Shimomura Izumi suddenly thought of something and quickly added.
"Ah, right, intentionally letting the opponent escape to bait a bigger fish doesn't count!"
Kaguya and Laila unconsciously huddled together, instinctively swallowed, and began to tremble.
The concept of 'Imperial Escape' didn't exist in this world yet, and Rod's actions clearly gave them a small taste of Central Plains culture shock.
Shimomura Izumi felt the subtle atmosphere, as if she had somehow described her master as a great demon king, so she quickly waved her hand as if to salvage the situation, changing her tone.
"Of course, Lord Rod also said that everything is built on the foundation of 'having strength and confidence.' "
"Pure recklessness isn't courage; it's seeking death."
"If you truly encounter an insurmountable existence, then it's not out of the question to temporarily yield and avoid their sharp edge!"
However, this explanation only made Laila and Kaguya tremble even more.
—This is exactly the setup for the most terrifying villain!
Scheming, principled, patient, capable of enduring, yet decisive in killing…
They had seen it in novels before; if such a character was unhappy, the result was the entire enemy faction being buried with them!
Think quickly! Think quickly! Had they offended Rod anywhere…
Laila's face was pale, recalling the night she secretly swapped Rod's honey water for strong liquor. She was filled with regret and vowed to immediately hug his leg and apologize when she saw him later.
Kaguya, on the other hand, was so guilty that cold sweat broke out on her forehead, deeply repenting the time she pretended to pass by but deliberately stole a glance at Rod's abs while he was showering.
Seeing their expressions grow increasingly grim, Shimomura Izumi only felt like she was making things worse.
It seems this kind of thing is better left to Suzuki Jun-nee-san... I should talk less in the future.
Her shoulders slumped, and she said in a low voice.
"Actually, Lord Rod is happy to see enemies challenge him; he just doesn't want the people he cares about to suffer any schemes or threats."
"It is precisely for this reason that he is so harsh on enemies, and why he reacts so excessively."
Kaguya and Laila were stunned by these words, and an indescribable feeling of emotion welled up deep inside them.
So… it's to protect me.
This thought simultaneously popped into both their minds, bringing with it an inexpressible sense of secret delight and happiness.
Kaguya and Laila, sensing each other's emotional changes telepathically, exchanged a glance, then suddenly pushed each other away in disgust.
Kaguya patted her clothes and stood up, glancing disdainfully at Laila.
Hmph, Rod must have been talking about me; you Pallum are just an accessory!
Laila put her hands on her hips, glaring back without backing down.
There are too many mature women in this era; we Pallum are legal Lolis, so Rod must definitely be more for me!
Both of them simultaneously "hmphed" and then, as if competing, quickly rushed towards the Valka Red House.
—Wait for me, Rod, this time it's my turn to help you!
Shimomura Izumi blinked blankly, not understanding, and could only summon her IBM to follow as closely as possible.
"Oh, right."
In the midst of their wild dash, Laila suddenly asked.
"How did you determine that you would resurrect from your severed hand, rather than from that pile of mincemeat on the spot?"
Shimomura Izumi explained with a faint smile.
"Ah, that… it's one of the two absolute rules of Ajin."
"Ajin regenerate by collecting scattered flesh around a large core piece of flesh, but pieces of flesh that are too far away won't be recovered; instead, new ones will grow."
"So, as long as one piece of flesh is ensured to be the largest, I can ensure my resurrection from that piece."
Laila narrowed her eyes, immediately inspired to think of another use, deep in thought.
"I see…"
On the other side.
Runova and Ke Luoyi, unaware of each other's presence, had infiltrated positions extremely close to Rod, carefully controlling themselves not to emit even a trace of killing intent.
""He's noticed someone is following him (meow)!""
""It must be some foolish competitor who exposed themselves (meow)!""
Both experienced young women had already detected Rod's abnormality.
Who would deliberately walk unhurriedly into a secluded area?
They were very confident in their stealth skills and immediately concluded that someone else must have revealed their presence, causing Rod's suspicion!
Both girls simultaneously felt disdain for the unknown colleague and immediately understood a fact.
They couldn't drag this out; they had to act, but…
Runova leaned against the shadow of the wall, sighing softly.
Although using the word 'betrayal' would be strange, perhaps because it was her first time investigating someone in such detail, she had developed a sense of familiarity with Rod.
Only now did Runova realize with a start that she actually harbored a hint of envy for the girls of the Astrea Familia.
Family, companions, Familia… being secretly cared for and protected… all of these were not for her.
Runova looked up at the gloomy sky.
When she left the empire where she had grown up, the weather must have been just as bad, right?
Living freely was both fascinating and exciting for Runova.
This labyrinth city was more unique than any place Runova had ever seen in the world.
She wasn't sure what it would become in a few years, a few decades.
But Orario, transitioning from an era known as the "Dark Ages," was nothing short of hell.
"Justice" and "Evil" stood in opposition, and various factions fought to climb higher, so it was no exaggeration to describe it as a struggle for supremacy unfolding at the "center of the world."
Originally, she had come here with the intention of testing her skills in the turmoil, fighting continuously, but upon truly arriving at her destination, she suddenly felt lost.
She had never stopped fighting for a single day, born with an unyielding spirit. No matter how many injuries she sustained, she would only grit her teeth and roar, then throw another punch.
Unconsciously, the fact that she had always been alone had become a torment.
In the chaotic Orario, loneliness was an even more corrosive poison to body and mind.
It was impossible to survive alone here; even if she endured now, she would eventually reach her limit one day.
After seeing the united and friendly Justice Familia, this thought began to emerge uncontrollably.
"...Thinking about it, I'm probably already tired."
Indeed, Runova was physically and mentally exhausted by the fact that she was all alone.
"But is there really a place for me in this world…? Can I, with hands stained with blood, truly fantasize about having everything like those pure girls…?"
Runova was silent for a long time, pulling up the scarf around her neck and taking a deep breath.
Her eyes were sharp as blades, and she finally made up her mind, crouching down into an attacking stance.
Ke Luoyi, like a wild cat, flipped over several rooftops, finally squatting on a convenient eaves for a sneak attack, pulling down her hood to cover her eyes.
"The sounds from other parts of Orario have quieted down. Those guys' so-called easy task of delaying reinforcements resulted in this, meow."
Ke Luoyi twitched her cat ears, which protruded from her hood, exhaling a sigh-like breath.
"If those monsters arrive, there won't be a chance to strike. This is the cat's last job before washing her paws, meow."
Despite saying that, Ke Luoyi had actually never been enthusiastic deep down since being forced to take on the commission.
The former Main God was a scumbag who would utter brainless words like, "Since someone wants to do dirty work, I'll reluctantly take on the filth for everyone," bringing blood and death to the underworld and presiding over slaughter.
Facing her departure ritual, that Goddess demanded she assassinate an LV3 of a certain empire with only a dagger.
At that time, she was almost scared silly, but even so, she wasn't as confused as she was now. Instead, she completed the mission successfully with a desperate belief and even leveled up!
Although the Main God had issues, she was, in the end, a Goddess who honored blood contracts and kept her word.
Ke Luoyi accepted the conditions for leaving the organization, which included not revealing secret information such as the organization's base or members, and finally broke away from the criminal Familia.
—However, what she was doing now was no different from her past.
The domesticated cat, once free, became a stray and didn't know where to go.
She didn't know what she wanted to do, nor did she know how to survive.
It was then that she suddenly realized she couldn't do anything but kill.
The reason Ke Luoyi imitated the Main God, adopting her current frivolous tone when speaking, was, to put it plainly, her own philosophy of life.
If she couldn't get used to this wild and uninhibited way of speaking and personality, Ke Luoyi would have given up on survival long ago.
Her true self, which no one had ever seen, was actually a very timid crybaby.
Ke Luoyi continuously earned money through assassinations in the outside world, gradually coming to believe that no one in this world could defeat a cat.
So, with the mindset that Orario was currently the city with the worst public order and that she wouldn't have to worry about work in the future, she stepped into it.
It turned out this place was a den of dragons and snakes, a fortress that isolated monsters within its massive walls!
The monsters here referred not only to those in the Dungeon but also to the adventurers she trembled at just by looking at them!
During her investigation of Rhode, she came into contact with more information about adventurers, and Ke Luoyi finally realized she was a frog in a well.
In the outside world, very few people could level up. Organizations with multiple elites above LV3 were only well-known cities and large nations, as well as a few world-class powers like empires and great magical nations.
But in Orario, she, who had never encountered the abyss called the Dungeon, was absolutely no match for those battle-hardened monsters!
If she continued her old life, she would probably lose her life very soon due to a failed mission.
"I feel so tired… but if I can't kill, how else can I live…?"
Ke Luoyi looked down at the dagger in her hand, slowly clenching it.
This dark blade had absorbed countless lives' blood to this day, and if she didn't change her lifestyle, it would likely continue to drink blood in the future.
"Hmph, no time for sentimentality, let's go."
Ke Luoyi touched her lowered hood, bit the dagger in her mouth, and suddenly threw a bottle in Rhode's direction.
However, just as the bottle was about to hit Rhode's back, a pebble shot from another corner shattered it with a bang.
A suspicious pink gas wafted out.
""Found you (meow)!""
A sharp glint flashed in Ke Luoyi's eyes. She forcefully extended her left hand, whose fingers were almost embedded in the beam, and simultaneously kicked off with her foot, launching a surprise attack in the direction the pebble came from.
As a flying knife sliced through the air and pierced the ground with a whoosh, Runova, who had rolled to the side, kicked up a cloud of dust.
Ke Luoyi landed lightly and silently, standing eerily before Runova.
She wore a deliberately lowered black hood, a lightweight combat suit, and laced boots.
The cat-person assassin, with two small bumps on her hood, twitched her slender tail and narrowed her eyes, noticing the opponent's gauntlets.
"With that attire, are you perhaps the Black Fist?"
Runova calmly dusted herself off, stood up, and faced Ke Luoyi.
She wore a scarf around her neck, light armor covering her shoulders and chest, and fingerless leather gloves on her hands.
"Then you must be the Black Cat?"
Ke Luoyi immediately grew anxious, shouting displeasedly.
"Don't call me by that title; it's a stain on me!"
Aside from codenames, being given a nickname or alias was considered a sign of incompetence in the eyes of assassins.
Because being given a nickname meant the assassination target had failed, and their figure had been seen.
"And why are you comparing elegant me to a muscle-brained brute like you!"
Runova let her chestnut hair sway in the breeze, her tone cold.
"I don't care about such things, but since our targets are the same, according to the rules of our profession… we eliminate the one who tries to steal the job first."
Ke Luoyi's eyes, hidden beneath her hood, widened in surprise.
Eh?
Isn't the rule of our profession 'first come, first served'?
When did we start fighting in front of the target!
Could it be that this person… wants to monopolize the bounty and then kill the cat for another sum of money?!
Ke Luoyi suddenly realized, believing she had seen through the other party's greed, and instantly found this disagreeable person even more annoying.
Runova glared coldly at Rhode, who was blinking and watching their struggle.
"For certain reasons, I must kill you."
"But this person's target is the same as mine, and I don't like to share. Before I kill you, I'll kill this noisy cat first."
Ke Luoyi laughed in anger, shouting back at Rhode, unwilling to be outdone.
"Hey, you're my target! Be grateful you're still alive until I take down that vulgar woman opposite me!"
Rhode heard their shouts, a flicker of suspicion in his heart.
Why did it feel like they were deliberately reminding him to take the opportunity to run away…
Runova raised her fists and clashed them together, entering a battle stance, staring intently at Ke Luoyi.
"You'd better get ready, because I don't like to unilaterally attack my opponent."
Ke Luoyi snorted coldly, gently releasing the weapon in her hand.
The dagger fell downwards, following the laws of nature.
Runova instinctively frowned.
Thud!
The next second, Ke Luoyi's boot brutally kicked the dagger's hilt, sending the dagger flying at extreme speed.
"?!"
Runova reacted incredibly fast, her body flashing as she skillfully dodged.
But in that flash of lightning, Ke Luoyi charged forward, a smoke bomb sliding almost flush with the ground, accompanied by a faint song: "Play around~"
It was a super-short incantation magic!
Runova, having lost her vision, heightened her vigilance, her senses fully open, her muscles taut like a drawn bowstring.
Her nerves twitched violently with every ripple in the airflow, and then she caught the sound of wind breaking behind her, her eyes sharp!
Runova suddenly turned around, her right fist transforming into a roaring storm, smashing the approaching Ke Luoyi behind her.
However, there was no splattering blood, only wisps of smoke.
Ke Luoyi's figure dissipated like mist.
"—Illusion."
Glowing particles called [Magicules] scattered in the air, replacing blood.
This was an illusion magic to confuse the opponent!
Just as Runova realized she had been tricked, the real Ke Luoyi silently appeared directly behind her, the dagger slicing through the air, carrying a poisonous glow, stabbing straight at Runova's unguarded back.
"Got her!"
The dark blade in her hand was named Violet, meticulously crafted by her, having absorbed various poisons to this day.
And before setting out today, the poison added to it was [Poisonous Demon Worm Venom]!
That was a [Deadly Poison] that could ignore abnormal resistance, a small amount of which could cause high-level adventurers to suffer greatly.
Needless to say, if left untreated, it would be fatal.
Ke Luoyi wore a triumphant smile, certain of victory.
Judging by that person's turning speed just now, she would definitely take this blow…
However, Runova didn't even turn her head, merely let out a roar and slammed a fist into the bluestone ground beneath her.
Boom—
Accompanied by a loud bang, the ground was struck as if by divine lightning, shattered rocks flew, smoke and dust billowed, and even the old building next to it was shaken down by the shockwave!
Ke Luoyi was caught off guard, letting out a "Meow!" before being swept backward by the airflow, screaming, rolling, and crashing into the crumbling eaves!