Chapter 37

At the far side of the room, a raised dais had a larger than normal ratman sitting in what looked like the lotus position. It was slightly shorter than Byral Warfang had been and was in much better physical condition than either Byral or Farsqueaker. Whipcord-lean limbs corded with muscles beneath the black fur, what little was exposed.

It wore similar clothes to the Gutter Runners from earlier, but they were also far better quality and his most of its fur from sight. It also possessed a hooded cape that ended at its lower back. Two handles were sheathed at its waist, ones Issei recognised as belonging to [Weeping Blades].

"So…you have slain-killed my disciples, man-thing." The black-furred ratman spoke, its eyes still closed.

"Yeah…the whole hide and seek thing got boring after the first time I almost got shanked by them." Issei replied casually, "Really hope you aren't planning on somehow snuffing out these candles and pulling that on me."

"Keh…a man-thing is weak-weak prey for my skills." The dungeon boss replied contemptuously, "Darkness will be unneeded to slay-murder you."

Eyes still closed, it stood up and rolled its head around before its eyes snapped open. They were totally red, sclera, pupil and iris.

"I am the Master Assassin of the Council of Thirteen, one of whom you have already kill-killed." It said coldly, "Prepare to suffer, man-thing."

Then, the one thing that had been missing from the scene appeared above the Ratman's head.

Deathmaster Snikch LV15

[Master Assassin/Chief Assassin of Clan Eshin]

Oh hell.

Hurriedly drawing another ninjatō, Issei prepared himself to fight.

Then Snikch moved! He was so fast that the Level 3 [Force Absorption Field] barely did anything to slow him down. Issei blocked one swipe -was that a barehanded attack?- from the Master Assassin that resonated up his arm. Damn, did this rat hit hard!

"Weak-weak!" the rat sneered, "My disciples lost to you?! Inconceivable!"

"Oh, go eat cheese!" Issei snarled before slashing at the rat with his off hand. His [Ambidextrous] skill was only Level 3, which meant that attacks made with his off-hand suffered a penalty of -50 from accuracy and damage, which is why it wasn't entirely surprising that one of Snikch's hands lashed out and smacked the incoming blade to one side.

What was surprising was the slight wince that the Deathmaster showed just afterwards. It was a slight twitch that Issei might have missed had he been looking anywhere but at the Deathmaster's face, but it was undoubtedly a flinch of pain.

"I see…" Snikch hissed as he backed up slightly, "Your defence is weak-weak, but you strike like a thrown stone. I see that fighting you with bare claws will not work."

With deliberate slowness, the ratman assassin drew his [Weeping Blades] from their sheaths. These ones were more like short swords compared to the daggers that the Gutter Runners had had. They also had a serrated edge about halfway down the blade for a couple of inches. A possible weak point.

Without warning, Snikch threw himself at Issei, a third [Weeping Blade], of a similar size to his other two, emerged from below his cloak, held by his tail. The three poisonous blades sliced and cut at him, but liberal use of the [Parry] skill kept him at bay, although it left Issei with almost no time to attack himself.

When his ninjatō both snapped, even with the reinforcement from his magic, the Sekiryūtei drew out a fresh pair, his mind racing. The destruction of his weapons had ended the [Magic Weapon Reinforcement], so he quickly reactivated it.

'I can't keep staying on the defensive like this; I won't get anywhere.' He thought as he and Snikch circled each other warily, 'That third sword is the problem. If I can get rid of it, I can at least match this guy in number of weapons, if not the same quality of weapons.'

"I tire of this dance-fight." Snikch growled, "Now…it's time to die-die, man-thing. [Dance of the Weeping Blades]!"

"[Lesser Barrier Shield]!" Issei barked as he felt magic pour off of the master Assassin like a wave of water. Just as the shield sprang to life, the Deathmaster charged forwards and smashed into it with all three of his blades. He then unleashed a frenzied series of cuts, stabs and slices at it, rapidly depleting its Durability and destroying it.

"Crap!"

Issei blocked the next two cuts, but the third scored a line right across his chest.

You lose 70 HP!

Thankfully, it hadn't penetrated his armour, so there shouldn't be any worry about being poisoned. Issei fired an [Earth Shot] at point blank range before charging in, hoping that Snikch would be at least a little distracted by the stone missile.

He wasn't.

The Deathmaster cut the projectile in half before engaging Issei in close, three swords lashing out at Issei, hammering away at his defences with practiced ease.

Getting desperate, Issei timed it until all three of the [Weeping Blades] were attacking in the same vertical area before moving in, swords crossed and blocking them all.

Cracks appeared in the ninjatō, but they didn't break quite yet. Issei heaved with all of his strength and threw Snikch completely off balance before unleashing a barrage of attacks with his cracked ninjatō, scoring at least three deep cuts on the Assassin's body. The ninjatō shattered again and Issei hastily replaced them and reactivated his weapon enhancement spell as the Deathmaster stumbled back, clutching the largest of the wounds on his torso.

"Krrrrrraaaaahhhh!" Snikch yowled in pain. Leaping back and panting heavily, his red eyes glared at Issei, radiating fury.

"[Cloak of Shadows]!" he hissed. Snikch's form became black and ethereal and it looked as if he were made of shadows themselves. The only solid parts on him were the [Weeping Blades].

Issei recognised this sort of form. He'd come across it in some RPG games. Snikch was now Ethereal, unable to be hit by non-magical weaponry. The fact that his weapons remained solid meant one of two things. One, that Warpstone was partially immune to the effects of skills. Or, Two, the skill that Snikch used didn't affect magical weapons point blank.

'Wait a minute…why would he use a skill or spell that turned him ethereal? He has to know that my ninjatō are currently magically enhanced, so more than able to hurt him in that form.' Issei thought with a frown.

The fact that Snikch could use spells or active skills was something quite new to Issei. Both Byral and Farsqueaker had relied on basic attacks when fighting him and both iterations of Boneripper had done the same, aside from Boneripper Revived's Warpfire Thrower. None of the other bosses since then had used skills or spells either.

Things were becoming interesting.

"He who fights and scuttles away, lives to fight another day, Man-Thing." The Assassin hissed as he sheathed his [Weeping Blades], "You have proven-showed yourself to be worthy prey. Should you live past the next Den, I shall take great pleasure in kill-killing you!"

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