I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills
Chapter 28 The Bait Was Taken

“This is interesting. If I defeat the crow claiming to be the lord of the empire’s underworld, I’m sure to receive high praise.”

Garda swung his greatsword with what seemed to be considerable confidence in his skills.

“Both contestants, ready, start!”

In the midst of those exchanges, the announcer shouted the start of the battle.

Holding his stance with the greatsword, Garda kicked off the ground and rushed in for a surprise attack.

His robe fluttered, fully revealing his figure for all to see.

People then belatedly realized his identity.

“Is he a child of the warrior tribe, Frear!”

His deep green irises and the distinctive tattoos drawn across his body gave him away.

The Frear, a minority tribe living in the most rugged mountains of the Empire by the same name, known for being a warrior people who inherently possessed superb martial prowess.

Garda was a child of that very tribe, Frear.

The Frear Mountains were rumored to be the most treacherous region affected by world erosion.

Growing up there, the Frear was naturally exceptional in martial prowess and were hence called a warrior people.

Wouldn’t a child of such a tribe be able to defeat even the Night Crow?

That thought briefly crossed their minds.

However, that thought soon changed as Kraush dodged all the strikes from Garda’s greatsword.

“He’s just avoiding the blows.”

“Doesn’t he have a chance to counterattack?”

While it looked like Kraush was preoccupied with evading, over time, that perception began to change.

Garda’s attacks were vicious.

Yet no matter how fierce, if none of those attacks hit, it was a different story.

Kraush didn’t get hit by a single one of Garda’s strikes.

It was as though he had almost premonitory skills to dodge all of Garda’s assaults.

“No, that’s not it.”

“It’s on purpose. He’s avoiding them on purpose!”

The onlookers showed shock at this revelation.

It seemed that Kraush was toying with his opponent, which would only be possible if there were no real skill difference.

“How can he move so agilely?”

“Isn’t he the Night Crow? Isn’t the term ‘noted assassin family’ not for nothing?”

“To hold the title of a noble family while living in the underworld and to be scoffed at. Who would have thought he’d be at this level?”

“The child of Frear can’t do anything against him.” Sᴇaʀᴄh the ɴovᴇlꜰirᴇ.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

People could not help but marvel.

The Night Crow, even if just a ruse, was called the noted family of assassins.

Perhaps due to this reason, Kraush’s darting moves made people even more convinced that he was truly the Night Crow.

“Damn, like a rat!”

Garda, facing off against Kraush, couldn’t help but show signs of anxiety.

No matter how much he was a child of the warrior tribe Frear, he was still just a 15-year-old boy.

Due to his lack of psychological maturity, the movement of Kraush and the judgmental eyes of the audience made him increasingly shrink back.

“Crap!”

Therefore, out of a desire to shake off his constrained state, he inadvertently swung his greatsword broadly.

Whoosh!

In the space where the greatsword had passed, Garda’s eyes widened in shock.

Because Kraush, who had been in sight moments before, had vanished.

“You’re too impatient.”

Right then, a voice came from behind him.

Slap!

The punch that Kraush had swung connected precisely across his back.

With the execution of the acupoint strike, an additional force wreaked havoc on Garda’s insides.

“Cough!”

Unable to withstand the shock, Garda tumbled to the floor.

No amount of physical training could defend against the acupoint strike.

Exhausted by the vigorous exertion and blow of the acupoint strike, Garda lost consciousness where he lay.

The referee, witnessing the scene firsthand, promptly raised his hand in favor of Kraush.

“The winner is Kradd!”

“Wowwwwww!”

An immense cheer erupted from the stands at that moment.

It was a natural response after catching a glimpse of the veiled prowess of the Night Crow.

‘Although I’m not actually the Night Crow.’

Kraush secretly smiled inwardly, having actively exploited the rumors spread by Sigrid.

By now, the real Night Crow must be incredibly flustered.

‘And he will approach.’

There’s no way he would leave a fake Night Crow be.

Kraush glimpsed Garda for a moment.

He felt sorry for him.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been a candidate for champion.

‘After all, since another from Frear has already secured admission to Rahelrn Academy, this wouldn’t matter to them.’

He was referring to another child from Frear, belonging to the Sky Generation.

With those thoughts, Kraush moved along.

In that instant, he caught the eye of someone in the audience.

It was Sizelry, smiling faintly at him.

Despite his warning, her presence at the martial arts competition meant that she too had probably caught wind of Sigrid’s plan.

She was smart, after Sizelry Ephania.

-So playing the Night Crow—a very fancy identity indeed.

Though her voice wasn’t heard, Kraush read her lips.

She was teasing him, knowing full well he was not actually the Night Crow.

Kraush left her be and made his way to the waiting room for the contestants.

‘I’ve scattered the bait.’

Now, all there was to do was wait for the one who took that bait to show up.

Clack, clack—

While Kraush walked down the corridor, footsteps echoed from the opposite end.

Sensing that it was a contestant, Kraush looked up.

A man stood there.

Tall, with long limbs, the figure sported dull black hair that hung long and ungroomed.

With lifeless eyes, the man looked at Kraush and then slightly curled the corners of his mouth.

“Is it fun to impersonate the Night Crow?”

Just as that thought crossed Kraush’s mind,

A white blade surged from below, halting just shy of Kraush’s throat.

Kraush had grabbed his wrist in time.

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to fall for it right away.”

Kraush looked up at him, snickering incredulously.

Was it good luck or bad luck?

The real Night Crow had come to discipline Kraush.

＊ ＊ ＊

Since ancient times, crows were considered ominous creatures that scavenge on the dead.

They are the beings closest to death, lingering besides the dying.

Such was the Night Crow bearing the name of these crows.

One of the assassins was now right in front of Kraush’s eyes.

Yet, as Kraush viewed the member of the Night Crow before him, he tilted his head in curiosity.

“Huh?”

A voice tinged with doubt briefly escaped his lips.

In that instant, another sword flew towards Kraush from the opposite direction of the arm he had caught.

Kraush leisurely dodged the sword aimed at his head and then pushed the assailant back by kicking him in the stomach.

The man who was kicked took a few steps back but showed no signs of pain.

Observing this, Kraush became even more certain of the identity of the person before him.

“This I did not know.”

Kraush wasn’t deeply knowledgeable about the Night Crow.

The most significant reason was that they had disappeared during his time studying at the Rahelrn Academy.

The rumors had spread widely – there’d been a great deal of chaos among the imperial children about the Night Crow being wiped out.

Afterwards, aside from learning that the Night Crow was a secret weapon of the Imperial family, he hadn’t heard any news about them.

To think that the identity of the Night Crow was actually this person.

‘Was he taken in by Arthur?’

Indeed, as befits a regressor.

Having known all this in advance, they must have acted accordingly.

‘And that’s why they disappeared during my time at the Academy.’

And now it looked like Sigrid was using the Night Crow before Arthur had the chance.

Since she had been with Arthur, she must have already known their true identity.

“Quite skilled, aren’t you?”

In the meantime, the man twisted his neck, drawing his sword in a bizarre posture with a flourish.

“So, you have some skills since you’ve impersonated the Night Crow?”

While saying so, he flashed a relaxed smile.

And as his smile concluded, he sent another sword flying towards Kraush.

This time, Kraush unhesitatingly blocked the attack.

The man had opted for a rapid assault, but Kraush’s foiled sword repelled those blows one after another.

The man realized he could not catch up to Kraush in terms of swordsmanship.

As he made that assessment, his mouth fell agape.

Immediately following this, a slim dagger coated with poison sprung from his mouth.

Kraush easily turned his head to avoid the dagger and then, another arm burst forth from within his garments.

It was an arm made of blackened bone.

The arm shot out quickly towards Kraush and made contact with his body.

Seeing this, the man’s face twisted into a grim smile.

He was certain that Kraush was dead.

“What’s going on?”

Yet, Kraush looked up at the man completely unharmed.

“What?”

As the man was caught off-guard, Kraush’s fist quickly traveled upward, striking him squarely in the jaw.

The man tumbled to the ground with his vision shaking violently.

Kraush stepped on the fallen man’s chest and dusted off his hands.

“The death arts created through world erosion do not work on me.”

Thanks to his extreme blood point poison resistance, such types of death arts were thus negated.

“World erosion’s power? What exactly are you…”

Seeing Kraush use the power of world erosion, the man wore a look of confusion.

Kraush, while looking down at him, scratched the back of his head.

He had intended to lure the Night Crow and then use them to turn the tables on Sigrid, helping them escape her clutches.

But with things turning out this way, it seemed he needed to make some adjustments to his plans.

“Ebelasque.”

Kraush called out that name.

At the sound of his name, the man’s body froze, and Kraush looked at him, questioning.

“Where are you now?”

“What, uh, what, hey, you!?”

The man seemed flustered as he blurted out his response.

Seeing the intense reaction to just five letters of his name (in korean), Kraush loosened up a bit.

“Your heart is being held by Sigrid, isn’t it?”

“Yikes!”

He even screamed.

It must have been terrifying for him to feel as though Kraush saw right through him.

Despite the man’s fear, Kraush spoke calmly.

“Let’s make a deal.”

“A deal?”

“I’ll help you recover your heart.”

For the first time, the man’s expression changed.

While he didn’t know how Kraush knew so much about him, what was being offered was too tempting for Ebelasque to just ignore.

“In return, tell me everything about the plan Sigrid has drawn up and what she’s ordered you to do.”

And so, Kraush coaxed Ebelasque into betrayal.

A world erosion being who had been held captive by the Imperial family of the Empire for a millennium.

A necromancer.

Ebelasque Benapoch.

Kraush was talking to ‘her’.

NOTE: Ebelasque is a girl. In this chapter, she use male corpse (apparently) to face Kraush.

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