Chapter 246
Over the course of three days, Sun Woo-jin had carefully taught Jin So-eun three skills: stealth techniques, the “mind’s eye,” and close-quarters combat.
Since she had already promised to do whatever was asked of her, Jin So-eun had diligently absorbed the lessons.
Yet, deep down, she couldn’t help but wonder, “Why is he teaching me this?”
When he had taught her the Samhwanbo technique before, the reason was clear and easy to accept: since her strength was lacking, she had to rely on speed to outpace her opponents.
But now…
“Is close-quarters combat really necessary for someone like me who uses the Gon technique? And stealth techniques—those are the assassins’ skills, aren’t they?”
Though she struggled to understand, true to her nature, she still applied herself wholeheartedly.
But no matter how gifted she was, three days was simply too short a time.
It was impossible to make any real progress in close-quarters combat or stealth techniques in such a brief period, especially since they weren’t her specialties.
Only in the mind’s eye had she managed to achieve some measure of success.
And now, at this very moment, Jin So-eun finally understood why Sun Woo-jin had taught her those skills so earnestly.
Whoosh!
Ting-ting-ting-ting!
She spun her Gon staff, using it like a circular shield to deflect the barrage of throwing knives raining down from the front.
Then, twisting the rotating staff behind her, she struck out with the hooked end, sweeping away the assassins who lunged at her with their hooked swords.
Bang! Bang!
The staff, charged with energy, lightly cracked the heads of her enemies.
Without hesitation, Jin So-eun stepped on the Samhwanbo stance, swiftly repositioned herself, and stomped hard on the ground beneath her feet.
Thud!
She felt something explode beneath the earth, and blood seeped through the soil.
An assassin had been hiding underground.
She’d sensed earlier that they were trying to corner her, and now she knew why.
Suddenly, throwing knives came flying from all directions.
Screeeech! Whirrr! Swish!
From lightning-fast straight shots to spinning, curving blades, the entire area was blackened by the onslaught.
“Hup!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Jin So-eun swung her staff around her body, spinning herself as well.
Whirrrr!
Ting-ting-ting!
The ironclad shield created by her rotating staff deflected every knife.
It was as if a divine beast, imbued with willpower, was guarding her entire body.
Though the scene was impressive—a flawless defense against a terrifying attack—it was a situation she had faced dozens of times over the course of the day.
So if they were repeating this tactic, it meant they had another motive.
And Jin So-eun could pinpoint exactly what it was.
“Six assassins underground, right ahead!”
Using her mind’s eye, she located the assassins hiding beneath the earth.
At that moment—
Boom!
The ground suddenly erupted as six assassins burst forth like snakes from their tunnels.
While Jin So-eun’s staff blocked the knives, they aimed for her lower body.
But unfortunately for them, her lower defenses were anything but open.
“Hoo!”
The moment they emerged, Jin So-eun had already moved right up to them using the Samhwanbo stance.
Their eyes caught sight of her feet just inches away.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With a powerful kick linked to the Samhwanbo and Samhwankak techniques, the heads of three assassins exploded simultaneously.
Though she hadn’t mastered Samhwankak during the three days of training with Sun Woo-jin, she had perfected it through a day of battle.
But there was no time to celebrate.
The remaining three assassins lunged at her legs with their hooked swords like lightning.
Ssssh!
Pew!
Just as their blades were about to pierce her legs, a look of ecstatic triumph lit up their eyes.
They had succeeded in breaking through the gap created by her blocking and counterattacking.
But the moment their swords pierced her legs, the assassins were stunned.
“?!”
“?!”
Their blades didn’t feel like they had struck anything solid.
Swish!
In the next instant, Jin So-eun’s form vanished as if erased.
Only then did the assassins realize—
“An afterimage?!”
Simultaneously, her staff brushed past their heads.
Bang!
She had created a phantom image using Samhwanbo and moved behind them.
“Hah, hah, hah!”
Jin So-eun exhaled heavily.
Without even glancing at the three assassins whose heads she had shattered, she turned her gaze to the others surrounding her at a distance.
She was utterly fed up.
She had been fighting these attackers since nightfall, through sunrise, and even as the sun rose again.
She had killed and killed, yet their numbers hadn’t diminished.
They kept crawling out like cockroaches.
And the problem wasn’t just their numbers.
“Hah, hah, hah.”
Breathing heavily, her body feeling as heavy as if soaked in water, Jin So-eun thought,
“I’m so tired. I feel like I’m going to collapse. No, I want to collapse.”
She felt her body had already reached its limit.
Her breath was ragged, her head foggy.
At any moment, she could fall.
“Come to think of it, I think I had this thought before. No, maybe it was yesterday, around sunset?”
It didn’t matter.
She had long since lost track of time, and Sun Woo-jin had disappeared even earlier.
Then, suddenly, as her thoughts drifted to him, her dazed eyes sharpened.
Clenching her teeth, she called out his name in her heart.
“Sun Woo Gongja!”
Now she understood perfectly why he had taught her close-quarters combat and stealth techniques.
Even if she couldn’t use stealth herself, knowing how it worked had allowed her to hold her own against these enemies.
And to kill these cockroach-like foes, she had to use her entire body, not just her staff.
The mind’s eye was a given.
Sun Woo-jin’s foresight was truly remarkable.
He had predicted the Bloodclaw Assassins’ attack and prepared her accordingly.
She might have admired him all along—if only he hadn’t slipped away alone.
A day earlier, when Sun Woo-jin had spent time teaching her those three skills, he had suddenly looked off into the distance, smiled faintly, and said,
“Good luck, Jin Sojeo.”
“…Yes?”
At that moment, the Bloodclaw Assassins had launched their assault.
Screeeech!
Whirrr!
Jin So-eun had frantically blocked the flying knives and struck down the charging assassins.
Then she realized—
Sun Woo-jin was nowhere to be seen.
He had vanished without a trace.
Jin So-eun was shocked.
“He left me behind and escaped alone?”
But she wanted to believe in him.
So for another two hours, she clung to hope, refusing to accept it.
Yet, when the number of assassins she had killed reached triple digits, she had no choice but to admit the truth.
She had been abandoned.
“Sun Woo-jiiiin!”
Grinding her teeth in fury, Jin So-eun’s eyes blazed as she charged once more at the oncoming assassins.
Her staff spun wildly like a dragon’s whirlwind.
Meanwhile, at the mouth of a cave halfway up the mountain overlooking Jin So-eun’s location, an elderly man with white hair stood silently.
Frowning, he quietly asked,
“Is it true there were seven who used the Jidun technique?”
From behind him, a figure clad in black with a masked face appeared like a ghost, kneeling and answering,
“Until just a moment ago, eighteen were preparing.”
The old man’s expression hardened as he asked again,
“Is that so? Then why are there only seven now?”
The masked subordinate bowed even lower and replied,
“I-I’m sorry, but…”
The white-haired man with a clear, sharp gaze—Bloodclaw’s leader, Bloodclaw Gaek Makjonggi—muttered to himself,
“When we launched the attack, that Inparang disappeared from the scene immediately. Only that girl from the Jin family, Jin So-eun, remained. At first, it seemed she would die quickly, but she’s grown stronger and has withstood our elite forces’ attacks for over a day now. And strangely, the scale of our prepared attacks has been reduced. What do you think this means?”
After a moment’s thought, the subordinate answered,
“It seems that Jin So-eun is growing stronger because of our attacks.”
That was undeniable.
But Makjonggi shook his head at the answer.
“Only half right. More precisely, it seems that Inparang is the one helping Jin So-eun grow—using us, adjusting the intensity of our attacks when they become too much.”
“Eh?!”
The subordinate was startled, lifting his head.
Makjonggi’s words implied they were completely at Inparang’s mercy.
But he quickly dismissed the thought internally.
Even if Inparang was a rare prodigy, the idea that he could manipulate the world’s greatest assassin group’s attacks so precisely was an overreach.
Cautiously, the subordinate challenged Makjonggi’s claim.
“But, Leader, Inparang is still just in his twenties, a mere novice. He’s neither one of the Fifteen Absolutes nor one of the Thirty-Six Stars of the World. Is it really possible for him to do that?”
Makjonggi said nothing in response.
She was already muttering to herself as if her conclusion were a foregone certainty.
“None of the assassins out in the field have found a trace of him. It must mean his stealth skills far surpass ours. Maybe, just maybe, his stealth is on par with Amhyeolhyang.”
Hearing that, her subordinate grew even more bewildered.
The name Amhyeolhyang held immense significance among the assassins of Hyeolwoolyeon—it was the only assassin among the Thirty-Six Stars of the world.
Hyeolwoolyeon was indisputably the greatest assassin organization in existence.
Yet, despite their status, they had long been haunted by the inferiority complex of never having produced an assassin who could truly rival Amhyeolhyang.
To them, Amhyeolhyang was always the ultimate goal.
Every assassin in Hyeolwoolyeon aimed to surpass Amhyeolhyang, and so they had relentlessly trained toward that end.
But now, the leader of Hyeolwoolyeon, Mak Jonggi, was saying that Inparang’s stealth might be on Amhyeolhyang’s level.
Inparang—a mere rookie in his twenties.
For the assassins of Hyeolwoolyeon, this was an almost unbearable notion.
But whether they accepted it or not didn’t really matter.
After all, the decision was Mak Jonggi’s alone.
Finally, Mak Jonggi turned to his subordinate and said, “You have permission to use the Thunder Bombs. And… prepare the Three Elders.”
His subordinate swallowed hard and asked hesitantly, “The Three Elders, sir?”
The Hyeolwoolyeon’s Three Elders.
They were the organization’s top masters, whom Mak Jonggi had long prepared to capture Amhyeolhyang.
Each was a supreme expert: Ilno Chakwhaseup, a master of stealth; Inno Gokmusang, a master of hidden techniques; and Samno Nusanthu, a master of poison arts.
But the crucial point wasn’t just their mastery.
What truly mattered was that even after reaching the pinnacle, each had devoted themselves exclusively to honing their own specialty.
They had all trained relentlessly with the singular goal of surpassing Amhyeolhyang in their respective fields.
Now, each could confidently claim to be superior to Amhyeolhyang in their own domain.
So Mak Jonggi was saying he would deploy these strongest assassins of Hyeolwoolyeon to capture a single Inparang.
His subordinate, shocked, asked again.
“If he’s truly on Amhyeolhyang’s level, then we just need to prepare the blade that can catch Amhyeolhyang. Don’t you think?”
At those words, the subordinate finally bowed his head.
He couldn’t agree that Inparang was on Amhyeolhyang’s level, but he couldn’t just stand by and let Jin So-eun keep growing stronger.
“Understood! I will relay your orders to the Three Elders immediately!”
Screeeech! Whirrrrr!
Jin So-eun swung her staff, deflecting the endless barrage of hidden weapons.
Vroooom! Ttttttt!
After a brief pause in the enemy’s assault, she charged forward.
Vroooom! Thwack! Thwack!
Around her, bodies with shattered skulls collapsed.
They would be replenished soon enough, but she had to keep thinning their numbers.
Jin So-eun moved mechanically, her mind numb—uncertain if this was reality or a dream.
Then, something different began flying toward her.
Screeeech!
Small, black, spherical objects—like tiny orbs.
But to Jin So-eun’s eyes, the difference was indistinguishable.
She raised her staff to deflect them as she had with the others.
Suddenly, a voice rang in her ear.
“Don’t break those, young lady! Get away from them!”
Her senses snapped awake.
She hastily activated her Three Ring Protection and distanced herself from the objects.
Whoosh!
At that moment, the black spheres struck the ground and exploded.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Though the explosions weren’t massive, had she struck them with her staff, she would have been caught in the blast.
It was like a bucket of cold water poured over her head—her mind cleared instantly.
‘…Gunpowder?!’
She had learned a bit about gunpowder and cannons recently, after Jin Gajang was bombarded by artillery.
She’d thought gunpowder was only used for cannonballs, but apparently, it could be thrown in small amounts like this.
There was no time to analyze further.
More black spheres were flying at her, mixed with hidden weapons.
Screeeech!
“Damn!”
Jin So-eun panicked.
She couldn’t block these.
If she tried to spin her staff to deflect the hidden weapons as before, she’d trigger the bombs and be caught in the explosion.
“Ugh!”
Clenching her teeth, she threw her body with all her might, trying to dodge the bombs and weapons.
Smack!
Thanks to her diligent training with the Three Ring Protection, her skills had improved dramatically.
She quickly moved out of the blast radius as explosions erupted behind her.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Ugh…”
She was exhausted.
Before, she only had to spin her staff in place, but now she had to run with all her strength.
It was almost miraculous she still had the stamina.
“Hah! Hah! Hah!”
But she couldn’t keep this up forever.
If this continued, she’d collapse soon enough.
While dodging the relentless bombs and hidden weapons, she suddenly raised her staff toward a bomb flying along her path.
Thunk!
But the bomb didn’t explode.
Her staff gently pushed it backward, as if cradling a soft pillow.
It was an astonishing result, achieved through the natural softness of her living weapon combined with the energy she channeled.
“Got it!”
Having successfully caught the bomb, Jin So-eun turned to the assassin who had thrown it.
It was time for payback.
“Hah!”
Vroooom!
She swung her staff powerfully, sending the bomb flying back at the assassin.
It flew faster than when it had come at her.
Boom!
“Arrgh!”
It hit its mark.
The impact was so strong that even the usually silent Hyeolwoolyeon assassins couldn’t help but scream.
Jin So-eun leapt forward, shouting, “How do you like that?!”
It wasn’t perfect, but she’d found another solution.
If she could throw the enemy’s bombs back at them at the right moment, she could whittle down their numbers faster.
Feeling a bit of breathing room, a thought about the voice that had warned her earlier suddenly came to mind.
‘Now that I think about it, that voice was definitely…’
At that moment—
The ground suddenly surged up ahead of her as she ran.
Whoosh!
“!”
Jin So-eun froze in shock.
A massive iron net had burst from the earth.
As it fully unfurled, it blotted out the sky, descending to trap her.
And between the iron mesh, she spotted black spheres attached—bombs.
They’d rigged the net with explosives.
If she tried to sweep it away with her staff, the bombs would detonate right before her eyes.
At that moment, the surrounding assassins unleashed a hail of hidden weapons.
Screeeech! Whirrrrr!
Hidden weapons flew from all directions, while the iron net stretched across the front and above.
This time, there was nowhere left to dodge.
It was the end.