Nick continued to lie, but it had become more difficult after the Knife's interjection.
Originally, Nick had prepared a story where he managed to lure Pride into a cave in a basin, but now, he had to change his story so that she ended up in the mountains.
"That's how I managed to assassinate the Robe," Nick explained.
According to his story, he snuck up from behind, watched as the Robe attacked his servant, found the place where the Specter Core was located, and destroyed it with a devastating attack.
The Shields didn't question a lot.
They knew that Nick was being vague with his powers.
"Do you truly have the power to kill a Mid Demon like that?" the Right Arm asked.
Naturally, Nick had said that the Robe had been a Mid Demon.
"Yes," Nick answered. "In a direct battle, I might lose, but in an assassination, I will most likely win."
The Shields were used to amazing feats of power.
After all, which Shield hadn't killed people or Specters a couple of Stages higher than them in the past?
However, Nick's stories could only be rivaled by the Knife's stories involving her assassinations.
Naturally, the Knife was the best assassin in the world, and her entire power revolved around stealth, speed, and destruction.
While the Knife probably couldn't fight any other Shield openly, if she had the opportunity to strike secretly, she would be able to kill every other Shield, and she might even be able to threaten the Champion of Light.
She was like War. She could strike only once, but if she managed to strike, she was highly likely to win.
In a way, Nick was not exactly like her.
Nick technically did not have a devastating attack.
Nick simply unleashed a barrage of normal attacks with increased power.
He did not have any kind of fancy poison, bleeding effect, penetration effect, or similar things.
All the other Extractors had powers like adding explosions to their bullets, absorbing Zephyx, shooting fireballs, and so on.
That was also the reason why Nick was basically useless against a Force Specter.
Meanwhile, the Knife's devastating combat power came from her main ability, which she had advanced many times by gaining compatible abilities.
If she managed to cause injury to her opponent, she could use her own body as a proxy for the enemy's body.
For example, the Knife had cut through Pride's torso. Then, she stabbed her own torso and expanded the wound.
The degree to which the wound had been exacerbated was mirrored onto Pride with a modified value as starting injury.
The Knife's injury had become over ten times worse, which meant that Pride's injury had become over ten times worse, but due to the different severities of their base injuries, it had been much worse for Pride.
Naturally, there were a couple of rules that had to be followed, and the power of the enemy in relation to the Knife also made a big difference.
Of course, the Knife also had some abilities that increased the power of her initial attack. Otherwise, she would only be able to cause a slight scratch to an opposing Specter, making her primary ability essentially useless.
The fact that Nick's power in terms of assassination could be compared to the Knife's achievements was quite shocking to the Shields.
They wanted to know how Nick managed to become so powerful, but they knew that they wouldn't get a straight answer.
Additionally, they had already asked that question the first time they had talked to Nick, and he had just answered that he was using human weapons and went through an extensive human education.
In a way, it was understandable that Nick was very powerful since he had the advantage of both kinds.
He was essentially a bear with a human brain.
But the degree of this difference in power was still shocking.
Somehow, Nick managed to lie his way through the story, and he came to the crucial part.
"The reason why I believed that Pride might appear was because of my previous interaction with Wrath," Nick said.
This interested the Shields.
One had to remember that while the Shields had been fighting the Corruptors for centuries, they never really came into contact with them.
There was no diplomacy.
Additionally, if they managed to come into contact with them, they would be able to track their location and kill them.
If a Shield managed to find a Corruptor, that Corruptor would very likely die, which made face-to-face interactions also impossible.
Nick had seen and heard the Corruptors several times more than all the Shields combined.
"When I worked with Wrath, I noticed that he was constantly angry without a good reason," Nick said. "It was essentially impossible to talk to him without him being angry about something."
"I believe that the Corruptors are just like me, Specters with abnormal mental states. Most likely, they are feeling emotions related to their names."
"While personally killing my servant would have been a risk with no real reward, I believed that the way with which my servant sabotaged Pride would cause it to feel humiliated. I also bet on the possibility that Pride didn't have any other servants that could kill my servant," Nick explained.
"Despite all of this, I only said that there was a small chance."
At that moment, the Right Arm turned to the Left Arm. "And you believed it?" he asked.
"Not entirely," the Left Arm said. "However, I believe that we need a drastic change in the status quo. We have been fighting the Seven Corruptors for centuries without any meaningful progress."
"Losing and conquering cities makes a difference on paper, but the game won't truly progress. I was willing to take the chance."
The other Shields looked at the Left Arm in silence for a while.
Almost all of them were in agreement that they would have not sent something or someone as vital as the Knife for such a small chance.
And yet, they couldn't deny the fact that this had paid off in a big way.
Nick's report essentially ended here since everything else could be covered by the Knife.
"You have contributed greatly to humanity," the Champion of Light said to Nick after a while. "For now, it doesn't seem to be a mistake to invest in you. I will grant you further freedom in how you act and in the ways you contribute to humanity."
Nick bowed politely. "Thank you, Champion."
The Champion turned to the Technician. "Nevertheless, I want you to continue to supervise it and to further your research into Specters."
"Sure thing," the Technician answered.
Then, the Champion turned to the Left Arm. "You may use the Specter in missions without my explicit consent from now on."
"Thank you, Champion," the Left Arm spoke politely.
Finally, the Champion turned to Nick. "You may leave."
Nick performed one last bow before walking out of the room.
Then, Nick went down to the research and development area and waited for the Technician.
The Technician arrived almost an hour later, looking exhausted.
"Any news?" Nick asked.
The Technician looked at Nick before pressing the button that covered his perception for a moment.
"Okay," Nick said after the Technician became visible again. "And why did you do that?"
The Technician's expression didn't change. "That wasn't on purpose," he grumbled.
Nick's question had been the codeword that told the Technician that they were being watched right now.
Nick's ability had not activated when the Technician's senses had been covered.
That meant that somebody was looking at them right now.
Naturally, neither Nick nor the Technician could tell who it was, which left only two people.
The Champion of Light or the Knife.
"Let me try again," the Technician said.
Then, his body vanished again for a moment.
This time, Nick's ability activated.
"Safe," Nick answered.
"Not safe enough," a voice spoke from the shadows.
Nick's brows furrowed, but the Technician didn't seem surprised.
The next moment, a young girl became visible in the office.
It was the Knife.
Nick looked at the Knife with slight interest. "I assume you are willing to join in?" he asked.
"Ew, no. I'm a child," the Knife said in disgust.
The Technician snickered.
"You know how I meant that," Nick answered plainly.
The Knife just rolled her eyes. "It was a joke. Loosen up, will you? Also, aren't you talking a bit too casually with me? I'm a Shield, you know. A bit more respect would be appreciated," she said with a huff like she was a little girl.
Nick blinked once. "You tell me to loosen up and to be more respectful at the same time?"
"Yeah, that's the joke, dumbass," the Knife said.
Then, she turned to the Technician and pointed with her thumb at Nick. "You work with this guy?"
"Oh, he's not so bad," the Technician said as he went over to sit down in one of the chairs in his office.
"How much do you know?" Nick asked, trying to steer the conversation back to a relevant topic.
"I dunno," the Knife answered as she plopped down on one of the chairs while putting her feet on the table. "How much do you know?"
Nick just slowly blinked once.