episode_0030

There is 1 card obtained from this exploration.

[Heal (1)] – Recovers.

A card in the Paladin’s deck.

I kept it thinking I might need it someday.

I didn’t know I would need to use it this soon.

I had hoped not to use it in the first place.

『Until next draw 21…』

Cough!!

A handful of blood poured out of Luca’s mouth.

But she’s still alive.

As long as she’s alive, there’s still a possibility.

The time on the status window falling away helplessly.

Was every single second this long?

Drip.

The moment a drop of cold sweat fell from tension.

1 minute passed.

『It’s your turn. Draw 3 cards.』

[Slash] [Slash] [Defense]

I’m screwed.

“You’re okay, right?”

Grace looked at me.

I couldn’t give any answer.

“……No.”

Watching the sobbing Grace, I count the time again.

『Until next draw 53…』

Honestly, I didn’t expect the first hand, but I hoped at least a draw card would be drawn.

“Aren’t there any more potions left?!”

The party members, realizing I couldn’t fix it immediately, pour the remaining potions.

“This is it!!!”

They poured every last drop of the final potion, but it’s still not enough.

And by a lot.

First, I need to stop the bleeding.

I take out a cloth from my bag and somehow try to staunch the wound.

『Until next draw 37…』

Luca’s trembling hand slowly began to stop.

As if her life was fading away.

“Wake up!!!”

Grace kept shouting at Luca.

I couldn’t do anything.

『Until next draw 15…』

The fog gradually began to clear, the surroundings shook, and the altar began to disappear.

Then a handful of blood spurted out of Luca’s body.

“Hoo…”

I close my eyes and calm my mind.

She’s still alive.

From now on, not a single mistake is allowed.

Finally, the long 1 minute passed.

『It’s your turn. Draw 5 cards.』

[Trial (Cannot Use)] [Heal (1)] [Penance (0)] [Lord’s Mercy (1)] [Prayer (0)]

They’re here.

I immediately use a card.

[Heal]

An intense light circled around my body and then flew into Luca’s body.

[Heal], enhanced by the power of [Cat’s Hand], fills the wound a little.

Flinch!

As if something changed, Luca’s body trembles.

Vroooooom.

Her body shakes tremendously.

I don’t know if it’s a good sign.

Judgment later

I don’t stop my hands.

[Prayer (0)] – Gain a small shield and draw 1 card.

[Trial (Cannot Use)] [Penance (0)] [Lord’s Mercy (1)] + [Baptism (1)]

Immediately another card.

[Lord’s Mercy (1)] – Draw 3 cards and Banish 1 card.

The one to Banish is [Trial].

One card disappears into thin air, and a new [Trial] card returns to the deck.

[Trial (Cannot Use)] – If Banished, draw 3 cards and add 1 [Trial] to the deck.

Draw 6 cards from the effects of Lord’s Mercy and Trial.

[Penance (0)] [Baptism (1)] + [Heavenly Aria (0)] [Slash (1)] [Defense (1)] [Defense (1)] [Heaven’s Gate (2)] [Light’s Blessing (1)]

“……?!!!”

Cough!

Blood comes out of Luca’s mouth again.

Her body rapidly weakens.

I throw the card.

[Baptism] – Grants a blessing.

Flash!!!

A blessing of light pours down on Luca.

As if she feels a little better, her expression softened.

Continue.

『Energy 1/4』

Energy is insufficient.

[Penance (0)] – Consume HP and gain 3 Energy.

『Energy 4/4』

Fwooosh!!

A large wound appeared on my right arm, and blood flowed profusely.

“Ivan?”

“Are you alright?

I continue to cycle the deck, signaling to the flustered party members that I’m okay.

[Heaven’s Gate (2) – Power] – Whenever a card is Banished, draw 1 card.

Heaven’s Gate opened behind me.

I don’t stop.

[Heavenly Aria (0)] – Banish any number of cards. A shield is generated in proportion to the number.

The target is all cards in hand.

4 cards enter the battle Heaven’s Gate.

Immediately, 4 new cards are drawn.

[Holy Strike (2) – Banish] [Slash] [Defense] [Defense]

Good. I’ll burn them all like this.

[Holy Strike (2) – Banish] – Banish all cards in hand and deal damage in proportion.

Slash and Defense disappearing into Heaven’s Gate.

The 3 rising lights shot far into the sky.

Finally, the Holy Strike card enters Heaven’s Gate, and 4 new cards are drawn.

[Guardian (3) – Power] [God’s Shield (1)] [Tribute to God (0)] [Trial (Cannot Use)]

There is 1 card remaining in the deck.

[Tribute to God (0)] – Banish 1 card and gain 2 Energy.

The target is [Trial].

Once again, the Trial card disappears into Heaven’s Gate, adding a new [Trial] card to the deck.

And 3 cards from Trial’s effect, 1 card from Heaven’s Gate’s effect.

4 cards drawn.

Since there are only 2 cards left in the deck, the discarded cards return to the deck, and the remaining 2 cards are drawn from the new deck.

[Guardian (3) – Power] [God’s Shield (1)] + [Trial (Cannot Use)] [Wall of Purity (1)] [Lord’s Mercy (1)] [Slash]

It’s not over yet.

[Lord’s Mercy]

The target is [Slash].

Draw 3 cards from Lord’s Mercy’s effect, and 1 card from Heaven’s Gate’s effect.

[Guardian (3) – Power] [God’s Shield (1)] [Trial (Cannot Use)] [Wall of Purity (1)] + [Slash] [Defense] [Heavenly Aria (0)] [Defense (1)]

Everything useless was drawn.

Burn them all.

[Heavenly Aria (0)] – Banish any number of cards. A shield is generated in proportion to the number.

All cards in hand Banish and enter Heaven’s Gate.

Draw from Heaven’s Gate and Trial’s effects.

Now there are no cards left in the deck.

Only the cards held in hand.

[Heal (1)] [Trial (Cannot Use)] [Tribute to God (0)] [Prayer (0)] [Baptism (1)] [Lord’s Mercy (1)] [Penance (0)] [Heavenly Aria (0)]

The preparation is complete.

After using [Heal].

Recover [Heal] with [Prayer].

[Heal] again.

Burn [Trial] with [Tribute to God] and recover [Heal] and [Prayer] that went to the discard pile.

Also add energy while at it.

The hand is back to normal.

Furthermore, when consuming 1 energy with Heal, 2 energy is gained with Tribute to God.

Energy also accumulates infinitely.

Now repeat this infinitely.

[Heal] – [Prayer] – [Tribute to God]

The deck starts cycling without stopping.

The continuously pouring [Heal] floods into Luca’s body.

Even if the effect of [Heal] is ambiguous for a 1-cost card.

The ceaseless treatment creates a change in Luca’s body.

The wound gradually heals, and Luca’s rough breathing gradually becomes peaceful.

It would be great if it ended like this.

Stagger.

The problem is me.

Even without that, I’m pushing myself quite hard after using all my mana to use Ifrit.

I have no strength in my body, feel dizzy, and my head hurts.

Blood continues to flow from the wound I got from Penance.

My focus is also gradually blurring due to the dropped HP.

“Heal Ivan with that card now!!!”

Grace’s urgent voice.

“Because Luca is much more stable.”

“No.”

It’s still far from enough.

My body can be treated later.

What big wound is a cut on the arm anyway?

A hole in the stomach is much more important.

Letting Grace’s advice go in one ear, I continue to move only my right hand on the border between unconsciousness and consciousness.

Around the time I couldn’t tell if I was moving or if someone was moving me.

Someone grabbed my right wrist.

“It’s all over! Wizard-nim!”

It was Hans.

My mind suddenly cleared.

I checked Luca’s condition.

No more blood coming out.

The wound was completely healed.

Luca was simply breathing peacefully.

I saved her.

“……Lucky.”

I thought it was impossible, but I still did it.

Staring blankly at the fog, I slowly closed my eyes.

*

When I woke up, I was already outside the labyrinth.

Luca was immediately transported to a clinic near Ariel Square.

The rest returned to District 11 by carriage.

I was among that group too.

I woke up from sleep because of the rattling carriage.

My body felt stiff, but I could endure it pretty well.

As soon as we arrived at District 11, we disbanded.

We agreed to meet the next evening to divide the rewards.

I went straight home and lay down on the bed.

Sleep didn’t come immediately.

Because I had slept so much.

Lying blankly in bed like this, all sorts of thoughts come to mind.

While I was at it, I reviewed this exploration in my head.

This exploration where I was unnecessarily lucky.

Since I met a treasure mole and farmed in a hidden area, I should have expected this kind of bad luck to happen.

It was because I didn’t know my place.

Of course, it wasn’t bad despite that.

There were 2 High-Grade Magic Stones from defeating the Lich, and also one purple card.

And if you give the adventurer tags and belongings of the dead explorers to the guild, the bereaved families give at least a minimum reward.

At least this exploration was successful.

Originally, the higher the difficulty, the better the reward.

I decided to think positively.

This exploration was lucky.

There were crises, literally, but thanks to that, the rewards were also plentiful.

“Shall I go up to the 4th floor soon?”

Originally, I was going to go up after practicing together a bit more.

They say the difference between the lower and middle floors is immense.

But wouldn’t this much be enough?

Ding!

『Please check your card rewards.』

『Please check your card rewards.』

Ah, I have to do this too.

Since I caught the Lich and the Apostate, didn’t they give me something useful?

First, the reward for catching the Apostate.

[Rampage (1) – Rare] – The cost of cards in hand becomes 0 only this turn. Drawing is impossible for one turn.

[Perfect Blow (3) – Rare] – Deals shock to the enemy that gets stronger in proportion to the number of Blows in the deck.

[Ice Storm (4) – Rare] – Causes an ice storm.

They are all Rare cards!!

And there’s a card I saw before.

There are also cards I’m seeing for the first time.

The one that’s appealing is [Ice Storm].

Since I got a 4-cost power card, shouldn’t I also have a 4-cost attack card?

I decided to simply increase the value of the Elementalist’s deck. There was no reason not to pick it.

Okay, next.

The reward obtained from catching the Lich.

[Fireball (1)] [Freeze (2)] [Wind Blade (0)]

These are cards I already have.

[Freeze] isn’t bad though.

Hmm.

Is there a need to specifically take cards I already have?

A 4-cost card would be worth it. You guys aren’t.

I skipped this reward.

*

The next evening.

All the party members gathered at the inn where Grace was staying.

Except for Luca, who was still receiving treatment, of course.

“They say Ms. Luca is still in a coma. She probably won’t wake up for a while.”

That’s understandable.

Even though the wound has healed, since her stomach was pierced, the aftereffects must still remain.

“Then we can rest a bit until she wakes up.”

“Still, you shouldn’t skip training!!”

“Naturally.”

“We’ve earned some money after a long time, how about getting some equipment?”

“By the way, isn’t Luca in the red because of the potion costs this time?”

“She dragged the Lich alone like that, so shouldn’t we take that into consideration?”

“That’s right!”

They talk about this and that with each other while eating.

Stories about this exploration. Stories about the next exploration.

Stories about what’s been happening lately.

While doing so. Grace suddenly hits the table hard and speaks.

“More than that, I’ve been thinking carefully this time.”

“What is it?”

“This purple card, I’ll buy it.”

“Do you have more money?”

“I got it this time. Scraped it all together.”

Grace took out a pouch full of money.

A purple card isn’t overwhelmingly expensive like a gold card.

Of course, it’s still 5 times the price of a silver card, though.

“I’ll give up all the magic stones and silver cards I earned this time. This much money should be enough.”

“Well, if you say so, that must be right.”

Unfortunately, there’s no one here who can do such detailed calculations.

It’s probably roughly correct.

“Plus, this time I went to the guild and left a card slot empty. I won’t draw a curse card this time!”

Grace declared once again that she would use the card in real-time.

She immediately placed the purple card on her chest.

Flash!!!

The purple card began to be absorbed, emitting light.

Soon it was completely absorbed into Grace’s body.

Unlike the curse card that did strange things in the middle, this one was applied properly.

I’m curious.

What power could it possibly be?

“What power did you get?”

“It’s rude to ask about a card obtained by an explorer.”

“Ugh.”

“It’s a joke. I have to find out what it is anyway, so I might have to go to the guild tomorrow.”

Grace slowly approached us.

However, when she took a step, the place where her foot touched froze.

“This is……!”

Grace seemed flustered.

She immediately took out her dagger and applied force, and the sword was imbued with cold air.

“Ooh!! This is good!!”

Seeing Grace happy, we were also happy.

Because Grace getting stronger means our party also got stronger.

It seems we can really aim for the 4th floor.

“Alright, then let’s eat our fill today!!!”

“I can only eat grass, though.”

“……Anyway!”

We had such a good time.

Since we earned money from this exploration, where else would we spend it if not on food?

One should at least not be stingy with food.

Time flowed into night.

Kairak left, saying he’d take the heavily drunk Hans home.

I said goodbye to Grace and came out of the inn.

“See you next time!!”

“Okay.”

I walked the night streets, looking at my heavier money pouch.

The cold air entering and leaving my lungs made me feel good.

Not because I drank a lot, though.

I quietly look back on this exploration again.

This exploration was unusually lucky.

Luca managed to keep her life somehow.

I earned a lot of money.

Grace also truly became stronger this time.

It was lucky.

I thought so.

If it weren’t for the letter I saw the next morning.

[Due to personal circumstances, it seems I must leave the party. – Grace.]

After that day, Grace could not be found anywhere.