Chương 46: 45. Symbiont Elf Arrows

All doors led to the same place. It was an inevitability. The difference was how long it would take to get there. The three skulls door started closer to the heart of the jungle. There were more thorns, more beasts, and the occasional pack of elves, but capturing the phoenix-hawks was going to be faster. The snake door was the polar opposite, starting in the middle of nowhere. Most people in the previous run, myself included, had settled for the single skull.

It had seemed safer than the alternatives and without the mental baggage associated with the image of the snake. Much later I had learned the snake to be the worst choice: absolute safety for zero reward.

"No one else will show," Eleonor said, her voice drenched in boredom. I had no idea why she had picked this door. Given her deity patron, I would have assumed she'd go for the three skulls. Then again, maybe there was something I wasn't familiar with. Interestingly enough, everyone with a divine pact had chosen this door.

"Skies are clear," Sebastian said from up a tree. He was a lot less arrogant now that the goth was near.

"There's a mountain. The birds might be there."

"Any large trees?" Carl asked in an attempt to be useful.

"Birds always nest in trees." Mentally, I groaned. This wasn't what I had intended. The plan had been to tackle the challenge with Cathy and Marcus starting from the three skulls door. Sadly, after Cathy chose the wrong door, so had Marcus, picking the two skulls. That had put me in the position to choose whether to join either of them or proceed on my own. Ultimately, I had decided to join Cathy.

Having her be in a group with Eleonor and Sebastian felt a bit too risky, especially now that she had the Magician card. I looked around. Other than the sound of insects, there didn't seem to be any signs of living creatures. Plants surrounded us on every side, though they weren't as thick as I knew other parts of the jungle to be. Careful not to step on any vines, I went up to Cathy.

"Why did you pick this door?" I whispered.

"I don't know," she replied.

"Seemed like the best choice." It was obvious that she was lying. Getting here was no coincidence. There had to be a shortcut. That was the only thing I could think of. With enough cards and gold at our disposal, we could easily afford to use one and beat any other participants to the phoenix-hawks. Or maybe there was some other reason? I took the divine swords out of my inventory. Instantly they tugged to the side.

"There aren't any—" Sebastian began, only to be shushed by the goth girl. The blades were pulling me in the opposite direction of the mountain. After reaching the desired way, they tugged forward.

"There's something here," I said.

"It's strong. Maybe an elf camp."

"Elves?" Carl asked.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll love you," I said.

"Your hair will be used for brushes, your skin for clothes, and if you have good teeth, those will make a nice necklace."

"Ha ha ha. Good one," the snake laughed. There was no way he'd believe me, not until it actually happened. In spite of their beauty, elves were among the more vicious beings. Several people in the past had described them like cats: pretty, vicious, and enjoying playing with their food. The only positive thing was that they were territorial to the extreme. As long as people kept out of their territory, they were unlikely to take the initiative and attack.

"You want us to go there, don't you?" Eleonor was the first to catch on. Elves also meant potential prizes.

"Better than leaving them to make the first move," I replied.

"There are probably more of them in the jungle."

"That'll take us further away from the mountain," Sebastian protested from above.

"We should keep this simple." Then you should have taken the three skulls door.

"The elves might have a shortcut," I countered.

"Or at least know where one could be found. I'm not forcing anyone, though. If you think it's better heading to the mountain, do it."

"I'll stick with you!" Carl was quick to say, rushing close to me.

"There's strength in numbers." As if anyone would rely on him for anything. By now they were no doubt aware of his pact, or at the very least suspected it. That was one other problem I would get to face. Deities tended to be a lot more competitive than their followers. It would be second nature for them to pit the participants against one another only to prove whose mortal was better.

"Cathy?" I turned to her.

"I'll go with you," she said. The lack of blood appearing on her clothes told me that Diana had approved, or at the very least wasn't completely against the idea.

"I'll join as well," Eleonor added.

"As Carl said, there's strength in numbers." Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. She was making a power play. I had seen it often enough to know precisely how it started. Up to now, the goth had remained quiet, flaunting her skills as she assessed the other participants. Now that she knew who her greatest threats were, she had made her move, giving everyone two options: challenge her or shut up. Walking through the forest felt eerily familiar.

It was like playing Russian roulette at every step. Despite what Harlequin had said, the rules of the trial ensured that no harm would come to anyone while remaining in the "common areas" of the forest. Like a network of paths, they went through the trees and vegetation, all the way up to the hunting grounds. One step beyond the invisible threshold and every vine, every blade of grass, became lethal. On the way, I kept an eye on everyone else. All of them were displaying completely different behavior.

Eleonor remained quiet, silently mocking everyone for having issues with something she had already mastered. Cathy was determined, her bow at the ready, aware that every miss might end with a wound. Sebastian was a lot less talkative than last time. Without a herd of sheep to control, he had to rely on his archery skills. As for Carl…

"Let's stop for a rest," he said, panting.

"We…we… we must be strong for when we come across the elves." Carl acted the fool as always—a role that suited him well. The scary part was that even with the Observer card, I had no way of telling whether that was an act or not.

"Want to be left behind?" Sebastian hissed. He probably didn't like watching his former ass-kisser shift loyalty again.

"I think it's a good spot," I intervened.

"We might not get any more chances to rest after this. Or talk," I glanced at each of them in turn. Reaching into my backpack, I took out a bottle of water, then went up to Cathy. The other three paused, though only Carl seemed actually tired.

"Here," I handed Cathy the bottle.

"Thanks, but I'm not—" She paused. While I was hiding it from all the rest, she was able to spot the card I had wrapped around the small plastic bottle.

"You'll need it," I continued.

"You can always pay me back once this is over." The Archer couldn't be said to be a particularly strong card, but it could be quite useful for someone like her. It was somewhat of a gamble, especially since I could have used it to boost the one I had. Still, I had a strong feeling that I would be getting a lot more cards during this trial and after, provided we survived.

"Thanks," she whispered. The Archer card disappeared the moment Cathy took the bottle. She removed the cap, took a sip, then handed it back.

"Keep it," I said.

"We'll be needing it."

"So, what's the plan?" Eleonor asked a short distance away.

"You have a plan, right?"

"Depends. What do you know about elves?" I wasn't going to be played.

"I thought you knew all about them."

"I know what they will do to us when they catch us, not how they fight," I lied.

"Either way, the plan is the same. Get close without them noticing and kill them off. Hopefully, keeping as many of us alive."

"Good plan!" Carl energetically agreed.

"That's a shit plan," Sebastian scoffed.

"Is that how you took down the Blade Serpent?"

"It worked," I replied calmly.

"Only because you got help. There's no way someone like you could have—" An arrow zipped through the jungle, striking the man in the chest. Everyone, with the exception of Carl, drew their weapons, though it was too late for Sebastian. The man had already let out a death gurgle. Thread slice! I slashed in the direction the arrow had appeared. Eleonor also joined in, following up with a barrage of thrust strikes. Several dozen trees tumbled, drilled full of holes even before they touched the ground.

Some would call it an impressive display of force, but I couldn't help but fear that we were several steps behind.

"Stay low!" I shouted, performing another thread slice attack as I leaped to the side. If we were lucky, we would be dealing with a single stray elf. Usually, they traveled in small groups, though it wasn't uncommon for a scout to get overconfident and try to take out a group of unsuspecting participants. I had seen lots of it during the first few years of my previous trial. Elves and goblins had been the most common monsters during the early days.

Occasionally Harlequin would turn particularly wicked and send us on a trial that had both. While goblins were vicious, elves were calculating. Few in number, they relied on their superior skill and senses to incapacitate a group before proceeding to torture the people to death. The fact that Sebastian had been killed off in one shot told me that we were dealing with someone not fully confident in their skills. A glint flashed in the jungle. The moment I saw it, I leaped to the ground.

An arrow flew right above me, striking a tree a few steps away. The attacker had just set me as the next target. Gripping my swords, I glanced at the arrow sticking from the tree. It was halfway in, covered with a glistening greenish substance. During the second I watched, centipedes came out of the end, quickly crawling down the shaft.

"Get away from Seb's body!" I shouted. It was naive to think that the encounter would be so easy. Our enemy had a Symbiont card. Every arrow wasn't just an arrow, but a swarm of deadly, poisonous insects. A simple scratch was enough to slowly poison or paralyze a victim; but even when the arrow missed, it would release a host of creatures. Attracted to human scent, they would crawl until they found something to burrow into. Leaping to my feet, I activated the Twelve of Rings, covering my blades in flames.

"Burn it!" I struck the arrow with both blades, setting the entire trunk of the tree on fire.

"Burn Seb!" From the corner of my eye, I saw Carl run off, waving his arms in panic. He seemed completely uninjured. Meanwhile, Eleonor had gone on the offensive, devastating tree after tree with her attack. It was something she hadn't shown during our boasting match at the arena, yet was still too wasteful with her actions. Suppressive attacks were all and good, but attacking blindly wasn't. A flaming arrow hit Sebastian's corpse, setting it on fire. Cathy had also joined in the fight.

Suddenly, a wave of dread swept through me.

"Cathy, drop down!" How could I have missed it?! Sebastian wasn't killed just because he was a convenient target. Carl, myself, and even Cathy made for a lot better targets. The elf had deliberately focused on him. To be more specific, the elf had targeted that part of the group which had two participants with Archer cards. I had been next. If Harlequin had given the elves the ability to see our cards, they would be going after all the archers.

Initially, Eleonor and Cathy had been the ones without such a card, but that had changed after I had shared my second copy.

"You're next!" Between the trees of the jungle, I spotted another glint of light.