Chapter 17: Assassin Mission

Alarms blared, a frantic accompaniment to the growing presence I felt nearby.

I’d heard rumors of a Dungeon beneath Meikutsu Academy, the school I’d somehow ended up attending. If the emergency broadcast was telling the truth, the monsters had finally broken loose from the Underground Dungeon.

"Hey, Shiki. This is..."

"Yeah, a real incident," Shiki cut me off, his expression grim. "Stay here, Reima. I’m going to go see if the Adventurers need a hand."

"Shiki... can you even fight?"

"I’m an Enchanter, remember? I don’t need to swing a sword to be useful." He paused, squinting at me. "Wait, you’re pale. You okay?"

"Ah... sorry. It’s just been a while since we last saw each other."

Even here, I can’t escape it, I thought. That lingering sense of alienation from being part of a different world.

I was reminded once again of the obvious: Shiki belonged to this world. I didn't.

"Look, you don't have a weapon and you're still recovering, right?" Shiki said, already moving toward the edge of the roof. "Just wait here. I’ll start guiding people to the rooftop—it should be safe enough. I’ll leave the explaining to you. Don't let me down, best friend."

"...Yeah, I got it. Just don't do anything stupid, Shiki."

"I won't. Besides, I’m not so pathetic that a few monsters from a Meikutsu Dungeon are going to take me out."

With that, Shiki vaulted over the railing and dropped out of sight.

I blinked, momentarily stunned, before a weary sense of relief washed over me. This was a world of magic and monsters; a jump like that was probably standard procedure.

To be honest, I was flying blind. I didn't know the scale of the outbreak or the threat level of this particular school's dungeon. More importantly, I had no idea how strong the average student here actually was. If I just sat on my hands, there was a real chance people were going to die.

I spent a few minutes questioning the students who trickled onto the roof, but the more I heard, the more my skin crawled. My anxiety wasn't going away.

"Sorry, Shiki," I muttered to the empty air.

I reached into my storage and pulled out a pale silver robe woven from Luna’s fur. As soon as I threw it over my shoulders, the world seemed to ripple, and I vanished. The robe was a masterpiece, imbued with her essence to provide a high-grade [Stealth] effect that could keep me hidden for hours.

"Right. [Search]."

I cast a wide-range mana detection net, mapping the school’s layout in my mind. I marked every pulse of hostile mana I could find. It was a trick I could only pull off because the school was a finite, enclosed space—unlike the sprawling, chaotic depths of a true Dungeon. I offered a silent, begrudging thanks to my past self for bothering to learn these basics.

"Forty-five... That’s a lot of pests."

I whispered the number to myself and started moving.

I sprinted through the halls, weaving through the shadows. I targeted the isolated signals first, heading toward a lone monster lurking where no students were in sight. It was a Goblin.

"[Weapon Summon]—Angrist."

A dagger appeared in my hand, its blade shimmering with a lethal edge. It was made of a material that could slice through orichalcum back in the other world. Using it on a common Goblin was overkill, but I didn't have the luxury of time. I needed efficiency.

"Nothing personal," I whispered. "You're just in the way."

I channeled [Physical Enhancement] into my legs and lunged.

The strike was a blur. The blade passed through the Goblin’s neck so cleanly that the creature didn't even have time to bleed before its head hit the floor. I quickly incinerated the remains to erase the evidence and moved on to the next target.

I repeated the process six times.

I kept a close eye on my mental map, watching the red dots vanish one by one. I stuck to the shadows, picking them off where no one could see. It was going well, but something felt off. They were too spread out. It didn't feel like a natural breakout from a single point.

It’s almost as if someone placed them here individually, I thought.

I was behind the school building, near the woods, where I’d just finished off my seventh target—an Orc. I paused to consider the implications, but my thoughts were cut short.

A massive spike of mana erupted from the rooftop. Right where the crowd was gathered.

"Teleportation magic?!"

I didn't know who had cast it, but the signature was unmistakable. This was bad. The people on the roof were mostly non-combatants or Supporters. If a high-level monster appeared there, it would be a massacre.

I didn't have time to calculate the distance. I just ran. If I pushed myself, I could make it in a straight line. As long as I kept the robe on, no one would see me interfering.

"[Haste]. [Strength]."

I felt the surge of speed and the raw power in my legs. I leaped, clearing massive gaps, kicking off the walls to maintain my momentum as I scaled the building toward the roof.

"Hold the line until the upperclassmen get here!" a voice screamed as I crested the roof. "We have to survive!"

The scene was chaos. A group of student Adventurers was desperately trying to hold back a massive, Ogre-like creature.

No one was dead yet, but they were losing. Fast. I hovered at the edge of the crowd, my mind racing. I couldn't just jump in. If I summoned Luna or Sol, the whole world would know I was here because of that damn viral video.

Most of my other Summoned Beasts were too large or too flashy. Magic was out of the question—the risk of collateral damage was too high. I had my dagger, but taking down an Ogre in one hit with a knife would look suspicious as hell.

I hesitated. My experience from the other world was working against me, making me overthink the consequences of revealing myself.

People are going to die, and I’m standing here doing math.

I needed a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. And I had just the one.

"[Summon]—Come, Lycoris."

In the middle of the panicked crowd, I called her forth.

She appeared in a flicker of shadow—a young girl with amber eyes and purplish-black hair, dressed in a black gown that looked like mourning clothes. I projected my intent directly into her mind. She gave a single, solemn nod and began to walk toward the Ogre.

She walked right through the crowd, yet no one saw her. Of all my Summoned Beasts, Lycoris was the master of the silent kill. She didn't just hide; she simply ceased to exist in the minds of those around her.

"[Halahala Anthos]."

Her voice was cold, dignified, and utterly lethal. She produced a dagger shaped like a delicate flower. She leaped, a graceful arc that brought her level with the Ogre’s face. With a movement as smooth as a caress, she drew the blade across its throat.

That was it. She landed softly and drifted back to my side before anyone could blink.

"It is done," she whispered.

"Thanks. You saved them."

The Ogre, which had been a whirlwind of violence only seconds ago, began to falter. Its movements grew sluggish, its strength draining away.

When one of the students landed a desperate blow, the Ogre collapsed like a marionette with its strings cut.

It wasn't the student's strength that killed it. It was the [Halahala Anthos]—a delayed-action curse-poison. Lycoris had timed the lethal trigger to coincide with the student’s attack, making it look like they had delivered the finishing blow.

"W-We won?"

"Did we actually take that thing down?!"

"Hell yeah! Did you see that, you piece of garbage?! That’s the power of Meikutsu students!"

The rooftop erupted in cheers.

I watched them for a moment, then quietly slipped off the robe, intending to blend back into the crowd. But the moment the fabric left my shoulders, my heart hammered against my ribs.

My blood felt like it was boiling. My breath hitched, coming in shallow, ragged gasps. A wave of profound exhaustion crashed over me, and I realized exactly what was happening.

Mind Down? Already?

It was the classic symptom of mana depletion. I’d felt it a hundred times in the other world, though this felt... different. Heavier. My vision blurred, and the world began to tilt.

"Lycoris... I'll call you later. Go back for now..."

I couldn't even finish the sentence. The darkness rushed in, and I hit the floor before I could say another word.