episode_0089

On a black canvas, a single giant eye.

Something incomprehensible, to the extent of feeling alien.

That thing was watching us, watching me.

Everyone stood with their mouths agape, staring blankly at that place.

What thoughts they were having, I couldn’t grasp.

But I could at least determine that it was not a good situation.

[It’s him.]

Who else would say that but Noah. There was no need to think.

That is the Evil God.

Because my instincts were saying so.

Perhaps everyone around me was feeling it.

“Ugh….”

People began to kneel, making strange noises.

They began to follow that action powerlessly, as if their brains had frozen.

I was no different.

[Ivan?!]

Even though I heard Noah’s voice, even though my mind was fully awake, my body was moving.

It felt as if my consciousness and body were separated.

Is this the power of the Evil God?

As my consciousness was slowly drifting away.

Ding!!

My God awakened my consciousness.

『The Evil God has temporarily manifested here.』

『Remove the Master Cursed Doll that is the cause to make it retreat.』

The light emitted by the blue status window awoke your consciousness.

As I came to my senses, Rain, who was beside me, also came to his senses.

“What is that?”

Rain pointed at the blue status window floating before my eyes.

“You can see this?”

“Yes. What on earth is that intense light….”

It seemed to look like something like a huge mass of light rather than a status window.

And the status window began to grow just like that.

As the intensely spreading status window, as if it would swallow everything around, covered the humans.

“What is this on earth….”

“What happened?”

People began to regain their senses.

At that moment, it was probably not just my imagination that the Evil God’s eye narrowed slightly.

“For the Evil God himself to descend….”

The Tower Master, who had regained his senses at some point, stroked his beard and directly stared at the eye in that sky.

Perhaps it was due to the light scattered by the Main God. Even after seeing that incomprehensible eye, no one’s mind broke.

“Still, it seems that it can be dealt with simply like this, so it doesn’t seem to have fully manifested. Ivan. Do you know anything?”

“Ah, it seems there is something special among the cursed dolls.”

“We did investigate the dolls brought from the Ariel Church, but we didn’t properly understand them. Can you distinguish them?”

“That….”

[I can.]

Noah said in a voice filled with confidence.

If it was something created by Black Mages or the Evil God, there’s no way Noah wouldn’t know. Just as I can nullify all the divine magic of the Ariel Church.

“I can do it.”

“Unfortunately, space-type magic is sealed inside right now, so it’s hard to help. Shall I call a few people?”

“No.”

I immediately touched my deck.

Because I had the perfect power for this moment.

『Deck swapped.』

『Current Deck: Rogue’s Deck』

『Time until next swap possible: 0:59:59』

『Please set a Joker Card.』

I immediately chose one card from the deck.

“I’ll take care of everything by myself, no, together with Noah.”

“Be careful on your way.”

“Yes. Master.”

*

I quickly passed through the barrier around the Magic Tower.

Numerous citizens coming inside.

Seeing them injured and near death, I couldn’t help but move my steps faster.

Although I don’t think this whole situation will be resolved just by breaking 5 special cursed dolls.

At least couldn’t I get rid of that giant eye floating high in the sky?

“It’s because you lost your mind just now!!!”

“But my body didn’t move the way I wanted!!”

An explorer who had lost an arm wailed.

Perhaps at the moment the Evil God descended. Most must have lost the will to fight and stood still. It seems they were attacked by Black Mages at that time.

‘Everyone will be safe, right?’

[They’ll be fine.]

For a moment, I was worried about the clan members who had left to rescue citizens, but still, trusting them for now. I had to do my job.

I dashed out beyond the barrier, but no one stopped me.

No, they probably couldn’t even see me in the first place.

[Flee (1)] – Flee quickly. Enter [Stealth] state.

My body, which had become transparent upon entering the [Stealth] state.

This [Stealth], which even skilled guides, let alone mages, couldn’t notice.

Thanks to it, I moved forward, passing by monsters and Black Mages.

[You’re running quite well? Training with Kairek sometimes seems to help?]

‘If you survive near-death experiences in the labyrinth a few times, your stamina increases quickly.’

[I don’t like that.]

I ran while having a conversation internally.

I didn’t know where the special cursed dolls would be, but since I heard that dolls were piled up in the basement of the building where the Ariel Church was located. The probability of them being there was high.

Crunch!

At that moment, I instinctively stepped on a piece of paper on the floor.

[Dangerous!]

Noah emerged from the shadows and deflected all the sharp dark mana that was flying towards me.

“Is someone there?!!”

Three Black Mages popped out from between the buildings.

A slightly more elaborate outfit, different from the low-level guys who all wore the same robes.

Furthermore, there was someone among them who was acquainted with Noah.

[It’s the 23rd Captain.]

‘Captain?’

[First, be careful of the floor and run. It seems like they didn’t notice us.]

I immediately moved according to Noah’s words.

The three Black Mages poured attacks on the spot where I was, but seeing no results, they tilted their heads and headed elsewhere.

[Black Mages are divided into some strange ranks or something, calling them Captain, Vice-Captain, etc. I’m not interested though.]

Wouldn’t it rather be strange not to know that properly?

I didn’t say that.

Because there was no time for banter.

Before long, I arrived at a church building where a cursed doll was said to have been found.

It seemed as though they had been investigating this place just moments ago, as objects like hammers were scattered around.

[It’s a monster.]

Unfortunately, there was a monster sitting on the door leading to the basement.

It was a familiar monster.

Golem.

Of course, it was a monster difficult to encounter on the low to mid-levels unless it was the 4th floor. So I couldn’t know its full strength.

‘Noah, you have to take care of it.’

[It’s enough.]

Noah, who knew it would be difficult to expect damage from me since I had focused on utility with the Rogue’s Deck. She immediately began gathering mana in her body.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t seen how Noah fights.’

Perhaps seeing her fighting in the distance on the 2nd floor and almost dying from being blown away by a shockwave?

Thinking back to that time, I never would have imagined fighting together like this.

[There aren’t any more around, right?]

‘Uh.’

As a result of extending my senses and reading the surroundings, there were almost no Black Mages or monsters nearby.

As if just that one Golem would be enough to block.

“He’s quite tough.”

Noah popped out from the shadows.

And an avatar of a giant form began to appear on her body.

More precisely, a monster that should probably be called a Reaper.

The giant avatar swung the scythe it was holding and attacked the Golem.

Swish-

The Golem was cleanly cut with that sound.

Noah’s power was stronger than I thought.

“You’re stronger than I thought?”

“Hmm, I’m not usually this strong. Was this called Stealth? You said it gets stronger when it’s released upon attacking, right? It seems that’s applying to me too.”

“Really?”

That’s good news. If so, doesn’t that mean Noah can get stronger just by me applying self-buffs liberally? It felt like I had gained one more strategy.

“Let’s go in for now.”

Noah ripped off the door leading to the basement with her scythe. The avatar immediately vanished.

Inside the basement, which I descended into using a ladder, was filled with cursed dolls that all looked identical.

“I don’t know which one is correct among these. I don’t even know if they’re actually here.”

But that was merely my judgment, who knew nothing about black magic and even lacked senses.

Noah immediately pulled out one doll from among the cursed dolls.

Crunch-

The doll folded in half and shattered, and something inside it was absorbed by Noah.

“One down for now.”

“Are you sure?”

“Uh. And I think I know where the next one is too.”

“Then let’s go.”

Seeing Noah immediately entering my shadow, I also used a card.

[Stealth (2)] – Stealths. The first attack delivered after stealth will definitely be a critical hit.

My body began to melt into the world.

*

[It seems to have gotten slightly smaller?]

‘I think so too.’

The Evil God’s eye that Noah and I saw as soon as we came out.

It had definitely shrunk.

It seemed natural that there was a connection between the cursed dolls and the Evil God’s descent.

[That barrier covering Sector 11? There’s no change.]

‘Let’s think about that later for now.’

[Okay! Then the next place is….]

Receiving guidance from Noah, I advanced again.

However, unfortunately, since I had little difference in physical ability and specs from an average human, my running speed wasn’t that fast. It would have been better if I could run around on rooftops like Grace.

But even so, I was able to find the next doll without being too late.

Because the places where the Ariel Church was located were gathered in the back alleys.

“Memories.”

The building of an organization that used children to create strange things.

Now, its form was almost untraceable. But some remnants remained.

In a secret space inside one of the warehouses there, cursed dolls were piled up.

“This is the second one.”

“Let’s keep going like this.”

“It’s not far anyway.”

Immediately, I also succeeded in removing the third special cursed doll.

But it seemed the Black Mages were starting to notice, as they were not only gradually deploying monsters.

[It’s the 7th Captain.]

But also deploying a large number of Black Mages.

To that extent, just the Evil God manifesting here and putting pressure on the enemies would be helpful.

‘We don’t know when the Evil God might do something strange. Can you beat that guy called the Captain?’

[It’s tough. To be a Black Mage Captain means you’re almost above a high-level explorer, to begin with. Especially if they’re within the top 10.]

‘Then there’s a high possibility they can see through this stealth.’

I recalled the fact that my stealth didn’t work against deep-level explorers.

[But there’s no reason to force a frontal breakthrough, is there?]

‘What are you talking about?’

[Because we just need to break it. Just get ready to run.]

I didn’t know what Noah was trying to do, but I rolled my deck according to her suggestion.

Fortunately, since the Rogue’s Deck was nowhere near as thick as the Elementalist’s Deck, it didn’t take long to find the necessary card.

We took a position outside the building, a good place to escape from.

“Here I go!!!”

Noah, who came out of the shadows, opened a sub-space and summoned her monsters.

Not monsters usually seen in the labyrinth, but cute monsters that looked like they could be called game mascots poured out and stuck to that building.

“We found the Apostle!!!”

Black Mages, including the 7th Captain who was inside, popped out.

Because they also knew that Black Mages who used such cute monsters were only the Evil God’s Apostles.

“Explode!!!”

Along with Noah’s voice, the cute mascot monsters began to shine.

Immediately, an intense explosion occurred, destroying everything around.

“Okay! Run away!!!”

Seeing Noah run towards me and hug me, I also quickly threw a card.

[Flee (1)] – Flee quickly. Enter [Stealth] state.

My body moved quickly in an instant, as if using a blink, covering a long distance and melting into the world.

“Catch them!!!”

The 7th Captain, as well as the Black Mages, began to rush towards where we were.

But fortunately, it seemed they couldn’t find us.

“They’re over there!!!”

The 7th Captain, who had somehow pinpointed where I was and was chasing after me. The other Black Mages seemed to be following for now, but.

At least the 7th Captain seemed to have found where we were.

[What should we do?]

‘Can we fight and win?’

[I don’t know. I really don’t know who would win?]

‘If that’s the case….’

Anyway, it’s difficult to just run away like this because my running speed is slow.

Furthermore, if I buy time by running away and then other Black Mages join, I could face the worst outcome.

“If the outcome is unclear. A preemptive strike is advantageous.”

[That’s right!!]

I immediately turned around and ran towards the Black Mages.

However, the Black Mages didn’t seem to have grasped the fact that I had turned around.

Immediately, Noah and I prepared to attack.

[Meditation (0)] – Gain 2 Energy.

『Energy 5/4』

After recovering the energy that was depleted by using Flee.

[Ambush (1)] – Slash strongly using mana. If a preemptive attack is successful, deals more damage.

Swish-

The neck of one Black Mage running to the right of the 7th Captain was cut off.

And at the same time, Noah’s avatar swung its scythe and attacked the 7th Captain.

Whoosh!!!

But Noah’s scythe was blocked by a strange slime created by the 7th Captain.

“We caught you! Apostle!!!”

The 7th Captain attempting to attack us, whose appearance was revealed.

I continued to throw cards.

[Stealth (2)] – Stealths. The first attack delivered after stealth will definitely be a critical hit.

My disappearing body.

I narrowly avoided the Black Mage’s attack and instead moved inward.

Just like that, Noah’s scythe sliced off the heads of all the minor Black Mages.

The stealth immediately wearing off.

My senses, spread out simultaneously, detected an incoming attack.

I threw a card.

[Evasion (1)] – Evades.

Immediately, I widened the distance after dodging the slime’s fist with incredible movements that my original body would never be able to do.

“We’ve finally found you. Apostle.”

The 7th Captain said, looking at Noah who was half-buried in my shadow.

“To become one with that damned Main God’s servant, how could you do such a thing…!!”

“None of your business though?”

“That’s right. It seems I will have to re-educate you one by one from now on.”

The 7th Captain moved his bizarre-looking slime and slowly approached us.

“Next stealth is?”

“…….”

『Until next draw: 21….』

“21 seconds.”

“Then trust me in the meantime!”

As Noah stepped forward confidently.

The 7th Captain simultaneously summoned 3 purple slimes.

Immediately, a group of slimes began to fall towards this place.