Chapter 78

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What is happening now?

The ninja hiding in the attic could not believe what he was seeing.

He had always strived to erase his presence and trained hard for it.

It is almost impossible for human senses to detect a ninja who has erased his presence. That is what ninjas are.

After entering the kingdom, even in the most heavily guarded castle, no one noticed us. The main task of ninjas is espionage, but in this country where we don't understand the language, our primary role has been to guard Prince Tusk. In an unfamiliar foreign country, we cannot operate as we do in our homeland, but we have managed to guard the prince without being detected by the kingdom's people by erasing our presence.

Perhaps we got a little greedy.

At the banquet welcoming the prince, a girl who understood the royal language appeared.

The frail girl, who soon fell ill and left, was a shock to both the prince and us ninjas.

Not only us, but the kingdom's people also seemed surprised, indicating that the girl was unknown even in the kingdom.

The next day, Prince Tusk secretly informed us that he would accompany the king to the girl's mansion, as there might be a dictionary or something like it that could help us understand the kingdom's language. It was also possible that she possessed a magical stone that could control language.

We were suddenly roused. If the ninjas could understand the kingdom's language, we could perform our original task of espionage. It seemed that there were no people in the kingdom who could erase their presence like ninjas.

We could gain a significant advantage in establishing diplomatic relations.

While waiting at the gate of the mansion, one of our subordinates would pose as a kingdom citizen. Since the king would be present, we assumed there would be no unnecessary conversation and decided to take the risk.

Fortunately, the kingdom was safer than we thought, so we entrusted the prince's protection to this one subordinate and the remaining 19 of us conducted a search of the mansion.

The security was surprisingly lax compared to the castle.

There was only one gatekeeper in the vast mansion, surrounded by a high wall, but for a ninja, it was easy to climb over without using the gate.

It took some time to reach the mansion due to the extensive garden, but we passed by the gardener without being noticed by erasing our presence.

We easily infiltrated the mansion and were about to start searching for the dictionary or magical stone when...

Without a sound, one of our subordinates was thrown away.

Something grabbed the subordinate just before he hit the wall and quietly laid him on the floor.

The subordinate was unconscious.

What is happening? There should be no one in the kingdom who can detect us.

The subordinates who moved forward were thrown and laid on the floor one after another without a sound.

It was too fast to see the enemy.

I gave instructions to the remaining four subordinates and managed to retreat to the attic.

All of this happened in just a few seconds.

For elite ninjas, a few seconds is a long time.

"Captain, what happened?"

The subordinates, who couldn't grasp the situation, were trembling as they looked at me.

None of us had ever experienced being defeated so one-sidedly.

I had reached the position of a high-ranking ninja after dodging death many times. I thought I had lost all emotions long ago. Everyone was trembling with fear.

Instinctively, I understood that I would die without completing my mission in this distant land where I couldn't even understand the language. My body shook involuntarily, and my thoughts couldn't catch up with the worst-case scenario.

At the very least, I must return the prince safely to the royal country...

I recalled the face of the prince who had come to the kingdom despite his noble status.

Prince Tusk is the treasure of the royal country. He is the only one who has managed to learn the Baritu language in a short time and is gradually understanding the kingdom's language.

Most royal country citizens give up at the Baritu language, but the prince, with his innate exceptional intelligence and hard work, has achieved this.

He is absolutely indispensable to the royal country, which is suffering from a food shortage.

My body stopped trembling.

The subordinates were no longer trembling either.

No, they couldn't even tremble.

Without realizing it, purple threads had entangled us, robbing us of our freedom.

Even if we tried to make a sound, our mouths were covered, and we couldn't make a single noise.

It was impossible for all of us, who are sensitive to presence, to not notice anything.

In the only field of vision we had, a spider appeared.

A giant purple spider, as big as a human head.

What is happening now?

It was impossible to understand.

After a while, strong men came up to the attic to retrieve us and the four subordinates.

Was that spider being controlled by humans?

Do the kingdom's people keep monsters that even ninjas can't defeat?

We thought we were doing well in the castle, but were we just being played? Perhaps right behind us, where we had hidden and erased our presence, there were invisible monsters that threw our subordinates and giant spiders that restrained us without being noticed.

Unable to resist due to the purple threads, I tried to grit my teeth to avoid being overwhelmed by regret and anxiety while being carried, but even that was blocked by the threads.

I couldn't even commit suicide with the poison hidden in my teeth.

In the room we were taken to, the girl who spoke the royal language at the banquet was waiting with an innocent smile, which seemed out of place given the situation.

I could see 14 of my subordinates, who were part of my elite team, lying on the floor behind her.

Innocent smile and the bodies of my subordinates...

For the first time in my life, various emotions such as anger, sadness, and fear coursed through my body, but I couldn't even make a sound or tremble.

No matter how excellent a ninja, they could not stand against Nyakom and Valsok.