The Shadow Assassin and Departure!

Shit! they should have retreated the moment they got noticed, ambush fighters have severe disadvantages in a straight fight!

If they just knew that the target was the hero they would have acted more carefully. No! the believers of the god of death won't dare lay a hand on the hero knowingly.

Look at that monster running toward the church, lighting the street in the middle of the night like it's nothing! The last one is probably a goner too!

He wasn't awake, something else inside him was and whatever it was it's a pain to deal with!

Facing him in a direct flight is out of the question, who will want to duke it out with the hero? and now the sleeping opportunities are also a no-go.

Hmmm! Why am I stressing about this? It isn't even my job. It's Vanessa's!

I should report this to her and get the hell out of here.

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The lights in the church were already lit when Connor got there.

He ignored all the sisters calling to him as he made his way toward Dolrig room.

"Dolrig, are you still alive!?" Connor shouted as he entered the room.

Mary jumped as she was surprised by Connor busting the door open.

"Yeah, Alive and kicking!" Dolrig replied.

He was drenched in blood.

"That doesn't seem true!"

"Ah, This? only half is mine!" Dolrig wiped some of the blood on his torso.

"That is still bad!"

"I was sleeping, the bastard there stabbed me! Luckily he didn't hit anything important so I poured every curse I can into his head!" Dolrig said proudly as he kicked the dead assassin that was in the corner.

"You bet! He probably missed vital organs! Also thank you for responding quickly Mary-san!" Connor said with relief.

"I felt a surge in Cursed mana so I came running to find Dolrig injured, the assassin was foaming by the time I got there!" Mary said.

As Mary continued healing Dolrig as the sisters dragged the assassin corps Connor called her off.

"I will take over, the wound may be poisoned!"

[Holy Healing Magic], [Holy Detoxification Magic]

Mary was taken aback as she saw Connor's magic.

"Holy restoration magic! Is this the power of the hero?"

"I did hear about it somewhere!" Dolrig said.

"Do you know the difference between it and other restoration magic?" Connor asked Mary.

"It's a rare type of Magic that takes its power directly from a divine being instead of the world's natural mana. Only arch popes can receive it from their gods! The only one I saw was the Great arch pope of the Avander faith in the capital!"

"It's that rare?" Connor asked.

"Of course! It's the power of a god taking shape in the mortal world! The healing magic who can only heal wounds now can cure diseases. Detoxification magic that was only used for curing poisons now has the ability to cure magical venoms and rotten flesh! Even the barrier magic that can normally just protect now can bless an entire area!"

"Do you have a god you follow to get this magic?" Dolrig asked Connor.

"To be honest it's not mine! Alice developed it first as she became the holy maiden! Didn't you see it when she showed you her skills on the stage?" Connor said as he looked at Mary.

Mary's face palmed as she remembered what she missed.

"This is a lot to unpack! First Alice is at the same level as the arch pope. I should have expected that since she befriended a great wyrm dragon and became the second hero's holy maiden! with this much support, she can tell the king to shut up and he will apologize! but what is more concerning is that a pope is always hypocritical about his religion. We need to know which god she follows!"

"Wouldn't that be Avandor? you said she was a sister here before the Kinryuu incident?" Connor said.

"That can't be right! She never followed his teachings, always talking about the hero!" Mary said with an unhappy face.

"That will only leave you! Wasn't she supposed to be your holy maiden?" Dolrig adds up.

"Are you saying that she got it as the holy maiden?" Mary asked.

"That probably makes more sense!" Connor said.

"I say when you reach the capital tell the king about this, he may offer to build a church or a shrine for her!" Marry suggested.

"Alice as a pope? In a church? What would they worship even?"

Mary and Dolrig looked at each other before responding with a straight face.

"You of course! The church of the hero!"

"I don't want that!" Connor refused directly.

"Even if you refuse, some will still worship you. It's better to go with the flow!" Mary replied.

Connor scratched his head as he surrendered.

"I will look into it! Now I need to return to the Boran mansion and sleep."

"Yeah we are departing in the morning," Dolrig replied.

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Clank! Clank!

Deep underground in a cave system a fierce fight ensues.

A dark-blue-skinned woman with horns is gracefully clawing her way through a horde of monsters that look like cockroaches that stand on two feet.

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step], [Claws Arts: Ranged slash].

Her shadow magic allows her to teleport from a shadow to another and since the cave is dark she can teleport anywhere. her claws can slash even from a few meters away.

Using this deadly combination she teleports into the middle of the horde and cuts a dozen of the monsters in one slash and then teleports back to safety.

She kept doing this for a long time as the monster kept getting more and more vicious from her killing them.

Splash!

One of the monsters managed to hit her, was it Luck or are they getting used to fighting her? No! It was her mistake as the exhaustion started piling up on her she failed to teleport back in time!

"Nice hit! Let me give you a reward!"

She caught it from the head, as her Claws sank into his skull.

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step] she teleported alongside it outside the horde.

"No one will interrupt our fun here! I will enjoy every bit of you!"

[Life Stealing Magic: Life absorption]

The monster screeched in pain as his life force was suctioned by her.

"I like your screams, it has a different vibe than the others!"

The monster's body withered as if she was a dying plant.

"Thanks for your life!" She said, throwing the monster corps into a hole that was close to her.

In the rare case when she got injured she just used her [Life Stealing Magic] to heal her wounds.

She leaned back at the wall, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. drawing and drinking a blue glowing potion.

I feel like I'm almost out of mana!

How long have I been here? Maybe a day?

She took off her cape and top armor leaving only her bra-like padding.

I should rest for a bit here.

Peep! Peep! -Vanessa-sama, I have a report!-

She picked the purple crystal from her pouch and responded.

"I can hear you, How did it go?"

-The mission failed! The squad was annihilated!-

"As expected, this won't be easy!" She sighed.

-I have Information about his abilities!-

"Of course you will get the extra payment for information! So, speak!. I can't be stingy when fighting the hero!"

-The most important thing is that he seems to be possessed by something!-

"What makes you say that?"

-After I confirmed that everyone was asleep including the hero, I ordered the start of the mission just for the squad to be surprised by the hero looking directly at them!-

"Won't this imply you made a mistake rather than the hero was possessed?"

-Let me finish. His eyes were glowing faint blue then he blinked and the glow had disappeared, that was when he reacted to the attack!-

"That certainly implies being possessed! but the color of his eyes worries me!"

-Because?-

"Golden eyes for holy magic, red for Cursed magic, Purple for Devil possession and white for Ghosts possession. I never heard of a blue glow!"

-Well this a thing to keep in mind! Do you want to know about his magic?-

"Extra payment? just spit it out!" She started to get annoyed by him.

-He had great physical abilities so martial skill is in effect, I did also see Air, earth, lightning, and healing magic!-

"That's a lot! and what worries me more is that you saw all of this in a brief encounter, right?"

-Your absolutely right! The bastard used air, earth, and what seemed like a martial skill to crack one of my men's skulls open!-

"Triple skill activation. That's rare even among veterans!"

-How about you Vanessa-sama?-

"I can use triple skill activation, quadruple if I push myself to the limit!"

-So you're still stronger!-

"Not really! I've been in this profession for more than 80 years and that is what I honed. On the other hand, he is just a human in his early twenties, Right?"

-Even if he was training from the moment he was born this level is still abnormal, right?-

"Terrifying growth speed! the next time we meet him I guess he can show even more strength!"

-The weakest member is his party seems to be the holy maiden, she got her stomach easily cut open!-

"What was the hero's reaction?"

-My man used the dying holy maiden as a hostage to negotiate, but the hero used what I said earlier to bust his skull open!-

"Peace was never a choice for this hero?"

-That doesn't seem to be the case! he was pretty much hesitant to kill but as soon as the holy maiden life was in danger he snapped!-

"So we can say that his party members are a red line?"

-Pretty much! Also, the squirrel that was with him just refused to die!-

"What?"

-The hero has a pet squirrel so just in case I sent someone to kill it. The pest just didn't want to die! no matter how much he was cut in half he just regenerated until the hero came to save him!-

"Maybe a tamed monster which implies a taming skill? what the hell?"

-I know! and guess what we are just starting! The guards of the holy maiden are a pain in the ass to fight too!-

"Tell me one by one."

-The redhead, she fucking snapped one of my men's neck the moment she woke up! with her legs!! My man has decent skills and a bright future, and she was like 'die in between my thighs. At least give my man some respect and kill him with a weapon!-

"I know you lost precious assassins but can you calm down?"

-Sorry about that!-

"So what about the other one?"

-That bitch is even more trouble than the redhead!-

"How is that?"

-The first night she was literally fucking the hero! which makes her even closer to him than the holy maiden!-

"So you're saying they have a relationship going on? That isn't enough to call her trouble!"

-If you get hit with a knife in the neck what will happen?-

"Your throat will be sliced open, you bleed then die."

-That's right! with normal people! This bitch survived it without a scratch! What kind of bullshit is this? She then crushed another one of my men with her mace!-

"So that's the problem!"

-Yeah, how fucking hard do you need to be to stop a knife with your throat?-

"And the dwarf?"

-Yeah, in his case it was a mistake on the assassin side as he missed the heart due to the targeted being a dwarf and not a human!-

"If this is the full report then come back quickly, we need to prepare for an ambush!"

-About that…-

"What? more money?"

-The truth is that I don't want to mess with the hero anymore!-

"Why is that? did you lose this quickly?"

-Haven't you heard me earlier? I lost precious men and realized just how much of a problem is the hero to deal with!-

"Are you bailing out just for that?"

-I know that you're a genius assassin, you even have Xaviin-sama support. But this is just too big for you!-

"Are you ridiculing me? Do you think that this is too hard of a job for a new guild?"

-No I'm not! I'm just saying that no matter who supports you picking a fight against the hero is never a great idea!-

"Then how can I compete with the other guilds? since I got the first pick I'm taking the job!"

-Then I will stay neutral for this matter, where I can get my payment?-

"Go to the redlight district in the underground city of Roa, in the demons section ask for the claws service. When they send you a woman tells her that you don't like her and that you want your money back from Vanessa. She will take care of the rest."

-Thanks, and make sure to tell them about the extra payment!-

"I won't forget!"

The line was cut, the crystal lost its shine.

Phew! This coward, scared of going against the hero!

From his report the hero is strong and his growth speed is astounding but we can still take him on! It's better to kill him now before he gets stronger.

Vanessa held the crystal orb in her hands.

[Appraisal]

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Name Vanessa. Level: 25

Age: 145 Race: Demon.

Social stats: Mercenary.

Class: Shadow Assassin.

Titles: Shadow Walker, Cold-blooded killer, relentless hunter.

Health: 470/470.

Mana: 93/500.

Stamina: 145/370.

Strength: 20 , Dexterity: 26 , Speed: 34 , Magic: 26 , Luck: 16

Constitution: 26 , Wisdom: 25 , intelligence: 26 , charisma: 26 , Will: 28

Skills:

[Dagger Arts: Level 28], [Claws Arts: Level 36], [Throwing: Level 21]

[Shadow Magic: Level 23], [Poison Magic: Level 18], [Life Stealing Magic: Level 17]

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Even after all this fighting my stats only increased by a small margin! I won't be able to reach the level I want before I fight the hero.

Time to increase the rate,

Vanessa took a couple more blue and green potions from her bag and started chugging them down.

Mana: 93/500 ⇒ 487/500

Stamina: 145/370 ⇒ 359/370

Good, now I feel better.

Wearing her armor again and cracking her neck she got ready for another round.

I should get back in, I bet those humanoid roaches are dying to meet me again.

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step]

"Did you miss me?"

The moment she appeared in front of one of the roaches he instinctively sent a punch toward her.

[Claws Arts: Five lines cut] with one swing of her hand the roach was in pieces.

"Guess not? Anyway, I have good news for you! My training isn't going well you see! So I won't be teleporting away!"

They started swarming her as she turned them to sliced meat.

"Too dumb to understand?"

After a few minutes of her cutting through their ranks, she notices that their numbers are dwindling.

I almost finished this hoard? I haven't seen the leader yet!

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step] she teleported to the cavern ceiling and used her claws to stick to it.

Let's have a look, where is he? A big one with long antlers, a big one with long antlers.

Found Him!! Wow! look at that size!! He is at least three times as tall as me.

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step]

The moment she appeared behind the roach leader he turned with terrifyingly agile movement compared to his big size.

Too Fast!

His massive fist crushed into her face with a massive shock. her body was sent flying backward toward the roach's hoard.

Shit! I feel like I was out for a moment. Luckily I'm heading toward the horde.

[Claws Arts: Wide slash], [Life stealing Magic: Life Absorption]

As she passed by the roaches' horde they were cut like butter, their blood filled the air.

Sparks of red magic generated from their drops of blood were sucked into Vanessa, healing her wounds.

"Fast and strong, just like that hero! Let me test my skills on you!" she said, grinding her teeth from anticipation.

She started chanting.

"By the shadow, I walk, by my claws, I hunt, by my magic I live! Slowly chipping at my prey and carving my way!" [Shadow Magic: Blinking Shadow jumps], [Claws Arts: Thousand cuts], [Life Stealing Magic: Life Absorption enchanted claws]

"Triple Activation, [Sapping Storm of Blood]!!!"

Vanessa's body disappeared into the shadows as she started teleporting around the roach leader, shopping at his skin with her claws. Whenever she was hit it just healed on her next hit.

Slowly picking up speed her movement resembled a blender, slicing and dicing the roaches leader.

When she finished with him he was no more than a pile of minced meat.

As the rest saw their leader meet his doom at her hand they started running away.

"Now is the time to train about when the hero runs from me!"

[Shadow Magic: Shadow step]

She appeared in front of a group that was trying to run away.

"I have some toys I wanted to play with, would you mind playing with me?"

[Shadow Magic: Shadow pocket]

She reached with her hand to her waist where they sunk into pure darkness. As she pulled them back she drew two daggers.

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Magic Item: Left dragger of the hunter.

Class: Rare

Effect: Curse of bleeding (The target bleed faster in addition that the bleeding can't be stopped without magical means)

Extra effect: When dual-wielded with the right dagger of the hunter, Unleash the Curse of Silence on the target (The targeted can't make any sound )

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Magic Item: Right dagger of the hunter.

Class: Rare

Effect: Curse of confusion (This curse assaults and twists creature's minds, spawning delusions and provoking uncontrolled action)

Extra effect: When dual-wielded with the left dagger of the hunter, Unleash the Curse of pain on the target (Cause the target to feels deep agony )

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From here on it was a one-sided battle. Even calling it a battle is wrong! A one-sided massacre it was!

…

…

Back in Bluemill, it's already dawn. Connor and his party have already woken up and started getting ready for their departure.

In the office, Kage is sitting alongside Roxanne facing Alva.

"Where did the others go?" Kage asked.

"They went to pick up the armors and get a new enhanced sword for Connor, Lydia said that she didn't realize just how fast Connor's skills will grow and said that a normal sword will break in his hands!"

"I got yesterday's report that his sword was severely damaged when she fought Cony and Freid!"

"Sadly magical Items are rare. We only have Common Items in this small town. For that, I suggest heading toward the capital! there you can find items of rare quality!"

Magical Items are Items that were imbued with magic to serve a purpose. The imbuing process takes a very long time and a considerable amount of effort. And from that Magical Items are rare and pricey to the point of being outside what a normal citizen can afford.

They are divided into seven grads:

--------------------------------------------------------

Mundane Items: Every day, non-magical Items. Like a normal sword or a spoon.

Common Items: A Mundane Item enchanted with weak magic that increases the base stat of the Item. A sword with [Hold sharpness] can hold its sharp edge for a longer time, this enchantment fades once you sharpen the sword (It needs to be applied every time you sharpen the sword!)

Uncommon Items: Items with unusual enchantment that can prove useful in many different situations while also lasting longer. A flame sword is a great example as it can produce flames by using the wielder mana.

Rare Items: Rare Items are much, much stronger! They can have multiple enchantments at the same time while some can be enchanted with Curses or blessings, and they usually need conditions to use more than one enchantment at the same time. Giving them nasty uses in all situations. Vanessa's daggers (Right dagger of the hunter and Left dagger of the hunter) are a great example.

Very Rare Items: Items in this grade have immense power being able to hold multiple enchantments at the same without condition, The wielder can in some cases change the enchantment properties in the middle of a fight if he has enough skills like instead of the weapon creating water it creates ice.

Exotic Items: Unique Items that have been made in special circumstances and with unique enchantment, unless the circumstances are the same, reproducing the item is impossible. Items in this grade have varying power when used in different times, places, and manners.

Legendary Items: Unique Items with mind-boggling power that can shake the world, They were created in ancient times and have a clear impact through history! Recreating them is impossible.

Artifacts: What makes those items unique is that they are sentient! They can think and make decisions on their own, usually, they have power that is above this world and can use it on their own! They don't need a Wielder, they need a partner. The closest thing to an Artifact is Excalibur! As this sword can choose its master! speak with them telepathically! Have sky-shattering power and can fly and fight on its own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They just aim for a Common sword, It's better if it can withstand Connor's strength without breaking!"

"I believe they can find something like that!" Kage said.

"Listen, I wanted to ask you two! Who are those who attacked us yesterday? Do you have any ideas?" Alva asked.

"Probably the same people that tried throwing this town into chaos before! and now they aimed for the hero who ruined their plans!" Roxanne said.

"Don't worry about them, I prepared four guards to escort you to the Von Eric domain and I sent a messenger yesterday to tell lord Alen about the current situation!" Kage adds.

"I'm grateful for your help!" Alva bowed slightly to Kage.

"Were Not doing this out of kindness, Alice promised to give us financial and political support in exchange for us helping and supporting the hero!" Roxanne said.

Knock! Knock!

"Enter."

An armored guard entered the room and delivered a report saying that the hero had finished his preparation to depart.

"Then I shall be going, Thanks for having us here!" Alva thanked Kage.

"It's me who needs to thank you! Connor saved this town, and Alice did try yesterday to heal my father but…" Kage smiled bitterly.

"Even Alice-sama's Holy healing magic had no effect on him, that means…" Alva said.

"Let's go, the hero is waiting for you!" Roxanne said to Alva, interrupting her.

They walked outside, Connor was wearing his new armor with a new sword on his belt.

Alice's fancy dress is nowhere to be seen, her armor is similar to that of Alva but smaller with less protection to reduce the weight. The dagger that she usually carried around as a burden is now on her waist. If someone looks closely he can see some metal spikes on her gauntlet! they were probably for her to use as a weapon with the martial arts skill.

Dolrig was standing next to them wearing full plate armor and wielding a heavy Warhammer.

The carriage that was drawn with just two horses now has four, and the beautiful paint is hidden underneath plates of Iron that were nailed on it.

"What happened to the poor carriage?" Alva asked.

"We were attacked last night, nothing can guarantees that we won't be attacked again! So I asked if it could be armored quickly and they just hammered it with Iron!" Connor said.

"Now It's time we should be going! Connor-sama and Alice-sama you two get in the carriage we will guard!" Dolrig said.

"I want to sit on top of the carriage as a guard!" Connor said.

"No way, are ya a drunk monkey Connor-sama? You're the enemy target, sit on top and you will have an arrow up your ass soon! believe me, it happened before!" Dolrig said jokingly.

"Calling the hero a monkey! Watch your tongue dwarf!!" One of the guards yelled at Dolrig.

"No need to get angry, it's not the first time I've been called a monkey! and he made a good point!" Connor calmed the guards.

And after a brief farewell. Connor and his party escorted by four armed guards on horseback, left the town as the people cheered for them!