[You have learned Skill One with the Shadow.]
The first thing that Lev did after distributing his attribute points was to use his Black Magic Authority skill.
As his Dark Mana attribute increased, he felt that the darkness gathered in the Black Lotus crest on his chest was also becoming more filled.
That way, he felt he could use some skills that he couldn't use before when his Dark Mana attribute was below one point.
One of them was the One with the Shadow skill.
[One with the Shadow Skill - Active.]
A dark fog began to envelop his entire body.
When he activated the skill, he became invisible.
[One With The Shadow (lv. 1)
Description: Darkness is a state without visible light, where the human eye cannot detect electromagnetic waves. When you merge with the darkness, you will automatically be hidden from human eyes.
Right at that moment, Lev began his counterattack.
He didn't activate the One With The Shadow skill to get rid of the minions that kept chasing him.
He realized something when he knocked down Gallios' minions during his escape.
They didn't give him any kill points when he killed them. In other words, they had no hostility towards him—'They're simply following orders, I think.'
His target was, of course, Gallios.
He also realized that Gallios had placed a Death Mark on his body when they met earlier. So, there was no point in escaping from the slums.
[You have been hit by the Death Mark skill.]
When he used the Observation skill and looked at Gallios' status window earlier, a notification like that appeared afterward.
'It seems like the Observation skill is more complex than I thought.'
He immediately took steps to approach Gallios while he was still in One with the Shadow state.
'If I don't move quickly, I'll run out of Dark Mana.'
Luckily, his target was still calmly waiting for his end on a soft sofa in the middle of the slum alley.
When Lev saw Gallios' minions, he was reminded of his bitter past. A memory of being used as a seat by Gallios suddenly popped into his head.
Lev moved quickly even though he was invisible because he thought Gallios knew where he was with his Death Mark skill.
Who knows if Gallios didn't know that he was already near him.
The first decision he made was to move behind Gallios and attack his legs.
Slash!
Perhaps due to Gallios' high agility stat, he was able to move quickly and prevent his legs from being completely cut off. Just as Lev's sword hit Gallios' legs, he suddenly jumped away.
Lev didn't immediately chase after Gallios and kill him. He chose to knock down Gallios' minions who were still standing around, causing them to fall unconscious.
When Lev finished knocking down Gallios' minions, he sat down on the sofa where Gallios had been leaning comfortably earlier. He enjoyed the sight of Gallios writhing in pain while tying up his broken leg.
"WHO IS THAT??? WHO ATTACKED ME???"
When Gallios finished fixing his leg, he shouted loudly—only to find that all of his men had been knocked down.
"Are you done?"
Lev canceled his One with the Shadow skill and spoke to Gallios in a casual tone.
The quest he received only instructed him to avenge the death of his comrades. There were no conditions for completing the revenge. Therefore, Lev decided not to kill Gallios.
If he was serious about killing Gallios, he could continue using the One with the Shadow skill until his Dark Mana was depleted. However, what if the opposite happened—killing Gallios was not the end of his revenge? Wasn't there a possibility that the quest he received would fail?
Seeming to realize that he was in a life-and-death situation, Gallios immediately stood up despite his half-severed legs. "You were lucky before because you attacked silently. However—"
"Enough! I know what you're going to say."
"Grrr!"
Gallios seemed to want to say the clichéd words of a villain who is usually uttered when in a desperate situation. Not wanting to hear any more of Gallios' words, Lev decided to cut him off.
Gallios' response was like that of a dog infected with rabies. He barked erratically. Soon, he disappeared from Lev's sight because he used the Stealth skill.
Clash!
In the blink of an eye, the sound of metal colliding could be heard.
Lev managed to prevent Gallios' attack even though he had used Stealth.
Sparks lit up Lev's face in the silence of the slums.
Several more times, the sound of Lev's sword and Gallios' dagger clashed, creating a unique rhythm in the night air.
As expected of someone with the Assassin job, his movement was still amazing even though one of his legs was severely injured.
Lev praised Gallios in his heart.
Lev was able to block all of Gallios' attacks because he used his Battle Sense and Observation skills. Although his eyes couldn't see Gallios, he could hear his breathing and feel the friction between Gallios' body and the wind in the air.
Multiple times, Gallios tried to stab Lev's vital parts using his dagger mastery skill.
However, Lev focused most of his defense on blocking attacks aimed at his vital parts so that he could withstand Gallios' attacks.
Soon after, Gallios' face appeared after launching an attack from below.
Clash!
The stealth skill he used seemed to have been canceled—either because he was exhausted or because he had run out of Mana.
At the moment when Lev and Gallios' faces were only separated by a sword and a dagger, Lev whispered something into Gallios' ear. "I will make you my puppet!"
His goal in fighting Gallios was to tire him out. That way, he could easily turn Gallios into his puppet—regardless of how low his Dark Mana was.
[Dark Mana: 53%.]
His Dark Mana capacity was displayed by a notification from the Hero's System.
"Are you tired?"
Lev noticed that Gallios had stopped attacking him.
He only knelt down after retreating backward.
With his remaining Dark Mana, Lev felt he could do what he wanted to do—turn Gallios into his puppet.
He walked towards Gallios and activated the Mana String skill.
[Mana String - Activate.]
This time, he made the string that came out of his fingertips as thin as possible.
First, he held Gallios' head like someone catching a ball.
Then, he began to move the Mana String into Gallios' body through the pores of his scalp.
Of course, Gallios tried to resist, but Lev immediately kicked Gallios' hands so he couldn't resist.
"ARGHHH! What are you doing to me?!"
"Just making you pay your debt... I guess."
Lev planned to hijack Gallios' body using the Mana String. The Mana String slowly traversed the inside of Gallios' body. Starting from the muscles to his nervous system.
If he didn't understand human anatomy, he would easily kill Gallios accidentally.
When he finished connecting the mana string to all of Gallios' internal organs, Lev released his hands from Gallios' head. He left one string connected to his hand—as a remote to control Gallios' body.
[Unprecedented use of Black Magic Authority detected.]
"What do you mean, unprecedented?"
Lev remembered that he often used Mana String to control his targets' bodies when he was still alive on Earth.
[New skill detected.]
[You have created the skill Master Puppetry.]