“Gate keeper.”
A robed assassin appeared before the seemingly drunk old merman. The Gate Keeper, as he was called, looked up with a ditzy expression.
“Varim der har iz groys.”
“Did the Needle Master pass by?”
The assassin impatiently asked; however, the Gate Keeper was not going to entertain this sort of attitude from the assassin.
“Varim der har iz groys.”
“I apologise. Varim der har iz groys.”
He quickly realised his mistake and tried to clear it up. The Gate Keeper looked at him with a stern warning, before drinking from his bottle.
“Did the Needle Master pass by? I don’t think it was him.”
“A false needle master, you say? Interesting.”
“You haven’t seen him then? We may still have time then. I have reason to believe he was eliminated. They will be coming here, so we need to change the portal’s location- wait... you’ve never referred to him as Needle Master.”
The assassin was immediately on guard. His mind went back to how quickly the person who took down Needle Master moved. It was definitely possible that they had already come here. The only problem would be by-passing the Gate Keeper. Maybe they could use a sort of transformation magic or skill.
Still, the Gate Keeper could see through all of those. That was one of the reasons he was put in charge of the gate. No one could deceive his eyes. Not even the best assassins could sneak past him, which could only mean one thing.
The Gate Keeper had already dealt with the infiltrator. The assassin could rest easy.
He let out a sigh and looked at the Gate Keeper.
“Oh? Why are you relaxing? It would appear I let quite the gluttonous beast slide into your sacred land.”
The assassin’s eyes bulged out of his eye sockets. There was a shrewd grin on the Gate Keeper’s face as he stroked his chin and feigned ignorance.
‘H-He allowed it?!’
His eyes were immediately fixed onto the darkness, where the portal to the Guild was. Realising how much of a jeopardy the guild was in at the moment, the assassin sped towards the portal to clear up the mess.
Unfortunately, the moment he tried to go he sensed something coming after his neck. At a point blank, he avoided the attack and faced the origin. Standing there were three people. All of whom he recognised as the princess and her two guards.
The undine was the one to attack him with weird threads that came out of his fingers. She looked at him with a curious gaze, whereas the princess looked extremely delighted. Sunalla on the other hand looked infuriated.
“I swear, I’m going to cut that fowl in half when I find her.”
Lightning cracks exploded off her head. The assassin looked at the trio, scanning and making deductions.
The easiest person to kill first would be the princess, but Sunalla and the guard would be on high guard for her. Sunalla’s strength was somewhat equal to the assassin’s, so fighting her and the other would end in his defeat. Completely unaware of the true scopes of the undine’s strength, he came to the conclusion that the best option in this situation was to flee.
Using [Hyper Burst], he disappeared through the portal faster than any of them could react.
If those three were lucky, they wouldn’t try to fight the Gate Keeper. If they weren’t, they would make an enemy out of him.
The assassin reappeared at the other side of the portal and was met with a grotesquely horrifying scene. The holy temple of his goddess, his birthplace and place of worship, had been tainted in blood and dismembered bodies.
There were several black creatures swimming about, chasing the non-combatants. Whereas the combatants had been restrained and lined up in front of the temple. There was a thunderous rumble from the inside of the temple and several cries of people.
His face paled just as an arm floated gently down. The beast that cut off the arm was a pitch black with only what could be defined as a demonic appearance. It was essentially a living shadow, much like the devils he had been taught about.
While he was quietly observing the scene in horror, one of the black beasts identified him. It cocked its head at him and he gulped.
“Krriee…?”
It made a terrible low screeching voice. The assassin withdrew his curved blades and looked at the beast, a bit hesitant to even face it.
Another beast’s head popped up from the body it was currently ripping in half. He gulped once he noticed the increasing number of demons paying attention to him.
This was essentially the moment he got to prove his loyalty to the guild. Would he run away, or was he going to throw away his life? Either way he was dead, right?
Then, wouldn’t it be best for him to stay and fight? At least, that way he could say he did something with his life.
The beasts slowly approached him.
‘T-That’s right, if I fight back and there’s reinforcements, I could get an increase in rank.’
More creatures approached him, having rendered their original targets immobile.
‘Beasts or not. Nothing is more terrifying than the guild lead-‘
Just as he thought that, there was an almost nature defying roar from inside the temple. A massive beam of black light shot out of the temple, turning the water black, as if it wasn’t even a part of the mass blue anymore.
The beasts looked back at the temple, all surprised by the events, but after sniffing the air for a moment, they all let out horrid shrieks simultaneously and returned their focus to the target.
By that time, he was long gone. He already ran through the portal, having decided that it was better to live to fight another day.
When he reappeared there, he was met with the annoyed expressions of the three women from before.
“Hello aga-”
They weren’t his concern. Whatever the hell was happening back in the guild was more terrifying than they could ever be.
He swam past them, thinking only of his survival. Unfortunately for him, the world started spinning around. He could even see his body.
‘What’s going on?’
While he pondered this for a bit of time, his eyes fell on a snickering old man.
‘D-Did you kill me?’
___________________________
After having summoned my shadow generals and giving them their orders, I decided to head directly into the temple. That was where I sensed the really strong people. No one too terrifying, just a bit below me or on my level. I was sure I could handle them easily at this rate.
Once I stepped into the temple, some guards raced for me. My shadow generals restrained them quickly, allowing me to go deeper. The temple was seriously big, and the deeper I went, the darker it was. There was no form of light the further I went in.
I could feel a heavy presence deep down. Well, it was more like when I scanned it, I wasn’t getting anything. As if what I was trying to scan didn’t exist.
Interested, I went closer to it. There, I found someone kneeling down to a statue in prayer.
“Oh, dearest mother, forgive this son for he has sinned! I have allowed your holy temple to be tainted by the blood of weaklings.”
He cried out. He sounded like a middle-aged man who was bored with life.
At a glance, he didn’t really look special, but the fact that he was evading my [God’s Wisdom] was interesting enough to catch my eye.
‘Old man, get up.’
I ordered him, but he sat there, crying out.
“Even worse I have permitted a lost child into your humble abode. Forgive me!”
He cried out once again.
‘Oi, old man.’
“Forgive me, oh merciful mother!”
‘Ah… I’m being as patient as I can here.’
I approached him, with my sword in hand.
“If you don’t respond to me, I will cut off your head. Now answer.”
I put my hand on his shoulders, but I passed right through him.
‘Huh?’
“Forgive us, oh merciful mother!”
From all directions, I heard multiple pleas.
‘What’s happening?’
Even with my [God’s Wisdom], I still couldn’t identify anything. However, one by one, people in dirty brown robes came from behind the pillars, with their hands clasped in prayer.
“Forgive us, oh merciful mother!”
Chant in unison, praying for forgiveness.
‘W-What the hell? I got lost in some weird cult, huh.’
They all lifted their hands to me. I could feel them channelling mana through their bodies and into their hands. Magic circles formed up from all directions, facing me.
‘For real? You’re going to assault me with magic?’
I found the situation to be interesting. Rather than giving them the opportunity to do so, I charged straight at one and sliced right through him. Unfortunately for me, the same thing with the old man happened. Instead, what I felt was a dagger going through my neck from behind.
Luckily, I had [Slime body], essentially nullifying the stab. I turned my head 180 and opened my mouth wide to consume him, but I bit through nothing. Rather, I got a lightning bolt, water spear and daggers chugged at me.
This was cancelled out by my [Elemental Barrier], but the daggers managed to get lodged into my arm.
[You have been afflicted with [Paralysis]]
I took the daggers out of my hand, almost immediately curing myself of the poison.
‘Good, good. The first batch to not run away!’
I said this, because I had received a report from my shadow demons. Most people were running away after seeing them, making me feel like their sous weren’t worth it. But now, here I was, dealing with a bunch of people who couldn’t even be registered by [God’s Wisdom].
My sigma sine armour covered my body.
Twelve enemies in total, surrounding me. They were probably the strongest out of everyone in this area.
“It seems you have made up your mind to face us. But before we proceed, may I ask. Why are you doing this? Depending on your answer, your life may be forfeit, so please do answer wisely.”
One of them came out and asked me.
I looked at him, but still couldn’t get a scan on him.
‘Agent?’
<<That is unknown. It appears as though they are not in this space at all.>>
‘Odd…’
My sword lit up and I charged at the merman faster than he could see, slicing him into a perfect half. Just like all my attacks from before, he was completely unfazed by it.
‘That’s some nifty trick you have up your sleeve. Care to show me how you do it?’
“Answer my question.”
I narrowed my eyes on him, but I couldn’t see his reaction underneath the hood. All I could feel was a mocking gaze.
‘Just shut up and die.’
