Takashi Suzuki, a middle-aged mercenary and former hit man, just lost his battle with cancer. But death isn't the end for a killer of his caliber. A mysterious goddess has other plans: reincarnate him in a fantasy world--and give him a divine kill order: eliminate thirty-two heroes.

These so-called heroes? Japanese high schoolers summoned en masse, granted cheat-level powers, and now plunging the world into chaos.

Reborn as Rei and partnered with the beautiful and deadly elf warrior Lydina, Suzuki must bring every skill he has to the battlefield--from modern combat tactics and classical martial arts to his newly awakened magic. But this mission is more than a bloodbath. The goddess's true motives remain shrouded, and a larger conspiracy is unfolding behind the scenes. Can Rei survive long enough to cross every name off his list--including a Sword Saint, an Arch Sage, and a deadly Necromancer?

Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I'm Hunting Heroes in Another World has a story by Miyabi and illustrations by Eito Nishikawa. English translation is done by Evrim Smithers with an adaptation by Samantha Moore. Published by Seven Seas Entertainment (April 16, 2026).

Erica Friedman
Rating:

Amazingly, despite the several major flaws of Venus Mission: I Was an Assassin-for-Hire Who Died, Now I'm Hunting Heroes in Another World, I really enjoyed this light novel and actually would like to read more to find out what happens.

I genuinely liked the banality of the fighting scenes. As an assassin/mercenary, I would expect Rei to have a workman-like approach to killing people, which he does. This is not just important to the character, but also incredibly important to the story. Also enjoyable was Rei's delving into magic, combining knowledge of this other world's features with his understanding of science and engineering. Yes, of course it means he's overpowered, but the premise requires this. Without it, volume one would be cut short with his swift death.

The flaws are two problems that are actually the same one problem. In this world, yes all men. It appears that every single man in this world is a rapacious lout. This is not only exhausting, but frankly nauseating after a while, and it leads into the other half of this problem. The heroes, which we quickly learn are an entire class of students from our world also appear to be not only rapacious, if they are male, but also almost universally cruel and sociopathic. Again, this is a handwave that must be accepted for the story to work.

That said, this story does work. The author has carefully done some research into life as a mercenary and it shows. Following along as Rei and Lydina kills these jerks feel pretty cathartic to me.