The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1342 "Blue Wolf..." Raon slightly lowered his chin while looking at Bjorn, the Viking Chieftain. 'As expected, the Vikings' guardian animal is indeed Blue Wolf.' Just as he had suspected from seeing the murals painted all over the island, the Viking tribe's guardian animal was indeed Blue Wolf. However, he couldn't quite understand what it meant that the priest had brought a false Blue Wolf to attack. "You must have felt it, but..." Bjorn looked at Raon and slightly bit his lips. "We Vikings are warriors. We don't refuse challenges that come to us anytime, anywhere." He nodded, saying that's why there were no walls protecting them on the island. "For that to be the case, there seemed to be a barrier covering the island..." Krein babbled without reading the room. "Cr, ahem!" Bjorn cleared his throat awkwardly and shook his head. "That wasn't to prevent outside challenges, but just a measure to avoid getting unnecessarily entangled in bothersome matters." He slightly averted his eyes, saying that barrier could be easily broken through by skilled martial artists or magicians. "Well, that's true." Alice clicked her tongue while looking at Bjorn. "Actually, all our people already knew about it." She chuckled, saying that the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen and Azure Wind's crew had also sensed the island's existence. "...Anyway, I'll explain again." Bjorn glared slightly at Krein who had interrupted him, then continued speaking. "Our tribe doesn't refuse challenges whether from outside or inside. I too reached my current position through repeated challenges." He nodded heavily, saying he had become Chieftain through martial competitions. "On the other hand, the priest position is hereditary. The bloodline that serves Blue Wolf continues to inherit the priest position." Even though Bjorn had been defeated by the priest, he didn't disrespect him and used a respectful tone. "As I said at first, the chieftain and priest respect each other. I too was grateful to the priest who maintained Blue Wolf's blessing for the tribe. However, he didn't feel the same way." He gnashed his teeth audibly as if frustrated. "What do you mean by he didn't feel the same way?" Raon looked at Bjorn and narrowed his eyes thinly. "Actually, we too knew that a war determining the continent's survival would soon break out." Bjorn nodded, saying they had foreseen the war between the Five Kings and Eden. "In times like these, it's impossible to be completely cut off from the outside world, so we couldn't not know." He drew a faint smile, saying they had been trading to some extent with trusted friends on the continent who could keep secrets. "Of course we knew." Raon nodded calmly while staring at the helmet Knut was wearing on his head. "After hearing news of the great war, we Vikings decided we too should participate in that war. No matter how much our tribe stays in the deep western seas, the war's aftermath couldn't fail to reach us." A sharp light began to bloom in Bjorn's sunken eyes. "The force we decided to align with was naturally the Five Kings. We are warriors, not massacrers, so we never even considered Eden. But..." He gritted his teeth and raised his head. "The priest opposed it. He brought unknown outsiders with him and said we could only survive by following Eden, not the Five Kings." Bjorn trembled his bandaged fist as if recalling the situation at that time. "Naturally, our opinions couldn't be reconciled. When I tried to make a decision using my authority as chieftain, the priest challenged me to a duel." He furrowed his brow, saying it was the first time he had been challenged by the priest. "The priest's bloodline has always been physically weak. While their souls and minds were steadfast from directly serving Blue Wolf, their bodies were not those of warriors. I naturally tried to refuse, but the priest was stubborn. In the end, I had no choice but to duel." Bjorn let out a heavy breath and shook his head. "When I resolved to end it as quickly as possible, the priest summoned Blue Wolf from the sea. That monster, which looked exactly like our tribe's guardian deity, let out violent roars and attacked me. The priest too joined the attack with an evil face I didn't recognize. In the end..." He bit his lips deeply while looking at his wounds. "I ended up like this." Bjorn let out a murky breath, saying the priest possessed martial prowess strong enough not to lose to him. "Hmm..." Raon lowered his eyebrows as he examined Bjorn's condition again. 'This person is a strong warrior. And...' Above Grandmaster level. Bjorn wasn't at Transcendence level, but he was a strong warrior above Grandmaster level. He became curious about the fake Blue Wolf and priest who had beaten such a man to this extent. "Only then did I realize. That the priest had made many preparations to defeat me, and that what he was ultimately aiming for was my position." Bjorn bit his lips, saying the priest wasn't just asserting his opinion, but also wanted the Chieftain's position. "No matter what the situation, a defeat is a defeat. A warrior should never make excuses under any circumstances. But..." He placed his trembling hand on the floor. "If we side with Eden like this, I won't have the face to meet our ancestors! Please help us!" Bjorn acknowledged his defeat but knelt down, saying he didn't want to side with Eden and bring down the Continent like this. "Blue Wolf..." Raon slowly nodded his head while looking at Bjorn, who was kneeling with his head bowed, and the wounds covering his body. "Now I understand." Recalling Bjorn's story, the paintings of Blue Wolf covering the island, and the familiar aura he had felt from the sea, all the situations became clear. "Very well. I'll resolve the matter with the priest. However..." Raon took hold of the kneeling Bjorn's hand and drew a faint smile. "You'll have to keep your promise to stand with us." "Of course!" Bjorn vigorously shook his head as if there was no need to worry. "Nephew." Alice moved to Raon's side. "Can you really resolve this? It might not be solved just by defeating that priest." She clicked her tongue briefly, saying the situation seemed a bit complicated. "Don't worry. There's a way for everything." Raon looked at the painting of Blue Wolf in Bjorn's room and let out a gentle smile. "If I'm thinking correctly, we'll be able to gain not just the Vikings, but an even greater ally." * * * "Priest." An old man wrapped in sea buffalo hide knelt down. "The Chieftain has invited outsiders." He lowered his head without even being able to look properly at the young man right in front of him. "Outsiders?" The gaunt young man sitting on an ornate golden chair that didn't seem to belong to the Vikings slightly lowered his chin. "Bjorn invited outsiders?" He rolled his eyes downward, from which a faint death energy emanated. "Yes. Knut, the Chieftain's closest aide..." "Wait." The priest raised his elongated hand. "Don't call him Chieftain, call him Bjorn. The title of Chieftain doesn't suit a loser." He let out a sneer as if dismissing Bjorn. "Ah, yes. The outsiders Knut brought went straight to Bjorn's quarters." The old man swallowed dryly as he spoke Bjorn's name. "The old bear called in outsiders first..." The priest snorted and waved his hand dismissively. "Bjorn must have gone mad from losing to me." "Shall I take action?" The old man bowed to the priest as if asking him to just give the word. "Never mind. Nothing that old man does matters anymore." The priest clicked his tongue as if the situation was already over regardless of what Bjorn did. "Isn't that right?" He shrugged his shoulders toward the man standing beside him. "Of course." A young man in the darkness curled up his lips. "We have Blue Wolf, don't we?" When he mentioned Blue Wolf in a frivolous tone, a deep smile also bloomed on the priest's lips. "Kahahaha! That's right!" The priest burst into laughter while grabbing his forehead. "As long as we have that creature..." He looked at the massive shadow reflected in the sea and clenched his dry hand into a fist. "I can become the king of this tribe. No, I'm already the king!" The priest nodded vigorously as if just thinking about it made him feel good. "So please help me just one more time! I swear I'll unconditionally stand on your side once this matter is finished!" He looked up at the young man while asking for help. "What are you planning to do?" The young man lightly nodded his chin as if telling him to speak. "Previously I took away the old bull's decision-making power..." The priest stomped his feet as if he had made a decision, causing the golden chair to creak. "This time I need to take his life and the Chieftain's helmet!" He gritted his teeth, saying he would kill Bjorn and seize the Chieftain's position as well. "Good. I'll help." The young man stepped forward and nodded his smoothly groomed chin. "So that you can stand in that position. However..." He looked at the priest with transparent eyes and twisted his lips into a long smile. "You'll have to pay the price for it." * * * The next day. Raon headed to the priest's quarters with Bjorn. -Are you really confident about this? Wrath frowned as if worried. 'I don't need confidence.' Raon calmly shook his head. 'As soon as they reveal their hand, I can end it.' He smiled, saying he could resolve it perfectly. -Hah, I really don't know what you're thinking... Wrath shook his head repeatedly, saying he was worried about himself. "Here." Bjorn nodded while pointing to the priest's territory, which was built tall and ornately like a continental city building, the complete opposite of his own quarters. "The priest is inside here." He took a short breath and knocked on the door of the massive building where the priest was staying. "Priest!" Even though Bjorn had been defeated by the priest recently, he called out to him in a loud voice without hesitation. "Hmm..." From inside the gold-plated door, a gaunt young man walked out with a low coughing sound. He was a man whose bones were more visible than flesh on his body, and though he looked young, he was so thin that he appeared as old as Bjorn. Especially with the men who came out with him being larger than rocks, he looked even more pitiful. "You should be taking care of your health. Why did you come here?" The priest tilted his chin with eyes that openly dismissed Bjorn. "Being old, your wounds probably won't heal easily, will they?" "I came because I have a proposal for you." Bjorn took a deep breath and stepped closer to the priest. His steady gaze was not that of someone who had been defeated. "What proposal?" The priest snorted and furrowed his brow. "You who have been defeated shouldn't have anything to propose, should you?" He gestured with his finger as if to say, go ahead and try to speak. "I know that you want my position." Bjorn took off the helmet with three horns embedded in it and placed it on the ground. "Originally, priests and chieftains walk different paths, so they can never obtain each other's position through duels. But..." He nodded while looking at the Chieftain's helmet. "If you accept my proposal, I'll hand over the Chieftain's position to you." Bjorn looked at the priest with unwavering eyes as if asking what he would do. "Kuh..." The priest covered his mouth with his long, thin hand to suppress the laughter about to burst out. "Fine. Let's hear what kind of proposal it is." He gestured with his hand for him to speak. "I'll put forward a champion. If you defeat this man, I'll give you the Chieftain's position as I just said. Conversely, if my champion wins, we Vikings will stand with the Five Kings, not Eden." Bjorn recited exactly what he had heard from Raon today while deeply lowering his eyebrows. "Aha." The priest looked at Raon and curled up his lips. "It seems you've invited a guest from the Five Kings." He giggled, saying he could see right through Bjorn's thoughts. "Fine. But you know that defeating me means you have to overcome everything I have, right?" The priest curled up his lips as if he planned to involve not only himself, but also Blue Wolf and the outsiders he had brought into this confrontation. He showed a relaxed expression as if it didn't matter whether they accepted this proposal or not. "That's..." "As you wish." When Bjorn frowned, Raon stepped forward and nodded. "Do whatever you want. Grasshopper." Raon sneered, saying it didn't matter what the grasshopper did. "What...?" The priest's laughter abruptly stopped. "This lowly thing!" He raged at Raon who had mocked him and gritted his teeth. "Fine! I'll make you regret those words by chewing you up and leaving only your mouth!" The priest stretched out his arms, thinner than tree branches, saying let's start right away. "Come forth!" As he shouted to come forth, the sea to the right churned and a massive whirlpool rose up. Paaaaaaaah! Two crimson eyes flashed from within the whirlpool, and a massive wolf burst through the water spray that reached the sky. Woooooooh! The wolf with a beautiful sea-blue mane let out a terrifying roar toward the sky. "It really was you after all."