The Eternal Assassin

After informing Samantha about the demon guarding the probable key to their cells, the woman sighed, leaning back against the stone wall.

"I know this is a lot to ask after all you've already done for us, but is there any chance you could defeat the demon and retrieve the key? Clearly you know how to fight," she said, gesturing to the three dead imps. "Are you a slayer or something?"

Slayer, huh? I wonder if that's one of the classes this world seems to have, like hunter or alchemist.

"It's a long story, but for reasons I don't want to get into, let's just say I'd like to avoid fighting anything more dangerous than these imps for the time being," Asher said, trying to come up with another solution that didn't involve him getting squashed like a bug. To his surprise, it was the still fuming alchemist that offered a suggestion.

"Well if you're not done wasting potions, that acid you showed me should be able to eat through these locks in seconds," the man sighed, clearly still irritated. "I'd suggest only using it on mine and offering to pay you for the remainder once we're out of here, but I'm assuming you'll turn down my offer."

"You would be correct," Asher said, deciding that it wasn't his job to act as the man's therapist as he fished out the acid. Careful not to get any on his hands, he poured a few drops into the lock on Samantha's door, watching as the liquid ate through the metal as though it were made of paper. It took him about a sixth of the potion, but eventually the lock was dissolved enough that Samantha was able to kick the door open, immediately rushing over to her brother's cell.

"I'm here, Brian," she said breathlessly, grabbing her brother through the bars and pulling him into a tight embrace. Asher tried not to stare at the touching family reunion as he got to work on Brian's cell door, and in no time at all he'd been freed as well. But as he went to make his way over to the alchemist, he was surprised to find Samantha stop him with a raised arm.

"That man is the reason we're in this mess in the first place," she said, her eyes hardening as she stared at the impatiently waiting alchemist. "Mr. Sonth here only hired me for a short expedition into well-known territory, but when he and his wife weren't pleased with what they found, they demanded we advance further into the forest despite my warnings. Against my better judgment and despite the fact that Brian was tagging along that day, I decided to go along with their request. Things have been rough lately and we needed the shards." She added this last bit a tad sheepishly, but it did nothing to diminish the anger in her eyes. "Brian is years away from earning his origin element. Those monsters could have killed him in an instant if things had gone at all differently."

"Those things did kill my wife, or have you forgotten?" Mr. Sonth hissed, glaring daggers at Samantha. "I'm the one suffering the most from all this. It wasn't my decision to bring your brother with us on the expedition you know!"

Samantha flinched as the alchemist's words struck her like a whip. Sighing, Asher pushed his way past her arm as he started melting the final lock before things could come to blows.

"Look, you guys clearly have been through a lot, but I have as well. I'm helping you because I don't think keeping people locked up for no reason is right, and I'm hoping you can help me out in return. Can we just get out of here without ripping each other's throats out?"

Not waiting for a response, Asher finished melting the lock and stoppered the last half of the vial, carefully returning it to his backpack. Yanking open Mr. Sonth's door, he gestured for the alchemist to join them.

Grumbling, the man pushed himself to his feet and walked past him, ignoring Samantha and Brian entirely as he walked over to investigate the dead imps. Shaking his head, Asher rejoined the hunter and her brother, happy to ignore the alchemist right back.

"Before we even worry about getting out of here, do you have some way of guiding us back through the forest to civilization?" he asked the hunter.

"It will be dangerous without my bow, but I have a skill that will lead us home," Samantha nodded, holding Brian's hand tightly in her own as if afraid he would be yanked out from under her at any moment. "Unless we can find a replacement bow and some arrows, we'll be relying on you for any fighting out in the wilderness."

"This tower is pretty big. I bet there's an armory hidden in it somewhere," Asher said, not wanting to be put in charge of their safety when he had nothing but his rusty dagger on hand. "The main problem of course is the demon with the key. Imps I can handle, but if that demon realizes you guys are free there's not a lot I can do."

"And if the wizard you claim controls this tower comes back, we're all dead," Samantha added, shuddering at the thought. "I don't even understand why there is a wizard all the way out here in the first place. Wizards are a rare class that normally work for the nobility; they're highly paid and just as highly respected. I've never heard of one abandoning society to live out their lives like a hermit."

Well there's one difference between our worlds. I guess random abandoned wizard towers aren't as common in this world as I assumed.

"It sounds like while we have to be careful, we need to move, and fast," Asher summed up, watching the alchemist examine the imp's blood and clawed hands. "For all we know the wizard has some way of detecting when his imps are killed.

"Here's the plan. I'm going to check out the rest of the tower and see if I can't find you guys some weapons. You lay low here until I return. I guess if I'm not back in half an hour, assume something got me and try to make a break for it. Here," he said, handing her the remaining acid. "You might need that for the door to the stairwell. And I guess if the demon attacks you, you could try and throw it in its face or something."

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Staring at the acid like it was a giant diamond, Samantha nodded, gingerly accepting it. "It won't be enough to repay you, but I swear on my life I'll give you every shard I have once we're out of here."

"Me too!" Brian said, clearly eager to help his sister in any way he could.

"We'll worry about that later," Asher chuckled. "Be back in a few." Steeling himself, he slipped into the astral realm and willed himself to fall through the floor.

As much as he wanted to try using his strange ability to peer through the floor ahead of time, he quite vividly recalled the sensation of accidentally falling through the floor the last time he'd tried doing so, and it had been sheer luck that he hadn't fallen directly onto his head and snapped his neck. Until they were safely away from the tower and he could get in some controlled practice, he wasn't willing to take that risk.

Already getting used to dropping from one floor to the next, Asher landed without injury this time, quickly taking note of the two imps within the room. Based on the dirt-covered floor and strange plants carefully growing in rows, this room appeared to be some sort of indoor garden.

Unlike the previous floors, the dirt filling the room actually managed to silence his fall, and neither of the two imps currently busy tending to the garden seemed to have noticed his entrance. Taking advantage of his silent landing, Asher quietly crept over to the closer of the two imps, readying his dagger. The imp was preoccupied harvesting a handful of plants that looked like a potato crossed with a car battery, and it didn't even make a sound as Asher plunged his dagger directly into its heart from behind.

Grabbing the body and laying it down gently so as not to alert the second imp, Asher slipped into the astral realm and walked through an adjacent trellis holding what looked like ordinary grapes, using it as cover to prevent the other imp from seeing him as he made his way over to it. Slipping back through the trellis, he returned to the normal world directly behind the second imp, slamming his dagger into the monster's head and killing it instantly.

Catching his breath, Asher grinned at the ease of which he'd managed to dispatch the two monsters. Unlike his first fight not too long ago, he was already getting accustomed to slipping in and out of the astral realm. He still couldn't stay in the realm for more than a few seconds, and movement within the realm wasn't as easy as he would like, but it still made sneaking around and fighting immensely easier.

Not to mention your regeneration for when you inevitably mess up anyway.

Speaking of regeneration, a quick check of his eye showed that while he still couldn't see out of it, the lacerations across his face seemed to have mostly healed up. Hopefully by the time they were out of the tower and running through the wilderness his eye would be fully repaired.

Similar to the alchemy workshop up above, none of the plants filling the room were recognizable to him. While he was tempted to run around and use Identify on everything just for the sake of practicing the skill, they were on a bit of a time crunch. Making sure his bandages were snug around his eye, he slipped through the floor yet again, once more landing heavily on a stone floor.

Jackpot, he thought, looking around at the racks of weapons lining the walls. Thankfully, the armory he'd just landed in was free of imps, meaning Asher could take his time wandering around while trying to find the most dangerous looking weapons available to him. Even before he finished his search, his efforts were rewarded.

Identify – Lvl 6

Thanks to Identify, his untrained eye was able to quickly determine what weapons were low versus high quality, and he even found a couple that were enchanted. Quickly picking out the ones that he was interested in, he took a look at his finds.

First was the bow he picked out for Samantha.

[Longbow] - Masterwork quality. Piercing enchantment.

The bow was accompanied by a quiver filled with high quality steel arrows, and Asher felt a lot better about his odds of making it through the wilderness with an armed companion at his side. Taking a look at his own finds, he couldn't help but grin at the assortment of daggers he'd found for himself.

[Steel Dagger] - Masterwork quality.

[Steel Dagger] - Excellent quality.

[Cold Iron Dagger] - Masterwork quality.

[Silver Dagger] - Excellent quality.

[Mithral Dagger] - Good quality.

[Iron Dagger] - Excellent quality. Flame enchantment.

While there were far more deadly-looking weapons that he'd certainly been drawn to, such as a monstrous steel warhammer that was somehow enchanted with 'explosion,' in the end, he decided he already felt fairly comfortable fighting with a dagger. He couldn't spend very long within the astral realm, and a bulky weapon would just weigh him down. His mobility was his strongest advantage after all.

Finding a bandolier filled with ten iron daggers of varying quality hanging on the wall, he quickly tossed out six of the lowest quality ones and replaced them with the six daggers he'd found before strapping it to his chest. After a moment of hesitation, he removed one more of the good quality iron daggers, replacing it with the trusty rusted one he'd been using all this time.

So what if it's sentimental and stupid, I have nine other daggers now I can work with if need be.

Feeling far more confident with a handful of quality daggers strapped across his chest, Asher grabbed two maces for Brian and Mr. Sonth. He had no idea if either of them had been trained to fight, and he figured it would be easier to whack something with a heavy stick than to try and use a sword for the first time.

His arms loaded with the bow, quiver, and maces, Asher only hesitated for a moment before he shoved aside his thoughts of getting pulped by the giant demon and slipped through the door into the stairwell once more. While he could fall from floor to floor to descend the tower, the only way to get back up to his new allies was to take the stairs.

Asher held his breath as he returned from the astral realm, waiting to feel the vibrations of a giant demon rushing down the stairs towards him. But when no blood curdling scream hit him, he quickly made his way back up to the room filled with cells, stepping as silently as he could. He had no idea where the demon was, and he didn't want to find out.

Slipping through the correct door, Asher found the three former prisoners exactly where he'd left them. Mr. Sonth seemed to prefer analyzing the corpses of the imps while they waited, and Samantha and Brian looked content giving the alchemist space as they whispered to one another on the other end of the room. Shifting back to the normal world, Asher flashed the startled Samantha a grin.

"Who wants some presents?"