Two nights later, we were back at it.
I was posted at the spot where Misen had encountered the killer, because there was a possibility that he would try the same spot again. My master had taught me how serial killers tend to think and work, as part of building me up mentally to be a killer.
Most serial killers hated to break away from their pattern of operation, they took pride in staying true to their modus operandi.
So there was a good chance that he'd try for this spot again. Maybe.
An hour passed...and then another...
There was no sign of him, and it well past the time that he generally showed up, based on the times of death of the previous victims.
Damn it, looks like my assumption had proven wrong, he wasn't taking the risk.
I'll head for the spot that was unguarded. I can get there in about three minutes with Lightning Boost and Karma.
After boosting my speed, I rushed over as fast as I could, and as I reached it...I saw the killer exiting the building.
How did I know he was the killer?
Maybe it was the black face mask and hood, or the bloody cleaver in his left hand, and the bladed-finger gloves on his right hand, also dripping with blood...yeah, pretty sure this guy was the killer.
The instant he spotted me, he blasted away in the opposite direction using Propulsion. Damn it, Misen was right, he's really fast...and I can't use Karma right now since I had already used it to get here.
If I fully used up my time limit with Karma, it had a sort of cooldown time of around thirty minutes.
I couldn't let him get away!
I fired off a barrage of lightning bolts as I chased after him.
He blasted wind onto the ground from his hand to strike up a heap of debris to take the brunt of the impact my lightning bolts. He then zipped into an alleyway.
I shot towards it as fast as I could, I turned the corner and ran in, but there was no sign of him. I rapidly scanned it to see where he might have gone, before spotting what must have happened.
There was a manhole cover that looked like it had been lifted, there was no dust around the corners. He had escaped into the sewers...damn it.
It looks like he had a good grasp on the layout of this area...it would be pointless to try and follow him down there, he was faster than I was without Karma anyway. His use of Propulsion was wild and erratic, but he was somehow in control of it, and his speed was incredible.
He was just slightly slower than I'd be with x2.7 Lightning Boost and five percent Karma.
I kicked a stone away in frustration. Damn it, he got away again...
...
...
"Hm, that is rather unfortunate," Said Erhtaph, with a worried frown.
"Are there any Adventurers who can use Propulsion to that degree? It's a technique that's pretty rarely mastered right, since most Wind Magic users prefer to master Flight. If we could narrow down-."
"There aren't any, I checked after the night he got away from me, none of the Adventurers in the Rustlands use Propulsion. It isn't a Student Adventurer either...Instructor Tabbs is in charge of Wind Magic, so I asked her...the only student who can use Propulsion competently is your cat friend," Misen interjected.
Hm, not bad, he had looked into it on his own...he wasn't half-bad at this. Admitting that made me feel really irritated.
"Oh, uh...that's useful to know. Would have been nice to know that a bit sooner though."
"Tch, I am not obligated to tell y- er, I mean...I'll inform you promptly next time," He began to snap, before remembering that his father was in the room.
"Okay...so we're looking for an ordinary citizen with immense mastery over Wind Magic...a retired Adventurer maybe? Hm, I don't think we have enough information to go on to try and narrow down a suspect list...looks like we'll have to keep trying to catch him in the act," I concluded, taking out the marked map and pointing at two spots, "Unfortunately, he managed to succeed last night, but we can still narrow down where he'll next be targeting. It's likely to be either here or...here."
I had drawn lines to connect the spots on the map where the murders had taken place, there was a very obvious zigzag-like pattern that the killer was following, and the more he killed, the easier it was to narrow down and predict his next target...this time I had narrowed it down to two potential targets.
"Use tomorrow night to scout the area you'll be watching the night after tomorrow, and memorize the layout...if we can predict his escape route, it'll be easier to chase him. Don't forget, the sewers are a part of his escape route," I instructed.
...
...
Two nights later, I was hiding on a roof, keeping watch over the area. He wasn't going to get away this time. If I had the right understanding of his pattern, then this should be the more likely of the two possible targets...and I had a feeling that I was right.
And to confirm my gut feeling, it wasn't long before he showed up, quietly walking along the shadows. I sensed him before I saw him, there was no hiding his immense bloodlust. Now, then...
I took aim as he got closer, and as he began to enter the building...I flung a paralysis needle at him, but right before it reached him, he just about dodged it at the very last second.
That was some superhuman reaction time right there. No, never mind that...you're not getting away from me!
I extracted ten percent Karma and activated Lightning Boost, racing towards him before he could get away.
He blasted off using Propulsion, ducking into an alley again. I smirked...not this time, asshole.
I turned the corner, to see him flailing around on the ground, next to a manhole cover. I had figured he'd try to get away using the sewers again, so last night, I explored the area and took note of all the entrances leading down to the sewers nearby...and earlier tonight, I had used my throwing knives to sharpen the edges of all the manhole covers in the area, before coating them with Confusion.
When he tried to lift the manhole cover to escape into the sewers, the sharpened edge cut his skin, and the Confusion entered his bloodstream.
He wasn't able to move properly right now, all the signals from his brain to his nerves are mixed up right now.
As I transferred the Karma back into the orb and walked over to him, I pulled off his mask to get a look at his face. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with wild black hair, black eyes with a deranged look in them, and an unhinged smile.
"Heh...hehehe...you caught me, damn it!" He cackled cheerfully, without so much as a hint of fear.
"Well, aren't you charming. I've got a few questions for you...let's start with your name," I remarked, slowly driving my dagger into his shoulder before violently twisting the blade.
"Hahaha...that really hurt! You know what you're doing, kid! Yes, the thrill is so much better here than it was back in Goldway! It was so easy back there, no one gave a flying fuck about the slum bitches I massacred! But here....I get to be hunted while hunting? What could possibly be more thrilling than that!?"
This guy was a full on lunatic...I'm going to enjoy this.
"So, you're one of the former Goldway citizens who escaped here...it really emphasizes the fact that life isn't fair, a piece of shit like you gets to survive when so many innocents died in explosions or turned into Zombies."
I knew better than anyone just how unfair life could be, the experiences of my old life were proof of that.
"Hehehe...I know, right!? Oh, that day was beautiful...all the blood and guts decorating the streets...ooh, just thinking about it gets me hard!"
O...kay, he was a bit more off than I had accounted for. No matter, he's still going to die here.
"Your 'hunting' days are over...die," I remarked, as I plunged my dagger down towards his neck.
Right before it could pierce him, he suddenly rolled around and blasted wind from his mouth. The blast broke a couple of my fingers and knocked away the dagger, which fell a few meters away on the street.
No way, the Confusion should still be- my eyes widened as he unsteafily stood up with some rather unnatural looking movements. Don't tell me...he wad figuring out exactly how the brain signals to the rest of his body had been mixed up!? That shouldn't even be possible, it would be like trying to unravel a large ball of yarn with your feet while blindfolded.
"Hehehe...I wonder what it's like for the hunted to take out the hunter?"
He triggered Propulsion and shot towards me, swinging his cleaver at my head. I blocked his swing with my short-sword and struck his throat with a rotating palm strike coating in lightning.
He coughed up blood as I fried his vocal chords, before slashed at me with his right hand, which wore a glove with bladed fingers. It reminded me of that old horror movie villain, Freddy Kr- I sprang back to avoid his slash, getting nicked on the nose, which I quickly healed as I shot a bolt of lightning at him as I jumped back.
His movements were very jagged and unnatural, and they were far from predictable or straightforward...I shouldn't fight him in a narrow space. I might get spotted, but I had no choice but to take him on in the open.
He followed after me with a blast of Propulsion, swinging his cleaver and fingerblades at me rapidly. I was able to deflect the majority of his strikes with my sword, but his relentless assault didn't give me any opportunity to counter.
No matter...I just need to lead him a bit more to the left....a little more...perfect! As my foot reached the spot where my dagger had landed, I used my left hand to catch and block the swing of his cleaver, the blade cutting into my palm.
He began to drive his bladed fingers towards my chest, as I used my foot to kick the dagger up at his face. He quickly ducked back, but the blade sliced up and across his left eye. He didn't cry out in pain or anything, brushing it off as he got some distance.
The effects of Confusion will start to fade soon...I can't afford to hold back any longer!
As I picked up my dagger and healed my left palm, he used Propulsion to blast away and duck into another alley.
He's not getting away!
I raced after him, and as I turned the corner...he was there, facing me with a deranged grin, his palms pointing towards me. Damn it, he tricked me into thinking he was running away, but it was a trap!
He shot powerful blasts of wind from his hands, sending me flying back and crashing onto the front of an apartment building, a part of the metal railing going through my stomach.
Damn it, that was way too careless of me.
"Haha, gotcha! Did you really think I'd run away without killing you after you've seen my face? No, I want to be able to keep hunting for as long as I can before I die!" He exclaimed gleefully as he walked over to finish me off.
"Well, this is embarrassing...I'm not usually this careless...I certainly can't let you live after you saw me make such a blunder," I responded, as I extracted ten percent Karma and pulled out the metal railing that had pierced through my abdomen, as I stood up and entered Bloodlust Mode for the first time in quite a while.
"Oh...how interesting, you can still stand," He whistled in an impressed tone, "This should be fun-!"
I didn't let him finish, as I shot past him and took off his right arm with my sword.
"I'm done holding back...you're way out of your league now, serial killer."
I shot towards him again, grabbing the back of his neck and running a powerful stream of black lightning down his spine. For the corner of eye, I saw him begin to swing his cleaver at me...without batting an eye, I calmly took off his hand with a flick of my dagger.
About ten seconds left with Karma. That's plenty.
He began to activate Propulsion again, I went low and slashed across him with my short-sword, severing both legs at just above the knees.
"Heh...hehe...looks like I never stood a chance...you're a monster, kid. Hehe...too bad I couldn't get a couple more kills...I was almost at fifty, too!" He cackled, before silencing as I plunged my dagger into his throat and rapidly twisted it.
"Just fifty? Gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers," I remarked, as I returned to my normal state with a sigh.
I can't even remember the last time I used that state of mind. As I heard some movement from inside the surrounding buildings, I quickly activated my invisibility and soundproof barriers. Looks like all the noise had woken some people up.
Okay...how am I supposed to clean this up? I still hadn't gotten my replacement Extract scroll, so I hadn't brought my Store scroll either.
...
I ended up tying the severed limbs to the main body using wire, frying it with lightning to stop the bleeding, and then, while maintaining the two barriers around me, I made my way to the outer wall. I managed to scale it while carrying the dismembered corpse, before taking it to the Goblin area to get rid of it. I flung it into the air as high as I could, before eradicating it using my Lightning Incineration Canon.
With that taken care of, I then dusted off my hands and headed back.
...
...
"I see, so you were able to eliminate the serial killer. What was his name?"
"He didn't say...and there'd have been no point in torturing it out of him, his sanity was at the point where pain wouldn't really affect him."
I explained how the rest of it went, and also mentioned that there were still some bloodstains left on the street where I'd fought him.
"Good work, I shall inform the palace that the serial killer is no more...do not worry, I shall not mention who was responsible for his elimination," He assured me.
"Alright, I don't really mind either way, but I definitely would prefer to remain covert when it comes to these missions. I can show off all I want as an Adventurer, but as an assassin...the more unknown I am, the better."
With that, I concluded my report, before I excused myself and left the mansion. I felt like I was forgetting something...oh, right!
Misen was probably still out there keeping watch...eh, whatever.
I'm sure he'll give up and head back eventually, I wasn't going to go out of my way to go tell him that I had taken care of the target. Besides...it'll be good practice for him.
All these investigations and assassinations over the past month or so...they made me feel a bit like my old self again.
I smirked to myself as I continued heading home...I certainly do enjoy the Quests I take on as an Adventurer, but...there was just something about these covert missions that gave me a sense of satisfaction that Adventuring Quests never could, they had a certain...thrill about them, a thrill that nothing else could quite match. I may be aspiring to be an Adventurer in this world, but at my very core, I'm still very much an assassin...
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