Chapter 9
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Episode 2 - Inverted Heaven [3]
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It was midnight, and somehow, I managed to find a way out of the academy through a hidden opening.
In the game, Lumina was the one who used that passage every time she left the Holy Academy to carry out her work as a regressor.
In any case, I headed straight to the Northern District, also known as the slums.
Once I arrived, recognizing certain areas, I followed the path Lumina used every time she returned to the past after spending some time at the academy.
It wasn't difficult to recognize certain places, and soon I entered an alley where, at the very end, there was nothing but a wooden door.
When I reached it, I knocked on the door three times, and a voice came from the other side.
"Password."
Then, the small rectangular hatch on the door opened, and a pair of eyes stared at me.
Instantly, the man frowned.
"... A blind man."
His voice was clearly filled with disbelief, as if he didn't know what to say about this situation.
"Isn't it rude to speak so directly about a person's disability?"
"Courtesy my ass. If you don't say who you are and how you know about this place, I'll beat the hell out of you."
Honestly, I have to take back what I said on my first day in this world: that everyone in this Empire is kind.
'To hell with that.'
So far, 90% of the people I've run into have been incredibly rude.
Without exception, the first thing all of them mentioned was my disability.
Hearing the man's words, I smiled and simply said,
"Oh, is that so? Then I'm supposed to be scared, right?"
The man's voice growled, both irritated and incredulous.
"You're messing with me…"
Immediately afterward, a series of sounds came from the other side of the door.
He was probably opening it to beat me up.
〖Kid, has anyone ever called you Mr. Provocateur or something like that?〗
"...."
What is she even talking about now?
In any case, without responding to Alice's spirit, the door finally opened, and a bald man with massive muscles clenched his fists.
"You said I was messing with you, but honestly, I don't feel like you have any hair."
Since my True Sight perceived the world as a black-and-white sketch, I could naturally see the white outlines drawn over people's heads.
And it had to be said that this bald man didn't have any, so I immediately assumed he was bald.
"Bastard…"
The bald man's fist cut through the air at an extraordinary speed.
'Two stars…'
A two-star level of strength.
Before my True Sight, a red point shot straight toward my face.
Without much effort, I tilted my head to the side just enough to dodge the man's punch.
'True Sight is like precognition, rather, it's almost a form of clairvoyance.'
And combined with Weakness Detection, it didn't take long for me to see a dozen blue lines and points covering the bald man's entire body.
While True Sight was similar to precognition, Weakness Detection created a world filled with blue lines and points, indicating where I needed to cut.
And wherever I cut, that would become the opponent's weak point.
Gripping the hilt of Inverted Heaven, I moved the sword and sliced through every blue line.
"..."
"W-what…?!!!"
Inverted Heaven possesses an extremely sharp edge, and as if it were butter, the man's body split into dozens of chunks of flesh that fell to the ground.
'I can't believe this is my first kill… however, perhaps because I have the Trait Without Emotions, I don't feel anything, not even the trembling in my hands after killing someone for the first time.'
Briefly looking at the chunks of flesh and the man's rolling head, I took a step forward while the soles of my boots became soaked in blood.
As I entered deeper into the place, a dozen eyes stared at me.
I sensed killing intent through my senses, and instantly, a dozen swords flew toward me.
The red points and lines from my True Sight appeared, and with simple movements, I dodged every attack from the people around me.
At the same time, through Weakness Detection, I saw a dozen blue lines and moved my sword along those lines.
The sound of flesh being sliced instantly reached my ears.
As I moved my sword, the people present were cut into chunks of flesh.
At that moment, a large red point appeared right in front of my face.
Instantly, I lowered my body, but at the same time, a thin red point appeared the moment I crouched down.
Then, twisting my body backward, a burst of black flames passed over me in the next instant, while from below, a spear of earth rose into the air.
Moving my sword, I cut through the earth spear while looking at the blue point.
The earth spear shattered to pieces; then I lunged forward, heading straight toward the owner of the magic.
"W-what, how the hell did he…?"
Before the dark mage could finish speaking, I saw a red point on his throat at the same time a knife came flying toward me.
I slightly tilted my head back and caught the knife; then I threw it toward the blue point on the dark mage's throat.
"Ghk—!"
Blood burst from the dark mage's mouth; immediately afterward, he collapsed while clutching his throat. At the same time, I retrieved the knife and then returned it to its original owner.
"N-no…!!!"
After the man's scream, silence filled the room. Then, due to my heightened sense of smell, the scent of blood spread everywhere.
But it was too strong, so strong that I frowned and brought a hand to my nose.
"In a way, my senses are a serious problem in situations like this."
I couldn't endure the overwhelmingly strong smell of blood.
〖Did you ever work as an assassin, or do you simply have a natural talent for killing?〗
In fact, Alice's spirit was half right.
Adel is not an assassin, but a character created solely for combat.
"No, I've never worked as an assassin."
I couldn't say this was my first time killing people.
If we're talking about Adel, he carried out a complete massacre in "that" place.
In any case, while hearing voices so clearly from the other side of the door, I recognized one in particular.
'A Class 3 villain who, in the future, reached Class 6 after joining those cultists.'
For Lumina, the protagonist of this world, this villain caused serious trouble during the early regressions.
That's why, during the later regressions in the game, she would usually go kill this villain one week after entering the Holy Academy.
In any case, I'll kill him to finish the demonstration for Alice's spirit.
As I walked toward the door, I kicked it open without hesitation, sending it flying and creating a curtain of dust.
As the smell of blood entered the room, the voices of one of the cultists and the villain I was searching for reached my ears.
"What is this? Is this your trap?"
"I don't know, I'm also wondering what's happening, however…"
When the villain's voice stopped, I could guess what he was thinking.
'A blind man… that's probably what he thought.'
Sighing, I decided to act quickly. My sense of smell was beginning to irritate my nose because of the blood.
"Six cultists and one villain… well, I only came for you, but I suppose my teacher will be able to get more information out of this."
As I said that, the deep voice of the cultists' leader and the villain reached my ears.
"Who are you? Are you working with this guy?"
"What do you want? And how do you know about this place?"
Completely different questions.
In any case, I only said a few words in response.
"Please, I beg you… become my punching bags."
"What are you…?"
Naturally, they wouldn't know what I was talking about, since boxing doesn't exist in this world.
Before they could do anything, I took a step forward and, as if by instinct, the cultists and the villain assumed combat stances.
'Those two in particular are Class 3, so it would be troublesome if the other cultists joined in.'
First, kill the other cultists, then go after their leader and the villain.
Crack! Boom!
Kicking a wooden chair that was nearby, I sent it flying toward the cultists' leader with a powerful kick.
Naturally, he was a dark mage. It would be more convenient to distract the long-range attacker for a few seconds rather than the villain using daggers.
Following the blue lines, I ran toward the cultists in the back and cut through their bodies as quickly as I could.
The next moment, sensing someone attacking me from behind, I lowered my head and a dagger passed right where my neck had been.
Moving my body, I struck the villain's abdomen with a kick from my right foot.
Boom!
His body slammed into the wall about three meters away.
Next, I drove my sword into the head of the last cultist who was still alive.
Right after that, I felt an intense scorching heat coming from the left.
The cultists' leader unleashed a blaze large enough to cover the entire room.
However, after perceiving a blue point in the center of the flames, I moved my sword and stabbed toward that point.
"..."
The flames disappeared the very next second.
"H-how is this possible…?!"
Without letting him finish, I ran toward him. The cultists' leader gritted his teeth, and several magic circles appeared around his hands.
At the same time, I saw several red points from every direction.
"Fire Prison."
When the cultists' leader finished activating the spell, dozens of fire spikes materialized around me, creating a sort of cage.
"Ha, you won't escape, bastard…"
Contrary to his expectations, I thrust the tip of my sword forward, wrapping it in mana, and expelled that mana like a bullet toward the place where I had stabbed.
At the blue points, the tip of my sword had embedded itself. The next moment, dozens of the fire spikes cracked and shattered into pieces.
Without giving the cultists' leader any time to react, I used all my physical strength, followed the blue line, and cut him in half diagonally from left to right.
The upper half of his body fell backward while his intestines and organs slid out from inside him, falling onto the floor.
Meanwhile, his legs remained standing, but the next moment they collapsed face-first.
'Fortunately, I don't work with the villain.'
I would probably have some problems.
Anyway, turning my body around, I said:
"Are you just going to stand there watching?"
A deep and slightly trembling voice reached my ears.
"I-impossible!!… simply impossible!!… h-how can you cut magic? I've never heard of such a thing."
'Well, it's natural to think that. In reality, everything has weak points, and magic does too, so my Weakness Detection trait works on magic.'
Of course, if the opponent's magic was at least two stars stronger than my own power, then the Weakness Detection trait would be difficult to use.
After all, the more powerful the magic becomes, the more perfect it becomes, and the number of weaknesses decreases.
Moreover, the weaknesses in higher-level magic would be extremely small, to the point that it would be difficult to cut through those areas.
'But this dark mage can only use three-star magic.'
Anyway, looking at the helpless villain, I smiled and said:
"Mhm, I think I've done enough already, right?"
"W-what?!… t-then you'll let me…?!"
"I'm not talking to you."
When I said that, I lunged toward the villain and pierced his head. The tip of my sword even went all the way through to the other side of the wall.
〖If this is enough, we can start the training tomorrow〗
"Oh, that's great."
Then I looked around and thought:
'Now, time to loot this place.'