34 Chapter 34- ( Assassin-9)

The assassin shot forwards once more.

"If it is…then it's time for you to die."

The sword burned and melted into the shadows. Asher pulled out the spear as if he was bothered by the ridiculous words and didn't bother to even use his sword.

Boom!

"Kurk!"

The man bounced off this time. He threw up blood and looked at Asher as if he couldn't believe it.

"What… how…?"

"Of course, you knew I was just prying for information, but you didn't know why I did so did you? Or why I had the confidence to ask you in such a so-called precarious situation."

"You…"

The man clenched his teeth and grabbed the sword. Asher was holding onto the assassin's sword before he knew it, rendering his motorola swordsmanship useless.

"You are not wrong. It's true that Imperial Swordsmanship is insignificant swordsmanship compared to others. It's also true that Motorola's swordsmanship is top tier."

But that didn't mean the assassin was strong in Asher's eyes.

Motorola's swordsmanship was the natural enemy and predator to imperial swordsmanship. But Asher was not simply a swordsman who stubbornly relied on his swordsmanship alone like a prideful child. He was a warrior. A warrior who had survived many battlefields and endured wars that nobody would believe how bloody they were. He would easily abandon a weakness if it did not help him.

Asher could know this well because he saw and even sparred with many heroes in his years. Men and women who were talented. That much was clear to him. However, he had also killed some of these heroes that turned rogue in the past as he was under orders of the Emperor. He wouldn't fall to some meager assassin.

He had killed some of the strongest men and women to walk the earth.

"Don't worry about that. You already said it didn't you? My Imperial Swordsmanship is nothing but a weakness"

"Bring it you bastard!"

The man raises himself up like he was possessed with rage. The shadow wrapped once more around the sword and he rushed in. Asher turned his body and hit the sword down with a simplistic movement that required no skill.

It was a very simple strike. A 3-year-old toddler could do it without any kind of experience with the sword. It was a move from the Imperial Swordsmanship that the assassin despised so much.

"Huh?"

But the man was overwhelmed by this simplistic strike. It was as if a huge wall was approaching him. He couldn't even react to the blow. It was so ridiculously simple, yet there were no flaws in it. The assassin met the sword with his face and was crushed from the impact.

"uk-"

The assassin backed away in a hurry as he hit the ground. Asher approached slowly and lifted the sword again.

This time, it was another simple hit.

But, just like before, the man was overwhelmed again. The assassin brought his sword up in a hurry, but it was completely destroyed with the single strike.

"You don't even have…any talent…"

The man mumbled, stuck on the floor kneeling on one knee.

He couldn't fathom it. His great swordsmanship… was being utterly defeated… by Imperial Swordsmanship of all things!

The assassin raised himself up, denying the reality. He threw up blood violently and swung the sword. And… it broke again. I bounced out of his hands and snapped like a twig.

"Ah…"

The lead assassin looked at Asher blankly.

Why was he losing? His sword skill had been polished over years and years of training and several assassinations.

The man raised himself up, denying the reality once more. He managed to perform motorola swordsmanship with trembling hands. It was his pride, his everything, the collection of life he had built.

The shadow wrapped around the sword and the man wielded the dark haze around the blade of the sword. But… it broke again.

"Ah."

The man was stuck groveling on the ground.

It had been a long time since Asher truly had performed his imperial swordsmanship in earnest when it came to a duel.

Waving his sword around his body, Asher thought. He always fought using basic stances of imperial swordsmanship, but he always added his own variations that he had developed over the years to cover the flaws of the swordsmanship.

"…I can't do this."

The assassin mumbled, stumbling back. The robe was torn and his face was visible for the first time. The man cried desperately.

"You can't do this! This is ridiculous! How-How-! How dare you do that to me!

"The Imperial Swordsmanship does not lie."

Asher nodded gently. Imperial swordsmanship was weak. There were no high-difficulty variations or complicated movements. It was just a simple direction of power and momentum.

"And you can't even believe it still. After being shown and knocked down repeatedly, you deny the reality."

It was humans who created the imperial swordsmanship, it was not a swordsmanship created to transcend human limits. It was not a complicated swordsmanship in the slightest.

"Apparently, the training period was too short for you as an assassin. What, three years at most? Of course you wouldn't be a match for me. You probably would have even lost to Reika who has only been training for one year at most."

The assassin flinched at the words. It was true. He knew he was talented. So he was revered by his peers, and had gotten drunk on the emotions of feeling powerful. He had never trained sincerely. And this was the result.

'Am I… able to run away…?'

The man swallowed his saliva. Before Iheknew it, cold sweat was trickling down his neck. He had to run away. He didn't want to admit he was weaker, but he didn't want to lose his life.

Darkness surrounded the assassin, enveloped him, and he soon disappeared.

"Hmm."

The assassin disappeared. He probably went to the guild. Asher approached where the assassin was last standing. The remaining darkness was blocking the view of Asher's eyesight.

"It's annoying if I let these guys run away…."

Unrestricted teleportation to a particular region. Even though it was a God-Given power, it should be used moderately. But this was too much. Thanks to this, Motorola's influence as a god would diminish the more his power was abused.

(T/N : so confused here but it's still coming together for me.)

It was the heroes' jobs to deal with Gods, and it was the Gods' job to deal with humans. Asher caught the dark.

"What a stupid kid."

Asher was pissed. He wanted to capture the man alive, but he couldn't do anything about long-distance spatial teleportation.

"Marena… Show me where he is going."

Then the darkness expanded.