Sword God Reborn

Chapter 254 : Are you an assassin?

The gatekeeper instantly threw his body back like a thunderbolt.

The immense ice palm that poured from Cheon Mubaeck's hand swept through the place where the gatekeeper had been.

The well-trodden stone floor froze with a crackling sound.

"......!"

The gatekeeper's pupils shook greatly.

'What is this all of a sudden...!'

Before he could even voice his question, Cheon Mubaeck's words came out first.

"Tell me how many there are here. Not just here, but in other places too. Don't lie. For your information, I really, really hate lies. I get angry whenever I see a liar."

The gatekeeper's eyes widened as if it were absurd.

"Isn't what you did when you came in here also a lie! The fact that you are a child of the Yoo family, and that that girl is the youngest daughter of the Geumroe Merchant Group, are all lies!"

"The lies I tell are not bad lies. They are a desperate measure to catch assassins. Yes, they are good lies. But the lies you tell are bad lies. The lies an assassin tells are really bad lies. So if you lie, I will definitely kill you."

"..."

What kind of strange logic was this, where if the Orthodox Path did it, it was a heroic deed, and if the Unorthodox Path did it, it was an evil deed?

The gatekeeper took out a hidden weapon from his bosom and faced Cheon Mubaeck.

The assassins inside the pavilion who had heard this commotion would soon move.

So the gatekeeper couldn't understand.

Why cause a commotion as soon as you come in?

Wasn't the reason for coming in while lying to confirm its reality and falsehood?

Wasn't the natural course of action to infiltrate in advance, confirm the situation, and then decide whether to attack later or not?

But if he caused a commotion like this, they would be trapped in the mansion.

The high walls were difficult to jump over in an instant, and how could they escape amidst the attacks of all sorts of assassins?

And yet, the reason he had revealed his true colors and caused a commotion was...

The gatekeeper suddenly looked at Cheon Mubaeck's face.

In an instant, an ominous feeling of 'what if' raised its head in his mind.

'Did he deliberately cause a commotion so that they couldn't all escape, so that he could catch them openly?'

No way.

He was going to face the assassins of the Wolya Faction by himself?

"You madman."

At the curse that came out on its own, Cheon Mubaeck's brow narrowed for a moment.

"I am not a madman. I told you. I hate liars. You just lied that I was a madman. So you will die with a fifty percent probability."

The gatekeeper's mind became hazy at Cheon Mubaeck's way of speaking.

What kind of strange logic was this, and what did it mean that the probability of dying was fifty percent?

"If you give me the number and appearance of the assassins belonging to the Wolya Faction, the probability will drop to thirty percent or less. It means my heart to forgive will be seventy percent."

"You truly are a madman."

"The probability of dying has just risen to sixty percent. You reap what you sow."

The gatekeeper couldn't hold back and threw his hidden weapons.

The hidden weapons, flashing a sharp light in the sunlight, poured out fiercely.

They glistened as if poison were smeared on the tips.

But the hidden weapons were not aimed at Cheon Mubaeck.

They were aimed at the party that had followed Cheon Mubaeck.

Zhuge Seol-ah, Gok Ji-heum, Hwangbo Sung, So-hang, and Tang Su-gun.

For him, it was a natural choice.

Although he couldn't feel a handful of internal energy from Cheon Mubaeck, he had just used an immense ice palm.

That meant he was a powerful master whose internal energy he couldn't even read.

The flow of internal energy in the rest was clear.

No matter how you looked at them, they were at most first-rate. Although they were not at a level to be a great threat, there was a high possibility that it would become troublesome if they interfered while he was dealing with Cheon Mubaeck.

So his intention was to cut off his hands and feet first.

Then, he would join hands with the assassins who would rush in and strike Cheon Mubaeck.

But his plan, which he had thought would have no errors, was miserably shattered by the scene that followed.

Chaechaechaechaeng!

"......!"

The gatekeeper's eyes widened as if they would pop out.

They had all deflected the hidden weapons without a single tremor. Some had even changed the direction of the deflected hidden weapons with their internal energy and sent them back to the gatekeeper.

It was a considerable level of internal energy control.

"What is this, you're saying you hid your internal energy?"

"We didn't hide it, it was sealed!"

Hwangbo Sung shouted triumphantly.

"Sealed? You crazy bastard... A martial artist sealed his own internal energy to infiltrate this place? You crazy bastards..."

They were crazy. The guys who knew this was the Wolya Faction had obediently sealed their internal energy?

What if they were discovered in the middle and attacked?

Wouldn't they be beaten without even having time to release their sealed internal energy?

It meant they hadn't even worried about such a thing in the first place. And it could only be explained by the fact that they had secretly released the seal from the moment they had entered through the main gate.

At the thought that flashed through his mind for a moment, the gatekeeper's fierce gaze fell on Cheon Mubaeck.

"You deliberately spouted strange words and shook my attention!"

He had suddenly asked how many there were, and his tone had also changed.

All of those actions had gently scratched the gatekeeper's nerves.

It had revealed an ominousness and had made him pay attention. In the meantime, the others had all released their seals.

Realizing anew that the series of actions had all been calculated, a single word came to the gatekeeper's mind.

'A hunt.'

It was a hunt.

And it wasn't just any hunt.

'He hid his appearance. He concealed his identity. And he created a situation that could not be suspected, and then revealed himself.'

He had revealed a thoroughly fabricated appearance in the flow.

He had acted without a single change in his expression.

And he had driven the situation.

Everything was a calculated process, and it was revealed as a result.

Perhaps causing a commotion here to gather the assassins was also a calculation.

'This is like...'

A very well-planned assassination method.

"Are you an assassin?"

Cheon Mubaeck's brow narrowed sharply.

"It's not a lie, but the probability of you dying has risen to eighty percent. Because I hate assassins."

* * *

The gatekeeper immediately threw his hidden weapons wildly.

Although his mind was complicated, the first thing that came to mind was that he had to kill them here.

But he couldn't do it alone.

He made a choice.

'I'll buy time.'

The assassins who had realized what had happened would rush in.

He just had to hold out until then.

But the gatekeeper realized that it was an absurdly difficult task.

Hwoong!

As Gok Ji-heum's large greatsword swept past, the gatekeeper's feet got tangled.

He hurriedly rolled his body, but then Cheon Mubaeck's blade dug in.

Seogeok!

"Keok!"

His left arm was cut off at the shoulder and fell to the floor with a thud.

If the next attack had followed immediately, he would have been a dead man.

But Cheon Mubaeck withdrew his sword and tapped the flat of the blade with his finger.

"Tell me. Not just here, but how many assassins are there belonging to the Wolya Faction?"

"Is that important in this situation? To the extent of giving up the chance to kill me?"

In the meantime, the gatekeeper hurriedly retreated and pressed his pressure points to stop the bleeding.

Then, he took out a hidden weapon from his bosom again.

Cheon Mubaeck let out a low cry of admiration.

"Wow. What kind of pocket is that, a pocket that can hold an infinite number of things? All sorts of things are popping out."

"Shut up!"

"And a chance to kill? Why would I miss that? A chance is not something that comes, but something you make."

The gatekeeper's complexion turned pale.

Wasn't the display of confidence that he could kill him at any time too clear?

Cheon Mubaeck tapped the flat of his sword.

"Answer. Don't even think about lying. How many are there? Just in case, I have a way of knowing if you lie."

"Why on earth is that important in this situation! You came here to kill us anyway!"

Cheon Mubaeck tilted his head as if he couldn't understand.

"It is important. To confirm if I've killed them all, I have to check if the number and the corpses match, don't I?"

The gatekeeper's complexion turned pale.

It was then.

Cheon Mubaeck suddenly swung his sword.

Kagagagak!

Splendid sparks flew blue.

At the same time, Cheon Mubaeck raised his protective qi.

The Ghostly Cry of Despair, which he had had little need to use until now, revealed a pure white light and spread.

"Good heavens...!"

Someone let out a low sigh. The sight of the pure white light flowing from his entire body and shining like a halo instantly focused everyone's attention.

But the shock was even more pronounced on the faces of the assassins who had ambushed Cheon Mubaeck.

Paaaaat.

The pouring hidden weapons, sword qi, sword energy, poison needles, daggers, palm techniques, kicking techniques, finger-flicking techniques... all of them were swallowed by the pure white halo and disappeared without a trace.

That was just the number of attacks that had poured down on Cheon Mubaeck, and that meant that the number of assassins who had attacked Cheon Mubaeck was over nine.

The gatekeeper's mouth fell open.

What on earth was that divine art that nullified all the surprise attacks that had poured in in an instant?

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue.

"Hey, I'm not a monster with eight arms. How do you expect me to block if nine people pour out all their strength? You're making me feel bad."

At his consistently relaxed appearance, the assassins who had revealed themselves fell silent.

Cheon Mubaeck's eyes quickly swept around.

"Twenty-one."

"......!"

The gatekeeper's body convulsed greatly.

"Eleven hiding. Nine who have come out now, and you, the gatekeeper, one. A total of twenty-one. Gatekeeper, oh, gatekeeper. Are these twenty-one all there are? I'll say it again, I'm a person who hates lies."

"Twenty-one. That's right. Today, here, all twenty-one of us will surely kill you."

"Twenty-one. I see. Let's kill them all here and check if the number of corpses matches."

At the same time, Cheon Mubaeck threw his body.

The nine assassins who had ambushed Cheon Mubaeck were greatly flustered as he rushed at them head-on.

He had instantly dug into the gap of the assassins who were not used to joint attacks.

Seogeok!

When was it swung?

The head of one assassin, who hadn't even seen the trajectory of the sword, was cut off.

A light that surpassed speed drew a straight line, and above it, a bright red stream of blood belatedly shot up.

The body of the assassin who had tried to dodge awkwardly collapsed in an instant. What was revealed on the face that was rolling on the floor was doubt. It was an expression of not even knowing how he had been beaten.

At that moment, the gatekeeper screamed desperately.

"Dodge that guy! Just run away! Take care of the other guys first and then aim for him!"

With those words as a start, the eight assassins dodged and drew Cheon Mubaeck's attention.

In the meantime, the eleven assassins who had been hiding shot up, their weapons flashing.

* * *

Hwangbo Sung was amazed.

"They're the Wolya Faction, so why are they so weak?"

Hwangbo Sung deflected the hidden weapon and rushed in at once, grabbing the assassin's neck and twisting it.

At the sight of him turning into a corpse with his neck broken in vain, Hwangbo Sung tilted his head.

"Are they weak in a head-on confrontation because they're assassins?"

Although it wasn't wrong, they were not assassins who would die so futilely.

It wasn't just Hwangbo Sung.

Since Gok Ji-heum was a great senior whose seniority was different, it was natural for him to deal with two or three assassins at once.

But the rest, Tang Su-gun and So-hang, were also cutting them down one by one without difficulty.

All three had the same feeling.

Their bodies were light.

'It's not like I ate a spiritual medicine and my internal energy suddenly increased.'

'I can see the sword path.'

'It's transmitted through my senses.'

That was right.

Although their internal energy had not increased, they could see the assassins' attacks.

Although they were fierce, fast, and secretive, all of them were visible to their eyes.

Even if they couldn't see them with their eyes, they were caught by their senses without fail.

Not long after, Hwangbo Sung let out a sigh of admiration without realizing it.

"Yes, no matter how fast they are, would they be faster than that monster-like slap! Would it be more painful!"

That was right.

No matter how secretive and fast the assassins' attacks were, they were slower and less secretive than the slap he had tried to dodge and block like crazy until now.

And even if he couldn't see it, his senses still caught the direction of the attack without fail.

"It's because I was trying to find the formation by climbing the mountain without internal energy."

Tang Su-gun let out a low cry of admiration.

If you used internal energy, you could sharpen your senses. But in a sealed state, by trying to find the formation with only intuition and senses, he had naturally trained his senses.

And now that the seal on his internal energy had been released, his sharpened senses were catching every single movement of the assassins.

As the results of their training were finally felt in their bodies, the three of them ran wild without restraint.

After some time had passed. It was quick to deal with the eleven assassins, including Gok Ji-heum and Zhuge Seol-ah.

Hwangbo Sung, who had dealt with them with great momentum, shrugged his shoulders and looked at Cheon Mubaeck.

No matter how dull he was, he knew that the level of the nine who had rushed at Cheon Mubaeck was clearly different. So he had intended to help.

However...

"Your training is not done yet. What's taking so long?"

At Cheon Mubaeck's blunt voice, who had already cut down all nine, Hwangbo Sung was at a loss for words.

Cheon Mubaeck clicked his tongue and looked around.

Even though he had dealt with them all, Cheon Mubaeck's expression was not good.

His slightly contorted face turned to the gatekeeper.

"This isn't the main base, is it? It was one of the bases."

The gatekeeper, who met Cheon Mubaeck's beast-like gaze head-on, unknowingly took a sharp breath.

Cheon Mubaeck bared his teeth and growled.

"Where is he? Your Faction Lord, the King of Assassins?"

(End of Chapter)