Chapter 255

Black Tiger ran his gaunt fingers along the wall.

His fingers, as emaciated as his face, looked like mere bones wrapped in skin.

Most people didn’t know that these thin fingers, which looked as if they would snap with the slightest pressure, were in fact Ghost Hands that could easily take a person’s life.

The only ones who knew this fact were those who worked in the same industry.

What Black Tiger was looking for was the Code Language left behind by Amgwi.

Since the day before yesterday, Amgwi’s whereabouts had been unknown.

Black Tiger had hoped all night for Amgwi to return, but he never did.

Normally, they operated independently, but when carrying out a joint mission like this, a subordinate had to absolutely follow the orders of their superior.

Naturally, Amgwi also followed Black Tiger’s orders absolutely.

For such an Amgwi not to return was not something that could be easily dismissed.

‘Could it be that Hong Ye-seol got him?’

Of course, that was a possibility.

Hong Ye-seol, upon discovering she was being tailed, might have punished Amgwi. But she wouldn’t have killed him.

The laws of the Hundred Wraith Union were extremely strict, and they absolutely did not tolerate the taking of a fellow Hundred Wraith Union Assassin’s life without a just cause.

Even the Ten Blood Assassins were no exception.

The same went for Hong Ye-seol.

Even if she had realized Amgwi was tailing her, taking his life would have been a great burden for her as well.

‘If not Hong Ye-seol…’

There was only one person left.

‘Pyo Wol! Could he have been taken down by that man?’

Black Tiger’s expression contorted on its own.

He was the only suspect that came to mind right now.

If Amgwi had truly been taken down by Pyo Wol, the problem was serious.

‘Even if he was killed by him, he wouldn’t have gone down so helplessly.’

It was an instinct carved into their very bones to leave behind evidence about their opponent in any situation.

If he had any strength left to escape, he would have desperately fled here and left a Code Language. But no matter how much he looked, there was no Code Language left by Amgwi on the wall.

No, there were some. But those were left before he had made contact with Black Tiger.

After examining the wall for a while, Black Tiger suddenly noticed a place that had been erased. Other places were fine, but one particular spot was smudged as if something had been rubbed over it.

Black Tiger focused his Eye Power and examined the erased spot closely. But no matter how much he strained his eyes, he couldn’t tell what had been written in the erased area.

‘What is this? Did Amgwi leave it?’

Black Tiger touched the smudged area with his finger.

If one gathered Internal Power in their fingertips and rubbed, it would likely leave a mark just like this.

In that moment, a chill ran down Black Tiger’s spine.

The worst-case scenario had come to mind.

‘What if Amgwi was really taken down by him here?’

Just imagining it was horrifying.

Black Tiger hastily looked around. Then, he discovered bloodstains in various places that seemed to have been splattered recently.

The blood had dried, but it hadn’t turned black, which meant it had clearly been splattered within the last day or two.

It wasn’t an amount of blood that would come from killing just one Amgwi.

This amount of blood would only be left if at least ten or more people had bled.

Creeak!

Just then, the gate of a nearby mansion opened, and a man who appeared to be a servant came out.

Black Tiger quickly approached him and asked.

“Did something happen here yesterday or the day before?”

“Wh-why do you ask?”

Instead of explaining, Black Tiger pressed a Flying Dagger to the man’s throat.

“Just answer.”

“Huk! Th-the day before yesterday, at night, the Martial Artists of the Golden Mountain Manor were all massacred here.”

“The Golden Mountain Manor?”

“Yes! More than ten people died under that wall, and the Golden Mountain Manor Martial Artists came in a swarm to collect the bodies.”

“Is that true?”

“It is. There’s no one living around here who doesn’t know about it.”

The man answered, his face pale.

He was an ordinary person.

He wasn’t brave enough to lie with a Flying Dagger at his throat. He relayed to Black Tiger exactly what the Golden Mountain Manor Martial Artists had said while collecting the bodies.

As soon as the man finished speaking, Black Tiger vanished like a ghost.

He had literally disappeared from before his eyes.

“Heek! A ghost.”

The man scurried back into the mansion.

Black Tiger paid the man no mind and leaped over the Golden Mountain Manor’s wall.

The Golden Mountain Manor was not far from the man’s mansion, so it took only an instant to arrive.

Martial Artists were standing guard all over the Golden Mountain Manor, but none of them spotted Black Tiger.

After briefly looking around the inside of the Golden Mountain Manor, Black Tiger soon found the warehouse where the bodies were temporarily stored.

Two Martial Artists were standing guard in front of the warehouse, but they didn’t notice Black Tiger sneaking inside.

Inside the warehouse were a dozen or so bodies wrapped in straw mats.

They were all the Martial Artists who had been escorting Geum Siyeon.

The Martial Artists’ faces were all stained with blood, making it difficult to recognize their original appearances. Furthermore, decomposition had begun, and their faces were swollen.

Because of this, even the Golden Mountain Manor couldn’t identify them and had simply stored them in the warehouse for the time being.

Black Tiger examined the faces of the corpses one by one.

The Golden Mountain Manor Martial Artists couldn’t bring themselves to face their comrades’ faces and had glossed over them, but Black Tiger was different.

This level of decay was not a problem.

He carefully examined the facial features of the corpses.

“Umm!”

When he reached the last body, Black Tiger let out a low groan.

It was the most horribly mutilated corpse.

The face was mangled beyond recognition, and the abdomen, in particular, was split open, with all the intestines spilled out and dried. But Black Tiger recognized the body’s identity at a glance.

“Amgwi!”

It was definitely Amgwi’s body.

The missing Amgwi had been found among the bodies of the Golden Mountain Manor Martial Artists.

Black Tiger simply could not understand the current situation.

“What on earth happened? Why is Amgwi’s body with them?”

Amgwi had definitely been moving independently.

There was no reason for him to be with the Golden Mountain Manor Martial Artists. Yet, to be with them meant there had been a point of contact somewhere.

“Wait. If all the Martial Artists who were escorting Geum Siyeon are here, then who carried her into Snow Blade Sword Manor?”

In that instant, goosebumps madly rose all over his body.

The worst-case scenario surfaced in his mind.

“Don’t tell me?”

＊＊＊

Ice Kill’s residence was a small Thatched Hut far from the Steward’s office. One might wonder why there was such a shabby Thatched Hut within Snow Blade Sword Manor, but it was indeed located in a secluded corner.

These houses were where the laborers who built Snow Blade Sword Manor had stayed. After Snow Blade Sword Manor was completed, most were torn down, but a few still remained and were used as lodgings for workers.

Lee Yul had tried to give Ice Kill a better residence, but he had refused.

The reason was that his senses would dull if he stayed in a comfortable place.

In fact, he felt his nerves sharpen and his senses awaken when he was in an uncomfortable place.

In that respect, the Thatched Hut he was currently staying in was just right.

Ice Kill sat cross-legged, tending to his Weapon.

His Weapon was a long spear.

While Assassins usually preferred short weapons, he uniquely favored a long weapon, the spear.

The spear, made of ice crystal found only in the depths of the distant North Sea, was a work of art in itself.

The entire spear shaft was colorless and transparent, making it difficult to distinguish its shape without concentrating one’s Eye Power. In broad daylight, it even had the effect of reflecting sunlight, making it good for disrupting an opponent’s vision.

Ice Kill meticulously polished the spear shaft.

Ice crystal had the property of becoming more transparent the more it was polished. For that reason, it required special care and maintenance at all times.

This series of processes might seem cumbersome, but Ice Kill willingly dedicated his time to caring for his spear.

It was a long time later that a satisfied smile appeared on Ice Kill’s lips. Although the smile was nothing more than a slight upturn of his lips, for Ice Kill, even showing this much emotion was an extremely rare event.

Once he finished tending to the spear, all that remained was a tedious wait.

He had made a contract with Lee Yul and entered Snow Blade Sword Manor.

He thought he would be put on a mission right away, but unexpectedly, he was ordered to stand by.

It seemed there were some complicated circumstances, but he was not told about them. And Ice Kill was not the type to care much about such external factors.

He only thought about and acted on the mission he was assigned, paying no attention to external elements.

‘They’ll call when the time comes.’

Ice Kill thought so and leaned his back against the wall.

The chill from the cold wall awakened his mind. He liked this kind of tension.

Ice Kill caressed the spear’s blade with his fingertips.

He could feel a sharpness that seemed like it would cut his skin with just a slight touch.

It was then that a satisfied smile naturally formed on his lips.

“Keok!”

Suddenly, he let out a choked sound.

Something was squeezing his neck tightly.

‘What?’

The moment the question arose, his body reacted on its own.

He swung his spear to cut the object tightening around his neck.

Ting!

What was cut by the spear’s blade was a thread so thin it was almost invisible.

‘Silver Thread?’

Ice Kill frowned.

Using Silver Thread for a surprise attack was the way of Assassins.

Another Assassin was launching a surprise attack on him, an Assassin himself.

‘Who?’

But Ice Kill was not even given time to solve the mystery.

Ssshiit!

A chilling sound of something cutting through the air came from the ceiling.

Ice Kill instinctively swung his spear to protect his entire body.

T-t-ting!

He felt something strike the spear’s blade.

It was a sensation so faint that he would never have heard it if he hadn’t been fully concentrated.

The feeling was too weak to be a Weapon like a sword or a saber.

‘What is…?’

Chwareureuk!

At that moment, the object that had struck his spear coiled around the shaft like a snake and climbed up.

‘Thread?’

Ice Kill’s eyes widened.

The object coiling around his spear and climbing up at a terrifying speed was definitely a thread. And it wasn’t an ordinary thread, but a thread made of qi.

The thread made of qi instantly reached his hand holding the spear.

“Haap!”

Ice Kill tried to protect his hand by circulating his Internal Energy. But the thread made of qi pierced through his hand like a small snake burrowing into tofu.

“Keuk!”

Ice Kill unknowingly let out a groan in agony.

Ssshiit!

At that moment, two more strands of thread flew through the darkness. They too were made of qi.

‘My god! Qi threads?’

Ice Kill’s eyes flew open.

He tried to swing his spear to protect himself, but he couldn’t move because of the qi thread that had pierced his hand.

In the meantime, the qi threads that flew through the darkness simultaneously pierced his forehead and heart.

Ice Kill’s eyes remained wide open, unable to even scream.

He couldn’t believe he had been taken down by an Assassin in the dark without even getting to properly swing his main weapon, the spear.

The fact that he had been defeated so futilely was not just surprising, but utterly dumbfounding.

‘Who in the world?’

His consciousness slowly faded.

With his heart and brain pierced, death was a matter of course, but before he died, he wanted to know who it was that had subdued him so easily.

Sssreureuk!

At that moment, someone silently descended from the ceiling.

Like a python slithering down a pillar, a black shadow landed on the floor without a sound and approached him.

Ice Kill gathered his last strength and forced his eyes open.

Ppudeudeuk!

He saw the black shadow’s face change bizarrely.

The sound of bones and muscles moving echoed, and in an instant, it transformed into another person’s face.

‘My god!’

The moment he confirmed the face, Ice Kill could only gape like a goldfish.

The face the black shadow had transformed into was identical to his own.

The sight of another Ice Kill looking down at him was terrifyingly dreadful.

‘What are you going to do with my face?’

But Ice Kill’s question never made it out of his mouth. His breath had been cut off.

And so, Ice Kill died without ever solving the mystery.

The black shadow stuffed Ice Kill’s body into a closet.

Then, he quietly sat in the spot where Ice Kill had been sitting.

His appearance, sitting cross-legged with the spear on his lap, was identical to Ice Kill’s in life.

Thus, another Ice Kill was taking his place.