Chapter 1: The Assassin Is Caught Up in the Transformation of the World
I lean back in my seat and operate the switch in my hand.
The movie on the LCD screen stops.
The strong-bodied hero is about to land a leaping kick on the bad guy.
It’s the climax of the movie and the most exciting part.
I stop a passing cabin attendant and ask her to bring me a drink and a glass.
I fill the glass with the amber liquid and drink it down.
I take another drink and let out a deep breath.
The rich aroma that passes through my nose is irresistible.
I rest my head on my chin and look out the window.
The sky is a clear blue.
A few clouds are drifting below us.
The scenery is the same as before, but it’s passing by at a high speed.
(Not bad. It was worth the high price.)
I smile more deeply and feel satisfied.
The cabin is quiet and comfortable.
This is first class on an airliner.
I’ve finished my work overseas, and I’m on my way home.
It’s been several months since I’ve been home.
This job took a lot of time.
There were many unexpected accidents.
And it was due to a mistake made by someone other than me.
It’s not unusual, but we’re the ones who have to bear the burden.
Please don’t add to the trouble.
Well, in the end, I got the job done and took out the target.
There’s a large deposit in my account.
You can have a good time for a while.
I guess it all worked out for the best.
(It’s going to take a while…)
I check my watch.
We had quite a bit of time before we landed.
After watching the movie, I’ll take a short nap.
It’s a long way from the airport to my home.
I didn’t want to travel without enough sleep.
I was about to touch the play button when a mysterious voice echoed in my brain.
>The laws of the world have been tampered with.
>Set the initial value of the status――complete
>Converting personal talents into skills.
>Skill [Assasination A] acquired
>Skill [Immortality B+] acquired
>Skill [Observation B] acquired
>Skill [Regeneration C++] acquired
All the information I was told in rapid succession made no sense at all.
It sounded like some kind of announcement, but I couldn’t understand it.
(Where did it come from in the first place?)
It didn’t sound like an in-flight announcement.
I’m sure I’m not imagining what’s echoing in my head.
I pull off my blanket and get up from my seat.
The other passengers are buzzing, and the cabin attendant is puzzled.
I’m not the only one who heard the announcement.
Probably everyone here.
(I have a bad feeling about this.)
I raise an eyebrow and pull myself together.
My instincts are often right at times like this.
It’s better to be vigilant and not think too positively.
Just then, there’s a scream from the back of the plane.
If you look, you’ll see a fallen cabin attendant.
Someone is pressing down on her back.
It’s a green-skinned, old-looking creature.
He is thin and gaunt, with no hair.
pointed ears and a crooked nose.
Its eyes are yellowish and cloudy.
He wears only a crude waistcoat and holds a wooden club in his hand.
He was dressed like a primitive man.
It gives the impression of barbarism.
As you stare at the creature, you see a strange notation appear in your vision.
Goblin Lv.4
Threat level: E
Condition: Good
Something that looks like a computer window is floating in the air.
I rub my eyes, but it doesn’t go away.
The images are displayed so clearly that it is hard to believe that you are hallucinating.
“What the…?”
I blinked consciously, and the window vanished.
It reappears when you are somehow aware of it.
After repeating it three times, I was able to control it.
I tilt my head and think in the face of this mysterious phenomenon.
(Could it be the information from the creature?)
The timing of the event makes it reasonable to interpret it that way.
I also remember that a similar creature was called a goblin in some movies.
It looked exactly like the monster that was right in front of me.
It seems that by gazing at it, you could visualize its basic information.
It was as if it were a game or something.
While I was thinking about it, the green creature—a goblin—suddenly uttered a strange cry.
He raises his club and starts beating the cabin attendant at his feet.
The attack is relentless.
The club gradually turns red.
The other passengers immediately stopped and rescued the cabin attendant.
The goblin was strangled, but he was still in a frenzy.
The passengers who tried to stop him were clubbed and clawed.
After about a minute of fighting, the brave passengers are able to stop the goblin.
It took several people to hold him down to the floor.
The injured cabin attendant is placed in a nearby seat.
Other staff members, who have brought a first-aid kit, give her first-aid, though she is very upset.
I watched the whole thing from the sidelines.
When the situation had calmed down, I started to think again.
(I guess that’s settled for now, but… Where did that monster come from?)
Why does it exist in the first place?
There are a lot of other strange announcements and ways of showing basic information that have puzzled me from the start.
There were too few hints to give us answers.
Besides, we are in the sky.
There was still time to get to the airport, and there was nowhere to run.
Anyway, I’d like to refrain from further trouble.
Just as I’m thinking that, I hear a scream and a clamor in the distance.
I look back, exhausted.
The voices were coming from the direction of the business class.
It was quite noisy.
I walk up to the door and open it gently to see what’s on the other side.
(What the…)
Several goblins are attacking the passengers.
They are running amok, wielding clubs.
It seems that many people have already been injured, and they’re in a complete panic.
“Haha, the hell is this…”
I laugh at the sight.
The mess was so bad that it made me wonder if it was really real.
But unfortunately, there’s no time to escape reality.
I made eye contact with a goblin.
The goblin charges at me, leaping over the seats.
I pull myself away and slam the door shut behind me.
There’s a crash and strong resistance.
The goblin cuts in just in time and gets caught in the door.
Only his upper body was sticking out of the door.
The goblin screams.
He waves his arms about, trying to get in the door.
His clouded eyes are staring at me.
I can’t close the door at this point.
If other goblins rush in, I’ll be invaded in no time.
Then a brutal rampage begins.
I hold the door and give the goblin a fresh smile.
Then, with a deliberate effort to keep my voice gentle, I tell him…
“I’m sorry. You’re not allowed in first class.”
As soon as I finished, I kicked the goblin in the face.
The goblin let out a short scream; he spit, and blood flew.
Broken fangs fell from his mouth.
I opened the door a little more and slammed it shut.
I repeated it a few more times, and the goblin collapsed in a heap.
To finish, I stomp on his neck and apply force.
I could feel the soles of my shoes grinding into his cervical vertebrae.
The goblin twitches wildly, then stops moving.
>Your experience has exceeded the default value.
>Levels have been raised.
I heard the mysterious announcement again.
We can discuss this later.
I borrowed the club from the dead goblin.
I kick the body out into the business class area and close the door completely this time.
I take another look around the first-class cabin.
No other goblins were apprehended by passengers.
The passengers look at me with horror.
It’s a terrible reaction to have thwarted the threat of a massacre.
Well, it can’t be helped.
I went to the goblin, who had been retrained.
I clubbed the goblin in the head.
The goblin’s head cracks open, and brain plasma spills out of the crack.
All the passengers who had been holding him back left at once.
Many of them turn pale at the sight of the corpse, and some of them are vomiting.
“I guess we’re safe now.”
Holding the club, I move to the door again.
From there, I look into business class.
The commotion hadn’t died down yet.
Some passengers are fighting back against the goblins.
As far as I can tell, many people have been injured.
The cabin isn’t very large, and there are crowds everywhere.
The passengers are struggling against the small goblins.
(I don’t have a choice. I’ll just put them all together and get it over with.)
Playing with the club, and I decide.
If we don’t do something, it’s going to escalate.
I don’t mind if the passengers die of their own accord.
But we’re on a passenger plane.
I don’t want any unnecessary trouble to happen, just in case.
The elements of anxiety should be eliminated as much as possible.
Because of my job, I was used to killing people.
They’re monsters, but as long as they’re humanoid, I can use the skills I’ve cultivated.
I’d already confirmed that I could kill them.
Then I won’t hesitate.
“Well, I guess I’ll have to go on a rampage before I take my nap.”
I roll up the sleeves of my navy shirt and loosen my tie a little.
As I do so, I notice a drop of blood on me.
It must be Goblin’s.
I think it’s from when I beat him to death.
I’d like to take it to the cleaners if I can, but it’s going to get even dirtier.
It’ll probably be at a level that won’t wash off.
I liked it, but I’d better get a new one.
I open the door and step over the goblin’s body.
The nearest goblin spots me and leaps at me.
“All right, good position.”
I swing my club fully.
The club hits the goblin squarely in the side of the head.
The impact of destruction is felt in my hand.
The goblin’s skull is shattered, and he spins around, crashing into the seat.
He convulses, spewing blood from his nose, and I choke him out with a front kick.
Before I have time to rest, another goblin comes at me from the side.
In his hand is a stone knife, the tip wet with blood.
“Hey…”
I dodge the knife and grab his wrist.
I knee him in the gut, and the goblin bends forward, snapping his body back.
Blood is spewing from his swollen mouth.
The damage must have been visceral.
I drive my club into the gaping back of the goblin’s head.
The bludgeoning point caved in to the accompaniment of a cracking sound.
The goblin crashes to the floor, sprays red bubbles, and dies.
(It’s weak. I think I can wipe them out without any problems.)
I look over at the other goblins, convinced that I’m going to be able to destroy them without any trouble.
They’ve been torturing the passengers, but now their attention is solely on me.
They must have instinctively sensed the danger.
The loss of their comrades appears to have shifted their priorities.
The goblins looked at each other and attacked at once.
I beat them to death one by one.
Each of their attacks is huge, and it’s easy to read their trajectories.
It didn’t matter that we were in a small cabin.
Even if I’m outnumbered, I’ll simply beat them to death in turn.
I’d just keep clubbing them in the head.
Or I’d stab them to death with an in-flight meal knife that was on a nearby seat.
Several announcements were made along the way to the effect that the level had increased.
I feel like my physical abilities have increased.
Feeling good about that, I pick up the pace and start to mass produce more corpses.
“Well, that was a good workout.”
I smile, feeling good, and throw away my nearly broken club.
Next thing I knew, I had killed all the goblins.
I’ve never been injured.
I wasn’t weak enough to take the fall for those bastards.
On a blood-stained plane, passengers applaud sparingly.
I think it’s for me.
They don’t know how to react, they look confused, but at least they seem grateful.
I’ll just smile and wave, “No problem”.
Soon after, the wounded began to be carried away.
Some of the dead are pulled to the edge, and their faces are covered with a cloth.
The goblin bodies are left behind.
I take off my broken watch and throw it away.
The threat may be over, but we can’t be too careful.
At this rate, there was a possibility of a goblin outbreak throughout the cabin.
I think I should patrol the non-business class.
“Hmm…?”
Suddenly, I noticed something out of the window.
And stiffen.
Outside the passenger plane, a huge, red body is flying parallel to the plane.
Scales cover the surface in dense layers.
Emerald green eyes stare at me.
Its great wings rise and fall as it flies. It was undoubtedly a dragon.
