Chapter 19: Assassin in the Dark

The opponent’s presence was impressive.

‘He’s quite skilled. Did an Assassin-type expert lay in wait for me?’

It was strange there hadn’t been any precautions taken against him by now.

‘Or perhaps… he’s just a bodyguard here. Still, their pattern was too simple.’

He’d already captured and turned in quite a number of Parakho members.

Meanwhile, the Guard Corps had started moving, targeting the Parakho as well.

Though they hadn’t achieved as much as Rayrn, it was enough to make the Parakho go into hiding.

It was a crisis for the Parakho.

And among them, the one they’d see as a thorn in their side was, inevitably, Rayrn.

Whether he wanted it or not, he had become the catalyst for their downfall.

Attacking the Guard Corps directly was too risky, so they must have thought targeting Rayrn, who was already raiding their organization, would be easier.

‘No words exchanged, then.’

The opponent gripped two long, curved shamshirs in both hands.

‘Hmm. Not bad at all. But let’s see…’

Jegal Hyeon had, in his previous life, researched and mastered the martial techniques of assassins from Kangho.

He wondered, were the Assassins of this world stronger than those from Kangho?

As he watched with that thought in mind—

Pah.

He saw the opponent approach like a ghost, body wavering like a mirage.

‘More than twice as fast as a regular person. I sense mana… He must be using magical items or is a Ma Beop Sa.’

Kaaang!

The opponent’s two shamshirs danced swiftly in midair.

The light refracted, and their wavering made it nearly impossible to dodge or block by sight alone.

However.

Amazingly, Rayrn’s hand intercepted the flat of the shamshir’s blade.

The Assassin’s eyes widened in brief surprise, then he retreated a step and charged again with the blades crossed.

At that instant, something astonishing happened.

Swoosh.

Rayrn’s hand shot out in a straight line.

The Assassin swung his blade to strike the hand away, but felt nothing.

Chak.

Suddenly, Rayrn’s hand was stuck to the blade’s flat—almost as if magnetized.

‘Suhjakyul.’

The Assassin tried in panic to move, but his hand refused to come loose.

While the Assassin flailed in confusion, Rayrn’s voice reached his ear.

“Tsk tsk. To think you don’t even know the form and formula of martial arts. For all your energy, you’re nothing special.”

Kaaang!

Rayrn’s hand slithered like a snake. As the Assassin recoiled, the hand seemed to multiply, and before long, it had seized the Assassin’s wrist.

Crunch—

The fingers holding the blade were crushed, and the shamshir dropped to the ground.

“Th-that kind of skill… just who…?”

“Well… do you really need to know? Magic Missile.”

Lacking sufficient inner strength, he compensated with mana.

Swoooosh—

A Magic Missile launched forth, striking the Assassin’s pressure point and suppressing him completely.

The man’s body stiffened.

A flawless subjugation.

“Still, this works out. You look like some sort of officer, at least.”

“I bet you have plenty to teach me.”

Rayrn grinned as he approached the Assassin.

Bun Geun Chak Gol.

‘An excellent method for conversation.’

It was a classic torture technique from Kangho—inflicting the agony of tearing muscle from bone.

The Assassin didn’t have particularly strong willpower; within five minutes of Bun Geun Chak Gol, he spilled everything he knew.

Of course, this torture took place after dragging the man into an empty room and using up all his remaining mana to cast a Silence spell.

‘I really need to increase my class soon.’

He’d extracted quite detailed information.

“…P-please, spare…”

Crack—

He snapped the neck of the begging Assassin, Keldin, ending his life.

It was a rather extreme method, and for Rayrn, it was his first kill.

But with Jegal Hyeon’s memories, he’d seen countless deaths.

Even if he didn’t do the killing himself, his schemes had resulted in the demise of many.

Any guilt over killing—he’d long since moved past that.

Maybe that’s why he was able to act so ruthlessly now.

‘It’s done for now. For this guy, death is probably a mercy.’

It might seem twisted for someone his age, but he didn’t care.

He was who he was, and that was enough.

With that thought, he decided to leave the mansion for now.

Handling everyone inside would simply take too long, and the Guard Corps could show up if they heard the commotion.

Instead, he left a parting gift.

Whoosh!

“Put out the fire!”

At the [Red Rose], a tavern and brothel—

It wasn’t a high-class brothel, but as a mid-tier establishment, it was popular with mercenaries and soldiers. It was large and lucrative.

Few knew that it was one of the main sources of funds for [Black Snake], the largest criminal syndicate in the Earl’s Territory. But now that Rayrn knew, he left a gift.

A massive fire.

He set blazes in several places before escaping.

Even that much would be quite a blow to Black Snake.

When there’s a fire, the Guard Corps is sure to show up, and with the risk of their crimes being exposed, they’d be scrambling to cover it up.

Someone watched the burning scene with a scowl.

“Who the hell did this?”

The boss of Black Snake.

Max.

Known as an Auror Practitioner, he was the strongest figure in the underworld of the Earl’s Territory.

“Boss. The fire’s bad enough, but Keldin has disappeared.”

“What?”

The one who whispered to Max was Reton, the magician known as the underboss.

“Keldin was sent by the higher-ups, wasn’t he?”

The Assassin Keldin, slain by Rayrn, had also been assigned as a monitor for Max by the powers above.

And now, he was gone.

‘How am I supposed to report this? This is a headache.’

‘Who knew how the higher-ups would respond?’ They might blame Keldin’s disappearance on him and take away his hard-earned position.

The sudden loss of funds was a problem, too.

‘The Guard Corps is still prowling… should I try to use that somehow?’

Boss Max’s mind was racing.

***

Fwoooosh—

The blaze was visible from a distance, the heat palpable as it spread.

Watching from a rooftop, it was clear the fire wouldn’t die down soon—the brothel was simply too large.

‘Still, I controlled it well enough.’

It didn’t look like it would spread far beyond the brothel itself.

There was no sign it would reach the tightly packed shacks where the lowest class lived.

“It’s even bigger than I thought.”

Judging from the information wrung out of Keldin, whom he’d so efficiently killed, the organization was larger than he’d imagined.

The known boss, Max, was said to be a mid-tier Auror Practitioner.

But according to Keldin’s impression—

‘He might be upper-tier, or possibly even an Expert. Did he receive some special art? Or…’

By Keldin’s estimate, Max was at least an entry-level Expert.

Entry-level Expert was by no means weak.

An Expert at that level could release sword energy even in Kangho.

To Rayrn’s senses, Auror cultivation in this world seemed even harder to advance than martial arts.

‘Each method has its strengths and weaknesses. Auror seems somewhat lacking, though.’

Raising one’s level by intensely condensing inner power is the essence of martial cultivation.

Auror training is different. Instead of concentrating, it spreads power throughout the body—a method only used at the very beginning stages in Kangho.

‘But it’s much more stable.’

Instead of building a vessel solely in the danjeon, dispersing energy throughout the body provides far greater stability.

‘Unless you have auror as vast as the sea… Spreading scant energy through your body… tsk.’

But advancing to higher levels seemed very difficult.

Better than nothing, but it definitely wasn’t ideal.

If someone with real talent mastered martial arts instead of auror, they’d reach even greater heights.

‘That’s for sure.’

Still, even considering the limitations of Auror training, being an Auror Expert was rare.

For someone of that caliber to be hiding in the underworld was nonsense.

‘There’s a higher power behind this. Something’s up. I’ll have to bring them down eventually.’

It could only be possible because there was someone above Max calling the shots.

‘I’ll take care of these vermin in the territory one by one.’

It sounded easy, but the power and influence of their syndicate were far stronger than he’d imagined.

Below Max was the underboss, a 3rd-class magician.

Below him, including Keldin, the organization had twelve officers—each a 2nd-class magician or Auror user. If not, they had some other innate gift.

‘At this size, they’re equivalent to a baron’s force. How did such an organization get into the territory? And why waste them on this?’

That such a syndicate existed in the underworld of the territory, save for the Count of Ophern, meant there were vassals utterly rotten to the core.

Otherwise, even with Auror Practitioners and Experts, such a vast organization wouldn’t be possible.

‘It’s not that I couldn’t wipe them out now, but…
It could get dangerous. If I’m going to handle them, I should do so with overwhelming force.

This is the hard-earned life I dreamed of, and I won’t lose it carelessly.

To gain the force I need—

‘I have to maximize my reserves. At least a full gapja. Even half a gapja might suffice.’

His ten years’ worth of inner strength was nowhere near enough.

There was only one way—he had to immediately increase his usable inner strength.

Raising his magical attainment would be even better.

‘With their funding cut, they’ll probably lay low for a while.’

Both sides would have time to catch their breath.

“Time to head home. Jump!”

Thwack.

He added the Heavenly Qi Movement’s power to his leaping body.

Instantly, he shot toward the mansion.

“Hmhm…”

He slipped inside, acting like he’d never left, cleaning up any traces.

Washed up, hid his clothes, and left some evidence as if he’d just been training.

‘No issues with the Gui-Sik Grand Technique, either.’

Thanks to the fire in the territory, his father was out dealing with the aftermath. His master was also away, giving him plenty of time.

He stayed in the training hall for the time remaining.

Unlike his older sister, he wasn’t shameless enough to abandon training to follow after their father.

Instead—

“Nice.”

Srrrng—

He drew a long sword from the Dimensional Pouch his master had given him.

The Dimensional Pouch, said to hold many useful items, truly did contain all sorts of things.

This sword, in particular, was clearly meant for self-defense.

Compared to the huge, thick swords knights wielded to smash armor, it was slim and slender.

Whoosh— whoosh—

The more he swung it, the more he appreciated its craftsmanship.

‘The balance is perfect. The smaller size is even better.’

It was only slimmer and lighter compared to a knight’s sword, but for someone mastering martial arts, it was just right.

Suddenly, he recalled the Assassin’s dual-wielding shamshir technique—crossing both arms in a complex twin-blade style.

He’d used Suhjakyul with martial arts unknown to his foe, exploiting a weakness in a world where few could respond to martial arts techniques.

‘He was strong.’

Thanks to that, he’d won easily.

But the opponent was by no means weak.

Augmented by special magic, the Assassin’s physique was powerful.

He’d simply faced the wrong enemy.

‘Swords really are extraordinary.’

Instead of the Eighteen Arms Martial Arts, he’d mastered the Liu He Sword. He’d fought with many weapons in real combat—even heavy flails like those used by the Parakho.

“It’s about time to move on to the next.”

Spears, sabers, staves… there were many weapons, but the one that truly attracted him was—

‘The sword, of course.’