Chapter 29

Chapter 29.

Rian’s breathing grew cold and slow, like the surrounding air. The interval between one inhale and one exhale seemed several times longer than an ordinary person’s. His heartbeat, too, sank into stillness like a beast in deep hibernation.

His gaze was nailed to the entrance of the valley, to the point where darkness had just begun. Neither the branches obstructing his vision nor the shapes of rocks that could cause illusions entered his eyes. Only the empty road itself was one vast target.

Time passed. One hour, two hours. The shadows grew longer and longer until they finally swallowed the entire valley. Now darkness had fallen, making it difficult to distinguish even a single pebble on the ground with the naked eye.

When night came, new sounds awoke. The chorus of nameless grass insects and the cry of a hungry beast from far away filled the silence. The eerie noise of the wind sweeping past the cliff was added as well.

Even amid all those sounds, Rian did not blink once.

Rather than a living creature, he looked like a piece of weathered rock that had guarded that spot for hundreds of years. A part of the scenery swallowed by darkness. No one could sense his presence.

Clack. Clack-clack.

At that moment, an alien sound dug into Rian’s ear. An artificial, regular friction noise that pierced through every natural sound.

It was the sound of horse hooves firmly tamping down the dirt road. Not one, but at least three.

‘They’re coming.’

There was no change in Rian’s body. The tension in his muscles, maintained like a taut bowstring, and his posture, hardened like a rock, remained exactly as they were. Only his eyes sank deeper and colder than before. They were the eyes of a beast that had discovered its prey at the end of hunger.

A short while later, three mounted silhouettes appeared from the darkness at the valley entrance. Beneath the faint moonlight, their silhouettes rose clearly.

Imperial army cavalry. There was no mistaking the light reflected from their helmets and armor. And the one riding in the middle of the formation. He matched the portrait on the parchment, Rian’s first target.

Messenger Team Leader Pero.

Rian’s vision fixed precisely on Pero. Ignoring the distance of several hundred meters and the thick darkness, his eyes clearly captured even the ornament on the top of Pero’s helmet and the scratches on the shoulder of his armor. He seemed close enough to grasp.

The cavalrymen slowed slightly as they entered the valley. It was a natural measure for passing through narrow, rugged terrain. At the same time, it was also an action mixed with the unconscious relief that this place was a safe zone.

The cavalryman riding close beside Pero opened his mouth. His voice came faintly, mixed with the sound of hooves.

“Team Leader, there has been no signal from the scout patrol we sent ahead.”

Pero snorted. It was a sound full of displeasure.

“They must be lazing around somewhere. Or it means this damned valley is that safe.”

As if proving those words, Pero slightly loosened the strength in the hand holding the reins. His horse’s gait became even more relaxed.

The vigilance from his long mission could be seen fading from his face, if only very faintly. It was only a fleeting instant, but Rian’s eyes did not miss it.

The prey’s carelessness. For a hunter, it was the finest moment.

Rian’s fingers firmly wrapped around the bowstring. The feel of the taut sinew reached his callused fingertips.

Very slowly, millimeter by millimeter, he began to lift the bow without a sound.

There was not even the slightest tremor in his muscles. It was a perfectly controlled movement, like that of an artisan who had repeated only this motion for decades. Bones, muscles, and nerves alike seemed to exist solely for this one shot.

The tip of the bow pointed directly at Pero.

The cavalryman on the other side glanced around uneasily and asked,

“Still, should we not be careful? The Ghost of Gallows Heights, I mean. He may still be nearby.”

Pero replied curtly. Along with irritation, a trace of arrogance was mixed into his voice.

“That bastard is a rat bastard crawling along the ground. He cannot climb up and down sheer cliffs like a monkey.”

Pero turned his head slightly to the side to answer.

It was at that exact moment. The side of his neck, the unprotected area between his armor and helmet, was perfectly exposed in Rian’s vision. A fatal vital point the size of a palm.

Rian inhaled deeply.

The cold night air entering his lungs awakened every sense in his body as sharply as ice.

He began to draw the bowstring smoothly.

Creak!

The old oak longbow screamed as it reached its limit. But the sound was buried in the wind flowing along the cliff and did not reach below.

The taut bowstring touched the corner of Rian’s mouth. Full draw. A state of extreme tension where it could be pulled no farther.

In that instant, every sound around him vanished.

The sound of grass insects, the sound of wind, even the howls of beasts coming from far away were all erased. In Rian’s vision, everything except Pero turned into a blurry background. The two other cavalrymen, the horses they rode, and the rocky walls of the valley all lost meaning.

Only Pero. His neck.

The direction of the wind. The humidity of the air. The distance to Pero. The subtle twist of the arrow.

Not his head, but his body, the senses throughout his entire body, integrated every variable. The senses of the dead archer Elias finished tens of thousands of calculations in an instant and drew one perfect trajectory.

Rian’s upper body moved instinctively, ever so slightly. With a movement impossible to identify by sight, he corrected the final trajectory.

He stopped breathing.

The world froze.

The fingers gripping the string released as smoothly as flowing water.

WHIZZ—!

The arrow burst forth with its compressed force and flew as a single black line cutting through the darkness.

***

The frozen flow of time returned to normal.

Thwack!

A dull sound, like a ripe fruit bursting, rang through the valley.

Pero’s body, mounted on his horse, bent far backward. In his neck, the black arrow shaft that had been in Rian’s hand moments ago was buried deeply all the way to the root.

Pero’s eyes widened with terror and shock, as if he could not believe it.

With a choking sound like the death cry of a beast, blood surged backward through his windpipe. He tried to say something, but only foaming blood flowed from his throat.

He lost the reins he had been holding. As if letting go of the final thread of life, his body collapsed limply sideways from the saddle.

Thud!

Pero’s body fell heavily onto the dirt. The dull noise of armor striking the ground sounded especially loud.

The two cavalrymen beside him realized what had happened belatedly and stopped their horses in horror.

“T-Team Leader!”

“Sniper fire! Enemy sniper! Damn it”

One hurriedly jumped down from his horse and ran to the fallen Pero, while the other drew his sword and frantically looked around the surrounding cliffs. His pupils shook in every direction, seized with fear.

But in his eyes, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness and grotesquely shaped rocks. He could not even guess the direction the attack had come from.

Immediately after firing the arrow, Rian had already set the bow down on the ground.

Without an inch of hesitation, he turned and slipped out of the crack in the rocks.

The fastest and most hidden route, the one he had already marked. He pressed himself to the cliff like a lizard and began heading downward.

His movements were light as fallen leaves scattered by an autumn wind, and quiet as a shadow seeping into stone. His hands and feet found perfect holds wherever they touched, and not even a handful of dirt slid down.

From below, the cavalrymen’s shouts rang out like echoes. Their voices were steeped more deeply in bewilderment and fear than anger.

Rian paid no attention to their voices.

He focused only on the next action. Securing evidence. And retreat.

Arriving at the valley floor in an instant, Rian approached the fallen Pero along the deepest darkness cast by the rock wall.

The cavalryman examining Pero’s condition, together with his comrade, was shouting and watching the cliff above, so he did not sense the shadow of death approaching soundlessly from behind him at all.

Rian crouched silently beside Pero’s corpse. The reeking smell of blood rose from the body that had not yet fully lost its warmth.

He drew the dagger at his waist and cut the leather strap of the thick messenger bag hanging from Pero’s shoulder.

Slice.

The sharp blade smoothly split the leather.

Rian firmly tucked the bag into his clothes.

Just then, the cavalryman who sensed something strange behind him hurriedly turned around.

“Who......!”

But there was nothing there except Pero’s corpse lying in a pool of blood. The source of the faint noise he had definitely heard just moments ago had vanished without a trace.

The cavalryman’s face turned white with terror. He stumbled backward with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

Rian had already hidden himself completely in the darkness of the forest on the opposite side.

***

Rian left the valley and moved quickly through the forest.

There was no sound in his steps. His feet avoided dry branches and chose wet soil to step on. Like a beast moving as part of the forest, his movements were natural and covert.

Only after running for a long while and securing a safe distance where there was no risk of pursuit did he briefly stop beneath a massive oak tree.

He opened the messenger bag he had taken from inside his clothes. The smell of wet leather mixed with the faint smell of blood and stung his nose.

Inside were several parchment scrolls and a small wooden box about the size of his palm.

Rian unfolded one parchment scroll. Relying on the faint moonlight, he checked its contents.

[Current encampment status and supply inventory of Supply Units Seven, Eight, and Eleven. Items requested for replenishment within three days.]

It was a regular report on the imperial army’s unit deployments and supply status.

He checked another parchment as well.

It was a separate secret letter densely filled with meaningless characters that seemed to be code. He could not decipher it, but he could easily guess its importance.

‘This goes to Kairon.’

Rian put everything back into the bag and tied the opening tightly.

He slung the bag over his back. Now this was not merely evidence, but the first result born from his mission.

Rian took out the old parchment with his target list from inside his clothes.

Then, with the tip of his dagger, he drew a thick, rough line over the portrait of Messenger Team Leader Pero. An indelible mark was engraved.

The first mission was over.

He carefully tucked the parchment back inside his clothes.

Rian’s gaze turned east, toward another ridge sunk in darkness.

According to the map, that was the area controlled by his next target, Eric, the Senior Archer of the imperial army. One of the empire’s finest master archers, dispatched to capture the “Ghost of Gallows Heights.”

No satisfaction or relief at completing the mission surfaced on his face. Neither joy nor sorrow, nor any other stir of emotion.

He was merely indifferent and quiet, like an artisan who had finished one task and naturally moved on to the next.

Rian began walking again. Only the cold moonlight silently shone on his thin back.

‘Next.’

Without hesitation, he disappeared completely into the deeper darkness of the forest.