The Author's POV

As night shrouded Hollberg, a silhouette sped into the busy streets of the city.

Swiftly moving between cars, the figure of an individual could be seen riding on top of a slick motorbike that emitted no sound. If not for the two lights coming from the front of the bike, someone could've easily overlooked the bike that was swiftly moving in between the streets.

After ten more minutes of riding, silently stopping in front of a large villa, Kevin took off his helmet revealing his two scarlet red eyes that shone under the moonlight.

-shua!

"System open inventory"

Extending his hand to the right and retrieving it back, a drone appeared in his hand.

Turning on the drone, Kevin turned on the cloaking function as well as the noise dampening function installed on the drone.

-Bzzzz!

Throwing the drone in the air, it silently disappeared and melted into the darkness of the night, completely blending with everything around it.

Staring at where the drone used to be, Kevin blankly looked at the villa before him

This wasn't the first time Kevin assassinated someone. Multiple times the system had given him similar missions where he would have to kill highly ranked individuals.

Therefore, as soon as he got assigned his mission, he already had all the necessary things needed to carry out the mission.

Turning on his phone, Kevin spectated the drone's view of the mansion.

Frowning slightly, Keving turned on the holographic function of his phone. Soon a three-dimensional perspective of the villa became visible.

Pinching his fingers, he carefully scrutinized the layout of the area.

The villa was relatively large, and it consisted of one main building surrounded by large cement walls. Around the villa, there was a large garden, filled with all sorts of flowers and plants, and next to it was a large maze.

In the middle of the maze, there was a nice wooden pavilion surrounded by red and pink roses.

Controlling the drone, Kevin moved it around the perimeter of the gate where several men dressed in black could be seen patrolling the area.

Counting all of the people he could spot patrolling the mansion, Kevin turned on the thermal imaging camera to make sure he didn't miss anyone due to the darkness of the night.

"Fifteen...sixteen...seventeen"

As he counted, he couldn't help but frown.

...This many people just outside?

Something told Kevin that something wasn't right

-Click!

Thinking for a bit, Kevin decided to deploy his mini scouting devices. Pressing on a button on his screen, several small devices dropped from the drone, landing softly on the garden's grass.

Swiping left, Kevin switched the view from the drone's point of view to the mini scouting devices view.

As he navigated the mini scouting devices with his phone, Kevin kept the drone in the air to monitor the surroundings. Just in case something happened.

Quietly entering the villa, carefully controlling one of the small scouting devices, Kevin quietly looked through each room.

After a couple of minutes of continuous scouting, Kevin stopped at what seemed to be his target's study room. Infiltrating the room through the small gap of the door, Kevin was able to see the inside of the room.

In the middle of the room stood a large wooden desk with two white leather sofas positioned right in front of it. Behind the desk, there was a large window that overlooked the whole garden.

A large carpet that seemed to have been made from real animal skin covered the whole floor, and around the room, multiple different paintings were displayed for people to see.

Just as Kevin was about to check through the files on his target's desk, the scouting device picked up a few tremors coming from the ground.

Frowning slightly, Kevin quickly hid the device from human view and turned on the cloaking function.

-Creak!

"Have all the preparations been made?"

Entering the room, a fat middle-aged man dressed in a red robe that had fine golden patterns looked behind him as he spoke. Accompanying him were several black-clothed individuals who were all warily looking in the same direction the fat middle-aged man was looking.

Kevin who was watching from the scouting device instantly identified the fat middle-aged man.

Victor Hugh, his assassination target.

Matching the description of his target with the image displayed on his screen, Kevin confirmed that he was in fact, Victor.

A few seconds after Victor entered the room, a towering man whose muscles were the size of a head entered the room. As he entered the room, his presence and demenour completely overwhelmed everyone that was in the room.

Only Victor remained relatively unfazed by the man's aura.

-Pamf!

Slumping on his chair, Victor gestured for the towering man to sit on one of the sofas opposite to him.

Sitting down, the tall man spoke

"Mister Oliver has already entered the premise and is currently in talks with secretary Chun with regards to securing a new supply route. Within an hour we should be able to finalize a deal with them"

Hearing the name Oliver being mentioned, Victor's face became dark

"Oliver? The guy that monopolized most trading routes in Hollberg?"

Nodding his head, the tall man confirmed.

"...yes"

Frowning slightly, Victor tapped his finger on the table and asked

"Has the security around here been tightened?"

Nodding his head, the tall man said

"Yes, we have hired a couple of extra guards. Though only two are decent, ranking at F rank."

Holding his almost non-existent chin with one of his fingers, Victor remained silent for a bit before saying what had been bugging his mind for the past two days

"...say, were there any unusual activities coming from the students that came from the lock?"

Lightly chuckling, the tall muscular man who seemed to have seen through Victor's worries spoke

"Even if they did move, I would doubt a bunch greenies like them would be able to get past me"

Forcing a smile, Victor shook his head

"It's not that simple, what if it's one of the professors who targets me? Even you, an <E> ranked individual would stand no chance against one of the professors there"

Leaning back against the sofa, the tall man crossed his arms and frowned

"What you say does indeed make sense...but have you ever wondered. Would the lock, the world's leading academy stoop so low and target you? Someone who couldn't even be put on the radar by weaker forces?"

Looking back at Victor, he continued

"I'd understand it if you were some bigshot crime boss, but you're merely a finance minister of a still-developing city. There's no way they would send a professor for the likes of you.

"Worst case scenario they will just send a student, which in all said and done are not worth mentioning in front of me"

Hearing what the tall man sitting before him was saying, Victor felt a bit more reassured...but he still couldn't completely hide his worry

"...yea but they are from the lock"

Smirking, a black glow started emanating from the tall man's body. Soon an overbearing pressure bore down on everyone in the room.

"He, you think a bunch of students that have no real combat experience, let alone have ever killed someone are a match for me?"

Feeling the massive pressure bearing down on him, Victor quickly apologized

"N-no, I'm sorry I am just nervous"

Noticing that he had taken things a bit too far, the tall man removed the pressure and said

"Hmph, when the time comes and if they really do show up...I'll show you the difference between me and them"

Standing up, the tall man looked at Victor and said

"...You felt it just now didn't you? My power."

Victor who was still recovering from the pressure the tall man had exerted before, nodded his head and said

"I did"

"...so there's nothing to be particularly worried about"

Seein how confident the tall man before him was, Victor bitterly smiled and said

"Sigh, alright. There's a reason why I pay you so much Eldor"

"Well, for someone like me the amount you're paying could be considered a barg...hmm?"

Stopping mid-sentence, Eldor looked at the right side of the room. Squinting his eyes, he moved closer towards the edge of the wall of the room.

"What's this?"

Picking up a small device that was the size of a coin, the small device's color soon distorted from being the same color as the wall to slowly changing to the same skin tone as Eldor's fingers.

-Criiick!

Pinching the small device, Eldor looked at Victor and darkly said

"Victor...start evacuating"

Taken aback by Eldor's sudden change in demenour, Victor's voice trembled as he looked at Eldor

"W-what happened?"

Looking at the powder in his hands, which used to be the small device he picked up, Eldor slowly said

"We have been breached"

...

-Bzzzttt

Staring at his screen that had gone completely static, Kevin slowly removed his Kashmire jacket and carefully placed it on top of the bike.

Extending his hand to the right, a slick slender sword suddenly appeared in his hand.

Unsheathing the sword, Kevin slowly traced his finger along the cold metal body of the blade.

"It's nice to see you again..."

Sheathing the sword back into the scabbard and placing it right below his waist, Kevin looked at the villa before him.

Taking a deep breath, Kevin activated his F ranked skill [[F] Mind cleansing].

As soon as he activated the skill, Kevin felt his head become clearer. Everything that he had previously seen on the drone became a bunch of variables that his mind slowly accounted for.

Slowly, a plan started formulating inside of his mind. A plan that dictated the fastest route and way he could use to get to where Victor was, and swiftly get rid of him.

"Fuuuu..."

Releasing a long breath, a couple of seconds after activating the skill, Kevin deactivated it.

As soon as he deactivated his skill, veins started popping on his forehead as they pulsated constantly. Frowning, Kevin stopped himself from displaying any reaction and endured the pain that came along with using the skill.

After a couple of seconds, everything returned back to normal, and the pain disappeared. Despite having only used the skill for a couple of seconds, it still did a number on him...however it wasn't for nothing.

Now, he knew what the fastest and safest way to kill Victor was...

Closing his eyes, slowly, his figure melted into the darkness

"....let the hunt begin"