Chương 38: 37. Epic in the Throne

The Great Lost's arm didn't appear to move. They just changed position, leaving a series of afterimages behind. Watching it was enough to mesmerize an opponent into dropping their guard and suffering a slash as a result. I had faced this style of fighting before. Projecting where his blade would be, I pulled to the left. A split second later the strike followed, splitting the air. In the process, a single mana thread was propelled from the edge of the blade, slicing anything before it.

There was a loud crack, after which a new line had formed on the floor, adding to the many already present. Forty-seven strikes, I thought. That was the number of blows we had exchanged. A quarter of those I was no longer able to perform. In another forty strikes, the number would drop by half. That wasn't what concerned me the most. There was still one card whose skills he hadn't used. Given that it was a Chalice card, chances were that involved magic. The specifics weren't at all clear, though.

Why do I have to deal with Minor Arcana? I cursed in my mind as I spun around, following up with a double arc strike. After years of experience, I had memorized countless Grand Arcana skills, including their chain combinations. Now, at the start of the game, that knowledge was useless. The Great Lost blocked my attack with his blade. Unprepared for my boosted strength, the weapon slid out of his hand and flew all the way to his throne. Unfortunately, this also gave him an opportunity to use his Gatekeeper skill.

I tried to follow up with another arc attack, but my body refused to obey. That was another type of attack I wouldn't get to use until the end of the fight. Just use me! Serp shouted in my mind. I can take him!

"You'll still get your treat!" I hissed as I pulled back. Power thrusts were also not an option. From this point on, only standard attacks remained. They weren't as strong as card skills by any stretch of the imagination, but he wasn't in the best shape, either. Gripping my blades, I performed a standard thrust. One of the attacks was blocked. The other, however, passed through, sinking into the side of his abdomen. I felt a burst of euphoria. Had I won? There was no way he'd survive that.

The seconds stretched to infinity as I waited for him to burst into a puff of smoke. No such thing happened. The hand with the sword disappeared, only to reappear half an inch closer, then again, until it sank into my shoulder. Five of Rings, Two of Chalice! I hardened my bones to slow the blade's progress while simultaneously healing as much as I could. The pain was strong but tolerable. In my mind, time froze to a standstill.

His last attack had left an opening to be exploited, yet I had no means of taking advantage of it. All of my thrust attacks had been blocked, and anything else was going to take more time than I had. I could almost hear Serp screaming about my stubbornness. Maybe there was a degree of truth in that, but there was a reason for that. With what was to come, I wanted my divine blades fed. They were supposed to perform the kill. Diluting it went against my better judgement, but even that was better than losing.

You win, I thought, and let go of the blade that had pierced the Great Lost. The serpent saber emerged in my hand, then flew forward. One of the flaws of the Gatekeeper's skills was that its powers were literal. A person would be prevented from performing an attack only as long as they tried to do so with the same weapon. Use something new and the whole process started from scratch. One of Swords. The saber thrust forward straight into my opponent's chin. There was no way I'd risk him surviving a second attack.

When the tip brought through the back of his skull, I knew that I had won. For over a second the both of us just stood there, motionless, waiting for reality to acknowledge the fact. Then the Great Lost burst in a cloud of blue smoke. Three cards and a blue booster sphere appeared. The cards floated to the floor, while the sphere was instantly pulled into the serpent blade. A faint cyan glow surrounded the weapon. Momentarily the edge became serrated, before reverting to normal again.

For several seconds, I remained silent. That was the main reason I didn't want to use Serp in the fight. It was fortunate that the sphere didn't turn out to be what I wanted. If it had been a red or purple, I would have used it to boost myself and kill off any remaining monsters in the pyramid.

"That's all?" I asked. Clearly, despite their strength, each of the weapons came with its peculiarities. The divine blades needed blood and cards, while Serp had the tendency of stealing any sphere from the killed. Hey, it takes a few, alright?! The sword protested. Without me, you'd have been dead!

"Yeah, yeah." I unsummoned the weapon, then bent down to fetch my second dark silver blade.

"Dead and buried." The swords were also sent to my inventory, giving me a chance to pick up the cards. GATEKEEPER (Rarity – Rare) Skills: RESTRICT – Prevents an opponent from using a specific action. Contact must be achieved. Seriously, Harlequin? The monster jester went beyond any sort of pettiness I could imagine. Removing my ability to examine cards just because I had refused to quit was a bit too much, even for him. Still, I had already gotten a rather useful card.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The Minor Arcana weren't that bad either. The eight and nine of chalice were also useful. The eight allowed me to perform the Thread Strike, which was the equivalent of a ranged attack. The nine was even better, allowing me to ignore a wound during battle.

The wording made me question whether having more of the same card would allow me to withstand more wounds, but given that no one had done so during my previous method, I strongly doubted it. Let's go for more! Serp urged me, like a child in front of a candy store.

"Not yet," I said in a firm tone.

"Let's see what's here first." As it turned out, there was a single hidden pit—a lot less than I expected. It was placed, to little surprise, at the single entrance. Anyone who would senselessly charge in would have been killed on the spot. Looking at the withered bodies on the spikes below, some actually had. The rest of the chamber could pass as nice, barring the blood, body parts, and scars of destruction.

Placed strategically about were large square fireplaces, flooding the chamber in a comfortably bright light. Mosaics covered most walls, with marble statues in front. Quickly, I directed my attention to the throne. It was simple, yet majestic, surrounded by silver bowls and copper jugs of expensive liquid. Knowing the established cache spots, I went behind it. Sure enough, there was a stone lid with a triangle engraved in the center. I took a gold coin and pressed it against the slab. Nothing happened.

I repeated the process with silver. Still nothing. That was unusual. These were all the metals the first trials offered.

"Do you want cards?" I asked. There was no answer. An idea flashed into my mind. If this were a card eater, there was a chance that it might accept junk cards. If not, I was going to make the tough decision to see which cards I could do without. It's probably crap anyway, Serp said. Let's get back to getting more spheres!

"Soon," I said as I pressed a riches card onto the stone triangle. The card disappeared. The upper left corner of the slab changed, showing a carving of a crude treasure chest on it. That was why I needed to kill every living being. The hint wasn't just to explore everything, but to collect all the junk cards.

"Thank you," I said as I placed a second card. I was starting to feel like in the big leagues. During my past run, I had been too focused on surviving to get past the complicated caches. Entering the game late, I had only gotten those that had been left by everyone else. There were a few occasions on which I had been lucky, but not once had I been on the ground floor. One by one, the slab filled up. When I placed the tenth card, cracks covered the entire thing.

I quickly pulled back to see it crumble before me, revealing a cache in the throne. I held my breath. Oh, good! Serp said. It's not another one.

"Was that what was worrying you?" I reached in.

"That it might be another weapon?" No! he said, his voice suggesting the opposite. It's just that you wouldn't be able to carry it. You've still got a wax head in your inventory, you know.

"I'm sure," I pulled out my prize. MOON EYE NECKLACE (Item – Epic) Allows you to see even in the absence of light. Seeing the reward, I took back everything I had thought about the trial. It wasn't difficult. Rather, it was incredibly easy for an epic. If the trial wasn't limited by its level, there was no chance I would have obtained it. The monsters in the chamber alone would have been four times as many, not to mention they'd have a lot more skills.

"Well, Serp, you get to have your wish." I took the Snatcher's head out of my inventory and placed it in the cache.

"Let's do some hunting." The rest of the pyramid was surprisingly easy to clean up. It was astounding what a difference it made not having to worry about light. All the traps and potential ambushes were so apparent that it hurt. Even the monsters themselves had been rendered pathetically weak. Groups of sirens filled the chambers leading to the pyramid's main entrance. Thanks to the Eight of Chalice I didn't even have to worry about them singing.

Any aether strands that they managed to release were severed just as soon as they emerged, along with the creatures' heads. Much to my and Serp's disappointment, not a single one of them dropped a card or sphere. After what I had received so far, Harlequin's generosity had come to an end. From here on, there was a single card I could win: the Grand Arcana card that marked the final fight of the trial. SPONSORSHIP REWARD You have received a kiss from a deity.

A message appeared as I sliced up the final triton guarding the entrance chamber. One had to admit that my mysterious potential sponsor was highly imaginative. The reward, on the surface, was nothing I could use. However, I had already gotten my prize and was wearing it right now.

"Thank you," I said with a slight bow.

"I am touched." There was one other thing. This reward was also a hint. Tastes and deities varied, but there was a strong indication that the mysterious sponsor was a goddess. In fact, there was a good chance that she was someone I had met in my previous run. Definitely not a major deity, none of these would abase themselves to talk with a lowly mortal. Even when I performed favors for them, the major deities would use lesser deities as intermediaries to convey their requests.

A minor female deity with the potential ability to peek into dreams… there couldn't be too many of those. That was stupid! Serp grumbled.

"You saw the message?" I asked, surprised. The pyramid! he said, furious. Hardly a single treat!

"Treats don't grow on trees, you know." Huh? What?

"Nothing. You still got one. That's more than I did." As if anyone would waste a sphere on you. Maybe in five years I'll share some with you! You'll share with me.

"How generous of you." Holding my divine blades, I went up to the wall of solid water that filled the entrance. The moment I stepped into that I would be pulled back into the sea and likely face a whole new set of triton patrols—exactly what I needed to prepare for my big fight.

"Do you want me to slay all the guards in the city?" I asked, waiting for the deities to respond. None of them did. Clearly, they considered the fights too unbalanced in my favor to find them entertaining.

"In that case, I'll head for the palace and bring you the greatest piece of entertainment you have seen." I stepped forward. The water grabbed hold of my leg and violently pulled the rest of my body outside. It didn't hurt, but I didn't like the momentary loss of control. This was something to be mindful of in the future. If I were thrown into any other trial involving two different elements, I would make sure there were no enemies during the transition.

Now that I had the Moon Eye necklace, the city looked very different. The faint glow of magic was replaced by grandiose, monumental structures. The details on each of them were remarkable, crafted with extreme care and skill. Whoever had built the original had spared no expense, resorting to the finest materials and artisans there were. One could almost say that they must have had Grand Arcana skills. The brief moment of fascination was cut short by a harpoon flying straight at me.

Standing my ground, I summoned Serp, then struck the side of the harpoon before it could reach me. The blade's edge doubled in size, simultaneously cutting through the shaft and pushing the harpoon to the side.

"This is going to be fun." I started walking.