Level Up (2)

Solomon was pounding the ground, full of regret.

‘Tsk, I should’ve brought the Webweaver Kit.’

The new tool Solomon had put together that day. Besides an automatic lockpick and a hook, it also had magnet spikes that let you cling and climb walls like a spider, just like the name implied.

The unfortunate truth was that the kit was currently sitting safely stored in Room 204 of Hotel Snark.

It wasn’t like he was even on a job, and he hadn’t expected a situation where he’d need it like this, out of nowhere.

‘Yeah. What good is regretting it now.’

With no choice, Solomon left the underground reservoir and started moving.

The cute and adorable test being given to him, to see if he was qualified to become a killer shadow mage.

Lord Bowery had said that. Was escaping this place itself the test?

Certainly, Guild City’s underground wasn’t just a place where they’d dug a tunnel a bit deep. The view spread out before him was an underground labyrinth itself.

A giant labyrinth under the city wasn’t even that surprising as a setting in the first place, just like Guild City’s underground mages and the Sewer Tower.

‘In here….’

Solomon silently held out his arm. The Black Crow Spirit bracelet took on a magical sheen, and several crow spirits took flight, scattering pitch-black feathers.

Wandering an underground labyrinth blindly was suicide. So he started by using his eyes and ears to scout the surroundings.

‘!’

That was when. Without even needing to go far, something immediately came into the Black Crow Spirits’ sight. It was close enough to fall forward and touch with his nose.

‘A labyrinth creature.’

It gave off a dark, grotesque vibe like an H.R. Giger¹ drawing. A smooth face with nothing on it like an egg ghost², and a human body crawling along the floor with spider-like limbs attached in great numbers. It wasn’t, at the very least, the kind of ‘easy-to-imagine monster.’

Kwa-jik.

“!”

Tadadadat!

The instant he thought he’d seen it, it closed the distance at an absurd speed, like a horror movie monster.

And because he was sharing their vision, the thing rushing into the Black Crow Spirits’ view made Solomon’s heart lurch like a jump scare. Enough to make him fall flat.

“Jesus!”

It was so fast that the moment he realized the distance had closed, the Black Crow Spirits’ synchronization cut off. Not just one or two. It wiped out every single Black Crow Spirit there, almost simultaneously.

‘It’s fast.’

The Black Crow Spirits’ shared vision basically scaled with Solomon’s ability. In other words, that creature’s movement just now was hard to follow even with Solomon’s own eyes.

No wonder it didn’t look normal from the way it was built.

‘…Did I come to the wrong place? A hunting ground?’

This wasn’t just ‘wrong.’ It felt like he’d gotten it very, very wrong.

Should he go back to the underground reservoir and wait, even now? Solomon thought. There was no guarantee that creature wouldn’t come charging this way. So Solomon quickly activated a spell.

‘.’

A magic that pierced walls and looked beyond them, through the underground labyrinth’s dark, mold-stinking structures.

‘It’s coming!’

The moment he turned it on, his heart dropped.

Maybe the Black Crow Spirits had really gotten on its nerves, because the creature was crawling fast.

And even at forks and corners, it didn’t hesitate for even a moment. Its movement clearly looked like it knew Solomon’s location.

‘It’s tracking the route the Black Crow Spirits flew in on!’

Then he realized. It was retracing the Black Crow Spirits’ trail. More precisely, the trace of magical power, and moving by backtracking it.

[Insight Success!]

Before he could even be happy about the alert, Solomon quickly sent out three or four more from the Black Crow Spirit bracelet.

To deliberately layer magical traces onto corners and forks it would have to turn through on its way here.

As expected, only then did hesitation enter the creature’s movement. At a few forks, it couldn’t decide easily and was wavering.

‘Do I have to fight it?’

Or should he keep moving while avoiding it, or turn back? There was no way that thing was the only monster in this underground labyrinth.

He’d already spent a spell slot. Either way, he had to decide.

Thankfully, the decision came quickly. Though not by his own will.

‘…Yeah, I’m not getting away.’

The confusion with the Black Crow Spirits only lasted a moment. Before long, it began moving again, like it had pinpointed Solomon’s presence within the flow of magic.

Crawling along the walls at an even more absurd speed than before. Like it had no intention of letting him go.

This was beyond a speed he could run from or shake off now. Cursing, Solomon pulled the thread mechanism in his sleeve. He gripped the Ghost Whale bone blade and took his stance.

Whether he liked it or not, the creature approaching like a horror film clearly seemed to know Solomon was there.

Meaning, his presence had been exposed, and he ‘couldn’t land a sneak attack.’

For an assassin, it was close to the worst fight setup imaginable.

‘…Should I use the invisibility spell?’

There was no guarantee he could hide for sure even if he used invisibility. No, this thing was already tracking magical traces to chase an unseen Solomon.

Given its senses, something without even facial features, how effective invisibility would be was doubtful.

And casting invisibility wasn’t just ‘casting a spell.’

───
Usable Spell Slots
: Level 1 spell slots 4 uses (⚀⚀⚀⚀■)
: Level 2 spell slots 2 uses (⚁⚁)
───

It meant tossing an entire precious level 2 spell slot, one he could only use twice, straight into the trash.

‘There’s no need to rush. I can use invisibility later, if I have to.’

After thinking, Solomon steeled himself. Before long, beyond the corner of the underground corridor where Solomon stood, countless fingertips appeared like a horror movie.

The unidentified creature moving with countless limbs clinging like a spider, crawling along the walls.

“.”

The moment he saw it, Solomon recited a level 2 spell without hesitation.

‘It’s coming.’

Chak-chak, chak-chak!

Next, he pulled out the Nightfall automatic crossbow he’d stowed in his quick-loader belt.

Bang!

From a form small enough to fit on his belt, the moving parts snapped into place in an instant as it took its proper shape, and he pulled the trigger. The multi-shot slider was already set to maximum.

A simultaneous volley that drove in ten bolts at once. And after a heavy modification by the Deadlock Workshop, the shots even had an auto-guidance function.

And in the face of bolts charging like guided missiles toward the target, its response was… beyond shocking. It was absurd.

It snatched them.

It snatched the ten-bolt hail with its spider-like limbs.

‘You monster bastard!’

The moment he thought it had just caught them, the bolts tore through the air again. It threw the bolts it was holding right back at Solomon.

Whoo-woong!

Solomon rolled on the ground quickly, and with a ripping sound, the bolts slammed into the stone wall behind him. From that alone, it wasn’t hard to guess what kind of physical ability it had.

But what was truly terrifying was the creature itself, which closed the distance like a jump scare right after.

‘Fuck…!’

In the blink of an eye, it was right in front of him. At the same time, the countless limbs attached to its torso, “hands” that could even snatch bolts fired from an automatic crossbow, surged toward Solomon.

Its movements were so fast and precise that even Solomon forgot he was inside the Level 2 wide-area spell, .

All the advantages magic should have given him, and all the disadvantages it should have imposed on the enemy, felt empty, like nothing at all.

So Solomon thought of a gamble. In front of those surging hands, he had no leisure to calmly weigh whether it would work.

It either works, or it doesn’t. One of the two.

‘!’

Without hesitation, Solomon created a shadow mimic. Behind the creature.

Chwaaak!

As expected, the creature started swinging its arms at the shadow mimic behind it first, not the Solomon in front of it.

Even though it was just flailing and clawing wildly, the motion looked like a single graze would shred a body into pieces.

But the mimic imitating Solomon had no physical body to be wounded by its attacks.

‘It worked!’

Solomon immediately cast his next spell.

‘.’

An invisibility spell. Whether it could see him or not wasn’t what mattered.

Paradoxically, ‘being unseen’ wasn’t the key point of the invisibility spell.

The real broken part of being invisible was that even if the enemy realized Solomon was there, he could still land another ‘ambush’ again.

Simply put, he could force an ambush. That fact itself.

Right now, the creature was clawing at the shadow mimic behind it. Which meant Solomon was already standing at its rear.

Its completely defenseless back.

‘Blade in the Dark, activate.’

There was no next. He had to stake everything on this single strike.

He loaded the tip of his blade with all the tangible and intangible power of the game system and rules dwelling in him, traits, invisible whirlpools of force, and drove it down.

Chwaaak!

A blow delivered from behind to a defenseless enemy, and among the physical attacks permitted by this game’s rules, one that acted in the most destructive way.

Once per day, the trait ‘Blade in the Dark,’ which could reliably trigger a melee critical hit, activated. The ‘Glass Die (⚅),’ which added damage on attack, also activated.

───
Trait “Master of Ambush”
: On a successful melee ambush, adds Damage 6.
───

And he couldn’t leave out the Master of Ambush, either. Every ability he’d built up for this strike surged into the tip of his blade.

He didn’t know what that creature was made of. He didn’t need to know what its anatomy looked like as a living thing, either.

He simply trusted the rules. The world’s rule that no one can withstand a sneak attack, and this world’s rules too.

Chwaa-aak!

Blood burst out. Even ‘a blood fountain’ wasn’t enough to describe it. Like being sucked into a black hole, the blade kept driving deeper into its torso without end.

Thankfully, it had no mouth. So it couldn’t scream. No matter how the blade tore through its flesh and drove on, no sound came out.

But it wasn’t weak enough to die obediently from that single ambush.

Chwaaak!

Its many spider-like limbs moved, thrashing wildly in the pain of the ambush.

A convulsive strike slammed into Solomon.

“Kuh-huk!”

While the thrashing limbs grabbed, clawed, and broke Solomon’s body, Solomon didn’t retreat. He had to hold on, even if he had to grit his teeth.

‘Now…!’

And just now, the recording ended. The moment he played the recording device back, he immediately opened distance.

“!”

A shadow magic that could instantly mimic the caster’s last action on the spot. The mimic appeared, and replayed the ambush Solomon had just driven in with 100% the same power.

And thanks to the creature’s high magic detection, paradoxically, the shadow mimic could even serve as a decoy.

No matter how much it swung and clawed, it couldn’t erase a shadow. Unfairly, the reverse didn’t hold true.

Chwaa-aak!

Two ambushes. At last, the assassin’s dagger succeeded in bringing the monster down.

“Huh… hhk!”

In the hard-won victory, Solomon realized his body had become a mess of blood.

Bones all over his body were broken, and internal bleeding was the least of it. His body was far from that of a warrior who fought fair and square.

[It wasn’t an easy fight. At the same time… it wasn’t an impossible fight, either.]

While the narrator spouted nonsense, Solomon clenched his teeth through the pain and steadied himself.

[Above all, it was a fight worth it. Because from that experience, your level went up. Congratulations! You’ve become level 5!]

‘That son of a bitch.’

Solomon swallowed a curse as he thought.

‘I burned all my spell slots, and my body’s wrecked.’

Moving around the underground labyrinth half-assed in this state was no different from saying, “Please kill me.”

So Solomon gritted his teeth and moved. Whipping his injured, heavy body onward to return to the underground reservoir. At least it would be better than here.

When he got back, he leaned his back against a pillar that looked like a pressure tank and slid down.

Then he closed his eyes.

No matter how dangerous it was, there was no help for it. Right now, he needed rest.

His eyes opened.

[Welcome.]

A man was in front of him. The level 5 he’d been waiting for. But this wasn’t the time to relax and take it easy.

[Congratulations. Your level has risen—]

“Save it. Start with the level 3 spell.”