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The skeleton I was facing seemed to realize that it had to take me down before targeting Emma. It cautiously stepped forward, as if contemplating its next move, observing me instead of recklessly attacking right away after our recent clash.

Now that the assassin had revealed itself, it was ready to take a hit. I tightened my grip on the sword and charged at the skeleton assassin, but it chose to retreat rather than engage with me directly.

Under normal circumstances, I would have immediately pursued it to settle the score, but the fact that we were in the lair of a lich made me hesitate. The skeleton assassin didn’t miss this moment of doubt.

A bead—possibly a magical item—hit the ground and shattered, releasing a cloud of smoke. Was it a magical effect? No matter how hard I focused, I couldn’t see through the haze.

Naturally, the skeleton assassin hid itself within the smoke, blending into the darkness. The lich had intentionally darkened the surroundings and disrupted the flow of mana, making it difficult to sense the skeleton assassin’s presence.

If it were just a one-on-one duel with the skeleton assassin, I wouldn’t be worried. However, the assassin could target two prey: me, who was seeking it out, or Emma, who was engaged in a brutal fight with the lich a moment ago.

This made the situation inherently unfavorable for me. No, it had been unfavorable.

It reminded me of the situation when Emma and I first entered the room, where we couldn’t sense the assassin’s presence. But this situation was anything but similar.

Both Emma and I were already aware of the skeleton assassin’s existence. The difference between knowing and not knowing, despite it being difficult to sense it, is enormous.

Since I couldn’t see it anyway, I closed my eyes. I focused all my senses to perceive everything around me keenly. If I lacked pure senses, I could enhance them with my aura. Before I came to the academy, such a technique would have been impossible, but the training I went through was far from useless.

My duel with Yuli at her mansion had sharpened my senses and instincts to nearly supernatural levels.

From a distance, I could hear the clash of the lich and Emma’s battle. But not even that noise could drown out my hearing, and amidst it, I detected the faint, slow movements approaching.

With each burst of the lich’s spells and each swing of Emma’s huge sword, the air pressure would mess with my tactile sense. However, the soundless footsteps of the assassin could still be felt through the ground. I could sense the flow of air.

Even if I couldn’t see it, that wouldn’t hinder me. Despite having my eyes closed, I could clearly predict how the skeleton would move.

If it were a typical opponent, reacting like this would be impossible. But I had already been able to anticipate the assassin’s attack and block it once. If the opponent were also an assassin, and I knew they lacked skill compared to me, then it wouldn’t be wholly impossible.

I had no doubt about my sensations and instincts.

Through the dark veil of closed eyelids, I could see the assassin’s movements. It stepped towards me but my gut feeling wouldn’t let me miss a single shift.

Though it quietly crept up, I didn’t react immediately. A bit more, just a bit more, until I could draw it into my range.

And then, just as it swung its sword… No, before that, I lifted my sword a beat faster.

Clang!

Had my prediction been off by even a hair, the skeleton assassin’s sword would have sailed past mine and struck my neck. But my conviction was proven correct.

With no expression on its skull, it was easy to see the surprise etched on its bony face.

Ah… That’s not how you execute an assassination.

I could understand why it would be shocked that I had blocked its attack without even seeing it, but as an assassin, it should have immediately followed up with its next action. Remaining still like this, hiding once again, was a blunder of a third-rate assassin.

So, I’d teach it what it truly meant to be an assassin.

“Wanna see something fun?”

I slowly spread the aura that had only circulated within me out into the air around me. Unlike coating my sword with aura, I was simply dispersing my energy. Given the amount of aura I was using, it possessed neither power nor threat—it was merely a waste of aura.

But it was more than enough to conceal my presence. While it wouldn’t completely match the magical smoke the skeleton had created, it was sufficient given the circumstances. The environment the lich had prepared for the skeleton assassin became the blade choking its neck.

As I suppressed my presence and concealed myself in the darkness, the skeleton seemed startled and began to look around. I was curious how it could perceive its surroundings without eyes, but I would leave such questions to the mages.

My abilities had already been sufficiently recognized by others. And they were by no means restricted to swordsmanship. After all, I had been abducted by the Assassin Guild. If I lacked talent for assassination, I would have been discarded as a mere expendable long ago.

Even though it was a third-rate assassin guild, the Guild Master hadn’t become one by mere chance. Personally trashy though he may be, I acknowledged his assassination skills. At the very least, he was far more skilled than clumsy first-rate assassins, which was why he became the master of the guild.

The assassination market was competitive as well; if some untalented fool tried to establish an assassin guild, they would quickly find themselves facing elimination by competition.

And it was directly from such a guild master that I had learned assassination techniques. While it was more of a relationship between a tool and its master than a disciple and a teacher, the key point was that my skills as an assassin I possessed surpassed that of the skeleton before me.

I doused my presence again and again. I wouldn’t make the mistake of leaking murderous intent like the skeleton assassin had done.

This time, I walked slowly through the darkness. I had no worries that the skeleton would read me as I had read it. It wouldn’t be able to hear my steps.

I passed directly in front of it. I never once doubted it would see me. It couldn’t see me at all.

And then, I slowly lifted my sword.

I didn’t swing it mightily. Just gradually, slowly. I brought the sword inch by inch toward the back of its head.

Despite it looking around in confusion, it was completely oblivious to the slowly approaching sword until it was right in front of its face.

Crack!

And just like that, my sword pierced into the creature’s skull. Until the moment its skull shattered, it likely had no idea what had just happened.

With that, the battle was over. There were no flashy sword skills, no dazzling aura. The only thing present was an overwhelming difference in skill and ability.

“Well, thanks to that, it was a fun time. I was worried I might be rusty since it’s been a while, but it was fine, right?”

Of course, no response came, but that was never a question I expected an answer to.

If it had been a swordsman instead of an assassin, I wouldn’t have been able to showcase such finesse. It would have been impossible had this space not been set to favor assassins by the lich. But what could I say? The skeleton had to blame its unfortunate fate for becoming a skeleton.

“Graaah!”

A scream echoed from the corner of the room, where Emma was battling the lich. Accompanied by sounds of pain, the spells that protected the lich from harm vanished, leaving Emma an opening to shatter its skull.

Had it been a moment ago, the lich would likely have recovered and counterattacked, but this time, it couldn’t and was completely turned to dust on the floor. Even its robe, likely made of magic, disintegrated, leaving only the necklace it had worn behind.

Curious about the situation, I looked around and found an object resembling a magical crystal within the shattered skull of the assassin I had just defeated. It was the life vessel of the lich I had seen once in textbooks.

I had worried it might have been hidden in some hard-to-reach spot, but thankfully, that was not the case. The lich likely hadn’t predicted such a situation either; it was probably unaware of my presence, which could easily deal with an assassin, as well as Emma’s ability to negate its spells with ease.

“You found it faster than expected.”

Emma approached me, saying.

“I wish I could have watched your fight, but I was too busy to enjoy that. How about we have a spar next time instead?”

Knowing that, I had fought without concern for revealing my assassination techniques. If there had been the slightest hint that Emma would catch on, I would have dealt with her in a more ordinary manner.

“Here, this is for Lady Elysia.”

“What’s this…?”

As something was tossed my way, I swiftly caught it—it was the necklace the lich had left on the ground when it died. A skeleton wouldn’t have worn a necklace just for decoration, so naturally, it was a magical item. Being discovered in a labyrinth and once owned by a lich, its value would obviously be considerable. Emma surely knew this too, but she had casually transferred it to me.

“It looks expensive. Basically, you did most of the fighting; I shouldn’t take this…”

“Consider it a payment for being dragged into our family and city affairs. If sold, it should yield a good reward, and you could even use it yourself.”

Outwardly, the necklace did appear to be quite valuable.

“Still, I need to verify if it’s a cursed artifact, right? When we get back to the village, I’ll have an appraiser check it out, so don’t put it on out of curiosity just yet. If it is a cursed item, it would complicate things if you put it on first.”

It wasn’t all that unreasonable. Cursed artifacts could bear various kinds of curses, from playful inconveniences to severe bindings affecting the body.

“Now, shall we try to head back?”

Emma walked toward the magic circle glowing brightly behind the chair the lich had occupied. Even though I had some doubts about whether this was indeed a proper teleportation circle, seeing Emma, who knew the labyrinth better than I did, approach without hesitation convinced me of its legitimacy.

As Emma and I stepped onto the magic circle, a warm light enveloped us once more.