episode_0081

Only the 1st Army can face Gallius. Even if the mages within it are mere scarecrows with not a handful of mana left.

Gallius also slowly loses strength and returns to a normal human.

Thanks to that, the state of the battlefield is currently maintained in equilibrium.

But time is on our side.

Because the enemy gets weaker as time passes.

『Your turn. Draw 5 cards.』

『White Storage Box – Preserve 1 card at the end of turn.』

『Mana Overload – Energy decreases by 1 this turn.』

『Current Status』

『Energy 3/4』

『Until Next Draw 52』

[Barrier(2)] + [Ice Arrow(1)] [Fireball(1)] [Wind Blade(0)] [Meteor(7)] [Momentum(1) – Power]

My hand isn’t too bad considering, but due to the Mana Overload penalty, I’m short 1 energy.

So the cards I can use are limited. Therefore, I must deploy magic at the right place and time.

To do that, I must meticulously observe the movements of my allies and the enemy.

My two eyes are insufficient to keep up with their speed, so my expanded senses read all those movements.

[Get out of the way!!!]

Shouting monstrously, he randomly spews out red energy in all directions and moves quickly for a swift conclusion.

But Grace moves even faster than that.

She dodges and counters every single one of Gallius’s attacks. It was enough to make me wonder, ‘Was she originally this strong?’

Moreover, wherever an attack lands, it freezes in real-time, making his movements even slower.

“We need light!!”

Kyrek shouts.

Because shooting is impossible here where darkness has fallen.

Grace fights with the sensitive nose and keen senses unique to a Pathfinder.

Luca fights instinctively, relying on his wild nature.

These two were complementing each other’s weaknesses and pushing Gallius back.

Slashing, tearing, and freezing from both sides.

It was almost enough to feel sorry for Gallius, who was being relentlessly pummeled.

Of course, Grace’s attack power might be quite insufficient, but Luca, having gained wild nature, possessed attack power comparable to Kyrek’s.

He quickly slashes and tears.

But Gallius doesn’t fall.

The fellow, who had been quietly looking for an opening, took advantage of a moment when Luca’s attack missed and charged towards me.

But this was something I had already prepared for.

I use both of the 2 cards I was holding.

[Barrier]

[Fireball]

I erect a barrier in front and create a fireball.

I felt Adel and Kyrek notice me from the momentary flash of light and rush towards me.

And Gallius, who had been charging forward, collided directly with the barrier.

Boom!!!

The barrier tears easily.

But even so, I bought a little time.

An arrow from Kyrek, which had arrived in the blink of an eye, heads for Gallius’s ribs.

The arrow that kills giants pierces Gallius’s ribs and tears apart everything inside.

Furthermore, a powerful shockwave occurred, blowing Gallius sideways, where Adel was.

Adel swings his giant greatsword down with all the strength in his body.

But Gallius quickly rolled sideways to dodge, then ran towards the wall.

As if kneeling was to gain momentum. Gallius runs towards the wall using the recoil.

He splits the fireball still wrapped around his body into 5 and launches them.

I don’t think this attack will work on Gallius at all.

At least these small fireballs will serve as vision for my allies.

Whoosh!!!

Kyrek’s harpoon arrow, cutting through the wind, pierces Gallius’s shoulder.

His completely torn-off right arm flies into the air, but the fellow doesn’t care and continues to run.

But if there was one thing he overlooked, it was Grace’s presence, which hadn’t been in the fight until now.

Grace had somehow caught up to Gallius.

[What?!]

Grace lightly dodges Gallius’s flustered, blind swing and plunges a dagger into his solar plexus. Simultaneously, ice spreads out and begins to freeze his body.

Gallius frantically creates distance by backing away. But having already lost his momentum, the fellow is caught up by the other clan members.

Luca’s claws, who arrived first, slash across Gallius’s back, and Adel’s greatsword is properly lodged into his straight spine.

Crack-

With the sound of bone snapping. Gallius’s upper body is cleanly severed.

Finally, everything ended with Kyrek plunging an arrow into Gallius’s chest as he floated in the air.

Spewing black blood and red energy in all directions, Gallius begins to disappear.

Before long, nothing remained there.

Ding!

『Check the card rewards.』

What, is this all?

I thought I would get a ton of stuff after such a hard fight.

“Nothing came out?”

Grace and Luca tried to find something, even sniffing around, but nothing came out.

“Huh?”

“No way.”

Did we suffer for nothing?

That said, there’s a slightly questionable aspect to it.

“Well, let’s go further for now. A portal didn’t appear either. We don’t know what’s at the end.”

I immediately moved the terrain to create a path.

Since it was hard to move, I was carried on Luca’s back and slowly walked outside.

“Are you alright??!”

Clan members who had recovered somewhat thanks to Kitra the priestess were waiting outside.

It seemed they were ready to enter and fight at any time.

“Just a moment.”

Kitra approached and began to heal us by infusing divine power.

Well, I had zero mana but wasn’t injured, so I watched as Luca and Adel were primarily healed.

Not long after, the healing finished, and everyone gathered.

Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Perhaps that’s the silver lining.

“Let’s go inside.”

Immediately, I entered the Archdemon’s headquarters with everyone.

We climb the stairs in the center of the 7 rooms.

Perhaps because [Tidal Wave] swept through, the inside was quite wet and in a mess.

We avoided the furniture spilled onto the stairs and entered the room where I had met Gallius.

“Huh?”

The dense darkness that had been present had disappeared, and a portal was open at the end of a straight red carpet.

And something was piled up in front of the portal.

Twitch!

Grace’s ears perked up.

She smelled treasure.

Immediately arriving faster than anyone else, Grace began to examine the wealth there.

“Look! There are top-grade magic stones!!”

“No way, these came out on the 2nd floor?”

“It would make sense even at the 4th floor level, wouldn’t it?”

While everyone gathered and examined the treasures there.

I felt something.

Behind the portal.

I got down from Luca’s back and slowly walked over.

There was a throne.

Likely the Archdemon’s seat, as Gallius had said.

An empty throne with no one there.

I slowly walked up to it and soon discovered something on the seat.

‘Card?’

There was one card on the throne.

A card with the same back as the cards in my deck.

Why on earth is this here?

I immediately picked up the card.

Upon checking the front, there was a brightly smiling clown.

It was certain.

It was clearly the ‘Joker’ card that appears in all sorts of card games.

But how do you use this?

『Designate one desired card from your deck.』

A status window immediately popped up.

Designating a desired card, huh. What will happen if I do that?

I immediately searched through my deck.

I don’t know if this only applies once or not, but it felt like I had to choose carefully.

While I was examining the cards one by one, the status window appeared again.

『The designated card will unconditionally appear in the first draw.』

『Can be changed anytime outside of combat.』

Just hearing it, it’s a completely overpowered item.

The disadvantage right now is the unstable first hand. This helps with that.

Moreover, it can be changed anytime.

‘I won’t need to save cards anymore just to wait for Cat’s Hand enhancement effect.’

Just by enhancing a powerful card and using it on the first turn, my combat power would significantly increase.

I wouldn’t have been so happy just because my combat power went up.

The significance of this card lies in daily life.

‘From now on, I won’t have to shuffle my deck multiple times to find [Freeze].’

How much did I have to shuffle my deck just to drink cold water?

It felt like I had finally become a proper mage.

I immediately designated [Freeze] as the Joker card.

Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.

Drawing 3 cards. Freeze was in my first hand.

As soon as I used it, cold air began to circulate around.

Compared to rewards like top-grade magic stones or silver cards that ordinary explorers obtain, this was more satisfying.

Perhaps because it felt like I was personally given an extra reward.

While I was at it, I also checked the card rewards.

[The One Who Folds Space(7) – Power] – Can use Blink at all times.

[Phoenix(9)] – Summon, summon a Phoenix to fight alongside you.

[Time Stop(10)] – Stop time and act alone for 3 turns.

Cough!

I involuntarily retched internally.

Did I see correctly?

Is it okay for the reward to be this generous relative to the difficulty?

I rubbed my eyes again.

Two pats on both cheeks.

After regaining my senses, I checked the status window again.

But the result was the same.

The appearance of 7-cost, 9-cost, and 10-cost cards.

Moreover, their effects were also extraordinary.

It was only natural to be more flustered.

‘I thought maybe I could get 10-cost cards if I ever went to high floors…’

Seeing it in reality, however, was unbelievable.

First, I closed the status window.

No matter what I chose. It wasn’t something I needed to think about right now.

‘Can I use it right away?’

Simulating it, there is a possibility.

First, use [Momentum] to increase basic energy by 1.

Then, later use [Mana Overload] to double it, making it possible to create 10 energy.

‘Huh? It might be more manageable than I thought.’

In long battles, by using the power of the White Storage Box to preserve 1 card at a time, I might be able to set up combos.

It felt like the high ceiling had been broken through.

Other than that, I couldn’t find anything on the throne, so I returned to the clan members.

The clan members had already finished collecting their rewards and were ready to leave.

Leaving the hidden dungeon immediately leads to the Labyrinth City.

“We can finally wash after a long time.”

“This time was really tough.”

“But didn’t we get an incredible haul for the hardship?”

The atmosphere wasn’t bad.

The first reason was that although it was hard work, no one died or was seriously injured.

The second reason was that they obtained rewards unimaginable for low-floor explorers who had only been on the 3rd floor.

Furthermore, when recruiting clan members, they had chosen people with the will to climb higher, so they were more satisfied with this result and would be able to grow stronger.

“You’re back?”

“Let’s go.”

I wanted to rest because I had struggled more than expected this time.

With a heavy body, I walked towards the portal.

But despite the fatigue, the heavy rewards meant I wasn’t in a bad mood.

*

Quite some time had passed since returning from the labyrinth.

The earnings were better than expected. Thanks to top-grade magic stones and various cards, the clan had accumulated surplus money.

Moreover, the clan members were also satisfied with the money that was individually distributed.

Among them, some clan members had used expensive cards. They said the results weren’t bad.

After my body and mind had recovered somewhat, I sometimes participated in Kyrek’s training and studied a bit at the magic tower in the Blue Faction.

Thus, daily life continued for a while.

I had stayed for so long this time, and I needed a good rest before entering the labyrinth next.

Having returned from the magic tower, I was practicing various magics with the staff I had received as a gift from the Archmage.

To be precise, it was the method of controlling magic used with cards using a staff.

The reason why mages in this world use staves or orbs might be because of the auxiliary effects or mana surge they provide. But it was also because it allowed for more detailed control than their own skill alone.

My magic created using cards was also affected by the staff.

Of course, the control was still clumsy.

While doing that, something suddenly occurred to me.

‘Certainly, the Imperial Prince gave me a staff.’

That item I received as thanks for my efforts.

I immediately pulled out the staff that had been hidden deep in my room.

I immediately infused it with mana.

“…It moves.”

As expected of a good item given by the Crown Prince, the effect was certain.

Aside from the increased power, the mana inside significantly increased and could be distributed more finely. Of course, using cards didn’t cost mana, but it allowed me to use Power cards a bit better.

‘I should have brought this with me earlier.’

If I had known this, I could have easily cleared this hidden dungeon.

Putting aside the regretful parts.

While looking around the staff this way and that.

Beep-

I discovered something.

[Can you hear me?]

A voice I couldn’t identify.

As I racked my memory, I realized where I had heard it.

[Ivan Arcana, help me.]

This voice was the voice of the Imperial Prince, the next emperor of the empire.