An Assassin's End

A sudden chill prickled at the nape of his neck, followed a split second later by a shiver that rippled down his spine.

"...!"

Having survived similar ambushes before, Bennett threw his body backward without hesitation.

At that exact moment, the empty air rippled.

Schrrrk—

A massive blade burst out from nothingness, cleaving vertically through empty space. Though it had slashed through thin air, the shearing sound was razor-sharp and unmistakable.

The blade vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared, melting back into the void. Anyone else would have thought their eyes were playing tricks on them.

Bennett, however, knew better than anyone that it was no illusion.

He instinctively moved to trigger Reflexes, then caught himself.

Things invisible to the naked eye began to take shape.

The assailant who had just struck from invisibility was no exception.

There you are.

A middle-aged man wearing a pendant around his neck was lunging toward him at blinding, unexpected speed.

Activating Insight and Reflexes simultaneously smoothed out the man's stuttering, disjointed movement into something coherent. Bennett still felt half a beat behind, but at least he could track the trajectory now.

His ragged breath evened out, and the tremor in his hands vanished. As the man's unnatural, disorienting sprint mapped itself into his awareness, Bennett anticipated where his target would move next.

The expected trajectory was right—

Here.

Realizing too late that he was hurtling headlong into a volley of bolts, the middle-aged man swung his sword in panicked desperation. He possessed considerable skill with the blade, cleanly deflecting the first few projectiles, but parrying an entire staggered volley fired in rapid succession was next to impossible.

Th-th-thud!

He barely managed to protect his vitals, but calling it luck was a stretch; far too many bolts were already buried deep in his flesh. Even so, the man gritted his teeth and tried to pivot back toward Bennett—

"Raaagh—!"

A ferocious tackle from Edgar, charging in from behind, sent the assassin flying across the corridor. Although the invisibility artifact was still active, the dozen bolts protruding from his body rendered the camouflage utterly useless.

Crash!

Bennett slotted a fresh magazine into his repeating crossbow as he closed the distance. By then, the man's invisibility had faded. His condition was grim; though his eyes were wide open, his limbs were completely paralyzed.

Realizing his predicament, the man's gaze filled with bottomless despair. Bennett put a bolt through his forehead, putting an end to his agony.

Bennett squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Just as when Reflexes had advanced from Level 1 to Level 2, a sharp, stinging sensation flared behind his eyelids. Wiping away the involuntary tears, he rifled through the man's corpse.

He wore camouflage gear and light armor—the textbook garb of an assassin. Stripping away the outer garment, Bennett discovered an insignia branded beneath the man's left breast. It was a crest he had never seen before.

"It's the Thief Clan," Erika said, stepping up.

"You know them?"

"It's a clan made up mostly of assassins and rogues."

"Like The Union or the Hunters?"

"Nowhere near their scale... It's pretty minor. I only know about them because I happened to hear their name in passing. There are probably hundreds of small-time clans like that scattered across the Dungeon City."

Which means we don't have to worry about retaliation.

Bennett confiscated everything on the body. Only three items held any real monetary value: the assassin's primary sword, a slightly elongated backup trench knife, and the enchanted pendant hung with invisibility magic.

Appraisal naturally fell to Erika, the party's sole mage. Having worked appraisals even before venturing into the dungeons, she finished in no time.

"It's an enchanted item that grants invisibility. But it only has three charges total."

"How many are left?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Uh..." Erika examined the pendant closely, then held up a single index finger. "Just one."

"One?"

"Yep. It's almost depleted, but an artifact like this will still fetch a handsome sum out in the city."

Even with limited charges, invisibility was a game-changing asset. Its value was guaranteed to be steep.

"His comrades are likely further inside," Bennett said. "Move cautiously."

"Understood, Bennett-nim."

The Bennett Party resumed their advance.

Unlike the route leading toward the cafeteria, this corridor felt cold, sterile, and razor-sharp, just like when they had first breached the research facility. Further along, the corridor narrowed abruptly, opening into a choke point that resembled a castle gate checkpoint.

Knowing another ambush could easily lurk ahead, the party advanced with measured, deliberate steps. Only after passing the checkpoint did they reach the core research facility.

The layout stretched out into countless compartments of varying sizes, partitioned by transparent glass walls. Though entirely glass, the panels were visibly thick and fortified, looking far sturdier than regular glass. Inside the rooms stood rows upon rows of peculiar, high-tech apparatuses of unknown purpose.

Mounted on a nearby wall along the corridor was a tablet-like device, its screen pulsing with flashing text. To Bennett's party, however, the script was utterly indecipherable.

Clang! Clang! Clank!

Sitting with her legs crossed in a chair, a woman yawned with blatant boredom.

"Still not open?"

"S-Sorry, Vice Master."

The woman with a prominent scar slicing near her eye was Anna, the Vice Master of the Thief Clan. Her gaze drifted toward a massive vault situated in the corner of the laboratory.

It operated on a mechanism completely alien to the safes back on their continent. Even the clan's veteran safecracker was sweating bullets in utter bewilderment.

"Why don't we just call the spiritist back inside?" Anna muttered. "At this rate, the dungeon will close before we even scratch this thing."

"The thing is... the spiritist already said he isn't a mage, so he can't bypass it."

In other words, they had already tried that and failed.

Anna knitted her brows. "I paid a fortune to hire him, and he's completely useless. If I'd known, I would've just hired a proper mage."

The subordinate kept his head bowed in silence, acutely aware that Anna had pocketed the difference between the budget for a mage and the cheaper fee of a spiritist. She was the clan's Vice Master; pointing that out would do nothing but earn him a slit throat.

Her temperament was notoriously vicious, treating her subordinates like disposable slaves, but her lethal prowess was undeniably worthy of a Vice Master.

Clank! Clang! Clang!

With the safecracker and the spiritist both proving useless, the only recourse left was brute force. Unsurprisingly, that bore no fruit either. Despite burly men hammering away with pickaxes, the vault didn't even suffer a scratch. They had even expended a precious magic scroll just in case, but it had merely scorched the outer coating.

Just as Anna rose from her seat in frustration, a gentle gust of wind blew in.

Fwoosh.

Riding the sudden draft was a small slip of paper. Snatching it from the air, Anna skimmed the contents. A cruel, vicious smirk spread across her lips.

"Just when I was getting bored. Perfect."

"Ma'am?"

"We've got company headed this way. You three stay here on the vault. The rest of you, follow me!"

The remaining clan members, tired of standing around waiting for the vault to open, brightened up and followed her eagerly.

"You've arrived, Vice Master."

The temporarily hired spiritist and a scout bowed respectfully to greet her.

"Are those the ones?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Anna raised a portable monocular to observe the intruders.

"Wow. Only four of them?"

She had heard that official guidebooks published by major factions recommended parties of three to five, but seeing it in person felt downright absurd. She couldn't help but wonder where they got that kind of reckless confidence.

Nor did they appear to belong to any prominent noble house or major syndicate. Those types invariably wore identifiable crests or insignia on their clothing to advertise their backing. These four had nothing of the sort.

The clan members observing beside her reached the same conclusion.

"Looks like an independent scavenger party."

"Doesn't it?"

Anna's breathing grew shallow and rapid. She was a sadist who drew visceral ecstasy and sexual arousal from slaughter. If they had belonged to a major faction, steering clear would have been the prudent choice. But an independent party? Eradicating them carried zero risk.

"Who has the gear ready?"

A few clan members raised their hands—elites who had been issued high-grade stealth equipment in recognition of their skill and contributions.

"You're with me."

"Understood, Vice Master. Hide!"

At the activation keyword, Anna and her vanguard melted into thin air, leaving not a trace behind.

Gliding forward without a whisper of sound, she moved with the practiced stealth of a seasoned assassin.

Who should I kill first?

Her eyes locked onto the man walking at the front. His hair was cropped short, but he had an undeniably sharp, attractive face. In his hands rested the fabled rapid-fire repeating crossbow.

A thrill of anticipation curled her lips as she unsheathed her weapon—a curved, wicked karambit that radiated chilling bloodlust the instant her fingers gripped the hilt.

What kind of face will he make when he dies?

Just imagining it sent her heart hammering against her ribs. She tried to suppress the rising fervor, but she couldn't stop the electric, throbbing heat pooling in her lower abdomen.

Twitching slightly, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Anna paused for a fleeting second before resetting her posture and creeping forward again.

Haaah...

She ran her tongue across her lips. Her core was already tingling with unbearable excitement, but this was merely the foreplay. The true climax would hit the exact second his life was snuffed out.

Channeling mana through her pathways, her physical attributes surged, making her footwork even swifter. The distance closed in a flash. It was, by all accounts, a flawless ambush. She hadn't made the faintest sound.

Yet, just as she raised her karambit, Anna hesitated.

What?

A strange gleam seemed to flash in the man's eyes. At first, she thought she was seeing things, but she soon realized the truth. His eyes were tracking her movements with pinpoint precision.

Thinking it was a coincidence, she swiftly veered to the side, yet his gaze remained locked onto her.

Sensing something was catastrophically wrong, Anna raised a hand to signal the clan members behind her. In that exact fraction of a second, the man leveled his repeating crossbow.

Twang!

Before Anna could twist away, her head snapped back toward the ceiling.

"E-Eeehk...?"

A bizarre whimper escaped her throat as her entire body seized. Before she could comprehend what had transpired—

"V-Vice Master Anna!"

Through the horrified screams of her men, she belatedly registered something foreign buried deep inside her forehead.

I got caught.

A heavy, paralyzing lethargy washed over her. She tried desperately to hold it in, but her body gave out. As all tension melted from her limbs, the restraint she had held back broke completely, releasing a sudden, warm flood. Even as her consciousness rapidly slipped away, she could distinctly feel the soaking wetness drenching her underwear.

Strangely, she felt no shame. If anything, an inexplicable wave of liberation and raw euphoria surged through her. Amidst the deepening darkness, Anna sensed that her final breath had arrived.

I wonder... what kind of face I'm making right now...

Thud!

Anna collapsed onto the floor, her eyes glazed and unfocused, her tongue lolling loosely from her mouth.

What the hell was that about?

Though Bennett tilted his head in bewilderment at her bizarre death throes, his hands didn't pause for a microsecond. Utilizing Insight, he began systematically picking off the cloaked Thief Clan members one by one.

Every single one of them was remarkably agile thanks to their mana-enhanced footwork, but against Bennett's elevated Reflexes, their paths were plain as day. The rogues attempted erratic evasions and desperate counterattacks, but against his lethal precision enhanced by Marksman and his veteran combat instincts, their efforts were meaningless.

Fwooooosh!

Having felled the rest of the cloaked assassins, Bennett's eyes widened. A sudden, violent gale whipped through the corridor. A howling wind deep underground was impossible under normal circumstances.

"Bennett-nim, look out! It's a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spiritist!"

Even without Erika's warning, Bennett still had Insight active. Thanks to the perceptual skill, he clearly caught sight of the blade of compressed wind hurtling toward him. While not as blindingly luminous as orthodox Circle magic, the translucent, crescent-shaped blade was unmistakable.

He instantly brought his crossbow up and pulled the trigger.

Clang!

A bolt imbued with psionic energy slammed dead-center into the wind blade. Though distinct and alien compared to mana constructs, the psionic-infused bolt shattered the elemental construct into scattering wisps of air. In the next instant, a stifled retch echoed from down the hallway.

Snapping his head toward the source of the noise, Bennett spotted two faint silhouettes lingering in the distance. One was a Thief Clan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rogue; beside him stood an elderly man coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

The spiritist.

Closing the gap in the blink of an eye, Bennett pulled the trigger twice.

"Urgh."

Pierced cleanly through the heart and brow, the clan member and the spiritist crumpled to the floor with choked groans.

Right then, a sharp, metallic clanging drifted from further down the hall. Bennett followed the sound.

Before long, the rest of the Thief Clan came into view, desperately working on the vault. Wielding crowbars and pickaxes, their backs were hunched in frantic agitation as they tried to pry the heavy door open.

"What are you—urk!"

Having wiped out the remaining scavengers, Bennett winced slightly. The clogged sensation in his ears suddenly cleared as his auditory range expanded, but unlike previous upgrades, the accompanying headache was quite sharp.

Having finished confirming the kills behind him, the rest of the party caught up.

"I don't think I've ever seen a safe from the dungeon world before," Edgar remarked, examining the monolithic steel structure.

"Leave it to me! Just give me a little time and I'll smash it wide open!"

"Everyone stand down. Settle down," Bennett said calmly.

Quieting his party, he stepped forward and presented an item to the scanner beside the vault.

Beep.

The research director's keycard worked here as well. Rendering the Thief Clan's fruitless labor completely laughable, the vault hissed softly and unlocked immediately.

Peering inside, Bennett's eyes widened.

"This is...?"