Reaper of the Drifting Moon

Baekrok, who ran out of the workshop, hurriedly looked for Tang Sochu. But the figure of Tang Sochu remained nowhere to be seen.

‘Damn it!’

Baekrok clenched his teeth.

His mission could only be considered as a success if he could kill Tang Sochu. However, not only did he fail in killing Tang Sochu, but he also suffered serious injuries in the process.

This was a failure that will remain in the history of the Hundred Wraith Union.

He had nothing to say even if he died.

Ever since he started working as an assassin, he had always lived with his own death in mind. So he didn’t fear death. But he had to make sure that he finishes his work before he could die.

He glanced at the workshop.

Through the window, he could see the poisonous smoke that filled the studio. Pyo-wol seemed likely to jump out of the room at any moment.

Baekrok grabbed a broomstick which was rolling nearby and wrapped it around his severed ankle. He cut off the tip, adjusted the length before standing up.

He felt excruciating pain in his broken ankle. Even if a broomstick was used as a support, it didn’t lessen the pain at all.

Even though he was an assassin who was accustomed to pain, it was impossible for him to walk if one of his ankles had been cut off like this.

Baekrok took three or four pills from his chest and poured them into his mouth.

What he took were pills that could temporarily boost his vitality. While the pill could alleviate his pain and temporarily improve his vitality, the aftereffects were so severe that he preferred not to use it not unless he was in a crisis situation.

As he took three or four pills, the pain he felt from his wound instantly disappeared, and his whole body was full of energy.

However, his energized state was only temporary. He had to get out of this hellish place before the medicinal effects of the pills disappeared.

Baekrok ran to the escape route he had thought of in advance. Even with the broomstick tied around his foot as support, his movements were much clumsier than normal.

While the medicinal pill helped, his fear played a bigger role in pushing him to escape.

A Soul-Reaping Thread flew in and pierced through his intact ankle.

“Ugh!”

Baekrok let out a moan without knowing it.

Although he had been an active assassin for more than 20 years, he had never felt such extreme fear as now.

‘Where did such a demon come from?

Pyo-wol was by no means a little frog.

He was like a giant snake tethered to the well.

His size was beyond measure. The moment he decides to break the well and comes out into the world, an unbearable disaster will strike the world.

So before that could happen, Baekrok had to inform the Hundred Wraith Union of Pyo-wol’s existence.

The information the Hundred Wraith Union had on Pyo-wol was just the tip of the iceberg. It was necessary to inform them of the reality of Pyo-wol so that they could make the necessary preparations against him.

Baekrok ran frantically down to his retreat route.

From the huge boulevard to the alley, from the alley to the river, crossed the bridge again and passed through the slums.

It was the perfect space for all to erase their traces.

Even for an expert in tracking, it was not easy to track the spaces he passed in a short time.

Still, Baekrok was not relieved.

Pyo-wol, like himself, was an expert in tracking. If he can’t shake off Pyo-wol now, then he had no place for him to stay.

Baekrok ran with all his might.

As he sprinted like that, he soon arrived at the outskirts of Chengdu.

The Min River could be seen in the distance.

The Min River is a huge river flowing around the outskirts of Chengdu, and was one of the four rivers from which the name Sichuan was derived.

Baekrok searched through the grass near the Min River. It was there where he hid a small boat.

Only by boarding the boat and traveling across on the Min River could he finally relax.

Fortunately enough, he didn’t find any difficulty in finding the boat. He had placed a mark that was easily recognizable.

A look of joy appeared on Baekrok’s face.

He wasn’t usually an emotional person, but this time was different. The thought that he could finally get out of this hell made his heart beat faster than usual.

When it was time for him to hurriedly pull the boat out of the grass,

Ki-ying!

Suddenly, a sharp cracking sound rang out.

“Keuk!”

Baekrok instinctively let go of the boat and backed away.

Bang!

At that moment, a round wheel flew and smashed the boat right in front of them.

Baekrok’s eyes trembled greatly as he watched his boat breaking into pieces.

That was then.

Ku-ying! Kiiing!

The sound of cogs rolling reverberated through the air.

Feeling a sense of crisis, Baekrok immediately twisted his body here and there.

Two wheels passed by him.

“Crazy!”

The wheel circled through air like a living creature with a will of its own and attacked Baekrok again.

Baekrok used his assassin’s instincts to the fullest to avoid the wheel. However, the more he avoided it, the attack interval between the wheels increased.

At first there were only two, but before he knew it, there were four wheels crossing and attacking him.

Baekrok could not dodge any more and swung his rapier to block the attack.

Kakakang!

The wheel bounced off the rapier. However, it quickly turned around again and attacked Baekrok.

“Shit!”

A light of despair appeared on Baekrok’s face.

He had never experienced such a devilish wheel attack before.

He would have had a chance of winning the match if his body was fine, but he couldn’t because of his severed ankle.

Sung-dong!

In the end, his remaining ankle was cut off by the wheel.

“Keurgh!”

Baekrok fell to the floor while screaming.

The wheel, who didn’t miss the gap, flew in and cut off his right arm.

“Kerhyuk!”

Baekrok’s eyes widened.

It would have been less painful if he had fainted, but he couldn’t because of the pills he took voluntarily. The pills were maintaining his vitality.

At that moment, a small boy appeared.

He stood silently in front of him, who had collapsed on the floor.

Three or four rings hung around the boy’s neck like ornaments. The rattling sound of the wheels hitting each other could not be so terrifying at this moment.

As the boy stretched out his hand, the wheels that were spinning freely flew and went back to his hands.

“Ta-da!”

The boy hung the wheel around his neck and spread his arms playfully.

“Ugh! Who are you?”

“Me? I’m Soma. I was waiting here after listening to my brother.”

“What?”

“My brother said that you’d show up if I wait here. It was getting a little boring because you showed up later than I thought, but you showed up anyway. Hehe!”

Soma grinned.

“You mean he predicted my escape route? How did he know?”

“Brother knows everything. I don’t know how, but he just knows everything. So all I have to do is listen to what he has to say.”

Soma smiled innocently.

On the other hand, Baekrok felt his body lose all strength.

He’s been escaping this far for a long time, but after learning that he was being played around on Pyo-wol’s palm all this time made his fighting spirit disappear.

‘I’d rather–!’

Baekrok groped his molars with his tongue.

A pill was hidden in his molars.

It was a pill hidden in case of failure.

He didn’t know that he’d use it like this, but if he burst out the pill, he’ll be able to die without pain. It was the best way for an assassin to die.

When Baekrok was about to break the pill,

Puk!

A dagger flew out of nowhere and hit his chin.

The dagger exquisitely pierced between his upper and lower teeth preventing his jaw from moving. It was no longer possible for him to bite the molars that contained the poison.

Soma was not surprised by the sudden occurrence.

He smiled broadly and got up. Because he knew who the owner of the dagger was.

“Brother!”

Pyo-wol was walking through the bushes.

Soma jumped and screamed.

“I-I caught him just like brother said! Did I do well?”

“Good job.”

“Hihi!”

Pyo-wol passed Soma who was happy and stood in front of Baekrok.

With both of his ankles and one arm cut off, Baekrok was wriggling like an insect. While one of his arms remained, he could do nothing with it.

Baekrok made an incomprehensible expression.

‘Is he really immune to poison?’

He didn’t know.

Pyo-wol has been bitten by snakes countless times which made him develop resistance to some poison. So although the poison Baekrok sprayed was lethal, it didn’t do any harm to Pyo-wol.

Pyo-wol’s tolerance has triumphed over the poison.

Pyo-wol looked down at Baekrok and said,

“You can’t die yet.”

“Keugh! The Hundred… Wraith Union… will not let you go…”

The dagger which hit his jaw made Baekrok’s pronunciation muffled.

Pyo-wol looked at Baekrok while smiling slightly.

“Let’s start our conversation now.”

“You?”

“By the way, I’d like to advise you not to resist. No matter how you resist, in the end you will tell me everything you know.”

Pyo-wol squatted in front of Baekrok.

Baekrok now knew what kind of fate awaited him.

‘He’s going to torture me to get information about the Hundred Wraith Union. But no matter how he tortures me, I will never answer.’

Baekrok had gained resistance to torture through rigorous training. He would rather die than succumb to pain and leak information about the Hundred Wraith Union.

‘You will never hear me scream.’

Baekrok was determined.

But, he soon regretted his decision.

“ARGHHHHHH!”

* * *

“Tsk!”

Tang Sochu clicked his tongue as he looked at his messed up workshop.

There was still a lot of poison left in the workshop. It is so poisonous that even from afar, he could find his head throbbing and his eyes wide open.

If left unchecked, the poison can spread out and contaminate the surrounding area.

Although his workshop is said to be on the outskirts of Chengdu, there were quite a few private houses nearby. Over time, the poison will spread around the area, killing everyone.

He didn’t dare to decipher the poison. Although he inherited some of the Tang family’s skills, his knowledge about poison was basic.

After staring at the workshop silently for a moment, Tang Sochu threw the torch he was holding in his hand.

The workshop burned at a frightening speed.

There were a lot of things to burn, and the inside was dried up by the heat of the brazier. Besides, Tang Suchu used the white phosphorus fire.

It was simply the best condition for a fire to occur.

Hwarreuk!

The fire burned the workshop at a frightening speed.

The Fire Soul Poison originally had the property of spreading as it makes contact with fire, but it did not work against the white phosphorus fire.

The white phosphorus fire quickly devoured and annihilated the Fire Soul Poison that had been accumulating in the workshop.

A white fire blazed up.

“Fire!”

“There was a fire in the workshop!”

The nearby residents, who had been sleeping deeply, ran out in surprise at the sight of the fire.

They tried to fetch buckets of water to put out the fire in the workshop, but it was impossible to put out the fire in the workshop with only a few buckets of water.

In the end, the workshop was completely burned, leaving nothing but ashes.

“Is this the only thing left?”

Tang Sochu muttered as he gripped the hammer hanging from his waist.

That was his first workshop.

But now, everything has been burned and turned into ashes.

It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t sad. But he was not discouraged. He still have memories of what happened even in a more desperate situation.

“I’ll have to start all over again from the beginning, huh?”

“I’ll set up a better workshop for you.”

Tang Sochu heard a familiar voice behind him.

Tang Sochu recognized the owner of the voice even without looking back.

“Brother!”

It was Pyo-wol who approached him.

A small child was with Pyo-wol.

“Young brother!”

“Soma.”

“I caught the guy who attacked young brother.”

“Really?”

“It’s a pity I couldn’t kill him myself with my own hands. But I still did a good job right?”

“Yes, well done.”

Tang Sochu smiled and stroked Soma’s head.

“Heehee!”

Soma smiled pleasantly.

Tang Sochu asked Pyo-wol,

“So, did you find out who commissioned the assassination?”

There was a hint of anger in his voice.

Pyo-wol nodded his head without saying a word.

SoundlessWind21’s Notes

Thank you for reading!