It’s Bitter

“……!”

A chilling sensation spreads throughout my body.

I have no luxury to deduce who is attacking me or why they’re attacking me.

What I need to do now is.

• • Clang!!

“Whoa, that was close?”

I drew my sword from its scabbard and counterattacked with an overhead slash.

The shadow blade that had been rushing toward me went forward as if returning to its owner, but it simply moved forward relentlessly and stuck into the ground, without any groans being heard.

In other words, the opponent is attacking from a distance.

I focused all my senses on Natural Mirror, my nerves on edge.

And then I felt it.

“Isn’t it boring to just control shadows from the rooftop?”

I looked up and asked mockingly.

There was no answer to my question, but the guy is definitely there.

Again, multiple shadow blades silently came to choke my windpipe.

But this is a narrow alley, a perfect place for me to go wild.

“Hup!”

I kicked off the building’s outer wall to lift my body, then used Dao force as a foothold in midair to gain momentum and rotate my body.

The shadow blade passes by my side, barely grazing it.

I land cleanly and deflect with my sword the shadow blade approaching my face.

“Whew, you really love shadows, don’t you?”

[High-performance Illumination Magic Stone (500 points) Purchase Complete]

After avoiding the blade with an acrobatic twist of my body, I held in my hand the item I had just purchased from the achievement store.

The magic stone in my hand emitted a bright light, illuminating all the shadows nearby.

“Now you won’t be able to use those cute little blades anymore.”

The only shadow cast in this alley is my own.

What was until recently a completely dark alley became brightly lit, transforming it into the worst battlefield for an enemy who attacks using shadows.

With a bit of breathing room, I exhaled roughly and racked my brain.

‘That attack method. Too familiar.’

Although this is information I’m reading with Natural Mirror for the first time, I feel like I know who’s on that rooftop.

That name is….

“Oh? Are you trying to run away?”

I can feel the assailant on the rooftop gradually moving away from me.

I can’t let him escape like this.

The attacker didn’t target me for fun, and will surely come back to attack me again someday.

I need to end this now.

“Jeremy Drimoor. I didn’t expect to meet you again like this.”

The original protagonist who was supposed to save this world, and the character I directly controlled, Jeremy Drimoor.

Seeing you again like this, it’s quite a strange feeling.

Jeremy’s retreating footsteps stopped abruptly.

“You’re known by the alias ‘Black Silence’…. right? Haha, the more I say it, the more appealing it sounds. Did you come up with it yourself?”

Black Silence. An alias given due to Jeremy’s hero-grade trait, Shadow Step, which leaves no sound from its owner’s actions.

When I mentioned his operating name, his figure on the rooftop began to disappear gradually.

And where the vanished figure reappeared was right in my shadow.

He gripped shadow daggers in both hands and swung them at me.

• • Swish!

I blocked one with my sword and caught the other with Dao force.

As expected of a 4-star ability user, I feel overwhelmed even though I’m only blocking a single dagger with each hand.

“That shadow technique looks really useful, doesn’t it? Won’t you teach me?”

The blonde man wearing a black mask, Jeremy, glares at me and speaks.

“…..How do you know about my identity?”

I, who was struggling to receive his daggers, grinned and retorted.

“Who knows? Maybe the kid next door told me, or maybe I found out by chance in a dream, or maybe I was actually your hidden brother.”

“In other words, you don’t want to tell me.”

“Wow, if everyone in the world were as perceptive as you, it would be really nice.”

I pushed Jeremy away with all my might using Dao force to create distance.

“So? My guess is…. Lord Pascal hired you to kill me, but trying to kill his own brother, he’s really a heartless person, isn’t he?”

“Mentioning the client is…..”

“Yes. Of course you wouldn’t. You’re probably doing assassination work to make a living, and if you blabber about who your clients are, who would entrust you with requests? I understand completely.”

“……You have a long tongue.”

Jeremy said, infusing magic into the ground.

“My original plan was to attack you slowly, at my leisure, whenever an opportunity arose. But that just changed.”

Black shadows began to spread across the floor around him.

“Now that you know my identity, keeping you alive longer would be a great loss to me. I’ll kill you right here.”

To his fierce declaration, I responded with a slight sneer.

“Hmm, I’ve always wondered about this.”

Then, with my usually closed eyes suddenly wide open, I said.

“Surely assassins like you are at their strongest when they make their first attack, so why do you spout nonsense about killing seriously only later?”

When my black pupils glared at Jeremy, his body trembled momentarily.

“…….”

“Well, anyway. I warned you? Don’t regret it later.”

After closing my eyes again and returning to my usual frivolous demeanor, I pointed my sword at Jeremy.

A brief silence flowed.

“….There’s something I’d like to ask.”

“…….”

Taking his silence as consent, I continued.

“About that assassin work. Did you really choose it of your own will?”

Jeremy was originally a boy who pursued justice almost as much as Sheena.

He who was supposed to be the savior of the world was forced to walk the path of an assassin due to the whim of a terrible player.

“…..Half a year ago, I dreamed of being a hero. It was truly a fleeting dream.”

“No. That wasn’t a futile dream.”

I shook my head, denying his words.

“The path you’re walking now doesn’t suit you. The path you should have walked originally…… wasn’t such a dark one.”

I feel guilty.

Just a whim to raise a character as an assassin, my damned single whim changed Jeremy’s life by 180 degrees.

If it weren’t for me, Jeremy should have been shining brighter than anyone else by now. But due to my simple curiosity, he is constantly swimming in filthy water.

I feel endless guilt for guiding the incomparable talent that is Jeremy into darkness, and for literally ruining a person’s life.

“Perhaps. If you could attend the academy again….”

“It’s futile.”

Jeremy shook his head and continued.

“My hands are already stained with the blood of many people. Trying to cleanse the past and walk the path of a hero now would only be the utmost deception.”

“…..Is that so.”

I see. Because of me, you have been tainted beyond return.

“That’s a shame. I thought I might make a new friend this time.”

I forced a smile and spoke.

After watching me for a moment, he quietly asked.

“…..Have we met somewhere before?”

To that heart-piercing question, I painfully shook my head and answered.

“No. This is our first meeting.”

“I see.”

Jeremy answered silently.

Then he lowered his stance and began to rush towards me at a fast pace without making any noise.

Jeremy’s movement reminiscent of a shadow.

Quickly organizing my thoughts, I stepped forcefully on Dao force and jumped up to avoid his charge.

But, as if he had been waiting for this, Jeremy stomped the ground.

Eventually, sharp thorns began to emerge from the shadow widely spread on the floor and rushed to target my abdomen.

I formed a Dao force foothold in midair and kicked off to avoid the thorns, floating in the air.

However, as if he had predicted my movement, a large shadow spear was shot at high speed exactly at my expected landing point.

According to Natural Mirror, the time it would take for that spear to collide with me was about 2 seconds.

Just the right time to summon a doppelganger.

As I floated in midair, I summoned a doppelganger at my expected landing point and the rapidly rushing spear.

• • Clang!!

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline that?”

I counterattacked aggressively.

Dark energy spouted from the doppelganger’s sword and enveloped Jeremy.

Jeremy, hit by the energy, couldn’t move his body and was pierced by his own shadow spear.

“Ugh….!”

Jeremy lets out a hot groan.

At a glance, it seems like the situation is over, but that would be a fatal misconception.

If I let my guard down so rashly against Jeremy, I would never see the light of day again.

That’s the hunting method of Jeremy Drimoor, the assassin I trained.

That’s why I’m trying to use that hunting method against him.

Jeremy is a top-tier shadow assassin who has reached the 4-star level.

For me, who is only at 1-star, to defeat him, I must use his habits against him.

“Haha, for all your grand words, this is quite a bland end, isn’t it?”

I deliberately shrugged and approached Jeremy as if I had let my guard down without any suspicion.

Or to be more precise, I approached Jeremy’s ‘doppelganger’ that was pierced by the shadow spear.

“In your next life, please walk the right path…..”

“Stupid bastard.”

“What? What does that…”

I can feel it, Jeremy and his seven doppelgangers targeting me from the rooftop, gripping daggers and throwing themselves at me.

This is how Jeremy likes to use doppelgangers to make his prey let their guard down, then attack from blind spots.

So far, there has been no prey that has escaped this hunting method.

Therefore, Jeremy would be sensing his victory….

Which means he too would naturally let his guard down.

Enough acting the fool, let’s counterattack.

I sheathed my sword and looked up at the sky.

Eight Jeremys, gripping daggers in both hands and targeting me without making any noise, descending.

After imprinting all those Jeremys exactly in my eyes, I gripped the handle of my sword firmly and.

“It would be troublesome if you dodge this too~!”

I drew my sword while using ‘Husk Slash’.