A faint ticking sound rang by my ear before disappearing.
An unconscious groan escaped me. My breathing turned rough, and cold sweat trickled down my forehead, dripping to the floor.
This feeling of death, no matter how many times I experience it, never becomes familiar. It would probably be even stranger if I did get used to it.
Because it means losing the fear of death one should have as a human.
I calmed my rapidly beating heart through deep breathing.
“Huh… Ha…”
I wasn’t letting my guard down.
Even after deploying my shield magic and staying vigilant, I died in an instant. Not sensing anyone coming is expected given my low level.
However, despite that, the shield magic I had deployed didn’t break. I couldn’t fully understand how the situation had unfolded.
When I looked up, I saw the resplendent library.
‘So, if I retreat like this…’
That means I could avoid that death. Honestly, I wanted to run without looking back.
After all, fleeing from death is a natural human instinct, isn’t it?
‘…Let’s go in.’
I have to go in.
The death I just experienced was clearly unnatural. The Countess being assassinated in the royal library—had I heard such a rumor, I would have considered it absurd and dismissed it.
‘There must be a clue.’
That assassin definitely holds a clue related to Abel’s betrayal and the secrets the royal family is hiding.
I need to find out why he chose betrayal.
Creak.
The rusty hinge sound echoed as the large wooden door moved. Pushing it with a bit more force, the same scenery as before unfolded before my eyes.
The interior smelled of old paper, and numerous bookshelves, uniquely arranged like soldiers lining up, caught my eye.
At first, I hadn’t thought much about it, but now it seemed suspiciously perfect as a structure for an assassin to hide.
One could dismiss it as an unfounded suspicion.
“History, the history section…”
The keyword is history.
Could the reason the assassin killed me be that I had read books about the royal family?
Otherwise, how could an assassin be roaming freely in the royal territory in broad daylight?
‘Seven o’clock position.’
A response came immediately.
I suppressed my trembling hands, biting my lips, disguising myself as a naive girl, and headed towards the history section shelves.
Feeling someone following, the hairs on my neck stood up, but I forced myself not to show it. Standing in front of the shelf marked ‘History,’ a chilling murderous intent brushed down my spine.
Whoosh.
Black hair scattered in the air. If I had reacted any slower, my shoulder would have ended up that way. Before I could get distracted, I thrust my right hand forward.
“Shield.”
With a short incantation, three layers of shields were created. The assassin, who hadn’t anticipated my sudden spell-casting, was pushed back by the shields.
Even so, the assassin showed no sign of panic and threw the dagger in hand.
“…Could it be.”
I hurriedly ducked out of instinct, gritting my teeth as a stream of blood trickled down my cheek. As I had feared, my suspicion was correct.
This dagger, a dagger that ignored shield magic.
It managed to bypass the shield so easily without breaking it. Now I understood why I had died even though I had a shield up earlier.
“Zen, Chan.”
Before I could continue my thoughts, the shield broke with just one punch.
I hadn’t thought it would last long, but I never expected it to shatter as easily as glass.
Thud.
The blade had already pierced my abdomen.
Through my face mask, I met emotionless eyes, completely consumed by the intent to kill—scarlet irises that seemed inhuman.
They were so devoid of humanity that it was almost questionable whether he was human.
‘This… I’ve seen eyes like these before.’
The faint tick-tock sound of a clock echoed in my ears.
A searing pain coursed through my internal organs as my consciousness began to fade.
Tick. Tock.
As the clock sound, now familiar, rang in my ears, the world flipped. This time, the pain wasn’t severely intense as I was nearly dead.
But I couldn’t step away from the library.
Normally, I would revert to a time where escape from danger was vague, yet this regression was different.
It reverted back to before entering the library, seemingly giving me the option to turn back any time.
Any normal person might have abandoned the effort and returned, but unfortunately, I have a stubborn streak.
Gritting my teeth,
‘I’ll keep trying until it works.’
In front of the history section shelves, the inevitable blade came flying again. I rolled to avoid it and extended my right hand.
This time, I didn’t plan to use the regular shield magic.
“Ice Spear.”
With a small incantation, ice coalesced into a spear and flew toward the target. The assassin ducked to avoid it easily.
Clutching his fist at me, he stumbled back and fell. The modified Ice Spear I had improved was different from the usual version.
It was more about binding the opponent’s movement than a direct attack.
‘No one around…’
After pulling the knife from the bookshelf and getting up as the assassin stood, I charged towards him.
Despite the assassin’s clear combat advantage, I had confidence in this kind of brawl.
Hum…
A vibration came from the knife in my hand. Before I could figure it out, the knife slipped out of my grasp.
It was already in the assassin’s hand. Without hesitation, he threw it.
Even before my body could react, the tip of the knife was already by my nose.
Crack.
A sensation of something piercing my head came along with the world flipping.
The familiar ticking sound of a clock rang in my ears as the sight of the grand library came into view.
“Hak!”
I breathed hard.
The explicit sound of flesh tearing and the sense of consciousness fading made me nauseous. If I had eaten lunch, I might have vomited right then.
“Ha… Ha…”
Even despite my repeated deep breaths, my heart refused to calm down, having beaten fast many times. Never had my head exploded in such a way while dying.
“Focus…”
Succumbing to the pain wasn’t an option. Giving in here felt like I would collapse mentally as well. Death felt that terrifying.
I looked up at the library.
Gripping my trembling hands tightly, I slowly entered the place. The fear of thrusting my hand into the jaws of the beast overwhelmed every part of my body.
Although I had dealt with assassins plenty of times before, this was the first one completely fixated on killing blindly.
‘Five o’clock direction.’
My heightened senses from repeated death instantly located the assailant. With acute hearing, I moved through the bookshelves.
The assassin approached behind me quietly.
How could I have missed such a clear presence before? It was perplexing. It was even questionable if he had any intent to hide.
Whoosh.
The knife planted on the bookshelf, the crimson irises targeting me, and the naturally flowing killing motions—all of it was vividly captured as if it couldn’t be missed by my eyes.
I tightened my wrist and threw a punch.
“Shield.”
Instead of protecting my entire body, I deployed the shield only on my punch. The increased number of shields compensated for the restricted area.
Capitalizing on that idea, I propelled the man far away with a shield-enhanced punch.
Bang!
The sensation of his ribcage breaking transmitted even through the shield. The idea came from seeing the assassin get pushed back briefly during the first regression.
“Gurgle…”
The assassin, making sounds akin to a monster, quickly recovered as if nothing had happened. Naturally, I wasn’t about to let it go.
“Ice Spear.”
An ice spear flew out, entangling the assassin’s ankles. Losing balance, he stumbled.
With a harsh breath, I pulled the knife embedded in the bookshelf.
Hum…
This knife resisted in my hands, trying to break free, but I wasn’t about to foolishly let it go again.
With both hands firmly gripping the vibrating knife, I charged forward.
“Over.”
I tightened my grip. The assassin swung his right fist, perhaps because his left ribs were broken. I ducked to avoid it and lunged inward.
Pierce.
The revolting sensation of tearing flesh and ripping internal organs transmitted through my fingertips. This is what it feels like to kill a living person.
Though I had killed others before, this was the first time I had made a conscious decision to do so in a clear state of mind.
Actually, I wasn’t entirely sure if I was in my right mind at the moment.
The assassin’s body shook violently before slumping down. On my knees, the powerless figure of the collapsed man made me unknowingly drop the knife.
Even though the situation was resolved, my hands continued to tremble slightly.
Neither the feeling of losing life nor the act of taking it was something I’d ever get used to.
“H… Ha…”
Thinking that it was over, my legs gave out.
Hum…
The blade reverberated again, and a blood-red gaze targeted me.
Before I could react with a “whoops,” the assassin, resembling a puppet whose strings had been cut, creaked and stood up again.
And just as I couldn’t respond, a familiar form of a black blade pierced through the assassin’s chest and emerged.
Turning my head, I saw a woman smiling while looking at me.
A familiar face of blonde hair and golden eyes. Princess Aria von Schpenheim.
“You’ve done well.”
With those final words from her, I lost consciousness.
