The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman

ted an additional factory to raise shadows in a village near Balkar.
The children can be easily supplied there because there are lots of cities and v-villages nearby…”

Temas' eyes were crushed by pain and fear, twisted like scrap metal.
He was disclosing all of the Robert's secrets, unable to endure the torture method that he had once taught Raon.

'The old factories still remain, and four more have been added in the meantime.'

The factories were the places they raised the shadows and spies.
Robert's sins had become even worse in the past twenty years.

“What is your master's objective?”

“I-I don't know either.
H-He only said that he had something to do.”

Temas said, his pale lips trembling.

“I guess he's still blabbering about the future while hiding in the House's underground.”

“H-How are you even related to him?!”

“I wonder.”

Raon smiled.
He wanted to tell him about his story of reincarnation, but he couldn't tell him because Wrath was enjoying the spectacle too much.

What a nice torture method.
The King of Essence wants to learn it as well.
I knew you were closer to a demon than a human…

Raon ignored his rambling and looked at Temas again.

“What is your master's current level in terms of might?”

“I-I don't know that, either.
I'm sure he's reached the absolute, but I don't know any more than that…”

Since he was still not answering despite the situation he was in, it meant that he really didn't know.

'I guess there's no way he would reveal information about himself.'

Derus Robert was an extremely cold-hearted man.
Even though Temas was his confidant, he wouldn't have told him how strong he was nor what martial arts he had learned.

“Did you come here on your master's order?”

“N-No.
It was my own decision…”

“Because of the humiliation you received over your face?”

“Ugh…”

As expected, the reason Temas had attacked him wasn’t because of Derus’s orders, but because he was so angry that his medicine and fame had lost to his face.

“Since I've pretty much heard all the information I needed.”

Raon pulled Heavenly Drive from Temas' shoulder.

“Kuah!”

“You are a captive now.
Once we return to Zieghart…”

“Kuh!”

As he was trying to grab Temas, he suddenly had a seizure while coughing out blood.

“Kuaaah!”

Veins appeared on his entire face, and he started screaming in pain, even worse than when he was getting tortured.
The veins popped at the same time, and he stopped breathing.

“But of course.”

Raon frowned while looking at dead Temas.
Despite what he said, there was a rage worm in his heart.

'There was no way he wouldn't have had it.'

Derus didn't trust anyone other than himself.
Even though Temas was his confidant, it was only natural that he had a rage worm.

Derus must've sensed his emotional state and killed him before he could reveal information.

'He's cutting him off.'

Temas actually belonged to Robert's faction, but he officially had no affiliation.
The reason Derus had been using him without having him join the House must've been in preparation for a situation like the current one.

'What a nasty guy.'

Raon turned his head, shaking the blood from Heavenly Drive.

'But he must be angry.'

Incredibly angry.

Although Derus killed Temas himself, he shouldn't know anything about why his life was endangered and how that situation even happened, so he must have been really frustrated.

'It's too early to be surprised.'

Raon was only getting started.

It was the first step towards his revenge against Derus Robert, the devil.

'Let's head ba…hmm?'

Just as he was about to return while carrying Temas' corpse on his shoulder, a message appeared in front of his eyes.

 

[You've overcome the Blood Poison by yourself.

All stats have increased by 1.

The Trait Poison Resistance has been created.]

 

The message was telling him that he had gotten an extra stat and poison resistance from resisting the poison in Temas's blood.

Huh? Huuh?

Wrath’s jaw dropped as he looked at the message.

Wh-What kind of nonsense is this? How can you give him stats for resisting a weak poison like that?

He slammed the ground with his hands, saying that it was bullshit.

Such a weak poison can be found everywhere in Devildom! Even in the grass and water!

'We are currently in the human realm.'

Awwgh!

Raon clenched his fist while listening to Wrath’s desperate scream…

'I should say thank you, I suppose.'

Since he got the latest information about Derus, managed to foil their plan, and even got a poison resistance trait that could prove to be their weakness, he’d killed three birds with one stone.

Who are you trying to thank? You should thank me instead!

 

* * *

 

“When did Temas start planning that attack?”

Derus Robert was looking at his butler with a faint smile on his face.
It was difficult to believe that the expression and atmosphere came from someone who had just killed one of his precious confidants.

“Th-That's…”

“It's okay.
Tell me.”

“I think he did that after he failed to become Encia Yonaan's personal doctor at House Yonaan.
It looks like he stopped the network and gathered the shadows at the northern part of the continent to attack Encia Yonaan, who was going to visit Federick.”

The butler quickly told him everything he had investigated.

“Which means that he was defeated when he was trying to make up for his failure.”

“Y-Yes.”

“Well, fine.
I'm fine with everything, but why am I getting that information so late?”

Derus was still smiling, but the atmosphere was becoming heavier and heavier.

“Network, branches, factories.
I believe all of those places should be sending me their information before anyone else.”

“T-Temas lied and said that it was the master's order to prevent information from leaking.”

The butler continued, looking at the floor because he was unable to look Derus straight in the eyes.

“Moreover, i-it took some time for the information to reach us, b-because the branches and factories near that location were the only ones involved.”

“This is why I shouldn't give them important titles.”

Derus snickered, caressing his hardwood desk.

“Look at the way he believed he wasn't an insect anymore just because he received a name.”

“Hmm…”

“He should've done it properly at least, but he dared attack a carriage escorted by the Heavenly Blade leader.
He should've known his place!”

The emotion transferred through Temas' rage worm were fear, shock, pain, and resignation.
Since those emotions signified that there was no way for him to survive, he stimulated the rage worm to kill him before the information could leak.

“What an idiot.”

It was so obvious even though he hadn't seen the scene.
Temas must've attacked them because he couldn't put up with his pride getting hurt, just to have the Heavenly Blade leader grab him by his collar.

“Cut off all connections between Temas and us.”

Temas was officially unaffiliated.
His identity wouldn't be revealed as long as the connections were properly cut off.

“We are doing it right now.”

The butler immediately nodded.
Since he knew Derus' personality, he'd started doing that as soon as he obtained that information.

“A tool should live as a tool.
It shouldn't try to think by itself.”

“Ah, yes…”

“And a tool shouldn't act without its master's orders.
Change all of the leaders of the branches, factories, and network.”

“D-Does that involve the places unrelated to this incident?”

“Yes.”

“I-If we try changing everyone, it would be more than a hundred people…”

The butler swallowed nervously, as Derus's order didn't mean to reelect a new order, but to kill all of those people.

“Is there a problem?”

Derus' eyes were calm despite having given the order to kill his subordinates, who were mostly innocent.
That was the scariest part about him.

“N-No!”

“Change the system so that all information comes to me first, no matter how small it is.”

“Understood!”

“One more thing.”

Derus raised his finger.

“Investigate everyone involved in this incident.
Including those who were alongside the Heavenly Blade division leader, and who found out our spy.
Everything.”

“Shouldn't the Heavenly Blade leader be the one who did all that?”

“That might be the case, but it might not.
It could be Ekan's doing, or the Light Wind younglings who are supposed to be with her.”

It looked like he was planning to prepare for the future by perfectly investigating the incident with his fastidious personality.

“You may leave now.”

“Yes! I'll take care of it quickly and give you my report.”

The terrified butler immediately bowed, then left Derus's office.

Whir!

The atmosphere in the office changed the moment the butler disappeared.
An unbearable coldness covered the entire space, as if one of the northern ocean's tidal waves were pouring into the room.

“Huhu.”

Derus's mouth rolled up into a smile.

“So, the plan I've been preparing for twenty years has been foiled.”

The plan to take over House Yonaan had started twenty whole years ago.

He was boiling in anger because his entire plan was destroyed by Zieghart and an insect bastard.

He couldn't even begin to imagine how much time and money he needed to recover from it.

Snap.

Probably because he hadn’t gotten that angry in a long time, red blood poured from the scar on the back of his hand and seeped into the desk.

“I'll kill them.”

Derus licked the scar on the back of his hand with a brilliant smile that looked almost terrifying.

“I'll rip the heads off everyone who was involved in this incident.”