Chapter 11: The Method to Complete Trial Mission II
"Ah, no. This won't do. I definitely have to find a way to kill Mercenary Tao."
Kaito sat up on the hard wooden bed. He had genuinely considered the principle of "honoring one's master" for about ten seconds, but in the end, he simply couldn't convince himself.
Logically speaking, if this Infinite Space issued him the mission to [Prevent Squad #64323 from assassinating Mercenary Tao], then it meant that, in the game's judgment, Mercenary Tao was likely to be killed by that squad.
Kaito didn't doubt for a second that there were people in the Infinite Space capable of killing Tao. After all, despite his power, Tao hadn't reached the level of those truly unkillable monsters. If this space was anything like the novels of its genre, allowing Reincarnators to acquire abilities from countless different worlds, then a team of powerful Reincarnators would naturally have many ways to kill him.
And, from his perspective, those Reincarnators were a far greater danger.
Each of them likely possessed terrifying abilities he knew nothing about. Who was to say one of them wouldn't open their eyes to reveal a Mangekyo Sharingan, or look down and start writing names in a Death Note? The number of unknown variables was too great. With his current level of strength, he stood no chance against them.
Therefore, from the very beginning, there were only two possible ways to complete the mission [Prevent Squad #64323 from assassinating Mercenary Tao].
The first was to save him.
This could be done by grinding reputation and trust with Tao, making him believe Kaito's intelligence so he could prepare for the attack in advance. Or he could try to find Master Shen and Tien, wherever they might be, and enlist their help. Ideally, he would do both: have Tao engage the enemy squad head-on, using his mobility to separate them, while Kaito, Master Shen, and Tien picked them off from the shadows. This would also explain the existence of the optional objective: [Eliminate at least one member of Squad #64323].
Clearly, this was the hint provided by the system, the orthodox path to completing the mission.
Unfortunately, Kaito could sense that Tao was not satisfied with him. He had been too slow in killing the other candidates. To succeed on this path, he would have needed to reveal the true nature of Tao's trial right at the beginning, instigating a battle royale among the eight candidates on the spot. By emerging as the sole survivor that very day, he would have immediately earned Tao's acknowledgment and completed Mission I.
That would have given him nearly seven full days to maximize his reputation with Tao. If Kaito's guess was correct, the assassination contracts in those eight envelopes were designed for precisely this purpose. After becoming Tao's disciple, he could have completed those contracts on Tao's behalf, earning his trust with each successful kill.
Sitting on the bed, Kaito's lips curled into a smirk. The cruelty of this [Infinite Dimensional Adventure] was even more pronounced than he'd imagined. Who would have thought that the entire course of a trial mission would be decided in its very first moments? A typical newcomer, still reeling in panic and confusion, would have unknowingly missed the optimal window.
Heh. Even a self-proclaimed superior being like himself had missed the chance because he'd wanted to observe the situation first. Of course, at the time, he hadn't fully grasped just how "special" this special trial truly was.
The reason Kaito didn't consider himself insane was because he believed he was exceptionally rational. And rationality, to him, meant the ability to weigh pros and cons without being swayed by emotion.
It took him only ten seconds to discard the plan he could no longer execute.
He then turned his thoughts to the second method of [Preventing Squad #64323 from assassinating Mercenary Tao].
Besides saving Tao, there was another way. That was… to kill Mercenary Tao himself, first!
Kaito carefully re-read the mission description. The requirement was to "prevent" "Squad #64323" from killing Mercenary Tao. The core of the mission was to stop the actions of the Reincarnator squad, not to ensure Tao's survival.
In other words, as long as Mercenary Tao wasn't killed by that specific squad, Kaito would have successfully completed Special Trial II.
Kaito naturally began to consider how he could possibly kill Mercenary Tao.
As established, with a full tank of ki, Tao was an undisputed superhuman martial artist. It was almost impossible for an ordinary person to kill him in a direct confrontation. Given his mobility—traveling over 2000 kilometers in four minutes via "pillar flight"—even a superpower from Kaito's world would have trouble locking onto him for a precision strike.
And while Kaito had always been feared for his physical and mental superiority, he was still within the realm of an ordinary human.
He looked at the silver revolver, [Misfortune's Knock], in his hand, then shook his head. No, the power of this handgun was far inferior to a sniper rifle. It posed no threat to Tao.
He glanced at the belongings of the people he had killed, now piled in the room. The twin scimitars, the double-barreled shotgun… none of them could be taken out of this world, so they couldn't be stored in his inventory. His eyes finally rested on the pair of emerald-green daggers.
Poison…
Still not a sure thing, Kaito thought.
[Time until Squad #64323 enters this world: 21 hours, 07 minutes]
There wasn't much time left. That eliminated the possibility of finding the Turtle School and instigating a conflict between them and Tao, then playing both sides against the middle and reaping the rewards. Finding the Dragon Balls to make a wish was even more absurd. If he could find them that quickly, the system wouldn't have set up this kind of trial mission in the first place. What the Dragon Balls of this world were capable of went far beyond simply killing Mercenary Tao.
Kaito looked at the moon outside his window, and his decision was made.
He leaped from the bed, his movements swift and sure. He picked up the pair of poisoned daggers, then walked over to the inn's telephone and pressed the redial button.
Then, under the cover of night and rain, he swiftly descended the mountain.
He moved incredibly fast, reaching the town below in a matter of minutes. His right index and middle fingers were still bandaged, but his expression had returned to that of a natural, easy smile. Kaito liked to smile; he had found it to be the most convenient expression. It prevented others from seeing his true emotions and served as a perfect, flawless disguise.
He walked with a steady, unhurried pace. The distance of each step was perfectly identical to the last—a result of his imitation of Mercenary Tao's gait. It seemed he was a natural at this kind of powerful muscle control.
Toguro Hachidan stood in the shadows of the inn, out of the light. He watched Kaito approach, his pace steady, that terrifying smile on his face. Hachidan's own expression was grim.
His breathing was ragged, his heart hammering in his chest.
"You must be truly insane to say something so suicidal!" he hissed as Kaito drew near. "Aren't you afraid I'll go straight to Master Tao and tell him you plan to kill him?!"
Seeing Hachidan show himself, Kaito knew his gamble had paid off.
He continued to walk forward until he was almost touching Hachidan, forcing the larger man to stumble back two steps, his bluster already failing him.
The smile on Kaito's face widened.
"Master Tao is paranoid and unpredictable. If you were to tell him something like that, he would only become suspicious of you as well."
"Besides," Kaito's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Since you agreed to meet me, Lord Hachidan, it must mean that deep down… you want Master Tao dead, too. Don't you?"