Prologue

"I'm going to die."

Alex thought, lying in a clearing in the middle of a dark forest.

His teammates were missing, most of his equipment was missing from the monster ambush, communication with the Academy was lost, and he was deep in hostile territory with no clue of where he was, meaning he had no available escape routes.

Not to mention several C-rank monsters are hidden behind in the foliage of the forest, ready to finish him off and turn him into their snack.

"Why did this happen?"

Barely two weeks into attending St. James Assassin Academy and getting one step closer to his past, he is currently lying in the mud, his new school uniform torn and having bleeding wounds all over his body and potentially a few broken ribs after the E-rank monster Demon Boar rammed into him, sending him flying into the current clearing he is in now.

Alex attempted to get up on his legs but fell after catching his breath. He tried again and was successful the second time.

Now on his feet, Alex drank a medium-grade health potion he kept inside his white-rank reinforced vest for emergencies and looked around for any working equipment or usable weapon.

There was a modern Glock 18 lying 4ft away and a modified M1903 Springfield rifle that lay a bit further that used mana to operate.

Even though the Springfield had more range and had firepower capable of killing F to lower E-rank monsters, he didn't have mana to spare to charge its shots due to his mana being completely dry from creating a condensed shield to mitigate the damage caused to him by the Demon Boar.

Just as Alex went to grab the Glock 18, he heard a high-pitched crackling noise to his right. Making him spooked and scramble for the pistol.

He grabbed the gun and aimed it at the woods, ready to make a last stand with whatever monster came charging in.

The crackling noise he heard slowly became a worried screaming voice, "The coms!" After the crackling cleared, he heard a male voice screaming into the comms near his right ear.

"F-712 DO YOU COPY!?!"

"F-712 DO YOU COPY!?!"

Alex winced at the volume of the voice before yelling,

"I can hear you just fine, Richard! Stop yelling in my ear! Do you want to attract a monster to eat me with your siren of a voice!?!"

"F-712!!! WHEN WILL YOU FOLLOW THE GODDAMN PROTOCOL AND CALL PEOPLE BY THEIR PROPER DESIGNATION DURING SPECIAL OPERATIONS!?!"

"Ugh! Fine! I'm sorry! Listen, I am in a tight pinch right now and need you to guide me to where the surviving members are to continue the mission hostiles may have gotten the jump on us, but once we regroup, we might still have a chance to complete the mission."

"Forget about the mission! Head to the nearest designated evacuation zone. We will try to send a team to get you out of there as soon as possible!"

Alex was confused. Despite Richard being a stickler for protocol and can be a prick at times. He had always known Richard to be a calm and rational man. What happened during the ambush that could have set him off like this?

"Richard, what happened during the ambush?"

Richard was silent over the coms for a few moments, and the answer he gave Alex shocked him.

"A Middle-Class Devil was among the monsters that ambushed your squad, from the last moments recorded on the other squad members' mics and videos. They were all massacred. From the information gathered on the fight, the demon is probably a recently promoted Lieutenant-level demon.

Under normal circumstances, a regular squad of students from our school would have at least three to four D-class agents armed with green to lower blue-tier equipment and should have the power to eliminate it.

Unfortunately, your squad mostly has F and E-rank agents, and the sole D-rank in your team just happened to be the first to go down in the ambush. Even if the demon attacked you by itself, you would still have lost due to the difference in ranks and your shoddy white and lower green-tier equipment."

"An evac team is coming to pick you up ten miles south of your current location. The team will arrive in 2 hours. If you don't make it to the evac team fifteen minutes after 2 hours, they will pull out due to the threat of the Lieutenant-level demon."

As soon as Richard told Alex where the evac was going to pick him up, he holstered the Glock 18 on his right and ran south to where the evac team would arrive. He also picked up the modified M1903 mana-charge Springfield since his mana had regenerated a bit and also wanted it as a backup in case his Glock 18 ran out of ammo.

"Thank you for the update, Richard! I am heading to the evac zone. Over and out!"

"Ugh, when will the bastard learn to call others by their designations or codenames during missions."

Richard grumbled back at the Academy Operation Center.

"Still, why would a demon appear on school grounds and in that forest? It's just a useless piece of land that spawns lots of monsters for recruits to have experience with."

"Ah well, I'll leave it to the investigators."

Richard sat down on an office swivel chair and updated the mission report on the Lieutenant-level demon's appearance. Despite his harsh words toward Alex. He sincerely hoped Alex escaped in one piece. After all, there are not many people he could trust in this den of spies and assassins.

After Alex had left the clearing, a tall reddish-skinned humanoid silhouette with goat horns on its head moved among the trees in pursuit of his prey.

The thing moved with uncanny speed despite its large frame and muscular physique. Its eyes glowed a sinister bright orange when it got to where the clearing Alex was moments ago. It gave a nasty sharp-toothed grin that could make the blood run cold.

It was excited by what look of despair the human will give it. Shame that the weakling's companions were broken too quickly before it could savour their looks and feelings of despair. This time it will make sure to take its time toying with the human before consuming its flesh.

The Lieutenant-level demon spread the leathery bat wings on his back and took flight, about to finish off the hunt it had started.

Alex moved at a quick rhythmic run. Sprinting would be a huge mistake, as one should conserve as much energy as possible, as there is always a chance they needed to get into a quick fight with a monster.

He was confident he could kill a regular F-rank monster like a slime just by bashing it with the stock of his M1903 Springfield.

The problem would be the area he was currently in had higher ranking monsters like kobolds and goblins that tended to work in groups or golems that have high resistance to physical attacks and projectiles.

As well as D-rank monsters demon boar with thick skin that repelled most regular gunfire, which would deplete his already limited ammunition and mana reserves, leaving him with only the Springfield to use as a club.

Fortunately, luck was on his side, as most of the monsters appeared to be drawn towards the area where Alex's team had been ambushed and most likely were enjoying a feast of human flesh.

Roughly an hour and a half had passed, and judging by the pace he was currently at, he still had at least two miles to cover before he reached the evac team.

Fifteen minutes pass, and Alex is within a mile of the evac zone.

Remembering Richard's words, he decided to slow down to a jog since he will still have to wait five to ten minutes for the evac team to arrive.

"I'm going to make it!"

With everything that happened during this simple patrol mission, he thought that he was done for, but now that escape was possible the first thing he was going to do is switch to the Logistics or Intelligence sector of the Academy, he was done with these dangerous field missions.

Suddenly, a shiver went down his spine, it was the feeling one would get when being watched by a hunter stalking its prey, waiting for the moment they showed an opening.

Alex drew out his Glock and turned around prepared to shoot whatever was stalking him.

Usually one would run as fast as they could in a desperate attempt to escape this unknown hostile.

However, Alex felt that if he ran away right now, he would have no chance of making it out alive, he looked around to see if he could catch signs of where the enemy was.

Nothing, not even a broken twig or the sound of rustling leaves. Could he have been mistaken?

Just as he was going to resume his jog to the evac, a large shadow covered Alex and the surrounding area. He looked up and saw the thing that was stalking him.

"My God."

The Lieutenant-level demon sneered at Alex who was utterly in fear of the monster standing before him—standing at 7 ft tall with bulging muscles, reddish-skinned, long goat horns on its forehead, with a distorted human-like face that had snake-like nostrils and a mouth full of dagger-sharp teeth.

The demon wore a loincloth and had a great sword strapped on its back and slowly walked towards him, as though mocking him for his helplessness of being unable to do anything.

The moment the demon began its taunting walk. Alex immediately unloaded the Glock 18's entire ammo clip into the approaching demon.

The demon ignored the bullet rounds that hit his body as though they were nothing more than raindrops and continued walking toward him.

Alex threw away his pistol and aimed his M1903 Springfield, charging the five rounds inside the rifle with as much mana as he could before shooting the demon.

The mana-charged rifle rounds seemed to have more effect on the demon than the Glock did. Unfortunately, the damage did not amount to much at all as the demon simply raised its hand to block the shots that were aimed at its head.

Once the shots were all emptied out, the demon spoke to Alex.

{How pitifully weak.}

{The ones I played with earlier made me exercise more than you did.}

The demon charged toward Alex and punched him in the chest sending him flying several meters into a tree.

Alex fell to the ground and coughed up blood after crashing into the tree's trunk.

At this point, anyone would fall into despair in his situation. He had no weapons, he was in hostile territory, he was facing an opponent whose power was leagues above his own and there was no one who would arrive in time to help him. Yet he was thinking.

(Damn it!!!)

(I will not die here! I refuse)

(I will find the truth! NO ONE WILL STOP ME!!! I DON'T GIVE A DAMN IF IT'S SATAN OR GOD!)

(ALL WHO GET IN MY WAY WILL DIE!)

(Whatever it takes to achieve my goal, I will do it!)

(Even if I am doomed to eternal death or hell!)

Just as Alex finished his thoughts where he lay broken.

He heard a peculiar noise.

*Ding!*

[Administrator has heard your plea.]

[Administrator is interested in you.]

[Administrator will give you a chance.]

[Do you accept?]

[YES/NO]

At this point, Alex was willing to do anything to survive, even if it were slim and without another thought he said,

"Yes."

[Beginning System installation, please wait.]

The demon sensed a change in Alex, despite him lying half-dead on the ground with just a light punch. It felt that if it didn't finish things here right now, it wouldn't leave this place unscathed at the very least. It flew to where he is and drew its great sword. Preparing to finish Alex off before could pull out any dangerous tricks.

While the demon was charging up his sword for an attack. Alex was still lying on the ground waiting for this System to finish the installation.

(Come on! Hurry up and finish installing already!)

(If this thing continues at this rate, I am so dead!)

*Ding!*

[System finished installation.]

[System detects host to be in a critical state.]

[System detects hostile preparing an attack that exceeds what host can handle.]

(Well DUH!!! Thank you so much for stating the obvious!)

Alex felt that the entire System thing was a joke the so-called Administrator gave him so that they would have a laugh at expense of Alex's life.

Before Alex could get mad the System made another announcement.

[Due to Host's current status and System's installation. The System will give Host a login gift.]

*Ding!*

[Time has temporarily stopped to allow Host to adjust the System.]

"Wait! What!?!"

He simply could not believe what he had heard. Stopping Time?

That's on the level of Gods or the top 100 S-ranks!

With what strength Alex had in his body, he made himself sit up against his tree and saw that the message was true.

If the leaves, dirt and pieces of wood suspended midair as though they were in a picture didn't convince him, the demon did.

The demon in question just stood there frozen like a statue, holding its greatsword overhead and appeared to be charging his mana into his sword for an attack.

"Holy crap, this is real."

*Ding!*

[System informs you 5 minutes to view your inbox and explore the system before Time resumes its progress.]

"You're kidding me!"

He knew the time stop wouldn't last forever, but to give him only 5 minutes to the system is just too cruel! He didn't even know how to access it for goodness sake!

As though the System read its thoughts it sent Alex another message.

[For the Host to access the System, the Host must will it or ask for the system to appear. For Host to access the inbox, Host must also will it or ask it to appear.]

Right after saying, "Access System." Alex found something unbelievable.

Host: Alex Blanc

Titles: F-rank agent, Worst Spy, Amnesiac, Academic Genius, Novice Engineer, Novice Mechanic

Class: LOCKED

Attributes: LOCKED

Passives: None

Skills: Mana-charge (Basic: Level 1), Knife-work (Basic: Level 1), Martial Arts (Basic: Level 1), Sprint (Basic: Level 1), Sneak (Basic: Level 1)

STATUS

Level: 1

HP: 5/100

Mp: 5/100

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Strength: 10

Intelligence: 10

Perception: 10

Endurance: 10

Available Points for Status Distribution: 0

Condition: Critical

"What the heck!"

What is with this screen? It's as though I am a character inside a RPG.

A person's status could be viewed using a status orb that's commonly available throughout the world, but it doesn't have the ability to accurately show things like Agility or how much health a person has!

What's more, is that there are still several unviewed functions of the System like the Inbox. However, most of them were locked except for one labelled Quest. He could guess what Quest is, so he checked out the Inbox and saw a simple golden chest labelled "New User Emergency Login Gift."

(What the heck? I might actually be living in an RPG.)

(But I'm not gonna complain since this is my best shot at surviving.)

Alex pressed the receive button below the Gift and the contents shocked him.

*Ding!*

[The Host has received the following from "New User Emergency Treasure Chest"]

[1x Full Recovery: Recovers Host to full HP and MP, also cures all abnormal status effects]

[Skill: Stealth]

[Rank: 2]

[Attribute: Dark]

[Description: Beings cannot see the User if they are more than 6ft away, Stealth cannot hide the User's presence, mana, sound or smell. Beings that are stronger than User or are already aware of User before User casts stealth will have a high chance of seeing through stealth. Given the Host's current level, Stealth can be used for 1 minute, Stealth's duration can be lengthened if the Host charges Stealth with mana. Stealth is cancelled the moment Host is within 6ft distance of a being or if Host commences an attack.]

[1x Inqusitior's Holy Dagger]

[Equipment Tier: Blue]

[Attack: 50]

[Skills: None]

[Prerequisites: None]

[Effects: 50% damage bonus against demonic beings.]

[Durability: VERY Low]

After having read the items he received, the pain in Alex's had gone away and he could feel refreshed that he could fire 3 clips from the mana-charged M1903 Springfield before hitting exhaustion.

As good as full recovery was, the things that were going to be the ones that get him out of this situation were Stealth, and the Inquisitor's dagger.

With Stealth, he could just run away. However, the demon was capable of flight and extremely fast.

After running for a minute he would be quickly caught by it again, even if he charged stealth up with mana and make it to the evac zone just in the nick of time before the Skill wore off.

The risks of the demon following him to the evac site were still too high and would result in the deaths of both Alex and the evac team.

This was where the dagger came in. Despite the demon's intimidating appearance, it wore nothing but a loincloth around its waist. If Alex could sneak close to the demon without it noticing and stab it in either head or heart, he will surely get the win.

Unfortunately, the dagger he received had low durability. It was unknown how many hits it could deliver or take before breaking, therefore it is best to assume that he had only one strike.

Fortunately, even if the demon were to see through his Stealth, he had one more card to play that will ensure he gets at least one hit in before dying.

With only a nearly-broken dagger and the Skill Stealth. It is time for him to live up to the name of Assassin Academy, it was time for him to Assassinate.

When the timer finally hit zero, the world resumed its normal pace.

Everything suspended in the air fell back down to the ground or resumed swaying in the wind, and the demon had just finished charging up his attack when he noticed that Alex was missing from his current spot.

Suddenly it felt a chill run down his spine. It thought it was ridiculous that the pathetic human lying beneath that broken tree moments ago would suddenly just disappear.

The weakling was felled with one hit from a light punch it had delivered and personally tested the human's strength by tanking the attacks that hit him earlier.

The demon tried to sense where Alex was by trying to pick up his mana traces. After a few moments, it gave a nasty grin, it had found where Alex was and knows what he is trying to do.

Behind the demon, Alex materialized out of nowhere and charged the demon with his Inquisitor Dagger prepared to do or die.

The demon swiftly turned around and sneered at Alex. Despite the human in front of him having been miraculously revived and given a weapon capable of harming it, the strength hadn't changed. It released the attack it had charged in its sword.

The two clashed together, and the demon felt its great sword easily pushing back the flimsy dagger, like butter would give way to a hot knife. Moments later after that one clash, Alex fell to the ground, coughing up blood and....

the demon's head rolled on the ground, and its corpse burst into black particles and left some drop items.

*Ding!*

[Host has killed Mid-Rank Lieutenant-Level Demon]

*Ding!*

[Host has completed Quest: "Against All Odds"]

*Ding!*

[Host has reached necessary requirements for unlocking Inventory]

*Ding!*

[Would Host like to collect drop items from Mid-rank Lieutenant-Level Demon?]

For many people, hearing that an F-rank agent had killed a Lieutenant-Level Demon, even a newly-promoted weak one would be nothing more than a joke to most people. The power between the two would be heaven and earth, as the status of the demon will easily overwhelm a regular F-rank agent in less than ten seconds.

However, Alex was no ordinary agent, even though he may be an F-rank and a failure as a spy. He was taught by the very best at St. James' Assassin Academy. Even though he was out-matched in nearly every possible way.

He had the System, the entity that had given him the Skill Stealth to get close to the Demon, the Inquisitor Dagger which can kill the demon, and the trump card that cinched his victory.

That trump card was Blink, a skill that enabled him to teleport a short distance of up to 3 ft, but cost him an immense amount of mana that left him collapsed on the ground due to mana exhaustion.

Now anyone would be still wondering about how he did it. Stealth was only effective 6ft away from a being and Blink only allowed him to teleport a maximum of 3ft. Meaning there is a meter of distance to cover for him to be able to slice off the demon's head; so how did he do it?

Simple.

Instead of Alex getting closer to the demon, he had the demon get closer to him. Which resulted in both Alex and the demon clashing head-on, closing the distance between himself and the demon and allowing him to use Blink to get even closer to the demon then delivering the final blow that settled Alex's victory.

Although it sounded easy, the chances of this succeeding lay with how the demon attacked and how fast it delivered it. If the thing chose to cast a spell like Fireball, Alex was guaranteed to be toast, and if it swung its sword just faster by a tiny bit, Alex would have been sliced in half.

However, those were only ifs. At the end of the day, it was Alex who emerged victorious.

Alex continued to lie on the ground from the mana exhaustion, his consciousness and vision were slowly fading away. If a monster attacked him now, he would be helpless against it but at least he can feel proud of his achievement of being able to kill a Mid-class demon as a lowly F-ranker. He attempted to get up multiple times, but his body refused due to mana exhaustion.

Eventually...

His vision...

Slowly...

Faded...

Into...

Black...

The forest became eerily quiet, no animals or monsters moved in the leaves, bushes or grass of the forest. Not a single bird chirped nor leaf rustled in the wind.

It's almost as if someone hit the pause button and the whole world temporarily stopped, if it weren't for the mysterious being that stood next to Alex's body.

The being had the general shape of a human, it wore robes of grey and had a hood that hid its face from view, but appeared to be incorporeal due to a grey fog that surrounded it.

Contrary to the mysterious beings intangible form, it picked him up and they both faded away into the fog and reappeared in a clearing, much wider than the one Alex was in at the beginning.

It gently laid Alec down on the ground and left the scene, leaving in the way just as it had appeared.

The moment the being had left, the world had been unpaused and the air became noisy with the sounds of animals, monsters and the wind beating against the leaves.

Suddenly,

a louder sound filled the area.

It was the sound of the whirring blades of a helicopter.

The helicopter was CH-47F Chinook, its huge dark green metal body slowly descended to the ground, as it neared, a tiny dust storm engulfed the area.

When it landed, the twin rotors on both ends of the Chinook slowly came to a stop.

The ramp opened up and personnel bearing the insignia of two skulls, one with a graduation cap, and the other, a pointed wizard's hat with a wand and M16 crossing each other below the two skulls, a sword driven in the middle of the crossed weapons. With the five images surrounded by a pentagon and an eye on top.

That was the symbol of the prestigious St. James' Assassin Academy...