Ch.21Ninja

“Sae-rin!”

“Oh no… blood…!”

At Sae-rin’s shout, Reynard, Theo, and Flora rushed out. Though she had warned them about the reincarnator’s appearance, they checked on her safety first.

Sae-rin felt both frustration and gratitude as she calmly spoke.

“It’s just a minor wound. The reincarnator is more important.”

Indeed, the wound was light. Sae-rin pulled out the metal fragments embedded in her arms and legs while retrieving bandages. She had run vigorously across snowy fields with worse injuries than this.

Clang-!

The bloodied metal pieces fell to the ground. Sae-rin nodded as she tested her arms and legs. Her movements were fine. There was some pain, but the muscles weren’t damaged.

“Which way did they go?”

“That direction…”

When Sae-rin answered Reynard’s question, he dashed forward. Sae-rin followed immediately, with Theo and Flora close behind.

Reynard asked as they ran.

“Tell me about the reincarnator you saw.”

“They wore a black mask, so I couldn’t see their face. They used powers similar to our tribe’s shamans, spewing fire, and threw throwing weapons.”

Reynard formed a vague outline in his mind based on Sae-rin’s answer. Someone wearing a mask who spews flames. And uses throwing weapons too.

The opponent likely possessed excellent skills in stealth and ambush.

The reincarnator was a ninja.

“The reincarnator is a ninja. They use unpredictable powers. They’re also skilled at hiding, ambushing, and setting traps, so we need to be extremely careful.”

“It must be Rover, right?”

Reynard shook his head at Theo’s question.

“We can’t be certain yet.”

Suspicion alone wasn’t enough to punish someone. More concrete evidence was needed.

Reynard and the trio climbed up the walls of a building and stood on the roof. At that moment, they spotted a dark figure disappearing beyond a large bell tower in the distance.

Reynard immediately kicked off from the building’s roof.

Crash-!

The force in his foot was so powerful that part of the roof collapsed. But no one paid attention to that.

Any property damage during missions was covered by the Blue Wing headquarters.

Reynard accelerated even more powerfully.

Sae-rin, Theo, and Flora ran with all their might. However, keeping up with Reynard was no easy task. The trio naturally fell behind.

“Stop!”

Reynard, who had passed the bell tower, shouted at the masked figure. But the opponent didn’t stop.

Swoosh-!

Just as Reynard descended below the bell tower, a sharp flash cut through the air toward him. The power behind it was too significant to ignore. And due to his compromised posture, he couldn’t dodge.

Reynard immediately swung his sword.

Clang-!

As his sword, drawn with a blue flash, deflected the shuriken, Reynard’s expression contorted and his narrowed eyes widened.

Strange paper was attached to the shuriken’s surface. An unreadable writing system. The text from another world exerted a bizarre power, causing a small explosion.

“Damn…!”

Boom-!

Reynard touched his burning cheek and looked up at the building. The masked figure was looking down at him, backlit by the moonlight.

“You bastard…!”

Hiss-

As the enraged Reynard opened his eyes wide, a snake-like gaze emerged. When his breathing became similar to a snake’s metallic hiss, Reynard’s body slithered forward in a rush.

By the time Reynard began to pursue the masked figure out of the city, the trio had arrived at the bell tower, a beat behind.

After climbing the bell tower, Theo sighed while leaning against the wall.

“Wow… they’re already that far…”

“Huff… huff…”

Flora was equally exhausted. She leaned against the wall like Theo, breathing heavily.

Among the trio, Sae-rin was the most composed.

Sae-rin didn’t stop. Leaving her panting peers behind, she dashed forward.

“I’m going ahead.”

“Ah, Sae-rin!”

Theo and Flora urgently chased after Sae-rin, but their speed was significantly slower than before.

The distance between Sae-rin and the two continued to widen.

Jumping from roof to roof, climbing high walls and rushing forward. As Sae-rin demonstrated movements that seemed to defy gravity, she realized that Theo and Flora’s gazes could no longer keep up with her.

“Huff…”

Following her softly exhaled breath, a pure white chill swirled around.

Her movement didn’t stop. While maintaining her forward dash, she concentrated.

Then, a sword flew into Sae-rin’s mental image and plunged down.

Rumble-!

That sword contained lightning.

As she recognized the lightning, the nature of the mana rushing from her heart began to change. The lightning was more explosive, sharper, and faster than her usual mana.

That mana quality was transmitted to her body.

The mana that started from her heart traveled down her waist, over her thighs, and toward her toes. The lightning that swirled through burst out from her skin, igniting a blue flame.

Crackle-!

She couldn’t achieve the explosive speed like Theo. But her running speed was noticeably faster than before.

“Ugh…!”

Sae-rin groaned at the pain in her legs. This was an unfamiliar mana application method. The mana flowing through her blood vessels fluctuated violently.

She couldn’t go any faster. Theo’s ability to transform into a streak of lightning and demonstrate incredible speed was only possible because of his extremely trained lower body.

But this was enough for now. Sae-rin stopped using mana as she confirmed Reynard’s increasingly closer figure.

Crackle-!

The place where Sae-rin arrived was the middle of a forest shrouded in darkness. Reynard was swinging his sword at the masked figure in the center.

“Why! Why are you chasing me?!”

“You ask that without knowing? Because you’re a reincarnator!”

“Just because I’m a reincarnator? I haven’t done anything…!”

“You stole someone’s life! If you hadn’t crossed over, the original owner of that body would have lived a normal life!”

“For, for such a trivial reason, you kill reincarnators…?”

“You reincarnators only bring negative influences to this world! People who should have died live on, twisting fate and altering history! Massacres that shouldn’t have happened, plagues that should have disappeared but resurface again. It’s all because of you!”

“Shut up!”

Clang-!

A pure white sword that had been floating in the air flew toward the masked figure like a snake targeting its prey. But a sharp sword strike that followed swept away the white snake.

Both were in a state of extreme focus on each other.

Sae-rin immediately drew her sword while holding her breath. She didn’t forget to adjust the angle of her sword, considering the backlighting from the moonlight.

A low, thin breath escaped from Sae-rin’s lips.

A hunter of the snow fields doesn’t reveal themselves until the last moment. A pure white wolf rested at Sae-rin’s toes, and a pure white marten perched on her softly escaping breath.

As the small girl’s presence disappeared, she faded dimly into the darkness.

Clang-! Clatter-!

Reynard frowned as he swung his sword repeatedly. As he approached, thin wires made of steel blocked his path, and sharp awls shooting up from the ground tried to pierce his soles.

The opponent wasn’t a swordsman. Nor was he a mage. Ninjas were extremely tricky opponents.

At that moment, a sharp sword strike interjected between Reynard and the masked figure. It was a sword technique all too familiar to Reynard.

Imperial Flash.

The movements about to unfold were predictable. Reynard responded calmly.

Swoosh-!

As Reynard’s upper body moved to the side, a widely swung slash covered the air and deeply cut the masked figure’s shoulder.

Reynard laughed loudly and shouted.

“Good move, Sae-rin!”

At that moment, Sae-rin saw the form of a giant snake. The tip of the sword raised to the sky blurred, drawing the image of a pure white snake.

Hiss-!

As a snake’s metallic sound burst from Reynard’s mouth, red blood spurted from three places on the masked figure’s body simultaneously.

Splash-!

Sae-rin’s gaze turned to her superior. The breathing continued. His posture was moving toward the next move. There was no room for her to intervene.

As Sae-rin’s body naturally retreated, a small snake advanced toward the masked figure as if filling the void.

At that moment.

Boom-!

With a small explosion, the masked figure turned into a log.

“This bastard…!”

Reynard, who had cut the log instead of the masked figure, turned his gaze. At the end of the snake’s sharply torn gaze was the masked figure standing on a tree, breathing heavily.

Reynard immediately sprang forward.

Sae-rin, who was about to follow Reynard, frowned and sat down on the ground. The side effects of using mana in an unfamiliar way appeared belatedly.

Sae-rin sighed and massaged her legs.

It was around then that Theo and Flora arrived. As soon as they reached the forest, they approached Sae-rin.

“Sae-rin!”

“Sae-rin! Where’s Senior Reynard? Where did the reincarnator go?”

“Senior Reynard is chasing the reincarnator. They’re injured, so he should be able to catch them soon.”

“Really? What’s wrong with your legs? Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing. Just muscle pain…”

Theo and Flora sighed in relief at Sae-rin’s words. It was while the trio was relaxing and taking a break.

Something felt strange. Sae-rin felt an odd sensation that she couldn’t express in words. It was as if the wind was sending her a warning.

Sae-rin immediately pushed her peers away and swung her sword.

Clang-!

The impact transmitted to her wrist was tremendous. Sae-rin retreated while glaring at the dark metal piece that had been deflected by her sword.

What emerged from the bushes was the masked reincarnator. His condition wasn’t intact. Perhaps he had been injured by Reynard who had followed him, as his left arm was severed.

“The, the reincarnator!”

“He’s missing an arm! Where’s Senior Reynard?”

Theo and Flora immediately drew their swords.

At that moment, the masked figure stomped his foot. Simultaneously, the ground shook and mounds of dirt shot upward.

“What, what is this!”

“Don’t scatter!”

The confusion at seeing an unfamiliar attack form was brief. The three coordinated their breathing and charged toward the masked figure.

Three swords intertwined in the air. They complemented each other’s weaknesses and pressured the enemy in a near-perfect formation.

The masked figure retreated and stomped his foot again.

Thud-!

Rumble-!

The ground flipped and cracked. As the trio’s formation broke and they began to scatter, the masked figure’s real attack began.

Swoosh-!

“Damn!”

Sae-rin deflected the incoming shuriken and glared at the masked figure. The opponent didn’t spew flames like when they first met.

Instead, he stomped his foot to flip the ground, and when the trio’s formation scattered, he swung his sword. It was clear that he couldn’t use that strange technique because his hand was severed.

Sae-rin jumped over the uneven mounds of dirt and swung her sword.

Clang-!

The trio’s coordinated attack began to falter. The ground they stood on constantly twisted, breaking their posture.

As time passed, the wounds on the trio’s bodies increased.

“Sae-rin! Flora! Just 5 seconds!”

Theo’s request burst out in the urgent situation. Sae-rin and Flora recalled Theo’s technique they had witnessed in the training ground.

“Is that really a good idea…?”

“I’m worried…”

But there was no other way. All three had consumed a lot of energy rushing here. Sae-rin and Flora immediately sprang forward and swung their swords.

Clang-!

Flora’s swordsmanship began to change. The Imperial Dawn, which complemented each other’s weaknesses, exerted great power when all three—Sae-rin, Theo, and Flora—were together.

With one missing, they had to use their originally learned sword techniques.

As her posture and breathing changed, the power in Flora’s sword dissipated. Flora’s sword began to draw beautiful flower petals in the air.

Clang-! Clatter-!

Sae-rin’s swordsmanship also began to change. Her breathing became rough, and her movements became even bolder. She didn’t hesitate to crawl on the ground.

The faint image of a pure white wolf flickered and disappeared behind Sae-rin’s back.

Theo had requested. Somehow, bind the opponent for 5 seconds. It might sound like just 5 seconds, but it wasn’t an easy task.

Sae-rin dodged a shuriken that grazed her shoulder and swung her sword.

Clang-!

At that moment.

Rumble-!

The sound of lightning was heard. A blue lightning bolt extended in a straight line toward the masked figure.

Theo’s move was definitely effective. The masked figure was pushed back and spat out crimson blood. But he didn’t fall. At some point, pure white flames had been rotating around his body.

That must have protected him.

“Damn…”

Theo exhaled dejectedly as he saw the masked figure. Even with his full-power strike, he couldn’t bring down the opponent.

At that moment.

Rumble-!

Another lightning sound was heard.

A blue lightning bolt extended in a straight line, rotating and unleashing a sharp slash.

Splash-!

Red blood spurted up. The lightning that rose into the air molded into a human form. What appeared from within the lightning was Sae-rin.

Thud-!

Sae-rin’s figure fell to the ground along with the severed head of the masked figure.