Chapter 57

Volume 13 - Chapter 4

‘Are we going to die like this?’

An assassin must maintain composure in any situation.

Whether it's surveillance, harassment, or assassination.

Their tasks required secrecy and patience, so controlling emotions was a basic requirement.

However, the Black Arrow Corps assassins had lost their composure. To be precise, they were terrified.

This was evidence of their low level.

If they were excellent assassins, they would have maintained their composure no matter how strong the target was.

“That’s what they say about the master and the bastard, but he’s just a neighborhood thug.”

Thud, thud.

The target approached, mocking them.

Since the assassins were skilled with daggers, a close-range battle was something to welcome. However, this was an exception.

‘We can’t win in a head-on confrontation.’

He had killed three of their comrades in the blink of an eye.

The six assassins, who had quickly made a judgment, spread out and increased the distance. Then they threw their daggers.

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew!

Dozens of daggers, reminiscent of a peacock's tail, rushed at Grid. It seemed there was no way to avoid them.

The assassins naturally imagined Grid becoming a bloody mess.

Extremely weak imagination.

Swoosh.

A blue greatsword quietly but swiftly drew a spiral. Then, the dozens of daggers that had been aimed at Grid were sucked into the center of the spiral.

It didn’t end there. The spiral changed to a horizontal direction, and the daggers shot out like bullets.

Pew, pew, pew, pew, pew!

“Gah.”

“Guh!”

The dagger barrage, enhanced by the <20% Skill Damage Increase> effect, was more powerful than when the assassins had thrown them.

Those hit by the barrage, now resembling porcupines, collapsed.

‘To be hit by my own attack…!’

It was an absurd situation.

The pupils of the assassins trembled like a candle in the wind.

Grid, who had activated <Blacksmith's Fury>, was swinging his blue greatsword like lightning.

Swoosh!

Two of his comrades were instantly killed.

Their bodies and heads separated and turned to ash.

‘He’s too strong…!’

The assassins knew that the Butcher was strong.

But they were confident that if they could attack him with nine people, they could cut off his breath.

They only didn’t act because the number of people who could enter the basement was limited to three.

In other words, they thought that even if the target was a monster who had killed the Butcher alone, they could still defeat him if they worked together.

But it wasn’t so.

The target’s strength far exceeded their expectations.

It was almost a delusion that the traitor of the Red Knights, who they had only heard about, had returned.

The Black Arrow Corps, who had followed the Viscount Zebra and committed countless evil deeds, were completely annihilated that day.

***

‘If I aim for vital points, the probability of activating the severing skill seems to increase slightly… or is it just my imagination? I need to experiment a bit more.’

Grid, who had raided the Butcher and gained a large amount of experience.

He leveled up due to the additional experience gained from killing the nine Black Arrow Corps members, whose average level was close to 240.

288.

In terms of level alone, he was at the level of a top 500 player.

But how strong was he?

It was impossible to rank him.

‘My agility is too low.’

Grid, who had invested all 10 of his stat points into agility, still felt it was insufficient.

Piaro’s strength and agility were in a 1:1 ratio. Grid, who had been following this ratio for several months, still had a messed-up ratio.

This was because he had invested almost all of his stats into strength before meeting Piaro.

Currently, Grid’s strength was 2,810, while his agility was only 1,606.

To balance these two stats at a 1:1 ratio, and to achieve the ideal swordsmanship that balances strength and speed, he would need to level up by at least 120 more levels.

‘I feel like I’m in the dark.’

But would he give up?

No way.

‘I need to focus on hunting whenever I have time.’

Now, Grid had no aversion to overworking himself.

He knew that he would get the reward he deserved for his efforts.

Noe was flying over.

“Praise the first demon of hell! Meow!”

From the look of it, he had completed his mission well.

With this, the business in the Viscount Zebra’s territory was completely finished.

“I’m heading to Titan.”

Grid no longer needed a wide-brimmed hat.

His mask and eye patch concealed his appearance, so his ID was automatically hidden.

Grid moved forward without hesitation.

While heading to Titan, he gradually adapted to dual-wielding and the vital point penetration skill by slaughtering the monsters he encountered.

After each battle, he reviewed the content, identified his weaknesses, and devised ways to overcome them.

The distance to Titan was about two weeks.

By then, Grid’s goal was to reach at least level 291.

Randy and Noe were surprisingly getting along well.

“Noe! You’re so cute!”

“Meow! This insolent creature is petting the head of the first demon of hell! Pet my chin too! Cough!”

***

The 31st Knight, Iddan.

He was the youngest member of the Red Knights.

He had joined the Red Knights for less than four years and was only 23 years old. He was not the heir to a famous family.

But no one could ignore him.

Who would dare to mock one of the strongest knights in the empire?

“Hmm~”

At the scene of the Viscount Zebra’s murder.

Dozens of nobles and knights were lined up.

They were frozen like statues, anxiously watching Iddan’s reaction.

In contrast, Iddan paid no attention to them.

He only questioned the seven soldiers who had killed the Viscount Zebra, investigating the circumstances of his death.

“Hmm~ I see.”

After a while.

Iddan, who had finished assessing the situation, wore a relieved expression. Then he sat on the throne in the great hall, where the Viscount Zebra had been killed.

No one could criticize his impolite behavior.

Iddan gave an order.

“Eliminate them and their three generations.”

“M, Master Iddan!”

The seven soldiers who had killed the Viscount Zebra turned pale.

Hadn’t they been promised that their families would be spared if they cooperated with the investigation?

What was this ruthless order?

Iddan smiled at them, who were sending him pleading and resentful looks.

“I understand why you had to kill the Viscount Zebra. I also know that he deserved to die. However, a crime is a crime. I will enforce the law.”

“Why are you doing this now! You promised to spare our families!”

“That was only if you cooperated well.”

“We cooperated wholeheartedly!”

“Really? When?”

“…!”

The soldiers realized.

Iddan was a shameless, ruthless man. Despite his young age, he was as cruel as the Viscount Zebra. The sight of him sentencing dozens of people to death and still smiling was chilling.

Iddan, who had lost interest in the soldiers being dragged to the execution ground, turned his gaze to the lined-up nobles.

“Wasn’t your name Baron Veradin?”

“Yes.”

Baron Veradin, who had been called out, stepped forward.

Iddan, who had been carefully observing him while twirling his curly bangs with his fingers, smiled.

“You happened to witness the Viscount Zebra being killed by the soldiers and arrested them on the spot… Excellent, isn’t it?”

He was openly mocking him. The situation was perfectly set up to highlight Veradin, so he smelled something fishy.

Veradin was not shaken.

He maintained his usual indifferent expression and bowed.

“If I had arrived just a little earlier, I could have saved the Viscount Zebra. I am deeply sorry.”

Iddan’s eyes sparkled. He had recognized that Veradin was not an easy opponent.

“Do you really know nothing about the Butcher Slayer?”

Coincidentally, it was said that someone had single-handedly defeated the Butcher just before the Viscount Zebra was killed.

Iddan suspected that all these events were connected.

However, it was a problem that Veradin, who was suspected to be at the center of the incident, consistently claimed ignorance.

“I only know what I heard from the soldiers. He was alone and a black-haired man with a noble presence. I didn’t see him myself.”

“I see. Thank you.”

That was the end of it.

Iddan left the Viscount Zebra’s castle without looking back.

He tilted his head, speculating about the direction the Butcher Slayer might have gone.

“Who could it be?”

The Butcher was a monster rated A+ by the royal appraisal team.

It was determined that three Black Knights could not defeat it, which is why Iddan, a Red Knight, was sent alone to this distant place.

He was already annoyed at being assigned this tedious task, and now that the situation was getting complicated, he was starting to get frustrated.

‘There can’t be many people who can defeat an A+ level monster alone… If I return without investigating his identity, I’ll be scolded by my seniors.’

“Sigh.”

He could only sigh.

***

“Is this information reliable?”

“Yes.”

“Good, now is the time.”

Jibbal, who had ranked 2nd in the national competition.

The Snake Guild he led was growing steadily, contrary to his concerns.

The guild had 275 members, with an average level exceeding 230.

Over 100 of them were in the top 1,000 rankings.

Jibbal’s goal, who had recently been promoted to a baron in the Haken Kingdom, was clear.

To become the first user king.

But there was a major obstacle.

None other than Grid.

Thanks to the large-scale episode of the Golem Invasion, he had become a marquis in one fell swoop.

If left unchecked, he would likely claim the title of the first user king.

Unable to sit idly by, Jibbal made a plan.

To invade Reidan in a joint operation with the seven major guilds, preventing Grid from expanding his influence.

The leaders of the seven major guilds had pledged their cooperation. They also could not ignore Grid.

However, there was a problem.

The Tembal Corps, which Grid led, was too powerful.

Reidan, where these monsters who dominated the integrated rankings from 10th to 40th place gathered, could not be invaded so easily.

If the seven major guilds combined their forces, it would be possible to annihilate the Tembal Corps, but they would have to suffer significant losses. It would be a loss.

Jibbal and the leaders of the seven major guilds could not act rashly. They had been on edge for months, waiting for the right moment.

And today, the opportunity