His fingers were as thin as his face and looked like nothing more than bones covered with skin.
Most people didn't know that these thin fingers, which would snap with even the slightest bit of force, were actually "devil's hands" capable of quickly taking a person's life.
Only those in the same line of work as Heuk-ho knew this fact.
He was looking for a Coded message left by the Dark Ghost.
The Dark Ghost's whereabouts had been unclear since the day before yesterday.
Heuk-ho had hoped the Dark Ghost would return overnight, but he never did.
Although he usually worked independently, subordinates must obey their superiors' orders when performing a joint mission like this.
Naturally, the Dark Ghost also followed Heuk-ho's orders.
The fact that the Dark Ghost did not return could not be easily overlooked.
"Could it be Hong Ye-Seol's doing?"
Of course, that was also a possibility.
Hong Ye-Seol, who had discovered she was being pursued, could have sought revenge on the Dark Ghost. But she wouldn't have killed him without cause.
The rules of the Hundred Warith Union were stringent, and it would not tolerate members taking each other's lives without cause.
Even for the Ten Blood Assassins, there were no exceptions.
Hong Ye-Seol was no different.
It would have been a very burdensome task for her to take his life without a cause, even if she had discovered that the Dark Ghost pursuing her.
"If it wasn't Hong Ye-Seol...there's only one person left."
Heuk-Ho's expression twisted involuntarily.
There were no other suspects currently coming to mind.
If Pyo-Wol had killed the Dark Ghost, the problem becomes more serious.
"Even if he was killed, he wouldn't have just been passively killed."
Leaving evidence about one's opponent in any situation was deeply ingrained in their instincts.
Clearly, if they had the power to escape, they would have fled here desperately and left behind the Coded message. But no matter how closely he looked, the Dark Ghost left no Coded message on the wall.
Well, it was still there. But those were left before they made contact with Heuk-Ho.
As Heuk-Ho Scrutinized the wall for a while, he suddenly noticed an erased spot.
While the other areas were intact, a particular spot seemed to have been wiped away as if something had been written there.
Heuk-Ho Focused his qi on the erased spot, but no matter how hard he strained his eyes, he could not tell what was written there.
"What is this? Is it a message left by the Dark-Ghost?"
Heuk-Ho touched the part of the wall that had been written with a finger.
If he concentrated his qi on his finger and rubbed it against the wall, it would leave exactly this kind of mark.
A shiver ran down Heuk-Ho's spine because he imagined the worst possible scenario.
"What if the Dark-Ghost was attacked here?"
It was terrifying to think about it.
Heuk-Ho quickly surveyed the area. Then, he found traces of recent bloodstains that looked like they had just occurred in several places.
The blood had dried, but it was clear that it had not turned black in just a day or two.
It was not enough blood to kill just one Dark Ghost.
At least ten people would have to bleed for this much blood to be left.
Just then, the door of a nearby mansion opened, and a man who looked like a servant came out.
Heuk-Ho hurriedly approached him and asked, "What happened here a few days ago?"
"Why are you asking?" The man replied.
Instead of explaining, Heuk-Ho held a knife to the man's throat.
"Answer me."
"Oh! Well, the night before last, the men from Golden Mountain Manor were killed here."
"Golden Mountain Manor?"
"Yes! More than ten people were killed under that wall, and the men from Golden Mountain Manor rushed in and took care of the bodies."
"Is that true?"
"It is true. No one around here doesn't know that fact."
The man answered with a pale face.
He was an ordinary person.
He wasn't clever enough to lie while being threatened with a knife to his throat. He told Heuk-Ho precisely what the Golden Mountain Manor men had said while taking caring of the bodies.
When the man finished speaking, Heuk-ho disappeared like a ghost before him.
Literally, he disappeared in a flash before his eyes.
"Heek! It's a ghost."
The man hurriedly headed for his mansion.
Heuk-ho didn't even bother to look at the man and leapt over the wall of the Golden Mountain Manor.
The Golden Mountain Manor Was close to the man's mansion, so he arrived in no time.
Although the Golden Mountain Manor warriors guarded every corner, no one could trace Heuk-ho.
After briefly looking around the manor, Heuk-ho found the warehouse where the bodies were temporarily stored.
Two warriors were guarding the entrance but didn't notice Heuk-ho sneaking into the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, there were around nineteen corpses piled up haphazardly.
They were all warriors who escorted Geum Suryeon?
Their faces were covered in blood, making it difficult to recognize their original appearance. Moreover, decay had begun, and their faces were swollen.
Therefore, even at the Golden Mountain Manor, their identities could not be distinguished, and they were just stored in the warehouse.
Heuk-ho examined each face of the corpses.
The staff members of the Golden Mountain Manor Couldn't bear to look at their colleagues' faces, but Heuk-ho was different from them.
This level of decay was barely a problem for him.
He carefully observed the facial features of the corpses.
"Umm!"
When he reached the last corpse, Heuk-ho muttered in a low voice.
It was the most miserable corpse, severely mutilated.
The face was so destroyed that it was unrecognizable, and especially the abdomen was cut open so that all the internal organs spilled out and dried up.
But Heuk-ho quickly identified the identity of the corpse.
"Dark-Ghost!"
It was undoubtedly the body of Dark-Ghost.
The missing Dark Ghost was found among the corpses of the Golden Mountain Manor staff.
Heuk-ho could not understand the current situation at all.
"What the hell happened? Why is the Dark-Ghost's body here with them?"
The Dark Ghost moved independently.
There was no reason for him to be with the warriors of the Golden Mountain Manor. Nevertheless, being with them meant that there was some connection somewhere.
"Wait. All the staff members who escorted the Golden Mountain Manor?"
are here, so who took her to Snow Sword Manor?"
Suddenly, his whole body was covered in chills.
The worst possible assumption came to his mind.
"Could it be..."
The dwelling of Ice Slayer was a small hut far away from the main office.
It looked like a shabby hut inside the construction site, but it was actually located in a remote corner.
These houses were where the workers who built the construction site stayed. After the site construction was completed, most were torn down, but some remained and were used as lodgings for the workers.
Le-Yul tried to give Ice Slayer a good place to stay, but he declined.
The reason was that he felt numb when he was in a comfortable place.
In fact, he felt that his senses were sharpened and awakened when he was in an uncomfortable place.
In that sense, the hut where he was staying now was just right for him.
Ice Slayer was sharpening his weapon while practising martial arts.
His weapon was a long spear.
While most assassins preferred short weapons, he oddly preferred long weapons like a spear.
The spear made of ice crystal that only came from the deep North Sea was a work of art.
The entire spear was colourless and transparent, and it was not easy to distinguish its shape if one did not concentrate on its qi.
In the middle of the day, it was also good at distracting the opponent's vision by reflecting sunlight.
Ice Slayer Polished the spear carefully.
Ice crystals had the property of becoming more transparent as they were polished. That's why he had to be especially careful when he polished it.
The series of processes may have seemed clumsy, but Ice Slayerwillingly devoted his time to polishing the spear.
A satisfying smile came to Ice Slayer's lips a long time later. Even though it was only a slightly upward turn of his lips, it was extremely rare for him to express such emotions.
After polishing the spear, all that was left was waiting, which was boring.
He made a contract with Lee Yul and entered the construction site.
He thought he would be deployed for his mission soon, but unexpectedly, he received a waiting order.
There seemed to be some complicated circumstances, but he wasn't told about it.
And Ice Slayer was different from the type to pay much attention to external factors.
He only thought about his assigned mission and acted, not even giving any attention to external factors.
"When the time comes, they will call me."
Ice Slayer thought so as he leaned against the wall.
The chill he felt from the cold wall awakened his mind. He loved this kind of tension.
Ice Slayer gently touched the edge of the spear with his fingertips.
He could feel a sharpness as if his flesh was being cut with a slight touch.
Ice-Slayer frowned.
Using silver thread for training was the method of assassins.
Another assassin had trained with the silver thread against him.
"Who?"
But Ice-Slayer didn't even have time to solve the question.
"Shit!"
A chilling sound came from above the ceiling.
Instinctively, Ice-Slayer swung his spear to protect himself.
"Tee-tit!"
Something hit the edge of the spear.
It was a delicate feeling that he would never have heard if he hadn't been concentrating so hard.
It didn't feel like a weapon, sword, or knife.
"What?"
"Chirp-chirp!"
At that moment, the object that had hit his spear coiled around it like a snake and climbed up.
"Qi?"
Ice-Slayer opened his eyes.
The object coiling around his spear was undoubtedly Qi. But it was not ordinary Qi. It was made of silver thread.
The silver qi thread reached his hand, and he held the spear in no time.
"Haap!"
Ice-Slayer tried to protect his hand with internal energy. But the thread made of qi pierced his hand like a snake digging into tofu.
"Ugh!"
In pain, Ice-Slayer groaned without even realizing it.
"Shit!"
At that moment, two more lines of qi flew through the darkness. They, too, were made of qi thread.
"Oh my god! It's Qi!"
Ice-Slayer opened his eyes wide.
He tried to swing his spear to protect himself but couldn't move because of the silver qi that had pierced his hand.
The next moment, the qi that flew through the darkness simultaneously pierced his forehead and heart.
Ice-Slayer woke up with his eyes wide open, unable to even scream.
He couldn't believe that he had been taken down by an assassin in the darkness without even properly swinging his spear, his primary weapon.
The fact that he had been defeated so easily was so surprising that he couldn't even comprehend it.
"Who the hell did this?"
Gradually, his mind became hazy.
It was natural to die when his heart and brain were pierced, but he wanted to know who had easily subdued him before he died.
Swoosh!
At that moment, someone quietly descended from the ceiling.
A black shadow landed on the ground like a snake descending a pillar without making a sound and approached him.
Ice-Slayer gathered his last strength and opened his eyes wide.
Thud!
He saw the black shadow's face strangely changing.
The sound of bones and muscles moving echoed, and soon the face changed into someone else's.
"Oh my god!"
As he confirmed the face, Ice-Slayer's mouth dropped open like a fish.
The face of the black shadow that had changed was just like his own.
It was terrifying to see another Ice-Slayer looking down at him.
"What are you trying to do with my face?"
But Ice-Slayer's question never made it out of his mouth. He couldn't breathe anymore.
Thus, Ice-Slayer died without solving his doubts.
The black shadow put Ice-Slayer's body in the wardrobe and sat quietly in the seat where Ice-Slayer had been sitting.
With a spear on his knee and sitting cross-legged, he looked precisely like Ice-Slayer in his lifetime.
Thus, another Ice-Slayer was taking his place.
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