Chapter 35: D.E.A.R

’Damn bastards, they really followed me inside, just as I suspected.’ Neolan thought as he panted heavily, his breathing still unsteady from the strain of using Dome of Infinite Slashes. He clenched his teeth as he looked toward the assassins before another thought crossed his mind.

’I used that Technique so I wouldn’t have to deal with picking the Cores out of their bodies with my hands, but it seems that wasn’t a good idea.’ He slowly calmed himself down before focusing on the man who had just slashed his blade toward him.

’One last Void Step remains. On the other hand, there are nine of them, and to top it off, they are all past the Fourth Evolution.’ Ultimate Comprehension continued working passively in the back of his mind as Neolan assessed the situation.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he came to a simple conclusion. ’There’s no use. I need to take a Core out of my Subspace and replenish my energy first.’ He immediately raised his wristwatch and was just about to retrieve a high-level Monster Core from his Subspace when he suddenly sensed two different presences approaching from both sides.

They were only a meter away, and before Neolan could react, two Astrine Blades moved toward him simultaneously. One of the assassins wielded an axe while the other held a dagger, and both attacks were aimed directly at his body.

’-!’ Neolan’s eyes widened as he immediately activated Shadow Render, using it in the same manner he had used it in Ousvault to form a defensive barrier around himself with the Astrine he had remaining.

However, the moment the attacks struck the barrier, cracks instantly spread across its surface. Neolan’s expression changed slightly as he immediately understood what was happening. ’Tch, they’re using their Aspect Abilities from the very beginning without holding anything back.’ After all, they were assassins, and their job was to eliminate their target as quickly as possible, especially when that target was already in a weakened state.

’Void Steps!’ Neolan completely vanished from the area before the two assassins could strike again. Their attacks missed their target, leaving both of them standing in place with baffled expressions as they looked around in confusion.

They couldn’t understand how Neolan had escaped when they had already sensed that his energy was nearly depleted, but the answer was simple.

Neolan had used the very last of his Spiritual Energy and appeared in a completely different location. He reappeared in the deepest part of the Rift, where the interior of an enormous temple surrounded him, and the moment his feet touched the ground, his body nearly collapsed from exhaustion.

Without wasting any time, he immediately took out an A-rank Monster Core from the many stored inside his Subspace and began absorbing the Astrine within it.

The energy inside the Core rapidly flowed into his body, replenishing the Astrine he had spent during the battle. Within a minute, the entire Core had been absorbed, and the exhaustion that had previously weighed down his body disappeared completely. Neolan exhaled softly before straightening his posture, his expression returning to its usual calm state as he looked around the strange temple.

One might wonder how Neolan had managed to put himself in such a situation despite possessing Ultimate Comprehension and already suspecting that the assassins were following him. The truth was that Neolan had never actually been in a bind at all.

Everything that had happened was part of his plan to lure the assassins inside the Rift, because he wanted to make them experience something far worse than simply failing their assassination mission.

A grin appeared on Neolan’s face as he looked around the temple. ’I just wanted to see where they came from and which affiliation they belonged to. I thought they might have been sent by a Noble Family opposing the Ashburns, but...’ His eyes narrowed slightly as he remembered what he had discovered. ’They’re Nox assassins. An entire organization that can do anything necessary to complete their missions.’

Bifrost had already disappeared from Neolan’s hand and returned inside his soul, so he simply stood there while examining the temple around him. ’Well, it’s their own fault for coming after me. Now all of them are going to be trapped inside this Rift, and when they do...’ A seemingly evil grin slowly surfaced on his face as he imagined what was about to happen to them.

Once a Rift was cleared by taking the Core of the Rift itself, the Rift would close after the owner of the Core stepped outside. However, the space inside the Rift would no longer remain a Rift after that point, and instead, it would become something akin to a completely new world.

Monsters would continuously pour into that world, and regardless of the original Rank of the Rift, monsters of any Rank could eventually appear within it.

’Hehe... I was once a victim of that kind of thing too. It was nothing but hell.’ Neolan’s grin widened as he imagined the nine assassins facing the same fate. ’Now you people can suffer as well, bastards!’ With that final thought, Neolan walked straight through the temple’s hallway, his footsteps echoing through the enormous structure as he headed deeper inside.

Eventually, he appeared in a circular chamber where a hand-sized orb floated at the center. A massive amount of Astrine leaked from the orb, filling the entire chamber with an enormous concentration of energy.

Neolan stared at it for a moment before his eyes narrowed slightly, ’Even if I have to lose those Monster Cores, this will more than compensate for that. Now it’s time to say goodbye to my D.E.A.R. assassins.’

[A/N: Dumbasses Expecting An Escape.]

’Maybe I’m getting into the villain role slightly too much...’ Neolan thought as he walked toward the floating Core. ’Well, it is a funny situation, so I might as well enjoy it.’ Once he reached the Core, he immediately placed his hand against its surface, and although he felt a small resistance at first, the moment he released his own Astrine into it, the resistance disappeared.

The Core quickly became calm, allowing Neolan to take it into his hand. The moment he did, the same Rift that had brought him inside suddenly appeared before him as space itself tore apart. Neolan didn’t waste even a single second and stepped through the opening, leaving the strange temple behind him.

The moment Neolan stepped outside, the entire dimension of the Rift began shaking violently. The tremor spread across miles upon miles of distance, causing the surrounding space to vibrate as the massive walls and structures inside the Rift began to tremble. Even the nine assassins deep inside the dimension immediately felt the violent shaking beneath their feet.

"What?! Did that bastard just take the Core?!" The assassin with the stripes covering his face and body shouted as realization finally dawned upon him. Until now, they had believed that Neolan needed to physically visit a location before he could use that strange teleportation ability of his, but it seemed that assumption had been completely wrong.

’He can teleport to anywhere even if he hasn’t visited it before? Isn’t that just a complete cheat?!’ The assassin barely had time to process the realization before the walls surrounding them suddenly began retracting into the ground.

As the massive walls descended, something terrifying was gradually revealed behind them. All nine assassins froze when they saw it, because the creature before them was so enormous that even a single glance at it sent chills through their bodies. A massive monster remained asleep in front of them, but after seeing its enormous body and the pressure radiating from it, there was no doubt about what it truly was.

A Dragon.

Its chest slowly rose and fell as it slept, and every single breath it released contained such an enormous amount of energy that the combined presence of all nine assassins seemed insignificant in comparison.

Their legs froze as their bodies began trembling uncontrollably while they stared at the sleeping Dragon, ’W-Were those walls protecting that temple from this Dragon? I-It must have had some kind of barrier, and n-now that it’s gone...’

Before the assassin could finish his thought, the Dragon’s eyes suddenly snapped open. Its enormous vertical pupils immediately locked onto every single assassin standing before it, and the pressure of its gaze alone made their bodies stiffen.

The nine assassins instinctively prepared to turn around and run, but before any of them could move, their minds suddenly went blank. Their bodies dropped one after another onto the ground without even having the chance to scream.

How?

Unknown.

The Dragon slowly rose from the ground, its enormous body towering over the dead assassins. Its massive jaws opened, and before their bodies could even remain still, a terrifying suction force pulled all the nine corpses of the assassins into its mouth at once.

With a single motion, the Dragon swallowed every last trace of them.