The status window, opened for the first time in a while.
My Agility rank had risen from C to B.
Strength and Intelligence weren’t far from ranking up, either.
The Psychokinesis skill had returned to normal.
*The weird name is still the same, I see.*
“Lady Laura. The name is still strange, isn’t it?”
[Ah. The name, is it? It is not that I absolutely cannot fix it, but it would be a major undertaking. Explaining the specifics would be like reading sutras to a cow, so I shan’t. Are you not a monkey incapable of understanding more than three lines?]
It seemed she still hadn’t gotten over what I’d said when we first met.
“Ahem.”
Still, it was worth the effort, since my stats had risen so much.
However, the strange thing was that these money bugs hadn’t dropped any Growth Orbs.
These guys were Agility-specialized monsters, so it was only normal for a *Growth Orb (Agility)* to drop.
But these ones that had been reduced to ashes hadn’t dropped anything.
I couldn’t stand not knowing.
“Lauraemon! Why aren’t the Growth Orbs dropping?”
[It is because they have already been drained dry by the Succession skill, so no resources remain. The explanation would be lengthy, but to cut to the chase: those executed by *Succession* do not drop Growth Orbs. And what is a *Lauraemon*?]
“That exists.”
I pulled a chocolate bar from my bag and ate it, recovering my condition.
Trauma or not, I could still hear a *rustling* sound in my ears, but I decided to ignore it.
Fully recovered, I pressed forward.
The cave had no branching paths, so I only needed to keep walking straight.
Every so often, I saw fragments of human bone and clothing.
They were the people who had been in the vehicles sucked in when the Gate first appeared.
The vehicles had been filtered out by the Gate, and only their bodies had fallen here, seemingly devoured by the money bugs.
Tragic, but they were doomed to die anyway.
Because they were all already dead by the time the original protagonist had entered.
Thanks to that, after clearing this dungeon, the protagonist had gotten flamed by netizens.
It was because of some reporter’s speculative article.
Claiming he had recklessly charged in and gotten civilians killed for no reason.
The article made it seem like the civilians died because the protagonist was trolling.
Since I’m taking that hate in his stead now, isn’t that worth paying for one skill?
Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the path.
Waiting for me was a massive door.
It was an iron door, so I had to push with all my strength just to barely open it.
I was nervous.
I had caught the money bugs through a shortcut, but this dungeon’s boss was on a different level.
I mustn’t think of him as being similar to C or D-grade villains.
“So you have come?”
A figure revealed itself in the darkness.
A man clad in black garments.
His appearance was clearly abnormal.
Where his face should have been, it was smooth and featureless, like an egg ghost.
Even the voice that spoke to me did not come from a mouth.
\------------
[‘The Nameless One’ has appeared.
A boy kidnapped by an assassination syndicate and raised as a nameless assassin.
He was a rare genius born for the martial path.
Despite learning an assassin’s martial arts, he had grown strong enough to face first-rate masters head-on.
The nameless assassin who had dealt with countless experts through his outstanding abilities was feared by all.
Eventually, he was abandoned by the organization, and no one remained by his side.
The assassin who had become a public enemy suffered a fatal wound and fled into a certain cave.
He endured for a year, tending to his festering wounds and eating bugs.
Despite his desperate struggles, the goddess of fortune did not smile upon him.
The wounds, left without proper treatment, gradually worsened and ate away at his body, until he finally met a lonely end.
He too had but one wish: to carve his name into the heavens.
It became an obsession, and his soul could not ascend, remaining in the mortal world.
*Had I been born the child of a prestigious clan and trained without a worry, I would have soon reached the Xuan Realm and been praised by all; yet because of my lowly birth, I am despised by everyone!*]
---------------------------------------
“Young one, your bone structure is too frail; you cannot learn my martial arts. Turn back.”
The ‘Nameless One’ spoke as if he were some reclusive master.
Calling me weak even though I’m C-rank—both Laura and this guy were experts at looking down on people.
“Go fuck yourself.”
The nameless assassin took a combat stance.
Honestly, I was scared.
The ‘Nameless One,’ the boss of a C-rank dungeon, was B-rank.
He clearly possessed stats on a completely different level from mine.
I spoke softly.
“Lady Laura. Please wait quietly, and when I give the signal, cast Dispel.”
Laura’s worried voice.
[He is an existence on a different level from you. Will you be alright?]
“Well, yeah. Because you’re here, Lady Laura.”
Beneath the *Hermit’s Leather*, I had worn a blade-resistant vest.
It couldn’t block the attacks of a transcendent enemy, but it could somewhat mitigate the damage.
I raised my warhammer and took a defensive stance.
What I had to watch out for most were my neck and face.
Since my opponent was an assassin, chances were high he would focus on those areas.
The assassin lowered his stance.
In an instant, he vanished from sight.
This pattern…
*I know this.*
I twisted my body and swung the warhammer.
“Guh!”
The ‘Nameless One’ who appeared behind me took the warhammer blow and rolled across the ground.
I hadn’t entered this dungeon without a plan, either.
I had already come up with a way to deal with the money bugs.
And I had come because I had a chance in the boss fight, too.
I had the ‘Nameless One’s attack patterns completely figured out.
Because I’d faced him dozens of times in the game.
When he lowers his stance and disappears, he appears behind me and delivers a fatal strike.
I had simply predicted his movement from his stance and attacked.
The assassin lowered his body again.
His vanishing figure.
He seemed to think that countering his attack had been a fluke.
*You shouldn’t underestimate me.*
I swung the warhammer behind me again, and the assassin was struck by the heavy chunk of metal once more and sent flying.
“How, how did you know?”
The guy muttered in a low voice.
I sneered.
“An assassin is nothing once he reveals himself.”
Suddenly, black energy erupted from the ‘Nameless One’s body.
He looked like a Super Saiyan from Dra*on Ball.
He seemed absolutely furious.
The words this prideful assassin hated to hear the most.
It was that *‘You only won because you ambushed me. If we fought one-on-one properly, I’d win.’* kind of logic.
Dodge a few attacks and provoke him like this, and the final phase begins.
In the final phase, his movements become about twice as fast, but…
“Kuk.”
A dagger flew and buried itself in my thigh.
And another.
“Hyak!”
It lodged in my shoulder.
It seemed I had no talent for evasion.
The assassin attacked head-on now.
The assassin swung his daggers at speeds the eye couldn’t follow.
Cheek. Temple. Abdomen. Thigh.
Each time the sound of wind being cut rang out, new wounds were added.
I swung my warhammer trying to parry, but I simply couldn’t keep up with the speed.
At least I focused on defending my face and neck, avoiding a fatal blow.
*Shit. Maybe I should’ve gotten a shield.*
Coming in with only a warhammer had been a bit careless.
The dagger moved like a snake stalking its prey.
This time, it came for my neck.
*This is bad!*
A strike carrying a strong will to finish me, unlike the probing attacks from before.
Fear that I’d die on the spot if I tried to block it rashly dominated my mind.
I urgently rolled across the ground to evade.
And in that moment, three throwing knives flew in like flowing water.
Because I had thrown myself rolling across the ground, I couldn’t dodge them.
The throwing knife embedded in my right leg.
“Uuaaagh!”
I dragged my leg and barely managed to stand.
My leg had no strength in it.
The ‘Nameless One’ drew a shortsword and approached leisurely.
I decided to throw in my final gamble.
“Now, hold on. Stop. If you’re going to kill me anyway, won’t you use your best technique? You have to say who killed you in the afterlife to be acknowledged. It’d be embarrassing to say you were killed by some nobody assassin.”
The reason he had become a specter was precisely his *desire for honor*.
He wasn’t an assassin who simply killed people, but someone who wanted to be recognized as a strong warrior.
I was sure he wouldn’t refuse.
“Very well. I shall grant you your end with my lethal technique.”
The moment I had been thinking about since entering the boss room had come.
A single chance.
I could beat him.
The moment I had been thinking about since entering the boss room had come.
A single chance.
I could beat him.