Chapter 88: Assassin Class Perk, Meeting Nisha Hall Again
The familiar blue text appeared in front of me.
...
Class: Assassin
Rank: 0
Grade: Apprentice Assassin
First Perk: Unseen
Perk Information: When no living being is directly looking at you, your presence greatly diminishes. Sounds you make are muffled, your scent and mana signature are reduced, and your outline blends with your surroundings.
...
I let out a faint smirk.
The perk was exactly what I needed.
My ability to move through shadows already made me hard to catch.
Now, while in the shadows, detecting me would be nearly impossible.
I activated Shadow Assimilation skill.
My shadow merged with me, reshaping my body from a three-year-old child into a tall, humanoid figure made entirely of shifting darkness.
Using the warp point in my room, I appeared in the dense jungle near Drama, Greece.
The air was cool and damp, muffling distant city noise.
I pulled a few ingredients from the inventory rune etched into my palm.
I began preparing a Blood Veil elixir with Quickmix Technique perk.
The extract floated above my hand in a thin, shimmering layer. I pulled a vial from my rune inventory, scooped it up, and drank it.
This altered my blood’s composition.
For the Alan Veritus identity, I had made a slightly different version—Type A.
This one was Type B.
I kept the naming simple for my own ease.
’I am not planning to fight tonight. But it’s always good to be prepared for all possibilities.’
’Now, I don’t need to worry about my identity being exposed even if my blood is left behind on the site.’
I stepped into the shadows and moved toward the Dusk Hand mansion.
Security was far tighter than it had been in the past few days.
More guards patrolled the grounds, and the perimeter wards had been strengthened.
I slipped past them easily, moving through unlit corners until I reached the hidden control room behind the false wall.
Inside, the same watchguard from my first visit sat at his station.
The man next to him—broad-shouldered, calm, and carrying himself with the weight of authority—seemed to be the head of security, judging from his badge.
Two other people stood out immediately.
They were from Exorcist Police.
Since an Exorcist had died, they had come to investigate at the request of the Dusk Hand hidden clan.
The older man’s posture told me he had seen a lot in his career.
And the younger woman—
’Nisha?’
I stayed still in the shadows, watching her.
Nisha Hall was part of the Hall Family, one of the Round Table’s core members. She had no business working a low-level job like this.
’Why is she here? She’s Rank 3 Exorcist.’
Exorcist Police worked like the hidden society’s version of the United Nations, but this kind of routine death investigation was normally handled by their lower ranks.
A thought crossed my mind.
’Could this be punishment?’
The punishment wouldn’t be for bringing Seris to the Hall Family.
Seris was a prodigy. Finding her would have gotten Nisha rewarded.
But....
’Nisha spent years guarding my family, and Dad is still considered an exile.’
’The Hall Family might not have appreciated her ignoring political lines.’
I was a bit relieved, knowing the punishment was not anything big.
I noticed she was frowning at the portable device’s screen she was holding. Then I noticed what she was watching.
A child romance drama.
My smile vanished.
’She never changes.’
Her being here meant Fate was trying to bring us closer.
She was one of the people who had met ’Alan Veritus’ face to face.
’Fate is trying to expose my hidden identity to her.’
’I need to be careful from now on.’
I turned my focus to the older detective.
He was likely Rank 3 as well, but unlike Nisha, his attention never drifted from the monitors.
His eyes moved quickly, scanning the footage for anything out of place.
Even though he had no idea what exactly he was looking for, his instincts were good.
’He’ll probably find the same thing I’m after... but it’ll take him longer.’
I peeked through the shadows, letting the feeds play across my vision.
Everyone else was looking for an assassin. That wasn’t my goal. I was looking for an entrance.
After the body double died, someone would have gone to report to the real Asterios. He would’ve used the real path or access point hidden somewhere on the property.
’I bet Asterios is happy, thinking that using a body double saved his life.’
For almost two hours, I went through footage, tracking movements of staff, guards, and anyone with unusual patterns.
’Found it.’
One male staff member entered the cleaning supplies room.
He stayed inside for three minutes and thirteen seconds.
I ran the numbers in my head.
’At his pace, retrieving the small cart and a set of three supplies should have taken one minute and eight seconds at most.’
I didn’t jump to conclusions.
I watched the guard moving in several other footages, and made sure I had not mistaken his speed.
He walked at a consistent, slightly above-average pace, and showed no signs of injury or fatigue.
’Fifty-five seconds would’ve gone to pull the cart from the cleaning room, ten to grab the bottles, and another three to close the door.’
’Even if he fumbled a bit, he shouldn’t have been in there longer than thirty seconds.’
He should’ve taken one-minute and thirty-eight seconds at most in the cleaning room if I added everything.
But he stayed in that room for three minutes and thirteen seconds.
One minute and thirty-five seconds were unaccounted for.
’That’s more than enough to trigger a mechanism, pass through a hidden door, and quickly come back.’
There was a chance he had just been resting or taking a quick break.
But that didn’t make sense.
The House Head had died earlier in the day.
The staff would know the place was under heavy watch.
No one would risk being caught slacking off when security was this tight.
Once I was certain of the timing, I slipped into the shadows and moved toward the cleaning room.
The door was locked. That didn’t matter. I slid through the shadow beneath it and stepped inside.
’The hidden entrance must be somewhere here.’
It was an ordinary room at first glance.
It had mops, buckets, disinfectants, rags, and cleaning carts.
There were no cameras inside, but two right outside the door.
I scanned every corner, and found no elevator, or trapdoor.
That told me the hidden area was far beneath ground level, likely unreachable by simple shafts.
And I couldn’t sense any shadows leading into it. That meant the passage was fully sealed when not in use.
’Makes sense.’
’Asterias is too paranoid.’
I began searching more carefully, trying to sense even the smallest of shadows.
Eventually, I found something.
’There is a set of tiny gears hidden behind a shelf.’
Looking around the room more thoroughly, I found that pressing certain items in a specific order triggered the mechanism.
I merged into the shadow of the gears.
Once inside, I moved forward, deeper and deeper, until I reached the faint outline of a button on the far wall.
I exited through the gap.
The shadows let me out into a narrow tunnel.
The passage behind me was sealed shut. It was the passage connecting the mansion and this location.
Two guards stood ahead.
Both were Rank 2.
They were guarding a sealed section behind them.
It was reinforced with detection treasures.
Passing through those would set off alarms instantly.
I didn’t need to go through.
I remained hidden in the shadows and jumped through the shadows.
One of the abilities I could use in Shadow Assimilation was instant transfer between remote shadows as long as they were within 30 meters.
It allowed me to bypass the area where detection treasures were placed.
I appeared behind the area directly.