Chương 21: 20. Golden Eyes

The elevators were on their way down. The first, to my mild annoyance, contained Carl. Apparently, he had decided to follow my instructions after all. I grabbed both cards and retrieved my weapon. The brief contact with the skeleton's acid had ruined parts of the tip and edge. Hardly surprising, considering it was a low-grade weapon, though I had hoped it would last me a few more trials. It would have been nice if the bone mace had remained, but the corrosive green substance had already eaten through all of that.

I looked around. All the shops and restaurants seemed relatively intact. My instinct told me that Marcus had to be still somewhere around, though it was also possible that he had left or, in the worst-case scenario, been killed and taken back to the entrance hall. A soft ping sounded, indicating that an elevator had reached its destination. Barely had the doors opened when Carl came running out, gripping the weapon I had given him with both hands.

"They almost killed me!" he shouted, rushing towards me.

"They didn't," I said, keeping track of the other elevators. All were on their way down.

"Hide."

"Hide where?! I thought you said you'd protect me."

"Hide so they focus their attention on me." I went up to him.

"And give me that." I grabbed the goblin-killer. Initially, he tried to resist, but knew when to let go. According to the numbers provided, it remained inferior to my aelf blades. The one major difference was the divine factor. Generally, that meant it had a bit more durability, though even that was a matter of interpretation.

"Let me know if more appear." I put the weapon in my inventory. Close to thirty monsters, I said to myself. As long as they didn't swarm me together, the odds were good that they were on my side. I made my way to the elevator closest to the flood and waited. A ping later, the fight began. Undead poured out of the elevator, reaching to claw me with their bony fingers. I performed a double arc attack as before, cutting off the creature's arms from the elbow on.

The acid had dulled the blade to the point that it ripped the undead's sleeves. Immediately, I followed up with a second attack, decapitating my foe and proceeded with the next. My strikes were no longer smooth. It was like ripping through silk with sandpaper. Barely three monsters destroyed, I was forced to step back. With each strike I felt greater and greater resistance. What should have been easy kills required a lot more strength and effort. A creature's fingers passed dangerously close to my shoulder.

I held my breath and performed a double thrust. Both blades went through the creature's rotting eyes, bursting through the back of its skull.

"More are coming!" Carl shouted from behind. Maintaining my composure, I focused on the last enemy nearby. My blades split the air, performing a combination of strikes. Arms, waist, knees were ripped off. In the process, a piece of thread stuck to one of my blades. The edge had become so chipped that it couldn't even slice a sheet of paper. One more slash and the creature's head was on the floor. A pack, I thought. Maybe the old me would have been impressed.

The current me, on the other hand, found my performance pathetic. Both the skeletal warrior and the undead had taken way too much effort. My breathing had increased to the point I felt like I had run a small marathon. Even with all the training at the gym, it was difficult to change a lifetime of habits in a single day. I turned around, quickly moving away from the pile of remains. Two more groups had come out of their respective elevators, heading straight for me.

Whichever of them I faced, I'd have the other one joining in from behind. In the split second I had, I chose to go for the left—they were furthest away from the other descending elevators, giving me a greater chance to deal with them before the remaining packs arrived. Eleven of Chalice, I thought. A thin layer of green acid oozed from my blades. In half a minute, maybe less, my weapons wouldn't be worth crap, but at least until then I'd have an easier time cutting through flesh and cloth.

Just as I was about to take the first step, a bolt of flame zipped past. Coming from one of the deserted shops, it passed several feet from me, striking one of the undead in the chest. Golden flames engulfed the entity, as if it had been soaked in gas. Moments later, a second undead was hit. Having someone join my side was a huge plus, considering what was about to happen, even if I would have preferred that they had chosen the other group. Still, there was no point in looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Gripping my weapons, I ran towards the remaining undead. The confusion caused by the flames provided a nice opening. With a few exceptions, undead were always wary of fire. Even if for a second, all of them stopped in place, seeking out the source of the firebolts. That proved to be enough for me to move in and decapitate two. The acid was doing its trick, making it seem as if my weapons were brand new. Aware that the effect would be temporary, I pressed on with dual arc attacks.

Before any of my enemies could resist, all of them were on the ground. Ignoring the stench of rotting flesh that hit my nose, I ran straight on to the next group. The elevator had barely pinged when I cracked the glass with a kick. Damnit! I cursed. I was hoping that I'd have the strength to shatter it. Quickly leaping back, I waited for the doors to slide to the side, then slit the first hands that showed through. Bones rattled on the floor as the unfortunate undead was pushed forward by the ones behind.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Preserving as much stamina as possible, I went for its neck, then did the same with the very next one. Two down, four to go. I stepped further back, luring more of them into the open. Meanwhile, the other group had been taken out. Unfortunately, the spot I was at made any future assistance impossible. I was going to have to deal with the remaining undead on my own.

Getting a feel for the creature's pattern, fighting them no longer was as big an issue as before. My initial fears proved pointless, for the group's coordination was poor at best, and while not outright disorganized, like goblins, they didn't have the skills or weapons to achieve much even when fighting together. Acid blades sliced through them faster than the corrosion could eat through the metal. By the time one of my weapons snapped, I had already taken out all but three of the undead.

With a metallic clink, the blade flew off, leaving me holding the hilt. The last time that had happened, I had completely frozen. Even now, I remember the notion seemed so surreal that my mind had refused to accept it. For a full second I had stared at the spot the blade had been, hoping that by doing so I'd get it to reappear.

"Pity," I uttered, as I grabbed my goblin-killer and performed another dual attack. All three monsters were struck. Two lost their heads in an instant. The third managed to move to the side in time for my blade to slide along its ribs. Not a bad attempt, but not good either. Twisting around, I followed up with a power thrust, driving my goblin killer through the undead's ears. The monster's crimson eyes faded out.

"You did it!" Carl shouted from somewhere. Yeah, I thought. I was gasping for breath, my heart was still struggling to break out of my chest, but I had done it. I took one look at my remaining aelf blade. It was in such a bad state that luck alone had kept it from snapping. Easy come, easy go. I tossed it on the floor among the remains.

"You can come out now," I said in a loud voice.

"That's all of them." I looked around for something to clean my blade with. There were plenty of rats on the floor, but they had too much decaying flesh on them for me to even consider an attempt. Instead, I just slid it along my trousers.

"Not bad," I heard a familiar voice from the distance. As it turned out, I was right in thinking that another of the top three would be at this location; it just wasn't Marcus. As Cathy approached, I could see that she got her hands on a rather nice card since the start of the trial. The Twelve of Rings was prominent among her cards.

"Nice fire arrows," I said.

"How'd you get them?"

"Luck," she replied. The closer she got, the more nervous Carl became. If he had gone into some sort of pact I could understand the potential animosity. Then again, his character was annoying enough to get him on anyone's bad side.

"I stumbled upon a flaming skeleton a few minutes ago," she said once she came up to me.

"That's before the rest swarmed the area." I could tell she was lying. It was unlikely that there would be two elites in the same spot this early on. And even if there were, they wouldn't have just let her go. Looking at the ashes that remained from the monsters she had hit, I could also assume that she wasn't the one who had killed the first batch.

"Seen Marcus?" I tried to sound casual. The woman shook her head.

"He wasn't on the top deck, so I thought he might be here." I looked around.

"On that note, we'd better get going before more show up."

"More?!" Carl asked, almost in panic.

"A ship this size is bound to have at least hundreds. The ones here are probably just the first wave of those roaming about."

"You seem to know a lot about that," Cathy remarked.

"It's a numbers game. There's bound to be more than last trial." I smiled in her direction.

"Up for something risky?"

"Seems like everything you do is risky." She was still cautious about me, though cracked a smile nonetheless.

"What do you have in mind this time?"

"Prize hunting, same as before. Only this time, we'll be hunting for real rewards." There were many ways one could react to such a statement. Most rookie participants would see it as something positive, like getting a chance to win the lottery. When alarm flashed in both their eyes, I knew for certain that deities were giving them advice.

"As the rules master said, there are more rewards hidden on the ship than would be gained for finishing first. We had nothing to lose. If things get too tough, we can always bail," I gave Carl a glance. The two of them looked at each other. It was difficult to tell whether it was because they distrusted each other or they distrusted me.

"Where do we start?" Cathy asked. Normally, I head straight for the bottom of the ship. Based on the current theme of the trial. It was likely that the best rewards would be hidden there. Given that Harlequin had accelerated things, I decided to take a chance and start somewhere else.

"The ship casino," I replied.

"Gambling?" Carl blinked.

"There's that during the trials?"

"I guess we'll find out." My assumption was that at least one casino had to be close to our current area. It didn't take long to be proven right. Granted, it was three decks up, but access was easy now that the undead had been dealt with. On the way, we quickly passed through some of the shops. I needed something that could serve as a temporary weapon. Unfortunately for me, none of the shops we went through offered anything suitable. Carl, on his part, got his hands on an underwater speargun.

The weapon was useless enough to be of importance, so I decided to let him keep it. Going up in the elevator, both me and Cathy remained constantly on the ready.

"Where did you start the trial?" she asked.

"Top deck," I replied, even if I thought I had already mentioned it.

"You?"

"Must have been some view," she avoided my question.

"It was. Once it gets morning, I'll show you." The elevator doors opened, taking us right at the entrance of the Princess Casino. Huge flat screens played video animations of dice, stars, and dollar signs. I took one of my free silver coins and tossed it at one of the screens. The coin vanished, changing the animation to a giant WELCOME written in multicolored letters.

"What happened?" Carl stared.

"The price for admission," I said as I tossed a silver coin at each of the screens.

"Did you get that from a dream as well?" Cathy looked at me.

"Something like that." The casino's gambling room was quite small compared to the ones I had seen in my previous run. Even the one back in the starting hall was larger, if not this nice. Even so, the principle was the same. No one knew the exact reason, but there was a connection between money and merchants. Avon used to joke that whenever there's a place where money friendly changed hands, there would be a merchant or two hiding about.

Seeing no obvious signs of anyone here, I went up to the roulette table and placed one of my gold coins in the middle.

"We're here to buy," I said. I waited.

"What's supposed to happen?" Carl whispered. I tossed two more gold coins. All three were surrounded by light, after which a figure emerged at the head of the table.

"Good evening," the person said.

"How may I be of assistance?" He appeared almost human. Standard build, standard height, with short blonde hair, dressed in a striped suit and checkered shirt, he gave the impression of being a standard salesman, eager to make a profit. That was until one looked into his eyes. Both of them were a color that didn't come naturally to anything living. Golden eyes … I smiled internally. A deity had graced us with his presence.