Chapter 79
Shadow-Slaying Squad (3)
News that the formation had activated quickly reached the Azure Sky Sword Unit guarding the main residence.
Realizing an intruder had appeared, the unit began to move in haste.
“Third and Fourth Teams, secure the direct bloodline family members in the rear garden! The rest, follow me!”
Traditionally, the leader of the Azure Sky Sword Unit was the young lord of the clan.
But the current young lord, Namgung Mugang, had yet to show himself even amidst this chaos, so Deputy Leader Namgung Yul issued the commands instead.
“Hurry!”
Namgung Yul planned to eliminate the assassins while they were still trapped by the formation.
But just as they were about to arrive—
“Tch!”
The core of the formation broke, releasing the assassins from its hold.
Now the two sides were facing each other at a distance of only ten or so paces.
“Scatter!”
“Don’t let them escape!”
The voices of the Blood-Stained One and Namgung Yul rang out simultaneously.
The assassins scattered deeper into the inner compound, and the sword-unit warriors released sword-qi to prevent their escape.
Clang!
But the assassins blocked the incoming sword-qi with the aura they released from their short daggers.
‘These aren’t ordinary killers…’
Namgung Yul realized that the Shadow-Slaying Squad was far more dangerous than common assassins.
Meanwhile, the Blood-Stained One and the assassins avoided engagement and retreated deeper, fleeing from the Azure Sky Sword Unit.
But they were not fleeing blindly.
“In the name of the Assassins’ Veil and the Shadow-Slaying Squad, we will complete the mission.”
Even after being exposed due to the unexpected formation, they refused to abandon their task.
While scattering to reach their targets, some chose to act as decoys to lure away pursuers.
The inner compound quickly turned into a battlefield, with chases and clashes exploding everywhere.
Amidst this chaos, Jegal Rin and Namgung Hwarin reached the archive building.
“Please wait a moment.”
Leaving Hwarin to guard the entrance with her sword drawn, Jegal Rin entered the archive.
Inside, she gathered the important documents she needed.
Just as she was about to leave with an armful of papers—moonlight coming through the window flickered for a moment.
“….”
Jegal Rin instantly sensed that someone else was inside.
She silently lifted her heels, moving without sound toward the entrance where Hwarin waited.
Scratch—
A faint presence moved toward her.
The intruder had sensed her as well.
Moments later, between the bookshelves, Jegal Rin spotted a dark silhouette—an assassin holding a dull-gloss, lightless short sabre.
‘About fifteen steps to the entrance. Even sprinting, I won’t reach it in time.’
Even now, she calmly analyzed the situation.
And she found her solution.
Clatter!
Jegal Rin shoved over the bookshelf beside her.
It crashed into the one across from it, setting off a chain collapse.
With the assassin blocked, she did not flee blindly; instead, she predicted what he would do next.
‘With high probability, he’ll leap over the toppled shelves to strike from above.’
She raised her head—and as expected, the assassin leapt over the fallen shelves, descending upon her.
Still clutching the documents, Jegal Rin executed an elegant evasive footwork technique.
It was Heaven’s Enigmatic Shifting Steps, a movement art passed only to direct descendants of the Jegal Clan.
Though Jegal Rin lacked great martial aptitude, her mastery of footwork alone was beyond first-rate.
Sshh!
The assassin’s sabre slashed viciously after her again and again.
Yet Jegal Rin, who could calculate several moves ahead, continued to evade.
However, inside the cramped archive, the space to dodge was limited.
Jegal Rin was eventually driven into a corner.
The assassin raised his inverted-grip dagger and stabbed downward.
Splurt!
“Ku—!“
But the one collapsing was not Jegal Rin—it was the assassin.
Standing behind him was Namgung Hwarin.
While standing guard outside, she heard bookshelves falling.
Realizing something was wrong, she rushed inside and arrived just in time to save Jegal Rin.
“….”
But something was off about Hwarin.
Her eyes trembled, and the hands gripping her sword shook as well.
It was her first kill.
“…Thank you.”
Jegal Rin’s voice snapped her out of it.
‘If I hadn’t cut him down… Miss Jegal would’ve died.’
Only then did Hwarin understand why Namgung Paegang had never taken her to the battlefield.
She had lacked the resolve to kill.
But not anymore.
She could kill—if it meant protecting someone.
“Let’s go meet up with the others.”
“Yes.”
The two left the archive.
But they were unaware of one crucial fact.
The Shadow-Slaying Squad always operated in teams of three.
Swoosh!
An ambush from the darkness.
Hwarin barely blocked the sudden incoming strike.
‘I couldn’t sense them at all.’
The assassins melted back into the shadows, preparing another attack.
Shielding Jegal Rin behind her, Hwarin scanned the area.
Swish!
A gust of wind—and multiple throwing knives flew at them.
Hwarin spun her body, unleashing Azure Sky Limitless Sword Arts, deflecting the knives.
‘Fighting here is too disadvantageous…’
She glanced backward and sent a sound transmission to Jegal Rin.
—I’ll hold them off. Run to the rear garden. The Azure Sky Sword Unit should be there.
—…Alright.
Jegal Rin knew she would only hold Hwarin back now.
Feeling guilty, she accepted.
—I’ll send help as soon as possible.
—Thank you.
Though both were renowned as the Four Blossoms, they had always been distant.
In the past, it was because Jegal Rin was awkward with people.
But now their estrangement was due to one man—Namgung Hyuk, who stood between them.
Yet in crisis, the two women stood together.
“HAAH!”
Namgung Hwarin unleashed her inner energy, scattering sword-qi in all directions to give Jegal Rin a chance to escape.
The assassins, forced to reveal themselves, flickered into sight.
Tap!
Hwarin seized the moment and struck at them directly.
—Go!
Jegal Rin sprinted without looking back.
One assassin tried to go after her, but Hwarin blocked him with her sword.
Whirr!
Her Limitless Sword Arts were a serious threat even to the Shadow-Slaying Squad.
While Hwarin bought time, Jegal Rin fled toward the rear garden, hoping desperately to meet the sword-unit.
Namgung Hwarin Alone
Facing two assassins, she continued to pour out sword strikes, trying to hold them back until help arrived.
But with no real battlefield experience, their movements soon overwhelmed her.
“Haa… haa…”
One assassin, circling around her, threw a dagger.
She deflected it—but lost sight of the other.
‘Behind?’
She sensed killing intent behind her and swung back—
Clang!
She blocked—but the assassin’s eyes flashed.
With his free hand, he stabbed a dagger into her abdomen.
“Ugh!”
Pain tore through her as her face contorted.
Even so, her sword lashed out with fierce determination.
Slash!
The assassin, unable to dodge, was cut across the chest and dropped.
Hwarin gasped and pulled the dagger from her wound.
‘This much… is nothing.’
Gritting her teeth, she steadied her grip.
Only one assassin remained.
If she could defeat him, she could win.
But—
Her vision swayed.
‘Poison…?’
Her limbs numbed, her mind blurred.
Swoosh!
The remaining assassin lunged.
Clang!
Even with failing strength, Hwarin blocked with desperate, almost supernatural reflexes.
Her inner energy was almost gone.
But she refused to drop her sword.
‘I am a swordswoman of the Namgung Clan.’
Even if she died here, she would die fighting.
Drawing out the last of her strength, she shifted her stance, unleashing a pressure beyond her usual level.
‘A bluff.’
The assassin judged.
Determined to finish her, he infused his dagger with qi and attacked again.
But he was wrong.
Boom.
Hwarin stomped hard, executing Heaven-Blunting Crushing Pressure, the first form of the Emperor’s Unrivaled Thunder Sword.
A heavy sword-pressure burst forth, crushing the air around them.
“Gugh!”
The assassin, mid-strike, was smashed into the ground by the overwhelming sword-pressure.
‘I… actually did it…’
Hwarin smiled faintly.
If she were going to die anyway, she had wanted to perform the technique Namgung Hyuk taught her—just once.
She never expected it to succeed this well.
“Kh…”
But the assassin began to rise again as the pressure faded.
Slice.
Before he could get up, Hwarin cut him down.
Then she collapsed.
The poison and the drain of performing the technique had completely exhausted her.
‘This is my limit…’
She wondered if Jegal Rin had reached safety.
Even now, she worried for her companion.
Raising her head weakly, Hwarin looked around—
“…Ha.”
A hollow laugh escaped her.
Six more assassins had surrounded her.
At that moment, Namgung Hyuk’s face came to her mind.
‘We had finally begun to return to how we used to be…’
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
If only she could have seen him one more time.
Her strength gone, her eyes dimmed.
Footsteps approached—quiet, predatory.
Hwarin closed her eyes.
‘Goodbye… everyone…’
She offered her final farewell in her heart.
Swoosh!
A slicing sound cut through the air.
But—
The pain never came.
Hwarin slowly opened her eyes.
‘Who…?’
Through her blurred vision, she saw the assassins who’d charged at her collapsing in fountains of blood.
And in front of her—blocking all harm—
stood the back of a familiar man.
Her eyes widened.
“H-Hyuk… Orabeoni?”
At the brink of death—
the one who saved Namgung Hwarin was none other than Namgung Hyuk.
