Perhaps it was because I had brought up Tang So-wol. In my excitement, I had ridden the momentum and killed the Golden Wolf King, who still had many questions I needed to ask.
Well, that was fine. Hadn't I already sensed, back when dealing with the Lust Demon, that the Demonic Cult was reaching out to those they thought they could sway?
Above all, the Heavenly Demon had realized that I, too, had regressed, so there was no way he would just sit idle.
But this, I truly could not understand.
The moment I thought the battle was over and let my guard down halfway.
At the very edge of my dulled senses, I felt a dissonance. And my still-active Heavenly Eye showed that dissonance taking shape behind my back.
So, it was good that I managed to block the sudden ambush, but…
"I have no idea what's going on."
Turning around, I saw a familiar figure in black robes.
But it was someone I should never have been able to see again.
"He was definitely cut in half and killed. Vertically, at that."
"…"
Without a single word, the black-robed figure simply readied his stance.
Even as I watched with my own eyes, his presence felt hazy, like an illusion. Even with my Heavenly Eye, which could see the flow of qi in every detail, I could only detect a slight dissonance from this opponent.
There was only one person in the world who could pull off stealth of this caliber so effortlessly.
"It's been a while, Slaughter King."
"…"
Slaughter King.
The one who tried to kill me alongside the White Peak Mountain King, only to fail and lose his life to the Thunderclap Sword.
That's right. This was an opponent who had already met death at my hands once.
For a dead man to come back to life was absurd, but…
That masterful stealth, that build, the martial arts he'd trained, his gait, even the rhythm of his breathing.
Everything that made up the black-robed figure before me was telling me he was the Slaughter King.
I couldn't confirm his face yet since he was covered in black robes, but even a disciple who had lived with him for decades and inherited everything from him couldn't be this identical in every single aspect.
It was highly likely that this was indeed the Slaughter King I had faced before.
"Corpse Puppetry Arts? Or did you take over another body, like the Blood Buddha did?"
"…"
"Still as quiet as ever. Damn bastard."
The Slaughter King silently concealed his Aura even further. The only saving grace was that his level wasn't much different from what I'd seen in our previous encounter.
I had managed to overcome him back then. Though I was a bit tired now, I could probably bring him down even more easily this time.
There was just one thing weighing on my mind.
"Surely he won't pop out from somewhere again even if I kill him here once more?"
"…"
"Hoo. Right. He's not the kind of opponent you can hope to have a conversation with."
He let out a deep sigh, but only for a moment. Seizing that brief opening, the Slaughter King vanished from sight as if melting away.
No. He hadn't truly disappeared—he had thrown himself somewhere while leaving traces of his presence behind, concealing himself.
It was a technique I'd seen once before. Breaking it wasn't all that difficult. Even more so now that I had the Heavenly Eye.
As I focused my mind, my senses gradually expanded. I couldn't hear the sound of footsteps on the ground, nor feel the tickle of wind being parted… but I could feel the warning prickling of danger raising the hairs on my skin.
When I looked toward where that faint sense of danger emanated, the Slaughter King's outline—fully merged with the surrounding energy as he charged swiftly—was dimly reflected in my Heavenly Eye.
Unlike before, when I could only tell which direction and roughly where he was, now I could make out his outline with certainty.
The consecutive uses of the Thunder Sound Sword had put no small strain on my body… but even so, I could handle this far more easily than before, when I'd had to maintain extreme tension at all times.
"Hup!"
A single sword stroke, slow but precise, aimed at the Slaughter King's neck.
Whether to preserve stealth or not, just as in our previous encounter, the Slaughter King was using a dagger for this ambush as well, so there was bound to be a difference in reach.
Even if the bastard staked his life on the Sacrificing Flesh to Shatter Bones stance, he wouldn't even be able to touch my body properly.
Well aware of this, the moment he confirmed the path of my sword, he urgently twisted his body to dodge.
…How disappointing.
If he had stuck to his previous approach—blocking and deflecting just enough while striking from within his concealment—it would have been far easier for me.
Even though I couldn't use the Thunder Sword, this single strike, layering the Formless Sword over the White Sword, should have been more than enough to sever his head along with his Aura.
Still, there was one thing I learned from this exchange.
"At least you're not a corpse puppet. Setting aside your judgment, I can faintly sense emotion in your movements. Surprised, are you? That I saw through your concealment completely."
"…"
"Ah, right. I didn't expect to pry anything out of you anyway. Keep your mouth shut, then. I'll ask your corpse whatever I want to know."
Brief as it was, the Exchange told me what I needed.
The Slaughter King, whose concealment had been broken not partially but completely… would never so much as touch a single hair on my head from now on.
I don't know how he came back to life, but if he's at a similar level as before, I'll just knock him down again.
There was one thing weighing on my mind, though: Tang So-wol.
Just as with the White Peak Mountain King, the Slaughter King wouldn't have come alone. He must have brought other assassins from his ranks.
Keeping my gaze fixed on the still-concealed Slaughter King, I spread my Qi Sense a little wider to check on Tang So-wol's side.
The Poison Mist she'd created with her internal energy was thick, making it difficult to probe with Qi Sense, but since it was Tang So-wol's energy and no one else's, I could somehow manage to see through to the inside.
As she'd boasted herself, she'd taken down most of the Golden Wolf King's men. All that remained were the ones who hadn't died yet, groaning in pain.
However, as I'd feared, the assassins of Assassin Valley were targeting Tang So-wol and the Twin Ghost Sword's necks from within the Poison Mist.
Since they'd come with the intent to attack from the very start, they'd bitten down on high-quality Blood Poison Wine to minimize the poison's effects…
She looks fine for now. Having absorbed numerous rare and powerful poisons since the Poison Demon, Tang So-wol is no longer someone who can be dealt with by something like Blood Poison Wine.
All the assassins can do is buy time with their signature stealth and agility.
…If they drag things out, the tide of battle will turn, so that's only natural.
Given that this is a consecutive battle following the one against those vagrants, neither Tang So-wol nor the Twin Ghost Sword likely has much internal energy or stamina left.
So I'll take care of the Slaughter King as quickly as possible and head over to help them before it's too late.
I've made my decision. Now all that's left is to put it into action.
"I'm not the kind of person with a temperament good enough to leisurely welcome even an unwelcome reunion. I'll end this quickly."
"…"
The Slaughter King silently hid his body even more discreetly. It didn't matter since I hadn't said it expecting a reaction.
After all, I could clearly see where the bastard had hidden himself.
I widened my eyes and stomped the ground.
Rumble!
My body shot forward with a thunderous roar that shook the earth.
Perhaps he judged that hiding was no longer meaningful since I was aiming for him precisely again this time.
The Slaughter King threw off the Qi Barrier-like veil wrapped around his body and began charging toward me.
Unlike the thunderous Thunder Step, his footwork didn't even make the sound of wind passing by. But its speed was similar. No, the Slaughter King's was a bit faster.
The Slaughter King, crouching low, thrusts his signature translucent dagger. His target is my heart.
Though his movement is half a beat late, my sword is far longer, so it's enough to meet his strike head-on.
Clang.
Our energies clash for a moment—but only a moment. Like a chopstick piercing into tofu, my sword begins to slowly push through the Slaughter King's translucent Aura… and the dagger beyond it.
Before long, the dagger is cleanly severed, as if cutting through tofu.
My sword, rippling white, flies straight for the Slaughter King's neck.
He twists his body in the same direction as the swing and retreats backward.
At best, he's left with a wound crossing his cheek and the nape of his neck.
In that process, part of the mask he had pulled over his face was sliced away, revealing the Slaughter King's lower jaw.
"Huh?"
But something was strange.
The chin, twisted into a bizarre shape as if clumps of clay had been pressed into it, could be set aside.
The problem was the skin. Though it was grotesquely distorted, it was pale and looked soft—hard to believe it belonged to a man.
I knew it instinctively. What I had just seen was deeply connected to the reason the Slaughter King had come back to life.
But there was no time to dwell on it further.
Whap!
As the Slaughter King spun his body to create distance, two Flying Daggers burst from his chest in an instant.
The hidden weapons shot toward my heart and brow, each tracing its own arc.
The skill was impressive, but not enough to reach me—I had seen and experienced far greater Hidden Weapon Arts from the Tang Clan.
Blocking them would be easy. But doing so would mean surrendering the initiative I had worked so hard to seize. It would only take longer to bring him down.
So I decided to push things a little further.
"Hoo."
I exhaled deeply and threw myself into the meticulously woven trajectories of the hidden weapons.
No Protective Qi. It would be pierced through anyway if I took a direct hit, so it was better to concentrate all that internal energy elsewhere.
If I dodged the Flying Dagger aimed at my heart, another would bury itself between my brows. And if I dodged the one aimed at my brows, the other would drive into my neck.
The best option would be to either put plenty of distance between myself and both daggers, or knock one away with my sword and dodge the other.
But what I was about to do now was none of those things.
Ssshhhiiing!
I twisted my upper body, dodging the Flying Dagger hurtling toward my heart.
Pft.
The dagger grazed past my chest. Blood seeped through the torn leather armor along with a faint heat, but it wasn't anything dangerous.
What was truly dangerous was the other dagger that had closed the distance while I twisted my torso.
I locked my gaze on the flying dagger hurtling toward my brow and braced my stance.
Legs spread wide. My torso, already twisted, bent to its limit, and my arm drew back deep as if nocking an arrow.
And then the dagger, its moment nearly upon me. Cloaked in a translucent Protective Qi, that dull blade that reflected no light at all — I stretched my neck toward it and opened my mouth.
The energy that would normally have gone into forming my Protective Qi instead concentrated into my teeth. And then.
Crunch!
I caught the incoming dagger precisely between my teeth and bit down.
The sound of two opposing Qi grinding against each other echoed inside my mouth. Naturally, the inside was probably quite torn up by now.
But that was all.
The dagger that would have pierced my brow was caught between my teeth and stopped.
The coppery taste of blood filling my mouth pulled my lips into a smile on their own.
This is the end.
My arm, drawn back to its limit, lashes out, sending the sword toward the Slaughter King's form. It's out of reach, but… that doesn't matter.
A vortex surges up from my stomping foot. Passing through my waist and elbow, the energy swells further, then quiets by the time it reaches the sword.
But that doesn't mean it vanished.
The thrust pierces through space and strikes the Slaughter King's belly. And then.
CRACK!
As if bitten by a giant beast, or torn apart by a sharp vortex, the Slaughter King's abdomen twisted and then became a massive hole, scattering its remains in all directions.
Splat.
The Slaughter King collapsed into the pool of blood he himself had created. He twitched briefly, but that was the last struggle he could manage.
Even in his second death, he didn't let out a scream. I shook my head and spat out the Flying Dagger that had been held in my mouth.
"Ptui. …Consider this returned."
I threw the blood-soaked Flying Dagger.
It embedded itself in the Slaughter King's brow, who lay motionless.
Having confirmed the kill, only one thing remained now.
I looked in the direction where Tang So-wol was.
Though it had thinned considerably… the violet Poison Mist still lingered.