Inside the royal castle of the Alyastia Kingdom's throne room, a black-haired man was kneeling down in the middle of a throng of knights in absolute fear. His body shivered as he failed to suppress his worries and emotions. Every second that passed was absolute torture as he awaited his King's arrival.

Why did I ever take this job...

Cursing silently at himself, he thought back to a few days prior. The King gave him a secret mission to monitor the [Hero of the Sword]'s subjegation of the Tanquai village for a certain woman to show up. Once she showed up, he was to attach some trinket on her without being detected and report back.

As the Alyastia Kingdom's best spy and infiltration expert, he was surprised that he and another high profile guy were chosen for something that seemed insignificant on paper. Normally top grade Heros like the [Hero of the Sword] wouldn't be chosen for such an obscure Demon village. While the King's interest in that woman was curious, nothing about her description really stood out.

However, things did not go as planned.

From the get-go, the situation escalated when some abnormal red-haired powerful Demon appeared. When the [Hero of the Sword] and that Demon clashed, the power and energy from their attacks were so incredible that even he had to escape and wait for the aftermath. Even in the shadows, if he stayed around, he doubted whether he'd be alive.

When he noticed the fighting finally ceased, he went back only to see the [Hero of the Sword] dead on the ground alongside two other Demons. To top it all off, that woman the King predicted to have appeared never showed up. Not only did the Kingdom's best war potential perish at some obscure Demon village, he as the Kingdom's best spy and scout failed at a mission personally given by the most powerful ruler in the country

So it was only natural for him to be sweating buckets as the bearer of bad news for the King.

Suddenly, the head royal knight came inside and stood beside the throne. After a deep breath, he began to speak.

"His Excellency King Darcon Vi Guinerra Alyastia of the Alyastia royal family lineage requests this room clear for a private audience with Shawn le Beville. Everyone except myself and the requested is required to immediately step out."

After hearing that, the throng of knights saluted and quickly left the throne room. Only the spy and the royal knight remained as silence overcame the room.

Soon, the doors behind the throne room opened as King Darcon came inside. A serious look was plastered on the ruler's face as he came inside agitated.

The King sat on his throne and looked down at his kneeling subordinate. With a nod, he told his scout to rise and face him.

"Xander, explain the events that you have witnessed at Tanquai."

The spy nodded in compliance in a composed manner. Of course, internally he was anything but composed. However, having resigned to his fate of being screwed whether he told the truth or not, he decided to tell the events like he saw it.

"The [Hero of the Sword] and a few other Demons clashed. I wasn't able to safely monitor at a close enough observational distance, but I was only able to see the aftermath. As a result, the [Hero of the Sword] and two other powerful Demons were found dead. The woman you described was not present whatsoever."

Once King Darcon heard Xander's words, his face scrunched up as rage rose up in him momentarily. However, after noticing his subordinate's pale and frightful face, he calmed down and thought about the situation rationally.

"Fine. Since it isn't your fault that the woman didn't show up, I won't be executing you. However, since the mission isn't complete, you'll still receive a fair punishment for such."

Xander bowed down in relief as he heard he won't be executed. His eyes rimmed with tears as he was certain he'll live to see another day. Sure, the punishment he'll get will certainly be rough, but it's certainly a lot better than dying.

"Thank you for your benevolence your majesty!"

King Darcon nodded in acceptance. After a few moments, he asked one more question that's been pressing on his mind.

"Were there any survivors?"

Xander paused in thought, then replied.

"There were. However, they certainly are nowhere near a threat to our level. I assume they were merely lucky villagers who escaped."

The King thought about it for a moment. A nagging feeling inside of him told him there was more to the story, but his trust in the Kingdom's best scout overruled his gut.

Throwing that thought aside, he grunted and dismissed Xander and the head royal knight. As soon as the throne room doors shut, a black haired lady came inside.

She slid her arms around the King's neck and started to talk.

"So, how did it go?"

Darcon emitted a deep sigh as he thought about the situation. While they did succeed in getting rid of a very powerful Demon, they still failed to gain the true prize.

"More or less bleh. She didn't take the bait and save her husband."

The woman frowned upon hearing that piece of news. As far as she knew, it made no logical sense considering her love for her husband. Why that woman decided to not even check on or save him was even more a mystery.

"So what do we do now?" She asked her love with concern.

"We'll let her go for now," the King began while in thought. "While it's certainly unfortunate that obstacle hasn't come out yet, we still have plenty of time to implement our other plans anyways. It's not like it's imperative for her to die right at the moment."

The black-haired woman nodded in understanding. She breathed out a sigh as she continued asking.

"What shall we deal with the [Hero of the Sword]'s death then?"

"We'll probably publicize it and have a huge event for his passing while exaggerating the circumstances of his death as more fuel against the Demons," the King remarked. "It just sucks that such a large war potential chip is now gone."

The woman paused for a moment. It would certainly work. The populace would eat up such a story like candy. However, what really concerned her was something else entirely.

"So, how are you going to be dealing with the Hero's wife and daughter?" she asked Darcon in worry. "I doubt they'd just take that story at face-value. They've been told that man was just going on a simple village extermination and have been given too much information to accept another explanation."

The King thought about her words carefully. She brought up a good point. From his carelessness with accepting some of the Hero's worries before his departure, he agreed to let send a Knight to inform his family of the full details of his mission.

As a result, that family was just as informed as he was about the supposed condition of Tanquai. While his word was certainly law, the worry that the Hero's family may begin spreading rumors about the legitimacy of his exaggeration was one he didn't need.

After careful thought, he thought of a sinister solution.

"It's real simple," he declared in a dark tone. "They're going to find themselves in the slave markets. I'll spread some rumors about the wife secretly cheating on the Hero while he was gone missing. By then, I'll have enough justification to send them off for good."

The woman's eyes opened wide after hearing the idea. Laughing, she wrapped her arms even tighter around the King.

"Damn. That's honestly really cruel." She remarked while smiling.

"What else would you expect from me?" The King laughed as he responded. "I'd do anything for our dream to become reality after all."

The woman smiled in contentment as the two of them embraced each other.

Inside a dark cave in a dense part of the forest, Darian was sitting by a rock while Valurn and Alicia slept.

It's been a long few days since the day Tanquai was eradicated. The three of them have been in running ever since. Darian and Valurn been forced to fight plenty of F-rank monsters constantly while on the move.

For Alicia, she still hasn't recovered back to her normal self. Everytime she woke up, she'd immediately start having a panic attack and screaming. Valurn would have to immediately stop what he was doing and cast [Force Sleep] on her. Her mind simply wasn't able to cope with reality just yet.

As far as where they were going, Valurn had said he was planning on trying to get them to live at his homeland. While it was an even more remote and far more poor village, it was certainly better than being homeless.

So, as it was night-time, they found lodging in a small crack in a rock wall that didn't house any monsters. However, with a ton of things on his mind, Darian continued to sit while in deep thought.

"[True Appraisal]"

He silently chanted out the new skill he recently learned after making his vow. At first, he was completely surprised at seeing it. He wasn't even a Hero, and as far as he was concerned those who have killed Heroes never got any of their skills or [Appraisal] whatsoever.

Yet, here he was with this unique skill, and from the looks of things an even better version than [Appraisal]. With that being said, he still felt like he needed to keep quiet about this.

Soon, a screen popped up in front of him showing his information.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[True Appraisal] Menu

Level: 5

Name: Darian Villente

Race: [ ? ? ? ]

Titles: [Hero Killer] [One Who Seeks Vengeance] [Anti-Hero] [Fated One]

Class: [Hero Assassin] Sub-Class: [None]

Attributes:

HP 40 STR 35

SPD 80 DEF 40

ATK 45 MP 5

Unique Skills: [Detect Hero] [True Appraisal] [Hero Kill]

Level Skills: [Falsify Status MAX] [Archery 6/20] [Knife Wielding 5/20] [Swordplay 5/20] [Vital Strike 5/20] [Shadow Steps 4/20] [Presence Detection 1/20] [Spell Resistance 1/20]

Non-Level Skills: [Killing Intent] [Intimidation]

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What he first learned from [True Appraisal] was an interesting option to be able to gain access to a screen for a description of certain skills. Normal [Appraisal] wasn't able to do that from all that he's heard.

Intuitively, he called up [True Appraisal]'s description to read it's ability once more.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[True Appraisal]

A skill going beyond the capabilities of a maxed out [Appraisal]. No restrictions to level in learning anyone's status. Any status modifier is nullified and the true page always comes up. All parts are viewable and discernable. Descriptions can be called up for every skill and piece of the [True Appraisal] menu.

Can share and retract [True Appraisal] with those in one's own party at will.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

"I get that [Fated One] title was bound to bring me some overpowered gifts, but isn't this a little much?"

Honestly, he thought it was broken. Being able to bypass falsifiers and learn so much information about an enemy without worry of level barriers was crazy. Plus, the fact it even bypasses a max [Appraisal]'s ability already is a bit much.

Plus, he was able to share this broken skill with people in his own party.

Granted, this did nothing for his or his allies own strength, but at the same time knowledge was everything. This would be something any Hero would likely kill him for.

Next, he checked up on his class, [Hero Assasin].

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[Hero Assassin]

Fated class given to the [Fated One] after a set of unknown mysterious conditions were met. As someone who will walk the path of vengeance against Heroes, this class has been given to help the user walking this path.

Increases critical hit rates and damage against Heroes by 2x. Probability of one hit instant kills also increase. However, Heroes will never take a person of this class lightly instinctively.

Subclass options will unlock once main class reaches level 5.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

He thought this was the perfect class for his revenge. As someone who was training to be an [Assassin], this class was like a dream come true. A perfect situation of being able to attack those he's sworn revenge against with skills of his specialty.

With a smile, he looked over a few other skill descriptions he thought were important.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[Detect Hero]

A skill that's capable of sensing a Hero within a one mile radius of the user. However, the sensed Hero will become vigilent instinctively once sensed by this skill. As one fated to cross paths with Heros, this skill has been automatically applied to one with the [Hero Assassin] class.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[Falsify Status MAX]

Able to modify certain elements of the user's status screen from its true values when being [Appraised].

At MAX level, the user is able to modify and change the appearance of up to 5 skills and title alongside the user's main class when appraised. Can increase or decrease falsified attribute values by 50.

Cannot modify the user's level or name. Does not negate or hide the effects of hidden skills or class.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

He thought the first skill would be pretty useful too. However, he could clearly see how it can be a detriment at the same time. He'd be unable to attack a fully unsuspecting Hero at anytime when using this skill. He'll most certainly have to start learning [Hide Presence] and various other Assassin skills from Valurn soon.

As for [Falsify Status], he thought it was certainly a most useful skill. Given the fact he is a [Hero Assassin], it probably would be best if he were able to hide that class and certain skillsets. He already hid all three of his unique classes plus [Falsify Status] and [Presence Detection]. He also already hid all his titles as well.

Afterwards, he finally landed on his last unique skill.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

[Hero Kill 1/20]

As one fated to fight against heroes, this gives a slight bonus increase towards attacks used against Heroes depending on level of skill.

Current bonus increase: 1%

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

As if his main class wasn't already broken against Heroes, this skill comes in with even more of a buff. He started feeling played as if he were merely a tool used to balance the brokenness of Heroes.

However, given his current ability and level, he doubted he'd currently be much effective against most Heroes. After all, their stats were usually at the minimum level 70, and some have been reported to be around level 90.

He'd need a lot more effort through training to get to beat those at that level.

Before he closed [True Appraisal], he went to check one more thing.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Race: [? ? ?]

?????????? ???????er??? ror???? ?? ??unkno???n el??eme?nt. ??????

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

What popped up was a bunch of questions marks and a slightly flickering screen. It was completely unsettling considering it's supposed to describe his race after all.

"Why is my race set as [ ? ? ? ]?"

He felt he was human. He looked human. He's been called human all his life. Even his dad confirmed he and his mother were human to the best of his knowledge.

Yet this [True Appraisal] skill brought up what looked like a malfunctioning screen instead of confirming what he truly was.

However, after a little bit of pondering, he just thought of it as something minor and decided not to think much of it. The only thing he did with it so far was hide it using [Falsify Skill]. Closing down [True Appraisal], he went over to where Valurn and Alicia were sleeping and laid down.

The next day, Valurn and Darian were both walking through the forest with the latter carrying a sleeping Alicia on his back.

Of course, his back was hurting like hell, but right now there were bigger things to worry about. So rather than complain, he continued to trudge on.

Suddenly, he stopped as he felt his [Presence Detection] go off. In front of him, Valurn also paused as he detected something.

"Something's up there." The former assassin whispered.

"I sensed it too." Darian replied with a serious expression.

Valurn nodded and then indicated he'll be the first to check. Meanwhile, Darian stayed low and protected the sleeping Alicia.

Valurn crept forward vigilently, envoking [Hide Presence] and other presence hiding skills. He walked forward trying to figure out what was up.

However, it was futile. All of a sudden, a dozen camouflaged hooded figures popped out from various hiding places among the trees, all armed with loaded bows and arrows. Each one of them looked eager and ready to fire with determined eyes.

"Who goes there?" One of the hooded figures bellowed out. His eyes never wavered from the spot Valurn should've been practically invisible at.

After hearing and seeing this sudden spectacle, both Valurn and Darian's faces went pale as they realized how tense of a situation they were in.