episode_0112

[Eternal Light (4)] – Summons an orb of light that lasts for 3 turns, providing a shield and blessing to surrounding allies.

[Sacred Explosion (5)] – Creates a point of light and explodes it.

[Wave of Light (3)] – Creates a wave of light, blessing and healing everyone within it.

As you can tell just by roughly looking through the three options.

As expected, the Paladin’s deck feels similar to the power used by the Order.

Rather than the performance of a single card itself, it has many supportive effects.

‘It seems like the cards that come into the Paladin’s deck are roughly like this.’

If the Rogue’s deck is literally specialized in things like stealth and assassination, the Paladin’s deck is specialized in protecting and supporting allies.

Moreover, it’s easy to keep cycling the deck, allowing for infinite heals or infinite shields, so it has many advantages.

If I’m definitely going down the support route, there’s no reason to choose [Sacred Explosion].

Of course, it might be good to have one more powerful attack card. But there’s no need to fill that gap right now when other areas are lacking.

So the options are [Eternal Light] and [Wave of Light].

I also think that around the 6th floor, you should probably be using a 4-cost card.

But with “Eternal” in the name, lasting only 3 turns seems too stingy.

Since I can’t judge roughly how much power each card has.

Anyway, I have energy overflowing. I decided to just pick the 4-cost [Eternal Light], thinking “What the heck, I don’t know”.

As I chose the card, it went into the deck.

At the same time, the combat judgment ended, and the shield that covered us slowly disappeared.

But luckily, it didn’t disappear instantly; it’s fading little by little, so,

The situation I was worried about, where the shield might disappear when getting card rewards or entering combat judgment, leaving my companions exposed to the rain, seems unlikely as long as I’m not zoned out.

Truly a perfect situation for riding the bus.

Immediately, I used the Joker Card [Blessing of Light] to wrap us in a shield again.

“Not bad, unexpectedly?”

“Since there are two parties, we have a bit of leeway.”

Whether it’s Erica’s party or our party, the number of members has doubled anyway, so we have sufficient resistance to the mass-spawning monsters.

That means.

“Let’s go make some money!!”

It was time to hunt down all the monsters in this vicinity.

*

The weather is a bit gloomy, but the monsters are swarming.

From monkeys harboring flames to wolves that can turn ethereal, black crazy giants that shoot shockwaves, and so on.

The monsters on the 6th floor were somewhat ambiguous to be called monsters that appear in volcanic zones. But since they all had at least one specific ability, it wasn’t easy.

Even if their specs are similar to the 5th floor, the difficulty multiplies because they have an added skill.

“If you go to higher floors like the 7th, do they start having multiple abilities?”

“So far, I haven’t seen such monsters up to the 7th floor, unless they’re particularly strong ones.”

At least monsters plastered with all sorts of skills don’t appear up to the 7th floor.

Conversely, the higher you go, the more eccentric guys will appear.

Even just remembering the Square Golem that blocked the entrance when I first entered the 4th floor, it wasn’t easy.

Anyway.

『Check the card rewards.』

『Check the card rewards.』

『Check the card rewa….』

Because I fought consecutively without a break to claim rewards, I hadn’t been able to choose the rewards.

Since I don’t know when the next fight will be during this brief rest, I should quickly choose.

First off, the first one.

[Wave of Light (3)] – Creates a wave of light, blessing and healing everyone within it.

[Meditation (0)] – Bestows blessings proportional to the number of times [Meditation] has been used.

[Salvation Blade (5) – Power] – Summons a sword that can deal damage to enemies and heal allies.

First, Wave of Light appeared once again.

Let’s quickly scan the other two first.

[Meditation], just by looking at it, seems like a slow-burning card best suited for long battles.

[Salvation Blade] is a 5-cost Power card, so it seems usable.

After all, being a 5-cost Power card, isn’t it likely to be quite good?

There have been almost no failed cards among the Power cards I’ve chosen so far.

Just as my mind was leaning towards [Salvation Blade].

One fact suddenly came to mind.

‘Surely this [Meditation] isn’t a growth-type card, is it?’

It’s not common, but occasionally among cards, there were cards whose power increased each time they were used.

Or cards that grow permanently whenever you deliver a finishing blow or satisfy certain conditions.

However, just looking at the effect, I can’t tell if this is permanent, or if it only applies during a single combat.

No, seriously, Goddess, please put in the description tooltips properly.

It looks like a poorly translated game.

Actually, since she probably doesn’t know Korean, it might be true that the translation failed.

Anyway.

Both Salvation Blade and Wave of Light can be obtained again at any time.

But growth-type cards should be obtained as quickly as possible.

That’s why I chose [Meditation].

The card shone and went into the deck.

At the same time, the shield blocking the rain was slowly fading, so I quickly used [Blessing of Light] first to cast the shield again.

Immediately, I quickly drew 4 cards.

[Guardian (3)] [Prayer (0)] [Meditation (0)] [Defense (1)]

Fortunately, it appeared right away, so I used it immediately.

[Meditation]

As I used it, my hands came together as if in prayer, without me realizing.

Putting aside my embarrassment at my body acting against my will.

“……?”

Nothing happened.

It seems the card’s effect has already finished.

“What, praying all of a sudden?”

“This is… .”

Seeing Luca look with a blank gaze, I slowly unclenched my hands.

No, this card even forces my body to move, what is it, really?

If I knew the exact card specs, I could at least tell if it’s growing or not.

‘…Surely I didn’t actually get a trash card?’

Ah, no way, that can’t be it.

…Right?

Just as I was getting the feeling my mind was going blank from Meditation’s disastrous performance.

Yuria’s voice rang out.

“Monsters are approaching!!!”

Monsters that had approached nearby without me noticing.

It’s a shame I couldn’t choose more rewards, but.

For now, it’s time for battle.

Splash! Splash!!

The sound of countless monsters’ footsteps treading through thick mud.

I don’t know how they can walk around barefoot in those raindrops that are fatal to human skin, but if you pay attention to every single one of those ecological factors, you can’t survive in the labyrinth.

In the first place, it feels like every floor is a kind of field with an end.

A monster appeared, cutting through the hazy smoke.

It’s a new monster, not one I’ve encountered before.

A huge troll with melting skin.

Its skin was severely charred and full of holes, with ooze coming out, making it not very pleasant to look at with the naked eye.

Even Erica’s party, who said they had been active on the 6th floor for quite a while, naturally frowned.

Kuaaaaaaak!!!

As one troll let out a roar and thrust forward the nail-studded club it was holding, the trolls beside it charged forward in unison.

At the same time, cards appeared rapidly.

『Combat Start. Draw 4 cards.』

『Energy 5/5』

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

[Baptism (1)] [Defense (1)] [Slash (1)] [Eternal Light (4)] + [Blessing of Light (1)]

After lightly checking the cards, I scanned the surroundings.

Trolls rushing forward, carrying wooden clubs studded with nails and all sorts of rusty iron.

Guys who make you instantly think they’ve gone mad just by looking at their eyes, which show nothing but the whites.

Just looking at them, it seems they’ll ignore half-hearted defenses and just break through.

Just as I thought, the trolls didn’t care about Kayrek and Yuria’s ranged bow attacks and just charged forward.

If they exchanged blows with the front-line vanguards to some extent, they wouldn’t easily break through to the back.

These trolls, however, seemed to feel no pain; even when sliced by swords or struck by axes, they kept pushing towards the back.

When that happens, one of them is bound to break through.

One troll ran towards me and the client, who were positioned in the back.

However, even if it broke through the vanguards. It’s impossible for it to reach here.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Grace, who had dashed out without me noticing.

She ran straight at the troll and swung her dagger.

However, the troll narrowly dodged and then swung its club.

Then, a sword strike—no, a club strike—flew along the trajectory of the swung club.

Grace slightly twisted her body to the side to dodge, but the club strike flew straight towards me and the client.

“Uwaaak?!!”

Feeling the panicked client quickly retreat behind me, I summoned a Defense Golem from subspace.

Immediately, the Defense Golem deployed a shield.

Clang!!!

The troll’s attack, which struck the shield, failed to penetrate and vanished completely.

If so, now it’s Grace’s turn.

“How dare you…!!”

Grace, who had been skillfully dodging the troll’s club with quick movements, moved out of the troll’s line of sight and stabbed her dagger into its back.

Then, the troll instantly froze.

Normally, with her own strength, this would be impossible so quickly.

Thanks to the artifact obtained from the Empire, [Ring of the Snow Plains].

The effect of ice cards became much more powerful.

Of course, there is a cooldown, but.

When I nudged the troll, which had turned into a block of ice, with my foot, it fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Indeed, having become this strong with just one artifact, it’s no wonder explorers are crazy about artifacts.

As expected of someone riding the bus, I was just watching the battle with nothing specific to do.

No, just by blocking this rain, I’m doing my share for one person. I don’t particularly need to put myself down, but.

『Until next draw 10…』

A situation where there wasn’t much time left until the next draw.

But passing the turn without consuming energy is a loss in itself.

Immediately, I used the card I was holding.

[Eternal Light]

As soon as the card melted into the world, light erupted from my heart.

And then, Eternal Light, taking the form of an orb of light, slowly emerged from my heart.

Immediately, a feeling of omnipotence circulated throughout my body, and my senses automatically expanded.

Just like that, I naturally, literally ‘sprinkled’ the light from the orb of light onto everyone.

That light circled around everyone’s bodies, healing minor wounds and subtly enhancing physical abilities.

Perhaps thanks to that. The trolls that had been breaking through one or two at a time no longer broke through at all, and were instantly taken care of.

『Check the card rewards.』

The status window announced victory.

‘Looks like this wasn’t even needed until the next turn.’

After the combat judgment ended, all cards returned to the deck.

Immediately after activating Blessing of Light, which was at the top of the deck, I approached Grace, who was collecting loot.

“Did you get anything good?”

“Well, just magic stones and decent cards, I guess. The quality is a bit better since it’s the 6th floor, but there’s nothing that really stands out.”

Well, these kinds of random rewards are always a matter of chance.

Just one or two floors might not make a big difference.

Furthermore, you can sometimes hit the jackpot on lower floors, so I can understand why explorers don’t necessarily push themselves to go higher.

Of course, it’s a different story for me since the card rewards vary by floor.

“Ivan!!”

Just then, Erica suddenly approached me.

And then suddenly, a look.

after which, as if resolving something, she spoke.

“That was amazing?! What was that light earlier? Our strength got quite powerful, didn’t it? Even our wounds healed by themselves?”

“Well, it’s nothing amazing.”

A sudden praise attack.

Moreover, Yuria suddenly joined in.

“The goo that the trolls were oozing disappeared in real-time. We usually have a hard time because of that.”

“Right? Have you perhaps learned something from the Order? Isn’t it similar to a priest and magic?”

At Erica’s guess that there might be a connection to the Order, I couldn’t say anything in response and just let out a “hahaha” laugh.

However, as if knowing that my silence was a sign of affirmation, their expressions became exceptionally bright.

And then, they naturally brought up a new topic.

“Aha, with this much, it seems like we might be able to catch that guy we tried to catch last time but couldn’t.”

“Th-that’s right! It was hard because we couldn’t find a priest willing to come up to the 6th floor. If you help, it seems possible.”

It was obvious to anyone that the praise was intended to bring up this topic and lead me on. Their attitude was blatant, but.

Well, first of all, there’s no harm in listening to the story. And since it’s clearly not an ordinary monster they’re talking about, the reward seems like it would be substantial.

“Of course, aren’t friends supposed to help each other?”

“Just as I expected! I knew I could count on you!”

Anyway, there’s no harm in getting along well with other explorers, so earning some goodwill points while I’m at it isn’t bad either. I readily agreed.

However….

“More than that. I’m currently on a request…”

“I-it’s okay! Although it’s tough, experiencing something different isn’t bad. I originally came prepared for a long journey, so it’s fine if it gets delayed a bit.”

Since the client also said it’s okay.

“So, what is it?”

I needed to hear what this special guy they were talking about actually was.

Erica and Yuria exchanged a glance at each other. Then, Yuria spoke with a slight smile.

“It’s none other than the [Troll King].”