episode_0090

『Current Status』

『Energy 2/4』

『Until next draw 17』

[Stab (1)] [Stab (1)] [Dodge (1)]

Although I killed one black mage with the effect of the Butcher’s Gloves and gained 1 draw and 1 energy. Simply using the two basic attack cards wouldn’t be able to injure that black mage executive called the Captain of the 7th. So I just held onto them.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I wasn’t going to use them.

At least Dodge was useful.

I had to use it exactly at the precise timing.

“This?!”

Noah’s avatar swings a scythe made of dark mana.

The slime hit by the scythe is cleanly cut in half, but unfortunately, that’s it. The slime recovers at a rapid speed.

However, we weren’t being pushed back. Noah was creating barriers made of dark mana, buying as much time as possible.

The dangerous point was that if the fight dragged on, other monsters and black mages might join, so we couldn’t use a massive magic spell.

“Should I just use it up?!”

Noah seemed to know this, focusing solely on defense while conserving power as much as possible.

What I was waiting for was my turn, no matter what.

Time gradually passed.

“What do they want!!!”

The Captain of the 7th was questioning our passive response.

But that didn’t mean he also dragged out the time to gauge our strength.

He immediately poured out his full power, sending strange slimes flying wildly.

No matter how much Noah blocked, there was bound to be a limit.

An attack broke through the shield. As soon as I judged that Noah wouldn’t be able to react, I threw a card.

[Dodge]

I bent my waist in an incredible posture impossible for a human to dodge the slime.

Of course, the same was true for Noah.

Noah’s waist curved like a bow.

“What on earth…”

For now, I decided to postpone the question and kept fighting.

『Until next draw 8….』

Time gradually passed.

Eight seconds that would normally fly by felt incredibly long now, each second like a minute.

Even after the flying slime melted the adjacent wall, devoured the floor, tore off a part of my robe, fell, and then got up.

『Until next draw 3….』

There were still 3 seconds left.

And now, a slime was approaching me, its mouth wide open, ready to melt me away.

“Ivan!!!”

Noah, who was fighting in front, immediately summoned her avatar larger.

Even if unleashing this much power significantly increased the chance of being discovered, she seemed to judge that this wasn’t the time for such restraint. She released the dark mana in her body in all directions, pushing everything away.

Whoosh-

Just as I was marveling at the intense amount of mana.

『It is your turn. Draw 5 cards.』

My turn had arrived before I knew it.

[Stealth]

My body and Noah’s melted into the world.

Seeing this, the Captain of the 7th surrounded us with slimes in all directions, trying to trap us.

“If they’re invisible, I just need to block their escape routes!”

Leaving behind the triumphant face of the Captain of the 7th, who was convinced his plan had worked, Noah and I ran through the buildings.

We dashed through the alleys.

But as if a massive tidal wave had struck the village, a wave of slimes filled the alleys, chasing after us.

Shatter!!

Glass windows broke, and slimes poured out from inside buildings as well.

Walls that couldn’t withstand the pressure collapsed.

Still, we narrowly dodged and pressed forward.

“They’re there!!!”

Even though we were invisible, the Captain of the 7th chased us, noticing just the slight changes.

“He’s chasing us better than I thought?”

Certainly, Stealth wasn’t omnipotent.

Using 2 cost to deceive someone with that level of skill would be a good deal, but once they perceived that something invisible was nearby, its effectiveness rapidly decreased.

‘Certainly, besides a quick decisive strike, it’s ambiguous.’

Still, I was grateful that I could toy with someone rated as a high-level explorer using a rogue’s deck with only low-level cards.

“Wait, switch!!”

Seeming dissatisfied with my slow running speed, Noah suddenly grabbed me and started running at high speed.

“Were you always this fast?”

“You’re slow!”

Noah, who was moving forward rapidly by putting dark mana on her toes and exploding it, soon burst out of the alley.

At the same time, slimes poured towards us.

Fortunately, we dodged and ran far away.

By the time the Captain of the 7th saw us, we had already entered the noisy battlefield.

*

“Haa… that was tough.”

I sat down appropriately beside Noah, who was catching her breath, and looked around.

Because we had run blindly to escape from the Captain of the 7th, we had arrived at a place I had never seen before.

Unfortunately, I didn’t know the map of the entire District 11 either, so while looking around wondering where we were.

“The fourth cursed doll should be in the building ahead.”

“You weren’t just running aimlessly?”

Noah had come to the place where the cursed doll was located even while escaping.

Was she a woman capable of this level of judgment?

She usually had so many careless moments that it seemed strange.

“…When it counts, I do it.”

“Right.”

Immediately wrapping ourselves in Stealth, we headed towards the house containing the fourth cursed doll.

“There’s gotten to be a lot.”

“Maybe they realized we were after that?”

“But I have a question.”

“What.”

“Couldn’t we just take it and run?”

“That’s true. But the reason they’re protecting it by increasing their forces like that is…”

“There must be a reason.”

It was a valid point.

“Like, it has to be here and nowhere else.”

“I think that’s probably it.”

“We should probably check the map to see where we found them.”

It felt like we had found a clue.

However, to confirm that, it was natural that we had to break through this place now.

“Like before, I’ll just break the inside with a strong attack.”

Since the security had been raised, trying to sneak in and break it was no longer a good option; this was a more rational choice.

Immediately, Noah climbed onto the roof of a house that was still intact and summoned her avatar.

“Found them!!!”

As soon as Noah revealed her power, black mages began to gather from all directions.

While preparing to escape at any moment, I waited for Noah.

“Now!!!”

As Noah brought her arm down, her avatar swung a massive scythe down onto the house where the cursed doll was supposed to be.

But that wasn’t the end. A subspace immediately opened, and a sturdy golem was summoned, blocking the scythe.

“Tch!! This won’t work?”

“Then…. I’ll go. Can you hold out?”

“I’ll try!”

Quickly, Plan B.

Watching Noah swing the scythe to collapse the building, I also threw a card.

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

I instantly ran towards the building entrance and my appearance vanished.

At that moment, black mages rushed out from inside the collapsing building.

However, they didn’t find me and were casting spells towards Noah.

Ignoring them, I entered the interior.

The inside of the building was completely ‘cleaned up’.

To be precise, not a single piece of furniture or luggage existed; they were all completely annihilated, and the floor was densely packed only with cursed dolls.

However, I couldn’t tell which of these was the real one.

I couldn’t find it by spreading my senses or reading mana.

But that didn’t mean I could give up.

If I couldn’t find out what it was, shouldn’t I just destroy everything?

I pulled out a dagger from my pocket and threw a card.

[Stab]

Intense mana surged forward, destroying a group of cursed dolls.

Simultaneously, I checked inside the subspace bracelet.

And since there was one monster perfect for this situation, I summoned it from the subspace bracelet.

“Kigigigik!!!”

The Scavenger awakened with a grotesque voice.

At the same time, I made a sharp *snap!* sound with my hand, and the Scavenger blindly swung the blades on its hands towards the direction of the sound.

Slice, slice-

Cursed dolls being cut and shattered.

While it was taking care of things, I threw one more card.

[Ambush (1)] – Slash strongly using mana. If you succeed in a preemptive attack, you deal stronger damage.

The target was the Scavenger’s two legs.

Flash!!

Black blood sprayed from the severed legs of the Scavenger.

The Scavenger was now forced to move around using its sharp arms.

Kigigirik!!!

With a bizarre cry, it approached me, who had revealed myself, supporting itself on the ground with its sharp arms, but every time its monster hands touched the ground, cursed dolls were cut down.

It was literally automatic hunting.

Just as I was satisfied with its performance.

Perhaps one of the dolls the Scavenger had cut was the real one; the world momentarily trembled.

“Done.”

The Evil God’s Eye, embedded in the black sky visible outside the window, shrank slightly.

Now only one doll remained.

Immediately, I threw the dagger I was holding into the Scavenger’s brow.

『Check card rewards.』

[Shadow Step (1)] – Move behind an enemy in your line of sight.

[Finishing Blow (2)] – If you defeat an enemy with this, you re-enter [Stealth] state.

[Spit Poison (1)] – Spit poison to attack enemies.

Low-level card rewards.

Normally, I would have just passed on the low-level card rewards.

But there was one card that seemed just right for the situation.

As I chose [Shadow Step], the card entered my deck.

At the same time, I ran outside.

I drew 1 card.

Using the [Flee] card drawn by the Joker Card effect immediately, I went outside.

In the slightly altered vision from the Stealth effect, I discovered Noah struggling.

She was surrounded by numerous black mages, on the verge of being captured.

But fortunately, they were adjusting their power because they had to capture her alive.

If I had been next to her, they would have thrown all sorts of attack magic at me.

Thinking about it again, it was good that we split up.

But Noah seemed to be reaching her limit, as her avatar began to blur.

I immediately took out the remaining 2 cards from my deck.

[Banishment (4)] [Dodge (1)]

Unfortunately, it didn’t come up.

Shadow Step.

Then there was another way.

First, I dodged the surrounding black mages and hid in a suitable place.

Quickly, I took out the Joker Card from my pocket.

The card to designate is [Shadow Step].

Snap!!

With that sound, the designation was complete. Then, I immediately picked up a half-broken glass cup nearby and threw it at the black mage ahead.

“Wh- What!!”

With that sound, the black mage looked towards where I was.

At the same time, the Stealth that was covering my body was released.

I had entered combat status.

『Killing intent detected. Draw 3 cards.』

『Joker Card – Draw 1 designated card additionally on the first turn.』

[Shadow Step (1)] [Dodge (2)] [Flee (1)]

Good. It’s the best hand.

“Someone’s there…!!”

My throwing the card was faster than the black mage speaking.

[Shadow Step (1)] – Move behind an enemy in your line of sight.

My destination was, of course, behind Noah.

Fortunately, it seemed unrelated to the phrase ‘enemy’.

The magic activated normally.

Having melted into the shadow, I arrived behind Noah before I knew it.

“…You?!”

I held the surprised Noah as she was and threw a card.

[Dodge]

I flowed through all the incoming black magic with grotesque movements.

[Flee]

Taking Noah with me, I vanished from the black mages’ encirclement at high speed.

And as I felt my body disappear into Stealth.

I realized that my body felt lighter.

I didn’t need to think about the reason why. The only variable in my deck right now was the [Shadow Step] I had just obtained.

It must be a supplementary effect found by [Cat’s Paw], which had clearly enhanced the first card I used.

For example, teleporting behind an enemy, then gaining a certain period of speed increase.

“The attacks!!!”

Black mage attacks poured towards us wildly.

But there was no reason we couldn’t escape.

“Hold on tight.”

Running at a much faster speed than usual, I escaped the black mages’ magic encirclement.

*

“If we do this, it’s the last one!!!”

Noah was holding the last cursed doll.

The surroundings were filled with the corpses of numerous black mages.

This place was quite far from where the 4th cursed doll had been.

Perhaps that’s why. The news seemed slow to arrive. There weren’t many black mages guarding it.

Snap-

The neck of the cursed doll broke.

Then the world trembled again.

Whoosh-

An intense storm began to blow, and the Evil God’s Eye that filled the black sky slowly began to disappear.

Like being pulled into a black hole, the Evil God’s Eye was sucked into a vortex.

It seemed to frown, as if it didn’t want to disappear. But the result didn’t change.

The storm subsided, and the sky had somehow regained its black light.

“Is it all over?!”

“That’s a relief.”

Poke!

Noah extended her fist, so I responded.

“Did we at least get past one hurdle with this?”

“……? Isn’t it all over?”

Noah presented an optimistic outlook.

Certainly, since the Evil God had retreated, that might be possible.

“No, this black shield surrounding District 11 hasn’t disappeared. And there are still black mages.”

“That’s… true.”

For now, just by making the Evil God, who was the biggest threat among the attacking Evil God and black mages, retreat, we had achieved a certain level of success.

“Let’s go back to the Magic Tower first. Master will know how to solve this situation.”

“Okay!!”

Having perfectly completed the mission entrusted to us.

I thought Master would have found a solution when we returned.

Yes, I thought that.

“There’s no way!!!!”

Until I found the Master…, the Magic Tower Master, tearing her hair out.