The Reincarnated Assassin Is a Genius Swordsman

Chapter 1500 Jjijijijijik! The blade of death that Derus Robert had condensed and forged from death itself slowly began to split apart against the flames of the Divine Sword and the cold of the Demonic Sword. Kyaaaang! Derus Robert twisted his Sword of Beloved Death to deflect the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword, but he could not avoid having his shoulder and waist cut by the sharpness of the two blades that could even sever death itself. "Ngh…." Derus Robert let out a low groan as he looked at the wounds on his shoulder and waist. He used the death aura to regenerate the wounds, but his recovery speed had noticeably slowed compared to before. "…." Even though Raon had landed a blow on Derus Robert, he did not mock him, instead narrowing his eyes as he looked at the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword that had cleaved through death. 'What is this?' Why had his swordsmanship grown even stronger? Neither he nor Derus Robert were showing everything to each other right now. That wasn't to conserve strength, but so that the moment the opponent's opening was exposed, they could unleash their full power at once and end this fight. 'I was definitely aiming for an opening….' But just a moment ago, without using any special power or ability, he had cut through Derus Robert's condensed blade of death without much difficulty. Even though his martial prowess had grown stronger, he couldn't understand what had happened to himself, and it left him bewildered. "Seems you've prepared quite thoroughly." Derus Robert, brow deeply furrowed, brushed off his fully healed waist. "Each and every strike of your swordsmanship is razor sharp. But…." He shook his head as he revived the blade of death that had been split by the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword. "Nothing is going to change." Derus Robert twisted his lips as he aimed the blade of death, regrown like a tree trunk, at Raon's throat. "You'll only know that once it's all over." Raon smiled faintly and whirled his Divine Sword. "Even in this very moment…." He kicked off the split earth and charged at Derus Robert. "…I'm still growing!" Raon advanced like a fierce tiger roaming a great mountain, thrusting the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword toward Derus Robert's throat and heart. Carrying the breath of the Fangs of Insanity, the two blades fell in the fiercest, most intense trajectory of this moment. Jjeoooong! Derus Robert tilted the blade of death rising above his Sword of Beloved Death at an angle to block the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword, but seemingly overwhelmed in both strength and speed, he stepped back and narrowed his brow. "Tch." Derus Robert clicked his tongue and put strength into his knees and waist to push back against the powerful pressure of the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword. Kuuuung! But the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword held in Raon's hands didn't budge at all, as if weighed down by a heavy anchor. "What's wrong?" Raon scoffed at Derus Robert. "Try putting in a bit more strength." He connected the force from his feet pressing the earth through his waist and shoulders to his hands, and instead pushed Derus Robert back another step. "You worthless insect who doesn't know his place…." Derus Robert narrowed his eyes, seemingly irritated by Raon's body and pressure, which had grown stronger than before. "Get lost." A denser death burst forth above the Sword of Beloved Death in his hand, and Raon was roughly pushed back. "Hmph." Even though he had been pushed back a full five steps by Derus Robert's fierce aura, Raon didn't lose his relaxed smile. 'Certain now.' He nodded his chin, contemplating not Derus Robert, but himself. 'I've gotten stronger.' Raon felt his own martial prowess had grown and tightened his grip. 'And not just physical ability — the rank of my aura, and even my swordsmanship attainment.' In truth, none of them had grown by much individually. But with his body, aura, and swordsmanship all growing at once, it created a gap significant enough to bewilder his opponent, Derus Robert. -This king feels it too! Wrath nodded his head broadly. -You have clearly grown while fighting that Derus bastard! He smacked his lips, saying he too could sense that he had grown stronger. 'But….' Raon narrowed his eyes as he examined his strengthened body and aura. 'Why did I grow stronger?' It made no sense. He had grown many times before by gaining realization while fighting strong enemies, but this time he hadn't gained any such realization. He was simply locked in a desperate battle with Derus Robert, yet he was growing in every aspect, and it left even him bewildered. -Eh? Wrath's eyes went round at those words. -You don't know why you got stronger? What kind of nonsense is that! He gaped, asking how that could even be possible. 'It's true.' Raon gave a small laugh, saying he really didn't know the reason. -Could it be that damned Derus bastard…. 'It's not something Derus Robert did.' He had worried it might be part of one of Derus Robert's schemes, but seeing the man's twisted expression, that was certainly not the case. 'It doesn't seem like a bad thing, but I should stay cautious.' Growing stronger mid-battle wasn't necessarily a good thing. He had built his plan to kill Derus Robert around his previous level of strength, so he needed to keep fighting carefully, making sure that plan wouldn't be thrown off by getting drunk on power. Jjeoooooong! Raon advanced with the Supreme Harmony Steps and pressed down on Derus Robert's Sword of Beloved Death with the Divine Sword and Demonic Sword. 'Whoever gave me this, I don't know, but….' He looked down at Derus Robert's expression, which was gradually twisting further, and curled his lips. 'I'll gratefully make good use of it!' * * * Paaaaaaaang! A clear, radiant blue wave and a thick, swamp-like green wave collided head-on, sending up a terrifying surge of water. It was two Martial Artists who had summoned a tsunami upon the Holy Sword Alliance's sacred ground, a place with nothing but a single shallow river to its name. The Pirate King Alice and South-North Union Leader Dranos — the kings who ruled the sea and the river — clashed upon the sacred grounds. Jjeojeojeojeojeojeok! Alice's sword shot forward like a beam of light to cut down the South-North Union Leader's throat, while the South-North Union Leader's spear was fired like a bolt of lightning to pierce Alice's heart. Before either blade could touch flesh, the sword and spear collided with each other, scattering fierce sparks. "Uwaaaaaaa!" "Protect the captain!" "Swing your swords for the King!" "We are not Zieghart — we are sailors of the Azure Wind!" The sailors following Alice gripped their swords and charged forward. "Iyaaaaaaa!" "Follow the Alliance Leader!" "Cut off the necks of those Five Kings' scum!" "Our world has come again!" Even the Water Demons, who had kept the name of the South-North Union alive after Dranos's death, charged forward, resolved to die. Kugugugugugu! Not just Alice and Dranos, but the pirates and Water Demons clashed as well, and a wave of red blood began to sweep over the Holy Sword Alliance's sacred ground. "The world has changed quite a bit." South-North Union Leader Dranos looked down at Alice standing before him, his eyes narrowing. "Not even Glenn Zieghart, but his daughter of all people standing before me." Even as he watched it with his own eyes, he let out a hollow laugh as if he found it absurd. "Guess everything you say gets predictable once you're old." Alice sneered as she looked into Dranos's sunken eyes. "It's always the young water downstream that pushes out the old." She waved her hand about, asking if he didn't even know that much about rivers despite being a mere Water Demon. "And if you got crushed by the youngest water and died, you should've just reflected on it and slept it off underwater. What more did you think you'd get out of crawling back out?" Alice shrugged, bringing up the fact that Dranos had died at Raon's hands. "A greenhorn who's never even died is running her mouth." Dranos scowled, his brow furrowing as he tightened his grip on the spear shaft. "Rather than being buried in a death that feels nothing at all, it's better to come back to life, even as a demon's slave." The green river water flowing beneath his feet began to turn black, as though soaked in ink. "And on top of that…." Dranos curled his lips as he wrapped the death-laced current around his spear shaft. "…it even grants me power like this!" As if enraptured by the death aura Derus Robert had bestowed upon him, he let out a roar, his very eyes staining black. Kuwaaaang! The moment Dranos wrapped himself in the death aura, he shoved forward with such force it seemed he would snap Alice's sword, which had been locked against his spear. "Kkeuk!" Alice, unable to withstand the might of Dranos now fueled by death aura, was violently knocked back and sent tumbling across the ground. "Why did I come back to life, you ask? Because of strength. It's only natural for a Martial Artist to pursue strength." Dranos lifted his chin, saying he had come back to life because he wanted to grow stronger. "A Martial Artist?" Alice let out a hollow laugh, as if she found it absurd. "Does what you look like right now seem like a Martial Artist to you?" She pointed to the puddle on the ground reflecting Dranos's face, telling him to take a proper look. "…." Dranos lowered his gaze for a moment and looked at his own reflection. He said nothing even as he saw the death aura crawling up through his veins, sprouting across his entire body like rose thorns. "It doesn't matter." Dranos stamped his foot into the puddle, wiping away his own reflection. "As long as I can come back to life! As long as I can grow stronger, I can do anything!" He snorted, as if his previous death had felt far too meaningless, and raised his spear shaft high. "Enough talk. Just die." Displeased that Alice was doing nothing but running her mouth, Dranos brought down his spear, condensed with the aura of death and waves. Kuwaaaaaaaaaang! A wave of death surged high enough to touch the sky before crashing straight down upon Alice and her forces. Jjeoooooong! Alice raised her sword to block Dranos's strike, but seeming to lack the strength, she coughed up blood and her arm trembled violently. "If you feel wronged, then get up again after you die too." Dranos curled his lips as he watched Alice's knees gradually buckle, as if he'd known it would turn out this way. "Though it's questionable if anyone would revive someone like you." Convinced he had already killed Alice, he lifted his chin and tilted his spear shaft in even deeper. "You died once and still learned nothing." Alice scoffed at the sight of Dranos's smile. "What…?" Dranos's brow furrowed as if he didn't understand what she meant. "You dropped dead because you let your guard down." As Alice laughed, bringing up the word carelessness, her sword — which had been bent nearly to breaking as it held back Dranos's spear shaft — let out a brilliant burst of light. Jjeoooook! The instant a grand radiance bloomed from Alice's sword, a perfectly straight, transparent line was drawn between her and Dranos, as if measured with a ruler, before twisting diagonally. "Ah…." Caught along that line, Dranos's spearhead split cleanly in two and fell away, and a red line rose across his throat. "This is…." Only now realizing he'd been struck by Alice's spatial sword, Dranos clutched at his throat as blood gushed out, his blood-shot eyes trembling. "You already learned that trusting strength alone and acting cocky gets you killed, and yet you go and repeat the same mistake…." Alice spat out the blood pooling in her mouth and laughed. "It's almost pitiful for Derus Robert, the one who brought you back." The moment she lowered her hand as if blowing a breath of wind, Dranos's head fell from his neck and plunged into the puddle. "…." Dranos's eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe his own death, and that very expression was reflected perfectly in the puddle. "Not even a Martial Artist in death." Alice snorted and turned her back on Dranos. "Nephew — no, Head of House!" She waved her hand toward Raon, who was fighting Derus Robert. "It's over here! Thanks for trusting me!" Alice wore her usual refreshing smile, as if grateful that he had trusted her and left it to her. "No. Thank you." Raon closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, offering his thanks to Alice. 'Thanks to Aunt….' He wore a faint smile as he felt his body, spirit, and the rank of his aura grow stronger still. '…I finally understood why I'd grown stronger.'