Book 2: Chapter 14
Shadow User Radha
Shadow User Radha Race : Beastman (Cat)
Magic Power : 233/235Stamina : 240/240
Overall Combat Strength : 855 (With Body Strengthening : 1017)
This woman is most likely Shadow User Radha.
Ive roughly memorized the general peculiarity of the presence of people in that assassin guild northern frontier district branch, even the ones who were hiding from me.
Stealth isnt something for the sake of hiding, but for the sake of not getting found out. Even if someone tried to hide perfectly, if I understand that they are definitely there, it will become an out of place feeling, and if its too perfect than a peculiarity will form there, and if I can just memorize that peculiarity then seeing through Stealth also become possible.
Among them, the only presence that I couldnt find despite knowing that there was an existence there was only the Shadow User Radha. Im guessing from the information I have and the trait from their nicknames, and this woman is the only one who isnt registered in my memory, which mean she is Shadow User Radha.
Radha is glaring at me. In respond to her question, I pushed my emotion to the bottom of my heart and tilted my head slightly.
Guy? Dino also asked me about him but, there is no way I know anything right? I was away from the guild for a job.
I disposed Guys corpse together with the rookie hunters so that not a trace of him remained behind. There shouldnt be any proof at all about me murdering Guy, but Radha is suspecting me. I wonder why.
Keira said that she requested Guy to attack you. Did he appear at your location?
The sharp glint and pressure that are unique to cat beastman pierced me. My heart almost leaped for a moment. I suppressed my heart even deeper and narrowed my eyes without a single change in my expression as I stared back at Radha.
Please stop with all the accusations. Even if he came to where I was, he might be dead from the dungeons monsters.
I didnt expect that there was such strong horizontal connection between the members of assassin guild. Besides it was surprising that Keira was leaking information that was disadvantageous for herself but, is there a reason for her that made it fine to talk if its with Radha.
There is no way Guy will lose against some random monster-. That child has the strength to fight equally even against me if its in a head-on fight. There is no way Guy can lose. Unless someone set up a dirty trap for him-!
In that moment, dark colored magic particles mixed with killing intent surged from Radhas whole body. I also unleashed my magic power at the same time with that and took out throwing weapon using the shadow of my palm as the intermediary.
Radha and my killing intents clashed. The presences of the small animals at the surrounding vanished as they scattered away.
Is she planning to kill me in the middle of city at noon like this? I accelerated my thought and constructed several fighting patterns in my mind, but Radha suppressed her killing intent and threw a bundle of paper on my feet.
We will talk again after the job is over. The information from one other contact who was following and investigating the Mercenary of Dawn is written there. Let me see how someone at your level is going to fight against rank 4 adventurer.
Radha spat out those words before she began backing away without showing her back at me.
What is Guy to you?
When I asked her that before she vanished, Radha turned her eyes that were filled with anger just for an instant, then she left behind a last whisper while vanishing into the alleys darkness.
Her task also included being a watcher in case the contact this time made a blunder like allowing that rookie to escape or getting themselves captured. At that time it would be her duty to clean up the mess.
And then when she arrived at the capital and met that rookie for real, that child possessed abnormal nerve and combat strength that were unthinkable for a kidand most of all, seeing those eyes that were cold like ice made her convinced, this girl might be able to kill Guyno, she was convinced that she killed him.
Ash coveredtsu, Ill torture you to death with this hand.
Little brotherhuh. Did she mean that figuratively? I felt Radhas existence vanished completely from the shadow she disappeared into before I finally let out a long sigh.
She is still suspecting me butwell, forget it. Radha gave me a lot of information from that short exchange.
About my contacts, one is following the Mercenary of Dawn, while the one who got dispatched from the guild is Radha.
Even if they werent related by blood, Radha chased me until the capital and even considered killing me. If she thought of Guy by that much, than that was an important information.
Radha is strong. Even so if she lost control of herself from anger, there will be an opening no matter how strong she is. And if I understand her reason, Ill also be able to estimate how much anger she is harboring. Scaring the weak and angering the strong to create an opening is an old trick.
Also it was just something that she said casually but, with the way Radha emphasized saying rank 4 adventurer, I think Radha herself is also a rank 4.
From the magic power and combat strength of Radha that I saw using Appraisal, and if what she said that the rank 3 Guy was equal to her in close quarter combat despite her being rank 4, what made Radha to be worthy of being rank 4 must be her dark sorcery.
Furthermore Radha made a mistake. She might be underestimating because Im a child, or perhaps she lost control of herself from anger even though she was pretending to be calm, but she had shown the way she activated darkness sorcery to appear from the shadow and vanish into the shadow in front of me who can see magic particles as color.
From what I felt, it looked like she can travel from inside a shadow to another shadow but, spatial teleportation should be impossible for someone of her level even if its just for a short range, so I hypothesized that most likely its a similar technique with my spatial storage that made the darkness of my body as intermediary.
She must be covering her whole body with dark magic particles to make it possible to travel from shadow to another shadow that is connected to the original shadow by shadow or by magic power. A space that is isolated by darkness magic particles is in a state like vacuum, so living thing cant live in it but, most likely, its possible if its just for several seconds like how human can dive into water.
But, there is a weakness with this shadow crossing. If she is hiding in the darkness like diving into water, in case she is hiding herself for more than several seconds, she definitely should be opening a hole to the isolated space of darkness.
And then, the most important information that I obtained from the chance meeting this time is how I managed to perceive Radha.
Radhas stealth ability surpassed mine, so I couldnt grasp her presence perfectly but, at the very least I was able to sense the out of place feeling when she entered and exited the shadow.
Just like how I became able to designate a person to some degree with their presence, Radha was able to identify me even after I changed my outfit and erased the ash on my hair must be because she is also remembering my presence.
It seems like Im at a disadvantage with how Radha can identify me while I can only sense Radha vaguely through an out of place feeling, but the fact that I know that has become an advantage for me.
A fight between dark sorcerers is a fight of deceiving and confusing each other. Combat strength isnt that important in such fight. Whats important is your power of observation and insight to grasp the opponents state of mind and hidden information.
Shadow User Radha was the worst opponent for me affinity wise. In case my betrayal against the assassin guild is revealed and she is hostile against me, my survival rate will drop drastically is Radha whose presence I cant read is still remaining.
Thats exactly why, Im really lucky that Radha came here as my contact.
Radha. As a fellow dark sorcery user, Ill defeat you and become stronger.
Die and become my nourishment.