Chương 50: 49. A Waster Chance

"Nothing?" Carl asked in shock. Looking at him, one could have come to the conclusion that he had single-handedly killed all the elves.

"That can't be right. Right?" He turned towards me, obviously hoping I'd join in his moral outrage. Three elves and only one card and a booster sphere… After the abundance of the last trial, it was hard to argue that we should have a greater haul. Even so, it wasn't like the coward had contributed in any way.

"You heard what Harlequin said," I remained calm.

"No rewards." There was a fifty-fifty chance that Eleonor's deity had spilled the beans on me taking all the loot. There was a non-zero chance that the other deities had done the same.

"There may be something about the camp," I lied.

"We'll check in the morning."

"Take heed, participants!" Harlequin's voice boomed from the sky before I could continue. Marcus Reily has captured the first phoenix-hawk, which puts him firmly in the lead. So far, three participants have died and none have come even close to completing the task." Lightning crackled across the sky.

"I warned you what would happen if you kept slacking," the rule-master continued.

"The deities are already displeased with your prior performance and won't indulge your laziness any longer! From tomorrow on the number of beasts in the forests will progressively increase. Hone your skills, show some effort, or this trial will end up being your last." Once again, events were different from what I remembered. In the previous run, Harlequin hadn't issued the warning until the third day. That said, no one in the group had managed to kill four elves either.

"Can any of you see in the dark?" I asked. Everyone looked at each other. Seriously? Mentally, I sighed. The deities had to be involved. Out of the four, only Cathy had started with a special allowing her to do that. Everyone else must have been granted a gift later.

"We need to go through the camp and the surrounding area. If there's a shortcut somewhere, we'll need to find it quickly."

"Why?" Carl asked with the self-control of a five-year-old.

"Marcus might be good, but the others will start capturing birds as well." Despite the name, capturing the actual birds wasn't the issue.

"In order to be in the top half, we must reach their nests."

"We should have listened to Seb and gone towards the mountain," Carl grumbled as he walked away. It was just loud enough for us to hear, though not to the point of outright accusing anyone of anything. I stood up from my spot.

"Search a bit and get some rest," I suggested.

"I'll look around a bit further. If we don't find anything by morning, we'll decide what to do." No one raised any concerns or objections, which was good enough for me. Choosing a random direction, I vanished into the jungle. You really lie a lot, Serp criticized.

"Do you prefer not getting the boost sphere?" I took out my divine blades. There was a faint tug further away from the mountain. Clearly, Earcutter wasn't the only monster leader, just the one closest to us. If I led the others in that direction, we were guaranteed to finish last. On the other hand, I would have gained a lot. At this point, none of the others could match me when it came to combat. They wouldn't be in any condition to kill anything more than a scout.

It would have been nice if Cathy could join in on the action. If she didn't score more kills, and fast, there would be more divine punishment coming her way. Right now, one could say that all three of my teammates were on an equal footing: none had managed to capture anything, but, unlike Sebastian, they remained alive.

"You're thinking of killing him alone," a voice said behind me. Every instinct called for me to turn around and perform an attack. Even if it were a participant, there would be no penalties. As petty as deities could be, they were twice as bribable. As long as I offered something that would pique their interest, all would be forgiven. No. I forced myself to remain calm. Not yet.

"That's where the temple is," she continued.

"No guards, no traps, and the hidden trial boss. Kill him and you don't need the hawks." She definitely knew a lot.

"It's not a good idea to sneak up on someone." I glanced over my shoulder. Eleonor was standing there, not in the least bit concerned. If her eyes had been a different color, I could almost believe her to be a deity. The Thief card she had was really annoying, especially if it was—as I suspected—fully boosted.

"You've been offered an alliance," she went directly to the point.

"I've been asked to convey that. It doesn't matter what you've done, or who you're allied with. As long as you help me out, there will be something for you, too."

"Not interested." The last person I'd slept with had saved my life over twenty times. There was also a chance that she might have been the one to betray me. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"What if I offer you the answer to what you've been looking for?" In my mind, I saw myself dash up to her and slice her head off. Follower or not, I was going to kill anyone who knew my secret.

"And what's that?" I turned around, preparing to charge.

"I have no idea." She shrugged, as calm and confident as ever.

"But I can form a link with my deity if you want." Once again, the annoying smirk appeared on her face.

"He told me that you could consider that a gesture of goodwill." I hated that game. Good will? More like blackmail. Hypnos had no idea of the significance the information had held. He had only peeked bits and pieces of it through my dreams, and now was using it as a bargaining chip. Very likely he was using Eleonor as a chip herself, although she didn't know it.

"An alliance?" I pretended to consider the offer.

"A temporary arrangement, if you prefer. You don't have to do much, just join my team when the fifth trial starts."

"What's so special about the fifth trial?" I feigned just enough ignorance to be believable.

"Who knows?" She came up to me. Her right hand casually moved up to my face. Before she could touch it, I pointed the tip of my divine blade at her neck. Immediately, she stopped.

"It's supposed to be the moment the big change happens." She turned her back to me.

"Groups will be formed, and the stronger the group, the greater the change. That's the only thing that's important." I couldn't tell whether Hypnos was lying or there were things I hadn't been aware of. Given the number of new things I had come across this run, I couldn't take everything for granted. Before the fifth trial began, we were going to be merged with another group—two broken halves grouped together in the hopes of making a whole. Then the curse cards were going to be introduced.

"What do I get?" I asked.

"Other than what was promised?" She turned her head just enough so I could see the side of her face over her shoulder.

"What do you want? Gold? Weapons? Cards?" she paused for a while longer.

"Sex? I can give it to you all, in and outside of your dreams. If you want, you can have a sample right now."

"Don't waste my time." There was no way I'd let her approach me during a trial. Suddenly, the color of the girl's eyes changed to gold.

"Precisely what do you want?" she asked again, only this time it wasn't her doing the talking, but her patron deity. Hypnos, you bastard, I thought. He didn't need to take control. The only reason he had was either out of boredom or to make a point. Deities thought so little of participants, even their followers. All the sponsorship offers were nothing more than hooks that went in deeper the longer one served.

"Cards? Items? Spheres?" the deity enumerated.

"The thing you're so desperately searching for?" As if you know that.

"Make Cathy win the trial," I said.

"Not you? Why?"

"That's my price." Years of working for the deities had taught me one thing: when in doubt, always ask for something unexpected.

"Do that and I'll join her group," I insisted.

"Done." Eleonor's eyes returned to their usual color. For a few seconds she just stood there, trying to figure out what had happened, then turned around towards me.

"You had a chat with him?" she asked.

"Yes." There was no need to play ignorant.

"We came to an arrangement."

"Good." She did her best to appear calm, but thanks to my Observer card, I could see a grain of doubt and resentment in her eyes.

"Was I included in the plans?" she asked, almost as an afterthought.

"Cathy must end up winning the trial," I said.

"And you're to help that."

"Cathy?" she outright laughed.

"Are you two a couple or something?" There was no reason for me to speak in order to convey what I was thinking.

"As long as you're in." She shrugged.

"Also, this goes both ways. You tell anyone what happened, and the deal is off." She was alright offering herself to me, but I wasn't supposed to mention that she was possessed by a deity? The few people I had known who could do that in the previous run had no qualms about doing it rather often. There were strict rules that limited the times at which a participant could channel a deity. Using it to complete a trial was strictly forbidden, resulting in an instant negation of the pact. Why the secrecy here, though?

"Works for me," I agreed.

"Then have fun doing whatever you're doing. I'll go get some rest." She started walking away.

"Oh," she paused.

"And just in case you're wondering. You had a chance, and you just blew it." Silently, I waited for her to vanish from view, then turned around. I could still continue towards the monster that the giving blades were directing me to. Doing so would put me at the top of the list, as well as earn me a few extra prizes… at the expense of two, possibly three, deities.

"Serp, how much platinum do you need to awaken?" I asked. A hundred coins, the saber replied. You could have asked for those if you were smart.

"Probably." Only then I'd be in Hypnos' debt. I put the divine blades away and returned to the camp. If I had any dreams that night, I didn't remember a single one. The entire night had passed in the instant between me closing my eyes and opening them again. As the morning started, two more announcements were made. Apparently two more people had managed to capture a phoenix-hawk, increasing the total number to three. At the same time, another person had died, further diminishing our group.

For a quarter of an hour, everyone was forced to listen to Carl complain about the plants, the heat, and the lack of food. Several times he had subtly asked me what had happened to my backpack, and several times I had given him a non-answer. Once that was over, the trip further into the jungle continued. While we walked, I would simultaneously use my Symbiont and Beastermaster cards: one to keep insects away and the other to keep a lookout for animals.

The experience was very different from the previous time I had completed the trial. Back then, each group—based on door—had worked together to seek out and capture the elusive phoenix-hawks. The creatures, as the name suggested, were immortal, so failing the trial was practically impossible, unless we happened to die in the process.

As one of the many archers, it had been my task to shoot down anything I saw flying and leave it to those with the appropriate specials to rush and collect the burning clump of coal that dropped to the ground. In a matter of minutes the goal would reignite, transforming into a hawk once more.

"What do you think the cards are?" Carl asked. The simple task of remaining quiet for long periods of time proved impossible for him. In that aspect, he was ten times worse than Serp.

"I mean, do you think it's ten copies of the same card or ten different cards? Or something in-between?" I stopped. I could smell the sweat covering Carl from where I stood. That wasn't the reason. In the distance, hidden by the canopy of vegetation, I could see the glowing aether outline of a structure. We had arrived at our destination.