------------------
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
------------------
Chapter: 18
Even though Cheon Woo-jin abruptly told someone to come out while staring into empty space, there was no response.
Then—
In a flash, Woo-jin whipped out his mana gun and fired toward the ceiling.
Tzuung!
The bullet struck the upper part of the ceiling.
Astonishingly, the seemingly empty air wavered—and from within, dark silhouettes scattered rapidly.
Swish swish swish!
Figures dressed in black dropped from the ceiling without leaving even an afterimage, dispersing in all directions.
Woo-jin kept firing his mana gun without pause.
Chung! Chung! Chung!
The mana bullets, capable of piercing through even monsters’ thick hides and skulls, were in a completely different league compared to regular firearms.
One bullet grazed a shadow.
Spurt!
The moment it made contact, one of the figures broke off from the dispersing formation and revealed itself.
Whoosh!
A figure dressed in black tactical gear charged at Woo-jin, wielding dual daggers.
Pah!
A sharp strike aimed directly for Woo-jin’s vitals.
The assassin moved with the precision of someone trained professionally in the art of killing.
A blade aimed for his throat—Woo-jin evaded it with a single step back, lightly dodging.
At the same time, he fired at the assassin’s thigh with his mana gun.
Thud!
The bullet pierced cleanly through the femur.
But, shockingly, the assassin didn’t seem to feel any pain and continued rushing forward, wildly slashing his daggers.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The dual daggers stabbed and swiped like venomous snakes, relentlessly targeting Woo-jin’s carotid artery, wrists, heart, and other major organs.
It was a masterful display of knife-fighting, but the opponent was the wrong one.
Swoosh!
Woo-jin simultaneously dodged the attack and stepped in close.
‘Suppressing pain with drugs and going straight for vital points... This guy's a Chinese Black Society assassin.’
Just by observing the trajectory of the daggers, he had already grasped the entirety of the technique.
No matter how flashy the skill, it was meaningless once read.
Thump!
Woo-jin stepped in with his left foot and grabbed the assassin’s wrist, twisting it.
Pah!
In an instant, the knife was snatched into Woo-jin’s hand.
“Ugh—”
Slash!
The blade swept across the assassin’s throat.
Gurgle—!
Clutching his bleeding neck, the assassin collapsed.
In that very moment, dark shadows rose up from the floor behind Woo-jin.
Papapapapak!
Six more assassins in similar black gear simultaneously lunged at him.
Whooosh!
Strikes aimed at his head, heart, and legs came at once.
Just then, Woo-jin lightly lifted his foot and stomped on the ground.
KRRRRRRRRRHHH!
Though it was a light step, the resulting tremor shook the corridor as if it would collapse.
The charging assassins lost their balance and were forced to retreat in panic.
In that instant, Woo-jin drew the Goblin Sword.
Kugugugugu!
The true energy channeled into the blade made the air vibrate.
Woo-jin unleashed a strike toward the off-balance assassins.
Kwakwakwakwakwa!
A vicious wave of sword energy shook the entire space.
“Guhh—!”
The assassins faltered under the unexpected power and scattered in all directions.
They slipped into the shadows, intending to regroup and ambush Woo-jin again.
But the moment they looked up, they realized something was wrong.
‘Where is he?’
Cheon Woo-jin was nowhere to be seen.
The scattered assassins swept the area, trying to detect his presence.
Then—something darted past.
Thunk!
The head of an assassin hiding in the darkness rolled to the floor.
The others felt a chill crawl up their spines.
‘That’s not how a Hunter moves.’
The movement was swift and silent—something only top-tier assassins within even the Black Society could manage.
‘How...?’
They held their breath and searched for his presence, but they couldn’t find a single trace of Woo-jin anywhere in the temple corridor.
Thunk!
Another assassin’s head hit the floor.
Now only four remained—and they realized this was a mistake.
Had they known the target was an elite assassin-level opponent, they never would’ve accepted this contract.
‘Damn it... but it’s too late to back out now.’
The target was said to have a fatal condition—a Heavenly Curse—which meant his body was supposed to have physical limitations.
All they had to do was wear him down over time and finish him off.
But—
From the far end of the corridor, Woo-jin emerged, slowly walking toward them.
He spoke as he looked in their direction.
“I’ll spare one of you. Just one mouth is enough to tell me who sent you.”
He was deliberately revealing himself in front of them.
Crack!
Watching Woo-jin taunt them so openly, the lead assassin clenched his jaw.
‘Arrogant bastard.’
Choosing direct confrontation meant he had a stamina issue—that he was running low.
‘Cut off his retreat and corner him. Kill him.’
The lead assassin signaled his subordinates.
Fwoosh!
The assassins leapt from the shadows.
In that instant, Woo-jin analyzed them all.
‘The three in front are Tier 3. The one in back—Tier 2.’
The one in the back was the leader.
China’s criminal guild was infamous for its assassins' tenacity and cruelty.
There was no point dragging this out.
Swoosh!
Woo-jin pulled a throwing star from his wrist sheath and hurled it at the leading assassin.
Charged with internal energy, the shuriken flew at unimaginable speed.
Thwack!
It lodged directly in the forehead of the assassin at the front.
Without pause, Woo-jin lunged forward, slashing his sword at the others.
Whoosh!
It looked like a simple strike, but it carried the intent born of his original sword style— the Flow of the Sword Soul.
The moment another assassin tried to block with his own blade—
Whummm—!
The edge of Woo-jin’s sword shimmered, and before anyone realized, it was already buried in the assassin’s neck.
“Gah—!”
He collapsed on the spot.
Woo-jin yanked the sword free and spun around without stopping.
The next assassin raised his weapon to parry—but it was pointless.
Cheon Family Sword Art – Dark Blade Form: New Moon
Shhhhk!
The strike appeared blurred like a mirage.
The enemy’s blade vanished like an illusion—and from beneath, as if from a phantom, Woo-jin’s sword slashed through the assassin’s leg.
“Grrkh—!”
The startled assassin tried to retreat—but it was already too late.
Slash!
Cheon Woo-jin's sword had already severed the man's neck.
In an instant, Woo-jin had taken out all three 3rd-grade assassins.
Whoosh!
He flicked his blade to shake off the blood, then turned his gaze toward the final remaining 2nd-grade assassin.
“I’ll give you a chance. Tell me who hired you. Then I’ll make your death quick.”
As a former special agent, Woo-jin was familiar with every kind of interrogation technique.
Even a ruthless Black Society assassin would end up spilling everything within thirty minutes if captured by him.
But the man had no intention of complying.
“Don’t get cocky. You’ll never escape the Black Society’s clutches.”
As he spoke, the assassin reached into his coat.
Assassins from the Black Society, when cornered, were known to trigger custom-built bombs to die together with their targets—because failure meant facing a punishment far more horrific upon return.
The assassin tried to press the detonator—but Cheon Woo-jin was faster.
Slash!
The assassin’s wrist was cleanly severed before he could react.
“Huh?”
The moment he looked up in shock at his severed wrist, a blinding flash struck before his eyes.
Thunk!
Woo-jin’s blade cleaved clean through his neck.
Even after dispatching the final assassin, Cheon Woo-jin didn’t lower his guard.
He slowly turned around and spoke.
“Come out.”
The reason he hadn’t spared the last assassin to interrogate him—was because the Black Society killers were nothing more than bait.
The real threat had sent them ahead and was hiding in the background.
“Hmph.”
A man in a long coat stepped out from the shadows.
Unlike the previous assassins, he did not cover his face.
From the sheer pressure radiating off of him, it was clear—this one was on a completely different level.
‘An Awakened one. Judging by his presence, he’s not a Black Society assassin…’
Cheon Woo-jin raised his sword toward the man and asked,
“Did Cheon Oh-hyuk send you?”
The assassin, clearly trained, gave no reaction to Woo-jin’s words.
But with the hypersensitive perception granted by the Heavenly Martial Physique, Woo-jin caught every micro-reaction.
At the mention of “Cheon Oh-hyuk,” his muscles tensed, his fingers trembled slightly, and his foot shifted ever so subtly.
That was all Woo-jin needed to be certain: Cheon Oh-hyuk was the one who had sent this suspicious assassin.
‘Cheon Oh-hyuk… You’ve gone too far.’
Letting an external assassin into the Trial Dungeon, one of the forbidden zones of the Heavenly Sword House, was not only reckless—it was a massive gamble.
On the other hand, it also meant Cheon Oh-hyuk’s influence within the clan was considerable.
Without support from an elder of the clan, it would have been impossible for outsiders to even step foot inside its domain.
It was possible this man had been dispatched by an external group linked to the clan’s elders.
‘Plenty to dig into now.’
Woo-jin spoke to the assassin again.
“You’re not with the Black Society. So where are you from?”
He was probing—trying to get a read.
But instead of replying, the assassin simply snapped his fingers.
And suddenly—
KRAAAHHH!
From near the spines of the fallen assassins, something burst forth.
Large, crimson-black centipedes with hardened shells leapt out and charged at Cheon Woo-jin.
Without hesitation, Woo-jin rolled across the floor and slashed at the charging bugs.
Shraaak!
The centipede in the lead had its head sliced off cleanly.
But—
From the severed wound, a sticky green fluid began to bubble and foam.
Ssssss!
Thick, toxic green smoke began to rapidly rise.
Woo-jin’s brow furrowed.
‘A Poison Insect Master?’
In the underworld, where awakened criminal abilities ran rampant, there were many types of assassins—and among the worst to face were the Poison Insect Masters.
They would illegally enchant or chemically mutate insect-type monsters’ eggs, then raise them to follow a sorcerer's commands as venomous familiars.
Most of them operated in Japan or China, and were rarely seen in Korea.
The only reason Woo-jin recognized them was because the only place in Korea that employed such individuals—was the Black Corporation, where he had previously infiltrated.
‘Poison mosquitoes, bomb plots, and now a poison insect master… Cheon Oh-hyuk must be connected to Black Corporation.’
He might even be receiving direct support from them.
The Black Corporation, an international criminal organization, had rivaled Korea’s top Hunter families in size even twenty years ago.
If they were using Cheon Oh-hyuk as a proxy to influence the successor competition in the Heavenly Sword House, that too had to be taken seriously.
Ssssss!
Toxic smoke filled the surroundings.
Woo-jin backed away as he observed the poisonous fog.
The Poison Insect Master ordered his centipedes into the gas to find Woo-jin.
Skrrrrr!
The poison insects vanished into the green haze.
Even for an Awakened, poison was a serious threat.
Inhaling just a breath could feel like your lungs were being ripped apart.
If it touched your skin, blisters would form and excruciating pain would follow.
The master had ordered the insects to drag out Woo-jin’s collapsed body—but there was no response.
“What the hell? He inhaled the poison, so why hasn’t he gone down?” The Poison Insect Master muttered in Japanese, annoyed.
He snapped his fingers again, trying to summon the insects back—but still, no response.
And then—
CRACKLE!
A bolt of electricity cut through the toxic fog.
BZZZT!
The Poison Insect Master rolled away just in time to dodge.
But the lightning attacks didn’t stop.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACKLE!
He activated a defensive artifact he had been saving.
Whuuuummmm!
A thin barrier surrounded his body, and the next bolt veered off course.
But his expression twisted.
‘Lightning magic? That wasn’t in the intel.’
Besides the Byeokryeok Kang Clan and the Holy Knights based in Europe, there were very few who could cast such swift and powerful lightning magic.
Cheon Woo-jin, though a direct descendant of the Heavenly Sword House, was believed to be unable to fully manifest his Awakened powers.
Getting into the dungeon had been a hassle, but assassinating him wasn’t supposed to be this hard.
As the man quickly ran calculations in his head, Woo-jin’s voice echoed clearly through the thinning smoke:
“Tell me everything you know about the Black Corporation.”
------------------
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
------------------
