My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Prologue

Ξ♡ Not mine, for offline reading purposes only. ♡Ξ

There was a black-clad shadow almost blending in with the darkness on the slanted roof of a certain building.
A black cloth was wrapped around his neck and the leftover cloth and mantle were fluttering in wind.
As if waiting for something, the shadow kept staring at the roof and didn't move.

The only ones being able to find the shadow who was blending in with the darkness so well that you wouldn't notice him even if you were conscious of his existence, would probably be people of the same profession as him.

After a while, as the black-clad shadow stood up while sighing, he lowered his left foot, pulled out the short sword and suddenly took battle posture.
It almost looked like there was nothing at the end of his sight, but at that moment, the air shook and a single man came up.
That man also was clad in black attire like the shadow.
The only things different were perhaps his weapon and the black cloth wrapped around his neck, and the pitch black mantle he was wearing.

"A colleague, huh. Hey, are you guarding this place? or did a big-shot like you come to kill the Guild Master on the 1st floor?"
"I came to kill this guy and everyone who gets in my way."

Shadow answered concisely to the man's question.
Since the beginning, he didn't intend to answer seriously.
He conveyed clear murderous intent to the opponent.
And met with that murderous intent, the man's body trembled.
The man was a relatively well-known figure in the underworld.
That's why he remembered that feeling.
The one who couldn't be found by anyone if he seriously erased his presence and was able to bury more than 10,000 monsters without a sound.
Mankind's strongest assassin.

"I see. Ah~ for my request to overlap with that of "Dark Assassin", I'm really unlucky."

Saying so, the man sighed regretfully from the bottom of his heart.
He at least took the battle posture but was also getting ready to run away.
Even the cold sweat started running down his face, because of the murderous intent that the short-statured colleague was letting out.
Without caring about the man, the shadow just kept observing at him with eyes as if looking at the prey and then in a flash.

".........?!"

Without understanding what happened, the man only dazedly stared at his blood gushing out while falling to the ground.
After the shadow retracted his left foot that was put forward and wiped the clotted blood stuck to the short sword on the man's black cloth, he cast his sight towards his true target.

"......."

The hand holding the short sword trembled slightly.
He held down the trembling with his opposite hand.
Then, quietly, he erased his presence, slipped into the room of the target and thrust the short sword in the back of his neck.

If he carried this out, the shadow wouldn't be able to go back to the original peaceful everyday life.

"Sorry, guys. If I kill him, I'll be able to move one step forward. If I kill him, many people will be saved. He too...."

The shadow―― Oda Akira, an ordinary high schooler who could be found anywhere, muttered so and pulled out the blade with all his might.

It was deep in the forest.
The place where originally nobody visited because it was too dangerous.
Inside, the girl with disheveled white hair was running away from her pursuer.
Even if she got dirty after stepping in the puddle, even if she almost tripped on a tree root, the girl didn't stop her legs.
But both physically and mentally, she was already close to the limit.
Tears blurred her sight and her running speed dropped considerably.
Despite all that, the reason she still wasn't caught was simply that the pursuer also dropped their speed on purpose.
It was only in order to hurt her more.

"Haa....haaa, uh?!"

As if to deliver the final blow, an arrow flew out from somewhere and stuck into her leg.
The girl knew only one person who could accurately shoot at a running opponent, moreover when the field of sight was obstructed by trees.

"Uaahh...w, why....?"

There was obviously no way she would be able to run with an arrow in her leg, so she sat down while enduring the pain and looked at the pursuer.
Possibly because the arrow was coated with paralyzing poison, tingling numbness spread through her body and she could hardly move anymore.

"Why?"

The pursuer had unsightly distorted the same face as the girl and was laughing while repeating words.

"Rather, I am the one who wants to ask why. Why are you still alive?"

At the words that dug deeply into the heart, white-haired girl loosely shook her head.
Almost as if she didn't want to hear it.
However, now that she didn't have power in her limbs due to the numbness, she didn't possess techniques to block her pointed ears that were peculiar to elves.

"Even though you're just an unwanted child."

"UAaaahhhh....."

With the words she didn't want to hear the most whispered by her ear by the person she cherished the most, the half-crazed girl started running once again, disregarding the numbness in her limbs.

Without even knowing that beyond that point there was a cliff waiting.

The blonde girl, who was the pursuer, let a mocking smile float on her face.
In her eyes, there resided a slight light of affection.

"Goodbye, Onee-sama. I will pray that we will not meet ever again."

When the white-haired girl who fell from the cliff came back to herself, she was in the forest she had absolutely no recollection of.
Since her body was wet, she easily deducted that she floated down from the nearby sea.
For a while, she looked around absent-mindedly.
It was indeed a natural action for a human who found herself at an unknown place after waking up, but unfortunately, the location was bad.

".......Hiiee?!"

Before she noticed, a black slime-looking monster appeared before her.
Even if she was afraid and wanted to go back, she couldn't move because the numbness wore off but she was still exhausted.
Without being able to resist in any way, the girl was gradually swallowed by the monster starting from her feet.

"No way...Slimes weren't supposed to prey on humans....."

She was already swallowed fully when she finished her words.
Slime trembled slightly and searched the surroundings for a sign of other presence.
And, something came closer from the other side of the trees.
Slime hid in the shadow of the trees.

"I thought I heard something from around here just now....."

".....What? But from here onwards there are many monsters so nobody should be there."

When it understood that they were only ordinary humans, the Slime-like monster melted into the ground as if by magic and disappeared.

"...I guess that's true too. I must've misheard something."

"Let's go home already.  It's so dim here that I feel creeped out."

In the forest, where the signs of both the humans and the monsters had disappeared, only the trees were quietly overlooking everything.

Ξ♡ Not mine, for offline reading purposes only. ♡Ξ