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Jeong Hyeong-sik, a follower of the Blue Eye organization, kept a careful distance from his target up ahead while mentally reviewing the list he had been assigned.

'Summoner Lee Yeonhee and the rest of the trash.' The Helen duo were competent enough to earn some respect at this rank, but in Jeong Hyeong-sik's mind they were nothing more than disposable fodder. Still, the mere thought of Lee Yeonhee's terrifying army of summons was enough to send cold sweat trickling down even his spine.

'Avoid a direct confrontation and buy time... Do you honestly think that's possible, Branch Leader? Hehehe...'

The orders delivered by the branch leader yesterday had contained only a single line. The cult was rushing through preparations for a large-scale offering in the Lizardman Swamp today, moving with the frantic haste of roasting beans over lightning. It was only natural that things were turning rough and reckless.

'It feels like something's gotten urgent. Weren't we always the type to work quietly from the shadows? Why push it this far?'

Just a few weeks ago, the standard practice had been to dig tunnels beneath dungeons and perform small-scale offerings. Something had clearly changed. The scale of the sacrifices was growing larger, and operations were breaking out simultaneously across the country. Only now did Jeong Hyeong-sik realize just how many followers the cult actually had.

Despite his personal doubts, he had resolved to carry out his orders to the best of his ability. Ever since childhood, he had hated people who were good at everything. While he himself had nothing left to lose and was thoroughly miserable, everywhere he looked there were only bright, smiling faces.

'If only they would all just die...'

He truly meant it. To someone with such a twisted nature, the offer from the Blue Eye organization had felt almost inevitable. The missions they handed down felt like quests in a game, and there was real pleasure in completing them one by one. If he kept at it, he could one day stand above all the worms of this world as its ruler. Just thinking about it thrilled him.

Today's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mission should have been another step in that process. It should have been. But the order itself was absurdly difficult to complete, and now an unexpected variable had appeared.

No Hayun, who hadn't been on the registry that morning, had suddenly entered the dungeon. And she was sticking right beside his primary target.

'Damn it... What now? There's no angle here. Lee Yeonhee and No Hayun? Those two are monsters.'

It should have been impossible for additional entrants to appear after the registry was locked, but anyone who knew No Hayun's background understood that such things weren't particularly difficult for her.

'Complaining won't change anything. For now, I'll hit and run, try to divide their attention. When should I time it?'

Jeong Hyeong-sik trusted in the abilities of the colleague moving beside him. The man was a hunter with exceptionally developed eyesight. It wasn't just that he could see far; he could predict what No Hayun would do next simply by watching the movement of the muscles in her legs from eighty meters away. As long as those targets remained in their line of sight, the first strike would belong to them. He believed that firmly.

Besides No Hayun, all the other hunters were E-grade. If things went wrong and they scattered in every direction, there was no chance they would be the ones caught and tormented.

'If only that damn woman wasn't here, this would be so much easier!'

Yet those rational thoughts were gradually being pushed aside as an inexplicable rage began to fill him. No Hayun. The woman who had inherited the blood of the 'Witch' and shot straight to the position of next-generation ace in the Bijeon Guild.

He imagined her impaled on his thorns, writhing in agony. She had simply been lucky enough to be born into a good family. That was all. Yet she strutted around as if she were the main character of the world.

'Fucking privileged bastards. They devour everything, even for their children and grandchildren. Pulling strings from the front, pushing from behind. Fuck! I heard that bitch Lee Yeonhee got into the White Knight Guild right after her second awakening just because she got lucky too? What a dogshit world! Fuck! Should I just blow it all up?'

Black energy flickered ominously from his hand, transforming into sharp thorn-like shapes.

Originally, he had possessed no talent as a hunter. But after joining the Blue Eye, he had offered up half his remaining lifespan as collateral to obtain power from the cult.

'If I refine this ability just a little more, trash like them...!'

Khaak—ptoo!

He glared at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠No Hayun and spat out his bitter resentment along with a thick wad of phlegm. And right beside him, Ilwol had just approached in stealth.

'You bastard! I almost got spat on!'

The moment he drew close to the man, a flying glob of spit had nearly hit him. For a second his heart had clenched, wondering if the man had some detection-type ability.

'This guy seems to be the strongest. Other than that black energy in his hand, I don't see any particular threats.'

I shifted slightly to the side and carefully examined all nine faces, but none of them were familiar.

'Some kind of barrier that requires nine people to activate? Doesn't look like it... Are they really just disposable pawns? This is ridiculous.'

Now that I was close, it was clear they weren't a force to be taken lightly.

'If I weren't here... Helen and her partner might have lost one or two of them.'

Five of the nine were skilled enough to be at the bottom of D-grade. Even considering Yeonhee and No Hayun's strength, subduing them would have required significant time and casualties.

Suddenly I remembered the Blue Eye members I had encountered in the tomb while searching for artifacts. The last one had begged for his life.

'These guys know how precious their lives are. There's no way they'd fight knowing they'd lose unless they had a reason.'

What was their objective?

'Objective...'

From what I had learned so far, the Blue Eye had two major goals: collecting ancient artifacts and sacrificing hunters to some entity called Asuran. Could they have somehow detected the artifact I had hidden with Cognitive Impairment?

'Even so, their forces are too weak to come after our artifact. It probably isn't because of that.'

And they certainly didn't have the strength to overpower us and offer us up as sacrifices.

'...Are we an interfering element in their ritual?'

Maybe their goal was simply to divert our attention elsewhere. It was a plausible enough reason, and I nodded to myself even as my coldly sunken reason demanded immediate action.

Yes. Whatever the case, there was no reason to play with scum like these for long.

'Interrogating them would be a pain anyway. Trash like you simply die the moment you enter my sight.'

Besides, killing these bastards would bring me additional benefits, wouldn't it?

Vrrrrrng—

Having finished my thoughts, I slipped ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠behind them for a moment and took out the eighteen bombs I had stored away.

'One won't be enough. Let's go with two each to be sure.'

I spread mana across my palm to create a basket shape, loaded the bombs into it, and began throwing them two at a time at the running targets in the distance.

The bombs, enhanced by the Dagger Throw skill, flew toward the enemies' upper bodies with a fairly high success rate. The entire process was extremely agile. I had calculated the timing so that the thrown bombs would explode almost simultaneously.

KWAAAAAANG—!!

“Kuaaaaaagh—!”

Agonized, horrific screams echoed from all directions. Several of them couldn't even let out a final cry before their heads were blown clean off.

The sudden explosion made our party members up ahead, who had been moving forward, and No Hayun—who had been frantically looking around for my missing presence—both whip their heads around at the same time.

“Kuhuk— Wh-what the hell!!”

The man who had spat when I first approached had been watching the closest explosion with particular attention. His shoulder had been completely obliterated by the blast. In his hand, a sharp something formed of black mana writhed back and forth as if searching for prey.

'That attack... I don't know exactly what it is, but it looks stronger than my bomb attack...?'

It wasn't surprising. He was a higher-grade fighter than me, after all. On top of that, he belonged to some mysterious cult. It made sense that he might possess skills stronger than mine. But what good was that if he couldn't hit anything?

“Where are you!! Who the hell are you, you son of a bitch!!”

Now that my mana capacity and recovery speed had reached a certain level, I could remain in stealth for the entire duration of a battle if I wanted. So his pointless rage simply scattered uselessly through the dungeon.

Words that received no answer were no different from silence.

'Even if I only strike once, I need to focus every nerve...'

I thinly coated my dagger with mana and, without hesitation, slashed sideways across his throat.

Shuuush—!

Blood gushed from the man's neck, and soon hot blood sprayed in every direction.

'It seems Penetration also affects cutting power.'

His cleanly severed head spun several times in the air before our eyes met. Even in that instant as his head flew through the sky, he stared at me with eyes that couldn't believe he had just suffered such a pathetic death.

And when I withdrew the dagger into my embrace after slashing him, shadow-like thorns shot out from his cloak, following the dagger's trajectory in an attempt to attack me.

Whoosh—!

Of course, having anticipated the shadow attack, I simply turned my head and easily dodged it. But it was powerful enough that if it had been Helen or Jin-gyeong, it would have pierced straight through their foreheads in an instant.

How many hunters would lose their lives to this shadow attack in the future?

At that moment, the spirit Ran who had been quietly perched on my shoulder burst out angrily.

(Uwaaack!! You idiot! Consider the fact that I'm here when you act!)

(I keep forgetting you're there.)

(How can you possibly forget an existence like me?!)

A few days ago, Ran had learned that my stealth ability extended to her even though she was a living being. So we would likely be working together as partners quite often from now on.

Ran's Acceleration skill was truly... an incredible ability.

Anyway, the shadow cloak was a dangerous item that required dealing with. 'It's annoying, but I need to let the others know about these cloaks.'

Keeping that thought firmly in mind, I resumed my work. With the enemies' shadow cloaks in mind, I swung my blade once, twice, three times and more. Each time, I tried to imitate the cleanest, most efficient movements I knew, stripping away every unnecessary motion.

Shuk—!

“Kuhuk— W-wait, listen to what I—”

Squelch—!

Roll, roll...

'What nonsense. Do you stop and listen to every stranger who asks you to on the street?'

As I shook my head at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the nameless man's head that had rolled across the ground and finally come to a stop, another message appeared.