Raon decided to assassinate the fourth apostle, then turned around to call for Dorian.
“Dorian.”
“Eek!”
Dorian shuddered while carrying a luxurious, shining white desk. He pointed the desk forward as if he were staying alert with a sword.
“Wh-What’s the matter?”
“…What the hell is that?”
Why was he carrying a desk around with him?
Raon could only laugh. He could understand why he did it if he’d had a sword in his hand instead, but he couldn’t understand why he was holding the desk like a sword. Moreover, the fact that the desk was so pretty for no reason was making it more ridiculous.
“I-It’s a desk…”
“I can see that. I’m asking why you are carrying a desk with you.”
“Ghost…”
“Ghost?”
“Th-This desk is made of the white wood, so I figured it would be useful to chase away the ghost.”
Dorian blushed in embarrassment as he lowered his head.
‘A desk made of the white wood…’
White wood as material was extremely efficient at driving away ghosts and evil spirits. In fact, priests usually used artifacts and weapons made of white wood.
‘Did I scare him too much?’
Ignoring the fact that Dorian took out a white wood desk from his belly pocket, Raon could only smile at seeing him try to chase away the ghost with the desk.
“Isn’t it heavy?”
“I-It’s fine.”
He was lifting and lowering the desk as if he were holding a twig thanks to his excellent strength. Though, his face was completely pale from the fear.
“Does that work against you?”
Raon pointed at the white wood desk and looked at Lohengreen.
[No way. I’m not an evil spirit.]
Lohengreen shook his head and laughed.
Stop treating the King of Essence’s servant like an evil spirit!
‘But isn’t Dorian also your servant?’
He’s just stupid. You need to understand.
Wrath frowned in displeasure, as he thought Raon was belittling Lohengreen. Raon thought it was such a mystery how considerate he was despite the situation.
“He said it won’t work.”
“Oh no!”
Dorian sank to the ground while holding the back of his neck. Considering the fact that he was still holding onto the desk in his hand, he must’ve been really scared of him.
“Well, that’s not the important part right now.”
“What could possibly be more important than a ghost?!”
“First of all, the mister here isn’t a ghost. And below us…”
Raon pointed at the floor of the passage with his finger.
“There’s a White Blood Religion apostle.”
“Ugh…”
The desk, which was almost hanging from Dorian’s hand, finally fell to the floor.
“A-An apostle?”
“Morell from Salaman is also there, and the bitch princess as well.”
“Does that mean that Balkar is currently fighting against the White Blood Religion?”
“Yes.”
Raon nodded.
“L-Let’s sneak in. Since they are fighting against each other, let’s ask the mister ghost to guide us…”
“Sneaking in isn’t an option. It’s better to properly clear them out, because the laboratory is right below it. That’s why…”
“Th-That’s why?”
Dorian swallowed nervously.
‘I’m sure the vice squad leader is going to make it possible even if there isn’t any option.’
Since Raon had always come up with the best solution in any situation, Dorian believed that he would manage to find a way to advance deeper without fighting the White Blood Religion and Balkar.
“I’m planning on assassinating the apostle.”
“…What?”
Assassination?
Dorian felt like his heart skipped a beat. It was even more ridiculous than digging a tunnel or walking around.
“D-Did you just declare that you are going to assassinate an a-apostle?”
It was so ridiculous that his voice trembled like a leaf fluttering into the air.
“Yes. I think the White Blood Religion is going to wipe out Morell and Balkar and reach the laboratory before us at this rate. That’s why I wanna kill the apostle to prevent that.”
“Ugh…”
Drool was dripping from Dorian’s widened mouth.
‘Does he think of an apostle as a fly or something?’
They wouldn’t die so easily!
Dorian would have understood if he said that he would fight them one-on-one, but since he said that he would assassinate him instead, he was just dumbfounded.
The worst part was Raon’s casual expression. Dorian realized it because he’d been with him for such a long time, that Raon truly believed from the bottom of his heart that he could assassinate the apostle.
“Wh-Which apostle is inside the cavern right now?”
“The fourth apostle.”
“I-I believe he’s at the intermediate level of Master…”
Dorian had investigated the White Blood Religion’s apostles after encountering the tenth and seventh apostles in Porvan.
The identity and prowess of most of them were hidden, but the fourth apostle’s might was somewhat known to the public. An intermediate Master—and that was two years ago, so he could’ve been even stronger.
“That’s probably correct.”
Raon nodded while looking at Lohengreen’s crystal ball. Judging from his movement and energy wave coming from him, he must’ve been an extremely powerful warrior at the intermediate level of Master.
“How are you even supposed to kill a monster like that through assassination? If we can’t avoid them, we should ask Sir Morell to work with us…”
“That wouldn’t be too bad, but it would be a shame to throw away a situation where the enemy doesn’t know of our presence yet. Moreover, working with them has the disadvantage of weakening our voice even if we win. If I just kill the apostle when all of them are in danger, I can control the entire situation.”
“I mean, that’s true, but…”
Dorian’s lips parted like a goldfish, as he was unable to comprehend how Raon thought that was even possible.
“Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Raon smiled and tapped his scabbard.
“And I have a plan if it goes wrong.”
“You mean sneaking into the enemy and killing them in a single blow when you said assassination, right?”
“Indeed.”
“Then how are you even planning to hide from the fourth apostle’s aura perception to stab him?! He’s an intermediate Master!”
“With skills.”
“Huaah…”
The ‘skills’ made Dorian drop his jaw on the ground.
“I knew it! You have no plan whatsoever! You have never assassinated anyone before, either!”
“You are right. I’ve never done a proper assassination before.”
Raon nodded with a smile on his face.
“But I can still do it.”
‘Since I’ve done it countless times in my previous life.’
* * *
The second team members sighed while staring at Runaan, who was standing on the tower built in the middle of the village. They were the ones who were assigned to stay in Doran Village.
Runaan’s eyes were still as blank as ever as she looked around the entire village, but her determination was different from usual.
“How long has it been?”
“It’s been a bit over two days.”
“She hasn’t slept at all for two whole days…”
Runaan climbed the tower after Raon and the other teams left on their missions, and she guarded the village without sleeping at all. Even though the team members told her to come down to rest and continue, she didn’t listen to them.
“I think she’s overexerting herself….”
“I know, right? I’ve never seen her do that before.”
“Even though she loves to sleep so much…”
Runaan liked to sleep as much as Rimmer. Since she usually stayed blank and often started dozing off during the morning meetings, it was surprising that she wasn’t sleeping for such a long time.
“It must be difficult for her, since she’s not simply keeping guard.”
Instead of just looking around to keep guard, Runaan was probing the surrounding areas through a detailed control of her aura. She was bound to be extremely exhausted from that.
“I’ll try telling her again.”
The second team’s vice leader, Ebby, sighed faintly and climbed the tower.
“Team leader.”
Runaan turned her head as Ebby called out to her. Even though she couldn’t sleep at all, there was no trace of exhaustion in her eyes.
“You should rest for a moment, at least. At this rate, you won’t be able to fight at your full potential when the time comes.”
Since telling her to take care of health wasn’t going to work, Ebby used the mission as a reason.
“It’s okay.”
Runaan slowly shook her head.
“I practiced continuing on without sleeping.”
“What? Wh-When did you practice something like that…?”
Ebby’s jaw dropped. The fact that Runaan had practiced fighting back sleep was completely new to her.
“Raon told me that I can’t stay the same forever.”
Runaan closed her eyes while grasping the hilt of Snow Flower.
‘I can’t be a burden to him forever.’
Even though Raon’s position of vice squad leader was high enough, he always allowed the other swordsmen to rest by personally keeping the night watch and guards.
Since she felt sorry about him continuing to help the others while he couldn’t even rest, she had asked her papa to teach her a guarding technique that used a low amount of stamina by spreading aura to observe the surroundings.
She wanted to give up in the beginning because of how difficult it was. She liked sleeping as much as bead ice cream, after all.
‘But that’s why I couldn’t give up.’
When she realized that Raon must’ve been going through the same pain all that time, she became even more determined.
She continuously practiced whenever she returned home, and she managed to learn the guarding technique Cloud Thread, which allowed her to carefully examine the surrounding area while decreasing the necessary amount of sleep.
“I can still continue.”
Runaan shook her head and examined the village’s scenery.
“I’ll protect this place no matter what.”
Her purple eyes were glowing with determination to complete Raon’s mission no matter what.
* * *
* * *
Raon was standing in front of the sixth cavern, where Morell and the fourth apostle were fighting against each other.
Even though he couldn’t see them, he could feel the impact of the clash between Morell’s magic and the fourth apostle’s bloody energy.
‘Are they equal? No. Morell is losing.’
Even though magic and martial arts weren’t exactly the same, Morell was stronger than the fourth apostle overall. The reason he was losing despite being stronger seemed to be because the fourth apostle’s bloody energy and his longsword were capable of cutting through magic.
‘That longsword…’
Raon looked at the jet black longsword that the fourth apostle was holding through Lohengreen’s crystal ball. It cut through Morell’s fire magic in a single slash as he watched, and he could feel the evil energy coming from it.
‘Is it interfering with magic? Can it also interfere with aura…?’
He couldn’t tell exactly what kind of power the longsword had from simply watching through the crystal ball.
‘I need to thoroughly analyze it.’
Even though he didn’t have much time, it was necessary to accurately analyze the enemy in order to increase the assassination’s chance of success. He needed to figure out whether the longsword or the bloody energy was causing the phenomenon.
Whir.
Raon opened the ocean of perception by controlling Glacier. He connected his senses with the coldness covering the entire dungeon, and even activated the Perception of the Snow Flower to examine the flow of the fourth apostle’s bloody energy.
Whaaap!
Dozens of flame serpents emerged from Morell’s hands. They were as thick as a pillar from a building.
It was the fire attribute spell that had the same name as his nickname, Snake of Raging Flame. The snakes that were clad in scales of flame rampaged around as if every single one of them were alive, all in order to take the fourth apostle’s life.
Rumble!
The fourth apostle bent himself to the side, slashing the longsword down. White bloody energy was ignited on the dark blade like embers.
Whaam!
The slash and magic were equal in power. However, a strange vibration occurred from the longsword. The heads of the snakes were cut off in an instant, creating a violent explosion.
‘What he did just now…’
Raon narrowed his eyes.
‘The bloody energy emerged from the longsword to interfere with the flow of magic.’
The bloody energy emerging from the fourth apostle’s longsword didn’t cut through the magic, instead interfering with the flow of mana to weaken Morell’s spell.
‘That’s how he did it.’
Raon nodded while looking at the fourth apostle’s longsword as it slashed through the flow of magic.
‘It wasn’t the bloody energy’s ability, but the longsword’s.’
The bloody energy was generally strong against aura and magic, but he’d never heard before that it had an ability like that. It was the longsword that was allowing him to easily cut through the magic.
‘It won’t be too difficult.’
If it was the weapon’s ability instead of the fourth apostle himself, then it wasn’t going to be an obstacle for assassination.
[Hmm, priest of Wrath.]
Lohengreen groaned briefly, then came up next to Raon.
[That mongrel using the bloody energy is more powerful than you. Since you aren’t even prepared, shouldn’t you reconsider the assassination?]
On top of Dorian, even Lohengreen was worried about him because Raon was clearly weaker than the fourth apostle.
He’s right. You are just going to die in vain without solving Four-Eyes’s problem if you do something stupid like that. You should just cooperate with your fellow weaklings and fight together. You shouldn’t underestimate assassination, you weasel, swindler, and devil!
Wrath spoke with a frown on his face. Considering the fact that he was calling him by all kinds of names in the end, he must’ve still been angry.
“It’s okay. It will be over soon.”
Raon nodded while pushing Wrath away. Assassination meant to kill in a single strike. Since there was a high risk upon failure, it was natural for them to be worried about him.
However, they didn’t need to worry about him. The coldness filling the dungeon was giving him all of the preparation he needed.
Whir!
Raon controlled Glacier. He completely suppressed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s energy and filled the mana circuits all around his body with Glacier’s coldness.
He made Glacier’s energy, which was coming from his energy center, resonate with the coldness filling the entire dungeon to turn it into one single flow.
‘A little bit more…’
It was not enough yet. He needed to erase his presence to a point that the fourth apostle wouldn’t be able to notice him. He assimilated Glacier’s energy into the coldness surrounding him so that he would be seen as a single frost shard floating in the air.
“Wh-What…?”
Dorian swallowed nervously while watching Raon’s back.
‘Why can’t I feel his presence?’
Even though Raon was right in front of him, he couldn’t feel his existence at all. If he hadn’t been looking right at him, he wouldn’t have noticed that he was right in front of him.
[Huh!]
Lohengreen exclaimed as he sensed that Raon’s presence had completely assimilated into the dungeon’s coldness.
‘My worry was unnecessary.’
It was obvious that he wasn’t mistaken.
There was no way that the God of Wrath would’ve assigned an idiot who didn’t even know the limits of his abilities as his priest. Lohengreen was ashamed of himself for doubting him for no reason.
Swish.
Raon unsheathed the Blade of Requiem. Ominous energy was glowing on the red blade.
Whir!
The powerful ghastly energy and unusually intense sword resonance were showing its excitement for killing an apostle.
‘No.’
Raon grasped the Blade of Requiem tightly and shook his head.
‘He will find out if you keep being so loud. Hide your murderous intent behind the enemy’s and lower your presence.’
The Blade of Requiem’s ghastly energy was rampaging like a tidal wave, but Raon put it under control to synchronize with the flow he’d created.
Whir.
Although the ghastly energy used to be as violent as an erupting volcano, it started to flow as quietly as a small stream.
After lowering the Blade of Requiem’s ghastly energy to the point that he could hide it with Glacier’s coldness, Raon finally nodded.
He collected his senses and stood at the sixth cavern’s entrance. Since his presence was completely gone, no one was paying attention to him.
Morell, the fourth apostle, the White Blood Fanatics, and Balkar’s magicians were still attacking each other with aura and magic, their eyes filled with murderous intent.
Raon closed his eyes as he watched them.
When was a beast the most vulnerable to attack?
When they were sleeping? Or when they were eating?
No.
It was when they were about to kill their prey.
Since they fought with the determination that they would die from hunger if they failed to catch their prey, they were fully focused on their enemy right before they killed them.
“Haa…”
Raon slowly caught his breath and overwrote his soul with the senses of his previous life, when he was at the peak, as he smoothly fixed his grip on the Blade of Requiem’s hilt.
He lowered his posture, his eyes fixated on Morell, who was drenched in cold sweat as he was pushed back by the fourth apostle’s bloody energy.
“Kuh!”
“Kyaah!”
Inield and Princess Jayna were slammed into the ground, unable to withstand the archbishop’s bloody energy. The archbishop didn’t miss the opportunity, creating dozens of spears with bloody energy.
“Damn it!”
Morell gritted his teeth and discharged a powerful wave of flame. The sphere produced as a result was extremely powerful. However, that magic shouldn’t have been used at that moment.
He was feeding his opponent because he was too desperate to finish his battle to save the princess.
Creak!
Alongside the fourth apostle’s evil laughter, ferocious bloody energy burst from his black longsword, distorting the flow of Morell’s magic.
“You were too hasty, Snake of Raging Flame!”
The apostle tilted his body and slashed down with his longsword. Morell’s flame was entangled with the longsword’s bloody energy and started to lose its power.
‘Not yet.’
Raon shook his head.
He was going to notice him if he moved at that moment. He needed to wait a bit longer.
Cring!
The fourth apostle’s blade severed the huge flame sphere, piercing Morell’s shoulder.
Pssh!
A dangerous amount of blood gushed from Morell’s collarbone, and the fourth apostle’s murderous intent intensified. He changed the trajectory of his longsword with the intention of beheading him in a single strike.
‘Now!’
Raon gritted his teeth and kicked the ground. The maximized Supreme Harmony Steps allowed him to ignore the space between them as he reached right next to the fourth apostle.
He suppressed his emotions and stopped breathing completely. He stood in the fourth apostle’s shadow, as silently as the blue frost floating around the dungeon.
Whoosh!
The moment the fourth apostle’s black longsword was about to pierce Morell’s neck, Raon stomped the ground and thrust the blade of Requiem.
Creak!
The blade, as red as blood, shredded the flow of bloody energy into pieces as it pierced the left side of the fourth apostle’s chest.
“Wh-What?!”
The fourth apostle gritted his teeth and tried to pull himself away, but it was already too late.
Boom!
The concentrated ghastly energy and coldness inside the Blade of Requiem burst out in an instant, creating a powerful explosion inside the fourth apostle’s chest.
