Silent Lady (Requesting Follow-up Reads)

[Silent Lady](Requesting Follow-up Reads)

Although this was not Levi's first time killing someone, it was his first time killing someone in his own bedroom.

He looked at the corpse on the floor and removed the Crow's Beak Mask forged from black metal. The split-open head was already too mangled to tell who it was.

"Damned bad luck. I'll have to sleep in another room tomorrow."

"But I really don't know this man. He was probably an assassin hired by one of my enemies. The problem is, I'm just a brat in my teens and I've never provoked anyone. Who would send someone to kill me?"

For a moment, Levi began looking back over his life of doing good by others.

In the end, he could only think of two people who might have a motive to kill him.

The first was Priest Abraham. After all, some time ago, he had just rejected the church and had not shown that high-and-mighty priest any courtesy. It was indeed possible that he would kill him.

The second possibility was Black Mountain Duke and the two earls closest to him, Silver Gauze Earl and Bloody Earl.

After all, these people had occupied his territory. Although on the surface Levi might not care, these people knew that if one day he truly grew into someone like Black Serpent Knight, he might take the territory back again. So they might as well go all the way and make the Black Serpent Family die out completely.

"But if that's the case, why did they let me go back then? That doesn't quite make sense," Levi murmured to himself.

"Or maybe it was that old dog Abraham who did it."

"In any case, aside from those two, I shouldn't have any entanglements of interest with anyone else, or any grudges, feuds, love, or hate."

"Could it be the Boar Gang? They robbed me before, and now they want to take me out directly?"

"But the Boar Gang is already an underworld criminal force. They shouldn't need to hire assassins. It's not like they're afraid of ruining their reputation."

Levi paced back and forth in the room, somewhat irritated.

"I've kept such a low profile. I've endured so much. Why? Why do they still want me dead?"

"No. I have to find a way to figure out who wants to harm me. Once I know... if I can beat them, I have to get rid of this person. Otherwise, I won't be able to eat or sleep in peace."

His castle had high walls on all sides, and soldiers were constantly patrolling.

For this assassin to sneak in so easily, he was definitely no weakling, and he was skilled at stealth.

Thinking of this, Levi took out a knife and cut open the assassin's chest. On the assassin's heart, a cluster of illusory, unstable black gaseous matter like an octopus was lurking there, with countless capillary-like tentacles rooted into the heart.

"Heh, Seed of Life! As expected, this man was a Formal Knight!"

"To send a Formal Knight to deal with me, the mastermind behind this definitely isn't simple." Levi's expression shifted between dark and uncertain.

Along with the assassin's death, the octopus-shaped Seed of Life began to slowly dissipate.

Levi watched silently. This was also his first time dissecting a Formal Knight.

Sure enough, it was almost the same as the situation inside his own body. On his heart, there was also a similar Seed of Life.

Only, his own Seed of Life was serpent-shaped, while this Seed of Life was octopus-shaped.

Levi stripped off all the assassin's clothes, searching for clues.

In the end, inside the lining of the assassin's clothes, he found a small booklet.

The booklet had only a few sparse pages. On the cover was the back of a figure hidden in shadow, the art style dark and eerie.

"'Hymns of Shadow.'"

Levi silently recited it in his mind and opened the booklet.

The contents inside resembled certain religious books. From beginning to end, it introduced a deity, and this deity was named the Shadow Lord.

"The Shadow Lord? Never heard of him." Levi shook his head.

Although the beliefs in gods in this world could not be said to be as numerous as hairs on an ox, there were still quite a few.

Aside from the Heavenly Father worshiped by the Holy Radiance Church, there were the Earth Mother of the Earth Church, the Ice and Snow Goddess of the Winter Church, the Storm Emperor of the Storm Church, the Eternal Flame of the Immortality Church, the King of All Dragons of the Dragon Church, and the Lord of the Stars of the Church of the Stars. These seven were the seven orthodox gods now worshiped by the people of the Seven Kingdoms.

The reason the seven orthodox gods were called orthodox gods was nothing more than that the churches they belonged to held enormous influence in the Seven Kingdoms and proclaimed themselves orthodox gods.

And aside from these seven orthodox gods, among the faiths Levi knew of alone, there were also the Lord of the Wilds of the Brotherhood of the Wilds, the Silent Lady of the Silent Monastery, as well as the God of War worshiped by some war fanatics, and so on.

So it was perfectly normal that Levi did not know the Shadow Lord.

In essence, this Voice of the Deathbird was an organization with very few members. There were also not many people who believed in the Shadow Lord, and the faith had never spread at all.

If it had been before, Levi would not have cared about these divine faiths at all. But ever since confirming the existence of Wizards, he had realized that some myths and legends might not be as simple as he had imagined.

This world could have Wizards who grasped supernatural power, so why could it not have even more powerful deities?

Levi still respected gods very much.

Although he did not believe in them, he respected other people's beliefs, provided they did not interfere with him.

After Levi finished reading Hymns of Shadow, he discovered that on the final page of the booklet, there was actually a Breathing Technique Inheritance Diagram recorded.

The inheritance diagram was largely similar to the Breathing Technique Inheritance Diagrams Levi had obtained before. Only, at the very center of those little figures was a surging, stormy sea, and in the center of the sea was a giant sea monster resembling an octopus, somewhat like the sea monster legend that had circulated in parts of Europe in his previous life: the Kraken.

"?? There are actually people who carry their Breathing Technique inheritance around with them?"

Levi found it amusing too.

What he did not know was that the Siren Breathing Technique was the most common Breathing Technique among the Organization Members of Voice of the Deathbird. This organization would give some manuals printed with the Siren Breathing Technique and promoting the Shadow Lord to the children of civilians whom they believed had potential but had no ancestral Breathing Technique. From childhood, they trained them in assassination arts and provided resources for them to cultivate the Siren Breathing Technique, thereby ensuring that the organization always had fresh blood flowing in.

And the Siren Breathing Technique itself was a Breathing Technique extremely suited to assassination. It emphasized flexibility and agility of the body. Once cultivated to the Formal Knight level, one could even change one's body shape through a principle similar to bone-shrinking arts. If paired with some makeup techniques, one could even completely change one's appearance.

In fact, if Phantom Demon Knight had not underestimated his enemy, gotten too close to Levi, and been caught off guard by Levi, then even if Levi was a Formal Knight, killing Phantom Demon Knight would not have been so easy.

Levi put away this Hymns of Shadow that recorded a Breathing Technique Inheritance Diagram. Along with it, he also put away the Crow's Beak Mask, that seemingly excellent dagger, and the other assassination tools.

Levi cut the worthless assassin's corpse into pieces and threw them into the blazing great fireplace. He watched the corpse burn in the Fierce Fire, crackling as the stench of char spread. In a haze, Levi seemed to see a wildly dancing Eight-Tentacle Phantom rising from the flames, then gradually vanishing. When he focused and looked again, only a charred skeleton remained.

"Heh, Breathing Techniques really are sinister things."

Levi's heart remained still as an ancient well.