Make the Barbarians Great Again

Chapter 47: How to Deal with an Assassin (2)

As if the heavens had prepared for this moment, the clouds that had tightly hidden the moon slowly parted.

Even the piercingly blue moonlight seemed to shy away from the blood-red leather cloak...

As the moonlight illuminated the earth, a tyrannical aura that had been hidden in the darkness burst forth as if it would swallow the world whole.

The exact same sensation he had felt during the day!

Oho was greatly alarmed but glared at Hindir without showing it.

He wasn't drunk at all.

The staggering figure from the restaurant had vanished without a trace, and not a hint of intoxication could be heard in his voice.

Even now, as he calmly drank while seated, a refined power could be felt in each of his subtle movements.

Oho felt his blood turn cold.

Suddenly, the chill of the Great Snowfields became unbearable.

"It's been a while since I dealt with an assassin, so let me ask—what level are you?"

"……."

It was a baffling question.

He wasn’t asking who sent him, but how strong he was…

Yet, underlying that question was clearly a sense of belittlement.

And it seemed he was off guard too—both a crisis and an opportunity.

His senses expanded, gauging the distance between himself and Hindir.

"Don't do anything foolish. Just sit down."

Hindir gestured toward the opposite seat as he spoke.

"Even for those who only care about taking lives, if words can resolve things, there's no need to shed blood."

Though he said that, most assassins wouldn’t listen.

They were the type to throw themselves into missions with nothing but completion in mind.

Still, since it had been a long time, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.

Pang—

A mysterious powder burst in front of his eyes.

Whatever it was, it couldn’t be anything good.

"Tsk."

As if to say "of course," Hindir clapped his hands together hard while still seated.

Chak—

Thoom—

The shockwave that erupted scattered the powder in an instant—cutting through it came the tip of a sword.

By sight alone, it was as fast as the quick sword Moritz had shown—sharp and unwavering, slicing a clean, straight line toward Hindir.

But Hindir, simply parting his clasped hands, caught the blade and held it upright.

Like a sword embedded in rock, it wouldn’t budge.

Oho, unfazed, twisted the hilt again—chuk—a sound rang out, and red inscriptions began to appear across the entire blade.

Boom—!

In an instant, the blade exploded, fragments bursting in all directions.

Oho had expected them to pierce Hindir’s body, but reality proved otherwise.

In the very instant the sword was destroyed, Hindir twisted its direction, redirecting all the fragments to lodge themselves into the roof above.

Faced with such unreal reaction speed and control, Oho made his decision.

Puh-bubung—!

Smoke burst from Oho’s sleeve, obscuring Hindir’s vision.

At the same time, a dagger shot out toward Hindir’s face—but Hindir caught it with his teeth, showcasing unbelievable skill.

Clang—

Spitting it aside, Hindir brushed the smoke away with one hand.

Oho, who had been sitting opposite, was already gone.

Even so, Hindir calmly continued drinking.

Then the window below opened, and someone climbed up.

"You're not going after him?"

The question came from Ubol.

"No need to rush. It's not like he has anywhere to go from here."

"Unlucky bastard. But was that really an assassin? Since when are assassins so flashy?"

"Still, he was quite good up until he found me. I’m not certain, but I suspect he’s fairly high-ranking in their group."

"That good? Then... what was his name—Baltan? That guy was in danger, huh?"

"He was."

Of course, they’d already talked it over, and Baltan had accepted it.

If the assassin had tried anything foolish, Hindir would’ve acted immediately to stop him.

"...And yet he fell asleep?"

Expanding his senses briefly to check on Baltan, Ubol clicked his tongue.

"The Charun tribe’s guts are something else..."

"Hmm."

Truthfully, Hindir hadn’t expected Baltan to just fall asleep like that.

He’d even risked using a stand-in to check something—so even pretending to sleep would’ve been enough.

"So what did you find out from all this?"

"That he’s a highly trained assassin."

"...Did you really have to confirm that in such a roundabout way?"

"Whether they make sure the target is confirmed before killing. And if it turns out the target isn’t the right one, whether they kill or spare them. Assassins train to perfectly kill a single person—but it’s these differences that matter."

"...So a more human one?"

"More like strictly faithful to the mission."

"Sounds like a real pain in the ass."

"Exactly. That means he’s tangled with a truly dangerous bunch."

"Seriously… How do you even know all this stuff?"

"Experience."

"Yeah, right. I heard everything from your aunt. You’re nineteen, aren’t you? You little... never mind."

But as he looked over Hindir’s large frame, Ubol withdrew his words.

"So are you going after him now?"

"Yeah. I can’t let this place I worked so hard to build get wrecked. By now, he should’ve gotten far enough."

"Of all places, he headed toward Snow Dragon Valley."

Ubol clicked his tongue, glancing toward the eerie valley.

"Anyway, good luck. You don’t need my help, right?"

As he stood to leave, Ubol paused and asked another question.

"Will it take months again this time?"

"I’ll be back soon."

"Yeah. If it’s going to take long, at least give me a heads-up."

Grumbling as he returned to his room, Ubol’s words likely didn’t reflect only his own opinion.

Beneath the roof, Hindir let out a quiet chuckle at the heavy presence quietly feigning sleep and listening in on the conversation.

Oho dashed through the darkness, guided by moonlight.

He had perfectly completed countless difficult missions until now.

Of course, many of those had failed on the first attempt.

But eventually, all were brought to success.

This time would be no different.

Though he was retreating for now, having learned about the enemy meant he could prepare more thoroughly and return.

As long as he wasn’t captured, assassins like him held an overwhelming advantage in these kinds of fights.

Their targets would slowly go insane, unable to sleep each night.

‘First, return to Parno territory and reorganize.’

He planned to hide in the valley and return with the merchants tomorrow.

That meant surviving through tonight somehow.

‘Damn, it’s cold.’

But the cold here was no joke.

Wearing only nightwear made things worse.

There were no materials to start a fire.

That meant he had to use mana to warm himself—but that also increased the chance of being discovered.

‘Still, I have to survive first, don’t I?’

He found a spot sheltered from the wind and began drawing in a small amount of mana to repel the cold.

But Snow Dragon Valley was no place to be taken lightly.

This was the coldest place in the world—thin tricks wouldn't cut it.

Soon, his teeth began to chatter.

Oho increased his energy output slightly.

But unless he had blocked it entirely from the start, the cold that had already seeped inside continued to torment him without escape.

With no choice, he drew on more mana…

‘Hm?’

His sharp senses picked up a strange sensation.

He opened his eyes and looked around. Suddenly, on a far-off cliff bathed in moonlight, he saw a red dot standing tall.

His body turned colder than even the chill of Snow Dragon Valley.

“Hup!”

He immediately flung his body in the opposite direction.

And for quite a while, he sprinted without even taking a breath, reaching another ravine.

Though he had run like mad, a sudden doubt crept in.

Was that real?

Or merely a hallucination of his own?

‘It was dark… maybe it was just a mistake.’

Still scanning his surroundings, he sat down again to calm his scrambled mana.

How much time had passed?

Jol-jol-jol—

Suddenly, the sound of flowing water echoed.

Oho’s nape stiffened.

His instincts resisted, but his body forced his head to move.

And between the ravines, the once completely frozen waterfall had started to trickle.

Gulp—

Swallowing dryly, Oho slowly—very slowly—lifted his head. What entered his eyes was that same red hue.

At the top of the frozen waterfall, a man in a red cloak sat cross-legged, quietly watching him.

“Hhup!”

He ran again.

“Hah… hah……”

The breath he had barely calmed now burst out uncontrollably.

For a highly trained mana user to be panting this hard was not normal.

‘How…….’

After a long run, he arrived at a ravine blocked on all sides and tried to catch his breath again.

But this time, he didn’t even feel like calming down.

Even after being so cautious, the man still tracked him down.

So for now, he had to grit his teeth and endure……

“Hah!”

But the moment he lifted his head and saw that guy sitting on a protruding rock in the cliff face, he had to move again.

At this point, he had completely forgotten which direction he was running toward.

He ran blindly through a darkness where not even moonlight reached, forgetting that he was an assassin.

‘This is insane!’

He didn’t even know what exactly was insane.

Maybe he was just rejecting the entire situation.

He had failed missions before. He had almost died several times. But he had never felt this kind of inexplicable terror.

If an assassin confessed to feeling fear, he would be ridiculed.

They were the ones who instilled fear in others—not the ones who received it.

Unless their opponent was a transcendent being beyond their capacity.

“…….”

He had spoken the answer himself.

He just couldn’t accept it.

He couldn’t even understand why he felt this way.

Why he was continuing this humiliating flight.

‘Damn it. I should just strike first.’

There was no answer in running like this.

They said he defeated the Parno Family Head, or freed the Barbarians who were once slaves—but he would only believe what he saw for himself.

The man’s mana level was clearly insignificant.

Yet, despite that, he had blocked Oho’s attacks with ridiculous ease…

“Damn it… what the hell is happening…….”

Oho, now standing still, pulled off his sweat-soaked hood.

He had reached the point where maintaining his body temperature was nearly impossible.

‘I need to pull it together…….’

He focused to stabilize his mana.

Even if he had to fight, he couldn’t go on like this.

Of course, he still felt uneasy, with the back of his neck tingling, but the man was still nowhere to be seen.

Sss—

Then he heard a strange noise.

Like something massive scraping along a wall.

Oho hid himself in the darkness and slowed his breathing to the absolute minimum.

In his hand, he gripped a blade blackened to avoid reflecting any light, and waited for his opponent to appear.

Saaah—

The sound drew closer and closer.

‘Hm?’

Finally, it entered his view.

A massive serpent.

One that even had three eyes…

But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that inside the serpent’s jaws, the man in the red cloak was sitting calmly, drinking.

“U-uaaaagh!”

It was too surreal.

He even began to suspect whether he had unknowingly been drugged with a hallucinogen.

Without realizing it, Oho ran again.

“Hah… hah… hahk! Cough!”

An assassin was just that—an assassin.

They were meant to exert their power against people—fighting monsters was a whole different story.

And this guy was calmly drinking inside the mouth of a monster.

He kept feeling like he had messed up badly.

Stumble—

Oho stumbled on a misstep and suddenly glanced to the side.

A serpent monster was sliding right beside him.

And inside its mouth, with the red cloak fluttering, the man was chasing after him.

“Guhhk……!”

Due to excessive panic, Oho’s mana surged out of control, and he coughed up blood and collapsed.

His entire body scraped across the rocky ground, nearly falling off a cliff—until Hindir, who had stepped out of the serpent’s mouth, grabbed him and pulled him up.

And so, the strange midnight chase came to an end.

“Tsk. She probably got startled by you. Sera.”

At Hindir’s scolding, Sera hissed in protest, as if wronged.

“You think I wouldn’t notice how hyped up you were when you appeared?”

He had told Sera to live freely, but Hindir knew she had been wandering near the Dragon-Blessed Gate all along.

And now, when Hindir started chasing the assassin, she had jumped in wondering what was going on.

Still, he had confirmed what he was curious about.

The rest could be checked after the assassin woke up.

“If you loiter around the edges of Snow Dragon Valley and get spotted, it won’t be easy to live peacefully. You don’t know how mad humans are for Spirit Elixirs and Core Formation materials.”

Hindir warned Sera.

Hiss—

“I get that you’re confident, but this world is full of unexpected strong ones. And there may be those stronger than me. If such beings seriously decide to kill you, do you really think you’ll survive?”

Sera looked down at Hindir with an arrogant expression—so proud that, for a moment, she seemed like a mythical Frost Dragon.

Hindir snorted and shook his head.

Really, who was giving advice to whom?

The world was unpredictable.

And at the very least, she was a spiritual creature who had lived far longer and cultivated far more than he had—she’d manage just fine.