Chapter 60: Gotcha!

Mireille, female, short hair, flat broke, Tier 4 assassin, currently serving as the deputy commander of the main Bantanda Knight Order.
No, to be precise, she should be the lowest-ranked deputy commander among the five.
She had always deeply resented this fact.
After all, anyone could see that her potential was far greater than those four idiots ahead of her.
Yet, even two years after her promotion to deputy commander, she remained at the very bottom.
It was utterly useless, even though she spent every penny of her monthly salary on bribing her superiors.
The territory assigned to her jurisdiction was limited to a string of minor towns, including Wheel Town.
And soon, even Wheel Town was about to be transformed into a Slime Domain, shrinking her jurisdiction just a little bit more.
Fortunately, however, the sacrifice of Wheel Town was worth it.
Just a few days ago, the Lord of Bantanda had approached her, promising that as long as she took charge of guarding this domain, he would recommend her for a promotion by one rank during the next Knight Order election.
At first, she had been somewhat reluctant.
After all, for the Kingdom Knight Order, which symbolized supreme honor, a Slime Domain was a deeply disgraceful and humiliating affair.
That kind of dirty business of compromising and saving face by ceding territory was something every member of the Knight Order found infuriating and despicable.
Therefore, advancing by just one rank was definitely not enough.
It had to be at least two ranks.
The Lord of Bantanda had agreed, so she had agreed as well.
Originally, this should have been a transaction that pleased everyone, and these past few days she would often dream of herself being promoted to the third-ranking deputy commander as she fell asleep.
Everyone would present white bouquets, offer sincere applause, chant blessings, and enthusiastically shout her name, Mireille.
Yet why had things turned out like this?
Clutching her right arm, which had been pierced by a beam of red light, Mireille glared in fury at Tasanya, who was slumped helplessly against the base of the wall opposite her.
A blood-red barrier flickered around Tasanya's body.
Fresh blood slowly dripped from Mireille's arm.
A mixture of rage and anxiety churned within her heart.
According to the original plan, she only needed to keep watch outside the town at the start of the first phase of the domain, and ensure that not a single resident of Wheel Town escaped before the completion of the second phase.
Those nobles and people from the Mage Academy would voluntarily evacuate on their own before the second phase concluded.
Once the nobles had withdrawn and the second phase of the domain was complete, her mission would be considered finished.
Yet, even though the red domain magic was about to engulf more than half of Wheel Town, not a single person had walked out of the entire town!
The nobles, the people from the Mage Academy, and the Knight Order garrisoned in Wheel Town were all completely nowhere to be seen.
It had happened before that the Knight Order failed to walk out of a domain—usually because some foolish knights had sworn to live and die alongside the town they guarded.
But she had never once heard of nobles failing to walk out of a domain.
One must remember that among the people who had come this time were the brightest rising star and genius maiden of the Mage Academy, at least two viscounts, and the two precious sons of the City Lord.
If all these nobles were to be reduced to slaves of the slimes, it would undoubtedly be the greatest disaster in the history of Bantanda.
When that time came, forget about being promoted to the third rank; she would definitely be stripped of her position! It was even possible she would be heavily punished as a negative example!
The mere thought that all her hard-earned achievements of so many years would vanish into thin air made it difficult for her to catch her breath.
She had immediately rushed into Wheel Town to begin her search.
Normally, this should have been an extremely simple task; after all, as a Tier 4 assassin, searching for people was as easy as pie for her.
What she had not expected, however, was that the very first person she found was that crazy dragon, Tasanya.
And what shocked her even more was that when she inquired about the whereabouts of the others, Tasanya actually began to play word games with her.
Such petty tricks were naturally useless against her, and the moment she saw through them, Tasanya suddenly launched an attack on her!
The rumors were true after all; this dragon was completely insane!
Facing Tasanya's assault, she had naturally and confidently counterattacked.
And then... things had turned out like this.
She had thought dealing with Tasanya would be an effortless matter, but complications had arisen once again.
Feeling the sharp pain in her right arm, Mireille addressed Tasanya:
"I heard that Count Larry gave his most beloved youngest son a powerful defensive artifact called Thorn Guardian on his tenth birthday. So that red light just now was that artifact?"
Tasanya, slumped against the wall, smiled and said:
"I won't tell you."
Mireille raised an eyebrow and continued:
"So you killed Count Larry's youngest son?"
"I won't tell you."
Tasanya gave the exact same reply.
Mireille took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in her heart, and said with a smile:
"No matter. Once I kill you, the murders will naturally be yours to bear."
"I can find the rest of them without you."
Mireille had no intention of wasting any more breath. With a flick of her wrist, a dark purple dagger glittering with a cold light danced in her hand, wrapped in a dangerous and lethal aura, as she thrust it with all her might toward the barrier surrounding Tasanya.
Tier 4 Assassin Skill: [Fatal Domination]
She had already experienced it just now; although this barrier could reflect and mitigate damage, it did have its limits.
Her single strike would directly end Tasanya's life.
Lying on the ground, watching the dark purple dagger rapidly approach her, Tasanya made a mental decision and channeled the newly acquired power within her body from the start of the battle.
New, densely packed red scales erupted across her skin. This time, it was not just one arm—half of her upper body was covered in scales.
BOOM!
The wall she was leaning against collapsed with a deafening roar. Tasanya's figure was sent flying backward, and she collapsed to the ground on the verge of death, losing consciousness.
The blood-red barrier around her flickered, shooting out beams of red light toward Mireille before the barrier finally vanished.
An unconscious Tasanya could no longer maintain the Thorn Guardian.
Watching the red light hurtling toward her, Mireille, having prepared herself, mobilized the power within her body as a dark purple glow surfaced around her.
Tier 3 Assassin Skill: [Shadow Veil]
The red light slammed into the dark purple radiance. Mireille shuddered violently as blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Such a powerful artifact... A Tier 3 item managed to injure her, a Tier 4.
Suddenly, before she could make her next move, she sensed a figure rapidly approaching the area.
She looked toward the figure and recognized the face.
She had seen it on the registration list of Wheel Town residents for this domain:
Roche, a masseur, whose strength should be that of a Tier 1 priest or recovery healer.
Roche sprinted straight toward the prone figure of Tasanya.
"Wait, what do you think you're doing?!"
Mireille flashed forward, intent on stopping him.
Roche offered an embarrassed smile and suddenly burst into a sprint!
Yet Mireille's speed was even greater!
Tier 2 Assassin Skill: [Shadow Blink]
Like a phantom, she materialized directly in front of Roche in an instant.
Anticipating this, Roche's right hand had already moved up to block his neck, protecting his vital spot.
Mireille smiled viciously; she hadn't expected this man to possess a modicum of combat technique.
However, she had never intended to kill Roche in the first place, seeing as Roche was on the manifest.
With a flamboyant and rapid twist of her wrist, her dagger viciously thrust toward Roche's abdomen.
Panic flashed across Roche's face.
He looked as though he had been thrown entirely off balance by the sudden redirection.
Yet the moment Mireille's dagger sank into Roche's flesh, her expression froze.
Why does this feel so damn hard?!
The blade, which should have buried itself deep into Roche's body, only managed to sink in by the tip.
Meanwhile, Roche's left hand clamped firmly onto the hand holding the dagger.
"Got you," Roche said with a smile.