Tutorial Stage #3: Shadow Assassin
The scene of a disaster that had already taken place.
"S-sorry..."
"...."
The man, now standing before someone who should never have arrived, kept his head bowed low in a pathetic apology.
"So. What exactly happened?"
"I assigned that guy the usual suitable work and while we were carrying out the tasks, right in front of my eyes, Woojin's body suddenly..."
It evaporated—no, disappeared. The woman's gaze traced the lingering traces of mana that still floated in the air.
Woojin.
There was no doubt it belonged to the man she had been searching for. And mixed in with it was the aura of that detestable Tower—the one she had sworn would never touch him.
"Chief Choi."
"Y-yes, ma'am."
"Didn't I specifically tell you to keep Woojin from showing up at the site?"
The man’s shoulders twitched violently.
I kept telling the kid not to come, but he shows up anyway. What the hell am I supposed to do about that?!
Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was unfair. He had only done exactly what his superiors ordered. Roll when told to roll. Bark when told to bark. Sure, he’d grown unexpectedly close to the target—Kang Woojin—during the process, but he had never once acted against the will of the upper management. Or so he believed.
"You look rather wronged."
"...!"
But the woman’s senses were razor sharp. Especially when it came to anyone she considered important. She couldn’t help becoming sensitive, even if she didn’t want to.
"...I’m sorry."
As he lowered his head even further, murmurs rippled through the onlookers.
"Haah..."
In the end, it was the woman who relented first. Her brilliant golden hair, glowing as if it had captured sunlight itself, swayed gently. Han Se-ah. An S-class hunter belonging to one of the top guilds, hailed as the star of the next generation, let out a worried sigh while cradling a certain man’s face in her heart.
Entering the next stage.
The view went dark for a moment. Then the air changed.
This process was starting to feel familiar.
"...."
When I opened my eyes again, the blood-soaked field had vanished completely. A brand-new stage greeted me.
"I'm not dead, you idiots."
Seeing them already holding a funeral just because I hadn't posted in a while made me realize I needed to get out of here if only to give these bastards a piece of my mind.
Stage commencing.
"Okay."
What’s next? I turned my head and saw green-skinned figures decorating this stage.
"...Krrk."
"...?"
A goblin with its lower face covered in dirty cloth, standing in a surprisingly agile stance.
"An assassin?"
Strangely enough, the creature simply watched me without moving.
Mid-boss has appeared.
"Ah."
I vaguely remembered seeing something about this on the community earlier. Sometimes, while clearing set stages, you’d run into a mid-boss like this.
The words from the veteran user YeouijuDragon floated through my mind—something about preparing according to whether it was a single entity or a group. But that advice was for parties. It had nothing to do with me.
I was the master of headbutting my way through, the hero of insane breakthrough strategies. With that thought, I glared at the mid-boss, when a random memory suddenly crossed my mind.
Think about the people worrying about you sometimes.
A familiar voice. Come to think of it, there was someone out there right now who was probably stirring up the Tower somewhere. Unlike me, who got a headache just from Awakening, this person was a natural-born hunter. Usually ice-cold to the world, but the moment she saw me she turned into a total worrywart. That memory flashed by.
"You eating properly these days?"
"Krrk?"
The goblin assassin tilted its head at my muttering.
"Wasn’t talking to you."
"...."
Feeling the time had come, I checked the condition of my old shield and club, then—
Predator's Domain (Lv. 2)
I recalled the presence of my trusty companion and stepped forward.
— Swish.
Fuck, it's fast.
Maybe it wanted to live up to the title of mid-boss—the goblin closed in at a speed my eyes could barely track.
The last thing I saw was it pulling its curved blade all the way back, body crouched low.
It was coming. I didn’t need to think about it. All I had to do was trust my old shield and prepare for the incoming strike.
— Shaaak!
"...!"
The goblin assassin vanished from my sight again. The moment its signature stench hit me, I spun around.
"You really are fucking fast!"
It had already emerged from my shadow, curved sword swinging.
— Clang!
"...?!"
But there was one thing the creature hadn’t accounted for.
"Never seen anything like this before, huh?"
Around me, the area-of-effect from my skill—now even more vicious after leveling up—was firing off Low-grade Normal Slashes in real time.
— Slice! Slice!
Not only did the slashes deflect its blade, they carved into the goblin’s skin from every direction. In that brief instant, the goblin assassin’s eyes widened in clear panic as it stared at me. I could practically hear it thinking, What the hell? Is this even allowed?
"That’s how it is."
Before it could create distance, I took one step closer.
— Slash!
Its small body re-entered my domain and was immediately subjected to multiple slashes. Thighs, arms, abdomen, chest, even one eye. The creature looked like it had been thrown into a blender.
"K-krrrk...!"
All it could do was stand in place, stamina drained, panting helplessly.
"Look at you struggling."
A long-range boss would’ve been dangerous. But one that had to get close to attack?
Lucky me, at least.
This was one of the few times the matchmaking luck had been on my side.
"You coming to me, or should I come to you?"
"...!"
The goblin assassin’s final desperate struggle in response to my taunt ended with—
Congratulations! You have defeated the Mid-boss.
Solo Bonus Achieved!
Acquiring rewards.
The third tutorial stage prepared by the Apocalypse-difficulty Tower was cleared.
"Good reactions, solid hit rate."
I uploaded my survival report with a cheerful heart, and the once-peaceful community instantly exploded. How did you do it? What's the secret? What rewards did you get? Facing the flood of questions and handshake requests, the attention-seeking instincts I had kept tightly sealed away began to creep up.
"The art of pissing people off."
One, make them insanely curious. Two, stop right there as if to say figure it out yourself.
"This. This is what trolling looks like."
Leaving the burning community behind, I carefully opened the reward tab one by one. The thing that immediately caught my eye was—
◈ Increases base movement speed.
◈ Reduces footstep noise and presence.
"Heh..."
Something dropped from the air. It was a perfect copy of the boots the goblin had been wearing.
When I read the description I was skeptical, but the real value of the item revealed itself the moment I put them on and ran.
— Whoosh!
"O-oh...!"
I could physically feel that I was faster than before. Flying blender. At this speed, I wouldn’t have to work nearly as hard to drag monsters into my skill’s domain.
"This is insane."
I tapped the mid-boss-grade equipment against the ground a few times, savoring the feeling, then immediately checked the next item.
Due to the solo clear bonus, a large amount of experience has been acquired.
Current Level: 9
"Whoa."
I was already approaching level 10. I vaguely remembered hearing from a friend in the industry that something happens at 10, but I couldn’t recall exactly what.
Satisfied, I was about to head to the next stage when—
Predator's Domain (Lv. 2) has recognized the attack pattern of the target 【Goblin Assassin】.
The possessed ability 'Low-grade Normal Slash' has evolved into 'Shadow Slash'.
— Shaaaa...
A dark aura began to cling to the sharp energy rippling around me.
"It even copies monster abilities?"
And it was the mid-boss’s attack, no less. At this point, maybe it was okay to hope I could actually get out of here safely.
Would you like to enter the next stage?
I nodded immediately.
— Pop.
"Krrk! Krrrk!"
When I opened my eyes again, I was surrounded by so many goblins it was impossible to count them all. Every single one was glaring at me.
"They aren't even trying to hide their numbers anymore."
Apocalypse difficulty. So this was why the community bastards kept praying for my death. The difficulty really did look impossible to clear.
But—
— Slash!
"Kek, krrk...?!"
The moment one of them touched my domain, it was shredded apart. The goblins who had been laughing viciously just moments ago froze in place.