Chapter 379
Episode 116: How Runkandel Deals with Assassins (Part 1)
“I never imagined the Ghost Division’s assassins would find me this quickly.”
He thought his movements hadn’t been tracked.
Until just moments ago, he’d been with Yona, and when he visited the Wantaramo Forest, he was disguised alongside Valeria.
Especially with Yona nearby, it was impossible for assassins to be tailing him.
“Did they come looking for me right after Yona left? It’s been less than two hours. How on earth did they figure out my route in such a short time?”
He had no clue.
It was too thorough to be mere coincidence. The entire first-class cabin was suspected to be filled with assassins in disguise.
“Well, how they tracked me… I’ll find out after wiping them out.”
Besides, he was already in a foul mood after being subjected to that so-called training disguised as a game.
“My body’s not in great shape, but the killing intent Yona left behind should help in battle.”
Feeling a ‘foreignness’ to ordinary killing intent.
If Yona’s killing intent was a blank white canvas, then ordinary killing intent was like a splash of colorful paint.
That alone acted like a kind of filter. No matter which direction an attack came from, the aura clinging to the blade allowed him to react almost instinctively.
Even just opening his eyes, distinguishing the colors on the canvas was easy.
That’s why, despite being utterly exhausted, he still had confidence. He was fighting with an advantage that offset his handicap.
Sigh.
The guide looked around awkwardly and sighed.
“Sir, I’m sorry, but are you carrying any narcotics or similar substances? We need to check briefly, so please cooperate.”
The guide reached out toward Jin.
In that instant, Jin, still seated, threw a punch. Crack! The guide’s finger bones snapped one after another with a brutal crunch, and before he could scream, Jin’s hand sliced across his neck.
It wasn’t metal. Even though it was a blade made of flesh and bone, the cut was clean and precise. Jin had long surpassed the level where his entire body could be wielded like a sword.
Screeeek!
The blade, stained with aura, left a shining trail.
Blood should have sprayed along that path, but the guide’s neck slumped like a puppet with its strings cut—no blood burst forth.
His insides were almost hollow. Though some parts resembled human anatomy, the guide was a ‘mask’—made from human and beast materials.
That explained the familiar sensation when Jin broke his fingers.
“Oh my, look at how tough you are. What would you have done if I were a real guide?”
The young woman wearing the guide’s mask spoke.
She had already put some distance between them and the cabin entrance, holding two short swords in her hands.
At the same time, the sharp sound of blades sliding from their sheaths echoed from all directions. The assassins disguised as passengers were drawing their weapons.
“Only the highest administrator of the transit gate can ask a first-class passenger about narcotics. You’ve got some studying to do.”
Jin seemed to recognize her.
“Fay Prochi.”
The Prochi family.
Originally a humble farming household, they rose to notorious infamy about a hundred years ago thanks to a man named Smarion Prochi.
Despite his peasant blood, Smarion showed a penchant for murder from a young age. He killed his own parents first, then countless others.
Eventually, he toppled Seigalga, who had ruled the Ghost Division for centuries, and made the Prochi name infamous.
Before dying, Smarion left two children: Rata Prochi, the current head of the Ghost Division, and his younger brother, Fay Prochi.
Like their father, they were born with the fate of murderers.
In just one generation, a farming family had transformed into a clan of killers, earning the trio the nickname “The Devils of Prochi.”
“You recognize me right away? Yes, the twelfth generation of Runkandel’s rumors. No grudge, but you’ll have to die here.”
Jin calmly studied the colorful killing intent clinging to the white canvas. Ten assassins in total, including Fay Prochi, all extremely well-trained.
They were undoubtedly formidable.
But they failed to impress him. Until two hours ago, Jin had been accompanied by a living embodiment of self-sacrifice.
“If you want to do that, I suggest bringing more people.”
Fay nodded as if Jin’s provocation didn’t bother her.
“I hope that confidence lasts even as your body is torn apart.”
Fshhh…!
As Fay finished speaking, the cabin filled with a red smoke.
A poisonous gas that caused hallucinations and nerve paralysis. Its lethality wasn’t high, but it could incapacitate even the most trained warriors in an instant—a hallmark of the Ghost Division.
“Hah!”
Before the gas fully filled the cabin, Jin took a deep breath and drew his sword.
Then he charged at the cabin entrance where Fay stood blocking the way, but she smiled beneath her mask as if this was the end.
Clang!
Fay easily parried Jin’s desperate strike. Meanwhile, the other nine assassins closed in, making escape impossible.
Jin’s face flushed red and blue from the clash, despair creeping in. Cold sweat dripped as the assassins steadily closed the distance.
They were waiting for him to succumb to the poison.
“Ugh…!”
Jin staggered slightly.
The assassins’ blades drew nearer.
Thud!
“Huff, huff… I—I demand negotiations.”
Finally, Jin dropped to one knee and barely spoke. Fay’s eyes turned cold.
“I wonder where that bold spirit went.”
She looked disappointed—or perhaps she’d expected this. Fay Prochi had seen countless proud warriors reduced to begging.
“Negotiations…”
“We’ll retrieve the body and leave. That’s final.”
Fay turned away and gave the order. The assassins lunged simultaneously.
At that moment, Jin collapsed completely, even dropping his sword, Bradamante.
Stabbing a downed opponent’s back required little caution.
And from the moment the poison filled the air…
Jin had been waiting for this moment.
For the assassins to lose caution and let their guard down.
“They must have taken antidotes beforehand, but they want to finish me off and get out of this poison as quickly as possible.”
Mantokju.
A secret elixir from Samil that grants near-immunity to poison.
The Ghost Division didn’t have it. So when they used deadly poison, they had to accept some damage themselves.
In other words, the Ghost Division’s use of poison was a declaration: even if it harms us, we will kill Jin for sure.
That’s why Fay’s nerves were on edge when Jin suddenly showed weakness.
Thrust, thrust, thrust!
Blades began piercing relentlessly.
But the assassins’ swords weren’t striking Jin—they were stabbing the floor beneath him.
Jin lay face down, unable to see the direction of the incoming blades.
Even with his awakened mind’s eye, dodging all those blades in such a state would be difficult for the usual Jin. Especially with this level of exhaustion.
But reading the alien killing intent, different from Yona’s, made all the difference.
Jin felt confident he could dodge every blade even with his eyes closed.
“Gah!”
Just as Fay turned back toward Jin, one assassin’s neck snapped with a deathly scream.
Her eyes widened in shock.
“What…!?”
Could it be that Jin Runkandel had been putting on a show all along?
She realized instantly: whether he carried Mantokju or was naturally immune like Kuzan, Jin was impervious to the poison and had been faking it.
But no matter how fast she realized it, it was too late.
Another subordinate’s body split in two, and through the gap, Jin’s aura-stained blade swung like a demon.
Screeeech!
Crimson blood sprayed in a wide arc.
“This is why the Ghost Division is considered inferior to the Nameless. Poison? You really thought you could assassinate Runkandel with that?”
Jin spat venom and briefly locked eyes with Fay.
In that fleeting moment, Fay felt a crushing sense of defeat unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her 25 years.
“Kill him!”
Fay shouted as she charged.
Three assassins had already fallen, but with seven against one, they still believed they could overpower Jin by sheer force.
That was their judgment.
Fay, who had gotten behind Jin, thrust her twin swords in, expecting to pierce his body and end his life.
Clang!
But her blades bounced off with a hollow sound.
Spirit armor.
The Ghost Division didn’t know about Mantokju alone. They were also unaware of Bradamante’s recently completed spirit armor.
“Damn it!”
Fay gritted her teeth.
The reason she had so easily gotten behind Jin was thanks to the assassins distracting him up front.
Two of the seven were locked in a desperate struggle against Jin, trying to force an opening.
If only Fei’s blade had pierced Jin’s back cleanly, their heads wouldn’t have rolled to the ground.
Thud, thud. Two heads dropped carelessly, tumbling across the floor. Left standing were Fei and five assassins, their chests tightening with a sudden, suffocating pressure.
A strange fear was gripping them.
Even though they still believed they held the advantage.
But that confidence wouldn’t last long.
“Fei Prochi, you had two chances. When you disguised yourself as the guide, and when I personally warned you that you’d need more people to kill me. If you’d backed down then, none of this would have happened. What a shame.”
“Your sarcasm is as sharp as the rumors say. I admit I was careless, but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re going to die.”
“If I were you, I’d run now. Seems like this is your third chance.”
“Shut up!”
Fei and the assassins’ blades flared with a deadly, icy aura. It was the unmistakable mark of a kill-or-be-killed resolve—an unyielding will to end their opponent, no matter the cost.
“Unfortunately for you.”
Whoooosh!
Bradamante was enveloped in a deeper, darker spiritual energy. Over the blade soaked in this energy, the thunderous power of the Mingwang clan—the oppressive force of Pyeongsik—was layered on.
From within the blade, a heavy, blue flame of pressure ignited.
The fusion of spiritual energy, thunder power, and the azure flame radiated a deep, ominous aura.
“Looks like you’re about to waste your last chance.”