Chapter 28: A Trap!

Taehoo and Juhyeok hurriedly left the building.

‘The Belial House’s final order and the reason he betrayed Dantalion. I have two things I need to hear.’

The first was the true essence of this mission.

He hadn’t predicted betrayal, so he couldn’t grasp every detail of the situation, but at least, if he could hear the last order, he might be able to infer Dantalion’s movements.

The second was Taehoo’s intuition. He was sure something was being concealed.

Just the fact that something suspicious had cropped up in the mission was reason enough to investigate.

[Things really got complicated, huh?]

Ba’al, who had been silent, finally spoke.

Yes, the situation had grown more complicated than he’d expected.

Now he had to secure the target before the Elimination Unit, and he had an extra piece of information to obtain as well.

‘They probably haven’t left the Sewer yet. This is the crossroads. Now isn’t the time to hesitate about being cautious or not.’

He had already confirmed, using Ba’al’s ability, that Jin Tae wasn’t tailing them.

Which meant he could reveal a bit more of his hidden skill without worry.

“Just do your best to keep up with me.”

After warning Juhyeok, Taehoo began to move, unleashing his Mana without restraint.

His speed was nothing compared to before.

Juhyeok could barely keep up, chasing after him at a desperate pace.

‘Even if he’s gained power, he’s just a low-ranking member in charge of managing the Stray Dogs of Dantalion. The Elimination Unit dispatched this time probably isn’t of a high level.’

In terms of force, there was no need for other help. That alone was fortunate.

Taehoo sorted out the complicated situation in his mind as he headed once more to the nearby information broker in the Sewer.

‘There are a total of four Sewer gates, and if you count the small Secret Doors, probably even more. Searching all of them at once is impossible.’

That was why he sought out the information broker again.

“Where did the guy who left the blue house go? If possible, can you tell me which way he ran, whether he’s alive, and if there are people chasing him, how many there are?”

The Old Man’s mouth opened.

“I was just waiting since there are some money-spending kids around.”

As if he had known they would come.

The Old Man Taehoo had just visited was in the southern Sewer. It seemed information had already been shared among them.

The Old Man continued, as if he had been waiting for Taehoo’s questions.

“The one who ran away is still alive. He escaped north, wearing clothes soaked in blood. There are about ten pursuers. You’d better hurry.”

Taehoo nodded.

Indeed, coming here first was the right move. He tossed a bit more money into the tin can.

“Did those chasing him buy information about his whereabouts?”

“That, I cannot tell you.”

Taehoo put an amount of money into the can incomparable to earlier.

“How about now?”

The Old Man shook his head. It was a satisfying reaction.

“The name of the house involved in today’s incident is Dantalion. If you dig into them, you’ll get a lot of good information.”

Taehoo lowered his voice as he spoke.

For those who dealt in information, stories unknown to them were worth more than money itself.

In short, this approach worked better than cash for making a fair trade.

This was the means of silencing chosen by Taehoo.

“With this, information about the two of us will never be sold at your stall. We were never here.”

With those words, he turned away.

After they had walked some distance from the Old Man—

“No matter how valuable information may be to those brokers, can we really trust them?”

“If my information proves truly valuable, they’ll keep their promise. That’s the only reason such weaklings have managed to survive in this filthy place until now.”

Taehoo spoke firmly.

Juhyeok could only marvel at Taehoo’s thoroughness, as if he had calculated everything.

Whether Juhyeok was impressed or not, Taehoo once again picked up speed. He shot forward like an arrow.

The things he learned in the Sword God Domain hadn’t rusted at all. In fact, the training of the Belial House had made his movements even lighter.

When Taehoo glanced behind him, Juhyeok was still managing to keep up somehow.

It seemed that awakening Mana through Belial’s power had been helpful.

The scenery of the Sewer flashed by in an instant.

‘When did the Elimination Unit learn of his location? Was it when they went to kill Jed? Or after they killed him and tried to escape?’

Taehoo hoped it was the latter.

If Kuro had been caught in Dantalion’s surveillance while escaping north, there was a chance he could arrive before them.

‘Do you feel anything?’

Taehoo asked Ba’al.

He had already asked Ba’al to search for any presences nearby.

[Nothing yet. We’ll have to go a bit farther.]

Taehoo gathered strength in his legs.

‘Kuro… just be alive.’

Before he knew it, his steps had carried him to the Northern Outskirts of the Sewer.

‘An unexpected variable, but thanks to it, the mission may end faster.’

As he continued running toward the outer gate, lost in thought—

Ssshhhk!

A sound like a faint breeze being stirred rang out.

‘A trap!’

Taehoo instinctively drew a dagger in midair and slashed.

Clang!

The metallic ring of metal meeting metal echoed. He could clearly see a small needle.

‘A poisoned needle? He even set up traps.’

It seemed Kuro had spent quite a lot of time preparing for this job.

Taehoo, having identified the traps, was somewhat relieved.

At least, if the traps were only now being triggered, it meant he was ahead of the Chasing Squad.

Leaping from roof to roof, wall to wall, he dodged the traps.

Invisible poisoned needles, shuriken, arrows—countless hidden weapons flew toward him.

Arrows snapped wires, setting off prepared Explosive Barrels.

BOOM!

A deafening roar swept through the entire Sewer.

The Sewer was an underground city. Use of explosives was more strictly forbidden here than anywhere else.

The entire city descended into chaos in an instant.

Pushing through the crowd and the black smoke from the explosion, Taehoo pressed forward.

Hidden weapons flew at him from the smoke, but none of them worked on Taehoo.

If it had been members of Dantalion’s Chasing Squad, a few might have fallen, but Taehoo was in a different league of training.

They couldn’t be compared.

He evaded the traps with almost acrobatic grace.

[Up ahead!]

With Ba’al’s warning—

[!]

He instantly poured Aura into his dagger and swung.

Clang!

Taehoo’s blade clashed with that of a masked man.

“Who are you?”

The masked man, blades locked with Taehoo’s, demanded.

‘A member of the Chasing Squad. We were fast, but they almost matched our speed.’

Behind the masked man, nine more members of Dantalion’s Chasing Squad rushed past.

“I asked who you are?”

The masked man repeated.

“What do you need to know for?”

Taehoo forced his blade forward. The masked man had to stagger back several steps under the force of Taehoo’s Aura.

“That’s… Aura…”

The masked man asked in shock.

“You saw it?”

[Black and White Aura is activating! It’s imbuing the blade!]

Just as the Aura imbued the blade and its energy was about to explode forth—

[Shadow Blade is activating!]

As Taehoo activated the skill, the violent wave of energy vanished as if washed away.

The man was startled for a moment.

Suddenly, with the energy gone from the blade, he was caught off guard—and that was the end.

Before he could react, Taehoo’s sword sliced through his neck.

Slish!

The sound of blood spraying echoed all around.

When Taehoo swung his blade, not even the sound of the wind could be heard.

‘So this is what happens when two skills are combined.’

It was Taehoo’s own way of using the powers of several constellations.

‘Level about 5, I’d say.’

Taehoo quickly assessed the opponent’s skill.

They really had sent only the minimum force necessary to take on Kuro.

‘Well, the more force you use, the more you risk leaving a tail somewhere else.’

Still, the fact that Dantalion’s assassins were moving this hastily meant Kuro’s defection was more unexpected than anticipated.

‘But I suppose that’s not what’s important now.’

Now, he had to focus solely on tracking down Kuro.

He pressed forward again.

He passed by several of Dantalion’s Chasing Squad members, collapsed after triggering traps.

There were quite a few ordinary people, too, caught by the blind traps.

Seeing that, Taehoo clenched his teeth.

He pushed himself even faster.

And then again—

Clang!

Blades collided. This time, it was a higher-level member of the Chasing Squad than those he’d just defeated.

‘So, they didn’t send only the minimum force. Some definite strength has been dispatched.’

So thinking, Taehoo showed no mercy.

He swung his dagger, already shrouded in the power of Shadow Blade from the beginning.

The masked man, barely reacting in time, tried to block Taehoo’s sword.

No—he tried.

But in both level and stats, Taehoo was a cut above.

Slash!

With his blade, Taehoo sliced the masked man’s body clean in half.

Those who wielded power he could only envy in his previous life now fell like straw before him.

Why had he ever coveted such power so much?

As that thought crossed his mind—

Sssshk!

The sound of something slicing through the air struck his ear.

Several Blood Spears, formed from blood, flew toward Taehoo, painting the same picture as in his previous life.

He sheathed his dagger at his waist.

As he did, he spun his body in a wide arc; halfway through the turn, he extended his arm.

In Taehoo’s hand was the Fallen Flower Sword.

A long, horizontal slash followed.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Blood Spears could not withstand Taehoo’s force and plummeted to the ground like spent candles.

Perhaps satisfied with simply blocking Taehoo’s advance, the masked men hurriedly retreated.

Taehoo moved quickly so as not to lose them.

Since he had used his powers, these people could not be allowed to escape.

‘You’re out of luck.’

Because Taehoo was after Kuro, he couldn’t tolerate anyone else in his way.

Just as Taehoo thought, the masked men were in a panic.

They had set out comfortably on their mission, ordered only to deal with a half-hearted traitor.

Like all those who lived on the edge of life and death, they hadn’t even bothered to write a will before setting out.

They’d expected an easy mission.

At first, the traps were an unexpected setback.

After losing a few members, even Dantalion’s Chasing Squad began to feel the threat of death.

And to make matters worse, a kid they had never seen before suddenly jumped into the fray.

Even worse, the kid displayed overwhelming martial prowess.

Compared to him, their original target, Kuro, was nothing.

“I’ll buy us time. Request backup.”

One masked man gave the order, charging at Taehoo to buy time.

He was the very one whose head flew off first.

Because the man had died so quickly, another stepped up to buy time for the backup to arrive.

This one was more skilled than the one just killed.

But—

He didn’t last even a single move before being destroyed.

The fortunate thing was that someone had managed to slip away to call for backup.

‘Is this where I die, in such a filthy place?’

That fear took hold among the Chasing Squad.

They gathered themselves, pouring all their strength into forming the Blood Spears. It was their strongest attack.

If this didn’t work, their only option was an endless retreat.

They had come to track a traitor, only to become the fugitives themselves. It was ridiculous.

“Take this!”

The spear, thrown with all their anger, flew.

But—

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Not a single sound of flesh being pierced was heard; every spear was batted aside in a single slash.

‘That’s the Fallen Flower Sword…! The Sword God!’

Only now did the masked men realize Taehoo’s true identity, something they couldn’t have guessed from Aura alone.

They had to let the one who went for backup know this.

But, there would be no chance for that.

The dead do not speak.

Just like Jed.

“Your mission ends here in failure.”

Drawing the Fallen Flower Sword was proof that he had no intention of letting them leave alive.