[ You have absorbed the blood essence of a ‘Novice Demon Shaman’, purification in progress… ]

[ You have obtained 224,487 EP! ]

As I started adapting to my stealth hunting ‘game’, my time for killing one target increased, but that was a simple price to pay to decrease the risk!

Rather than just going for the kill the moment my ‘Eye of Knowledge’ detected a shaman, I increased the steps in between. Starting by waiting for the right timing, choosing the best direction and spot to attack silently, going for lone targets instead of those that could easily be noticed like my first victim.

‘This base sure has a lot of shamans…’

Thankfully, although there was an abnormally large number of shamans in this base, they were true to their image, acting like a group of introverted chuunibyou patients, which in turn made it easy to achieve true stealth kills with enough patience.

[ You have absorbed… ]

A couple of hours later, I finally managed to get rid of the 34th and last shaman, announcing the end of my shaman stealth hunting ‘game’. At least the first stage of it.

The number of shamans that I slew in the all-out war of the Nature Domain was still larger, but considering this army’s size, incomparable to the central base army we faced there, it was definitely worth noting.

‘Well, time for one last stealth kill.’

Although I could guess that there was some insidious reason behind it, I didn’t bother overheating my mind over it since I already disposed of most of the shamans. However, I wasn’t done just yet.

While I was confident in my scanning of the base, my sweep only covered the bare ground as well as an assortment of low-security buildings. One last building was still hidden from my eyes, moreover, it was the most likely location holding my last and most important target.

‘Time to pay the Overseer a visit.’

`~~`~~`~~`

Standing before the stone castle’s gate guarded on both sides, I stared at the guards for a few seconds as I wondered which method to use for breaking in.

Even though I was currently under stealth, it would still be impossible to get into the castle without the guards noticing me pushing the door, so I obviously needed to try another approach towards this matter.

While some solutions like digging a tunnel seemed to be simple enough at the surface, just the sound was enough to expose me, not to mention that the ground would shake in response. In the end, the best response was still to be ‘direct’ enough.

‘This won’t hurt… I think.’

Standing behind one of the two guards, I used a dagger to pierce through the gap in the armor around his neck. However, instead of falling down or reacting in any other form, the guard froze in place!

[ You have absorbed… ]

Since anything I would do would be noticed anyway, the best method to avoid discovery was to ‘undo’ my actions! As soon as my dagger took the life of the guard, I directly injected a thin stream of Ice elements into his body through the dagger!

Making sure to inject just enough to freeze the body from the inside, the guard only appeared to be stationary in contrast to his actual status. 

[ You have absorbed… ]

Thankfully, the guard’s helmet fully concealed his face so the other guard didn’t even manage to notice before he faced the same fate. 

Pushing the gate slightly enough to pass through, I finally made my way into the castle where the most dangerous residents of this base were supposed to be.

‘Seems like a cheap imitation…’

Wandering across the mostly empty castle, I couldn’t help but feel that it was quite weird. Although the design was very similar to a miniature version of a human castle, it wasn’t built but carved out of stone.

‘I guess it’s one of the pros of living underground.’

Passing time by wondering how demon bases came to be for them to design castles like this, I found myself in front of the Throne Room before Long.

‘Nice!’

Fortunately, the door of the room was wide open as the armored demon kneeling in front of the throne seemed to have opened it, allowing me a smooth entrance!

“Good. What about the key? Report its current status…”

“It’s already settled, the ‘key’ is… “

‘It really was a close call.’ 

As I listened to their conversation and felt thankful for my trusty ‘Demon Base Locator’, I laid my eyes upon the two figures standing at each side of the throne…

[ ‘T2 Elder Demon Shaman’ Lv. 268 ]

[ ‘Corruption Administrator’ lv.222 ]

Under the effect of my ‘Eye of Knowledge’, I immediately recognized that they were both my targets. However, the dilemma was who to choose to kill first.

While I somehow still managed to appear invisible to this point, I was only allowed one more stealth kill before being noticed. After all, all the main powerhouses of the base were gathered in this room at the moment.

‘It’s already decided I guess…’

Despite feeling tempted to take down the ‘Corruption Processor’ first to weaken the base’s defenses, a Corruption administrator’s ability was too troublesome due to its versatility. As long as they were loyal enough, they could still strengthen the Overseer as a price for their sacrifice.

On the other hand, while the Tier-2 shaman posed a similar degree of risk, they lacked the ability to react without preparations compared to administrators, making them the prime target for my last stealth kill.

Most importantly, the shaman was the primary reason behind my visit to this castle!

As I remembered the ‘pleasant’ experience that his colleague gave me, my lips couldn’t help but curve up as I crept towards the last shaman of the base.

Not saving up any strength, I took out a Darkness-covered ‘Lightning Cloud’ as I unleashed the full ability of ‘Darkness Unity’ upon the shaman’s neck!

Spissh!

As ‘Lightning Cloud’ sliced the demon’s neck as if slicing through butter, a beautiful fountain of blood rose as all the gazes gathered upon my location.

[ You have absorbed the blood essence of a ‘T2 Elder Demon Shaman’, purification in progress… ]

[ You have obtained 424,487 EP! ]

[ You have received the title, ‘Shaman Hunter’! ]

[ You have received the title, ‘Shamans’ Nemesis’! ]

[ Achievement, ‘Killing 100 Shamans’, has been recorded! ]

[ Achievement, ‘Curse Reversal’, has been recorded! ]

‘I think I’m… enjoying stealth a bit more than expected.’