The Assassin in the Night
Assassin. Two hearts floated vividly in the corner of his vision. One of the three red markers he had filled by hunting rainbow rabbits just yesterday had vanished without a trace.
Tae-oh sat there in a daze for a long moment, absently rubbing his chest. He remembered no pain at all. But the system didn't lie. This was clear proof that something—or someone—had killed him in his sleep.
Why? How? A choked groan slipped from between his lips. There was nothing more terrifying than a death without a known cause. At least on the battlefield you could see the blade coming. This time, he had simply died in his sleep, none the wiser.
Stay calm. Stay calm. Think about what needs to be done, step by step.
Tae-oh clenched his trembling hands into fists and steadied himself. He couldn't afford to sit here paralyzed by fear. He had to find the cause. But first, the most urgent task: he needed to replenish the lifeline that had been cut down to two.
Back in the forest, Tae-oh's first stop was the exact spot where he had hunted the rainbow rabbit the day before.
Please, please still be there. If it's regression, there's a chance. He prayed silently again and again as he pushed through the underbrush.
When he reached the area where he had caught it yesterday, Tae-oh's eyes flashed. Through the bushes, that dazzling seven-colored tail was swaying once more.
Thank god! Tae-oh breathed a sigh of relief.
It was a common rule across games. When you died and restarted, the items in that location remained. It had been true since the days of the plumber in the red hat. This world's system followed that law faithfully.
Tae-oh coated the rainbow dung grass with poison exactly as he had the day before and lured the creature. Before long, he once again ended the rainbow rabbit's life.
Once more the hearts were full. As Tae-oh gathered the carcass, a strange feeling came over him. If these hearts regenerated every single day, he might as well have obtained infinite life until he escaped this forest.
Infinite regression? Like hell!
As Tae-oh left the forest he reviewed another oddity. Normally, regression should have woken him to the clatter of that tin can in the recruit training camp. This time, however, he had opened his eyes inside the reconnaissance search party's barracks.
The regression point changed. In game terms, this must be after clearing a stage.
Having finished the tutorial stage as a recruit and entered the new regular-soldier stage, the save point had clearly updated. It was far better than waking up back in the recruit battalion. Having to build favor with these men from scratch, travel back and forth to the forest, kill that corporal, and reach this point again would have been an ordeal. Besides, the heart was now linked to the rainbow rabbit—a target with almost no variables—rather than the corporal.
Back in the barracks, Tae-oh sorted the ingredients he had gathered and sank into thought.
"Rolls, got a question."
"What?"
"If you die in your sleep, do you even realize you died in your sleep?"
Rolls snorted.
"Why the hell are you asking that?"
"Just thinking. Dying in your sleep doesn't sound so bad, if possible."
Even to the sudden question, Rolls gave a proper answer.
"Well, getting killed without a sound while you sleep could be a blessing. But that's not easy. Unless it's a skilled assassin, I suppose."
"Assassin?"
"Yeah. Someone good enough to send you straight to the afterlife with one cut. Humans don't die as cleanly as you think."
"I see..."
That only made the problem worse for Tae-oh. Whatever had killed him, if it was an assassin then it was a professional. Which meant there was a chance no item he crafted would work.
Like I thought, item crafting alone has its limits. In the end I have to become stronger myself.
This was a fantasy world where magic and a knight's aura truly existed. If he used his knowledge from Imperial Conquest, even an ordinary foot soldier's body might be able to awaken aura or locate secret manuals for handling mana.
Tae-oh recalled the hidden pieces from Imperial Conquest one by one and began forming a plan. But before any grand scheme, the identity of tonight's death had to be solved first.
Night finally fell. Inside the barracks, eight squad members including Tae-oh breathed heavily in sleep. Kyle and Bruce, worn out from the day's training, were already snoring loudly. Even Rian had shed her usual sharp edge and fallen into deep slumber.
Tae-oh pulled the blanket only up to his neck and closed his eyes. His mind, however, was sharper than it had ever been.
I can't fall asleep tonight. I have to see what happens.
He focused on every sound around him. Crickets outside the window, the distant footsteps of sentries, the steady breathing of his comrades. Time crawled by until it was well past midnight. When even the moonlight was swallowed by clouds and the barracks plunged into pitch darkness, it came.
Swish—
A tiny sound, like a single hair brushing against something, pricked Tae-oh's eardrum. So faint he would have missed it if he hadn't been listening with everything he had.
Tae-oh instinctively tensed every muscle. The sound had come from the door. He cracked his eyes open the slightest bit and scanned the darkness through narrowed slits. A single shadow that had slipped through the door stood silently on the floor.
Black clothes, a mask. An assassin.
Tae-oh shot up like lightning.
"Ambush!! Everybody up!!"
Questions flashed through his mind, but there was no time to think. He rose and shouted while snatching the sword he had hidden under his pillow.
"W-what's happening?!"
At Tae-oh's cry all eight squad members sprang awake.
Yet the masked assassin showed no panic. Instead he spoke in a low, almost relaxed voice.
"You could've died alone. Now you've dragged your comrades down with you."
"What?"
The assassin's body moved. His speed and precision were horrifying.
Slice— Slash— Slice—
The three who had risen before Tae-oh died instantly. Kyle, Bruce, Nestler. All three had their throats cut before they could even scream.
"Damn it! Kyle!"
"You really have time to worry about someone else?"
The moment he heard the low voice and saw the hand move, a cold line had already brushed across Tae-oh's neck.
Schlick—
He felt hot liquid gush from his throat without even managing a scream.
"Gurgle..."
The speed was impossible. He couldn't perceive it, let alone counter. Tae-oh desperately reached out to grab even a corner of the assassin's clothes, but strength had already left his fingers. His vision flickered and plunged into darkness. Whether from the poison on the blade, his senses went numb and consciousness slipped away.
So that's it... Poison...!
The reason he had died without knowing he was dying. It was the poison.
Tae-oh met death once again. As the third heart shattered, his consciousness was sucked back toward the save point.
LIFE LOST — REGRESSION INITIATED
"Haaah!"
Tae-oh bolted upright and clutched his neck. There was no wound, of course, yet the chilling sensation of metal remained burned into his mind.
I've already died twice. His target is unmistakably me.
Tae-oh sat at the desk and began reviewing the assassin's movements.
First, the assassin was overwhelmingly strong. Second, he didn't seem to care whether he was noticed or not. Third, despite that strength he still used poison. It was insurance—to make certain the kill.
As Tae-oh brooded, Rolls spoke up.
"Hey, Tae-oh. Why do you look like shit today?"
Tae-oh asked him right back.
"Rolls, one question. Is there anyone in this unit who would sneak in at night to kill new recruits like us?"
"What? Come to kill us? Did you have a nightmare or something? This is a search party. We've got sentries everywhere—how would an assassin get in?"
Rolls' reaction was perfectly ordinary. But Tae-oh had seen the man. Those cold eyes, that inhuman swordwork. It was the behavior of someone with a clear purpose.
Did he decide I was worth killing in that manner?
Tae-oh stared out the window. Catching rainbow rabbits to refill the hearts was only a stopgap. If he couldn't catch the assassin, he would lose one heart every night and be trapped in an endless cycle of death.
Tae-oh scratched his head roughly.
Goddamn it!
At first the idea of infinite regression had filled him with confidence. The vague belief that if he died a few times and kept at it, he would eventually catch the bastard and advance to the next stage. But it wasn't that simple.
That sensation...
Just remembering it sent a chill down his spine. The feeling of every ounce of strength draining from his body in death. It wasn't something a normal person could endure again and again. It felt like his mind itself was fracturing.
Even so, he could not give up.
Slap!
Tae-oh struck his own cheek hard. Rolls stared at him, dumbfounded.
"You... what the hell are you doing?"
"I'm pumping myself up, dammit!"
"R-right... Knock yourself out... You crazy bastard..."
Tae-oh's eyes gleamed with sharp light.
I'll prove I didn't waste all that hard-earned experience for nothing!