"Regi!"
The senior screamed out his junior's name, running towards him and catching him before hitting the floor.
"...."
Regi bled whilst being unconscious, not even allowed to scream in pain.
The dust lashed around the area, blinding allies and enemies alike.
'No, it isn't over yet!'
The senior was quick to regain his composure when realising his disciple was not safe with the enemy still lurking.
The circuits in his body churned and turned like small gears, runes flashed from above him and onto the blood soaked floor.
Uuuung
The runes melted, humming as they flowed down, an invisible mold guided them to their destination.
Forming into a bright, searing arrow that pointed south-west.
'Found you!'
Casting the 2nd star spell 'Sear Shot', it blasted through the fog that kicked up and shredded through the air, finding the target of collective interest.
Thud!
The figure revealed themselves, it was a man in robes who had already slammed their clenched fist into the ground.
Drrrrr!
Rocks swirled around his limbs, they grew rashly in number till the entirety of his body became a storm of rocks.
Arms tucked and glued to each other, bracing for imminent impact.
Crash!
The flurry of rocks clashed with the arrow. But despite how viciously they swirled, they were far too weak to keep the arrow at bay however.
Causing a massive gap to appear in the enemy's defenses, which allowed the arrow to sear right through his guts.
"Gagh!"
The assassin spat a mouthful of blood, his face mask barely allowed it to flow out, forcing him to ingest some of his blood back in.
Tearrr!
He tore the face mask, and used its long cloth to hastily apply first aid to himself.
"Ptu!"
Blood spit itself out of the small gap of his mouth, following up the action with walking closer to the senior holding his unconscious disciple.
The man in robes slowly drew a knife from his pocket.
Fog seemed to press itself onto the dark-green knife the moment it unsheathed, seeping slowly into its iron.
'An artifact'
As the knife kept absorbing the toxic gas around, it became longer and thinner than before, turning into a full-fledged longsword with a crossguard of a normal knife.
'So it depends on the environment?'
Clearly, this man was strong. Allowing for quick dismantle of their advantage in an instant.
'He's likely as strong as the platoon commander'
In terms of strength anyway.
Whoosh!
Instantly, the assassin hopped and sprang forth towards the senior.
"...!?"
Astonished by the sudden boost in speed, the senior hastily set up a defensive spell.
Crack!
The barrier cracked under the sudden force...of his legs stomping on it.
'The bl—!"
"One down"
The blade thrusted right through him, shattering the barrier in an instant, the speed and tempo complete and utterly higher than expectations set for them originally.
"Kugh!"
The poison seeped into his body, all the resistances and blessings worked to slow down the poison, but they repeated vain efforts.
'It's... a mana feasting poison!'
A type of poison that restricted the use of mana and forced it to become its nutrient.
Creating a parasite that became difficult to handle later on.
"Next"
He walked calmly to the next target, the presence he felt coming from behind cut his next cocky words in their tracks.
"Could I skip the line? I'm too bored to wait"
"..?!"
The assassin immediately backed off at merely the voice making its presence known.
His widened in realization to who the certain figure was.
"You...are you perhaps platoon commander Yujin Alfel?"
"The one and only"
Yujin calmly walked towards the fallen senior and his disciple.
"Seems like I was too soft on you...to fall this easily to a mere rogue after all"
"Ho? quite the confidence I see there, Alfel"
He chuckled while tightly gripping the longsword.
"Do you believe you can beat me alone?"
Yujin asked the assassin this simple question.
"Yes"
Listening to the delusional assassin, he turned to face him.
"You are quite the rude one, especially when in range"
"...?"
'In range? I'm 15 meters away fro—'
Fwoosh!
"—!!"
The assassin's face twisted into bewilderment when Yujin appeared in front of him in an instant. On instinct, he backed off and flailed with his sword.
Grab
His wrist snapped locked when Yujin grabbed it leisurely, his fist tucked in low, hips twisted. And the platoon commander swung an ordinary uppercut, devoid of mana.
Bang!
Having his chin cave in on itself, the assassin lost temporary control of his limbs, his sword slipped away from his grasp.
He fell down, head spun and overlapped images tightly together.
"Hmm, this is quite the strong artifact"
Yujin inspected the artifact used. He crafted a spell that could create a numbing mist, seeing how the sword swallowed it along with the gas of the explosion from before made him see how useful it truly could be.
"Not only can it remove any poison quickly, but it also grows stronger the longer it stays unsheathed, though there does seem to be a hard limit"
Waving the sword around, he soon walked over to the assassin.
"You might be strong, maybe even rivaling me in strength, however"
Puk
He gently stabbed the sword in his abdomen, slowly pressing it more and more. The movement intentionally slow.
"But you lack way too much in defense and speed"
The assassin's body began to spasm and his mouth began to foam.
"I will confiscate this"
He tossed the sword aside and walked towards the center of the fighting.
"Ooh, quite the bloody showdown"
Yujin exclaimed, searching every nook and cranny on the off chance they found Gaia.
"Ah"
His lips stitched into a smirk, sensing the mana trace.
"So you were here"
Murderous intent flashed through his pupils.
"[Trace]"
A spell flared open, awakening to do what it was specifically made for.
To track.
Like a hunting dog searching for prey.
*
*
*
"Back here huh?"
I arrived at the forked path, the tremors grew slightly closer, causing alarms on the walls to wail in my ears like a brat I didn't ask to babysit for a while.
"Patience, let us do what we came here in the first place to do"
To do as the client wished. And saving this young cursed lady was the first thing needed to be done.
"Now let's not waste time on the details and walk to the left!"
In a careless tone, I walked and spoke to myself to pass the time...since no one came to talk to me.
Trudging more and more forward, my feet had landed on smooth marble and had dropped down to the floor. The lightbulbs above flickered on and off with each tremor rippling.
'The entertainment district was more of a junkyard now that I think about it'
All of it was one single floor, and just the size of a mansion at that.
'What is the point of an entertainment district when the woman supposed to give it just makes them go mad'
Not only that.
'I doubt she has any actual experience with men, after all she's basically a wobbling Jenga Tower right now'
The men lying like garbage bags on the side were also very obviously not there to receive pleasure.
'They were likely there to test and highlight any issues'
Attempting to see how well the curse performed under normal circumstances.
"And it worked better than expected"
So much so, that it performed too much above their expectations.
'It probably killed every single one of them after their minds crushed by a sudden intense pressure of want and desire, drowning in continuous self-pleasure until eventually dying of a heart attack'
The curse itself was also difficult to deal with, monetizing it is basically selling a one way ticket to one of the greatest rollercoasters money could buy.
"It be difficult for them to hide their altered personality, but covering the deaths of their clients is by a long shot harder"
They needed a cow to milk after all, and money wouldn't grow from a tree no matter how much they would slap it.
This was a safe, guaranteed way to make big bucks.
'Normally, with this kind of thing. I thought the aristocratic men would be the biggest patrons, but for some reason....the women ended up as the biggest advocates?'
Surprisingly, a lot of aristocratic men didn't even dare delve into this side, only those who bought their position through sheer money supported this, or just the men who were single and wanted even one night with a woman....
'Kind of sad when thinking about that'
Not that I particularly cared about it, my only goal in life is to accept missions, deploy myself with utmost intel my connections allow and complete it flawlessly.
'Marriage comes wayyy after that'
"It would completely wreck the lifestyle of professionalism I've built over the years"
I kept monologuing to myself, the road ahead for some damn reason was longer than my reasons to live.
"Why do people make roads like these so long when they could just put one carriage in here?"
A carriage could easily fit in this wide space.
"Maybe use the revenue you get from your evil deeds to make destroying and humiliating you easier"
'Tsk'
I silently clicked my tongue, it reflected on the walls and the sound spread like butter.
My steps then stopped.
"What kind of bastard would do this?"
One who loves to make everyone's lives harsher.
Ahead of me lay a road full of debris, 'lucky' for me, a secret hidden path suddenly appeared!
"At this point it feels scripted, at least add some suspense author"
I walked through the tight crevice that was obviously infested and booby-trapped.
I felt a slight resistance tugging me from behind, the young girl was caught and stuck, I tried readjusting her but.
The target of my mission made getting in feel like an exercise.
"...."
Only then did I realise.
"She doesn't fit...."
The rocks were too sharp and she would get punctured for sure, remembering that the client said that not even a single scratch on her should be visible. I ruffled my hair in frustration.
'God damn it'
I cursed, laid her down and began making the crevice wider, I truly felt like snatching a mage right now, but in the end. I bit my lip and endured the humiliation.