Chapter 54
No, it still wasn’t certain that he’d been discovered. Faker’s Stealth skill was at level 7. Even the top rankers would have trouble detecting him.
“…”
Faker held his breath in order to maintain a more complete stealth state. But he couldn’t escape from Erina, no, Euphemina’s insight.
“Don’t peek at me like a pervert. If you don’t come out, I’ll make you come out.”
This was Euphemina’s final warning. Faker’s party members became agitated at the dangerous atmosphere.
(Hey Faker, don’t you think she really noticed?)
(It might be a mistake to keep hiding. Remove Stealth and reveal your identity.)
Faker replied angrily.
(Blacksmiths don’t have any detection techniques. No, even if such techniques existed, there is no possibility that my stealth would be discovered. Don’t worry about it. That woman is just making guesses…)
Faker’s conversation was interrupted.
Peeeong!
A large explosion occurred in a radius of 3m around Euphemina’s body.
“Kuk!”
Faker was in range so he rushed to escape the aftermath of the explosion. But Euphemina had no intention of letting him go.
“Angel’s Scream.”
Biiiiiik.
“….?!”
Ultrasound waves rattled Faker’s eardrums. Faker made a pained expression as his ears started bleeding. Then Euphemina stared blankly at him and asked, “Who are you? Why are you watching me?”
‘Who are you?’ That was what Faker wanted to ask. How did a blacksmith use top-level magic in succession?
‘Perhaps?’
Faker was confused. He needed confirmation.
Sususuk.
Faker’s body move slightly and left dozens of afterimages. As Euphemina observed the scene, the hat she was wearing was peeled off by Faker. Faker was surprised. The face of the blonde woman, revealed by the hat, was exactly the same as their portrait. But the ID above her head wasn’t Erina, but Euphemina.
‘We were wrong from the beginning. All the information we gathered was false.’
Faker came to this conclusion. There were countless guilds who wanted to obtain the maker of the Special Jaffa Arrows. They were fiercely competing to avoid having the blacksmith stolen by other guilds. They would spread false information to disturb or trap the competing guilds.
Faker gritted his teeth.
‘We fell into a trap.’
In the worst case scenario, the item production game in Winston might be a false drama from the beginning. If so, the Tzedakah Guild was dancing on someone’s palm.
“Give it to me.” Euphemina took back her hat from the shocked Faker. Then she spoke in an angry voice. “Why are you taking away my belonging instead of answering the question? This is annoying.”
Faker stared at her. “What guild do you belong to?”
It was a puzzling question from Euphemina’s standpoint.
“I don’t understand what you are talking about. Rather, shouldn’t you answer? Why did you follow me for two days?”
“You must be joking… If so, I will use force to make you tell the truth.”
To define it simply, the Tzedakah Guild was a group of leaders. All of the guild members had aggressive tendencies. Euphemina also had a formidable temperament.
“…All the men I meet these days are like psychos.”
Grid was a person to be protected, no matter how much she didn’t like it. However, Faker was different. She wanted to get rid of him for the insult.
“First you watched me, now you are threatening me? I’ll have to fix that nasty head of yours. Lightning.”
Pachchik!
Static electricity appeared around Faker. At the same time, a lightning bolt fell from the clear sky.
Kwaang!
Faker avoided the lightning at a fast speed, producing dozens of afterimages. Then he appeared behind Euphemina. At that moment, Euphemina’s hand touched Faker’s abdomen.
“Unfortunately for you, I won’t fall for the same technique twice.”
Peeng!
Faker’s body was surrounded by flames. But Faker didn’t even scream. He didn’t feel any pain. Euphemina attacked the wrong target. In other words, the Faker standing behind Euphemina was a clone, not the real body.
Pakak!
“Ugh!”
Euphemina was struck in the side by a kick and fell down with a groan. Faker looked down at her and explained, “The same technique can be applied differently. It is certainly great that you can use magic without chanting, but you aren’t my opponent.”
To be honest, Euphemina was nervous. It was the first time she had been hit in a battle against a user since becoming a Duplicator.
‘This man, he is strong.’
He used top-level assassin techniques and was good at fighting. He was an opponent to watch. But that was all.
“It is only a moment of elation. Ancient Queen’s Knight.”
An intense light flashed. Faker recovered from his momentary loss of sight and was astonished. A knight in black armor had appeared in the air in front of him.
“Familiar…?!”
It was impossible for a magician to summon a familiar. A summoner class existed in Satisfy. A familiar had to be called using a summoner’s authority.
-Kuaaaaah!
The Ancient Queen’s Knight grabbed a part of the darkness around its body and held it like a sword towards Faker. The momentum was like a great mountain was going to hit him.
“Kuk!”
Originally, assassins used secret weapons. There was no chance of winning a head on fight against a knight.
Kwaang!
Faker narrowly avoided the attack from the knight. Due to this, the outer wall of a building was destroyed and dust scattered all over the place.
Pik!
Faker ignored the sharp piece of stone that scratched his cheek and ignored the knight. Then he threw three daggers towards the worried Euphemina. The dagger flew at a speed that couldn’t be avoided by a magician. It wasn’t useless even if she tried to defend with magic. Faker had tossed a dagger that had a hidden ability to explode in response to magic.
‘That’s it!’
Faker thought he won, but then something unexpected happened.
Sususuk.
Euphemina observed the three flying daggers, then her body moved slightly, creating afterimages and avoiding all the daggers.
‘Unbelievable! After a familiar, is it an assassin’s skill?’
Originally, it required extreme concentration to figure out which of the dozens of afterimages was the main body. However, Faker couldn’t concentrate because the Ancient Queen’s Knight was constantly attacking.
Faker’s watching party members were forced to interfere.
“We’re going to help!”
Faker shook his head.
“Are you still insisting on a one-on-one fight? Don’t make me laugh! Don’t ignore us!”
“It can’t be helped. She isn’t an opponent you can win against! Do you think we’ll leave you alone?”
“Hiyah!”
Faker’s party members were part of the Tzedakah Guild and also in the top rankings. But the four of them couldn’t overpower Euphemina.
Over the past month, Euphemina had duplicated the techniques of rankers while searching for an orb production method, so she was currently in her strongest mode.
“Dragon Claws.”
While the Ancient Queen’s Knight tied up Faker’s feet, large and sharp stone pillars rose in succession from the ground. Faker was forced to rush in every direction to defend himself, while a rain of fire poured down from the sky.
“She is using great spells in succession?”
“No way…”
The faces of Faker and the party members filled with despair. They got a glimpse of Euphemina’s true power.
***
Jishuka’s face distorted as she arrived at the collapsed scene in the middle of the city.
“Someone dares touch our guild?”
Before Satisfy was released, the Tzedakah Guild was the strongest armed group in L.T.S. that no one dared meet. Even the giant guilds were wary of the Tzedakah Guild. Jishuka was determined to make Tzedakah the strongest guild in Satisfy. Indeed, they had already become a famous guild among the top rankers.
But being well known was separate from being the strongest. In order to reign as the strongest, they couldn’t show even a hint of weakness.
Jishuka commanded. “Find her right now. We’ll show the dignity of the Tzedakah Guild by shattering her.”
The opponent was someone who defeated four guild members, including Faker. According to the testimony of the witnesses, she could use the skills of all types of classes. Her strength probably wasn’t normal.
‘Maybe she has an hidden class.’
But Jishuka wasn’t afraid. The true power of the Tzedakah Guild hadn’t been shown yet. Thus, this was the beginning of the bad relationship between Euphemina and the Tzedakah Guild.