This Is Why I Hate Assassins

“Like little Rinrin said. Big brother is really—too kind, isn’t he?”

‘Sid—prepare!’

Ekarraat warns.

However, the speed at which the Assassin strikes far exceeds my reaction speed.

I hastily draw a quick dagger from Vanargand and, with my uninjured left arm, wind up to strike.

――Swoosh!

The dagger cuts through the air.

Annise had already vanished from my sight.

(“Damn! Where did she go!?”)

――Thrust!

“Gah!?”

――From above!

Annise, swooping down from above, stabs a knife into the top of my head.

The dagger sinks deep into my skull—if I weren’t Undead, that would have been instant death!

“You brat!”

I grab Annise’s robe from behind.

I try to slam her into the ground, but in mid-swing the weight of my arms disappears.

What I slam into the ground is only the white robe Annise had been wearing.

‘The Assassin’s evasion skill, 【Hollow Cicada (Utsusemi)】!’

“What a pesky trick!”

“Over here.”

“…!?”

Annise’s voice whispers from behind.

At the same time, a sharp pain runs through both my ankles.

Strength drains from my legs and I collapse to the ground from my knees.

(“She damaged the tendons in my ankles!?”)

No good.

I haven’t been able to keep track of Annise’s movements since a while ago.

Partly it’s the mental exhaustion left over from the fight with Kaine, but also the surprise-attack rush that comes after completely lulling me into complacency.

Between Ruru, whom I failed to finish at 【Crimson Night Moon】, and this—this is exactly why I hate fighting Assassins!

“Sid! I’ve got her!”

“Nya!? An arm from inside the shadow!?”

Ekarraat, having thrust only an arm out from my shadow, grabs Annise’s ankles.

Annise, having removed her robe, is wearing a shirt and shorts that look almost like underwear.

Because her bare skin is being grabbed, she probably can’t use the evasion skill 【Hollow Cicada (Utsusemi)】 she used earlier.

“Nice work, Ekarraat!”

My current injuries are: my right arm shredded to pieces.

A dagger embedded in my skull.

The tendons in both ankles severed.

I concentrate my Undead regeneration ability on my ankles.

The right arm and the top of my head can wait.

“Hyaaah!!”

I summon only the Minotaur’s axe—and swing it with my left arm alone.

At Level 103—with a Strength stat of 360—wielding a battle-axe with one arm is no hardship for me.

――Slash!

Assassins may be notable for their speed, but their Defense and HP are low; if you stop their movement, you can take them out with a single blow.

Annise’s slender torso is cut cleanly in two, and her upper body falls to the ground.

“…?”

However—something feels off.

From the cross-sections of the girl’s separated upper and lower bodies, no blood flows at all.

――Puff!

“She vanished!?!”

Immediately after—the corpse of Annise disappears in white smoke.

“Where are you!?”

After confirming the wound on my right arm has fully healed, I pull the dagger still lodged in the top of my head out.

Then I stay on guard and prepare for Annise’s attack to come.

“Man, you’re really strong, huh.”

“There!”

Annise speaks from a tree behind me.

I throw the dagger that had been stuck in the top of my head—but Annise catches it with one hand.

“Even with surprise strikes after luring you into a false sense of security, three hits is the limit, huh. Against an Undead they’ll completely recover in seconds, so it’s impossible for me to defeat you, big brother Sid.”

The girl standing on the branch shows none of the damage I should have inflicted with the battle-axe.

The robe she should have removed with 【Hollow Cicada (Utsusemi)】 is draped over her without a single stain.

I feel completely bewildered.

I was sure I had confirmed her HP had dropped to zero, yet…

When I check her status again, somehow the numbers have increased from the first time I saw them.

‘I see… she used 【Clone (Double)】 beforehand—that Assassin-class skill that temporarily halves stats in exchange for creating a tangible clone.’

(“So that means I was toyed with by someone about fifty levels lower than me, and with half stats no less?”)

‘That Agility isn’t from stat modifiers but her natural physical ability—like Ruru, she has a body trained beyond what you’d expect from a teenager.’

I had dismissed her as a lazy kid with little faith, but even if rotten, the Knights of the Stigmata—her jokey attitude was all a ploy to make me let my guard down.

“So what now? As you can see I’m unhurt. You seem to have spammed skills and used up a lot of MP—want to drink an MP potion and reset?”

“No—I’m good.”

Annise, on the tree, holds her arms forward in a ‘wait’ pose.

“Since I couldn’t finish you off with a surprise attack, my chance of winning is zero. I’m serious about not wanting to die—well, if I struggle this much, Grandma Johanna will forgive me, right?”

Annise interlaces her fingers and forms a hand sign.

“Well then, big brother Sid, as promised I’ll be taking my leave now.”

“That doesn’t look like ‘as promised’ at all!”

“――Now I’m outta here!”

Annise’s body is wrapped in smoke—and when the smoke clears, the red-haired girl is nowhere to be seen.

I remain on guard for about a minute just in case, and after confirming there’s no ambush, I lower my guard.

“Ekarraat, was that last move also a skill?”

‘An Assassin’s escape skill—the 【Earth Escape (Doton)】. It kicks up a dust cloud and instant-transports them backward. Looks like she really fled.’

“Tch—she mocked me like that. It’s practically a loss.”

Even though my fight with Kaine ended in a draw, it doesn’t change that I’m crushed by a sense of defeat.

The humiliation of two consecutive losses puts me in a foul mood.

As I thought—I might need to undergo serious training once more.

I scratch at my head and return to the log-cabin hideout.

“Welcome home, Master. Um… where is Miss Annise?”

Rin, who was inside as I instructed, seems unaware that there had been a fight with Annise.

Good thing I was too lazy to make a window.

“Ah, it’s already dusk, so she went home. She asked me to show her the path out of the forest, so I escorted her partway.”

“I see! Ah, but Master… I’m terribly sorry for inviting a guest in on my own while I was entrusted with guarding the house.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I pat Rin’s head gently as she sulks, drooping as if expecting to be scolded.

Ah—really, I’m so soft on Rin that I feel like I should scold myself for it.

“She said she wants to see you again, Rin.”

“Really?! Ehehe, I hope we have another chance to meet.”

Annise ingratiated herself with Rin by lying that she had gotten lost in the forest.

But it’s true that she saved Rin when Rin was attacked by ruffians in the royal capital, and Rin is happy to have a friend of the same age and gender.

Not wanting to shatter Rin’s dream—I lied as well.

Annise is certainly a member of the Knights of the Stigmata who advocate the extermination of Shadow Necromancers, but I wanted to believe that her fondness for Rin wasn’t a lie—because she was Rin’s first friend.

(“But she might be looking at Rin with sexual intent… I’ll kill her next time I meet her.”)

I take back my words earlier.

Harboring even more hatred toward the Knights of the Stigmata, I vow to definitely kill that lying lesbian redhead.