Chapter 51: Black Star

When Row escaped from the Snowflake Tower, Elaine immediately mobilized everyone who could move to chase after him.

Fortunately, the assistant commander, Anduril, who could take charge as the leader, was uninjured. There were also magicians from the Snowflake Tower who hadn’t been involved in the battle on the fifth underground floor.

It was a sufficient force to chase down a single, battered wolf.

As soon as the unit formation was completed, they set out.

They returned not long after.

Elaine wondered if something had happened, but the expressions on the faces of the pursuit team were bright.

Beside them stood Grace, who had returned after defeating the assassins.

And next to Grace was…

Huh? A huge mop? Oh, no. Upon closer inspection, it was a person.

It was Row, who looked as if he would never be able to walk again, bound and captured.

“This is the guy who attacked the Snowflake Tower, right?”

Elaine nodded, still dazed.

Grace frowned and gave Row’s head a sharp slap.

Already unconscious, Row collapsed like a doll, unable to resist.

“Your Grace, how did you manage to capture this man?”

“Ah.”

Thorn had lured Grace and her guards to the village of Kamliber to begin his ambush.

However, his opening attack, a concealed throw of a dagger, ended in failure, and his hiding place was discovered by the enraged Grace.

“There you are. You said you were hunting me? Go ahead and try.”

Grace walked toward him like an executioner pronouncing a death sentence, her sword hanging loosely in her hand.

Seeing Grace advancing toward him with unyielding focus, Thorn smirked.

“As expected of the famous Northern Archduke! I didn’t expect this to be easy.”

With that, he snapped his fingers, signaling his team.

At Thorn’s signal, bombs flew in from all directions this time.

Unlike daggers, bombs were difficult to deflect without risking an explosion, making them harder to defend against.

Grace, however, glanced at the incoming bombs and calmly activated her technique.

The Lion’s Blade, King’s Roar.

Kwa-gaga-gang!

A massive sword energy spread out, destroying all the bombs in mid-air.

“Hmm. I had high hopes for this,” Thorn muttered as he watched the fireworks in the sky. But his smirk vanished as he threw himself to the side in a panic.

“!”

Grace had already closed the distance and brought her sword down in a wide arc.

Boom!

The spot where Thorn had been standing caved in as though struck by a boulder.

“What’s with all the dodging? I thought you wanted a fun hunt.”

Grace once again let her sword hang loosely and fixed her gaze on Thorn.

“You said this would be an exciting hunt, but your face says otherwise. Are you disappointed?”

“Guh!” Thorn couldn’t deny it.

The initial dagger throw had been a mere distraction.

The real attack was the poison he had planted on the ground. However, Grace had detected it immediately and neutralized it with a sweep of her sword energy.

‘Now I understand why the boss wasn’t fully confident about this plan.’

He had likely anticipated that traps wouldn’t work on Grace.

Even so, the assassination team had been assigned to her with the hope of either killing her or at least causing significant damage, even at the cost of their own lives.

After all, the relationship between Thorn and Row was purely transactional. There was no loyalty or camaraderie between them.

Despite realizing Row’s true intentions, Thorn didn’t retreat.

‘If I manage to kill the Northern Archduke, I’ll get to meet someone even higher up than Row.’

As someone born and raised in the underworld, Thorn knew the truth.

Even if Row was considered the king of crime, there was someone above him giving orders.

Why else would Row have come all the way to the far north, risking his organization and his life to destroy a mysterious mineral called Bingjeong?

To manipulate a ruler of the underworld like Row as if he were a pawn…

Whoever it was, they had to be someone with unimaginable power.

If Thorn wanted to draw their attention, he had to take down the Northern Archduke here.

‘Some of my plans have been foiled, but I still have a few tricks left.’

Resolving himself, Thorn blew a short whistle.

Grace immediately recognized it as a signal and shouted, “Guards! Form groups of five and cover each other’s blind spots! Monitor not just the front, back, left, and right, but above and below as well!”

Her instructions were precise, as if she had experience dealing with assassins.

However, the Black Crow Assassination Team, composed of the best assassins, was not easy to counter with standard tactics alone.

“Hmm?”

The leader of the third squad, Gia, noticed a strange change and frowned.

Not only did his brow furrow, but his vision also began to blur.

Grace, too, sensed the abnormality.

“Magic?”

There was no other explanation for the sudden fog that rolled in on a previously clear day.

Could there be a magician among the assassins?

“Hu-hu, no matter what, dealing with this will be difficult.”

Assassins are generally known for their mastery of stealth techniques and weapon skills, particularly hidden weapons or daggers.

However, very few consider the possibility of an assassin who has mastered magic.

After all, a magician is fundamentally an intellectual with reason and common sense. What kind of fool would abandon the path of a magician to become an assassin instead?

Unless they were a villain with a completely twisted personality.

And, of course, not all magicians are virtuous.

“Like before, swinging your sword won’t help. This is magic. If the mist disperses, I can simply replenish it.”

As the fog thickened, Thorne blew his whistle twice.

Sound had the unfortunate drawback of reaching enemies as well.

But he did it deliberately.

In the dense fog, an unknown signal echoing near their ears would stir not only wariness but also fear.

The hunt had already begun.

Grace, whose vision was obstructed by the fog, heightened her senses through mana detection.

Most likely, the other knights of the Third Division were doing the same.

The problem was—

“Not all of the escort unit are knights.”

Naturally, even within the escort unit, there were more soldiers than knights.

Few of them would possess even the basic ability to sense mana.

Which meant that most of the escort unit had become lost in the fog.

It was undoubtedly a crisis.

Yet, Grace smirked.

“It seems you prepared this as a trump card, but aren’t you underestimating the North too much?”

With that, she infused her sword with mana.

Lion Sword—King’s Roar.

Grace’s wide-reaching sword aura swept away the fog, illuminating Camriver Village for a brief moment before the mist surged back in.

But that was enough.

“Run to the right and escape the village!”

At Grace’s command, the escort unit swiftly moved in unison, exiting the fog’s range.

Seeing this, Thorne sneered.

‘Fools! Did you think we wouldn’t anticipate this?’

This was exactly what they wanted.

Waiting outside were the most skilled members of the assassination team.

Not to mention, the area was already laden with silent traps.

Thorne pulled out a magic tool, a silent signal transmitter, from his coat and sent a signal to the assassination team before moving himself.

‘A thick fog also limits our vision.’

But the assassins of Black Crow were all experts in reading presence.

They could track their targets through the faintest sounds.

Moreover, when Grace cleared the mist earlier, they had already confirmed their targets’ positions.

Even though nothing was visible in the fog, the escort unit accurately moved toward the village exit while the assassins pursued them closely.

And then, as Grace and the escort unit entered the trap zone near the village exit—

‘Now!’

Pababababak!

As if waiting for the perfect moment, hidden weapons shot out from the houses the moment someone triggered a trap.

Using that as a signal, the assassins launched their ambush.

Cheng! Chaeng! Cheng!

The fog obscured the view, but the chilling sound of metal clashing filled the air.

It signified a successful ambush.

If the targets failed to escape and fell into confusion, and if their leader became distracted trying to take control of the situation—

The Northern Grand Duke’s head would be theirs.

Thorne suddenly felt an odd sense of unease.

‘Why aren’t there any screams?’

With hidden weapons raining down and assassins launching their attacks, the knights might be fine, but the soldiers should be screaming in pain.

It wasn’t as if the regular army had undergone training to suppress their cries like them.

Why was there only the sound of clashing metal, but no human voices?

He had already sent the signal to dispel the fog for a final sweep. The view would clear up soon.

Landing on a rooftop near the trap area, Thorne waited.

“Hm?!”

The moment the fog lifted, he finally grasped the situation—and his face twisted in shock.

The traps had activated. The assassins had carried out their assault.

Yet—

The ones lying on the ground were not the soldiers of the North—

They were the assassination team!

“What the—?”

There was no time for contemplation.

As soon as the fog cleared, Grace charged forward again.

Kwaang!

Thorne dodged, and the impact of her strike destroyed a house. Grace glanced at it with an apologetic expression.

“Once this is over, the villagers should live in one of Wintercannon’s fine mansions for a while. Their town was ruined because of these scoundrels.”

“What the hell… how did you stop it?”

“Oh? You sound flustered. Dropping the formal speech, are you?”

“Answer me.”

“It’s nothing special. I just have outstanding subordinates. Loyal, brave, and strong.”

“Subordinates?”

Thorne glanced at the escort unit out of the corner of his eye.

And then, he realized—

Not a single soldier had been wounded by the hidden weapons.

No matter how skilled the Northern army was, it was impossible to block all those incoming projectiles in such poor visibility.

Then where had all those hidden weapons gone?

‘What kind of barbaric strategy is this…?’

The soldiers remained unharmed.

Thanks to the knights, who could sense mana even through the fog, taking the lead and blocking the throwing daggers.

Some daggers had managed to slip through and lodged into their bodies, but even then, the particularly burly knight and the rough-looking female knight appeared completely unfazed despite having multiple daggers stuck in them.

Were they monsters?

‘A knight taking attacks in place of the soldiers? I’ve never heard of such a strategy before.’

Of course, this was something that could only happen in the Northern Guard, where there was no distinction between knights and soldiers—everyone was brothers and comrades.

The knights had blocked the daggers, and the soldiers following behind had immediately formed a defensive formation to counter the assassins’ ambush.

No matter how thick the fog was, people could still see those right next to them, and in direct combat, the Northern Guard—the elite of the North—was confident they wouldn’t lose to anyone.

As a result, the ambush had accomplished nothing beyond slightly injuring the knights.

‘No, that explanation alone isn’t enough. No matter how well they responded, dodging both the daggers and the assassins’ follow-up attacks shouldn’t have been this easy.’

At that moment, Thorne noticed something strange.

The wounds on some of the assassins.

They were too minor to have been inflicted by a longsword.

Rather than sword wounds… they looked like injuries from throwing daggers.

No way.

“Hah, does the Northern Duke have assassins among his subordinates?”

“Oh dear.”

“Hmm?”

“I know you’re an excellent assassin, but you sure lack awareness. That one’s an extreme introvert. If someone tries to uncover their identity, they just can’t stand still.”

“What are you talking ab—?”

A chill ran down Thorne’s spine.

Just now, ‘someone’ had been watching him from nearby.

The location… was it the village entrance?

“Don’t worry. You won’t have to face that child. After all, you’re about to die here.”

As the grim reaper wielding a sword instead of a scythe approached, Thorne clicked his tongue and pulled out a curved dagger from his coat.

“Looks like I have no choice but to deal with you myself.”

The moment he finished speaking, he vanished from sight.

It wasn’t stealth—just sheer speed.

Even Grace’s eyes lost track of his movements for an instant.

“1.”

Sensing a presence behind her, Grace quickly swung her sword.

Clang!

“A throwing dagger, huh?”

Then, more daggers came flying—three at a time—from the right, the left, above, and below.

‘To throw daggers at such a high speed while precisely aiming for vital points… This level of assassination skill is among the best.’

If an assassin of this caliber had appeared in the past, she wouldn’t have been able to become the Northern Duke.

Grace smirked wryly and deflected another dagger that came straight at her.

Unlike before, using her Lion Sword technique to devastate the surroundings wasn’t an option.

If she blocked her own vision, it would only give the assassin the advantage.

‘Below!’

Clang!

She sensed the attack just in time and blocked it, but something felt different.

This time, it wasn’t a throwing dagger.

Thorne had charged in directly.

The dagger throws had just been a way to gauge her reaction time.

“Your speed is on par with Ro.”

As she blocked his dagger strikes, she suddenly recalled one of Aran’s companions and muttered in admiration.

“?!?”

For some reason, Thorne flinched for a moment, and his speed noticeably slowed.

Grace’s instincts didn’t miss that opening.

Boom!

Although she wasn’t as fast as Thorne or Ro, Grace was still one of the strongest knights in the world.

Thorne was sent flying by her strike but regained his footing and vanished from sight again, accelerating once more.

“Quite a sturdy dagger you’ve got there.”

Grace admired the dagger that had managed to withstand her sword’s energy.

“You’re my enemy, and you fight dirty, but I’ll acknowledge your speed. Among all the opponents I’ve faced, you’re the fastest.”

Grace sheathed her sword.

Despite the battle not yet being over, she had put her weapon away. It was a bizarre sight.

But Thorne saw it as a golden opportunity.

No matter what she was planning, his speed would surpass her strategy.

Before she could pull off whatever trick she was plotting, he would slit her throat and escape.

Channeling all his mana and strength into his legs, he pushed his already blistering speed even further.

His charge was aimed directly at Grace.

“But you were unlucky in your choice of weapon. There’s no one who can defeat me with a sword.”

Grace’s voice grew faint as Thorne closed the distance, aiming to slash her throat.

“?!?”

Thorne felt something off in his hand.

His dagger… slipped.

“A dagger is still a sword.”

The dagger that had slipped from Thorne’s grasp didn’t fall to the ground.

Instead, it moved on its own in midair—

And then it shot toward Thorne at high speed, slashing and tearing his body apart.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!

“Kugh! Guh! What… is this?!”

Phantom Blade Technique—Prey Hunt.

Grace’s Phantom Blade, controlled by her mana, wasn’t bound by human speed.

During their clash, her mana had already seeped into Thorne’s dagger.

Even as he tried to flee, the dagger moved like a poltergeist, severing his tendons and ensuring he would never run again.

When his screams finally ceased, the relentless slashing stopped as well.

The dagger, as if currying favor with its new master, gently flew back to Grace’s hand.

She approached Thorne, who lay sprawled on the ground, and asked,

“So, where are my people?”

Despite his mangled legs, Thorne trembled as he tried to signal the remaining assassins for one last counterattack.

“I wasn’t asking you.”

Grace opened her hand, releasing the dagger.

It flew off somewhere.

Though Thorne couldn’t see where it went, lying on the ground as he was—

For some reason, a terrifying thought struck him.

Someone had just been impaled and killed.

And fear overtook him.