episode_0142

『Until the next draw: 56.』

Swapping the deck is very good for changing strategy, but.

The fact that the first turn is completely lost is always regrettable.

Well, this is an unavoidable penalty.

Because if this weren’t the case, you could keep swapping decks and get a free turn each time.

While the remaining time ticks down one by one.

Quickly assess the situation.

Wounded vampire.

No familiars at all.

Allies all seem fine except for 1 knight.

But the problem is that all the power is concentrated on that old knight.

They exchanged moves once each, and each inflicted a critical blow on the other.

The outcome will only be decided in the battle after this.

The first to rush forward is, the knight order.

Although they are a knight order consisting of 4 members without the veteran knight.

As they are deployed on the 7th floor, their skill is also excellent.

Of course, they are not outstandingly skilled. At best, similar to us.

But the armor they are wearing and their sturdy shields. And even their swords.

As balanced warriors, they take the vanguard.

Furthermore, their movements are precisely synchronized.

Were these people under the veteran knight?

As they attack the vampire while precisely filling each other’s gaps, the vampire seems a bit flustered and acts a bit irritated.

“Ughhhhh!!!!”

Although it was merely a yell that sounded more like a tantrum than a roar.

Even that alone has the power to make human bodies flinch.

And riding that brief opening, the vampire’s blood wings slash down.

Crack-

One of the knight order’s shields is folded back just like that.

“……?!”

The sight of that sturdy, magic-enchanted shield being folded back like that inevitably makes people shrink back.

As the movement of one knight order member who lost their shield slowed, the remaining 3 moved more to fill that gap.

Eventually, a gap appeared in the perfectly meshing gears. And the vampire, who has lived for a long time, immediately targeted that gap and entered.

Swish-

Red claws tear through the shield of one knight order member and enter further to pierce the armor.

And beyond that, to the human heart. Just as it was about to charge in with full force.

“Get out of the way!!!!”

Noah’s fist, which momentarily burrowed between the knight order members, accurately struck the vampire in the solar plexus. Immediately, the vampire flew far away.

But even while flying, the slender red wings that emerged from his body transformed into countless spears and poured down towards Noah and the knight order members.

Evading them, they hurriedly retreat backward.

“It keeps coming!!”

But even while the vampire lightly lands on the ground, attacks keep coming.

『Until the next draw: 34.』

It’s not my turn yet, so I can’t defend against it.

While contemplating what to do.

“Come this way!!!”

Suddenly the investigator shouted to everyone.

And at the same time, everyone, as if already used to it, gathered towards the investigator.

‘What on earth is happening?!’

Before I could even be flustered, the investigator’s eyes momentarily turned white.

A giant shield instantaneously unfolds.

Immediately, Bang-

The investigator’s shield, which absorbed all of the vampire’s attacks, disappears.

“Didn’t I say I had the strength to protect myself?”

The investigator says triumphantly.

So, it seems an investigator from the guild sent to the 7th floor must definitely possess this level of strength.

Anyway, thanks to that, we were able to get through a difficult timing.

However, the atmosphere wasn’t very good.

“……His body is breaking in real-time, yet this level of power.”

“It’s not easy.”

Even now, the vampire’s body is slowly being torn apart and the cracks are widening.

Furthermore, seeing his originally pale skin become even paler, anyone could tell his condition is poor.

Nevertheless, he absolutely cannot be ignored.

Didn’t he just crush the knight order’s special shields with ordinary attacks and his red claws almost kill a squire right away?

A simple difference in specs.

No matter how much he has weakened, a fundamental difference in class is bound to exist.

Even if it’s a low-health boss, it’s still a boss.

“Can we find the knight?”

“That’s impossible. I think he’s so far away now that I can’t even detect his scent.”

Without even having time to talk, the vampire’s attack begins.

The vampire begins molding blood as if it were bullets.

He immediately begins shooting them in rapid succession.

Astonishment rises on everyone’s faces upon seeing the pouring barrage.

“If I had known this would happen…!!”

While the investigator regrets not using the shield a little later.

For now, they begin hiding themselves behind things like the knight order’s shields or gaps in the cave.

But.

“Aaack!!”

It was a natural progression for cries of pain to be heard here and there.

Two explorers who came to escort the investigator were pierced by the bullets and began to collapse just like that.

『Until the next draw: 10.』

Furthermore, that’s not the end.

As if to completely finish off the two who had fallen, all the bullets that had scattered in all directions change trajectory towards the two fallen individuals.

“No…!!”

I go hurriedly to protect them, but it was pointless.

They only need to hold on for just 10 seconds…

“Oh well, I don’t care!!!”

Some massive energy spreads in all directions.

And immediately, Noah’s Avatar appears and deflects all the blood bullets.

“Noah….”

“Don’t we have to save people first?”

Of course, the fact that she is an apostle of an evil god is already somewhat known to high-ranking officials, but revealing her identity is naturally not an easy thing to do.

As if such a thing were nothing, Noah snorted, then.

“You guys over there, the investigator and the riffraff. Stay in the corner. This isn’t a fight for your level. You’ll only get in the way by giving the vampire blood.”

“……Yes.”

The investigator glared at Noah for a while, but quickly took the investigator and the explorers who had come to help her, and left the place.

“Assist me.”

After Noah said that so commandingly, she charged towards the vampire.

The knight order momentarily glanced around and then followed behind her.

Our party members and Jack also immediately get up to assist Noah.

And simultaneously with that.

『Until the next draw: 0』

『It’s your turn. Draw 4 cards.』

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

[Holy Circlet (4)] [Grace of Light (1)] [Resurrection (6)] [Grace of Protection (4)] + [Eternal Light (4)]

My turn also returned.

A hand combining newly acquired cards and familiar cards.

But as I said before. Most of them are support cards.

And among them, this card is the most decent and effective for many.

[Eternal Light] – Summons an orb of light that lasts for 3 turns, providing shields and blessings to nearby allies.

An orb of light is summoned and spreads shields and blessings to everyone nearby.

With just that, the knights can approach more aggressively, and Cairec’s arrows began to strike the vampire more strongly.

Everyone strengthened, plus Noah who unleashed her power.

As the slightly lacking physical capabilities were somewhat matched, the battle situation quickly began to shift towards us in an instant.

However, the vampire also thrashes till the end, as if absolutely refusing to die.

He attacks us using all the blood and power he has, but.

He is gradually chipped away by Noah’s Avatar and the summoned monsters.

But even amidst that, they continuously exchange blows.

“Aaack!!”

A squire grabbed his shoulder and fell.

The vampire quickly tried to finish him off, but.

Grace, who had been fighting somewhat on the periphery, quickly pulled him out.

“……Annoying.”

Unlike the knights who fight straightforwardly, Grace and Luca use tactics of striking and retreating at the right time.

An opponent not easy to overpower with sheer difference in size.

That’s why as the fight continued, the knights began to drop off one by one.

The knight whose shield was crushed couldn’t avoid the red wings and was hit squarely, getting embedded far away in the wall.

The knight who almost died from the red claws was this time stabbed squarely in the side and withdrew.

The last remaining knight had one leg completely blown off.

But while that was happening, damage continued to accumulate on the vampire’s body.

His skin was melting or cracked.

Both red claws were so damaged they couldn’t find their shape, and the red wings, blood-formed external body parts, etc., all became unusable.

Anyone could see the tide of victory had completely turned.

But even so, one absolutely cannot be complacent.

『It’s your turn. Draw 5 cards.』

『White Locker – Preserve 1 card at the end of your turn.』

The card to keep is [Grace of Protection].

[Heal (1)] [Meditation (0)] [Penance (0)] [Descent of Angel (5)] [Holy Strike (2)] + [Grace of Protection (4)]

I don’t use the cards and observe the situation as much as possible.

Because an unexpected variable could pop up at any time.

『Until the next draw: 53…』

Time is gradually decreasing.

Unlike what I worried about, there was no sign of me needing to step forward.

The injured knights are also quickly recovering from their wounds.

Noah, the party members, and even Jack are all together attacking the vampire little by little, safely.

『Until the next draw: 45…』

The atmosphere is also getting better and better.

The vampire is now slowly unable to even respond and is just getting beaten up all day.

But something is strange.

It’s clearly a situation where we’ve won.

Why am I so uneasy?

Am I perhaps missing something?

『Until the next draw: 31…』

However, no matter how much I thought about it, the answer wouldn’t come.

The match ended.

The vampire, whose body was precisely pierced by the scythe of the avatar Noah summoned.

Just like that, with a swoosh sound, his upper and lower body are split exactly in half.

And at the same time, Grace’s blade is plunged into the vampire’s crown.

Luca’s wildness cuts off both his arms.

And Cairec’s arrows shatter the vampire’s lower body into pieces.

The vampire’s fragments, cut into countless pieces, scattered in all directions just like that.

The vampire’s severed body writhed for a while, then eventually stopped moving completely.

『Until the next draw: 22…』

Only after poking the vampire, who was no longer moving, a few times.

Everyone sensed victory.

“We defeated it!!!”

“Huh, it wasn’t much!!”

While everyone was rejoicing, giving thanks for having survived, and offering prayers.

I couldn’t rejoice.

『Until the next draw: 15…』

The status window doesn’t announce victory.

All sorts of thoughts sweep through my mind.

Is it that the vampire wasn’t the main objective, but rather we stay in combat state as long as we’re on the 7th floor?

Or….

『Until the next draw: 9…』

Just then, Grace ran towards me.

However, seeing my serious expression, her expression quickly hardened too.

“Mr. Ivan? Is something strange?”

“Well…. It ended so anticlimactically. I feel like I might have missed something.”

Sniff sniff.

Even after Grace sniffed, she tilted her head as if she didn’t understand anything.

『Until the next draw: 3.』

Then, Grace suddenly spoke as if something had just occurred to her.

“Now that you mention it….”

『Until the next draw: 0.』

At that moment.

I saw the vampire’s torn and fragmented face.

His neck was also cut off, and only half of his face remained, but.

I could tell what he was saying just by looking at his mouth.

[…Didn’t you forget something?]

The moment I realized the meaning.

The wall of the cave next to me collapsed.

And from within it, a black mage sprang out.

Oh, right.

There was definitely a black mage earlier who opened a portal and sent the veteran knight flying.

Why did I forget?

Turning my head, I saw the black mage was also in bad condition.

As if bitten by something, one arm was torn off.

Because the pouring blood was staining everything around.

However, the next part is the problem.

After the black mage broke through the cave wall, I looked further in.

All the passages behind were all broken or collapsed.

As if someone had deliberately damaged the terrain arbitrarily to quickly break through the 7th floor.

Swoosh-

The black mage’s upper body is torn off in an instant.

By a monster that had followed him.

I could immediately infer the monster’s identity.

Similar to the worm that appeared when the canyon was disrupted on the 3rd floor.

Free-win prevention mob.

It was looking down at us.