It Can't Be Helped

As I’ve said before, I hate assassins.

What could I do about being an emotional and simple man? Even now, the place was full of assassins, so I just swung my sword at them without thinking.

“You aren’t wearing black. You’re not qualified to be assassins. You bastard swordsmen with no fundamentals.”

I muttered to myself until I suddenly got worked up and shouted.

“I’m the assassin! Me! I’m the assassin because I’m wearing black!”
“…….”

The assassins moved more violently after hearing my moonlit confession. They were definitely bastards with plenty of experience killing people.

Every movement was efficient and thick with killing intent. Their fundamentals were lousy, but their killing moves had been honed to a frightening degree, you could say.

On top of that, they seemed accustomed to coordinated attacks. Whenever one man’s attack was blocked, another would immediately thrust his sword, and every time I drove Nameless Sword toward an opening, someone I hadn’t even seen coming would appear to stop my blade.

The strongest among them was the man called Squad Leader Wi. Judging by the situation, this skinny bastard seemed to be their leader.

Squad Leader Wi was skilled enough to deserve the role. His saber arts and overall martial prowess were slightly below One-Eyed Ghost’s, but he was excellent at leading his subordinates and giving orders.

He seemed like a bastard more accustomed to the chaos of a melee alongside his comrades than a one-on-one duel.

Either way, he wasn’t the type I liked. But what could I do? The essence of an assassin was using any means necessary.

I had the mindset of an assassin equipped right now as well, so I had no intention of going easy on them.

As I continuously swung my sword atop the wall, blocking the assassins attacking me from every direction…….

Paang!

The moment everyone except Squad Leader Wi rushed me from the front at once, I unleashed One Flash. The sword qi I sent out as a feint obscured the assassins’ vision, and I immediately thrust out my left palm.

The assassins caught in the palm force either fell from the wall or were shoved away, exposing Squad Leader Wi, who had been hiding behind them.

I didn’t miss the opening. I rushed forward and swept Nameless Sword horizontally.

With a sharp ‘Chang!’, sparks flew as Squad Leader Wi and I locked weapons at close range.

I smiled at the killing intent in Squad Leader Wi’s eyes.

“……Squad Leader Wi. You’re all alone now. What a shame, our esteemed idiot assassin leader.”

Squad Leader Wi’s hand trembled from the force he was exerting as he spoke.

“……Who the hell are you? Sect Master Dokgo?”
“No. I’m an assassin. Ever heard of the black-clad assassins said to be the finest among assassins?”
“What the hell are you……?”

Chaekang!

In the middle of our conversation, I swung Nameless Sword upward and broke Squad Leader Wi’s stance, then charged after him as he tried to create distance and fiercely swung my sword again.

Abandoning defense entirely, I hacked down vertically, brought the sword back up, swept it horizontally, and occasionally mixed in a thrust or palm force for variety as I rained down attacks like a mad butcher beneath the moonlight.

If you asked what kind of sword art this was, the sword and sword force were the same ones I’d used against the Black Serpent Gate Master.

Truthfully, when there was a certain gap in skill and you’d already seized the momentum of the offensive, it was better to simply pressure the opponent with brute force and aggression than to attempt some half-baked technique or defense.

After all, one of the most decisive moments in determining the outcome of a fight was when someone lost their composure.

Until Squad Leader Wi finally lost his composure and staggered while blocking my sword, I didn’t think deeply or hesitate at all. I simply abandoned defense and hammered him with a relentless barrage of lightning-fast sword strikes.

After another three or four exchanges, impatience began to spread across Squad Leader Wi’s face, which had been overflowing with killing intent.

Even while continuing my attack, I glanced down below the wall to check what was happening. For some reason, I kept hearing sounds of fighting down there.

Sure enough, they really were fighting. So Geum-ho, Gongson Han, and One-Eyed Ghost were running all over the place with their swords drawn, personally slaughtering the remaining assassins.

‘They’re fighting pretty well.’

One-Eyed Ghost was naturally the strongest. So Geum-ho and Gongson Han were somewhat lacking compared to the assassins, but they were holding their own well enough.

Usually, So Geum-ho or Gongson Han would confront an assassin head-on, then One-Eyed Ghost would appear from behind and finish the bastard off.

At that moment, Gongson Han suddenly shouted at the assassins.

“Come at me, you sons of bitches! I’ll show you exactly who I am today. Come on! Your Guild Master put you up to this?”

I swallowed dryly as I watched him.

“Hmm.”

Watching the man contributing the least to the fight shout at the top of his lungs and act defiant gave me a rather strange feeling.

He was on my side, and I was proud of him, but somehow I still wanted to give him a good knock on the head.

But right now, instead of giving Gongson Han a knock on the head, it was time to give Squad Leader Wi in front of me a taste of steel, so I swung my sword without restraint.

Puak!

The instant Squad Leader Wi’s stance broke and an opening appeared, I unleashed sword qi.

The sword qi grazed past his armpit and dissipated into the air. A fountain of blood burst from Squad Leader Wi’s shoulder as his right arm, still holding the straight saber, dropped cleanly to the ground.

“Kraaaagh!”

The instant blood erupted from Squad Leader Wi’s shoulder along with his horrible scream, I kicked him in the abdomen and sent him tumbling off the wall.

Squad Leader Wi lay on the ground clutching the severed stump and tried to get back up, but it didn’t look easy.

I leapt into the air and landed below……then stared down at Squad Leader Wi, who had ultimately collapsed against the wall.

I’d enthusiastically mocked them for not being proper assassins, but looking at him now, an assassin was still an assassin. Even on the verge of death, his bloodshot eyes were filled with killing intent.

I looked coldly at Squad Leader Wi as he desperately clutched his bleeding shoulder and spoke.

“……Want to live?”

But Squad Leader Wi, still glaring at me, chose to burst out laughing instead of begging for his life.

“I know you won’t spare me. Just kill me.”
“All right. I’ll be following soon enough, so wait for me at the gates of hell.”

Chwaaaaaak!

The moment our exchange ended, I drew Nameless Sword across Squad Leader Wi’s neck. His head fell cleanly away, and another fountain of blood erupted from his severed neck and drenched me.

My entire body was covered in sticky blood, but my clothes were so black that it barely showed. Maybe this was why assassins wore black.

I looked away from Squad Leader Wi and once again surveyed the scene below the wall where the melee had been raging.

Things were more or less wrapping up down there too. Naturally, our side had won.

I approached One-Eyed Ghost, who was leaning against his straight saber like a pillar.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

One-Eyed Ghost answered between heavy breaths.

“My shoulder was cut a little, but it was only a graze. I’m fine.”
“Poison?”
“Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like they used any.”

So Geum-ho’s voice came from not far away.

“Are you all right, Sect Master?”
“I’m fine. You?”
“I’m fine as well.”

This time, Gongson Han, who looked the least injured of the four of us, appeared from the right with one hand raised.

“I’m fine too, Sect Master.”
“You’d better be. You didn’t do anything.”
“…….”

I looked around at the surroundings, which seemed as though a storm had just swept through.

Why did corpses always seem to appear wherever I went?

I wiped the blood from my face with my sleeve and spoke.

“……Try not to touch the assassins’ corpses any more than necessary. Cremate them in some secluded clearing. They might have poison or some kind of explosive device hidden inside their clothes.”

Gongson Han and So Geum-ho answered at the same time.

“Understood.”
“Yes.”

I turned back toward One-Eyed Ghost. His expression was rather strange, as though he were thinking the same thing I was.

I spoke.

“One-Eyed Ghost.”
“What?”
“……Let’s go.”

One-Eyed Ghost silently nodded and got to his feet. Since both of us were men of few words, there was no need for a long conversation.

If you asked where we were going, the destination was naturally the Bloodland Assassin Guild’s headquarters.

If you asked what we were going there to do, the answer was naturally to wipe out the assassins.

But if you asked what we hoped to accomplish by doing so, the answer would be a little different.

One-Eyed Ghost was doing it to protect his younger sister, while I was doing it to punish villains who had no need to exist in this world.

With our own reasons and convictions, we headed for the Bloodland Assassin Guild.

To get there as quickly as possible, we repeatedly used our lightness arts and ran on and on along the mountain paths at night.

There was one thing I learned from this……One-Eyed Ghost was quite skilled at lightness arts. Perhaps that was only natural.

After all, the first martial arts assassins learned were footwork and lightness arts.

Of course, he was considerably slower than me with all my experience from my previous life, but even that was more than fast enough.

One-Eyed Ghost kept up just fine even when I picked up the pace, so I was able to run with a much lighter heart.

After running for another two to four hours, once we had left Yongmyeong County behind, I asked One-Eyed Ghost.

“Where’s their headquarters?”
“If we keep going straight, there’s a cave halfway up the mountain. They’re hiding there.”
“Got it.”

We had already lost more time than expected, so I needed to increase the speed of my lightness art another level.

If we lost any more time, there was a good chance word of Squad Leader Wi’s death would reach the Bloodland Assassin Guild. If that happened, it wouldn’t be surprising for them to send another assassination squad.

One-Eyed Ghost and I could kill an assassin around Squad Leader Wi’s level without much trouble, but So Geum-ho and Gongson Han couldn’t.

Naturally, neither could the ordinary Dokgo Gate disciples. If things went wrong, a storm of blood could sweep through Yongmyeong County, so I ran as fast as I could.

By the time I finished that thought, my expression had darkened with anger, and One-Eyed Ghost to ask.

“What’s with that expression?”
“I’m pissed off. Anyway, I’ll explain the plan. We’re going to do nothing but break straight through. Ignore anyone who runs away or falls behind. We charge, then charge some more. Keep pushing forward and find your sister first. I’ll break through as fast as possible and kill the Guild Master.”

One-Eyed Ghost stared at my face for a moment, then nodded.

“Got it.”

Only after running for about another four hours did we finally reach the cave entrance that appeared to be the Bloodland Assassin Guild’s headquarters.

It was already close to midnight. We were later than expected, but fortunately, the full moon shone brightly overhead.

I stared at the cave entrance shrouded in thick mist and asked One-Eyed Ghost.

“……There aren’t any traps, right?”

One-Eyed Ghost nodded.

“Probably not. They move their hideout frequently, so they likely wouldn’t have had time to install any.”
“Devious assassin bastards, seriously…….”

I was about to curse them out even more enthusiastically when I remembered that the bastard beside me was an assassin too.

In the end, I shut my mouth and took a deep breath. One-Eyed Ghost asked me.

“Do you have a plan? That’s the only entrance I know of, but there might be others if we look. We should probably…….”
“One-Eyed Ghost.”
“What?”
“Keep up. I’m heading for the Guild Master, so you find your sister first.”
“Don’t tell me you’re…….”

That’s right. Naturally, whatever he was imagining was exactly what I intended. Without even letting One-Eyed Ghost finish, I sprang forward and started running straight into the cave.

The essence of an assassin was assassination? Feed that bullshit to the dogs.

I didn’t know how to assassinate anyone in the first place, nor did I like doing it, so I boldly charged straight into the Guild’s base.

I might currently be Dokgo Mu-jin the assassin, dressed in black, but there was no reason my way of fighting had to be that of an assassin too.

If I wanted to beat every last one of these bastards to hell today, I needed to equip the mindset of the Sword Demon rather than that of an assassin.

Then it couldn’t be helped. Since I was going to kill those who deserved to die, I had no choice but to return to being the Sword Demon.