Chapter 65: According To Plan (4)
Jenny tilted her head at my words.
"Well, fine... It's your business, not mine. Anyway, Illin and Skaya are also participating in the match, but I don't care."
"Ah. Okay."
With those words, Jenny and I parted ways.
Hmm. By the way, he's following me quite well.
After the match ended, I had been keeping my Volume Control at maximum.
And as expected, the Snitch, thinking this was his chance, was secretly tailing me.
Well then, let's head to the deserted area behind the main building.
With that thought, I walked toward the back of the main building, pretending I didn't notice anything.
***
Meanwhile, a Constellation was watching Cain from afar through a magic rifle.
*Hmm. That assassin is definitely not ordinary.*
Despite the distance and his weakened state, he couldn't sense any killing intent from the assassin, even with his transcendent abilities.
It made sense why Cain had gone so far as to temporarily erase his own memories to set up this plan.
While he was pondering this, Cain arrived at his destination.
The Constellation infused his magic rifle with mana he rarely used.
-Woong!
Magic really doesn't suit me.
Even though the Constellation was a transcendent being, his primary power was holy power, so using mana felt awkward.
*And I'm considerably weakened too.*
The Constellation continued preparing his shot while inwardly complaining.
***
Cain arrived at the back of the main building.
The Snitch, who had been secretly following him, was now certain.
*I need to kill him now.*
If not now, who knows when he'd be in such an isolated place again.
With that thought, the Snitch drew his dagger.
Just as he was about to stab it into Cain's neck...
"What?!"
Cain drew his sword and swung it at him.
-Swoosh!
Startled by the sudden attack, the Snitch raised his dagger to block.
-Clang!
The sound of metal striking metal rang out.
Cain frowned, seemingly annoyed that his surprise attack had failed.
"Tsk! I thought I did a pretty good job with that surprise attack."
"How long have you known?"
Cain gave a sinister smile at the question.
"Well, would knowing that change anything?"
"......"
The Snitch ignored his question and maintained silence.
After all, there was no benefit in prolonged conversation with him.
The Snitch was about to slowly back away when—
"Don't think about retreating. The moment you do, I'll swing my sword."
Cain warned him, positioning himself to strike.
*How does he know I'm trying to move when I'm using Presence Concealment and invisibility?*
The combination of invisibility and Presence Concealment was undetectable to most people.
To sense presence, one would need to be among the top talents at the Royal Academy.
But Cain's skills shown in the arena were far below theirs.
Moreover, Cain was quite exhausted now, so he shouldn't be able to detect him.
*That's not what matters now.*
There was no point in denying reality. He needed to accept it and think about what to do.
*First, escape is impossible.*
He wasn't sure when Cain had noticed he was being followed.
But judging by his reaction, he had deliberately lured him here.
Therefore, he must have prepared to prevent his escape.
*The only way is to kill him and escape from here.*
Having made up his mind, the Snitch enhanced his body with Aura without hesitation.
Simultaneously, he threw his dagger.
-Swoosh!
The dagger left the Snitch's hand, and its invisibility was dispelled.
The dagger cut through the air.
Usually, this would be fatal.
After all, a dagger suddenly appearing from thin air was hard to dodge.
Normally, people couldn't avoid such a sudden attack.
However, Cain, whose hearing had become more sensitive due to Volume Control, dodged as if he had anticipated it, tilting his head to the side.
-Thud!
The dagger embedded itself in the wall behind him.
Hmm. It seems invisibility is dispelled once it leaves his hand.
With that thought, Cain swung his sword toward where the Snitch was.
The Snitch dodged by kicking back.
*As expected, his stamina has decreased quite a bit.*
It was commendable that Cain had noticed he was being followed.
Frankly, he had never been cornered like this before.
But Cain had made one mistake.
*He didn't recover his stamina.*
While the Snitch admitted his combat skills were inferior to his assassination skills, he wasn't so weak that he couldn't defeat someone who was already exhausted.
Still, he couldn't let his guard down.
As the Snitch was thinking this, Cain infused his body with mana, using Physical Reinforcement.
-Whoosh!
Tsk.
Even though he was just using mana for Physical Reinforcement, it was quite taxing.
It seemed he was still far from being able to use all that demonic energy without strain.
*Well, that's to be expected.*
In reality, the total amount of demonic energy in his body was at the level of a Cult Executive.
Of course, that was before the demonic possession.
Anyway, it was a considerable amount.
So it was natural that his current body would find it burdensome.
After completing both Physical Reinforcement and Mind Fortification, he swung his sword down without hesitation.
The Snitch blocked the attack with a poison-coated dagger.
"Ugh!"
As expected, I'm being overpowered!
Even though Cain was quite exhausted, the Snitch was still overwhelmingly outmatched in terms of raw physical ability.
The Snitch kicked back and simultaneously threw a dagger thickly coated with poison.
A poison-coated dagger suddenly launched from thin air.
-Swoosh!
That's dangerous.
His instinct, honed through countless deaths, told him so.
If he got hit by that, even if it wasn't instant death, he could suffer a fatal wound.
*Then I'll gladly take it!*
The flying dagger hit Cain's shoulder.
"Ugh!"
The poison seeps in.
Perhaps due to the poison, his entire body feels hot like a burn.
Cain bit his lower lip hard and dropped to one knee.
Seeing this, the Snitch smirked.
"So your stamina was indeed depleted."
"Urgh!"
"Well, I'll give you credit. You're the first one to push me this far."
The Snitch spoke as if he had already won.
He was so confident in his victory that he even dispelled his invisibility.
Ignoring him, Cain pulled out the dagger embedded in his shoulder.
-Squelch!
Cain tossed the extracted dagger to the ground.
"That hurts like hell. But hey..."
"...?"
When Cain trailed off, the Snitch tilted his head in confusion.
Seeing his reaction, Cain raised one corner of his mouth.
"Why aren't you thinking about being assassinated yourself?"
...What? Assassination?
Just as he was about to turn his head in response to Cain's sudden words—
"Gah!"
Both his thighs were pierced with round holes.
Seeing this, Cain activated his Holy Cross with a satisfied expression.
"Phew. Now I might survive."
"Urgh!"
I need to use invisibility now.
It might be hard to escape with my legs damaged, but if I give up now, I'll really die.
With that thought, just as he was about to use invisibility—
-Thud!
"Argh!"
Cain stomped on his leg to prevent him from escaping.
His leg felt an indescribable pain, as if the nerve bundles had been severed.
Unable to activate invisibility due to the pain, the Snitch lay there.
Cain looked at the Snitch's reaction with a surprised expression.
"Hmm? What? An assassin who can't endure pain? Are you really a half-wit?"
"Urgh! What?"
Half-wit?
He had never been humiliated like this before.
All his previous assassination targets had died without knowing anything.
*And he calls me a half-wit?*
Frowning at Cain's words, the Snitch showed his displeasure, to which Cain gave a contemptuous look.
"Do you know why I'm calling you a half-wit?"
"....."
Not knowing the reason, the Snitch kept his mouth shut.
Seeing his reaction, Cain raised one corner of his mouth maliciously.
"The fact that you don't know the reason proves it, you bastard."
As soon as those words ended, an indescribable pain shot through his neck.
Shortly after, his vision darkened.
***
Normally, when fighting, people tend to let their guard down when they think they've defeated someone.
And the Snitch was no exception.
"That's why you're a half-wit."
Well, there were various other reasons too.
Looking at the Snitch who died with an indignant expression, I dusted off my clothes and looked at the system message in front of me.
[Permanent Quest - Death Avoidance completed.]
[You are rewarded with 500 points.]
Hmm. What? Is that it?
[Hidden Quest - Catch the Assassin completed.]
[You are rewarded with 1,000 points.]
I knew I could count on you, damn it!
If there hadn't been an additional reward after all the effort I put into catching this guy, including using the Memory Absorption Device and strategizing with my clone, I would have lain on the ground and screamed in frustration.
"Now, let's start the second plan."
With those words, I took out a demonic-looking mask and a robe from my Subspace Ring.
***
Meanwhile, Kim Su-yong, having finished his match in the Royal Tournament, was heading to the back of the main building, the meeting place he had arranged with Cain.
*Hmm. The David Family must be quite impressive.*
The Cult members don't usually reveal themselves easily.
But they already found information not long after the Performance Evaluation ended.
Of course, whether the information is useful or not remains to be seen until he hears it.
But what's important is that they've found information about those guys.
"Working alone really has clear limitations."
Kim Su-yong had also tried to gather information about the Cult after the Performance Evaluation incident.
However, he couldn't obtain any useful information.
That's because there was no trace of them when he tried to track them.
And whenever he found someone suspicious, he was already one step behind.
"Tsk! Is there really someone who infiltrated the academy?"
That would make sense.
It's not logical that he couldn't find any information despite moving like a rat catcher, unless that was the case.
"Sigh. Well, putting that aside, cross-dressing..."
I really hate it.
Honestly, while the Cult's information is important, I can get that from Cain anyway.
Unlike him, Cain is from a major family.
It would be more efficient for the David Family to take action than for him to clumsily intervene.
So he didn't need to worry about the Cult's information for now.
What concerned him more was tomorrow's Cross-dressing Contest.
He ended up participating in this damn contest because of a bet with Burke.
"Why on earth did I make such a crazy bet?"
The bet was simple.
They wagered on who would win the Grade-Level Tournament.
Kim Su-yong bet on Jenny, while Burke bet on Cain.
As a result, since Cain defeated Jenny, cross-dressing became inevitable.
And that wasn't the only problem.
Cross-dressing itself wasn't unbearable if he just closed his eyes and did it.
The real issue was that he had to show his cross-dressed self to Rain.
Unfortunately, Rain was next to them when they made the bet and overheard their conversation.
After hearing it, Rain declared with an excited face that she would do his makeup.
*...Damn it.*
Feeling a sudden wave of regret, Kim Su-yong let out a deep sigh as he walked.
Then.
"W-What?!"
He felt an intense killing intent that anyone would recognize.
And it was coming from the place where he was supposed to meet Cain.
*What should I do?*
He was quite exhausted from the Royal Tournament.
If he went there now, he might die.
*...I'll go.*
He owed Cain a debt.
It was time to repay it.
Having made his decision, Kim Su-yong ran at full speed toward his destination.
When he arrived shortly after—
He saw Cain collapsed and bleeding, and another student with his head separated from his body.
And there was also a man wearing a demonic-looking mask and a robe, emitting demonic energy while looking at him.
[You've come, Kim Su-yong.]