Chapter 56

(￣(エ)￣)＜Bookmarks have surpassed ten thousand and the number of evaluators has exceeded five hundred!!

(=ↀωↀ=)＜Yay! It’s a milestone!

Thank you, everyone, for reading!

I’ll keep working hard to meet your expectations!

□■？？？

We are walking side by side through the twilight streets.

Holding hands, we might look like sisters or a mother and daughter?

Since my avatar, Marie, is essentially like my daughter, it feels a bit strange.

As we walk, I chose a less crowded street.

The reason is that taking this route saves us over ten minutes to reach our destination, the Earl Gideon’s mansion.

Or perhaps...

“Stop.”

I turn around at the voice that stops us from behind.

Immediately, something passed through my neck.

After my body shook a little—my head fell off.

◆◆◆

■Leader of the professional assassin group <The Little Finger of Death> 【Assassin】Rue Jien

“Target secured.”

“Confirmed the elimination of accompanying individuals.”

In my field of vision, the woman who lost her head, <Master>, disappears into a cloud of light.

The second princess, the target, has fainted from the shock of the scene before her.

“Hmph, <Master>, huh? You won’t die, you know.”

<Master> types are always like this.

Even with fatal injuries, their bodies disappear, and they reappear three days later as if nothing happened.

They can even command extraordinary powers, <Embryos>.

The network among <Masters> is also troublesome.

Even we, who carry out assassinations for nobles and wealthy clients, find it bothersome to target someone who “won’t die” and usually ignore such requests.

However, the presence of a <Master> alongside the second princess this time was actually convenient.

“Is the ‘evidence’ ready?”

“The footage of him walking with the princess in the city is recorded. After killing the princess, submitting this ‘evidence’ anonymously will result in her being internationally wanted as the ‘princess kidnapper and murderer.’”

Saying this, my subordinate took out a recording crystal.

If it were false evidence, it would be negated by the <Truth Determination> skill, but this is the real thing. There’s no need to worry.

The woman used the <Enchantment> skill to disguise the princess’s appearance, but that skill affects the mind of living beings and is meaningless against inorganic objects.

She also used the <Disguise> skill to alter her status display, but that doesn’t affect camera footage.

Moreover, it doesn’t work on me, a seasoned <Assassin> who has mastered <Mind Eye> and <Piercing Gaze>.

From the fact that my subordinates, who are still at a lower rank, couldn’t see through it, it seems to be a high-level <Enchantment>.

It’s a mystery why a mere <Reporter> would have the <Enchantment> and <Disguise> skills.

However, since they are not combat-related skills, she might have learned them from a different job.

“Killing a royal will result in an immediate international manhunt, regardless of the country. Once that happens, she will be resurrected in ‘prison.’”

There, even the dead are the same.

“Going smoothly.”

“Yes, dealing with powerless women and children is much easier than planned.”

Originally, we would have had to fight the Royal Guard and infiltrate the mansion to carry out a poisoning.

However, for some reason, the princess left the mansion on her own, and even brought a scapegoat along.

This is a stroke of luck.

“I can give the Marquis Borozel a good report.”

To my muttered words,

“Hmm, not the Earl Britis, huh?”

—A response, not from my subordinate, was carried by the wind.

Immediately, the subordinate who was holding the unconscious second princess fell to the ground, screaming, with bleeding hands and feet.

I saw that the subordinate’s tendons in both hands and feet were severed.

I saw that the second princess, who was unconscious, had her eyes wide open.

I saw that in the second princess’s right hand was a sinister-looking dagger.

I realized that this was not the second princess—she was the enemy.

“Kill her!”

On my command, the eight subordinates present threw their poison-coated daggers simultaneously.

However, the enemy, disguised as the second princess, leaped backward.

She circled around the subordinate whose tendons were cut and used him as a shield.

All the daggers pierced the shielded subordinate, who died instantly without even a scream.

“You’re doing a terrible thing.”

While using the corpse as a shield, she continued speaking.

“But if you’re a group of heretics trying to kill an innocent child... it’s only fitting that you die.”

She threw the corpse aside, and when she appeared, she was no longer in the form of the second princess.

Her hair, unlike the princess’s blonde, was black as the night.

She wore a “men’s suit,” something occasionally seen in Dryf and Cardina.

Despite the setting sun, she wore sunglasses on her face.

Her height and build were completely different, clearly an adult.

The only things that remained the same were the dagger in her right hand and the fox mask slanted on her head.

“Still, changing your physique so drastically is a problem for SP consumption with the <Transformation> skill.”

And her face was that of the <Master> I had just decapitated.

The emblem of <Master> glowed on the back of her left hand, and in her palm was a “pistol.”

“You...!”

“Oh, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Why is she alive?

Why was she disguised?

Wasn’t she a <Reporter>?

I used the <Piercing Gaze> skill again to check her status.

Marie Adler

Job: <Reporter>

Level: 32 (Total Level: 33)

...I saw it. Indeed, she is a <Reporter> with a total level around 30.

“What is it? Staring is rude, you know?”

“Did you come back to life because of the <Embryo>’s unique skill?”

If that’s the case, it makes sense that she revived so quickly.

“Why would I need to come back to life when I’m not dead?”

“...Where is the real princess? When did you switch?”

“There was no switching. I’ve been in this alley from the start.”

In the middle of her words, one of the subordinates waiting inside a building on the side of the alley jumped down behind her, aiming to cut off her head.

The moment I thought the blade had hit her neck, she disappeared in a cloud of light.

At the same time, the subordinate who swung the blade collapsed on the ground.

“It’s been me all along.”

Her voice came from another place.

It was the rooftop of the building she had just jumped down from.

However, her appearance had changed again.

Her body was covered in “black mist,” making her form indistinct.

The only things I could clearly see were the fox mask on her head, the dagger in her left hand, and the strange pistol in her right hand.

“...!”

The <Piercing Gaze> skill was still active.

But the information I saw was completely different from before.

■■■・■■■■

Job: [■■]

Level: ■■■ (Total Level: ■■■)

Her name, job, and status were all obscured.

I had experienced this before, during my training as an <Assassin>.

This is how it looks when a higher-level <Disguise> skill is used, one that surpasses my <Piercing Gaze>.

However, my <Piercing Gaze> skill, as a top-tier <Assassin> [Killer], is at the maximum level of 10.

A higher-level <Disguise>?

“Impossible.”

It’s impossible, yet I can’t see through the <Disguise>.

However, my <Piercing Gaze> should at least be able to tell the number of digits correctly.

“Impossible...”

But the number of digits was the biggest problem.

A three-digit job level.

It’s impossible for a <Reporter>, whose maximum level is 50, to have a three-digit level.

The initial display was due to a skill similar to <Disguise>, and there are only two possible explanations for this result.

Someone who has trained a top-tier job to its limit, like me.

Or—

“Who are you!!”

When I asked, the woman smiled coldly.

“—I am the shadow.”

She spoke the words as if emphasizing a strong emotion.

“I am the shadow of your accumulated evil deeds, the shadow that drags you into the darkness.”

Her tone was cold and theatrical, unlike her previous condescending manner.

“Into the Shadow.”

She spread her arms wide, as if on a stage, and loudly proclaimed the words.

“Quotation from the first chapter of ‘Into the Shadow,’ a manga about a killer with special abilities, by Ichinomi Nagisa.”

After uttering these incomprehensible words, her demeanor returned to normal.

However, the <Disguised> status I could still see and the fact that she had just killed a subordinate instantly did not disappear.

I, and my subordinates, could only pay full attention to her every move.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Among us, the newest and least experienced subordinate couldn’t take it anymore and rushed out.

It was foolish.

But if this could create even a momentary opening for her, it would be worth it.

I thought so, but—

“...”

The woman simply moved her wrist silently.

She snapped her wrist, ejecting the spent shell from the revolver and reloading two new bullets, one white and one black.

Then she pulled the trigger.

The gun was pointed in a completely wrong direction, but—

“Guruguruguruguru!!”

A strange creature, resembling a bullet colored in black and white, flew out of the gun.

It curved in a trajectory impossible for a bullet and pierced the new subordinate’s body.

“...”

The new subordinate collapsed, not making a single groan or moving a finger.

It was as if he had been injected with a strong anesthetic.

He was still alive, but he could do nothing.

The woman had accomplished this with just a wrist movement.

“—What’s wrong?”

She looked down at us and spoke.

“Are you hesitating? Are you sweating? Is your heart pounding? Is your spirit being crushed?”

Her gaze, hidden by sunglasses and mist.

“Is this all you can do against ‘powerless women and children’?”

But I could tell her eyes were cold.

“I can’t really talk, though.”

She sighed.

“I had to run away from a battleship... I was scared too. I thought I might die in this <Infinite Dendrogram>. Yes, even I am afraid of strong opponents.”

Even as she said she was afraid and scared, her face remained cold.

She looked down at us with a cold, detached gaze.

“So what I can do is”

And then,

“make a rag of a ‘powerless assassin.’”

With that declaration, she moved.

We tried to stop her.

But the mist covering her body hid her movements.

Several subordinates threw their poison-coated daggers, but all were deflected.

She threw something from the mist.

It was a ball with a fuse.

—A bomb.

I and my subordinates tried to distance ourselves from it.

But the fuse burned quickly, reaching the main body in an instant.

Immediately, a thick smoke covered a corner of the alley.

“!”

It was just smoke, not an explosion.

“Don’t panic! It’s a [Smoke Bomb]!”

A smoke screen to blind us.

She must be planning to attack again while we’re blinded by this smoke.

I tried to track her movements, but she disappeared into the smoke.

She must be planning to escape while the smoke screen expands. I had to match her move.

Just as I thought that—

Five figures jumped out of the smoke screen, and all of them had the same appearance as the woman.

“!?”

<Enchantment>... no, a more advanced illusion!

“Destroy the illusions! All throw!”

“““Throw”””

I ordered my subordinates to throw their poison-coated projectiles all at once.

We didn’t need to aim accurately.

If they were illusions, they would pass through, and if they were the real one, they would be blocked.

If we could distinguish the real one from the illusions with this attack, it would be enough.

But the result was different from what I imagined.

Each of the five illusions moved differently, deflecting all the projectiles aimed at them with their daggers.

“All of them are real!”

“Unfortunately, the <Shadow Clone Jutsu> has a physical form.”

<Shadow Clone Jutsu>, really!?

It’s one of the unique jobs of the Eastern world, used by <Ninjas>!

The skills she used when disguised as the princess... I see!

Her true identity is...!

“...!”

“Nn...”

My subordinates also showed signs of panic.

They couldn’t tell which shadow clone was the real one.

Which was fake and which was real.

The real one and the “physical illusions” had the same presence.

A terrifying skill that makes it impossible to distinguish the real one from the “physical illusions.”

My subordinates were afraid of the skill that created such things.

Only I could see the number of digits in her level.

If my subordinates knew her level, they would be afraid and move poorly.

If that happened, my chances of winning would disappear.

“Don’t hesitate! Overwhelm them with numbers! Two on one!”

On the command, my subordinates attacked the woman and the clones.

Two of them went after one clone.

Logically, the clones should be inferior to the real one.

If that’s the case, my subordinates should have a chance.

Besides, by stopping their movements, we could do something.

That’s what I thought.

“Your levels are low.”

“Yes, they are.”

“There’s no need to reveal too much.”

“Let’s not use Alcanshelle for now.”

“Roger.”

But in the end, even in a two-on-one situation, they were overpowered, and in some cases, one of the two was already defeated.

The clones, which should be inferior to the real one, were overpowering two subordinates who had mastered the skills of an <Assassin>.

They hadn’t reached the level of a top-tier <Killer> like me, but they had still mastered the skills of an <Assassin>.

And yet, they were so easily...

“The biggest difference that <Embryos> bring is often thought to be the unique skills of <Embryos> by many people.”

“But in a way, that’s both right and wrong. With special skills, even a Tian can obtain them by getting the MVP bonus from <UBM>.”

“I think the real difference is in the status... and the ‘growth’ modifier.”

“The <Master>’s level-up is faster and the status growth is more powerful because of the <Embryo> modifier. They can also take risks because they are immortal. So, the growth efficiency is vastly different from Tian.”

“So much so that my three years can easily surpass your ten or twenty years.”

Three years?

Could she have acquired such monstrous skills in just three years?

“You’re joking. If that’s the case, our training is no different from a fool trying to build a tower by piling stones...!”

“A fool piling stones... It’s a proverb from the Alter Kingdom.”

“It’s about a man who tries to build a tower that reaches the sky by piling stones by hand. In the end, it collapses and crushes him.”

“But some people do build towers by piling stones by hand.”

“There are super-tier jobs among Tian as well.”

“But to use that analogy, we <Masters> are like building the tower with heavy machinery.”

The foundation is different, they said.

That’s why people refer to <Embryos> as “talent” or “potential,” I clenched my teeth in frustration at the unfairness.

I couldn’t accept it.

I had trained and practiced assassination for decades in an organization since childhood to reach the level of a <Killer>.

I couldn’t accept the unfairness of these <Masters>.

How could that woman be above me?

I took out my trump card, the [Gem—Crimson Sphere], from my item box.

It’s the maximum magic of a top-tier <Crimson Mage>, the [Crimson Sphere], sealed in a [Gem].

The range of effect isn’t very wide, but the power is immense.

Now, I could hit her.

Because my subordinates... the foolish subordinates who were barely restraining the clones, were doing so.

“Die.”

The [Gem] I threw exploded at the center of the battle between her, the clones, and the subordinates, enveloping everything in crimson.

Silently, without an explosion, only the red light and heat burned the space.

The woman, her clones