Assassin

The  is an enemy in Demon's Souls. They wield a unique shield and a Secret Dagger. Notably, they have a cloaking effect on them similar to that of the Thief's Ring, which renders them invisible at about ten paces or more. However, they can sometimes still detect and throw unique Secret Throwing Daggers at the player from farther away than that. At close range, they attack with various flourishing dagger slashes, a quick slash while performing a backward handspring, and a slow spinning side kick. The kick is telegraphed by the Assassin swinging his right leg backward and spinning around once; it is extremely difficult to block, deals substantial physical damage, grants the Assassin hyper armor for the duration of the attack, and knocks the player backward several paces, potentially off a high ledge. Assassins frequently dodge after successfully attacking by performing an evasive backward handspring.

Similar to the invisible Shadowmen of the second section of the Shrine of Storms, Assassins rely heavily on stealth and traps to kill the player. Notable instances include:
 * The third and fourth Assassins encountered in the Palace streets wait on the rooftops and drop down to attack the player if he/she goes down any of the branching alleyways.
 * There is an Assassin on top of the staircase near the two spearmen on the rooftops who may throw knives at the player while still invisible.
 * An Assassin in the tower beyond the Penetrator Archstone will drop down from the rafters and attack the player from behind while he/she is engaging the other enemies in the tower.