The Genius Assassin Who Takes it All - Chapter 156: Stimulation (3)

In a split second, their intents intersected.

The fake priest, realizing his identity had been exposed, thrust the cross he was holding towards Kang-hoo.

Whether it was intended for assassination or not, the bottom of the cross, which had been concealed by his hand, was smeared with poison.

Of course, Kang-hoo had already executed a lateral movement, avoiding the cross attack.

“Hmph!”

However, as if anticipating Kang-hoo’s lateral movement, the fake priest immediately struck backward.

He had already recognized that Kang-hoo was an assassin by the dagger he held.

Therefore, he had considered the possibility that Kang-hoo would use a highly skilled lateral movement, and it had indeed come to pass.

Whoosh!

The fake priest’s attack sliced through the air.

He was still unperturbed. He had anticipated Kang-hoo might use lateral movement once more.

Considering Kang-hoo’s skill to recognize his disguise, he thought such a maneuver would be expected.

Thus, he abruptly shifted his center of gravity backward and deployed his skill in the original forward direction.

【Binding Technique】

A skill that immobilizes the target, rendering them vulnerable to all attacks.

It was the fake priest’s lifeline skill. The hunter he had offered a prayer for earlier had also been immobilized and stabbed in the neck, unable to do anything.

“……!”

Creak!

Soon, Kang-hoo, caught in the binding technique, looked at the fake priest with a startled expression.

His eyes seemed to show a mental panic from being unable to move.

However, there was one thing that bothered him: one hunter who seemed to be an accomplice was too quiet.

But judging by his attire and previous observations, he appeared to be a non-combatant hunter.

In other words, he concluded that the hunter wasn’t targeting him due to a lack of combat ability.

“Today, you will also become my daily stats. I will mercifully spare that one, but you must become my sustenance.”

With a smug smile, he placed his hand on Kang-hoo’s left chest.

He was about to use a skill that released a powerful shockwave from his palm.

Killing in this manner would result in a relatively clean appearance outwardly. Of course, the inside of the body would be a mess.

As he exerted force with his palm to use the finishing skill,

Psshhk!

A feeling and sound of cold metal piercing through flesh simultaneously occurred.

“……?”

But it wasn’t the feeling or sound that should have come from his skill.

A shockwave should produce an explosion sound, not a stabbing sound.

Moreover, since he was the one using the skill, there was no reason to feel cold metal.

This meant that…

“……!”

The fake priest’s eyes widened as he realized the reason for the sound and situation.

It all happened so quickly that he couldn’t even scream.

Barely managing to look down, he saw a dagger poking through his throat.

He couldn’t even groan, only making a hissing sound as air escaped.

The situation was already over.

There was no way to survive a throat penetration without divine intervention. Unfortunately, he was not someone blessed by divine favor.

At that moment,

“Wow, hyung. Did you plan for all of this?”

Clap clap clap!

Park Dong-jae, who had been watching the situation with a frightened expression, clapped in response.

The fake priest showed a puzzled expression at Park Dong-jae’s words, but only for a moment.

Gush!

Spewing a tremendous amount of blood, the fake priest collapsed and died.

No matter how much he tried to endure, it was a death caused by excessive blood loss.

Kang-hoo, who was behind the fake priest, nodded as he looked at his fallen body.

“Calculating a counter to the counter is not difficult for a hunter who knows how to use their head. That’s why I twisted it once more.”

“You mean you knew that guy would use his head twice?”

“Rather than knowing, I gave him some credit for the intelligence to deceive hunters.”

“So, you moved laterally once more, summoned a decoy, and then moved laterally again?”

“Exactly.”

“Wow, this setup is really well done. Hyung, you’re no joke.”

“Mind games. That’s the fun of combat. Winning is fun. Losing means death.”

Tap tap.

Kang-hoo nudged the lifeless body of the fake priest with his toe. The body was growing cold.

Two new constellations’ information he had acquired by defeating him appeared on the list. They were useful ones.

【Deceitful Priest】

A constellation that led to the fake priest’s death, Deceitful Priest.

Now, if he kills two hunters a day, he will receive additional rewards(?).

Of course, he didn’t intend to kill anyone just for the rewards.

But the world is vast, and there are plenty of people to kill. When the opportunity arises, he would use it diligently.

【Corrupt Undertaker】

【You can locate dead hunters within a radius of 250m.】

The Corrupt Undertaker constellation didn’t immediately seem useful.

He wondered how locating dead hunters could be of any help.

The incident and accident sites seem to be quite helpful in recovering the bodies of dead hunters.

‘Perhaps it could also help in retrieving the bodies of hunters who died somewhere in these open dungeons and in obtaining items?’

A plausible idea crossed his mind.

If a hunter was intentionally killed by someone, all items would be taken afterward.

However, if they died from a fall or an unexpected monster attack.

In such cases, they would likely die with all their items still on them.

If he could locate such bodies, he could add unexpected windfalls to his gains.

‘A scenario where one can’t help but welcome someone’s death. Hence, the name Corrupt Undertaker?’

Kang-hoo added a plausible reason and accepted it. Anyway, it seemed quite useful.

Park Dong-jae couldn’t take his eyes off the dead body, as if he was still feeling the lingering effect of Kang-hoo’s stratagem.

“Wow… It’s like a novel. A novel with an assassin protagonist who sees through everything.”

“One always wants to be like the protagonist of such a novel. Of course, it’s just a novel.”

Kang-hoo gave a bitter smile.

He felt a strange sensation as he spoke.

The life he was living was precisely the life depicted in a novel.

However, to Kang-hoo, it was ‘reality’ and not a ‘novel.’

In a novel, if a character dies, they disappear as text.

In his current life, if he dies, all his life disappears. His soul would be extinguished.

“Hyung, take a breather. I’ll take care of the items.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

Kang-hoo nodded.

It wasn’t because he wanted to rest, but because he was drawn to a newly appearing message.

【The constellation ‘Frenzied Murderer’ offers you 30 stat points for meeting a special condition.】

【However, 15 points are provided for resistance and endurance stats, and 10 points for special stats.】

The constellation Frenzied Murderer, from whom he had stolen after killing Jo Gu-bin, unexpectedly provided a bonus stat.

He wondered what the special condition was, but there was no detailed tooltip.

It seemed the constellation had some criterion in mind, and this time, the ‘quota’ for killing had been met.

Perhaps because he met the condition by killing a bad person, he felt rather good. It felt like receiving a reward.

Without hesitation, Kang-hoo chose the dark period stat.

Raising special stats by even 1 point was a tough and tedious process.

Unless there was an urgent need for other stats, choosing special stats was the top priority.

Especially now, when he had just started making progress in the dark period stat.

Even a slight increase in stat would significantly enhance the power of his dark period skills.

‘This is great.’

Thanks to the Frenzied Murderer, he gained 10 dark period stat points.

The face of Jo Gu-bin, whom he had killed before, flashed before him.

He was human trash who deserved to die a hundred times. He must be burning in hell right now.

Then suddenly.

At an unexpected moment, a personal channel related to a constellation opened.

The personal channel was used for private conversations when there was a need for a confidential discussion.

Since each conversation consumed the constellation’s holy power, it was rarely opened.

Unless it was a secretive conversation, it was usually replaced by messages.

The main constellation, the Pursuer of Pure Darkness, was the one who requested the conversation. It was the first one-on-one conversation with him.

【Let’s get straight to the point. I want to propose a constellation trial to you. Will you accept it?】

As expected, it was about the constellation trial.

It was a necessary passage to obtain the fourth privilege of the main constellation.

Without taking the constellation trial, one would remain forever enjoying only three privileges.

Kang-hoo recalled the previous constellation trial proposed by the Dimension Plunderer.

Fortunately, it had a happy ending, but he remembered what she said after the trial ended.

【When I conducted a preliminary trial, the survival rate of this trial was 15%. Yet, you managed to pass.】

He was dumbfounded upon hearing this. He wondered if she intended to drown him from the beginning.

Kang-hoo thought the Pursuer of Pure Darkness might be looking for a way to ‘legally’ sever ties with him.

But despite that, it was right to take a gamble on his proposal.

For a top-ranked constellation in the top 25 of the grand war, it was normal to extract at least one more benefit.

Kang-hoo responded to the Pursuer of Pure Darkness using the method of communicating through thoughts.

Since Park Dong-jae was also present, he did not speak aloud. There was no need to.

‘I will do it. However, I would like to receive a sufficient explanation first. Will I be summoned to a space for the constellation trial?’

【No. It’s a trial that can be performed in reality.】

‘So, it’s not a summoning?’

【Correct. The method is simple.】

He tilted his head slightly.

The trial for his previous contractor, Jang Si-hwan, wasn’t in this form.

According to the original story, the Dimension Plunderer’s trial involved being summoned somewhere to undergo the trial.

Then.

Is the content of the trial different because the current contractor is Shin Kang-hoo and not Jang Si-hwan?

A big question mark formed.

Kang-hoo asked.

‘What kind of trial is it?’

【Kill the hunter contracted with the constellation of Pure Hypocrisy. That is the trial I propose.】

Killing a hunter contracted with a constellation! It was the most direct and yet inevitably difficult trial.