Chương 19: 18. The Death Cruise

Entering a new trial always filled participants with a deep sense of dread. It didn't matter how experienced one was, nor how many cards they had gathered. Even the psychopaths were uneasy at the face of the unknown. I was no different. Already events differed from the ones I had gone through during my last run. Years of accumulated general knowledge still managed to tip the scales in my favor, but the further I went, the less of an advantage I would have.

"Enter the trial," Harlequin said, catching my hesitation. I knew I couldn't afford to be indecisive, but that didn't make me like it.

"When will the others join me?" I asked if only to stretch the time before I had to go.

"The specific rules will be explained once you start the trial," the monster replied. Clearly, I wasn't going to get anything out of him. Holding my breath, I went up to the cyan portal and stepped through. From what Carl had told me, the trial was going to be on a boat. After the glow dispersed, revealing my surroundings, I could tell that he hadn't been lying. Of course, he had missed mentioning the small detail: that the boat was the size of a small town.

A deck the size of a football field extended in front of me. It had several pools, lounge chairs, several bars, and not a single person. Leaning against the railing, I looked down. The ship had to have seven decks at least, all larger than the one I was on.

"A cruise ship…" I muttered beneath my breath. Back before the Arcana, these were viewed as the epitome of luxury. I vaguely remembered a classmate telling me about going on one with her family. Two weeks of hectic pleasure was the phrase she used; the polar opposite of what they were during a trial. Ships of this size were full of a series of confined spaces connected by narrow corridors. There was no way to escape, and moving from place to place was risky as hell.

Technically, I hadn't gone through a boat challenge—not anything like this in any event—but was experienced enough to know the nature of the trial. I also knew why we had to enter one by one. To confirm my suspicion, I went to the nearest staircase leading to the other decks of the ship and tried to climb down. A red barrier formed in front of me, blocking my way. I knew it. I thought. This was my designated space. Winning the last trial had earned me the largest starting area, and that was definitely a bad thing.

It was too large to defend with too many points from where enemies could flow in. There were no clues what sort of monsters I would be facing. Given that we were at sea it was logical to assume that it might be some sort of sea creatures. It was too early to introduce mass monsters such as scyllas, though nothing was past Harlequin. More likely I'd be dealing with a variety of merfolk. I rushed to the nearest bar and checked its inventory. It was fully stocked, as if expecting to head on a cruise any minute.

That told me that the trial would last more than a day.

"Congratulations on reaching your third trial, participants," Harlequin's voice boomed.

"As you have noticed, you have been separated from the rest, but let me assure you that everyone is present." I rushed through the limited supplies that the bar offered. If Harlequin had started speaking, it meant that the trial had officially begun.

"Do not concern yourself with the barriers," Harlequin continued.

"They are there entirely for your protection and will disappear in a matter of moments. As you have correctly assumed, you are on a ship. Your goal is to escape." I emptied the closest thing to a metal bowl and started filling it up with cocktail snacks.

"Hidden somewhere on the ship is a portal that will send you back to the preparation hall. The first person who reaches it will be considered the winner and be allowed to claim the hidden card if so desired." That was a subtle change in the rules.

"Also hidden throughout the ship are a set of other cards that might be just as good or even better than the challenge reward. Obtaining them, however, won't come without a risk." Mentally, I almost saw the smile on Harlequin's mask.

"The ship is home to a variety of monsters. Some of them will be free to roam about, others are bound in their rooms until discovered. All of them are set on killing you should you let them." Here it was, the obligatory monster presence during an escape. Throughout the years, people had devised a series of strategies for this trial. All were variants of two cases: loot up or rush to the exit. For those eager to survive, the second option was preferable.

It diminished the chances of death, though offered no advantage further on. After all, only the first one to find the portal had a chance of getting something good. Everyone else would have to make do with the leftovers and their lives. Early on that sounded like a good deal, but with everything I knew, that was the worst option. Merely surviving guaranteed a slow and prolonged death. SPONSORSHIP OFFER! A deity impressed by your performance is offering a map of the trial in exchange for a sponsorship pact.

Do you agree? A message appeared in front of me. The deities were at it again.

"No," I said.

"What's the point if I can't complete this with my own strength?" The offer disappeared. Knowing the deities, I suspected my reaction had whetted their appetite for what was to come.

"I'll consider offers after the fifth trial," I added.

"If I can't do that much without help, what's the point?" With luck, that was going to stop them pestering me during the trials themselves. SPONSOR REQUEST! Obtain two Grand Arcana cards during the trial to win a mystery prize. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The new message made me freeze. This was more than a challenge.

The deity behind the request had made a conscious decision to provide me with a hint, nearly breaking the rules in the process. On the surface, there was nothing wrong. A newbie wouldn't even think twice, yet I knew that the only way to obtain a Grand Arcana card was through killing a major monster. In my past run, it wasn't unheard of for participants to group together with the explicit aim of taking down such creatures of destruction all because of the loot.

In those cases, the monsters were guarding treasure caches, not dropping cards at death, but the principle remained the same. Two cards meant that there were two such monsters on the ship. Even with their powers limited, I didn't think I was strong enough to defeat even one of them.

"I'll do my best," I replied, maintaining the farce. The message vanished.

"Do not concern yourself with dying," Harlequin continued.

"In their benevolence, the deities will restore you should that happen. Of course, none of those that have been killed would get to claim the prize card or keep any rewards gathered throughout the trial. And one final thing. The monsters on the ship have a distaste for light. The sun will be enough to keep them at bay, yet when night comes expect them to swarm the decks and corridors." I looked at the sky. The sun stood directly above me. That seemed untypically generous on Harlequin's part.

I held my breath, waiting for the final twist.

"The third trial has begun," the entity announced.

"And since you showed such a magnificent performance during your last trial, here's something to increase the challenge." Abruptly the sun moved all the way to the horizon. Now, a matter of minutes separated us from darkness. That was nasty, though not unexpected. The way I saw it, I had two immediate challenges: find a place where I'd be better protected and team up with Marcus and Cathy. Given that they were also high up on the winners' list, they were probably transported to the other largest areas of the ship.

Not knowing anything about the inner workings of the floating monstrosity, I could only assume that they had to be some open area in the middle of the ship or the cargo section. Holding the bowl of food with one hand, I took one of my aelf blades from my inventory and went to the nearest staircase. Naturally, I was sure to pick the side towards the sun. Even if it was only for a few minutes, I preferred having a bit more safety while I searched.

The moment I reached the deck below, I noticed a blur of motion from the corner of my eye. My instinct for survival kicked in. Without a moment's hesitation, I hurled the bowl at the danger. Germs weren't a thing during the trials, so I didn't mind picking up the food from the floor. The makeshift weapon was slammed to the side just as quickly as I had thrown it. Thankfully, that gave me the moment I needed to leap further back into the corridor and draw my second blade.

Crimson glowing eyes locked onto me, causing my blood to freeze. The monsters in this trial weren't merfolk… Fleshy Skeleton Level: 3 Cards: None Special: Decaying touch Weapon: None I glanced over my shoulder. Similar to goblins, undead tended to cluster together. What made them terrifying was that they had no regard for themselves whatsoever. Several people I knew in the past used to speculate that all undead were just a manifestation of a necromancer hidden within the challenge.

Supposedly, finding and killing the source was going to kill all of them in an instant. So far, I hadn't seen any proof that it was remotely true. The skeleton leaped right at me, its bony hands stretched forward. Most of its face had fallen off, leaving just enough to make me want to vomit. Holding my ground, I performed a double slash. Both its wrists were chopped off, falling to the floor. Keeping the momentum, I severed its neck.

Still driven by inertia, the monster flew past, collapsing on the floor soon after. I watched the head roll until it stopped in one of the side walls. One more double slash and it split open. My heart was beating like a hummingbird. Now that the immediate threat was over, I was able to reanalyze the situation. A ship this size could hold thousands of these creatures. It was safe to assume that more of them would appear each day, making killing them off impossible. The trial, after all, was to escape.

I looked at the spilled food on the floor. It was completely rotten. The bowl itself was of no use, half covered in a thick layer of green corrosion. So much for storing food.

"Anyone here?!" I heard someone yell from below.

"Please help me! They're everywhere! Please! Idiot, I thought. Shouting was only going to bring more of them to his location. Despite all the pre-Arcana notions, undead weren't stupid, nor were they slow. They thought strategically, combining quick attacks with general creep strategies. The weak were swarmed, and the strong were surrounded and mercilessly attacked to the point that they became weak themselves. The only way to fight them was through constant movement, which was severely restricted on a ship.

I rushed down the corridor. All the time I was on the lookout for maps or signs that would take me to the central lobby or some other major area. There were none. All I had to go on was my general sense of direction. As I walked, I kept my ears open for any sound that wasn't my own. Now and again, there would be a series of screams indicating the death of a participant. From what I could make out, we were at least three less. Considering how inexperienced the group was, that could pass as impressive.

Suddenly, a door in the corridor opened. I tightened the grip on my blades. A room could hold anywhere up to five skeletons. Most likely they had sensed my presence and were coming out to play. Making use of all the recent gym training, I kicked the door with all my strength. It slammed shut, pushing a single entity further down the corridor.

"Wait!" it shouted. I remained in place.

"Carl?" I asked. There could be no mistake. Harlequin's Sight confirmed that the person in front was none other than the much-despised participant. Officially, he had only a few cards and no deity pact, but I strongly suspected that to be a lie.

"Thank God it's you! I—""Keep your voice down!" I whispered as I covered his mouth.

"They can hear." The sweat-covered man nodded enthusiastically. Removing my hand from his face, I looked around. Although brief, the commotion was enough to cause any monsters in the nearby area to jump out. The fact that they hadn't only meant that they would need a while to reach us.

"Keep up," I hissed as I rushed past. Carl followed. Clearly, he hadn't run a mile in his life, for after ten seconds I could hear him gasping for air. Going any further under such circumstances was going to do more harm than good. Knowing him, the man was only seconds away from starting his usual complaints.

"We'll take a break." I stopped. Carl leaned against the wall. Sweat drenched part of his shirt, forming a wedge-shaped patch. You really need to use the gym.

"Do you have a weapon?" I asked, despite knowing that he didn't.

"Yes," he managed to say between breaths, then took out a letter opener.

"That's good." It definitely wasn't, but I didn't want to get into an argument. As long as he had the illusion that he was prepared, I could use him as bait without resistance.

"We must…" he began, then paused, needing more air.

"We must…" he did it again.

"We must get to the captain's control room."

"Captain's control room?" I stared at him.

"Where they steer the ship." He gesticulated, his manager's persona bleeding through.

"That's the way out." So that's where it was. Good to know.

"We're not going out," I said.

"What? Why? The whole point is—""Go if you want to. I'm gathering more cards before I go." I said mostly for the deities' benefit.

"You're insane! If we're out first, we'll get the reward card." He paused for a moment.

"You'll get it," he quickly corrected himself. Already I knew that something wasn't right.

"You can have that," I said.

"You helped me out after all." I lied.

"On that note, any idea how to get to the central area of the ship?"

"The atrium?" he asked.

"Why do you want to go there?"

"I think Marcus and Cathy might be there." They had already shown they were good for party support. Considering the number of enemies present, it was safe to assume that the prizes would also be substantial.

"I know a way, but you're not going to like it." My eyes narrowed. Could it be that Carl wasn't completely useless after all?

"Tell me."