Chapter 53
The assassin in black.
“Huff… huff…”
He was running madly through the forest.
He had forgotten all the assassin footwork meant to erase the traces of training and was simply moving his legs as fast as possible, relying on instinct to survive.
‘Everyone’s dead… Those senior members who were so strong… They’re all dead.’
I have to tell them.
I have to inform headquarters.
Surely, no matter how monstrous that woman was, she couldn't have taken on all of headquarters' elite officers.
At last, he could see it.
Palisades disguised as a small bandit hideout.
The real base lay inside a cave connected to the back.
"Hey, you... Aren't you the youngest of Unit 16?"
"That guy supposedly failed his mission. Is he coming back alone?"
"Huff... This is bad, this is really bad..."
The moment he was about to say something,
a spine-chilling voice came from behind him.
"There you are~?"
"Ah..."
Thrust!!
Before he could react, his heart had already been pierced.
Thud...
"Phew... It took quite a while to round up the ones who scattered like rats. Still, thanks to this idiot, I think I've found their base."
She spoke to herself calmly even after killing someone.
"W-what the hell are you?!"
One of them warily drew a sword, while another blew a small trumpet hanging around his neck to quickly announce that an intruder had arrived.
‘Right. Let them all come at once.’
A mere B-rank trial? It was better to clear it quickly and move on.
I quickly ran over and pierced the throats of the two sentries.
"Urk!"
"Guk!"
As soon as I entered the palisade, black-clad men began filing out of the largest tent in the center, which was connected to the cave.
I charged straight at them with my spear leading the way.
Thrust thrust thrust thrust thrust!!
Like a train game, I stabbed living people one after another, turning them into skewers. Once the spear was full, I swung it wide, flinging them away.
Corpses with their chests pierced fell from the sky along with splashes of blood.
The eyes of those who had just arrived wavered at the sight.
"Crazy... What the hell are you?! Who sent you?!"
"You came after me, so what nonsense are you spouting?"
Now that I had confirmed their base, there was no need to exchange words.
Even giving them the most generous assessment, their skill was only at the level of well-trained ordinary people.
I didn't even need to stab them with the spear. I could simply swing the shaft like a staff, sending them flying to their deaths.
"Don't hold back with the hidden weapons! Throw them all!"
I lightly dodged the hidden weapons flying at me from all directions by jumping.
Even if one hit me, the direct impact wouldn't be very serious, but if they had been coated with a deadly poison, there was about a one-percent chance I would lose.
I slaughtered them without ignoring even the slightest threat.
‘Blood's spraying everywhere. Good thing I have automatic cleaning magic.’
I wiped out everyone who had come up first and entered the cave.
Thanks to the torches placed throughout the cave, visibility wasn't a problem.
I kept running into assassins along the way, but I killed them easily and continued deeper inside.
‘This place is bigger than I expected.’
I spent nearly ten minutes fighting in the passage.
No matter how many I killed, black-clad figures kept crawling out like cockroaches.
They showed no intention of retreating.
There were plenty of traps, too, but who did they think I was?
‘If you go through enough Tower's Trials, anyone naturally becomes a trap master.’
Since I had experienced many trials solo in my previous life, nothing short of a complex mechanism or magical trap could harm me.
After breaking through like that, I reached a huge cavern.
The cavern was enormous, easily more than a hundred meters in diameter.
The assassins waiting for me were standing there in formation.
"Wait!! Who are you?! Why the hell are you doing this to us?!"
"Why are you saying that when you're the ones who marked me as a target?"
There was no point in talking.
In my experience, speaking with people inside the Tower was rarely a good idea.
Especially when they were enemies I had to fight and kill.
I charged straight toward the leader, but I couldn't ignore the swords and hidden weapons flying in from every direction.
Clang-clang-clang!!
Metal blades clashed and tangled together in an instant.
Blood and chunks of flesh flew in every direction, while the sound of lives being snuffed out echoed through the vast cavern.
"Put out all the lights!!"
At the leader's command, all the torches were extinguished in an instant, and complete darkness descended.
‘What the hell are these guys...? Are they insane?’
They had apparently trained their night vision as assassins of the dark, but I was also a master of fighting with my vision obscured.
Are you saying I'm too good at everything?
If you want to survive on your own, you have no choice but to be good at everything.
"Damn it... How can someone like her...!"
The situation hadn't changed at all.
No, it had actually gotten worse.
A completely one-sided slaughter was taking place.
With their vision blocked and screams coming from every direction, frightened assassin squads even began attacking their allies, causing the assassins' morale to plummet.
In the end, the leader chose to flee.
"Master!?"
"Huh?"
The leader and the elite officers all fled, leaving their members behind.
‘Crazy, no... They're leaving without even cleaning up?’
This organization... was large, but somehow amateurish. Had the leader only recently been put in charge?
Regardless, I chased after them.
However, when the ordinary assassins heard that the leader and officers had escaped, they also tried to flee, and the crowd turned the cave entrance into complete chaos.
They didn't even notice me passing right beside them, shoving one another as they tried only to get out.
"Aaaagh, I'm being crushed. Wait!"
"Stop pushing, you bastards!!"
"Shut up! I'm going to live... I said I'm going to live!!"
"What the hell is this......"
One person's will to live killed another.
People who had once eaten together and lived in the same place killed one another.
They weren't dying in battle. The assassins were dying as they became entangled, crushed, and trampled.
"Umm..."
I activated the camera, set it to show only my face, and opened the chat window.
- Ugh, that's gross...
- Crazy...
- Ah, fuck.
- Ugh
- Oh, Do-hee, nice camera work lol
"No, this is a bit hard to watch. I kill people because of the mission, not because I actually want to kill them."
There was already no chance of getting out of there properly.
"What happens if we stay like this? The Tower's Trial wouldn't make the mission this easy to clear... Anyone outside? Could you search for similar cases?"
After waiting a little, the viewers finished their investigation.
- Apparently you have to catch the leader lol
- Wow, we're screwed...
‘Sigh... Should I have just broken through?’
The entrance had grown somewhat quiet.
The wall of people who had piled up completely blocked the cave entrance.
Those who were going to die were already dead, and the living held their breath, afraid I might come looking if they made a sound.
In this situation... I had no choice.
At least at this point, I had done the minimum a human ought to do.
"I'll send you on your way painlessly in one shot. Full Charge Over Spear!!!"
I drove the skill into the people rather than into a wall.
- Fwrrrrk!!!
I broke through the human wall by force, like punching a hole through a massive wall of flesh, as blood poured out in torrents.
"Aaaaargh!!"
"P-please save me!!"
"Kueeek... ack!"
I carved through the human wall piece by piece with my spear and passed through a pool of viscous blood.
Smeared in blood as if I had showered in it, I barely managed to break through.
"Phew..."
I immediately pursued the leader.
Since this wasn't a fantasy setting, they hadn't been able to erase their tracks perfectly.
After about an hour of pursuit, I caught up with the leader.
"P-please spare me! I don't even remember accepting a contract to kill you! It's true!! Someone, some idiot, must have made a mistake..."
"That doesn't matter. You're fated to die anyway."
Slash!
I coldly cut the leader's throat.
[You have cleared the Floor 13 Trial. Your reward grade has risen due to the hidden ending. Please choose an S-rank reward.]
Killing the leader brought the trial to an end.
"Phew... It's over!"
At last, that time had come again.
I moved to the waiting room and opened the chat window.
- You're here.
- Doha~ I knew we could count on you again.
- Please, breast milk one more time.
- Ah, get out, breast-milk freak.
- Will a useful skill come up?
- Skill growth tickets are good too.
The reward for Floor 12 was SS-ranked, but even an S rank was incredibly good. Would it be S rank for no reason?
As before, cards floated in midair.
"This time, I'll go one at a time."
Honestly, pulling cards was more fun than fighting.
There was a thrill in not knowing what reward would appear.
‘Please... something useful!’
First one.
<Masochistic Sex Slave's Collar>
When worn, sexual sensitivity increases dramatically.
When hit, you receive sexual stimulation instead of pain, and every stat except defense is reduced to the level of an ordinary person.
Unless the person holding the collar releases you, you cannot remove it yourself.
"Er..."
After slowly reading the description, I restrained myself from reaching for it.
‘Crazy, was I seriously about to choose that?’
The moment I read the description,
I briefly imagined how good it would feel to be tied up with that and gang-raped.
Of course, I had Airen's secret manual, but with that, I could enjoy a perfect gang-rape, bondage, and breeding experience both physically and mentally...
"Aaaaaaaaah!!!"
- What are you doing lol
- Don't tell me you were going to pick that?
- No way... Even if Do-hee's a pervert, surely not lol
- Her face looks a little red... ?
- Uh-oh, Do-hee, no masochistic feminization.
- What's not allowed? Pick it already.
- Let's go, masochistic sex slave!!!
- Crazy bitch lololol
I screamed to shake the obscene demons out of my body.
"Phew... This is a dud, right? I'll look at the next card."
- No matter how you look at it, that's the best one.
- Doesn't the Tower usually put in one that suits you? lol
- Not necessarily a perfect match, but those do tend to show up at a higher rate.
- Bummer.
- This bitch will regret it 100% later lol
‘Ugh...’
I pressed the next card with my hand.
[S-Rank Snake's Tongue]
Your words will gain the power to enchant people.
Additionally, you can perform fellatio more skillfully.
"Oh... Hmm..."
As expected of an S-rank trait, it was quite useful.
Especially, increasing my verbal persuasion was a very good trait.
‘But is that really what “verbal persuasion” means?’
Surely enchanting people didn't mean enchanting them only sexually.
Of course, the viewers were interested in something else.
- Wow, improved blowjob skill lol
- So does the tip split open and go up and down, slurp-slurp?
- Oooh yeah
- Damn... Getting a blowjob with a snake tongue would feel good.
- Oh... I can totally imagine it.
- Having that at a fan meeting later would be insane.
- Do-hee, pick it right now lol
- They really do give her things that suit her.
"Ahem... No, why are you all focusing on that side? I'll put this one on hold for now. If the third option is bad, I'll choose this."
And then there was the final option.
<Buff Stacking>
You can stack buffs. Additionally, each time you add another stack, the holy power cost increases quadratically.
"Oh...? Waiiiit!!!"
- Wow
- This came up?
- Fuck, what is this?
- Finally, a use for that ridiculously huge Holy Power...
This was a trait I had obtained in my previous life as well.
Of course, back then, I hadn't been able to use it much because I had suffered from a chronic lack of mana, but things were completely different now.
The first buff cost the same amount, while the second cost four times as much, the third nine times as much, and so on.
In the past, I had only been able to use it up to the third stack at most, but with this much holy power, things were completely different.
Holy Power: 824.2
And looking at the Haste skill,
<Haste Lv. 3>
Consumes 7 holy power to increase Agility by 15 for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
It consumes 7 holy power.
So, by my rough calculations, if I used all my holy power, I could stack it about six times at most?
That meant my Agility would increase by 90 all at once.
My Agility was currently around 55 without the buff, so the bonus would be even greater than my base stat.
"Amazing....."
Unexpectedly, I had received an S-rank reward that was better than an SS-rank one.