Chapter 137

Chapter 137: In the Rain (1)

Creeeak, thud.

They must’ve planned to warm themselves with liquor and leave.

As soon as the drinks arrived, the three men downed them and went back out of the inn.

I rose from my seat on reflex, then stopped.

‘If I follow them….’

I’ll definitely get torn apart.

If they really are members of the Breath of the Angel, there’s no way I can take them on with this frail body. Unless it was one-on-one.

“Then take this chance to think long and hard about it. Why I’m doing this.”

For a moment, Ian’s voice hummed in my ears.

“Here. The bill.”

Reason held me back, but my body had long since slipped free of reason’s control.

I grabbed a handful of coins from my pocket, tossed them, and bolted outside.

Rain was still falling in the street.

***

“The rain’s coming down even harder.”

The man in a black mask fidgeted with his hands.

On a day like this, tracking a target was twice as difficult.

Because the rain washed all traces away.

“But it feels like someone’s been following us for a while.”

“I felt it too. What should we do, Greg?”

The man called Greg slowly turned his head.

The two subordinates were staring at him, as if waiting for his orders.

“…Doesn’t look like they’re even trying to hide their presence.”

The presence that had been tailing them was closing in on this place with a fierce momentum.

“Want to wait for them?”

“We don’t even know who it is….”

“If they don’t even know how to hide their presence, they’re probably just some nobody,” Greg replied while looking at the soggy ground. “Anyway, with this weather, we can’t move.”

On top of that, the bridge on the path they meant to take had collapsed.

The small creek running beneath it had swollen hugely because of the rain.

Trying to cross on horseback would be extremely dangerous.

Whooosh.

The three men stayed put, listening to the roar of the raging water.

Not long after, the owner of the presence chasing them revealed herself.

“…This is unexpected.”

Greg looked at the person who’d stopped about twenty paces away.

The unknown figure, hood pulled low, jumped down from her horse as if she didn’t care about the muddy ground at all.

The wet hood slid off as she moved.

“To think it’d be some woman chasing us.”

Faded brown hair stuck to her forehead and cheeks.

Hands so pale at the knuckles they looked drained, despite her flushed cheeks.

She was breathing roughly, like she might collapse at any moment.

But even through the heavy rain, her eyes alone burned bright.

Those eerie green eyes were vivid enough to sear themselves into memory.

“Hah! How dare you, woman. Looks like you’ve lost your fear.”

The moment one of the subordinates realized the other party was a woman, he snorted and raised his voice.

“Who are you? It feels like you’ve been chasing us for a while. Looks like you’ve got business with us?”

The woman didn’t answer.

It seemed like she was catching her breath, then she suddenly shot back, “Are you the Breath of the Angel?”

It was a small voice, almost buried under the sound of rain.

But there wasn’t a single person here who didn’t hear it.

The masked men’s eyes shook.

‘How does that woman know about the Breath of the Angel?’

Without a word, they exchanged glances.

The woman who appeared out of nowhere wasn’t their target, and she wasn’t someone connected to their commission, either.

But now that she’d noticed who they were, they couldn’t let her go.

Swish.

In the blink of an eye, one of the men hurled a dagger at the woman.

But he failed to achieve what he wanted.

“What the….”

The man’s eyes flew wide in shock.

The woman he’d meant to kill had caught the flying dagger with her bare hand.

“The Breath of the Angel.”

The woman slowly shifted her grip on the dagger.

The blade’s edge pointed toward the men.

“I heard it was already gone. What are you?”

Raindrops dripped steadily from beneath her long eyelashes.

Her face looked so fragile, as if she were on the verge of tears.

Even though her gaze was so murderous it was hard to believe.

“You’d better not think about denying it. I’m asking because I already know.”

How in the world did that woman know about the Breath of the Angel?

Greg, who was standing at the very back, opened his mouth with a confused expression. “I don’t know how much you think you know, but….”

To be honest, even if his subordinate’s throw had missed and the woman hadn’t died, Greg had planned to just let it go.

Until just moments ago, he still had that much paltry mercy left.

But not anymore.

“If you’re saying you know everything, then we can’t just let this slide.”

Greg gave a small nod toward the subordinates on either side of him.

At once, they leapt down from their horses.

Shhraaak.

Even on the soaked ground, their movements were flawless.

The highly trained assassins reached toward the woman.

No, they tried to.

“Huh?”

He blinked as he stared at the dagger lodged squarely between his brows.

It was the very dagger he’d thrown at the woman just moments ago.

In an instant, his vision was dyed red.

“What the….”

The man who’d charged alongside him froze when he saw his companion collapse without making a sound.

A sinister premonition swept through his entire body.

“You.”

The man frowned as he stared at the woman standing calmly before him.

“You’re not an ordinary bitch.”

Once again, the woman didn’t answer.

She only stared straight ahead with eyes gone cold.

‘What did I just see?’

Meanwhile, Greg, who was still mounted on his horse, frowned deeply.

He recalled the scene he’d just witnessed.

‘The direction of the blade clearly changed midair.’

His subordinate wasn’t so incompetent that he couldn’t dodge a dagger flying straight at him.

In fact, he’d even noticed the woman preparing to throw and deliberately moved into a blind spot.

‘But how could the direction of a blade change after it had already left her hand?’

Unless she’d used magic.

Greg’s expression darkened.

“Tch.”

The last remaining subordinate hurried back to Greg’s side.

Keeping his guard up, he spoke quickly, “Greg, that woman’s probably our kind. And she’s stronger than we thought.”

“…I think so too.”

He’d been wondering who the crazy bastard was, chasing after them like that in this weather.

Turns out it was one of their own.

‘But as far as I know, there isn’t a single female assassin with skills like that.’

Of course, there had been one once.

The first female leader of an assassin organization, infamous as the “Reaper of the Silver Thread.”

Kyla Angel.

But that was already a year ago.

‘Kyla Angel is dead.’

Greg hadn’t belonged to the Breath of the Angel back then.

So he hadn’t seen her death with his own eyes, but he’d heard she died a particularly gruesome death.

They said the one who killed Kyla Angel burned her so thoroughly that they couldn’t even find her body.

“…Well, that’s not what matters.”

With a face gone cold, Greg drew the broad sword strapped to his back.

“What a shame. Just now, I gained one more reason I have to kill you.”

If she was strong enough to take out a member in an instant, it seemed better to eliminate her for good here.

Besides, the woman seemed to harbor a very strong hatred for the Breath of the Angel. If they let her live, it was obvious it would come back to bite them.

“Yeah, I figured you’d do that.”

Meanwhile, the woman didn’t look afraid at all, even as the sturdy assassins bared their killing intent at her.

She forced her rain-chilled lips into a thin smile.

Her white teeth flashed like a beast’s.

“Let’s make it so whoever captures first gets everything.”

Whether it’s money, information, or life.

The woman planted one foot on the dead assassin’s body, then lifted her wet skirt slightly.

And she drew two daggers hidden between her boots.

Clear rainwater streamed down the silver blades.

“Greg, I’ll go first….”

“Too much talk.”

At the cold voice that rang by his ear, the man’s eyes widened.

The woman, who’d already closed the distance, was swinging a dagger at him.

“Since when did an assassin put words before hands?”

“Ghuuugh!”

Clang, clang.

With a groan, the man was shoved back several steps.

Even though she was far smaller than him, there was considerable strength packed into her blade.

“You damned…!”

But even so, she was still a woman.

Compared to him, her strength, build, and weight were all overwhelmingly at a disadvantage.

Spitting a curse, the man shoved her away.

“Huh?”

But there was already no one in front of him.

A voice came from above the man’s head.

“Come to think of it.”

When did she jump up again?

To be able to move like that in this rain.

More than that, why couldn’t he move at all right now?

The man’s fingertips twitched as thoughts raced through his mind.

“Seems like one mouth is enough to answer with.”

At the woman’s words, the man’s eyes widened more and more.

And then he realized his head had already been separated from his body.

“Isn’t it?”

Passing the man whose breath had already stopped, the woman stepped toward Greg.

‘Dangerous.’

Greg bit his dry lips.

He was sure after that strike.

The woman in front of him was far stronger than he was.

Then there was only one option.

Neeeeigh!

A horse’s neigh rang out through the sheets of rain.

Greg yanked the reins and tried to flee.

“If you were going to run, you should’ve done it earlier.”

A mocking voice circled his ear.

At the same time, the horse Greg was riding crashed down to the ground.

“Ghk!”

Thrown from the saddle, Greg clutched his arm and panted.

The horse he’d been riding, a dagger stuck in its hindquarters, bolted off into the distance.

“Looking at you, you seem like their leader.”

The woman pressed her foot down on Greg’s chest as he tried to rise.

Her gaze looking down at him was cold as ice, yet inside it, you could feel a heat like deep lava churning.

“Answer me.”

The green-eyed woman asked in a small but clear voice.

“What happened to the Breath of the Angel?”