Free Web NovelChapter 298: Virtual World Assassination
Where is a place where you could kill and never be found? Where is a place where no one could stop you from committing murder and arson? Where is a place where everyone stands alone? That's right. The Virtual World.
Amodo hummed a tune as he pedaled his bicycle through a curtain of rain. On the back of his hand, a faint red mark depicting two crossed swords pulsed with a fierce, glowing intensity. "I'm a thief. I love the taste of Lala Fat. I'm a thief. I kill without shedding a tear. I'm a thief. My heart is pitch black."
This was Amodo, a field agent for the Blissful Peace Agency ranked first in Azura and sixth in the nation. The agency specialized in providing a specific, illegal, and thrilling service in the real world: murder.
Compared to the Good Moonlight Agency, which had only risen to prominence in recent decades, Blissful Peace boasted a far deeper history. Long ago, it stood alongside the Funeral Agency as one of Azura's two great criminal pillars, growing in tandem with the city itself.
While the Funeral Agency had withered with age, falling out of the top ten, Blissful Peace remained firmly entrenched at the top of the hierarchy. Like a prestigious, well-aged brand, its reputation drew clients from across the country. Its secret to longevity was its mastery of Virtual World assassination.
When the Book of Gospel first appeared, the sorcerers' initial instinct wasn't to ponder grand philosophies like social harmony, productivity, or the origins of life. They didn't care about racial superiority or the age-old question of the chicken and the egg. Instead, they asked one thing, "How can I use the Book of Gospel to climb higher in the Virtual World?"
It was often hard to tell if sorcerers possessed profound vision or none at all.
Advancement in the Virtual World was defined by two goals: exploration and sorcery class progression. Sorcerers soon discovered that whenever they hit a bottleneck in their studies, they could turn to the Book of Gospel for guidance. Theoretically, as long as one had the talent, the Gospel Kingdom allowed for infinite advancement. To use a literary analogy: it allowed every sorcerer to become a prolific author, churning out tens of thousands of words a day, rather than a hack struggling with a few thousand words and constant writer's block.
Of course, some sorcerers failed to grasp the Book's teachings even after hearing them. But in this world, that was simply seen as a lack of effort. No one cared for those left behind; the layers of the Virtual World existed specifically to remind sorcerers of their place.
However, when it came to exploration, the Book of Gospel offered little help for one simple reason. It could not be summoned within the Virtual World.
To be precise, the Gospel existed only within the borders of the Gospel Kingdom. Once a sorcerer left, whether into the Virtual World or another nation, the book could not be summoned. Without real-time guidance, sorcerers had to seek "blessings" before they entered the fray.
The costs were astronomical. For example, a simple blessing that guided a sorcerer to the nearest knowledge creature cost as much as the monthly reward of the nation's top-ranked sorcerer. Blessings that revealed Resource Points, repelled Knowledge Creatures, or forced wild spirits into servitude cost the equivalent of a kingdom's entire treasury.
Unless an entire nation threw its full weight behind a single individual, such luxury was unattainable. Yet, the sorcerers' obsession with the Virtual World was not so easily quelled. If the divine path was too expensive, they would simply find a cheaper way to the top.
Over the years, sorcerers gradually uncovered a handful of affordable blessings viable for use in the Virtual World. Those who mastered these secrets used them as the foundation for dynasties, corporations, or shadow organizations. Some trained loyal followers in secret; others established agencies to serve the public.
Blissful Peace was one of the latter. They possessed a unique Gospel technique that allowed them to lock onto specific targets within the Virtual World, thereby giving rise to the business of Virtual World assassination. While other agencies had their own methods of killing, most relied on indirect means and lacked the courage for direct confrontations. Against the powerful and the wealthy, such amateurish methods were largely meaningless.
In the real world, money and power formed barriers stronger than any law. For example, the Good Moonlight Agency, ranked second in Azura, targeted only minor families, lacking the strength to dismantle a major clan.
Virtual World assassination changed the game. Once inside, all external advantages vanished. Wealth and status offered no protection; a sorcerer could rely only on their personal strength. During the rise of Blissful Peace, over a hundred wealthy elites, government officials, Red Hats, and even members of the imperial family met their ends in the Virtual World. Everyone knew Blissful Peace was responsible, yet no one could convict them.
The Isa Imperial Family built their rule on the foundation of Gospel governance, but the Virtual World fell outside the Gospel's protection. Ironically, the law shielded the killers. Anyone who dared to attack the "law-abiding" citizens of Blissful Peace in the real world would be branded a criminal by the Gospel Kingdom itself.
The agency was so brazen that its office stood directly beside the Azura Red Hat headquarters. In their reception hall, a list hung prominently on the wall, filled with the names of the dead who had already "found bliss."
No one could touch them. Escaping their pursuit was theoretically simple. One only had to avoid the Virtual World entirely. Ordinary people were never their targets anyway. But for sorcerers, staying out was an impossible sacrifice. Beyond the need for strength and progression, spending just two hours in the Virtual World granted a full day's worth of vitality. Since ordinary people required at least six hours of sleep, this advantage effectively extended a sorcerer's lifespan by 12.3%.
Who would trade away years of their life just to avoid a potential assassin? Recognizing this, Blissful Peace developed a second, even more lucrative business: the Whitelist.
By paying an annual fee, the agency guaranteed you would not be targeted for that year. The price was calculated individually. If there had been many assassination requests against you the previous year, your protection fee for the next would skyrocket.
From the Isa royals down to the major clans, the Whitelist covered nearly the entire ruling class of the Gospel Kingdom. Of course, there were exceptions. Cliose, the head of the Azura Red Hats, ignored them completely. No sorcerer of the Sacred Realm feared a mere assassin.
However, even Sacred Realm sorcerers could not simply wipe them out unless they were prepared to forfeit their own lives in the Gospel Kingdom. Blissful Peace generally avoided provoking the Sacred Realm, but when they first launched the Whitelist a century ago, one such sorcerer had repeatedly challenged them. Blissful Peace did not attempt to assassinate the master himself. Instead, they methodically slaughtered every one of his Two-Winged and One-Winged relatives and associates.
Driven to madness, the Sacred Realm sorcerer retaliated by butchering the agency's staff. In response, the Gospel Kingdom issued a warrant for his arrest. Overnight, he became a prize for the Red Hats. He was swiftly captured and, under the impartial judgment of the Gospel, sentenced to death.
Within a few years, Blissful Peace had rebuilt and resumed its Whitelist business. This time, no one dared to intervene.
The people did not bow to assassins. They bowed to the Book of Gospel. The Gospel had established fair, impartial rules. If you could not win within the system, you deserved to lose.
Over the past fifty years, Blissful Peace had acted with decreasing frequency. Some years, they didn't kill a single person. Yet, simply by collecting protection fees from the wealthy, they became the undisputed number one in Azura, earning far more than they ever had through active murder. It seemed that honest labor could never compete with preying on the rich.
Two days ago, Blissful Peace finally received a long-awaited major commission.
[Assassination Target: Ashe Heath.]
[Reason for Commission: Ashe Heath.]
The clients were numerous, including the Isa Imperial Family, Cliose, and Red Hats from various regions. Blissful Peace accepted them all without hesitation. While Red Hats were usually at odds with criminal agencies, no one turned their back on Gospel merit. If Blissful Peace succeeded, the merit would be distributed among the Red Hats who had invested in the fund, proportional to their financial contributions. After all, the Gospel was fair. Contributing money was as much of an effort as contributing sweat.
Ashe Heath was not on the Whitelist. With a clear conscience, the agency accepted the job and dispatched all thirteen of its Two-Winged assassins. Amodo was one of them.
Every assassin received a specific blessing called Point toward Ashe Heath. Once inside the Virtual World, they only needed to follow the divine guidance to find him. As for timing his entry into the Virtual World, the process was mundane. By obtaining the water and electricity usage data for Annan's residence via Cliose, they deduced that Ashe Heath's hours were strictly between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The contract was signed on May 11, and the agency chose to strike at 2 a.m. on May 12. At that hour, Ashe would certainly be deep in the Virtual World with his soul energy likely depleted, making it the perfect moment to deliver him "bliss."
Amodo specialized in the Mechanical and Earth Classes, the very disciplines favored by the Earth Empress. He was clearly another victim of the Sorcerer Duel series, but his mastery of these two classes brought distinct advantages. For instance, he could construct a bicycle even on the Continent of Time. It required no soul energy to move and was quite fast.
Yet, Amodo soon realized his target possessed an even faster means of travel. Despite riding straight toward the mark, the guiding light on his hand only grew dimmer. At first, he thought he had taken a wrong turn, but after a moment of careful observation, the chilling truth set in. The target was moving faster than he was, steadily increasing the distance between them.
Strange. I'm already at top speed. I rank tenth in the National Cycling Rankings and second in Azura. I can hit 70 kilometers per hour, which is nearly as fast as a floating car. What kind of transport is Ashe using? An alchemical puppet? An enslaved Knowledge Creature? None of those should be faster than my bike. He couldn't possibly be driving a sports car... right?
Amodo couldn't make sense of it, but he would find out soon enough. According to the guiding mark, he was closing in, and the target was heading straight toward him.
He wondered if he was the first to arrive before the other agents. There was no doubt in his mind that Ashe's combat strength was unimpressive. The fact that he had never appeared on any sorcerer rankings made that clear. To a prepared assassin like Amodo, Ashe was nothing more than a fish on a chopping block, a simple workbook before a top student, merely waiting for the end.
Because the reward would be distributed based on combat contribution, Amodo held nothing back. He prepared his Miracles, Boiling Mire, and Thousand Earth Spikes. The moment Ashe entered his field of vision, he would treat him to a "blissful" hot mud bath.
There was one crucial issue in Virtual World assassination, which was how to truly annihilate a soul. Under a normal death, a sorcerer would only lose a fragment of their soul. While inconvenient in the real world, a few months of rest usually allowed for a full recovery. It wasn't a true demise. Instead, it was closer to a vegetative state.
To bypass this, the assassins of Blissful Peace used specialized killing Miracles. These techniques consumed vast amounts of power without significantly increasing destructive force. Their true purpose was sustained, all-encompassing soul-drain. That was the secret to killing in the Virtual World. Do not kill instantly. Instead, trap the target in an environment of continuous, pervasive damage. By the time the target finally died, their soul would be so exhausted that the remnants would be too weak to sustain a physical body.
The guiding mark grew brighter and brighter. Just ahead! He's coming!
But then, Amodo sensed something was wrong. Why is the ground shaking? The data showed that Ashe is no multi-ton monstrosity, so how could he cause such tremors? No! There is no time left to think! The guiding mark is flaring at its peak. Ashe Heath is just beyond the curtain of rain.
Vroom!
A convertible sports car shot past him.
Amodo's instincts screamed, and he cast his Miracles at once. Both the earth spikes and the mire were instantly crushed beneath the car's wheels. A thin barrier even covered the vehicle.
A questioning voice drifted from the car before it vanished into the distance. "Another one?"
Amodo slammed on his brakes and stopped where he stood, enveloped by a cloud of dark green exhaust. His mind spun with chaotic questions. Another one? Why is he driving a sports car? Why are there two girls with him? Why does this exhaust burn my eyes and rot my face? And why, even as the car drives farther away, does the rumbling only grow louder?
