Chương 40: 39. Siren of the Dead Sea

Over twenty marble statues were placed on the edges of the room. Each of them belonged to a participant. I could recognize some of the gear and weapons they had. Some of them had their faces visible, displaying utter horror. From everything I knew, there was a single entity that could turn a person into a statue, although even she didn't have the power to transform clothes. There had to be more at play here.

"What do you think of my collection?" the creature beyond the veil asked.

"A few of them even managed to wound me."

"Did any of them kill you?" I tensed, expecting a violent reaction to my question. Instead, she only laughed.

"That's what everyone asks. And yes. Half a dozen managed that." The statues were firmly behind me, standing in absolute silence. Right now, I was no longer sure whether it was a good idea to wake them up. It wouldn't be the first time a statue had gone after me.

"Did the other fish ask that as well?"

"Oh, my guards? They were useless in every sense of the word. I'm fully aware that they wouldn't have stopped you. And before you ask, they wouldn't have dropped anything either. Harlequin seems to think you're more than qualified to face me."

"That's nice of him."

"Well, he's known to have made mistakes. Just because he's convinced of something doesn't make it true. The only thing he sees is—" I didn't wait for the sentence to finish, combining my arc attack with a thread strike. A line of aether split through the water, cutting through the entire veil and frame of the bed. Not waiting for the monster to be revealed, I did several power thrusts aiming in all directions. If she were to act, she would do so now.

Detached from the rest of the bed, the upper half of the frame floated a bit before receiving the force of a thrust.

"Get her!" I ordered. To my relief, both statues charged forward. Passing on either side, they had their weapons drawn—straight marble swords, with broad blades and no distinctive ornaments. There was no way they had challenged a Grand Arcana holder with just that. Their real weapons were probably taken from them by the rule-masters after their transformation. One of the statues raised its buckler shield, taking a defensive stance, while the other leaped straight forward with a strike.

Before the tip of his blade had reached the falling veil, an aether thread cut through emerging from behind. Mercilessly, it sliced through his sword, aiming for his head. At the very last second, the statue managed to arch back, avoiding the lethal strike. Damn it! Why did it have to be that? There wasn't a participant alive who couldn't recognize a thread-weapon after seeing it. A lot more versatile than most swords, they had the annoying tendency of stopping any attacks.

Weaker weapons and armor were instantly sliced to pieces, while stronger ones were entangled and snatched away. It was said that no one remained unscathed after an encounter with a thread-weapon. Some would lose a weapon, some a hand, while some would lose their life altogether.

"Get back!" I shouted as I performed a vertical thread strike. The line of aether flew forward. There it stopped, blocked by one just like it. That was the greatest strength of thread weapons. Their purpose wasn't to attack but to defend, which they did in extraordinary fashion, stopping strikes, projectiles, and people alike. So far, all the monsters with such weapons had been aelf nobles. The titles varied, but we all called them Death Minstrels, since that was precisely what they were doing.

"It won't do you any good," a figure jumped out from behind the veil. Rather, she destroyed the veil before moving through it. The single aether thread danced through the air with such speed that it became a scribble in the air. The statue desperately tried to move back, but at this point it was already too late; he had entered her area of reach and was completely defenseless against the cat's cradle of death. Half a second later, he was already destroyed.

I started singing in an attempt to catch her off guard, but my song threads were slashed long before they could get anywhere near her. The only reason I kept my head was because I managed to block the monster's thread with my blades. The pressure was intense, pushing me a step back, yet even so, the divine weapons remained undamaged.

"Told you." The entity focused on the remaining statue. That was when I finally got to see her for the first time. SIREN OF THE DEAD SEA Level: 15 Cards: Observer Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Special: Foresight Weapon: Divine Thread Dagger My muscles tightened. It was obvious that Harlequin had significantly weakened her by limiting her to one card, one special, and one weapon.

Yet the combination they created was enough to give nightmares to a whole army of veterans. The Observer card was possibly the one Grand Arcana card that everyone sought. In some aspects, it was similar to Harlequin's Sight, but offered so much more. With it, one could see the full skills cards and weapons possessed, virtually any traps, tracks, and traces left behind, not to mention that there was talk that its ultimate skill allowed someone to peer into a person's mind.

Adding to that, the foresight special allowed her to visualize what might happen anywhere up to three seconds into the future. This wasn't more than guessing or cold-reading; she actually had the ability to see events the way they happened. Then, there was the weapon. Part threads, part dagger, it was divine, so I had no way of damaging or destroying it. It was also flexible enough to get to where it needed to be in advance. It was virtually impossible to block, since it never struck directly.

A few steps away, the thread dug into the second statue, passing through its shield and chest as if they were made of soft clay. That was my moment to act. While I knew that the siren could foresee the future, I was also aware that her speed remained limited. Facing participants of a higher level, she probably thought that she would use her lightning reflexes to evade any attack coming her way. Dashing forward, I performed a double slash attack, then followed up freestyle.

The siren's thread emerged from the other side of the crumbling statue, blocking one of my blades; meanwhile, the dagger component of her weapon parried the other. It was a masterful response, done with the ease of someone who had gone through thousands of battles. No delays, no hesitations, not even a single correction of the flow of motion… and yet the siren had just made her first major mistake. Restrict. I resorted to my Gatekeeper card. For a split second, our eyes met.

I expected to see anger, yet she merely smiled back, amused by the outcome. I might have achieved the first successful move, but the battle was only starting. Both of us simultaneously leaped back. The siren must have seen the way I'd react to an immediate attack, or she would have chased after me. That gave me hope that I still had the potential to win this fight.

"You'll only waste your money," she said, her smile widening to the point that Harlequin would have found it charming.

"You're thinking about spending what silver you have to wave up the statues in the chamber. It won't work."

"Or maybe it will, and you just want to trick me into not going ahead with it?" I really hated fighting monsters with foresight. Avon kept a chaos card just for that purpose. Nothing shook someone with foresight as staring into the abyss of chaos during a fight.

"Now you're insulting me."

"Right." I put my guard up.

"Only the weak lie. But if I'm stronger, wouldn't that make it alright for you to lie?" The siren stared at me. Her frame was a lot more delicate than all the other sirens I had fought so far. Golden scales covered part of her body, confirming my suspicions that she was a royal. She must have really enjoyed killing participants to have been kept in this trial for so long.

"You're amusing," she broke out laughing again.

"I like you. That's why I'll go back on my promise and share a bit of information before the end of the fight." She slowly floated up.

"You won't find an answer to the key in the next three trials. You'll try to make a deal with Harlequin about it, but he won't be able to help you, either." That was scarily specific. Also, considering the exchange we just had, I had no idea whether it was true or not. It remained unclear whether I would lose or win the fight. Since death was an option, I could well lose everything I had gained this trial and still experience the prediction she had just mentioned.

Simultaneously, I considered my next course of action. With my last attack, I had rendered her unable to use her thread or dagger to block. Of course, in order to take advantage of that limitation, I had to attack in exactly the same fashion and the water wasn't making things easier. Before I could move forward, the siren swam further up towards the ceiling. She had seen what I would do and reacted appropriately. Now, she held the high ground in both literal and figurative ways.

A memory came back of when we were facing a flock of harpies during my previous run. All of them had prediction abilities, reacting to the group's attack before participants themselves performed it. That's when one veteran pact-holder showed us the best approach. She had a pact with an archer deity, maybe even Diana. Instead of shooting at the monsters directly, she always made a point of shooting where they weren't. Her actions had confused the harpies. Initially, they didn't think much of it.

The archer's attacks didn't inflict any harm even if she wasn't aiming at them. When the rest of the group joined in, the situation changed. Unable to stay in the same spot and unable to move, the harpies suddenly found themselves navigating an invisible maze. Despite being able to predict the spot of every arrow flying their direction, the chaotic aiming made it all the more difficult to remain unscathed.

Their reactions had slowed as they spent more time considering their options until finally one of the arrows struck. From there it was a simple matter of keeping up the pressure. I had no arrows at my disposal, yet what I did have was the ability to add aether threads to my attacks. Remaining in place, I performed a series of slash attacks. Each time a destructive thread would fly up towards the ceiling, and each time they would miss.

Coming to terms with her limitations, the siren proved just fast enough to avoid an injury by the narrowest of margins. A few times she would even let the attack brush her scales, though nothing more. Her laughter filled the space, ringing as if we weren't underwater. The creature was arrogant, though only because she could afford to be.

"If you keep that up, you'll tire," she said, avoiding several more of my thread strikes. It was obvious that she was right, yet I kept on pushing. Luck and chaos were the only ways through this. Any hesitation on my part was only going to make my victory a lot more difficult to achieve. After all, it wasn't as if she could attack freely. The thread-dagger's range was limited to five feet. Even if she knew what my actions were, at such a distance she risked getting more restrictions.

Since she had a single weapon, that would slowly put her at a disadvantage.

"Had your fun?" she asked, flowing through the water like a butterfly. It was worse than fighting skeletons. Dozens of slice marks covered the ceiling. Several of the glow crystals had already been destroyed, yet the siren remained elusive as ever. Suddenly, she changed approach. No longer fearing my attacks, she swam straight at me, weapon at the ready. I tried to increase my rate of attack, but my arms were already sore. She had been right—I had exhausted myself and achieved nothing.

The golden thread flew towards my face. Every fiber in my body screamed at me to block it. The rational part of my mind knew that to be a mistake, but my fear took over. Restrict! I thought. The dark silver blades blocked the thread once more. This was one attack she wouldn't be able to use. Sadly, there was a price. I looked down at my stomach. My body had yet to react to the pain, but I could see her dagger half-sunk into me.

"Does it hurt?" the siren smiled, asking as if someone who had never experienced pain in her life, but enjoyed seeing others describe it.

"Please tell me it hurts." She pushed the dagger deeper.