Chapter 66

Yuwon slowly appreciated the scene he had created himself.

‘…Rain of a Thousand Blossoms. To compare it to its name—flower rain filling the entire sky—I still had a long way to go. To think that a mere 128 was my limit.’

The Rain of a Thousand Blossoms, a secret technique of the Sichuan Tang Clan that was said to have been lost.

Had someone from the clan witnessed it, they would have collapsed in shock, but the very person who had unleashed it—Yuwon—felt only regret at his own inadequacy.

‘And to think I pulled out throwing daggers for something this minor. I thought I had gotten quite strong, but I still have a long way to go.’

Though it had looked as if Yuwon had won easily, the individual skills of the assassins were by no means trivial.

Had Yuwon stubbornly insisted on fighting them to the end with only the White Dragon Sword, the battle would not have flowed this one-sidedly.

“Whew… but still, keeping them alive is harder than killing them.”

At his feet lay No. 1 and No. 2, side by side.

The way the two men were stiffened in awkward postures—like frozen fish—was almost comical.

In truth, not a single one of the countless throwing daggers that Yuwon had unleashed with Rain of a Thousand Blossoms had struck their bodies.

It wasn’t that they missed; he had never intended to hit them in the first place.

The Rain of a Thousand Blossoms Yuwon unleashed had brushed past the edges of their clothes with hair-thin precision.

Thus No. 1 and No. 2 survived not by their own will, but by his. While the two, thinking they would undoubtedly die, squeezed their eyes shut in anticipation of death, Yuwon suppressed them just as they were.

Having had their Aphonia Point and Paralysis Point struck, the two men could neither speak nor move.

Unable to understand why their bodies were like this, they only blinked in disbelief.

“Why isn’t this ‘person’ you two mentioned coming?”

“…”

With their Aphonia Point sealed, of course they could give no answer. He hadn’t asked expecting one anyway.

“Well, we’ve got plenty of time now. We’ll figure it out slowly.”

Yuwon hoisted the two men up, slinging one over each shoulder.

The expert those assassins had been waiting for weighed on his mind, but he had no luxury to be distracted by an enemy that wasn’t even showing up yet.

‘More importantly, I need to help my allies first.’

Having perfectly subdued the assassins, Yuwon headed toward the place where he was needed.

Flutter—

His tightly bound long hair fluttered beneath the night sky. Yuwon headed for the battlefield.

Tak—

Running along the tall ramparts to take a shortcut, Yuwon reached his destination quickly.

On the outer rampart that held the locked gates, a fierce battle was underway.

“Count Valaris!”

“Your Highness! When I couldn’t see you, I feared something might have—huh, are those… people…?”

The Count, who had just welcomed him, belatedly noticed No. 1 and No. 2 slung like luggage over Yuwon’s shoulders.

“As you can see, I had a bit of an issue and couldn’t avoid stepping away. I’ve already subdued them, so they won’t be moving for a while. Could I leave these ones in your care?”

“Ah, ah. Of course. I’ll have someone guard them.”

Count Valaris—who trusted Yuwon completely by now—readily accepted the request.

“Thank you. That lightens my load. What’s the situation on the front?”

At Yuwon’s question, the Count made a troubled expression.

“Our troops are holding off the beasts without sustaining major losses. However, the problem is that even when we kill them, they keep coming endlessly. At this rate, our forces will collapse from exhaustion long before we can slaughter all those fiends.”

“Hmm… the situation isn’t great.”

“No. I’ve protected the South all my life, but for a battle this large to break out without any warning… this is a first. Something is definitely strange. This battle…”

Yuwon also had something to say about that. As soon as the disturbance began, he had been forced to face four top-class assassins in a row.

He too sensed that this entire sequence of events was far from ordinary. However, Yuwon held back his words.

“I’ve also thought something smelled rotten. But now doesn’t seem the best time to discuss it.”

Yuwon’s confident tone—and the two prisoners he had brought back—made the Count instinctively realize that Yuwon had gone through something significant while gone.

Understanding Yuwon’s intention, the Count nodded.

“Yes, we should take care of this front first.”

“Is there anything specific I should help with?”

“No, we’re all right. Fortunately, there’s no point that’s been breached yet. Rather, I think you should head to where your subordinates have been eagerly awaiting Your Highness. It would greatly boost their strength.”

Yuwon gave a faint smile. Faces came to mind at the Count’s words.

“Understood. Then let’s continue that earlier conversation after the battle.”

“Yes, of course. I’ll see you then.”

The two who had once spoken sincerely through their swords needed no further words.

Yuwon headed toward the ones waiting for him, while the Count remained where he was needed.

Yuwon formally joined the battlefield.

“Where the hell has that bastard Yurion gone! He acted all cool on his own, then disappears without a word at a time like this?”

Third Prince Bernid, who was taking charge of a portion of the defense in Yuwon’s stead, grumbled irritably.

Terrien had temporarily moved away to escort the wounded, so there was no one to mind his complaining.

“Oh, really?”

“Waugh—!”

Yuwon appeared right beside the Third Prince without a sound, startling Bernid.

Perhaps because he had something to feel guilty about, Bernid practically jumped out of his skin.

“The battle is raging, and you’re wasting time badmouthing me? Save that strength and kill at least one more enemy.”

“You, you… when did you get here?”

“I probably heard everything you said about me.”

“Damn… speak of a tiger and he appears. So where were you and what were you doing?”

“I had some business to take care of.”

At Yuwon’s vague answer, the Third Prince asked in a subtly probing tone.

“…Interferers?”

The quick-witted Third Prince sensed that Yuwon hadn’t left his position for no reason.

Yuwon shrugged, as if it were nothing serious.

“Well, it’s always the same. Anyway, I’ll join in right away, so take command for a few minutes and rotate the exhausted soldiers out for rest.”

“Me? You should take command since you’re here. They’ll follow your orders better than mine. Can’t you see them already getting all worked up now that you’ve shown up?”

Bernid wasn’t just saying it.

Even Yuwon saw that the defensive troops—who had seemed briefly exhausted—were now gritting their teeth again, strengthened simply by his arrival.

“No, you do it. You’ve been doing well without me this whole time, so if I jump in late without knowing the flow of the battle, it’ll only cause confusion.”

“Fine, got it. But you better not complain later when all the credit goes to me.”

“Haha. Will that really happen?”

“Ridiculous.”

Yuwon stopped bickering with the Third Prince.

Instead, he leapt over the rampart with his own two feet.

“W–wait! What are you doing!”

Bernid, startled by Yuwon’s sudden action, couldn’t stop him in time.

Yuwon jumped down from the tall rampart as if it were nothing and landed lightly below.

Tak—

Yuwon appeared suddenly, dropping from the sky.

The monsters, enraged after being blocked by the rampart, redirected their aimless hatred toward Yuwon.

Krrrraaa—!

They bared their yellow teeth and blue claws toward him.

“Come. I’ll face you all myself.”

Srrrng—

The white blade slid from its sheath and shone.

The battle against the monsters had already passed two hours—an entirely different kind of two hours than usual.

On a battlefield where lives vanished every second, two hours weighed far heavier.

Slash—! Splurt!

The White Dragon Sword sliced the neck of an orc and then severed the upper body of the werewolf behind it.

The headless orc collapsed, blood gushing from its throat, while the werewolf—still conscious despite losing its upper body—thrashed in agony.

Thud—!

Yuwon drove the White Dragon Sword into the werewolf’s skull to relieve its suffering.

“Whew… No matter how many I kill, there’s no end.”

After a violent dance of blades, Yuwon caught his breath. When he had first descended from the rampart, the monsters had rushed to tear him apart.

Now, none dared approach within five meters of him. They avoided him, forcing Yuwon to move actively to reduce their numbers.

His performance was dazzling—one man worth a hundred, no, a thousand. Yet despite his feats, the monsters didn’t show the slightest sign of decreasing.

After long hours of combat, the piled monster corpses filled the moat and formed a gentle slope that reached up the rampart like steps.

‘How many more hours can we last…?’

With the enemy forces endlessly pouring in, the battle only dragged on, and even the previously negligible allied casualties were now accumulating, like clothes slowly soaked by drizzle.

‘My side is still manageable, but the other areas are starting to get pushed back.’

They needed a powerful strike to end this war of attrition.

‘Seeing all these monsters randomly mixed together, there must be a strong leader controlling them. Otherwise it makes no sense for such a chaotic horde to target only humans.’

Then—

Hup…!

A powerful sensation, like electricity crawling down his nape, jolted Yuwon’s intuition.

In the midst of cutting down monsters, he snapped his eyes toward the source of that presence.

‘What is this…!’

Something he had never felt before. His intuition had detected something for certain—but unlike before, it wasn’t warning him of impending danger.

Somewhere far away, something radiating a fierce aura was stimulating his senses.

That sensation awakened Yuwon’s competitive spirit and battle instinct buried in his black heart.

His black heart pounded, pumping blood rapidly through his body.

The internal energy he had been deliberately restraining surged up from his dantian and flowed through every meridian.

Even before he consciously prepared, his body readied itself for combat.

The internal energy that filled his body seeped into each fiber of muscle, ready to explode and annihilate the enemy.

Yuwon understood instinctively.

‘The one calling me—that’s the leader. That thing… that’s it…!’

A being that emitted such an intense presence could only be the leader that had brought this monster army.

The feeling was closer to allure than threat. Something far away was calling out to him.

‘Fine. That’s exactly what I wanted.’

There was no reason to avoid it. Yuwon too had been waiting for an opportunity to end this war.

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