Chapter 94: Ghost Shadow (4)

The twelve sons of Cheonma.

Surviving at the bottom of life, they were always tested for their abilities simply because they were Cheonma's children.

"Baek Jong-hyuk. You will live as a Dark Ghost for the next year."

The assassination squad of the Demon Sect.

A stage was set to test Baek Jong-hyuk.

The other brothers were also assigned roles, and Baek Jong-hyuk received an assassination order as a member of the Dark Ghosts.

At first, it wasn't a difficult opponent.

He was tasked with hunting down a low-level demon who had caused trouble and fled from the Demon Sect. He succeeded in killing the demon in just three days after taking the mission.

The second mission.

It was a more difficult opponent.

The target was a notorious expert from the evil sect, and Baek Jong-hyuk immediately sought him out for a duel.

The fight was intense.

The expert from the evil sect relentlessly pressed Baek Jong-hyuk without giving an inch, but a single mistake cost him his head.

Faster than the first mission. People said that Baek Jong-hyuk might have a natural talent as a Dark Ghost.

However.

The third mission was different.

It was an expert from the righteous sect, against whom a direct confrontation had no chance of success.

Unlike when facing the expert from the evil sect, he couldn't openly seek him out. With the order to produce results within a week, Baek Jong-hyuk chose a different approach.

He began to use the darkness.

He followed the expert, learned his daily routine, and waited for the moment when he was most off guard to attempt the assassination.

The plan was perfect.

Unaware that an assassin was hiding under the latrine, the expert met his pitiful end while using the restroom.

Continuing missions.

Baek Jong-hyuk remained realistic to survive.

Over time, as he became known as the best, he preferred direct confrontations, but when he lacked the power, he knew how to crouch and maximize his abilities.

This was a separate issue from pride.

If Baek Jong-hyuk had been concerned with pride at the bottom of life, he would have died in an underground cave without accomplishing anything.

Time passed.

Baek Jong-hyuk killed many people.

In the process, he mastered assassination techniques and did not hesitate to use any means to complete his missions.

And one year later.

People said:

The Dark Ghost of the Demon Sect, who killed 38 experts.

Once you see the shadow of a ghost, you cannot avoid death.

That was.

A secret of Roman Demetrius, unknown to the people of this world.

* * *

This operation.

When Roman initially said he would face the Kingdom of Hector alone, his subordinates all opposed it.

"It's absolutely out of the question. We do not doubt your abilities. You would certainly achieve meaningful results alone, but the numbers are too great. The Kingdom of Hector is fully prepared for this attack. If you were to be injured in the process, we would be in the worst possible situation."

It was Chris.

Unlike Kevin, who remained calm, Chris tried to dissuade Roman with a slightly agitated voice.

The others were no different.

Even the newly joined MacBurney agreed with Chris.

"It's an impossible operation. The Southern Mountains have very rugged terrain. While it might seem like you could use the terrain to face many enemies with a small number of people, the restrictive terrain makes it difficult to leverage mobility. There are very few paths that allow human passage, making it easy to be pursued by the enemy. Please reconsider."

Intense opposition.

They could not accept Roman's plan.

In fact, facing the Kingdom of Hector with a force of less than two hundred was absurd.

However.

Roman did not try to persuade them with elaborate arguments.

His plan was beyond common sense.

What was needed was not a rational persuasion but blind faith to follow his plan perfectly.

"Follow the plan if you trust me."

That was all.

With those short words.

Chris fell silent.

While new figures like MacBurney still showed resistance, those who had followed Roman from the Demetrius family were different.

Who was Roman Demetrius?

He always took actions beyond common sense.

From the start of the Blood Gang to the destruction of the Barco family, there were many aspects that defied common sense.

And now.

Roman stood alone before the enemy.

Surrounded by flames, Roman entrusted himself to the pitch-black darkness.

* * *

The flames rose.

Hector's soldiers shone their torches around, trying to find Roman, but he was nowhere to be seen.

'The martial arts of the Dark King begin with becoming one with the darkness.'

During his time as a Dark Ghost.

Baek Jong-hyuk encountered the Dark King's martial arts in the Demon Sect's archives.

The Dark King was a figure who left a mark in martial arts history.

Initially a simple thief, he became a notorious master thief after mastering the use of darkness.

From then on, his thievery reached a different level.

He no longer just picked the pockets of the wealthy but targeted martial arts sects.

He infiltrated the Five Great Families of the righteous sects like the Namgung and Zhuge families, evil sects, and even dared to enter the Demon Sect's stronghold, the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

If it had only been that.

The Dark King would have become a legend.

Obsessed with his abilities, he explored the Demon Sect's archives and met a tragic end as a result.

Swoosh.

The Dark King's martial arts.

He blended into the darkness.

Even if he was right in front of you, it was difficult to identify him with the naked eye, and he could move without making a sound, even stepping on leaves.

Perfect concealment.

As soon as the area illuminated by the torches turned dark, Roman appeared and moved through the darkness.

Then.

Thud!

"Ugh?!"

He attacked the enemy by surprise.

The sword that emerged from the darkness left the Hector soldier no time to react, and he spat out blood with wide eyes.

"Oh."

"Enemy! The enemy has appeared!"

Blare of the horn.

Despite recognizing the enemy's presence and tightening their formation, a moment of carelessness led directly to a comrade's death.

Hector's soldiers moved frantically.

They tried to form a defensive circle around the fallen soldier, but Roman had already slipped away the moment the horn sounded.

"Ugh!"

"Choke!"

Screams echoed from all directions.

If they surrounded the right side, he appeared on the left.

If they surrounded the left side, he appeared on the right.

Despite their quick reactions, Roman seemed to mock them by appearing on the opposite side.

His unpredictable movements.

Hector's soldiers were enraged and checked their surroundings.

They tried to close ranks to protect each other, but this only gave Roman more opportunities.

'Slowly. One by one.'

Hector Kingdom.

They had entered the mountain shrouded in darkness.

They might have thought the darkness wouldn't be a significant problem, but the human's limited ability, relying on light, made them unable to react even when Roman moved right in front of them.

The Dark King's martial arts did not make the body transparent.

It was the ability to blend into the darkness by using the surrounding energy, but the experience from his time as a Dark Ghost taught him how to use this ability effectively.

Hector's knights.

They struggled desperately.

Those who could use auras took the lead, but Roman persistently targeted their blind spots.

He didn't move hastily.

The moment they strayed from the formation.

Roman inevitably brought death.

By blocking the noise with mana, the enemies didn't immediately realize when their comrades died right next to them.

Hector Kingdom was unaware.

The enemy they faced.

A single adversary who roamed the darkness.

'This plan is not about annihilating the enemy. It's about killing as many as possible to ensure they can't overlook my existence. They will regret setting foot in the mountain shrouded in darkness.'

The night is long.

Perhaps.

Before long, they would desperately wish for the sun to rise.

* * *

Hector's knight.

Thompson swallowed hard.

The situation around him made his hands and feet tremble.

'What the hell is happening?'

The scene before him.

He couldn't make sense of it at all.

Clearly, the enemy had appeared, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't see a trace of the enemy.

"There!"

"Move quickly!"

The agitated voices of the soldiers echoed.

The formation was already meaningless.

With the sounds of death coming from all directions, Hector's soldiers rushed to each location as soon as they heard a sound.

The commanders couldn't control the chaos among the soldiers.

As the situation of comrades being killed while on guard became frequent, anger and fear intertwined, clouding their judgment.

Even so.

Thud!

"Ugh."

Victims continued to fall.

Despite the many soldiers searching with eyes blazing, the shadow of death found them the moment they let their guard down.

It was a terror beyond words.

Unable to predict how many enemies lurked in the darkness, Thompson held his sword with a tense face, drenched in cold sweat.

He never strayed from the formation.

Moving slowly with the soldiers, he prioritized his own safety over finding the enemy.

At the rear of the formation.

Thompson saw it.

The soldiers moving ahead were disappearing one by one.

Crack.

A torch went out.

He didn't see the soldier die, but he deduced it from the extinguished torch.

As expected.

The horn blared loudly next to him, and the torches swayed as the soldiers rushed to that location.

Then.

Crack.

Another torch went out on the opposite side.

Behind him.

The rapidly disappearing torches caught his eye.

Only then did he realize something was wrong.

Despite thinking Hector Kingdom had the upper hand, this was a situation that could not be considered advantageous.

At that moment.

"Captain!"

"1st Captain is dead!"

The death of the 1st Captain.

Thompson felt a fire under his feet.

Despite the presence of many soldiers near the 1st Captain, he was found dead along with the commander.

It felt like a complete denial of human senses.

Despite keeping a sharp eye on the surroundings, the impossible happened the moment he blinked.

'This is absurd.'

He ran frantically.

Not to retrieve the Captain's body, but to grab the communication device the Captain had and urgently connect it.

Then.

"Commander! A ghost has appeared here! Please help us! We will all die if this continues!"

That was.

A voice that plunged the people on the other end of the communication into confusion.

No, it was a scream.