Shadow Lurker (2)

Room service. At those words, now so familiar they had become tiresome, Solomon didn’t hesitate.

──
Infiltration and Target Elimination, Data Theft

Client: Prometheus Genetics Guild, Chimera Division 1
Commission target: (omitted) Chimera Division 3…… project room…… chief director……
──

And when he saw the true nature of the commission from that very mega guild, the one he had praised so loudly, Solomon could only let out a hollow laugh.

‘So in the end, it’s an internal political struggle.’

It was not directed at a rival guild. It was competition and politics within the same guild, between divisions of the same business. To gain the upper hand in that struggle with a rival, they had hired one of the hotel’s cleaners.

‘Now I finally get why he didn’t take me to the headquarters.’

At last, that mystery too made sense. There was nothing to be gained by revealing Solomon in advance when he was about to enter Prometheus Genetics Guild from this point on.

The forged ID card for Chimera Division 3 that they had prepared for the job was proof enough. They had even prepared a proper ‘pretext’ for him to move around inside without being suspected as a suspicious person.
In any case, with the help from an insider, getting in itself was not much of a problem. Even for Solomon as he was now, infiltrating a giant guild with his own abilities would be practically impossible.

‘Nothing changes.’

In terms of difficulty, it was on a level incomparable to any commission Solomon had received until now. Only then could he truly feel that it was a commission worthy of the weight carried by the name supermassive guild, megacorp.

If anything, the commission he had received from Wallachia Co. had, in a sense, been a privilege among privileges. He had known that from the beginning. So too the weight he would bear as a contractor afterward.

‘Infiltrate the core facility of the rival division, assassinate the project chief, and steal the data.’
There was no turning back now. Besides, Solomon had no particular reason to refuse. So he silently read the contents of the documents there, then read them again. Whatever was written in them, from this point on, was no longer ‘someone else’s business.’

‘That’s about it.’

He had roughly committed the necessary information to memory. The target and the data he needed to acquire, of course, along with the internal layout of Chimera Division 3 where it was located. When he glanced at the clock, it was already past 1:26 in the morning. The hour when most people were asleep. He had taken a nap beforehand and replenished his spell slots as well. It was the perfect time.

To do what had to be done as a contractor of Hotel Snark.

Downtown District 1, Megacorp Street. True to its status as the street representing Guild City, the city of endless ascent, it remained a city of sleepless lights even deep into the night.
Though it was not exactly crowded, there were still quite a few people coming and going from the headquarters buildings of the giant guilds lining the street here and there.
Solomon too blended in among those people and headed for the headquarters of the Prometheus Genetics Guild.

In a sense, that was fortunate. If he entered the guild’s headquarters in a way that looked suspicious to anyone at that late hour, it would be the perfect way to draw suspicion.

The headquarters of Prometheus Genetics Guild was so futuristic that it made one forget this era was built on a steampunk backdrop of steam and interlocking gears. A monochrome high-rise building that looked as though it belonged to a giant corporation from a cyberpunk age.

Solomon stepped toward that very building.
A ferocious checkpoint had been set up right from the entrance. When Solomon presented the forged ID card he had prepared in advance, the message 「Special Facilities Cleaner, Passage Approved」 appeared.

‘Special Facilities Cleaner, huh.’

At least it wasn’t a lie in the sense that he was a cleaner who neatly resolved problems. On top of that, thanks to the cleaning uniform they had provided him in advance, which concealed his gear, Solomon looked like nothing but a ‘cleaner’ to anyone watching.

Even at this late hour, the lights inside the guild were on, and quite a few people were moving about. Unbothered, Solomon recalled the internal floor plan he had memorized and moved forward without hesitation.

He took the central elevator, got off on the third floor, and headed to the men’s restroom at the very end.

Without delay, Solomon checked that the restroom was empty and hung a sign reading ‘Under Repair’ at the entrance. Then he went inside. In the corner of the restroom, when he raised his head, there was a square grated inspection hatch installed beside the bright lighting.

‘This isn’t designed to be opened easily.’

[Insight Success! The inspection hatch is equipped with a separate detection device to prevent infiltration into the facility. Even the material itself is not ordinary metal.]

There was no reason to panic. Solomon took out the Ancient Webweaver Kit he had prepared in advance and whispered.

“Ancient Spider Lockpick, activate.”

The spiders, packed with ancient pride, began to move. Their goal was to disable the detection device attached to the inspection hatch. In that sense, it was not much different from picking a lock.

Kiririk, kiririk.
Seven small spiders climbed the wall and began to spread out around the inspection hatch. In that state, they began moving their blade-sharp legs, manipulating something glowing like a machine around the hatch.

The seven spiders clung to it, stabbing their eight legs in like tentacles, and devouring the inside.
They were nullifying the warding magic inside, halting the operation of the magitech system, and attacking it in every possible way like a predator disabling its prey.

Click, click.
With every sound, one layer of the device came undone, and the fortress’s outer wall and inner wall fell in succession. Solomon didn’t even need to do anything in the process.

‘They’re useful in all sorts of ways.’

[Detection Device Dismantling Success!]

The seven spiders didn’t stop there, but fired miniature laser cutters and began cutting through the grated inspection hatch. After cutting it, their legs held it in place and lowered it down so it wouldn’t fall.

With the inspection opening above the restroom now wide open, Solomon put away the Spider Lockpick and threw the Ancient Hook Wire, entering the internal duct without difficulty.

After climbing into the duct entrance, he took off the cleaning uniform and folded it neatly. He had no intention of discarding it. If things went well, he could return here and leave the building as a ‘cleaner’ without drawing a single suspicion, just as before.

That was only if he finished the job safely as a cleaner of Hotel Snark.

Solomon crouched low and moved through the maze of the cramped duct on his elbows. Metallic pipes and data cables crossed everywhere like blood vessels, and along with the smell of oil grime came the sound of coolant flowing.
The unseen innards of the building. Just as a giant lifeform maintained its vital activity through the beating of its heart, this place was no different from a nervous system in which all kinds of ‘unseen things’ functioned so that the building itself could operate as a living organism.

As he moved through the inside of the duct.

Jiiing.

‘!’

A red laser was already aimed at Solomon’s forehead. It was a quadrupedal surveillance machine that moved through the ducts, watching for suspicious activity.

[Suspicious individual detected. Please present your ID card.]

Solomon took out the forged ID card. He prepared himself, if necessary, for a fight to break out of that cramped place, whether it be with magic or the automatic crossbow.

[Special Facilities Cleaner, Mr. John Doe. You are cleared to pass.]

At that moment, the quadrupedal surveillance machine withdrew the laser aimed at Solomon and replied.

[We thank you for your hard work in keeping our guild clean today as well.]

‘Cleaning, eh? Well, that’s not exactly wrong.’

Suppressing a silent sneer, Solomon continued on his way. Assuming he had followed the floor plan correctly, this directly below was where Chimera Division 3 was located. The faint smell of disinfectant and alcohol brushing his nose was proof enough.

‘Here….’

Solomon moved to a suitable spot at the end of the vent where there was a metal grate and glanced below. Without removing the grate right away, he quietly murmured a spell.

‘.’

The new power of the House Bale bloodline trait 「Shadow Bloodline」 that Solomon had gained upon reaching Level 6 as a 「Spell Assassin」. At the same time, the shadow beneath Solomon’s feet began to writhe. Without even taking shape, the writhing shadow slipped through the gaps in the grate.

It wasn’t something to be used for show. Fortunately, the Lurker had plenty of useful applications without needing to reveal its form and flaunt Solomon’s identity.

No matter how bright a place was, there was always shadows. Solomon’s began to slip through those small patches of shadows as it lurked within them. Without shape or form, literally as a shadow itself.

And even in the middle of that…….

The ‘Lurker’ was watching. Through eyes within the shadow. And the scene the Lurker saw was synchronized at the same time with Solomon’s own vision.

Shadows were everywhere. Slipping through those very shadows, Solomon’s thoroughly surveyed the interior of Chimera Division 3.

‘The objective is to eliminate the chief director of Chimera Division 3, then steal the confidential materials from the core project room.’

No matter how much of a mega guild it was, Division 3 was still only one division in the end. Compared to the effort required just to infiltrate it, the inside of Chimera Division 3 looked almost disappointingly shabby. That said, it was by no means something to underestimate.

.

At last, the Lurker moving through the shadows found Solomon’s destination. Even the tightly secured locking mechanism couldn’t stop a ‘shadow’ slipping through its gaps.

‘There it is.’

Solomon’s target and the chief director of the division, Edward Crowley. He looked like an ordinary academic at first glance, but after already seeing Alaric Faustus of Chimera Division 1, Solomon couldn’t let his guard down.

‘There’s also something about stealing project data.’

That part, unexpectedly, was not hard to find. The project’s core data was sitting there as if openly declaring, ‘I’m the confidential data.’

It was something like a biological culture fluid, enshrined with great care in a glass dish. Protected by multiple layers of locks.

Lastly…….

There was one chimera that appeared to be the source of that biological culture fluid. It had been placed inside a capsule and frozen solid. Frost clung to the outside of the capsule, making its appearance impossible to see clearly.

‘Return.’

After obtaining that much information through , Solomon finally steeled himself. By then, had slipped back through the shadows and returned to Solomon’s own shadow as ordered. Only then did the Ancient Spider Lockpick cut through the metal grate above the duct, and Solomon glanced at the guards stationed below. It was a structure where the moment he dropped down, he would inevitably be spotted.

‘I’ll have to deal with them before they even realize I’m here.’

There was no reason they had to die.
There was only a need for them to die.

Gripping the Ghost Whale Bone Blade and the Nightfall automatic crossbow in both hands, Solomon leapt down without hesitation.

“Guhk!”
“Kuhk!”

A blade swung through the darkness, and shadow bolts were fired.