The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1472 Splat. Derus Robert stood before a pitch-black corridor. He moved forward through the endless space, his steps making sounds like treading upon a sea of darkness. "Haaaaah...." Pure white breath bloomed from Derus Robert's mouth. It was not because the temperature was low. The fury rising from his soul was spewing out like smoke. "You interfere until the very end." Derus Robert clenched his fist so tightly that nail marks were left in his palm. "Raon Zieghart!" He ground his teeth as if chewing on bone and muttered Raon's name. 'I thought that this time, at least, I could perfectly overwhelm that bastard Raon's schemes....' Derus Robert exhaled a breath so cold it could freeze. 'To think he would interfere from there.' He had thought that this time he was above Raon Zieghart. He was the one who could decide the day of destruction, the location of the battle's start—Raon and the Five Kings had no choice but to wait for his decision. But Raon had ambushed his way into the day of the declaration of war, which had been prepared with the utmost caution, and stolen the spotlight of the event he had long prepared. War or whatever else—he wanted to throw it all away and kill that bastard right now. It was even more infuriating because he had deliberately leaked information about Ephilan to lure Raon into a trap, just in case Raon tried to interfere. 'Raon Zieghart. That bastard....' Derus Robert bit his lip until it bled. 'Did he predict everything—both that I would lure him and that I would make the declaration of war today?' He didn't want to admit it, but the possibility was extremely high. No, it wouldn't be strange to consider it certain. If that weren't the case, today's interference wouldn't make sense. "I'll admit it." Derus Robert let out a hollow laugh as he recalled Raon standing boldly before him. "I was completely outplayed." Unlike the usual times when he thought they would exchange blows to some degree, it seemed that his arrogance—his belief that he was perfectly orchestrating every situation—had caused him to fall for Raon's scheme. His wounded pride made him feel as if every hair on his body was standing on end. "However...." Derus Robert bit his lip as he watched the blood dripping from the back of his hand seep into the darkness. "The war hasn't even started yet." It was true that Raon had read his thoughts, but all he had managed to do was erase the anxiety that would have arisen from the declaration of war. Once the war began in three days, countless humans would fall into despair and fear anyway, so he just needed to consume those negative emotions and march northward. Splat. When Derus Robert arrived at roughly the middle of the corridor, a light cloaked in sacred spiritual energy surged up before him. However, that light appeared both bright and yet dim like the night. "Good timing." Derus Robert tilted his chin while looking at the light. "The war is in four days. On that very day, I will bring destruction down upon this Continent." He twisted his lips as if to say he would start and end the war in four days. [In four days....] The light spoke softly. [The day the sun and moon disappear.] He let out a low breath as if he knew Derus Robert's true intentions. "So you knew after all." Derus Robert smirked and nodded. "Correct. The Day of Black Darkness, when once every thousand years the sun and moon cross paths, light vanishes, and everything is dyed in darkness. The day when the Demonic Dragon's Martial Prowess reaches its peak and humans are paralyzed with fear. I will end everything on that day." He narrowed his eyes as if telling the light to prepare. [....] The light said nothing, merely gazed steadily at Derus Robert, and then vanished. "Hmph." Derus Robert scoffed while staring at the space where the light had disappeared. "No matter how high and mighty you act, you're just an Angel in the end. You can't escape 'that yoke.'" He quickly nodded and moved forward again. Splat. Derus Robert walked past the space where the Angels were staying and headed toward the end of the corridor. Thud. When Derus Robert's footsteps, which sounded like treading on water, had quieted to a gentle murmur, the entrance to a cave that seemed painted in darkness appeared before his eyes. "...." Derus Robert watched the cave entrance, where black clouds seemed to flow, for a moment before entering. FWOOOOOSH! The moment he entered the cave, pitch-black flames surged upward. The Aura of destruction. Flames burning with the power of destruction blazed like pillars. Beneath the dark crimson flames, an uncountable number of skeletons could be seen. However, these were not ordinary skeletons one might find on the Continent. The skeletons had dark crimson nails driven into the center of their foreheads, and with the flames of destruction burning in their eye sockets, they were screaming cries that only souls could hear. Revenants. These were the forms of souls afflicted by the worst and most vicious Curse—humans who had been killed by the Demonic Dragon of Destruction and became the dragon's slaves, luring other humans to their doom. [AAAAAAAAH!] The revenants poured out soul-rending screams at Derus Robert. But those were not cries for help. They were the screams that an animal, paralyzed with fear upon meeting its natural predator, involuntarily lets out for survival. "Hmph." Derus Robert trampled over the screaming skeletons as he entered deeper into the cave. There were so many skeletons that it took even longer than when he had walked through the endless corridor before he could reach the interior. Derus Robert raised his gaze at the deepest part of the cave. Among the countless skeletons with nails of destruction driven into them, he spotted the only skeleton whose forehead had not been pierced. No—it wasn't that it hadn't been pierced, but rather an empty hole remained, as if it had pulled the nail out by itself. The eye sockets of the skeleton with the hole were different too. Unlike the other skeletons where the Fire Seeds of destruction burned, what blazed within this one was death. Pitch-black flames of death were blooming. CRACK. When Derus Robert extended his hand, the skeleton imbued with death flew into his grasp. "So this was still here." Derus Robert gazed quietly at the skeleton burning with death resting in his palm. "The Demonic Dragon's ass-wiper...." He twisted his lips as he recalled the words Raon had used to mock him. "It's not wrong, I suppose." Derus Robert scoffed, seemingly having regained his composure on the way here. "I was an Anima born from a Revenant, after all. But not anymore." When he clenched his fist, the skeleton that had been burning with death shattered, and white dust scattered. RUMMMBLE! Derus Robert absorbed the death that had dwelled in the skeleton into his soul and stomped the ground roughly. "Rise." He tilted his chin while looking down at the ground filled with skeletons. "The time has come for you to destroy this world once more." The moment Derus Robert spoke the word "destruction," the skeletons filling the floor collapsed, and from within, a dark crimson gleam of eyes flashed. "Demonic Dragon of Destruction. No...." Derus Robert twisted his lips upward as he watched the flames of destruction surge from beneath his feet. "My slave." ** "The three days that Derus Robert mentioned...." Raon paused his breath for a moment and then looked at the Five Kings and the Alliance executives before him. "It falls on the Day of Black Darkness, which comes once every thousand years." He nodded as he spoke of the Day of Black Darkness that occurs once every thousand years. "The Day of Black Darkness?" "What is that?" Greer, the King of Owen, tilted his head in confusion, while Beast Alliance Leader Ogram picked his ear with his finger as if he wasn't particularly interested. "It is a day when the sun and moon perfectly cross paths for 24 hours, and the light of this world vanishes." Raon lowered his chin gently as he described it as a hellish moment when the light disappears and a Cold Energy that freezes one to the bone descends. "Does that even make sense?" Saintess Olga furrowed her brow as if she couldn't comprehend it. "It does make sense." Denning Rose looked at Olga and the others with questions and slowly closed one eye before opening it again. "The moment we heard Derus Robert's words, we searched for records from a thousand years ago that barely exist, and the Archmages confirmed it for us." She clenched her small fist as she explained that the moment Derus mentioned four days later, she had scoured through every historical record to find the information. "That's right. The sun will disappear for 24 hours on the day of war." Archmage Chamber of Eternal Flame nodded as if it were no big deal, popping a candy into his mouth. "I-It's a mysterious phenomenon, but it's natural...." Mage Tower Master Larian smacked her lips as if she wanted to research it herself if given the chance. "There is no way Derus Robert would have mentioned four days from now without a reason." Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at Denning Rose. "The seal he received from the previous Head of House has not been fully released yet. Given that he announced he would start the war in four days despite this, it's clear he judged that fighting on the Day of Black Darkness in four days would be more advantageous than waiting for the seal to fully dissolve." After meeting Derus Robert, he had asked the Shadow Agents and the Black Market to find out what day it would be in four days, and Denning Rose and Chad had spent a full day scouring countless historical records with the help of Magicians to discover that the Day of Black Darkness, which occurs once every thousand years, fell in four days. Thanks to that, they were able to uncover what Derus Robert's final strategy was. "Derus Robert is trying to use the Day of Black Darkness." If the entire world went dark for 24 hours, most humans would be paralyzed with fear. On top of that, if war began and the Demonic Dragon of Destruction rose again, humans would despair, believing the Demonic Dragon of Destruction had caused all of it. 'He must be planning to end the war during the 24 hours when the sun disappears.' It was clear that Derus Robert intended to exploit that very situation to maximize the Martial Prowess of the Demonic Dragon of Destruction, the revenants, and himself, ending the war on that very day. -Ha.... Wrath let out an exclamation. -That's definitely it! He too nodded as if agreeing that Raon's reasoning was correct. -How did you figure that out? Wrath's jaw trembled as if asking whether Raon could actually read Derus Robert's mind. "Raon. How did you figure that out?" "I'm curious too!" Not only Wrath, but Ogram and Greer also looked at him with curiosity. "Because I trust Derus Robert." Raon smiled softly while looking at the Alliance executives. "Because I trust Derus Robert's scheming and cunning, I thought there had to be something behind it." He nodded, saying that he trusted Derus Robert's caution more than anyone else in this world. "So we know the Day of Black Darkness is coming. Now what must we do?" Rector nodded with his hands clasped together, showing utmost respect for Raon. "Just give the word." Karoon's eyes flashed with a chilling gleam, as if he would immediately cut the neck of the Demonic Dragon of Destruction if Raon ordered it. The others also closed their mouths and focused their gazes, as if they would follow Raon's words. "What we must do is already decided, of course." Raon slowly parted his lips as he made eye contact with the Five Kings Alliance executives one by one. "From now on, we will...."