Combat Initiated (1)

"The sun? You mean the Egyptian sun god?!"

Jang Siwoon looked up at me, her eyes pleading for rescue.

I understood why her heart was burning with anxiety at the river's attack — but I hadn't yet grasped the thread of the answer myself.

"The sun gods of Egypt are Horus and Ra."

"Then that sun must mean Horus, who's facing off against Set. Right, mister?"

"……."

"Mister?"

If Set, who posed the riddle, was the "I" in it, then the sun ought to be Horus. That much was correct. But whenever I tried to connect it to the answer, 'it,' something refused to fit.

First, I know what fragments Set threw.

"The fragments Set threw were a god's corpse. The body of his own brother, Osiris."

"He killed his own brother?!"

"It's mythology."

When Osiris became king of the gods, his jealous younger brother Set hacked him to pieces. And the son born of Osiris after he was resurrected — that was Horus.

"Where did Set throw that corpse, then?"

"The Nile River."

The Nile — the lifeblood of Egypt.

"Then the answer is the Nile! Horus had his father's corpse stolen by the Nile, so having his love stolen fits too, doesn't it?"

"But nobody calls love for one's father passion."

"Isn't it possible there are stories you don't know, mister?"

The Student pressed me, his voice tight with frustration. Fair enough — I wasn't an Egyptology scholar. Of course there could be stories I didn't know.

But the Tower twists its questions every which way without ever offering answers that are impossibly obscure.

As always, it had to watch its visitors struggle and claw their way up the floors.

Every quest so far has been built on artworks or information we'd at least heard of.

So I expected this one, too, would be laced with a famous story.

"Gyaaah—!"

Jang Siwoon's body was dragged toward the river, and before I knew it, the water had swallowed her up to her thighs.

Even so, she refused to give up, straining with everything she had.

Of all moments, her Leaflet had floated up to announce her declining stamina.

"Mister!"

At the Student's cry, I decided to finally pull out the answer I'd been sorting through in my head.

"Siwoon. I think the sun is Apollo."

"What? Apollo, out of nowhere?!"

Jang Siwoon, now seized by the river up to her arms, shot back in a voice cracking with disbelief.

The Student, too, blinked at the sudden appearance of Apollo — then, as if remembering something he'd heard before, his mouth fell open in an exclamation.

"Ah — you're talking about the story of Apollo and Daphne, aren't you?"

"Yeah. That's it."

This was a quest pitting us against any number of gods in the Greco-Roman mythology war. So I'd assumed the riddle wouldn't be confined to Egyptian deities.

And besides, Apollo happens to be on the opposing Greek army's side.

The god of love, Eros, loosed his arrows at the sun god Apollo and the nymph Daphne alike.

The golden arrow — making one fall in love with the first person they saw — struck Apollo.

The lead arrow — making one loathe the first person they saw — struck Daphne.

And Daphne, thereafter subjected to Apollo's one-sided courtship, begged her father, the river god, to save her.

The river god transformed Daphne into a laurel tree, freeing her from Apollo's amorous assault.

"So the answer is—"

"The river!"

Jang Siwoon, who had been listening to our exchange, shouted the answer faster than she could wait any longer.

And then—

"Correct!"

Set bared his teeth in a wicked grin and swung the scythe in his hand.

Swish—

"I, Set, shall destroy this river!"

True to his nature as the god of cruelty and chaos, Set's special ability was annihilation itself.

When Set brought the scythe down, the hands of riverwater gripping Jang Siwoon were severed and vanished. Her body, dragged down to the thighs, rose back up.

"Whew... thank god."

Jang Siwoon murmured to herself, clutching her chest in relief.

Only then could I wipe the sweat soaking my palms onto my clothes.

Set drove his scythe back into the ground and regarded Jang Siwoon with a face that was, in its own way, benevolent.

"A Sacrifice who activates a special ability within the temple zone shall receive the blessing of the temple."

"The temple's blessing?"

The tile where Jang Siwoon stood was five tiles ahead of the starting tile — the Royal Palace. A temple-zone tile.

When Set swept his hand through the air, a new Leaflet unfolded.

Flap—

Ku-gu-gung—

The ground rumbled in the wake of the Leaflet's announcement, and a temple rose up before her — an Egyptian shrine crowned with the carved head of the Seth Animal.

"Jisan. What's a god's protection supposed to do? Does this mean I finally get a shot at an event card too?"

Flap—

In answer to her words, yet another Leaflet promptly floated into the air. The event card, too, was tied to Set's divine traits.

Jang Siwoon read the Leaflet and looked at me with uneasy eyes.

"...This is a good thing, right?"

"It's Set's signature buff, so it'll have an effect."

I murmured quietly, half afraid the man standing near Jang Siwoon might overhear.

"It is Horus's turn."

Since the two sides had advanced from opposite ends, we would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be facing off in just four more tiles.

The distance between Jang Siwoon, standing on the temple tile, and the man, standing one tile ahead of the gate zone, was a mere four tiles.

Both sides swallowed hard at the approaching first confrontation. This standoff would decide the fates of two spectators.

"Now that I think about it, charging ahead fast wasn't good for either side — us or the Greek army. Even if there's a second and third round, advancing quickly just leaves you short on acquired items."

The Student, his mind churning, recited the trade-offs in quick succession. His tone was perfectly level, like a machine. And his analysis was just as machine-sharp.

If you sat and thought it through, it's a structure you could have caught. Still, he's remarkably rational and level-headed for a Student in such a desperate spot.

It was a complete transformation from the stuttering, withdrawn boy at the start. This kind of game board might simply be his calling.

"Right. Still, dice luck matters more for the Greek army. Our side bleeds their items dry; theirs gathers items to complete the Horse."

"Exactly. If the Greek army can't complete the Trojan Horse in the first place, they can't satisfy the victory conditions — and we automatically succeed in defending the Royal Palace."

"Hey, do you mind if I ask how old you are?"

"Ah... why?"

"You're really sharp."

The Student at last let his guard down again, ducking his head. Then he scratched at his hair and answered in a shrinking voice.

"Thank you. I'm sixteen."

He really is just a kid.

"You're so mature for your age that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it caught me off guard."

"You're pretty upbeat yourself, mister — not what I expected from first impressions."

...What was my first impression, exactly? Judging by that, apparently not a flattering one. I rubbed self-consciously at the dark circles shadowing my eyes.

Just then, the Greek army man with Horus at his back took his stance — because the Greek side had rolled the dice.

The die tumbled across the board and came to rest on a 2. But then—

"—2."

"What?!"

At Horus's out-of-nowhere subtraction, the man standing beside him let out a strangled yelp.

Horus, his expression unchanged, parted his beak.

"By the blessing of Set's Temple, confusion has beset the Greek army's advance."

"Unbelievable..."

The man grumbled, his face gone sour. In truth, the Greek army might even come out ahead — more chances to collect resources, after all.

They seem desperate to push forward as fast as possible. Why?

"Tch. I'll collect resources."

The man moved two tiles back from where he stood, pushed to a spot just behind the gate zone.

He solved the question in no time and collected his resource on top of it.

Hah. Maybe the questions really are on the easy side. They never miss.

I'd hoped the Greek team would be hopeless when it came to mythology — but these were visitors who had made it past the Prometheus quest. The odds of them flubbing a question looked vanishingly small.

"It is Set's turn."

This time the Student passed the dice to me. He seemed to be feeling the pressure now. I was hardly blessed with luck, but I couldn't heap the whole weight onto this kid either.

"3."

Thankfully, a reasonable number. It put us in a position where, rather than clashing head-on, we could choose to make our stand in the middle ground.

And that was entirely thanks to their team rolling that —2.

"Whew..."

Only three tiles now separated the man and Jang Siwoon. The two of them were sizing each other up with taut, wary eyes.

Flap—

An event card that reflects Set's traits.

The moment we entered the new line between temple and gate, a special card had landed in Jang Siwoon's hands as well. It was the perfect card for a confrontation.

Nice work.

Jang Siwoon and I traded a wordless glance.

For a showdown between Horus and Set, we're in better shape than I expected.

Both teams had claimed their event cards, and our resource counts were dead even. The real question was how large the gap between Set's and Horus's raw abilities and stamina would be when the confrontation came.

"It is Horus's turn."

The middle-aged woman on the Greek army threw the dice without a moment's hesitation.

If they roll a 3, we're in confrontation. What happens if they roll higher?

But as if to mock my worry, the die came up with a cruel little 3.

"3."

At last — the first confrontation...!

Flap—

Combat is unlocked.

"What happens if we don't choose combat here?"

The man, who had been staring at the Leaflet, put the question to Horus. At that, Horus — who had already squared into a fighting stance — planted his spear back into the ground.

"Each army continues its advance through its own chosen actions."

"...Then the rule that each army's Sacrifice must engage in confrontation becomes unenforceable, doesn't it?"

"If no confrontation occurs midway. Should neither the Greek nor the Trojan army engage, the confrontation is triggered at the point where one of them first reaches the final tile."

Going by Horus's words, it was better to stall the confrontation as long as possible in this first round. To meet the victory conditions in the final war, the Greek army needed to gather resources.

The Greek army currently has only an event card and a single resource to its name, so of course they'd want to put off the confrontation.

On top of that, the opposing side held Horus — the god who defeated Set in Egyptian myth — so they had every reason to feel secure.

At this rate, it might be smarter for us, too, to buy a little more time and acquire items to raise Set's attack power instead—

"I choose combat."

"?!!"

At the man's declaration, not only our side but the opposing team looked visibly thrown. So that was why he'd been acting so strangely rushed.

"Wait! That's not the plan we agreed on!"

"That was a plan you two cooked up! I got shoved into the first round, and now you're telling me to just lie down and die?!"

Desperation had made the man short-sighted.

Surviving himself and handing the final victory to whoever climbed next might look clever and wise to him right now.

But winning the final war would demand play that was willing to shoulder a certain amount of sacrifice.

Jang Siwoon, left flatfooted by the man's choice, clicked her tongue.

"So what, I'm just supposed to die here? Well, fine. One of you two is going to die eventually anyway — the stronger one has to be the one who survives, right?"

She grumbled the words with bitter self-mockery, then broke into a wry smile.

"Then I'd better ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠become the stronger one."

Flap—