Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Seo Mugyeom didn’t even look at their faces, nor did he intend to stay in that place for long.
His goal was to deal with the assassins quickly and move on to find stronger opponents.
Swaeeeek—
The sound of a sword slicing through the wind echoed chillingly.
The assassins collapsed without even knowing what had happened to them or why they were falling.
Just then, a few assassins who had been watching from another location tried to approach.
However, since almost all the assassins there were already dead, Seo Mugyeom had no reason to stay.
Thinking it wasn’t his responsibility to save the warriors of the First Division who remained, Seo Mugyeom leapt toward another location.
At that, the remaining warriors of the First Division and the assassins who were about to head over all wore dumbfounded expressions.
Without caring about the expressions behind him, Seo Mugyeom dashed into another area where combat was taking place.
The battle unfolded similarly again.
However, seeing Seo Mugyeom defeat their comrades, the assassins joined forces to target him.
As a result, the warriors of the First Division regained some freedom of movement but were still unable to assist Seo Mugyeom right away.
They were already drenched in blood and utterly exhausted from prolonged combat.
When Seo Mugyeom swung his sword, the assassins tried to evade, but he was always a step faster.
"Kill this bastard first!"
An older-looking assassin shouted, prompting others from different areas to converge.
From that moment, a barrage of attacks rained down on Seo Mugyeom.
The warriors of the First Division thought Seo Mugyeom would die without being able to do anything, but they still couldn’t help him.
They were in such a state that even moving a finger felt like a miracle.
Then it happened.
Cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha-chang—
The sound of swords clashing came so rapidly it sounded like an ear-splitting roar.
There was not even a gap between the sounds.
Just as people were wondering whether he had blocked every single strike, an even more shocking scene unfolded.
Srrk—
Srrk—
Seo Mugyeom, having blocked their swords, appeared behind the assassins and ruthlessly stabbed and sliced at their abdomens.
The speed of the attacks was so unreal that the term "phantom-like" didn’t seem exaggerated.
After reducing the number of assassins to some extent, Seo Mugyeom glanced around.
His eyes were full of dissatisfaction.
He had expected to almost die here, but everyone was unexpectedly weak, which left him disoriented.
He thought sheer numbers would bring danger, but that wasn’t the case either.
Seo Mugyeom realized to some extent that this was the ability he had gained from his sparring with the Division Leader.
Thanks to the Division Leader, his internal energy had awakened significantly, and blocking those deadly attacks seemed to have improved his skills.
‘For now, I’ll settle things here somehow.’
When Seo Mugyeom turned his gaze to others, the assassins hesitated and stepped back.
They didn’t know who Seo Mugyeom was, nor that someone like him existed in the Guardian Ten Division.
He looked too young, and they had never heard of a master of First Rate or higher among the youth of the Guardian Ten Division.
But now, didn’t he seem to have surpassed even the Peak Master level?
They turned their heads, determined to survive no matter what.
Seo Mugyeom hesitated about whether he should deal with them all but then locked eyes with the warriors of the First Division.
Barely regaining their senses, the First Division warriors spoke.
“We will handle these men, so please assist the others.”
The clashing sounds of weapons were still fierce in the distance, so they seemed worried about their comrades.
Having said that much, Seo Mugyeom felt there was no need to stay any longer and leapt away again.
He headed to the nearest source of the fierce sounds, where black-clad assassins were overwhelming the warriors of the First Division.
There were only three warriors there, and their condition was so poor it seemed they might already be dead.
They could barely move their arms, and their injuries were increasing rapidly.
Until Seo Mugyeom arrived, the noise had been considerable, but they had clearly suffered badly in the meantime.
That meant there was likely a highly skilled assassin among their attackers.
“Stop!”
Though not usually talkative during battle, Seo Mugyeom had no choice but to shout to save the First Division warriors.
Fortunately, it worked, and the assassins paused and turned to face him.
“Who the hell are you?”
A black-clad man with a deep scar on his face asked in a low growl.
“I am a warrior of the Tenth Division of the Guardian Ten Division. From now on, fight me instead.”
Then he dashed at the scarred man like a bolt of lightning and began swinging his sword.
The assassins present could likely guess what Seo Mugyeom was trying to do.
However, what actually happened far exceeded their expectations.
Each assassin, standing in place, felt as if Seo Mugyeom was charging straight at them.
There was only one Seo Mugyeom, but everyone there felt targeted.
It was because dozens of sword strikes unfolded in an instant.
Seo Mugyeom had seen that sword technique during his duels with the Division Leader.
The Division Leader would unleash his ultimate moves to avoid being overwhelmed by Seo Mugyeom, and the sword technique he now displayed was one of those.
The moment he saw it, Seo Mugyeom had been so shocked he couldn’t defend, and the Division Leader had burst into hearty laughter.
Seo Mugyeom had then asked to learn it, and though Pyo Inhaeng initially refused, he eventually taught him.
He told Seo Mugyeom to say he had secretly learned it by spying on him in the First Division Leader’s training ground, in case anyone else found out.
Seo Mugyeom had promised to do so and practiced the technique a few times, and now it was manifesting before him.
In truth, it hadn’t been long since he started sparring with the Division Leader, and no matter how well he had learned the technique, using it effectively in actual combat should have been impossible.
Yet it had come out instinctively, and its power now surpassed what the Division Leader had displayed.
The barrage of sword strikes tore through chests, abdomens, waists, and flanks.
Though shocked by the unexpected assault, the assassins still surrounded and closed in on Seo Mugyeom.
Given the severity of their wounds, it was astonishing that they could even assume a combat stance again.
Suspicious, Seo Mugyeom noticed that the scarred black-clad man had no sword injuries.
The assassins were moving around him.
Now he realized they feared disobeying him more than death itself, so they endured despite the threat of death.
Two of the assassins maintaining formation fell in quick succession.
One tried to press his gaping wound to hold in his intestines but collapsed.
Still, the assassins did not stop pressing in on Seo Mugyeom.
Seo Mugyeom leapt and swung his sword again.
From the start, he had been aiming for the scarred man, but the latter had already stepped back to observe.
As Seo Mugyeom tried to target him again, the scarred man grinned.
“Shouldn’t you be saving those guys?”
Then he snatched a sword from a nearby assassin, infused it with internal energy, and struck its blade.
The sword shattered into fragments and floated around him.
No one could have imagined that an assassin would possess such skill, and Seo Mugyeom’s face instantly turned pale.
The First Division warriors could barely stand, and if those fragments flew toward them, they would be riddled like hedgehogs and die instantly.
The man didn’t even attempt negotiation—he simply launched the fragments.
Seo Mugyeom couldn’t even think of what to do.
He didn’t know when his body had moved, but by then, his sword was already filled with raging internal energy.
A storm of sword qi erupted violently from the blade.
The flying shards got swept into the sword qi storm and flew off in completely different directions, and Seo Mugyeom was suddenly standing face to face with the scarred man.
Up to that point, the man had looked absolutely confident, but now his expression finally cracked.
“What are you?”
He had asked before, but this time, he truly seemed to want an answer.
Seo Mugyeom did not reply.
He had no intention of answering anyway, but there was a more pressing issue.
Using unfamiliar sword qi had strained his internal energy circulation, causing it to backflow.
There was no time to think about whether he had achieved his goal while stepping into death.
To receive the supreme art from Gwei and become a Blood Demon, he had to stay alive no matter what.
If he collapsed here, he’d become a corpse for sure.
Seo Mugyeom realized how lightly he had taken everything.
He didn’t want his weakened state to be noticed, but he couldn’t suppress the blood surging up from within.
As thick, dark red blood spilled from his mouth, a smile spread on the scarred man's face.
There was no reason for him to miss such an opportunity.
"Why crawl in here just to hasten your death?"
With that, the scarred man strode forward.
With a chilling sonic boom, his sword slashed toward Seo Mugyeom.
Seo Mugyeom thought this might truly be his end.
He knew well how dangerous it was to close his eyes at such a moment, but it happened instinctively.
Even so, his body didn’t stop swinging the sword out of sheer reflex.
Seo Mugyeom had intended to block the man’s sword—but he didn’t feel any contact.
He thought he had missed it.
He assumed the only thing left was to be pierced and die—but then, he felt the sensation of flesh splitting at his sword tip.
“Urgh!”
Seo Mugyeom opened his eyes in disbelief and stepped back three or four steps.
The black-clad man clutched his side.
‘Was I faster?’
Seo Mugyeom belatedly grasped the situation.
And that wasn’t all.
A blue aura shimmered from his sword—far clearer than anything he had seen before.