The woman who was struck by my fist was visibly darkening in the face.
– The enemy has fallen into the status condition [Stagnation].
– Agility has temporarily increased by 2.
The woman hit by the [Stagnated Sneaky Drain] found herself suffering from a status condition while simultaneously having her stats drained.
“……!”
She seemed greatly startled by the unexpected ambush. It was only natural. She had just finished preparing to cook ramen and walked into the room when suddenly she was hit in the stomach.
If she had her stats drained on top of the status condition, the fear she felt was unimaginable.
I brought a dagger close to her neck.
“Cough… Huh, Stealth…? Wh-who…”
I forced her to kneel beside the chair and made her face the computer screen.
On the notepad displayed on the screen were the words I had typed in advance.
[I know everything. Tell me all the facts about what you’ve done. Starting from your recent activities.]
“……!”
Her shoulders jerked in surprise, but it seemed difficult to muster an active response while under [Stagnation].
“If I… say it—cough! You’ll spare me…?”
‘Nah?’
But the opposite of my thoughts was written on the notepad.
[Yes. But there must be no lies. The moment you lie, I’ll burn your toes.]
Whirr—
“Eek…! I-I’ll tell you, just please—”
Uweeeek―!
Sudden sickness seemed to have her head spinning, as she repeatedly vomited onto the floor. Then, pressing her forehead down, she began to speak haltingly.
“I… I… participated in… experiments to make children into ‘Evolution Stones’…”
‘… What? Why is Evolution Stone coming up all of a sudden?’
Does this mean those related to the sinister organization mentioned by the system also involve Evolution Stones?
“But! Cough- I really just did what I was told! Otherwise, they threatened to kill my boyfriend… sniff…”
‘Hmm… Whether she was really threatened or not doesn’t change the fact that she did that stuff.’
[What kind of experiments did you conduct?]
“It was nothing much… I was just a simple overseer, making sure the children didn’t escape… punishing those who resisted swallowing runes… really, that was all! I didn’t even know they were taking the children like that! I swear!”
‘Swallowing… Nice choice of words.’
I took a wooden stick from my inventory and gave her a light tap on the head.
[Stagnated Sneaky Drain]
Thwack!
“Ugh…! …Huh?”
After my gentle tap following her confession, she looked up at me in confusion.
– Magic power has temporarily increased by 3.
– The enemy’s level has decreased by 1!
“······!! Huh?! M-my level…!”
Even in the state of [Stagnation], she couldn’t stabilize herself properly, but with the drop in level, she jerked in a fit.
“T-this… the Wraith’s… wait, who are you—cough! Stop…!”
The woman briefly regained her sanity but then clutched her head again from the effects of Stagnation.
I poked her chin with the stick and encouraged her to look at the notepad again. The message remained unchanged.
“I-I didn’t do anything bad other than that…”
As I brought the fireball closer to her, she finally began to unravel her past misdeeds one by one. Some of them were within the socially acceptable range of “things happen in life,” but others definitely crossed a line.
For example, she confessed that as a young kindergarten teacher, she had made the noisy crying children drink water laced with sleeping agents on several occasions.
‘Giving sleeping agents to kids… Isn’t that super dangerous? This is totally crazy.’
She also mentioned that after awakening as a Hunter, she frequently visited and bullied her boyfriend whom she had rejected for three years to flaunt her strength.
‘Three years… Oh dear human.’
And then there was the time she stalked a guy she liked on her way to work to learn where he lived and forcibly…
‘Stop. That’s enough. Should I just kill you right now?’
I didn’t necessarily distrust the system’s judgment of being “sinister,” but hearing it directly made me feel more convinced. It seemed like eliminating such a person would contribute to a brighter society.
Nonetheless, killing her right away felt like a waste, so I decided to use her for a little experiment that I was curious about.
*Smack! Smash! Smash!*
“What are you doing…?”
– Strength temporarily increases by 2.
– The enemy’s level decreased by 1!
– Health temporarily increases by 3.
– The enemy’s level decreased by 1!
‘So there’s a cooldown of around 3 seconds after stealing the stats.’
This meant that even if I applied [Stagnated Sneaky Drain] twice in a row, it only activated once. There are still elements in the skill description that aren’t apparent, so careful checks are necessary.
– [Stagnated Sneaky Drain]’s level has increased!
‘Great! It would be nice if Fireball leveled up this well too.’
Thanks to having used it several times in ‘Detention,’ or maybe getting bonus experience when used against Hunters, the level had risen faster than expected.
Then I should press on while I can.
*Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack! Smack!*
“????”
Despite being attacked, the woman looked utterly perplexed about the situation.
‘Magic power is already like this.’
No matter how top-notch my magic circuit was, using a magic-consuming 8 cost Sneaky Drain repeatedly had driven my magic power down quickly.
– Magic power has dropped below 30. Magic recovery speed increases by 300% for 10 minutes!
The effect of the magic circuit activated, and the magic supply greatly improved.
‘Wow…! How can I repay this favor to Tanya?’
While the buff lasted, I continued to strike the woman, using skills.
– [Stagnated Sneaky Drain]’s level has increased!
‘That’s it!’
By squeezing out the last bit of magic, I managed to get the skill to level 3.
Stagnated Sneaky Drain Lv.3
– Absorbs one random stat from the target for a short time.
– Applies the status condition [Stagnation] to the target.
– Absorption amount: 2-3
– Magic cost: 8
– Duration: 12 minutes
‘Hmm… This time just the duration increased. I still don’t have any abilities to turn her into my subordinate. I guess this ability just won’t allow me to reach that point, no matter how high the level goes?’
The abilities I had hoped for might only be possible after catching a Wraith in a higher dungeon. That would mean a considerable amount of time would have to pass, which is a disappointing aspect.
“Cough… Heh… s-stop…”
The woman had plunged deeply into [Stagnation], clinging to the floor and groaning.
At some point, I was unable to drain any more of her stats. The message indicating a drop in level wasn’t sounding either, so she must have reached level 1.
“Huhuhuh… please…”
What could this possibly be tears for? When glimpsing a fragment of her life story, she seemed to have lived without severe restrictions on her desires.
Shouldn’t she have prepared herself for the possibility of things going wrong at the hands of others?
I forcibly made her sit up and face the screen again.
[Where was the place you conducted the experiments?]
Suddenly, the woman began to tremble and shook her head vigorously.
“If I… say anything, I’ll be…!”
‘Whether you say something or not, you’re dead.’
Suddenly, memories of the blue-eyed organization member exploding in the dungeon came flooding back.
[Is there a self-destruct clause?]
“I… I can’t resist it… Waaaah—please, save me…”
‘Looks like the ones making Evolution Stones… aren’t small fry, are they?’
It wouldn’t be normal to impose such complex conditions on a living person, so it was clear that it was a larger organization. There must be quite a few strong individuals within it.
Could it be that the red hooded figure I took down previously belongs to the same organization? It was something I couldn’t figure out.
“P-please—”
I had no further need to deal with this woman. While I wanted to slowly level up with Fireball, I would leave too big a trail in this narrow space.
*Shhhee—*
Without hesitation, I cut her throat as she begged for her life.
Thud- with a clatter—
I smoothly stuffed her body into my inventory and left the room without regret.
– Eliminate an enemy using a dagger while in stealth mode. (101/10,000)
– You have eliminated a sinister group threatening the safety of this world!
– Random stats increase!
– Sense: 71 (+1)
‘Stats went up.’
The last two mutants had left behind ‘Fragment of Corrupted Life Potion.’
But since this woman hadn’t become a mutant, it seems she left no fragments behind. It feels like I got a random stat boost just as I did when taking down the blue-eyed priest.
It has been confirmed that one more organization designated as sinister by the system has been added. Considering the scale of the blue-eyed organization, it also felt like this organization related to ‘Evolution Stones’ won’t be trivial.
‘What’s going on? How did I live comfortably in my past life?’
After Yeon-hee had been killed by the orc legion commander, I started questioning Jo Gi-man and delving into hidden secrets; before that, I had merely been a hunter who was doing a bit better due to a unique ability.
Yet on the other hand, such events were unfolding. Surely, though the developments were different, the overall trend must have remained unchanged.
‘Haha! It’s ridiculous. I was such a naive brat who knew nothing about the world.’
On my way home, I carried one extra burden on my shoulder.
Drrr—
Upon arriving home, Yeon-hee was still deep in slumber.
‘Huh—’
I had thought the sinister group I took for a blue-eyed organization was linked to ‘Evolution Stones’…
It was a night for deep reflection.
‘Well, it’s not bad, right? After all, they need to be wiped out anyway.’
Stats-boosting materials were crawling everywhere. Let’s think positively.
As I pondered this, Ran zipped over, ready to talk. It seemed there was still magic left in Yeon-hee, so the summoning hadn’t been canceled yet.
Cute in appearance but offering not a single ounce of cuteness; what a cranky old fellow.
(Where have you been?)
‘Tch, like you’d know?’
(Hmph! Someone must guard the master’s safety…!)
‘… Then how about you increase your battle abilities? By the way, why haven’t you evolved yet? We’ve been together since the early days.’
(Hmph, fighting against those beneath my rank offers me no significant benefit.)
‘Oh… Is that so? This dungeon is definitely classified as mid-lower tier within the D-rank though.’
If what Ran said was true, it meant that Ran had to go to areas filled with low-rank Orcs or Nargul’s dungeon to gain experience.
‘Since it started at a higher tier, evolving would surely yield substantial changes.’
Nodding, I reflected on the dungeon I would enter tomorrow. To be honest, I worried much more about something other than the dungeon, but for now, I had to focus on successfully completing the exploration.
‘The Harpy nesting ground… While the narrow cliffs might be an issue, facing off against Neos Harpies isn’t a big deal. The ones hiding among the cliffs could be a nuisance, but it wouldn’t be too difficult with my abilities.’
Yet there was still a sticky unease crawling in the back of my mind.
‘Now I’m starting to care more about unforeseeable variables rather than the dungeon itself. How can I keep being a hunter like this?’
Of course, it was exceptionally odd that our party kept getting embroiled in bizarre situations, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that this would be frequent in the future.
It seemed that drastic changes were occurring around dungeons lately.
‘I hope this one goes by smoothly without any issues.’
With that wish in mind, I spent the night training in bomb manufacturing and swordsmanship.
And the next day.
Apart from Arin, who had already visited this place to the point of weariness, the other three were swallowing their saliva at the sight before them.
– Kyaaaaaah!!!
– Kihiiiaah!!!
The precariously carved staircase along the cliff loomed before us.
There we would have to face the ‘Neos Harpies’ filling the dark sky.
“Are we… supposed to go up there?”
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