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.
In the game, Lumina used that hole every time she left the Holy Academy to carry out her duties as a Regressor.
In any case, I headed straight for the Northern District, also known as the slums.
Upon arrival, I recognized certain areas and followed the path Lumina took each time she returned to the past after spending time at the academy.
Recognizing certain areas wasn't difficult, and soon I entered an alley where there was only a wooden door at the end.
I knocked on the door three times, and a voice came from the other side.
"Password."
Then, the small rectangular window in the door opened, and a pair of eyes peered out at me.
Instantly, they frowned.
"...A blind."
His voice was clearly filled with disbelief, as if he didn't know what to say in this situation.
"It's rude to speak so bluntly about a person's disability."
"Politeness my ass. If you don't tell me who you are and how you know about this place, I'll beat you up."
Honestly, I have to take back the words 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 met have been incredibly rude.
Without exception, the first thing everyone mentioned was my disability.
Upon hearing the man's words, I smiled and simply said,
"Oh, is that so? Then I suppose I should be afraid, huh?"
The man's incredulous but irritated voice grumbled.
"You've got to be kidding me..."
Immediately afterward, a series of sounds coming from the other side of the door echoed.
He was probably opening the door to beat me up.
〖Kid, has anyone ever called you Mr. Provocateur or something like that?〗
"...."
"What are you talking about now?"
In any case, without responding to Alice's remark, the door finally opened and a bald man with bulging muscles clenched his fists.
"You said I was pulling your leg, but honestly, I don't see any hair on you."
Since my True Sight saw the world as a black-and-white sketch, I could naturally see the outlines of lines on people's heads.
And I have to say, this bald guy didn't have any, so I assumed he was bald right away.
"Bastard…"
The bald man's fist shot through the air at an extraordinary speed.
"Two stars…"
A two-star level of strength.
Before my True Sight, a red dot flew toward my face.
With little effort, I turned my head to the side, tilting it just enough to dodge the man's punch.
"True Sight is like precognition; better yet, it's almost a clairvoyant ability."
Combined with Weakness Detection, it didn't take me long to see a dozen blue lines and dots covering the bald man's body.
True Sight was similar to precognition; Weakness Detection, on the other hand, created a world of blue lines and dots that indicated where I should strike.
Where I cut will be the opponent's weak point.
Gripping the hilt of Inverted Heaven, I swung the sword and cut through all the blue lines.
"..."
"W-what…?!!!"
Inverted Heaven had an extremely sharp edge, and the man's body split into dozens of pieces of flesh as if it were butter. The pieces fell to the ground.
"I can't believe this is my first kill… Still, maybe it's because I have the Without Emotions trait, but I don't feel anything—not even the trembling in my hands as I kill for the first time."
After briefly looking at the pieces of flesh and the man's head rolling around, I took a step forward as the soles of my boots filled with blood.
As I entered the interior of the place, a dozen eyes were staring at me.
I sensed the hostility through my senses, and instantly, a dozen swords flew toward me.
Red dots and lines appeared in my True Sight, and with simple movements, I dodged each attack.
At the same time, using Weakness Detection, I saw a dozen blue lines and moved the sword between them.
The sound of flesh being cut reached my ears instantly.
I swung the sword, slicing the people present into pieces.
At that very moment, a large red dot appeared right in front of my face.
I immediately ducked, but at the same time, a tiny red dot appeared just as I crouched down.
Then, twisting my body backward, a black flame passed over me the next moment, and a lance of earth rose into the air from below.
I swung my sword and cut through the earthen lance while staring at the blue dot.
The earth lance shattered; then I lunged forward, straight toward the caster.
"W-what the hell did you just do...?"
Before the dark magician could finish speaking, I saw a red dot on his throat, at the same time as a knife flew out.
I tilted my head back slightly and grabbed the knife; then I threw it at the red dot on the magician's throat.
"Hackhhss!"
Blood spurted from the mago dark's mouth; then he fell, holding his throat. At the same time, I retrieved the knife and returned it to its original owner.
"N-no...!!!"
After the man's cry, silence filled the room. Then, due to my keen sense of smell, the smell of blood filled the room.
But it was too strong, so strong that I crinkled my nose and brought my hand to my nose.
"In a way, my senses are a serious problem in these situations."
I couldn't bear the extremely strong smell of blood.
〖Have you ever worked as an assassin, or do you have a natural talent for killing?〗
In fact, Alice's words were partly true.
Adel isn't an assassin; he's a character built solely for combat.
"No, I've never worked as an assassin."
I couldn't say that this was my first time killing people.
As for Adel, he carried out a total massacre at "that" place.
In any case, as I clearly heard voices on the other side of the door, I recognized one in particular.
"A Class 3 villain who later reached Class 6 after joining those cultists."
For Lumina, the protagonist of this world, she had serious problems with this villain at the beginning of her first regressions.
That's why, in the last few game playthroughs, I used to go kill this villain a 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 hard without hesitation, sending it flying and creating a cloud of dust.
As the smell of blood filled the room, the voices of one of the cultists and the villain I was looking for reached my ears.
"What is this? Is this a trap you set?"
"I don't know. I'm wondering what's going on too. However..."
When the villain's voice stopped, I could guess what he was saying.
'A blind... That's probably what he thought.'
Sighing, I decided to act fast. The smell of blood was starting to irritate my nose.
"Six cultists and a villain... Well, I only came for you, but I suppose my teacher can get more information from this."
As I said that, the deep voices of the cult leader and the villain reached my ears.
"Who are you? Are you 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 to their questions.
"Please, I beg you to be my punching bags."
"What...?"
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 fighting stances.
"Those two in particular are Class 3, so it would be difficult if the other cultists join in."
First, kill the other cultists, then go after their leader and the villain.
Crunch! Boom!
I kicked a wooden chair that was nearby and hurled it at the cultists' leader.
Naturally, he's a dark mage. It would be better to distract the long-range attacker for a few seconds than the villain who uses daggers.
Following the blue lines, I ran toward the cultists in the back and slashed at them as quickly as I could.
The next moment, feeling someone attack me from behind, I ducked, and a dagger whizzed past my neck.
I shifted my body and kicked the villain in the abdomen with my right foot.
Boom!
His body slammed into the wall three meters away.
Then, I stabbed the last cultist who was still alive in the head with my sword.
Immediately afterward, I felt a searing heat coming from my left.
The cult leader sent a fireball large enough to engulf the entire room.
However, upon seeing a blue dot in the center of the flames, I moved the sword and stabbed toward that point.
"..."
The flames vanished instantly.
"H-how is this possible...?"
Before he could finish, I ran toward him. The cult leader clenched his teeth, and several magic circles appeared around his hands.
At the same time, I saw several red dots coming from all directions.
"Fire Prison."
When the cult leader finished casting the spell, dozens of fire spikes materialized around me, forming a sort of cage.
"Ha, you won't be able to escape, you bastard..."
Contrary to his expectations, I thrust the tip of my sword into the blue spikes, wrapped it in mana, and fired that mana like a bullet toward the point of contact.
At the blue points, the tip of my sword was embedded. The next moment, dozens of the fire spikes cracked and shattered.
Without giving the cult leader a chance to react, I used all my strength to follow the blue line and cut him in half diagonally from left to right.
The top half of his body fell backward, while his intestines and organs slid out and fell to the ground.
Meanwhile, his legs remained standing, but the next moment they fell forward.
"Fortunately, I don't work with the villain."
I would probably run into some trouble.
In any case, I turned around and said:
"Are you just going to stand there and watch?"
A deep, trembling voice reached my ears.
"It's impo... Impossible! It's simply impossible! How can you block magic? I've never heard of such a thing."
"It's natural for you to think that. Actually, everything has its weak points, and magic is no exception, so my Weakness Detection trait works on magic."
Of course, if the opponent's magic is at least twice as powerful as mine, then the Weakness Detection trait would be difficult to use.
Because the more powerful the magic is, the more perfect it becomes, and the number of weaknesses decreases.
Additionally, the weaknesses in higher-level magic would be extremely small, to the point that it would be difficult to break through.
"But this dark magician can only use three-star magic."
Anyway, looking at the helpless villain, I smiled and said:
"Mhm, I think I've done enough, don't you think?"
"W-what?!... Y-you'll let me go then...!"
"I'm not talking to you."
When I said that, I lunged at the villain and pierced his head. The tip of my sword even pierced the wall on the other side.
"If that's enough, we can start training tomorrow."
"Oh, that's great."
Then I looked around and thought:
'Now, let's loot this place.'