chapter 13
< 4. Worst choice (2) >
The exploration war is over. Now that Cameleos was also wounded, it was clear that he would not be caught off guard any longer. Kameleos shook his head from side to side and looked at Andrea.
A look in the eyes that can’t even guess what kind of emotion it contains. Andrea decided to focus on the more definitive information.
‘Cameleos can’t use invisible consecutively.’
The duration was incredibly long, but the invisibility had a cooldown. According to Andrea’s experience, the cooldown is about 30 seconds, or about 1 turn. In other words, if you endured this attack, you could see the next draw.
‘Marco, please help me.’
With 3 cards drawn and 19 remaining cards, the probability of drawing Marco Summon in the next draw is about 15%. It was by no means a high probability.
There was no time to wish for a miracle draw. In the blink of an eye, Cameleos approached the nose. It would be difficult to hit both scythes at the same time, so Andrea chose to strike first.
Shook!
A blade aiming at the nape of the neck and piercing deeply. Cameleos leaned sideways and lightly dodged the attack.
Andrea also drew back and drew back. It was a choice that could not be helped because it could not be counterattacked.
Cameleos did not miss the opportunity. As he crouched down, he quickly closed the distance and approached. Two sharp-edged scythes aimed at Andrea’s abdomen.
It was too fast to dodge. However, Andrea was not taken aback. He was holding a card in his left hand, with only two fingers left.
Andrea did not dodge, but rather ran forward. While Kameleos hesitated in surprise at the unexpected action, Andrea jumped up and played a card in the air.
“Leap from here!”
He stepped on the air and swung his sword while spinning around in the air. The tip of the knife very shallowly scratched the back of Cameleus’s head. After an unexpected acrobatics, Andrea fell to the floor and rolled over.
It was an attack of remorse. An attack conceived from when I made the decision to save cards. Of course, Andrea expected that it would not be easy to inflict fatal wounds with this.
Cameleos looked at Andrea shaking his head from side to side again. It was only then that Andrea understood the meaning of the action.
‘It looks corrupt as if you’d die if you swung a scythe, but it’s surprisingly good at it, that’s it.’
Andrea raised her sword and readjusted her posture.
‘Let’s see if I can do that even if I get stabbed once.’
It’s turn 2. Andrea drew a card with her left hand. The fingers holding the card trembled.
It wasn’t just because I was nervous. As three fingers were cut off, it seemed that the connected nerves were damaged somewhere together.
The cards drawn in this way are Strike, Defense, and Defense.
As expected, Marco’s summons did not come out. Andrea suppressed her devastated feelings and used defense.
And the defense immediately ran out of force.
The ends of the scythe were stuck under both collarbones. It didn’t penetrate deeply thanks to the use of defense, but it was enough to feel the sharp pain.
“Keuk!”
When Andrea kicked him up, Kameleos drew his scythe and pulled back.
‘It’s like such an asshole! What if I lose my eyes while using the card!’
Even if I blame myself, it’s already too late. Even the short time of drawing and examining the cards was enough time for Cameleos to hide his presence and launch an ambush.
The wound wasn’t deep, but I felt a throbbing pain every time I tried to put strength on my arm. The already unfavorable fight was turning even more unfavorable.
Cameleos roamed around with a relaxed gesture. An attitude that radiates confidence that you can catch your prey without hiding in the bush or using invisibility.
‘It’s fortunate that the turn doesn’t stop… but it’s not just a good thing. After the 3rd turn, that guy gets stronger too.’
Chance of drawing Marco Summon next turn is now about 18%. It was a slightly higher number than before, but it was still a very low probability to bet on.
Cameleos bent his stooped back even more and crouched down so that he could spring up at any time. Andrea wanted to step back right away, but she couldn’t move easily, fearing that the Cameleos would immediately attack her.
Sure enough, as soon as I slightly pulled my foot back, Cameleos rushed at me. Andrea pulled the knife toward her body and assumed a posture ready to strike back.
But it was a trick. As the Cameleos approached, Andrea lunged forward as before and jumped up again.
“Leap again from here!”
I wonder if he won’t get hit twice, Kameleos didn’t panic and raised the scythe above his head to prepare to attack.
But it’s also a trick. There was no leap for Andrea now.
The height at which he threw his body was significantly lower than the trajectory that Kameleos expected. Of course, it was an attack aimed at the blind spot that I thought I would use the same move this time.
“Actually, it’s Gurada, you bastard.”
Andrea extended her sword.
shhh!
It brushed the nape of the neck, but this time it didn’t do much damage either. On the contrary, I got too close and pulled myself out, and I almost got stabbed by the scythe.
It was a crazy strategy to give up your body if you failed in the first place, so that was good enough. Andrea distanced herself and tried desperately to figure out what to do next.
It’s been 3 turns in the meantime. Cameleos suddenly started acting strangely. Chameleos groaned as if something had caught in his stomach, then drew the scythe in front of his snout.
Andrea knew what Cameleos was up to.
‘It’s poison. From the 3rd turn, I applied venom to the blade of the scythe.’
The venom of chameleos was different from that of green snakes. Even the paralysis poison would be lethal enough, but the venom of the chameleos is a hemorrhagic poison. A poison that will soon lead to death if not detoxified.
From now on, just brushing it was over.
I couldn’t help but stare blankly. Andrea prayed earnestly inwardly and drew a card from the deck.
‘Please summon Marco, please summon Marco.’
Strike, strike, and summon Marco.
The dungeon hadn’t abandoned Andrea yet.
Andrea immediately summoned Marco without delay. A soldier in leather armor and a long spear rose above the jungle.
“Is this…?”
“Mr. Marco, this time the reptilian head is your opponent. The scythe is poisoned, so don’t cut yourself!”
“Everything, everything, what does that mean? How did you get so bloody?”
Marco’s gaze fell on his missing left hand. Andrea deliberately ignored that gaze.
“I don’t have time to explain! For now, let’s focus on defeating the enemy.”
When the enemy suddenly increased to two, Kameleos was quite taken aback. However, Andrea did not expect the pattern to be twisted.
‘Elite monsters have good AI, so they did enough to call summons.’
Carmeleos, who turned his head around, immediately looked at Marco. It seemed to measure the level of the newly appeared enemy.
Cameleos decided that it was unreasonable to face an enemy with such a long weapon. Then it was something to fight in the most confident way.
As they walked to the bush, the Cameleos figure disappeared again in an instant.
Andrea gnashed her teeth. Marco’s eyes widened.
“What is that guy? How could it disappear like that?”
“He is a guy who can become invisible temporarily. You never know when and how they will attack, so be careful around you.”
If Marco were to be cut by the poison blade in this surprise attack, there was no hope.
In the game, characters suffering from hemorrhagic poison often struggled in pain and collapsed until they died. Even if he didn’t die right away, it was obvious that if Marco became incapacitated, he would eventually die with him.
It was extremely difficult to prepare for a surprise attack by an invisible enemy. Even if you were alert and wary of your surroundings, the lush jungle was too distracting. Hearing the rustle of blades of grass made his blood run dry.
Moreover, no matter how much time passed, there was no sign of Cameleos appearing. Marco mistakenly thought that the bushes were shaking and swung his spear here and there, but in vain. The confrontation was getting longer and I was suddenly fatigued.
Cameleos had changed his strategy. By holding out until the enemies fall out of my pool.
‘I can’t do this. No matter how you avoid this attack, you will be helpless if you do it again next time. We have to do something about it first.’
Andrea pulled out every bit of information about Kameleos in her head.
‘At turn 5, there is a berserk pattern and is completely immune to poison attacks. If the tail is severed, you will be stunned for a short time. Its weaknesses are fire and ice attributes, and its motif is a cold-blooded animal, so it is vulnerable to temperature changes.’
Andrea’s gaze turned to the polar dawn in her hand.
In fact, the fight would have been trivial if the frostbite had broken out when the carmelos had been slashed in the face. Just the touch of ice dramatically slows the movement speed of the Cameleos.
If the enemy could hit indiscriminately, even the 15% chance of Frostbite triggering wasn’t too low. However, a 15% chance felt too low for an agile, stealthy foe like the Cameleos.
‘If there was an ice-attribute wide-area skill, I could have lowered the temperature in the room even if I couldn’t match it… No, wait.’
Andrea looked at the polar dawn and at the bottom alternately. An ingenious idea crossed my mind.
Of course, there was no wide area. But it seemed like something similar could be done.
“Miss Marco. Give me that spear and pick up this sword. And pound it like you’re plowing the floor with this knife.”
“what?”
“If you try it, you will know why. Give it a try.”
Marco was handed the knife with a suspicious look on his face. I didn’t like the bizarre request, but I guessed that he had something on his mind, so he pounded the floor with a knife as Andrea told him to.
Tuk tuk tuk, tuk tuk tuk.
At first, it was nothing more than digging through the floor with a knife. After 6 swings, Frost Bite was finally activated. With Marco’s slight elasticity, the cutting continued.
Even the ice that had just melted did not melt as Frostbite reapplied on top of it. After countless repetitions, the floor gradually began to be covered with ice. Cold air flowed out and the temperature around it dropped rapidly.
Then came Cameleos.
Cameleos could not function normally unless it was a warm and humid jungle environment. I couldn’t stand to see the environment change by doing something manipulative anymore.
However, it was exactly what Andrea had been aiming for, with the Cameleos releasing the invisibility and popping out.
Andrea stretched out her spear at the charging Cameleus. It was an attack that was neither very fast nor accurate because of his imperfect left hand. Cameleos nimbly ducked his upper body to avoid the attack.
hooked
However, Cameleos could not avoid the spear.
Cameleus’s pupils widened greatly. It didn’t penetrate, but the spear blade was deeply embedded in his chest. Cameleos flicked his tongue a few times in disbelief.
The temperature on the side where Andrea was already had dropped enough. From the moment he jumped out, his behavior had slowed down to the point where it looked like it was in slow motion compared to earlier, but only Cameleos didn’t know that.
‘This is already a fatal wound… but you can’t be careless. I have to feed the final blow.’
Andrea decided to pierce Cameleos with the blade of a spear. Because my arms weren’t strong, I pushed the spear handle with my weight.
But on the contrary, Cameleos helped him. Carmeleos let go of the scythe in one hand, picked up the shaft, and pushed it deeper into the puncture site.
‘What, crazy.’
Cameleos approached slowly, pierced by the blade. The pupils that repeatedly contracted and expanded, and the yellow eyes that were busy rolling around were looking straight at Andrea without shaking.
Andrea belatedly realized what those eyes meant.
It was the gaze of a hunter determined to die with his prey.
The distance was too close to avoid. His movements were slow, but he was as quick as the hand that wielded the scythe.
shhh – shhh.
The poison-stained blade eventually stuck into Andrea’s side.
< 4. Worst Choice (2) > End