Chương 60: 59. Death and Spell Circles

SPONSORSHIP REWARD You have received a divine knee brace from a deity. You can move your limp leg with relative freedom. The hundreds of scorpion carcasses dropped to the chamber floor. Moments later, the five tails of the scorpion followed. Good job, kid, I thought as I fell to my knees. The underground aether threads faded by the hundreds. Then, the massive creature in the center burst out of existence, turning into a cloud of rust. Five rewards were left behind.

Four of them were three bronze and one silver cards, which meant that I had gotten a variant. That was a tremendous stroke of luck, although I assumed Harlequin had only permitted it to mess with me. Given how strong the creatures were, there was a good chance that my divine blades wouldn't get their kill for the day, forcing me to feed them cards. While I still had a riches left, after that I would have to sacrifice one of the actually useful ones. The final reward surprised me.

It was a green sphere that glowed, full of magic even from this distance. The nature of the booster sphere was expected, since I was dealing with a scorpion, after all. The unusual part was that Serp had let me have it. You better be grateful for this! He grumbled. I just don't want to watch you covered in shit! I would have returned the insult if that wouldn't have opened a can of worms.

With the fight over, the comment brought me to the realization that there was excess liquid in the back of my pants, and it wasn't blood.

"Greg!" I heard a holler from above.

"Are you alright there?" Yeah, no problem. I was unironically pleased that none of them had tried to help out. Ruining my first kill would have caused more issues than a bit of lost pride.

"I'm tossing you a rope," Marcus shouted.

"Hold on." Without wasting a moment, I rushed towards the green sphere. Boosting my resistance would have been quite useful right about now, but there was something far more important that I needed. Grabbing it from the sand, I then took out the Magician from my deck and pressed the two together. The card was instantly surrounded by a green glow. THE MAGICIAN (VI, MAJOR, CHALICE) (Rarity – Rare) SKILLS (2/4): 1 MAGIC SIGHT: See magic 2 SPELL CIRCLES: Create static spell circles 3??? 4??? It actually works…

I would have smiled if the curse had allowed it. While inefficient in combat, any ability that allowed for the free use of magic was of tremendous benefit. Naturally, it took more than a card to make a mage. All the ones I'd known had spent years accumulating patterns through trade or experimentation until they became the powerhouses that people knew them to be. Nothing was free in the Grand Arcana, but even so, every new card, skill, and item came with at least something beneficial.

In this case, I was granted knowledge of four simple spells: earth, fire, wind, and water. A rope dropped down from above.

"Grab on," Marcus yelled.

"I'll pull you up."

"And hurry up!" Carl squealed.

"We're risking our lives here!" You're so lucky I can't talk. I went on to grab the cards. The Ten of Chalice granted me the limited power to cast ice shields—something obsolete once I boosted the Magician and acquired a bit more spells. The Eleven of Chalice was a duplicate, so I held on to it for sword food. Then came the Thirteen of Swords. Backstab, I thought. Finally, I had gotten another useful attack. It was more situational than anything, but significantly increased the strength of any surprise strike.

It was perfectly suited to the Thief card, sadly one I didn't have as of yet. Then came the Gravedigger, which, to my astonishment, had been upgraded to a silver variant. THE GRAVEDIGGER (XIX, MAJOR, RING) (Rarity – Exceptional) SKILLS (1/3): 1 DEATH ALLY: Undead consider you their own Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. 2??? 3???

It was no surprise that I would get the initial skill, but just seeing that there were three skills instead of two filled me with excitement. In my previous run, such a card could be exchanged for three exceptional cards, possibly more. No one knew the exact rules when it came to variants. Even the deities were tight-lipped on the matter. The only certainty was that the boost in rarity came with an additional skill, which seemed to be different for every variant.

There always was a chance that I'd get something extraordinary, just as I could end up with something utterly useless. How many spheres before your next skill? I asked Serp as I removed what was left of the stint of arrows from my leg. How many spheres before you reach the next level? The serpent blade grumbled. Just keep feeding me and you'll see. Clearly, he was very upset that I hadn't let him have his treat. As everything else in the Grand Arcana, quality came at a cost. Don't worry about that.

I'll even find you some platinum now that I can. Serp didn't respond, which was his way of agreeing. I removed my clothes, then cast my first spell circle. The experience was slow and clunky. Lacking the ability to think it into existence, I had to use my finger to draw lines of aether in the air. Once fully formed, water trickled out of the center. Some might have considered it wrong to waste water in such a fashion. Normally, that was what the preparation hall was for.

There we could cast off all the main and dirt and enjoy a day or two of acceptable comfort. I had been afflicted with stomach issues several times in the past, sometimes keeping it in, sometimes not. All the time I had persisted, continuing with the trial. Now that I was given the opportunity for better, I decided to fully indulge in any and every comfort I could afford.

"Greg, what's going on?" Eleonor's voice echoed in the chamber. I strongly doubted she could see what I was doing among the scorpion carcasses, but even if she did, I didn't care. My clothes also got a quick rinse, then were dried with the second and third spells I ever created: a pair of wind and fire circles. Just to get a feel of the full range, I also cast an earth circle, causing a stone pillar to emerge. A minute later, once I was done, I grabbed the rope and pulled.

"Hold tight," Marcus said. The rope moved up, taking me with it. Looking down, there wasn't a hint of the battle that had taken place. Anyone would just assume that I had fallen into a chamber of insect corpses. In a way, this reminded me of my past run. While exploring caverns and ruins, I had often come across empty burial chambers. At the time, I had considered them an artistic touch that the rule-masters added to their lethal creations. What if I been mistaken?

Participants more capable than me must have ventured in and defeated a monster with the Gravedigger card, or something else with similar abilities. As Sparta liked to say: it's always different looking down from the top. When I got back to the tunnel above, I could see that some changes had taken place there as well. Several scorpion guard carcasses blocked the entrance, their "impenetrable" shells drilled full of holes.

"Nice of you to finally join us," Carl glared at me with the authority of a minion standing beside his boss.

"I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much." I pointed at the dead insects.

"Oh, that?" he snorted.

"While you were having fun, we had to actually do some fighting. You're lucky that Marcus insisted on pulling you up." He didn't openly say that he would have left me behind, but the implication was obvious. The fact that Marcus had stepped in suggested that Carl wasn't the only one with similar thoughts. I looked at Eleonor.

"Glad you made it," she said, avoiding my glance.

"We could use some pheromones about now." Her words sounded forced, as she was deliberately trying to sound dismissive. Regardless, I used the Symbiont card. This time, I tried something new: releasing the identifiers of the penta-scorpion. Giving a thumbs up, I drew my divine blades. As always, they tugged in the direction of the previous corridor. With a bit of luck, there was a chance that we could come across another penta before reaching the queen.

The only thing that concerned me was that Harlequin hadn't made any announcements. Did that mean my kill didn't count? It was good enough for the deities, so maybe there was some other reason for his being silent. Scorpion guards hurried out of the way the moment they got a sniff of my pheromones. Clearly, instinct remained key in the nest. Even the simplest reasoning would have led anyone to come to the conclusion that something was wrong; penta-scorpions never moved, especially not in such narrow tunnels.

Their hard-coded primal instincts proved stronger, however.

"How do you think the others are doing?" Carl whispered as we walked.

"Do you think they've gotten their first kill?"

"Probably," Eleonor replied with complete disinterest.

"Shouldn't we hurry up then? The bottom of the pile gets cursed." If I were in the goth's place, I would have responded with a strike to the throat or, failing that, a sarcastic comment. She did neither, giving him a sideways glance as if he were a squashed cockroach. Cathy didn't react much better. In her case, I could actually sense a trace of killing intent emanating from her eyes.

"Keep it up," Marcus said, patting Carl on the back.

"It's fun." The praise quickly made the middle manager lose his tongue. Going by my previous run, it was far too early for Carl to die, although one could always hope. The main reason I didn't want him to die now was because of the penalty. Harlequin hadn't mentioned it, but the death of a member counted as a negative kill, thus ensuring that stronger groups did better while weaker ones fell faster. The deeper we went into the nest, the larger the tunnels became.

Crystal scorpions appeared, staying at specific spots in small groups, like sentries checking who was passing by. The pheromones had no effect on them, forcing me to choose alternative routes. All talk was reduced to a minimum. Among so many creatures, one mistake could prove our last. Even with all the destructive power at our disposal, we wouldn't stand a chance against so many scorpions at once, not to mention that there were probably hundreds more in the nest.

Detour after detour, I led the group in circles, trying to find a path past the crystal scorpions, when I suddenly saw them. Royal guards… I thought. Three times larger than the common guard, they could be said to be a miniature version of the penta-scorpion, only with a single tail and different cards at their disposal. Grated the ability to cast flames and ice shields, they blocked a large entrance leading further in. Even without my divine blades, I could see the vast glow of magic within.

I turned around and used my fingers to draw a three-pointed crown in the air.

"The crown chamber," Eleonor was the first to understand.

"Good job." As much as I appreciated the compliment, this was easier said than done. We had to deal with a pair of fearsome guards even before entering inside. There was no sneaking around, and a direct fight risked getting us stuck between a monster boss on one side and a few hundred scorpions on the other. I pointed at Cathy and Eleonor, then at the royal guards.

"You want us to kill them?" Cathy asked. I drew a question mark in the air.

"Can we kill them?" she corrected her question.

"Not sure. I can take out the common ones, but not sure about these."

"I can take one," Eleonor said with forced confidence.

"Won't be that difficult. The issue is what we do after." I drew a circle in the air. Everyone stared at me. Seal I wrote on the tunnel floor. Just to be sure I was understood, I pointed down at the tunnel, then raised my hands, mimicking a wall coming up as best I could.

"You'll seal the tunnel," Marcus translated.

"Could work. Are we strong enough to kill the boss, though?" That was a good, if uncomfortable, question. While I had managed to take out a penta-scorpion, he was old and dying. A queen wouldn't have such issues. Normally, I'd be confident that we stood a fighting chance, but with all the curses affecting me, not to mention that Marcus effectively only had one eye, it was going to be a lot more difficult. I showed four fingers.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The fingers became three, then two. Grasping what I was going for, everyone except Carl readied their weapons. Here goes. I charged forward right at the royal guards.