, but they can be enhanced.
‘Then….’
-Balrog might have kept the dwarves alive to enhance those weapons.
He shook his head, saying there was a high possibility of that.
‘I hope that’s the case.’
I nodded heavily and looked toward Palentun.
“Let’s pick up the pace.”
“Of course.”
Palentun nodded as if his injuries meant nothing to him.
“Let’s go.”
I took the lead, guiding everyone with the winds of Garunua as we climbed Hwaryangsan Mountain.
“Th-this is it.”
Palentun pointed to the blackened, twisted ground as if lava had hardened, his eyebrows trembling.
“This was originally the entrance to our Grey Hammer Guild.”
He bit his lip as he gazed upon the collapsed earth.
“This is the entrance?”
Burren let out a breath of disbelief.
“It’s completely hardened. Getting inside will be quite the ordeal.”
Martha ground her teeth in frustration.
“I hate this place….”
Lunan Slion scattered fragments of frost to prevent the others from being overwhelmed by the heat.
“I, I only came to resupply.”
Dorian’s jaw trembled as if he couldn’t comprehend the situation.
“That sword of yours—you remember Borgos’s apprentice made it for you, right?”
I nodded toward Dorian’s blade. Though I’d acquired many swords over time, Dorian had grown fond of that one and refused to exchange it.
Dorian has been able to obtain many swords so far, but he hasn’t changed from that sword yet, saying he likes it.
“Ugh, I know.”
Dorian nodded heavily, gripping his sword tightly.
Phew.
Raon twisted his lips as he looked down at the Battlefield below.
“There certainly are some incredibly strong ones out there.”
Their auras and heat were so overwhelming that I couldn’t sense the presence of any people.
Their presence and energy were so overwhelming that I couldn’t sense the vitality of other people.
“Make saving people your top priority and act accordingly.”
He nodded at the squad leaders preparing for battle and Dorian, then placed his hand on the Heavenly Sword.
“Then let’s begin.”
Raon rolled his feet while keeping his chin raised.
Whoooosh!
A shockwave twisted through all of Hwaryangsan Mountain, and crimson flames surged up from the tunnel below.
“F-fire!”
“Retreat!”
The warriors supported by Dialun and Adis recoiled in terror as the violent inferno erupted skyward.
But I reached my hand toward the vicious flames instead.
Whoooosh!
Silver frost blooming from my palm froze every lick of flame and scorching heat that rose upward. It was the divine technique of a transcendent who commanded the mana of nature itself.
Crack!
I crushed the frozen flames and tore open the gates of Hell with my azure hand.
Along with billowing white steam, the suffocating heat began to subside.
“Follow only behind me.”
I drew the Heavenly Sword with cold, piercing eyes. The voice of an absolute being who had transcended rang ominously, calming the turbulent emotions of those around me.
“No one will die.”
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————