"There! Psycho Bind!"
The assassin on the open second floor was bound tight in chains of light, and her figure was revealed.
Or more precisely, she had always been there — she'd simply become visible.
Hmm, she'd been hiding with something like optical camouflage.
As expected of a [Neo Assassin].
The skills were obviously the kind a villain would have, but they were part of the secret forces the Church had been hiding.
"Damn it — kill them!"
And it was a female assassin, no less.
"I was supposed to use them as bait, wait for you to let your guard down, and finish you with a poisoned needle — but how...?"
Scary. A little while ago, there had been a group of about twenty people.
The idea was: kill them with the poison, great. If not, after they'd worn themselves out fighting and let their guard down, hit them with the strongest fighter. The murderous intent was off the charts.
But too bad.
Because the number of visible people didn't match the number of presences she could sense, she'd figured something like this might happen and hadn't let her guard down.
For the record, I still haven't let mine down either.
I don't sense any presence, but just in case.
And this female assassin even had a skill called [Zealotry].
For now, I'd tighten the Psycho Bind a little more to knock her unconscious, then use the Snatch skill to take [Neo Assassin].
It was integrated into [Phantom Thief Gentleman].
Hmm, next up was [Zealotry].
I didn't need this one — and even if I took it and made it mine, it probably wouldn't end well.
Let me try reversing it.
I became an Atheist.
Don't need this one either.
It's not like I'm a skill collector.
What a waste of time.
I'd strip her memories, though.
Oh boy, the Pope's dirty deeds just kept pouring out.
This was incredible.
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Then, suddenly, I felt a sacred presence.
"Pardon me — who might you be? You've captured one of our Church's most notorious assassins from our shadow division without a scratch. We believe we have a complete accounting of every Orichalcum-ranked individual in the country, and yet..."
A buxom blonde woman in a white robe appeared.
She looked only slightly older than me, but what she said didn't match her appearance.
"I apologize for the belated introduction. I am Therese, a Saint certified by the Church of Holy Misery. Might I have your name?"
"I'm Alan, a Gold-rank adventurer. What business could a Saint possibly have in a place like this?"
Why would a beautiful Saint come alone to a place littered with blood-soaked corpses?
She wasn't going to ask me to hand over the assassin, was she?
"I have a request. Would you be willing to surrender the one you've captured to us?"
Wait, seriously?
My wildest guess had been right.
"I was the one who was attacked. I was the one who fought back. I didn't borrow a helping hand from anyone. And yet you intend to take my prey from an adventurer? I'd say that's the same as stealing someone's faith."
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Skills: [Reverse][Divine Eye][Sword God][Phantom Thief Gentleman][Dark Magic][Stone-Iron Magic][Holy Magic][Space-Time Magic][Scorching Magic][Frost Magic][Magic Hand][Seduction][Pain Relief][Complete Status Ailment Resistance][Fire Spirit's Protection][Phantom Demon][Swift Thunder][Dark Spirit's Protection][Monstrous Strength][Thunder God Sword][Strong Luck][Clear Gale Magic][Humility]
Rank: Gold (Alisa: Gold)