Chapter 754: Setting Sun, Part 8

───The resignation that as long as I am meyou, Iyou can only ever be me.

IYou, who are like me, must all perish and disappear from this beautiful world. I swore that to the meyou reflected on the water's surface.

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The top-tier job "Hidden EarthStealth Force".

A job branching from Ranger, specializing in concealment and surprise attacks within natural environments.

It possessed the unique skill "Praise of the EarthGaia Force", which, upon use, granted enhancement effects tailored to the terrain during combat... however, the true value of acquiring this job lay entirely in the fact that it allowed the player to learn a wide variety of stealth skills and magic.

One of them was the skill "Stealth Assault," which rendered the very first attack initiated at the start of combat completely immune to accumulating any aggro. In Shangri-La Frontier, "aggro," which signifies drawing the attention of a monster, was strictly speaking also recognized by players as a certain kind of presence.

Being immune to it meant that unless one physically entered their field of vision, they would absolutely never be noticed.

But conversely, it meant that if one did enter their field of vision, players would notice them.

And that was where the Exordinary Skill possessed by her, "Concealment ManeuverCamouflagen", came into play.

A skill obtainable by defeating the Exordinary Monster "Stell-Terror Chameleon 'Covert OperationCamouflagen'". Upon activation, "Camouflagen" physically rendered the player's appearance invisible until their first attack landed.

Erasing one's presence, erasing one's form. This was the exact first-time killer combo that made the Player Killer "Hiiragi" an undefeated PKer.

The Great Sea of Trees on the New Continent, formally named the "Penhedrant Great Sea of Trees Zone," was not merely a sea of trees. Dotted throughout this sea of trees were holes at the roots of massive trees that led to underground small cavitieshidden areas.

In this location, pre-designated after manipulating Ougasei, lay a hidden area known only to Hiiragi.

Having concealed herself there alongside the Goldunine "Isuna," Hiiragi—despite falling into the unforeseen situation of the Unique Monster "Goldunine the Inexhaustible" crashing the party—had finally initiated her move, all while continuing to meddle by having Isuna snipe from the entrance of the hole.

Achieving perfect stealth through her skills, she launched a surprise attack on Sunraku from behind. Normally, her usual modus operandi was to immediately transition to her next action right after launching a surprise attack.

But this time, it was a player kill conducted right in the middle of a boss battle; she had to collect the items Sunraku dropped before being attacked by Goldunine the Inexhaustible.

Fortunately, whatever madness had possessed the player named Sunraku, he was a pervert of questionable sanity equipped with nothing but a half-naked body and a mask. Landing a critical hit on his neck would surely kill him instantly.

"Fufufufufu..."

Thinking about how kind she was for not reporting him, Hiiragi yanked out the handaxetomahawk she had driven into Sunraku's neck, and then...

"Who the hell are you."

She was violently blown away by an iron fist slammed into her stomach without a single shred of hesitation.

"Ugih......... gehoh!"

"What the hell was that just now... you, are you a Player Killer?"

(Why is he aliv... Luck!?)

The Luck parameter found in one's stats provided a passive blessing when it exceeded a certain numerical value.

For example, preventing death from self-inflicted damage, and an endurance effect that guaranteed holding on with 1 HP when receiving fatal damage.

"Did you enter from the outside...? No, that's not it, you... you were hiding this whole time... weren't you?"

"Hih,"

From beneath that ridiculous bird mask, a glaring, piercing gaze stabbed into Hiiragi. Those were not the eyes of a normal person; Hiiragi determined that this player was completely out of his mind.

(I couldn't finish him! He didn't fully die! I-Isuna-chan, what are you doing!? Are you camping again!? Jeez! Useless! Useless! Potato-head!)

Why was she the one being cornered?

The reason was none other than Hiiragi launching a surprise attack from behind and burying a handaxe into his neck, but within Hiiragi's philosophy of life, every single one of her actions was meant to be affirmed as "good," and anything that denied them was "evil."

The gaze staring straight at her, neither angry nor deranged, was denying everything about Hiiragi.

"I don't know who you are, but I'm killing you for now."

"Hii...! The worst! Demon! Devil! Even if this is a game, don't you have even the bare minimum amount of morals!?"

"......... , .........? ............???"

At that moment, Sunraku's movements stopped.

This was because Sunraku, who had reverted to a mentality close to those days, couldn't find his own answer to the overly common-sense question of, "Wait, with what mouth did this person just say that line?"

Or perhaps, if it truly was those days, he might not have stopped at all, treating the begging of others for their lives as synonymous with the squealing of pigs. However, Rakuro HizutomeSunraku had grown since those days, drawing closer to becoming an adult. And his sense of judgment had grown firmer... rendering him far too rusted to survive on an isolated island.

And that was precisely why,

"i doN't neEd to beg for my lifE, righT?"

"Go, a.........h!?"

A poison sword fired by Goldunine the Inexhaustible, who had already closed into firing range, pierced right through Sunraku's torso.

"Shit............"

Miracles don't happen twice. If there was someone capable of making that happen, it would only be a "Hero."

Feeling relieved as she watched Sunraku's figure finally shatter into pieces this time... Hiiragi remembered that she was already in a situation far removed from absolute safety.

"............?"

"U-Uhm... I-I won't do anything and I'll go home right away so......... okay?"

"no way, righT?"

Before she could say anything else, a poison bomb was smashed directly into Hiiragi's face.

───And so, every single player was slaughtered.

"shE raN away from me, didn'T she? fufU... ah, how unpleasanT."

......

............

..............

................

After Goldunine the Inexhaustible had left, there remained a place that the beasts still dared not approach, terrified by the tyranny wrought by the inexhaustible snakes.

The trees had been ruthlessly mowed down, and the earth was polluted by the repeated detonations of poison. Amidst all this... from the roots of a white giant tree snapped in half, two shadows crawled out.

"Fu, fufufufu... ahahahaha! Maaaaajoooooor succcccccess!! We did it! Right! Isuna-chaaaan!!"

"thaT's righT."

"Ahahaha, Isuna-chan was getting scared for nothing, but even Goldunine the Inexhaustible is... nothing special, right?"

The two shadows that crawled out; one was Hiiragi, who was supposed to be dead. And the other was the Goldunine "Isuna," who had sniped out the eyes of the disappearing white snake.

"Jeez, I wondered what was going to happen when that perverted bird-head made my 【A Death Worth Laughing At!Killing Joke】 misfire, but... all's well that ends well! Right! Right!"

Hiiragi held the job "Hidden EarthStealth Force", but that was strictly her sub-job.

Her main job was......... "Slaughter JokerKilling Joker". A hidden job branching from the upper-tier job "Assassin," unlocked under the condition of possessing a Karma Value above a certain threshold and killing more than ten players while maintaining a Red Name status.

Its defining feature was the unique magic 【A Death Worth Laughing At!Killing Joke】. Strictly while the effect was active, if the player's HP was reduced to zero by another player, they would revive at their last saved point with half of their health remaining.

Although the skill's duration was an extremely brief ten seconds... it was the single method in Shangri-La Frontier capable of evading the penalty of being killed by another player.

Naturally, although the effect didn't trigger this time and ended in a misfire, because Hiiragi was killed by the monster Goldunine the Inexhaustible, she was able to respawn at her tent in the small cavity without receiving a Player Killer-Kill penalty.

"Ahahaha! I didn't get the PK, but I got the item recovery~♪"

It was unfortunate she couldn't spill the contents of his inventory, but for some reason, setting aside the weapons Sunraku had equipped, his armor and accessories—which shouldn't have dropped—had fallen right there on the spot.

"Huh? I wonder why... well, whatever. Lucky!"

Beaming with delight as she collected the amber-embedded gloves and the massive, dull black shining gauntlets, Hiiragi... spotted the Shoebill mask, lying flat and deflated since its hollow inside was empty.

Hiiragi stared at it for a while, but...

"Disgusting."

Even if it was just a game, she wouldn't want a mask worn by a pervert even if you paid her.

Without bothering to pick up the fallen mask, she trampled over it. Hiiragi, alongside Isuna, left the area with a light step, looking as if she couldn't be having any more fun...

And then the sun set, and night arrived.

Author's Afterword

The night is long, but even so───

By the way, Killing Joker is one half of the two available "Joker" jobs.

The other half is the "Brilliant JokerSteal Joker" which branches from the "Phantom Thief" job.