The intruders were assassins.

Having faced many assassins before my regression, I recognize their unique killing intent.

A killing intent devoid of emotion.

Is it because they don’t kill out of hatred or grudge against their target? Or is it because becoming an assassin requires training that excludes emotion?

Their killing intent is subtly different.

If I noticed it, then Hwi definitely noticed it too. No, since it was about detecting intruders, he likely noticed even faster than I did.

Since I stepped forward, he must be hiding nearby my father’s quarters, observing the situation.

Of course, if both Hwi and I noticed, then naturally Father would know about the intruders as well. The Heavenly Demon Guardian Gong that has reached great success would have naturally sensed the crisis.

Just trust me and go back to sleep. That pajama with blood splattered on it doesn’t suit you.

I quietly opened the door and stepped out into the yard.

Standing there, staring into the darkness, I made a shushing gesture and whispered again.

“Father is sleeping, so let’s fight quietly.”

But as if no one was here, no one showed any sign of presence. Only the sounds of grasshoppers could be heard nearby.

If Father were awake, he would have definitely said this:

“You’re the loudest one!”

Thinking that made a smile spread across my lips.

Then, as if reacting to my words, someone hidden in the darkness straight ahead revealed the slightest presence.

It was no mistake.

As soon as I noticed their hiding place, he revealed his position and made himself bait.

The other assassins nearby must be holding their breath, waiting for me to attack him.

This is the terrifying thing about assassins.

They are all trained that even if everyone dies, only one success is needed. So although they are many, at the same time they are only one assassin.

Since the opponent threw out the bait, I should at least bite once out of respect for that effort.

I lunged toward the assassin who revealed himself.

I flew quickly, but there was no sound of wind. Like moving silently in a world where sound vanished, my lightness skill was smooth and quiet.

He did not dodge, but appeared from the darkness. Black mask, black clothes, black shoes. From head to toe, camouflaged in black.

The saying that an assassin who is detected loses his life did not apply to this assassin.

He was bait, but not really bait.

His movements were extremely fast and precise. A high-level master who could kill many with direct confrontation. It seemed a waste for such a skilled martial artist to be working as an assassin.

Probably that’s why he was the one representing the group by revealing his presence. To withstand the frontal confrontation while other assassins looked for opportunities.

Of course, I gave him no such opportunity.

To avoid the sound of clashing swords, I finished the fight with a single strike.

The moment his sword flew aiming for my face, my body vanished from there.

Using shadow concealment, I was behind him.

Thud!

Even though the sword pierced through his back, he tried hard to suppress a scream. Making no sound in any situation was ingrained in his body. That alone told me for sure—these were truly well-trained assassins.

‘They must have paid a lot to hire these guys.’

The first assassin died too quickly, so no one dared step forward. They didn’t get the chance to ambush.

They would wait for the next opportunity.

The moment I let my guard down thinking only one infiltrator came in.

If I searched the corpse’s clothes to see who he was, a deadly attack would pour down.

Of course, I didn’t move as they wanted.

Silently holding the dying assassin’s body, I laid him down quietly.

Then I looked at the darkness ahead and made a shushing gesture again.

It wasn’t anywhere random. The spiderweb-like energy that had already spread from my body dominated the entire hall.

This shush was aimed at the place where that energy trembled most strongly.

Realizing his position was exposed, the assassin immediately jumped out and flew at me. Ignoring defense, it was a deadly attack aimed solely to kill.

Shiiik.

The flying sword brushed past my face. My eyes reflected no emotion.

Shik! Swish!

The Black Demon Sword created a straight blade line and sliced through his chest. He instinctively twisted his body to evade, but already a third of his chest along with his heart was cut away.

The strike was so fast and sharp that he died without feeling any pain.

I silently sliced through the air again.

Thud!

My sword pierced through a tree. Softly, as if stuck into tofu. But faster than any fine sword.

An assassin hiding behind the tree was pierced through, but again no scream.

Instead, even as he died, he grabbed the sword blade with both hands.

How could a dying man grasp my Black Demon Sword?

I pulled out my sword and sprang up along the tree. The assassin’s fingers clutching the blade were cut off and scattered everywhere.

A flash of sword light in the darkness.

Thud! Thud!

There had been three assassins attached to that tree from the start. Who would think three would cling to one tree? That was their ruse, but they couldn’t escape the spiderweb-like energy spreading from me.

When the two assassins, hanging like cicadas on the tree, fell and overlapped on the first corpse, I was already standing in front of the wall about ten steps away.

As expected, the Black Demon Sword gently pierced the wall.

Ssssshhhhhh!

Sliding the sword in, I slid smoothly along the wall.

Like sliding on ice, my body slid fast along the wall.

At the same time, the Black Demon Sword tore the wall horizontally.

The assassins hiding against the wall collapsed as they were cut in half.

I could feel their shock and confusion.

Judging by their hiding skill, they must have been assassins recognized for killing many without failure.

But today, they were falling one after another without even using their skills properly.

‘There’s a traitor!’

Since their locations were accurately exposed, they must be thinking that.

I took them out quickly and decisively.

They came to kill me, my father, and Hwi. They were paid killers.

I had no reason to hesitate.

When I climbed onto the roof, throwing hidden weapons came flying.

Shik! Shik! Shik! Shik!

I ran among the thrown weapons, no footsteps heard on the roof.

In the blink of an eye, I reached the edge of the roof, and the assassins who threw the weapons fell to the ground.

No sound came from the fall despite the height. Just before their bodies hit the ground, I used void concealment to silence the impact.

When I continued to find hidden assassins, they could no longer endure. They attacked first.

From above the trees and from the left darkness, two assassins attacked simultaneously.

This time, I used the King’s Might technique. The target was the assassin rushing from the left.

That assassin who had led many to death could not stop his own march to death as those who died by him before.

As he fell coughing up blood, the assassin falling from the tree was throwing hidden weapons.

Piiing! Thud!

The thrown weapon and the hidden needle grazed through the air. The hidden weapon disappeared far into the darkness, and the thrown needle vanished into the blackness.

The assassin who appeared behind the stone lantern held a hidden weapon. It was not a thrown weapon like a shuriken but a cylindrical device that fired powerful poison needles.

Flash!

I charged him with flash step.

Shrek! Shrek!

Before he could fire the hidden weapon, his wrist and neck were cut one after another.

“We agreed to fight quietly, remember?”

If he had fired, there would have been an explosion.

Assassins with this level of skill rarely use such loud hidden weapons, meaning the situation was urgent.

One assassin spread an iron steel net to cover me.

It was the steel net used by assassins. This fine net couldn’t be cut easily by sword or sword energy. While it could be cut if fixed and cut carefully, throwing it over someone in battle causes panic and struggle.

At that moment, another assassin flew overhead through the darkness.

Sssshhhhhh!

He spread Bone-Dissolving Acid. It was a vicious move to trap and melt the net. Their movements were so coordinated it was like one person acting.

With two sword slashes, the net was split into four and the acid poured out, but I was already gone from that spot.

Sssshhh!

The moment I cut the assassin’s throat who threw the net, the assassin flying overhead fell far to the ground. His neck was already pierced by a thrown needle of mine. Of course, I silently let him fall using void concealment.

Then—

Swiiiiiing!

A sword jumped from the ground and brushed past my face.

It was a critical move from a hidden assassin.

This assassin had tunneled underground and waited precisely at this spot.

From this powerful strike, I knew this assassin was the strongest of all I had faced so far. This attack was the core of today’s ambush.

But that was their business.

For me, he was an assassin who «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» failed to kill me and probably the one who had killed the most people.

My sword was already deeply embedded from his shoulder down.

At the last moment, he tried to scream. Maybe he wanted to ruin the quiet end to this fight, or the pain piercing from shoulder to inside was unbearable—I don’t know.

But my hand was faster. I covered his mouth with my left hand and drew my sword.

As the sword was pulled out, he spat blood and died. Half of his body was still inside the pit on the floor.

I released energy and scanned around. There were no assassins alive or hiding in this yard anymore.

I slowly moved and entered the building.

An assassin crawled across the ceiling.

Few target rooms remained. The situation outside was grave.

Even under the crawling ceiling, I heard sounds of flesh being cut by swords. Though I couldn’t see, I instinctively knew that the others who came with him were dying.

He sensed that today’s contract depended on him.

‘Good for me.’

He would take all the large sum to be shared.

‘I will kill.’

He moved little by little.

The true skill of an assassin is sneaking in without detection, enduring without being found for hours, and choosing the exact moment to eliminate the target.

In that respect, he was the most patient assassin today. If he reached just above the target’s head, he would succeed.

No one could block the silent poison needles shot from the ceiling while asleep.

Moreover, it was not just any poison needle. These extremely thin needles would kill without the victim even noticing the prick.

Even autopsy later wouldn’t reveal where the poison entered because of their thinness.

He made a hole in the ceiling to check how far he had come.

The moment he looked down through the hole—

“!”

He was startled.

Someone was looking through the hole from below.

The next moment—

Thud!

A sharp sword pierced upward, skewering the assassin’s neck.

The one who killed him was Hwi.

Blood dripped from the pierced ceiling. Then a voice came from behind.

“It’s raining heavily in here.”

Geom Mugeuk stepped inside and looked at the blood dripping from the ceiling.

There were bodies lying in the hallway. Inside the house, all assassins approaching from behind were eliminated.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. How about you, sir?”

“I’m fine too.”

I’m sure even without me, Hwi alone would have stopped today’s intrusion.

Assassin versus bodyguard.

In that natural enemy relationship, Hwi was the absolute peak for assassins.

A bodyguard can kill me, but an assassin can never kill me.

That was Hwi’s pride.

At that moment, a presence was felt from a room.

“Father’s awake. Let’s go in.”

Geom Mugeuk and Hwi entered the room.

Geom Woojin got up from his bed and was drinking cooled tea poured from a kettle on the table.

“I tried to handle it as quietly as possible, sorry.”

At Geom Mugeuk’s words, Geom Woojin turned his head and looked at his son.

“I only heard your voice.”

Geom Mugeuk smiled. That was exactly what he wanted to hear.

“I held back and held back until then.”

A faint smile appeared at Father’s lips.

Hwi reported to Father.

“The intruders were assassins.”

The faint smile on Father’s lips disappeared. He hated the Blood King and the Sect Master, so how could he like assassins?

Geom Mugeuk asked Hwi.

“Did you find out where they came from?”

Hwi, the Heavenly Demon’s head bodyguard, knew the martial world’s assassins best. The more famous they were, the better he knew them.

Indeed, Hwi knew who they were.

“Judging by their attack style, they are from Myeongbu.”

Myeongbu.

One of the three great assassin organizations of the martial world, a symbol of fear and infamy.

The moment Geom Mugeuk heard the name Myeongbu, one person came to mind.

He had many titles.

The greatest assassin born with a natural talent for killing.

The ruthless assassin who killed Myeongbu’s leader, his father, and took over Myeongbu.

The man who later unified the assassin world and became the king of all assassins.

The god of death said to be able to cut the neck of the King of the Underworld.

But to Geom Mugeuk, the most meaningful title was this.

The Fourth King among the Twelve Zodiac Kings, the Killing King.

I don’t know the exact situation, but I sensed that he was behind the recent Jinryong family incident. Where there’s money, there’s always a sword.

Killing King.

We must not let our guard down. No one among the Twelve Zodiac Kings is an easy opponent, but especially the Killing King must be treated with caution.

He was a man born with unrivaled talent solely for killing, using any means necessary.

The warm blood smell of the slain assassins came carried by the wind outside the window.

Geom Mugeuk spoke calmly with deepened eyes.

“This time, we’ll have to see a lot of blood.”