Chapter 612

Liston furrowed his brow as he silently entered the Suran tribe’s village.

‘How can he order me around like a subordinate even though we’ve never even met before?’

Raon had told him to go into the village while he was running towards the battlefield between the Suran tribe and the assassins.

He’d explained that there was an ember capable of causing a huge explosion hidden inside the village, but Liston honestly couldn’t believe it. Hiding an ember outside the village was possible, but doing it inside wasn’t an easy task at all.

“Hmm…”

When he thought about it, Raon didn’t seem to like his company to begin with. It was the same when he’d followed him into the burning forest. Raon looked like he was asking why he’d followed him there.

‘But why? Is it because he’s afraid I might leak information about his martial arts?’

He thought it was a reasonable explanation since he was even more insightful than the highest-ranked warriors, as he lived as an assassin and an information agent.

‘He’s rather narrow-minded.’

Since the Black Market and Zieghart were pretty much allies, it was funny that he even thought about such a thing.

‘But just in case…’

Since there was a small possibility that Raon had dispatched him to the village to protect it, he was still creating a path for escape. Suddenly, a golden sun and moon rose into the dark sky.

‘What’s that…?’

His lips parted at the ridiculous sight, and a tremendous storm of aura blew from the sun and moon.

It was Raon. He was standing in the middle of the battlefield, his swords blazing with flame and frost, fending off the Suran tribe and the assassins at the same time.

He wasn’t using any special techniques or a huge amount of aura.

He was simply swinging his sword in an extremely ordinary trajectory, but the godly possession was undone as the assassins were cut apart as easily as paper, unable to even withstand a single strike.

In the end, he even froze the ground and dozens of assassins at the same time.

It was a truly divine performance. He’d never seen that before despite being on countless battlefields.

No one dared to turn their weapons on Raon after that. A few swings of his sword were enough to completely remove the malice and murderous intent from the battlefield.

A single monster called Raon Zieghart had ended the war.

‘Wait…’

He suddenly realized that someone as powerful as Raon wouldn’t be reluctant to reveal his martial arts.

‘Which means… is it really going to happen?’

Liston quickly spread his aura perception. He could feel the presence of assassins approaching the village amid the faint embers.

The assassins stopped at some distance and unleashed a faint wave of aura. Once the wave entered the village, a huge explosion occurred.

Whaaam!

A tremendous wall of flame soared to the sky, engulfing the entire village. He couldn’t even breathe because of the intense heat.

The fire prison didn’t allow them to breathe or escape.

“Wh-what?!”

“Why is there fire here…?”

“Come out, everyone! We’re all going to die if we stay here!”

The old people remaining in the village came outside with the children. However, they couldn’t do anything because the fire was too powerful, leaving them biting their lips.

Cring!

Liston unsheathed the sword from his waist. He carved the path toward the exit that he’d prepared in advance by unleashing the aura and wind from his sword.

“Escape this way!” he shouted, and the Suran tribe’s seniors and children widened their eyes.

“I-I don’t know who you are, but thank you!”

“Come this way, everyone!”

“Escape before the fire spreads even more!”

The tribe’s members suspected him at first, but they figured that an enemy wouldn’t be trying to save them and escaped through the path he’d created.

Liston swallowed nervously, watching the seniors and children run outside the village.

‘Did this really just happen?! How is it even possible?’

It was understandable that a warrior could end the war on their own. It was also understandable that he’d noticed the presence of the assassins.

However, finding the ember waiting for ignition in the village was completely incomprehensible.

It wasn’t even at the level of a monster or a genius. It was truly a divine premonition.

Liston shifted his gaze, leaving the village after everyone else managed to escape.

He tried to find Raon, but he was already gone. He only saw the Suran tribe’s warriors and sorcerers running towards the village, their eyes filled with sadness and anger.

However, they stopped glaring upon seeing that the villagers were safe and walked towards him.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you very much! You are our benefactor!”

“How can we repay the favor?”

The Suran chief and the warriors lowered their heads, expressing their gratitude.

“W-wait, I…”

Liston’s fingers trembled as he watched them express their gratitude without the slightest hesitation.

‘Now that I think about it… I’ve never been thanked like this before.’

Since he’d lived as an assassin before becoming an information agent, people’s gratitude was completely new to him.

Their sincere gratitude made a strange ticklish sensation well up inside him. It wasn’t a bad feeling, but he had to tell them the truth.

“I’m not the one who did it.” Liston firmly shook his head. “Sir Raon ordered me to protect the village just in case.”

“Hmm, he was the one…”

“Huh…”

“Did he manage to predict all this?”

The Suran chief groaned and looked back in Raon’s direction. The tribe members also looked for Raon with surprised eyes.

Liston shook his head while following their gazes.

‘He really is so unpredictable.’

* * *

Raon licked his lips while looking into the masked assassin’s trembling eyes.

‘He is their leader.’

All of the assassins were quite powerful, but the one in front of him was the strongest in terms of might.

He must’ve been the head of the assassins who planned the incident.

“H-how did you get here…?”

“I heard you were called Phantom Assassins division.”

Judiel had mentioned that Juvel belonged to a team of assassins called Phantom Assassins division.

“What’s your goal?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?!”

The Phantom Assassin division leader swallowed nervously while stepping backward.

“You started a war instead of assassinating. It’s pretty much suicide for assassins to start a head-on assault.”

Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at the Phantom Assassins division leader.

‘They definitely have another goal.’

The assassins normally retreated when their plan went awry, but they were attacking like crazy instead. That implied that their goal wasn’t to assassinate the Suran tribe but something else entirely.

“Bullshit!” the Phantom Assassin division leader shouted, and the hidden assassins started to approach silently.

‘They are the real ones.’

Since they could hide their bloodlust and perfectly remove their presence, their skills were at least two levels higher than the previous ones.

When you considered the fact that such skilled assassins were staying back in such a place, it was even more clear that assassinating the Suran tribe wasn’t their goal.

Swoosh!

Assassins hiding in the darkness launched their daggers. The fast yet complex trajectories piled on top of each other, creating a shape similar to a web. It was an advanced tactic, combining a properly trained dagger throw and countless experiences.

‘Even so… It’s just meaningless.’

Raon went into the web of daggers that the assassins had thrown. He lifted Heavenly Drive while observing the murderous will formed by the daggers.

The blade glimmered silver and cut through the darkness.

Crack!

Heavenly Drive advanced without hesitation, and the web of daggers raining down on him in a blade formation was instantly split apart.

Raon unsheathed the Blade of Requiem, watching the assassins’ eyes become distorted. The red blade created a clear resonance as it brushed past the scabbard.

Whir!

It was the technique consisting of piercing the eardrums and destroying the nerves. Blue Rain.

“Cough!”

“Aaah!”

“Kuh!”

The assassins dropped their weapons and fell to their knees, feeling the pain of their nerves shattering into pieces.

Raon unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. He engulfed the flames bursting from his energy center around his hand and was about to swing Heavenly Drive when the Phantom Assassin division leader made his move.

He casually extended his hand and dozens of daggers incorporating his aura pierced into his space as rays of light. He was indeed skilled enough to be the leader of an assassin division.

“Pull yourselves together! He has weakened significantly!” the Phantom Assassin division leader shouted while blocking Heavenly Drive’s trajectory.

The assassins were dazed by the Blue Rain but regained their senses and dashed at him again, clenching daggers in their hands.

Their footwork was fast. Their daggers were lunging at his neck and heart in the span of a single breath.

“You aren’t exactly wrong, but…” Raon chuckled and lowered his eyebrows. “It’s not to the point where you can deal with me.”

Raon widened his vision. He watched the daggers and assassins at the same time and raised Heavenly Drive, which was pulled back to the left.

The extremely sharp blade was unleashed along the scorched horizon.

His black coat fluttered in the air and the darkness was torn apart. The assassins’ heads were violently pulled from their bodies and rolled on the ground. A single slash had slain over ten assassins.

“H-how…?”

The Phantom Assassin division leader watched the scene in disbelief with bloodshot eyes. His expression said that he couldn’t believe that the assassins died at the same time even though they were coming from different directions and distances.

“I told you.” Raon shook his head, walking towards the Phantom Assassin division leader. “You can’t deal with me.”

“Kuh!”

The Phantom Assassin division leader used his footwork to move back. His body disappeared in an instant, melting into the darkness.

‘I need to escape!’

He’d heard that the Sword Field Creation was supposed to spend more than 80% of the user’s aura, but the monster he was facing looked like he wasn’t affected by it at all.

It was impossible to defeat him in a frontal clash. He had to escape somehow.

He tried to advance, using his footwork as fast as possible, but the view wasn’t changing for some reason. He felt like he wasn’t moving at all.

‘Wh-what’s happening?’

He looked back with trembling lips and he couldn’t see his legs. Once he realized that fact, his body tilted toward the ground, and an unbearable pain visited him.

“Aaaaah!”

The Phantom Assassin division leader screamed, clutching at the dried grass. He looked at his legs again and saw that the parts under his knees were completely cut off, crimson blood gushing from them.

Step.

Raon approached the Phantom Assassin division leader, Heavenly Drive lowered towards the ground.

“The only way for a trapped rat to survive is to cut off its own legs.”

Raon lowered his gaze and met his eyes.

“Of course, you won’t be able to survive even without your legs.”

“Uuh…”

His face was pale from pain and fear.

“Tell me.”

Raon placed his hand on the Phantom Assassin division leader’s back and tilted his chin.

“What was your goal?”

“Huhu…”

The Phantom Assassin division leader raised his gaze with a laugh that sounded like a groan.

“You are going to kill me anyway, right?”

“Since you are an assassin, you should know that the difference between an easy and difficult death is important.”

“Don’t make me laugh, you greenhorn. I’m the one who decides how to die.”

He grinned with a sneer on his face.

“No, your life isn’t up to you to decide.”

Raon snorted and pulled the Phantom Assassin division leader’s chin down.

“Huff…”

“Assassins are always so old-fashioned,” he declared, removing the poisonous pill from between his teeth.

“H-how did you…”

The Phantom Assassin division leader widened his eyes, shocked by the fact that Raon managed to find the poison hidden in his teeth.

“It’s just basic.”

Raon threw the poison over his shoulder and shook his head.

“Since you refused the easy path, I’ll send you off to the difficult path,” he declared.

He shoved the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s heat and Glacier’s coldness into his back. Then he spread the two energies and activated the torture method that he’d developed.

“Kuh…”

Even though the Phantom Assassin division leader could no longer speak due to his stiffened body, he groaned intensely and trembled violently. Veins began to surface in his eyes from the overwhelming pain.

Raon shook his hand towards Wrath, sitting on the Phantom Assassin division leader’s back.

‘Do you wanna bet if he can last for an hour? I’ll buy you a set menu of bead ice cream if you get it right.’

What if he gets it wrong?

‘How about giving me an all-stat increase?’

That’s not a bad deal.

Wrath immediately nodded.

Since he is the head of assassins, he should easily last for an hour at least.

He raised his hand, saying that he bet on the man lasting over an hour.

‘Then I’ll bet on him lasting less than an hour.’

Raon chuckled and increased the intensity of the torture.

You damn scammer!

Wrath shouted and grabbed him by his collar.

Increasing the intensity is foul play!

‘But there was no rule against increasing the intensity.’

That should go without saying!

‘Oh, really? I didn’t know that. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time.’

What the hell is wrong with your personality…?

Wrath’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

“Huaah…”

The Phantom Assassin division leader’s groan sounded like he was about to die, showing that he couldn’t withstand it anymore. His eyes looked like he was willing to say anything as long as the torture was stopped.

“You should’ve done that from the beginning.”

Raon stopped the torture and made him stand.

“What’s your name?”

“C-Colin, my name is Colin.”

Colin lowered his head with a completely soulless expression.

Kuh! You really are the demon king of mockery!

Wrath ground his teeth violently in frustration.

[You’ve won the bet against Wrath.]

As soon as Wrath acknowledged it, the message announced his victory.

How are you appearing so quickly when you completely ignore the King of Essence whenever he calls you? You are really asking to be destroyed…

[All stats have increased by 3.]

Wrath furrowed his brow when another message appeared.

Huh? Why did you get 3 points instead of 1?

‘We didn’t mention how many points it was going to be. The system just decided on its own accord.’

But it went without saying! It was obviously 1 point!

‘Oh, really? I’ll tell it to keep that in mind next time.’

Raon waved his hand toward the system that sent the message.

This is seriously driving him crazy!

Wrath couldn’t suppress his anger anymore and shouted at the sky that it was being completely unreasonable.

Raon ignored Wrath as he vented his anger and shook his hand toward Colin.

“So what was your goal? Don’t try to say that you were going to assassinate the Suran tribe.”

“I-it was to create a crisis.”

“Create a crisis?”

“It’s…”

Colin was about to respond, but a blue light wavered around his heart, cutting his chest open.

Pssh!

The blood gushing out afterward showed that it was really happening.

Raon looked at the man glaring at him in a frightening manner behind Colin’s corpse.

‘Karoon?’

The Central Martial Palace master, Karoon, had appeared even though Raon wasn’t expecting his presence at all.

‘Why is he even here…?’

He couldn’t understand why Karoon was there even though he was supposed to be on a mission.

‘The reason why he is here… wait! What if Juvel was still under Karoon’s control?’

Raon had thought that Karoon had sold Juvel off to the outside since he’d become an assassin, but that didn’t seem to be the case. The group of assassins called the Phantom Assassin division could’ve been Karoon’s subordinates.

‘No, that’s it. Neither Juvel nor Judiel managed to escape from Karoon from the beginning.’

Combining Karoon’s appearance and Colin’s claim that he was creating a crisis in the Suran tribe, Raon could come up with an assumption.

‘What if Karoon appears when the Suran tribe is about to burn down to death and saves everyone?’

Karoon would become the Beast Union’s benefactor, and it would be a huge achievement in Zieghart.

In fact, the assassins attacking the Suran tribe were numerous but not that strong. He must’ve been trying to get an achievement for himself by using them as disposable pawns.

‘And the reason he is going this far must be because of me.’

Raon had gained so much achievement recently that people often said that it wouldn’t be strange for him to be a candidate for succession.

Karoon must’ve felt insecure because of the strange atmosphere in the house and planned it all in order to gain achievement.

‘Most importantly, he stopped Colin from speaking.’

Karoon had pretty much proven that it was his plan by killing Colin in his incapacitated state.

“Central Martial Palace master.”

Raon met Karoon’s frightening eyes, quenching the boiling anger in his mind.

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I came to check on things because the fire was spreading while on my way back from the mission.”

It wasn’t a strange answer because he was indeed away from the house for a mission when Raon had returned.

“But why did you kill him?”

“He is an assassin. You can’t underestimate them until they are dead.”

Karoon shook his head, saying that it was an obvious thing to do.

Raon bit his lip as he watched Karoon slowly approach him.

‘Is he planning to kill me? This is dangerous…’

A chill ran down his spine upon seeing Karoon’s composed expression.

There was no one other than himself and Karoon around. He had no chance of survival if Karoon started to attack with his Sword Field Creation.

‘Because I won’t be able to win against him even if I used the Sword Field Creation.’

Karoon was even more powerful than the Axe King. Since Raon would be at a disadvantage even in his best condition, the outcome was obvious in his weakened state after using the Sword Field.

‘Should I run away? No, it will be even more dangerous if I show him my back.’

Karoon had cut Colin down before he even saw it coming. His head was going to roll in an instant if he acted recklessly.

“Raon Zieghart.”

Karoon revealed his icy cold gaze, approaching close enough for his sword to strike.

“What did you hear from him?”

“I wonder.”

Raon shook his head, a calm smile on his face.

“I see.”

Karoon’s gaze darkened. He seemed to be planning to put an end to him right there.

Raon prepared to defend while clenching Heavenly Drive and the Blade of Requiem when a huge shadow appeared from the sky.

Whaam!

A white tiger as big as a house dashed in between the trees and let out a majestic roar. The man riding on its back landed in front of Raon and Karoon.

Raon’s hands unconsciously trembled as he witnessed his bulky body, as big as the white tiger, and his destructive pressure crushing all living creatures.

“Hmm…”

Karoon furrowed his brow and stepped back. It looked like he wasn’t expecting his appearance either.

Raon swallowed nervously and called out to the man who came down from the white tiger’s back.

“The Beast King?”

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