The most terrifying aspect of traitors who harbored malice against fellow humans was that once they had resolved to hide, they would beco indistinguishable from ordinary people.
Such fears were particularly evident in places isolated from society, like dungeons.
[After the first camp is set, if you look for a room with a library, a mber of the Assassination Specialist Clan hiding within the party will comnce their operation. They plan to take over the base camp that the Adventurers Guild intends to set up within the dungeon and eliminate all adventurers who co seeking it. It will be a dangerous operation.]
As Airi said, many adventurers besides our party were attempting to conquer this dungeon.
The larger the scale, the more important supply and resting places beco, so if a suitable spot were found during exploration, many adventurers would attempt to establish a camp.
Since the overall structure of the dungeon didnt change much, even though the details constantly shifted, the importance of establishing a camp beca even greater at the beginning of the exploration.
[If such a base camp falls to the Assassination Specialist Clan, adventurers who enter the camp for rest will be brutally attacked without knowing anything, losing their lives and loot. And since heroes hinder the capture of such camps, so parties of heroes who entered the dungeon have an Assassination Specialist Clan mber mixed in.]
[Even if she is a fallen hero, her power as a hero cannot be underestimated, so she too has beco a target of the Assassination Specialist Clan. Afterward, her death will be the signal for the Assassination Specialist Clan mbers who returned to the camp to receive his signal and start their real action.]
After all, even if deed fallen, she was still rightfully called a hero.
Having witnessed her power, they must strongly feel the need to eliminate her. However, since I also couldnt gain the trust of my party mbers, they would not believe such circumstances.
Sigh, I thought I had hidden it well, but where did you find out about my affiliation and na?
So, explaining the situation should co after dealing with this guy here.
Having reached that conclusion and holding a spear, I confronted the assassin, who aid a crossbow at and asked.
So, whats your plan? Youve openly revealed your identity and mine Should I take it that one of us will leave here dead?
Do we really need to talk about it? If youve been sharpening your wits by always targeting heroes from behind, you should know well enough.
Kyah~ I thought you were the silent type, but you know how to mock too~ So, this is your true self, huh~
The assassin was smirking arrogantly and insolently.
However, unlike his playful deanor, the aid crossbow was steady, and his eyes, which were eting mine, flashed with murderous intent.
Although it was disconcerting to have my identity exposed, I accepted the situation and faced it coolly since it had already been revealed.
Well, you must have your reasons for protecting that girl. If your goal was really to eliminate her, you would have waited until I had dealt with her and then backstabbed to take the credit
Of course, he didnt know the exact details about .
He would have judged based rely on my notorious reputation as a hero killer, assuming I was another murderer or a person from the underworld.
Still, Im curious. Have you grown attached to that girl? Or does it bother you that shes been labeled a fallen hero?
However, the question that followed carried a bitterness far removed from dealing with such a villain.
Wasnt it strange?
According to Airis prophecy, the opponent was a notorious assassin from the Assassination Specialist Clan of the underworld, and he himself did not deny it, calmly accepting the situation.
So, he must be a scumbag who would show no rcy to his target, yet why did he show such emotional expression when speaking of affection towards soone?
Sigh, lets just drop it.
As I was thinking this, he relaxed his tensed body and lowered the crossbow in his hand to the ground.
Startled, I raised my spear, and he lifted his hands above his head, showing his defenselessness.
Whats your sche?
Its not a sche. I just dont feel like it. I was ordered by the organization to assassinate the hero in the sa party at the right ti, but even so, killing a child who hasnt even had her coming-of-age ceremony doesnt sit right with .
And Im supposed to believe that?
I do this to make a living, but to be honest, Im getting fed up with it. Doing dirty work for a day or two is one thing, but killing a young hero who is tornted by degenerate adventurers and isnt a psychopath its not sothing a human should do, right?
She wasnt a psychopath who could be killed without guilt, but a victima young girl with fear and nowhere to turn.
ntioning sothing that anyone with a human heart would sympathize with, he lifted his hands higher and gave a bitter smile.
I thought it was sowhat okay to travel with you, didnt you think so?
As if appealing to the feelings hed developed during our ti together.
Certainly, wed only been together for a day or two, but that was enough ti to get a sense of soones character.
Although he was a scoundrel for having killed several people, it would be an exaggeration to say he was completely heartless, considering his behavior up until now.
Even when he made sarcastic jokes, he never crossed the line and didnt join in when others spoke ill of the girl, occasionally muttering words of sympathy and empathy for the hero
Im going to restrain you for now, so itd be best not to do anything foolish.
Thanks for trusting , Brother.
Paul Denian, satisfied with the trust I expressed, smiled contentedly.
While he still kept his arms raised, I narrowed the distance and conspicuously took out a multipurpose rope from my bosom, intending to restrain him.
In doing so, I earned his trust.
The mont the distance closed, I shifted my stance, planning to use my spear to stab at his legs.
Whoosh!
And in that mont, his raised hand began to descend towards .
In his hand was a dagger that had sprung from his sleeve, ready to slice my throat.
Damn, his dagger was faster than my spear.
Should I just trust the durability of my armor and clash?
Clang!!
But before I could decide, my Ego Weapon reflexively struck the dagger.
The blade of the dagger shattered miserably against the toughness of mithril, causing the assassin to step back with a stiff smile as he looked at the fragnts.
Brother, isnt that too much? I even threw away my weapon and surrendered.
Trusting soone whose passive skill is deceiving others is foolish.
I was montarily swayed by his convincing act, but I absolutely trusted Airis prophecy.
And Airi had said in her note
If this guy wasnt dealt with here, a massive slaughter of adventurers in this dungeon, including our party, would begin.
Boom!!
Of course, if he were soone who could be reasoned with, I wouldnt have used the term deal with in the first place.
With that certainty, I threw my spear to chase him as he tried to leave the library. The spear hit the wall of the corridor, exploding with force and collapsing part of the path he intended to take.
Kyah, this is what it takes to be a Hero Killer, huh?
Stay right there, you bastard!!
Stopping here would be idiotic! Woohoo~
The assassin, making odd interjections as if to mock , ran away.
When I summoned the spear stuck in the wall, he had already moved beyond the range of my throw, preparing to turn a corner.
Pausing briefly at that spot, he taunted with his characteristic smug laugh.
Sorry, Brother! No hard feelings, but our line of work runs on credibility! I genuinely feel sorry for the hero, but I cant betray a prior commitnt!
Growl.
Groan, scream.
Yes, they were undead.
The people stationed at this base camp, for so reason, had been transford into zombie-like creatures and had taken over the place.
This is insane
It made no sense. Why were the adventurers in this dungeon turned into undead?
No matter how twisted space and ti were in a dungeon, making it unpredictable, there was usually so consistency according to the environnt.
Why, in a place where only creatures like gargoyles should appear, was a situation unfolding that wasnt even ntioned in the prophecy?
[Before reading the note with the prophecy, please make sure to read this part first.]
The content written at the very beginning of Airis note ca to mind.
The warning written before getting to the main point was sufficient to understand this inexplicable situation.
[Hyo-sung. While my prophecies usually fit most situations, they cannot be said to be absolutely perfect.]
The prophecy about the future was not perfect.
This confession would be very detrintal to trusting a prophet, but Airi had also written the reason why this would happen in her note.
[The reason is that there are a few beings in this world, known as Transcendents, who can interfere with the future I foresee.]
Transcendents.
Beings who were in a state of transcending cognition, even beyond heroes, whose movents couldnt be predicted even with her prophetic powers.
The reason I imdiately accepted the existence of such beings was that I had encountered several such entities since coming to this world.
The vampire I t recently, Vivian who could blow away a building with just her finger, and Tacchia, whose exact identity was unknown but who considered Ego Weapons trivial, are also presud to be such beings
[So, if you believe that the prophecy and the situation differ, imdiately destroy the notes Ive given you and leave that place. Once a Transcendent has twisted the future, the future prophesied thereafter will also beco twisted in a chain reaction.]
Yes, at so point, a Transcendent who could twist Airis prophesied future appeared in this dungeon and, before , arrived at the base camp, slaughtering the adventurers and resurrecting them as undead.
And if the forces related to these undead were transcendent beings, there was only one such power in this world.
Damn it Why would a boss-level entity like the Four Knights appear in a dungeon ant for amateurs?
The Corpse Lord.
One of the calamities that threatened humanity with the ideology of turning all living beings into animate corpses, forming armies of the dead.
One of the Four Knights that followed him had begun to extend its influence into this dungeon for so reason at this mont.
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