Fwoooosh!

Thick, splattering mud came pouring down. Since Eun-Ho had crept close to mark the Ghosts’ positions, his clothes got splashed as well.

Before he could even grimace at the sticky texture, someone rasped from the darkness, full of hunger and malice, “A prey has walked to us on its own...”

Then came the grotesque Gaki, thrashing closer. The hulking Ghost gaped its maw wide. Where eyes and nose should have been, there was only a gaping mouth that took up half its face.

Clack!

Its uneven teeth rattled like a sawblade.

“Ah! It’s over there! Guard!” shouted the security guard.

Having been waiting for a chance, the older man activated his skill at the perfect moment.

Swoosh—!

Thud!

A dazzling, multicolored shield burst outward from him. Since Eun-Ho’s left arm was just outside its range, it only caught the barrier’s edge a beat too late.

“Urgh!”

The cold wind bit into his skin, slicing like a knife.

[Your Stamina is gradually decreasing due to the effect of Icy Blast.]

Fwoosh—!

[You have been healed by Healer Yoon Sol-Ah.]

His arm recovered almost instantly.

“Eun-Ho! Keep your head down!” Ji-Eun shouted.

“Got it!” Eun-Ho answered, ducking quickly.

Swish—!

Ji-Eun’s daggers rushed forward along with countless other blades. They drove straight into the Gaki’s open maw. Eager to taste blood, even the Flame Sky-Shattering Blade shot after them, dashing alongside the shimmering barrier.

The Gaki tried to snap its jaws shut to block the barrage, screeching in pain.

Eun-Ho seized that moment and drove his blade deep into its neck. Then he set it ablaze.

Crack! Fwoooosh—!

“F-fire... Fire is—”

“Gaaaaah!”

“Watch out!”

“Aaaaah!”

The Gaki convulsed like a crushed cockroach, its limbs twitching wildly before going limp.

[Congratulations!]

[You have defeated the Icy Blast Gaki!]

[You have earned 3,000 Welfare Points.]

A series of bright notifications appeared before his eyes. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

“Watch your side!” someone shouted.

“Eek!”

[You have defeated the Icy Blast Gaki!]

[You have earned 1,000 Welfare Points.]

“We’ll handle that side!”

“Thank you!” Eun-Ho replied, breathless.

[You have defeated the Icy Blast Gaki!]

[You have earned 500 Welfare Points.]

“Huff... I’m exhausted...”

“I’m dying...”

“One more... We just have one left!”

[You have defeated the Icy Blast Gaki!]

[You have earned 1,000 Welfare Points.]

Then, another series of messages popped up.

[Congratulations!]

[You have purified the Icy Blast Gaki’s Table.]

[Your title Ghost Slayer has evolved into Ghost Butcher.]

Eun-Ho blinked. “Huh?”

[Low-tier Ghosts tremble in fear before the Ghost Butcher’s presence.]

[You will deal 50% increased damage when fighting mid-tier Ghosts.]

[You will deal 20% increased damage when fighting high-tier Ghosts.]

[Entities not of this world have sensed your aura.]

It was a flood of unexpected bonuses.

[The Ten Thousand People’s Bloodstone reacts to the abundance of blood.]

[The Ten Thousand People’s Bloodstone’s absorption speed has increased!]

[The skill Revive (Lv. -) is charging... 19%, 20%...]

Notification after notification poured in.

“Haaa... I’m so dead tired...”

“Still, we racked up a ton of Welfare Points.”

“I thought fighting Ghosts would be terrifying, but since we can’t see them clearly, it’s actually less scary.”

“Thank you so much! Really, I mean it!”

They’d earned 5,500 Welfare Points from this hunt alone. Even after splitting the total with those who had launched the initial attacks, it was an impressive sum. Eun-Ho hadn’t even joined every skirmish.

“This should be enough for the first payout.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

They had achieved their goal and yet, no one’s expression was truly bright.

“I think these people died right after being stationed here.”

“Yeah, it looks like they never even got the chance to fight back.”

Bodies lay piled in the yard of an old, crumbling house as if stacked for a campfire. No one could feel purely happy about surviving when so many others had perished.

“The third from the top with a blue shirt. Next to her, the woman in the dress with brown hair. Below them, the man with the ring,” Eun-Ho said quietly.

“What?” Ji-Eun asked, startled.

There were still survivors there.

[0.2%]

[0.1%]

[0.6%]

There were three faint signals, suggesting that there were three lives that were barely, just barely, still holding on.

“We have to get them out, now! Ji-Eun, can you help me?”

“Huh? Y-yes! I can help!”

Through the Almighty Observer’s Eye, Eun-Ho quickly sorted out the faint life signs of the survivors.

“I’ll help too, Hyungnim!” shouted Jae-Hyuk.

“Unni! Bring them this way! I’ll start treatment right away!” shouted Sol-Ah.

Following Eun-Ho’s orders, Gong-Chan and the other strong men pulled survivors out from between the corpses. The quicker ones carried them to the patch of flattened ground that Bo-Ra had prepared.

Light bloomed from Sol-Ah’s hands. When the radiance finally wrapped around them, the faintest sparks of life began to flicker again.

Ding!

A sound chimed in Eun-Ho’s ear.

[Congratulations!]

[You have reconnected the broken thread of life.]

It was a system message he hadn’t heard in a long while.

[Additional trait-exclusive rewards have been awarded due to your trait, Rebel.]

[Resistance stat has been increased (+110).]

Out of two thousand people, only one hundred and ten had survived. It was a devastating number.

Yet, shivering and battered as they were, the survivors bowed over and over, their voices shaking with relief and disbelief.

“T-thank you! Thank you so much...!”

“I-I thought I would die.”

The mixture of fear, gratitude, and guilt in their sobs made the rescuers’ faces twist with quiet pain.

“Enough thanks,” Eun-Ho said softly. “Focus on taking care of yourself first.”

“O-okay...”

In that subdued chaos, Eun-Ho cleaned bits of flesh from his sword. Jae-Hyuk approached, wearing his usual, almost forced brightness.

“Good work out there, Hyungnim!” he said brightly.

“You too,” Eun-Ho replied. “How’s your leg? Holding up?”

“Ah... You saw that, huh?” Jae-Hyuk scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Eun-Ho had indeed seen it, how the gust of icy blast wind had sliced through Jae-Hyuk, slipping past both his armor and the security guard’s shield barrier.

He hadn’t worried much, since Jae-Hyuk’s Ultra Regeneration ability would take care of it. However, the pain didn’t heal as easily.

“It’s all closed up now,” Jae-Hyuk said with a grimace. “But, damn, that was horrible. I never want to feel that again.”

He shook his head, bits of mud and demon flesh stuck to his hair flinging away.

Eun-Ho sighed. “Okay then. Shall we get moving?”

“Finally,” Jae-Hyuk groaned. “I could use some sleep back on the ship—”

“No, I mean—”

“Huh?”

Where did he think we were going?

“The Silvery Blade. There were four of them.”

“What?”

“We’ve taken down one, so that means there’s three left.”

There were still mountains of enemies waiting to be hunted.

“Sorry?”

Thud!

Jae-Hyuk dropped to the ground, staring blankly in the direction of the ship.

***

“Huh?” Sarah, who had just stepped out of the gallery, suddenly stopped walking. “Wait. What’s this?”

Her pupils widened sharply as she locked her gaze on one of the artworks.

“Admin!” she shouted, her voice trembling.

“Yes, Miss Sarah.”

“W-what’s wrong with the color here?”

The Admin followed her pointed finger to a painting. There was a stark white canvas, its surface etched with what looked like the scrape of a sharp carving knife.

”Huh, that’s strange. Why is it—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. His eyes widened just as Sarah’s had. The once-faint painting began to tremble like an aspen leaf, as if writhing in pain, like a child caught in a nightmare.

Swoosh—!

The cold, silvery paint began to swirl, twisting together. Then, the silver dissolved, bleeding into a deep navy blue like the piece beside it, Moonlit Nap.

“What in the world! This is impossible...”

“Could it be a system glitch?”

“No, if that were the case, the protocol would’ve triggered immediately,” the Admin said firmly, shaking his head.

“It’s probably just a temporary effect. Let’s wait and see—”

Swoosh—!

Just then, another painting began to quiver and wail, stripping his words of any credibility.

“No it’s not!” Sarah snapped.

“Uh... Well... I mean...”

“This one too! All three pieces are changing color! How is that even possible?!”

“I... I have no idea what’s going on, Miss Sarah...”

Sarah’s voice grew sharp, cutting through the air. “How could you let this happen?! We’re still in the middle of training! If something goes wrong now, who’s taking responsibility?!”

As the face of the company, she was usually the embodiment of charm and confidence, making her the perfect hostess at every exhibition. However, her professional shine came from a deep, demanding perfectionism she kept carefully hidden.

The administrator struck his own chest in protest. “I should be the one asking that! Did you do something, Miss Sarah? I’ve been managing exhibitions for years, and I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

“Do something?! All I did was show the candidates the works and let them make their choices—” Sarah froze mid-sentence, and her voice died in her throat.

“Why? Did something come to mind?” the administrator asked carefully.

For a brief moment, a single face flashed through Sarah’s mind. The only person who had reacted to the Silvery Blades with that sharp, alert gaze earlier today. The new recruit representative, Lee Eun-Ho.

“I did give him a hint that there was a target...” Sarah murmured.

“What? A hint?” the administrator repeated, bewildered.

However, that hint had been closer to a trap than a clue. Even if he got lucky and managed to take down one or two stray monsters, the cost would’ve been enormous, as countless others would have died in the process.

“Still... Why would he do that? Besides, even if the Subjects picked a fight, that’s all it should’ve been. The Gakis aren’t weak enough to lose to ordinary trainees,” the administrator said firmly.

That was the whole reason she had given Eun-Ho that tip. To maintain balance with the other districts, nothing more.

“I’ll start an investigation as soon as morning comes,” the administrator said cautiously. “It might still be some kind of system malfunction.”

Sarah bit down on her lower lip, whispering, “What in the world is happening here?”

“Up until now, we’ve had minor scuffles between Subjects,” the administrator continued , “but the space itself has never wavered before.”

“If word of this gets out, it’ll be chaos...” Sarah muttered.

The Silvery Blade was a garden personally designed by one of the higherups. When the training center was built, they had made a massive investment. However, it came with a condition: their imperfect creations and discarded remnants would have a place to roam freely within that garden.

If something had gone wrong there...

A chill ran up Sarah’s spine, her hair standing on end. She shook her tightly bound ponytail sharply and gave an order. “Activate the defensive protocol, now!”

“Yes, ma’am!” the administrator replied, scrambling to obey.

***

“A true assassin must move so quietly that even a deer cannot sense him, yet radiate enough killing intent to make a tiger collapse at a single glance.”

Saito could feel that monstrous, unearthly aura that made the hairs on his neck stand on end. Something inhuman that didn’t belong in this world was here. However, knowing it existed didn’t mean he could fight it.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“M-my arm! My arm, it’s—aaaah!”

Screams tore through the air, ending abruptly as each life was snuffed out.

“Captain! We can’t just die like this!”

“What do we do! Ugh! Aaaaaaah!”

“Ugh, you idiots! Hide behind your clones, now!”

Thunk!

[Your clone has been destroyed.]

[Your clone has been destroyed.]

[Your clone has been destroyed.]

...

It didn’t matter how many clones they made because they vanished almost instantly, shredded by an overwhelming power. Still, they fought desperately.

“Shadow Clone,” Saito shouted.

[Failed!]

[You don’t have enough stamina.]

I can’t do this anymore.

Was this it? Was he just supposed to wait for death, like the others piling up around him?

“P-please... Help me, Saito!”

Saito turned to the voice. A man missing his lower half crawled toward him, weakly clutching at Saito’s pants. Saito squeezed his eyes shut, unable to answer, tears of blood streaking down his face. As much as he wanted to say yes, even as an empty promise, he couldn’t.

“Jun, just take whoever’s left and run,” Saito ordered, his voice hoarse but steady.

“Huh? But how could we possibly do that in this situation—”

“I’ll hold them off,” he said quietly.

“Captain...!”

With that solemn declaration, Saito gathered the last of his strength and snatched up the remaining ninja stars. There were three, maybe four at most.

Suddenly, he was lifted off the ground, and the ninja stars flew from his hand. They buried themselves in the dirt, never touching the invisible monster that had seized him.

Then, his neck was pulled up.

“Gaaah!”

Agony flooded his senses and a faint, slicing sound of a sword cut through the haze.

Swoosh—!

The world flipped upside down as his head slammed into the ground. Dirt filled his mouth; the taste of iron and soil mixed as he struggled to lift his head.

Under the pitch-black night sky, a dark blade caught a single sliver of moonlight.

What the hell?

A man stood there, drenched head to toe in blood, his face caked with dirt and gore. His appearance was a wreck, but his eyes glowed with a terrifying light. For an instant, Saito thought one of the unseen demons had taken form.

However, the man simply let out a long breath. “Ha...”

He looked around at the carnage, the shredded remains of men and monsters alike, and muttered bitterly, “... Damn bastards.”

His jaw clenched tight as his teeth ground together.

That voice... Lee Eun-Ho?

Through his blurred vision, Saito forced his gaze to focus. The moment their eyes met, a shiver ran down his spine. He felt a killing intent so sharp it felt like his skin was being pierced by needles.

That murderous aura was so thick that it distorted the air itself. It didn’t come from intent or training, but radiated from his very existence, a pressure that crushed everything around him.

Thump!

Without a word, Eun-Ho moved.

Swoosh—! Swish!

Then, Eun-Ho’s blade carved arcs of silver through the night, each strike swift and precise. With a single stroke, blood sprayed from the empty air. With another, flesh fell in pieces to the ground.

Saito realized that he had been gaping in awe, entranced by what felt like an aura shining like moonlight. He hurriedly closed his mouth.

Then, after a brief struggle, he managed to say, “H-how did you even...”

Swish—!

“... get here?”

Saito hadn’t even blinked nor looked away, but Eun-Ho was gone from sight. Had Saito been possessed by a ghost? There was no other explanation.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Otherwise, how could dozens of demons suddenly lie in pieces across the empty courtyard? They were the very same demons that, just moments ago, had been toying with their prey like mere playthings.

[You have defeated the Icy Blast Gaki!]

[You have earned 200 Welfare Points.]

“Fuh...”

A hoarse breath escaped Saito’s throat. It was nothing more than a thin hiss of air.

The faint sound drew the attention of a long-haired girl. She rushed toward him, shouting, “He’s alive! He’s still breathing!”

However, her voice barely registered in Saito’s ears. His mind was still blank, lost in the image of the being he had seen at death’s door.

“Mister! Call Sol-Ah, now!” she yelled again.

Saito couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Despite slaughtering the Gakis in a storm of blood and chaos, Eun-Ho was breathing evenly, as calm as if he’d just taken a walk. His stride didn’t falter, not even by a fraction. He moved with unshakable stability.

“O-okay, Young Lady!”

Thooom—!

A wave of five-colored light bloomed around Saito, wrapping him in a shimmering barrier. He stared at it blankly, his thoughts hazy.

It’s him.

The certainty welled up from deep within, so strong it almost revived his fading strength.

Beeeep!

Just then, a piercing alarm tore through the air, vibrating down to his very soul.

[Critical threat has been detected within Silvery Blade.]

[Defense protocol has been activated.]

Beeeep!

The darkness receded and the sky was dyed a deep red. Then, between the crimson clouds, oil-like holes began to form, blotting the heavens like stains.

Beeeep!

The ground heaved upward in several places, as if something vast that slumbered beneath the soil was now awakening. Saito scrambled back just in time as the earth split open.

Beeeep!

“Gaaah!”

A suffocating wave of killing intent pierced him from every direction. It was as if thousands of razor-edged saw blades had coiled around him, twisting and tearing his flesh apart piece by piece.

“Just kill me...” he gasped, on the verge of begging for death.

Twang—! Twang!

Then, a new sound filled the air. It was a melody.

Fwooooosh—!

With it came light, and a vast dome of energy unfolded, dwarfing the previous shield entirely.

Then, a deep, thunderous voice resonated through the space. “Well, well... The cries of these pitiful hands reached so high that the defense protocol was granted permission to act. But I almost harmed a precious musician by mistake.”

Eun-Ho’s hand froze mid-motion. “Huh?”

In that instant, everything stopped, including the music, the shield, even the raging wind. Silence swallowed the world whole, heavy and absolute.

Then, from within that stillness, someone said again, “Answer me, child. Have you passed the trial of the pipa?”

Eun-Ho slowly began to speak.