The intruders were assassins.
Having faced many assassins before my regression, I knew their unique aura.
A killing intent devoid of emotion.
Is it because they don't kill out of resentment or hatred for their target? Or is it because when one becomes an assassin, they first train to eliminate their emotions?
Their killing intent is subtly different.
If I noticed, then of course Hwi would have noticed as well.
No, since it was his job to detect intruders, he likely noticed even faster than I did.
Since I've stepped forward, he's probably hiding around my father's residence, watching the situation.
Of course, if I noticed and Hwi noticed, then my father would naturally know of the intruders' presence too.
The Heavenly Demon Body-Protecting Art, which he has achieved Great Mastery in, would have naturally alerted him to the danger.
Just trust me and go back to sleep.
Getting blood spattered on those pajamas wouldn't suit you, would it?
I quietly opened the door and went out into the courtyard.
Standing there in the courtyard, I gazed into the darkness, made a 'shhh' gesture again, and whispered.
“My father is sleeping, so let's fight quietly.”
But as if no one was there, not a single person revealed their presence.
The only sound around was the chirping of insects.
If Father were awake, he would have surely said this.
You're the loudest one here!
A smile formed on my lips as I thought of it.
Just then, as if in response to my words, someone hiding in the darkness straight ahead revealed a faint presence.
It wasn't a mistake.
When I noticed they had hidden themselves, he revealed his position, making himself a bait.
The other assassins around would be holding their breath, waiting for me to attack him.
This is what's frightening about assassins.
Assassins are trained that even if everyone else dies, it's a success as long as one person succeeds.
Therefore, while they are many, they are also a single assassin.
Since the opponent threw out bait, I should at least take it, just to show my appreciation for their effort.
I lunged toward the assassin who had revealed his presence.
I moved swiftly, but there was no sound of wind.
Like movement in a world where sound had vanished, my lightness arts were smooth and silent.
The opponent did not evade and revealed himself from the darkness.
A black mask, black robes, and even black shoes.
He was camouflaged in black from head to toe.
The saying that an assassin whose cover is blown is an assassin whose life is over did not apply to this man.
He was bait, but also not bait.
His movements were exceptionally fast and precise.
He was skilled enough to kill a decent master in a head-on confrontation.
He had properly learned martial arts, to the point that it felt like a waste for someone of his skill to be an assassin.
Perhaps that was why he was the one to reveal his presence.
To allow the other assassins to look for an opportunity while fighting, he had to be able to hold his own in a direct clash.
Of course, I gave him no such opportunity.
To avoid the sound of swords clashing, I settled the fight in a single blow.
The moment his sword flew toward my face, my form vanished from that spot.
Using the Dark Shadow Step, I was behind him.
Pshuk!
Though my sword pierced through his back and emerged from his chest, he managed to suppress a scream.
He was a man trained to make no sound under any circumstances.
This alone made it certain.
These were truly well-trained assassins.
‘They must have spent a fortune to hire these people.’
When the first assassin died so quickly, no one else dared to move.
They hadn't gotten a chance to launch a surprise attack.
They'll wait for the next chance, won't they?
The moment they think I’m off guard, believing there was only one intruder, if I were to search the corpse's clothes to identify him, a fatal attack would pour down.
Of course, I didn't move as they wished.
I caught the body of the falling assassin to prevent any sound and gently laid it down.
Then, I looked into the darkness ahead and made a shushing gesture.
It wasn't aimed at just anywhere.
An energy like a spider's web had already spread from my body, dominating the area.
My shush just now was directed at the spot where the web's vibrations were strongest.
Realizing his position was discovered, the assassin immediately shot out and flew toward me.
It was a do-or-die attack aimed solely at killing the opponent, with no thought for defense.
Shwiiik.
The incoming sword grazed past my face.
My eyes, reflected on the blade, held no emotion.
Shwik! Sguk!
The Black Demon Sword created a straight line as it cut across his chest.
The opponent instinctively twisted to dodge, but his heart and two-thirds of his chest had already been sliced away.
The cut was so fast and sharp that he died without even a moment to feel the pain.
I was once again cutting through the air without a sound.
Pshuk!
My sword pierced through a tree.
As smoothly as if it were sinking into tofu.
But faster than any fast sword.
The assassin hiding behind the tree was impaled, but again, there was no scream.
Instead, as he died, he grabbed the blade with both hands.
How could a dying man possibly hold onto my Black Demon Sword?
I pulled my sword out and shot up the tree.
The fingers of the assassin clutching the sword were severed and scattered in all directions.
A flash of sword light glinted in the darkness.
Thwack! Thwack!
There were originally three assassins on that tree.
Who would think three would be clinging to a single tree?
It was a feint they had aimed for, but they couldn't escape my energy that spread out like a spiderweb.
As the two assassins who had been clinging to the tree like cicadas fell and landed on top of the first corpse, I was already landing in front of the wall, a dozen paces away.
As expected, the Black Demon Sword sank smoothly into the wall.
Shwaaaaaaak!
With the sword embedded, I slid along the wall.
My body glided quickly along the wall, as if skating on ice.
At the same time, the Black Demon Sword tore a horizontal gash through the wall.
The bodies of the assassins who had been holding their breath while leaning against the other side of the wall were bisected and collapsed.
I could feel the assassins' surprise and bewilderment.
Judging by their skill in concealment, they must have been assassins who had proven their worth by killing countless people until now.
They must have returned from every mission without failure, having killed their contract target.
But today, they were falling one after another without even a chance to properly fight back.
‘There's a traitor!’
Since their positions were being pinpointed so accurately, weren't they thinking something like that?
I finished them off in a flash.
These were people who came with the intent to kill me, my father, and Hwi.
They were people who killed for money.
There was no reason for me to hesitate.
When I got on the roof, hidden weapons flew at me.
Shik! Shik! Shik! Shik!
I ran, weaving through the hidden weapons.
There was no sound of footsteps as I ran across the roof.
In the blink of an eye, I had reached the other end of the roof, and the assassins who had thrown the weapons fell to the ground.
Despite falling from a high place, there was no thud.
Just before the bodies hit the ground, I used my power to prevent any sound.
As I continued to find them in their hiding spots, the assassins could no longer hold back.
They attacked first.
From atop a tree and from the darkness to my left, two assassins attacked simultaneously.
This time, I used the Underworld King Step.
My target was the assassin charging from the left.
The assassin, who had sent countless people to their deaths, could not stop these deathly footsteps, just like the many who had died by his hand.
As he collapsed, spewing blood from his neck, the assassin who had dropped from the tree was throwing a hidden weapon.
Piiing! Pshuk!
A hidden weapon and a dagger crossed in the air.
The hidden weapon vanished into the distant darkness, and the dagger I threw disappeared into the black robes.
An assassin who appeared from behind a stone lantern held a hidden weapon in his hand.
It wasn't the kind you throw like a dagger.
It was a hidden weapon that fired poison needles with great force from a round cylinder.
Flash!
I rushed toward him with the Flickering Step.
Sguk! Sguk!
Before he could fire the weapon, his wrist and neck were severed one after the other.
“Didn't we agree to fight quietly?”
If the hidden weapon had been fired, there would have been an explosion.
Assassins of this caliber rarely use such loud weapons, which meant the situation was that desperate for them.
One assassin spread a net and lunged at me.
It was the Iron Net used by assassins.
This tightly woven net was a special kind that couldn't be easily cut by swords or even sword qi.
If it were fixed somewhere, it could be cut with sword qi, but being covered by it in a real fight would cause a moment of panic and flustering.
In that instant, another assassin flew over my head, cutting through the darkness.
Shwaaaaaaak!
What he scattered was Bone Melting Powder.
It was a vicious move to trap and dissolve me with the net.
Their coordination was so perfect that the movements of the two assassins seemed like those of a single person.
With two swings of my sword, the net was split into four pieces, and by the time the Bone Melting Powder rained down, I was no longer there.
Saaaaak!
As I slit the throat of the assassin who had thrown the net, the one who had passed overhead had fallen to the ground far away.
A dagger I had thrown was already embedded in his neck.
Of course, he too fell silently thanks to my power.
It was at that very moment.
Shwaeeeaek!
A sword shot up from the ground, grazing past my face.
It was a decisive strike from a hidden assassin.
This very assassin had dug a tunnel and waited at this exact spot.
This powerful strike told me everything.
Of all the assassins I had faced so far, his skill was the greatest.
This attack was the core of tonight's ambush.
But that was their problem.
To me, he was just an assassin who failed to kill me, and probably the one who had killed the most people.
My sword was already deeply embedded from his shoulder downward.
At the last moment, he tried to scream.
I couldn't tell if it was to ruin the end of this quiet fight, or if he truly couldn't bear the pain of being stabbed from shoulder to innards.
But my hand was faster.
I clamped my left hand over his mouth and pulled out the sword.
As the sword came out, he spewed blood and died.
Half of his body was still in the hole in the ground.
I released my energy to scan the surroundings.
There were no more living or hiding assassins in the courtyard now.
I slowly walked and entered the building.
An assassin crawled across the ceiling.
There were only a few rooms left to the target's chamber.
The situation outside was not good.
Even below the ceiling he was crawling on, he could hear the sounds of swords cutting and flesh tearing.
He couldn't see it, but he knew instinctively.
The people who came with him were dying.
He sensed that the success or failure of today's contract depended on him.
‘This is actually better.’
He would get to keep all that vast sum of money for himself.
‘I will be the one to kill him.’
He moved little by little, very slowly.
The true skill of an assassin was to hide without a trace, to endure for hours without being detected, and to decide the precise moment to eliminate the enemy.
In that respect, he was the most patient among the assassins who had come today.
All he had to do was get right above the target's head.
No one could block a poison needle shot silently from the ceiling while they slept.
Moreover, it wasn't just any poison needle.
This needle, as fine as a hair, was a special hidden weapon that would kill its victim without them even knowing they'd been pricked.
The needle was so thin that even a later autopsy wouldn't be able to determine where it had struck to cause the poisoning.
To check how far he had come, he made a hole in the ceiling.
The moment he looked down through the hole.
"!"
He was startled.
Someone from below was looking up at the hole.
The next moment.
Pshuk!
A sharp sword shot up, piercing through the assassin's neck.
The one who killed him was Hwi.
Blood trickled down from the sword hole in the ceiling.
Just then, a voice came from behind.
“It's raining cats and dogs in here.”
Geom Mugeuk, who had entered, looked at the blood dripping from the ceiling.
Corpses were also scattered in the hallway.
Not only the inside of the house, but all the assassins approaching from the back had been eliminated.
“Are you alright?”
“I'm fine. What about you, uncle?”
“I am also fine.”
I was sure that even if I hadn't been here, Hwi alone could have stopped today's intrusion.
Assassin and bodyguard.
In that predator-prey relationship, Hwi was at the apex of predators for assassins.
A martial artist can kill me, but an assassin can never kill me.
Hwi had that kind of pride.
Just then, there was a presence from the room.
“Father is awake. Let's go in.”
Geom Mugeuk and Hwi entered the room.
Geom Woojin had gotten up from the bed and was pouring cold tea from a kettle on the table to drink.
“I tried to handle it as quietly as possible, I apologize.”
At Geom Mugeuk's words, Geom Woojin turned his head to look at his son.
“I only heard your voice.”
Geom Mugeuk smiled.
This is what I wanted to hear.
"That was me holding back as much as I could.”
A faint smile appeared on his father's lips.
Hwi reported to his father.
“The intruders are assassins.”
The faint smile on his father's face vanished.
His father disliked the Poison King and the Soul-Devouring Demon Sovereign, so why would he like assassins?
Geom Mugeuk asked Hwi.
“Did you happen to find out where they came from?”
As the head of the Heavenly Demon’s guard, Hwi was the most knowledgeable person in the martial world about assassins.
The more famous they were, the better he knew them.
As expected, Hwi knew who the opponents were.
“Judging by their attack methods, these are assassins from the Underworld.”
Underworld.
One of the three great assassination organizations in the martial world, a symbol of infamy and terror.
The moment Geom Mugeuk heard the name Underworld, one person came to mind.
He had many titles.
The greatest assassin, born with a heavenly genius for murder.
The heartless assassin who killed his own father, the former head of the Underworld, to take his place.
The man who would later unite the world of assassins and become the king of them all.
The god of death, rumored to be able to bring back the head of Yama himself.
But the most meaningful title to Geom Mugeuk was this one.
The Fourth King among the Twelve Zodiac Kings, the King of Assassins.
He didn't know the current situation, but he intuitively knew that he was the mastermind behind this incident with the Golden Dragon Clan.
Where there was money, the blade always followed.
The King of Assassins.
I must not let my guard down.
None of the Twelve Zodiac Kings were easy opponents, but the King of Assassins, in particular, must be dealt with cautiously.
He was a man who would use any means necessary, born with the greatest talent for killing someone.
The wind blowing in from the window carried the hot stench of the dead assassins' blood.
With a deepened gaze, Geom Mugeuk spoke calmly.
“It seems we will have to see a lot of blood this time.”