Combat Initiated (2)

The moment the notice announcing that combat had been initiated flashed into being, the board tile where Jang Siwoon and the man stood expanded.

Their tile rapidly fused with every other tile on the board, and before long all sixteen had merged into a single map.

The floor had blended together without borders, but the miniature models of the royal palace, the temple, the city gate, and the outer buildings remained exactly where they were, holding their positions.

"So combat proceeds without any quiz step. Honestly, I was hoping there'd be a quiz."

"Even with a quiz, that man would have gotten the answer right."

The Student and I kept our voices low, pitched so that Jang Siwoon couldn't hear us.

This was the most important stretch of the standoff.

So that Jang Siwoon's morale wouldn't sink, we did our best to keep anything negative from reaching her ears.

"The war between Horus of the Greek army and Seth of the Trojan army has begun!"

Zeus's proclamation boomed down from the heavens.

Seth and Horus leveled their weapons at each other.

Perhaps because they were gods bound to a quest, obedient to the visitors' commands, they merely held their attacking stances without moving.

"Noona."

Then the Student leaned his head toward the board and called softly to Jang Siwoon.

Unease flickered across her face as she turned to look at him.

This battle would decide whether a visitor lived or died. Of course she'd be afraid.

"I don't know what the event card over there is, but it has to be something tied to Horus. That means there's a good chance it can neutralize Seth's attributes one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way or another."

"Yeah. Right."

"If Horus's event card is unavoidable anyway, then we need to force him to use it before our own ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠card comes out."

"Wow, that's a great idea. So how do we do it?"

Jang Siwoon let out an admiring gasp and tossed back a deliberately staged question.

Even in the middle of all this, she was clinging to her trademark gruff, sniping manner.

She was scared, sure, but she hadn't lost her confidence or sunk into despair — which was a relief.

At her question, the Student rolled his eyes for a moment before answering.

"You'll have to hold out on raw strength alone."

Dong—

Jang Siwoon turned back around, shoulders slumping.

They wanted her to combine her basic abilities with Seth's to bait Horus into using his card.

Facing a situation that was anything but easy, Jang Siwoon shot Seth a pleading look.

"Got anything you can do for me? Other than your special ability?"

"A god such as I can lend you some modest power tied to my divinity, nothing more."

"Then help me out!"

"Gladly!"

Maybe because they were on the same side, Seth agreed to her request with surprising good cheer.

Seth slammed his bare foot hard against the board. Sand came surging up like breaking waves around the spot his foot struck.

The sand born around Seth's body transformed in an instant into a colossal, ferocious wind.

A sandstorm conjured by the god of the desert.

As befitting a god who presided over destruction and chaos, Seth's basic ability was thoroughly geared toward combat.

"Wh-what the—?!"

The panicked man shielded his body with his arms, trying to block the sand-laced wind.

Even with his legs braced as hard as he could manage, his body was slowly driven backward.

"Haha! What a cute little idea!"

Seizing on the man's panic, Jang Siwoon slipped swiftly into the heart of the sandstorm.

Judging by her nimble movements, Seth's wind attack didn't apply to her at all.

She was hidden so completely that even I, watching from above, could barely make her out.

Siwoon-ssi. Good thinking.

"Noona. When the visitor over there is completely worn down by the wind — that's when you ambush him."

Jang Siwoon didn't answer, keeping her position concealed, but she must have heard the Student's instructions clearly enough.

While the sandstorm swept across the map, Jang Siwoon never once showed herself.

The man, driven almost all the way back to the wall, suddenly let out a scream.

He'd been shielding his face with his arms, but the desert sand had evidently worked its way into his eyes.

"Argh — my eyes, my eyes!!"

"Human. Remember what manner of god I am."

"?!"

Horus stood at the man's side and offered the advice with perfect equanimity.

The man, who had been frantically rubbing at his eyes, finally seemed to understand — and he clapped his hands together.

"Ah — the eyes of a hawk!"

"Indeed. This Horus shall pierce the vault of heaven and see straight through my uncle's sandstorm."

Damn it. He figured it out after all.

We'd been hoping the sudden sandstorm would leave them no room to think. Instead, the moment the man exclaimed in realization, Horus soared up into the sky.

The Eye of Horus is said to watch over the entire world.

From the azure sky, Horus's eye bored straight through Seth's sand.

"Uraaagh—!!"

Blade-like sunlight erupted from Horus's eye and came screaming down toward Jang Siwoon.

The sandstorm that had been concealing her scattered in an instant.

Taking Horus's searing light head-on, she shrieked in agony.

"Horus, you—"

Seth ground his teeth, but made no other move.

It seemed he'd already shown everything his basic ability could do.

Chiiik—

Above Jang Siwoon, her leaflet rose up, announcing her declining stamina.

She'd lost one block of ink when the river grabbed her earlier. And now another.

…Her strength was draining fast.

"I have no choice but to play my special card."

"No — try blocking it some other way!!"

"I have no choice but to play my special card—"

"What kind of god has such a limited attack repertoire?!"

Watching Seth repeat the same line over and over, Jang Siwoon exploded in frustration.

"Noona. You have to endure with pure attacks. If you play the event card now, you'll have nothing left."

"Seth won't do a pure attack!"

The Student urgently cut off Jang Siwoon as she grew more and more frantic.

Unable to even open her eyes against the light streaking toward her, she bellowed furiously in the Student's direction.

Chiiik—

Chiiik—

Chiiik—

That paper-tearing sound, unpleasant every single time I heard it. I'd never get used to it.

Anything more is too dangerous.

"Siwoon-ssi. Play the event card!"

"No!!"

The Student raised his voice and blocked my path.

I understood his desire to stick to the plan, but dragging this out any longer was too much.

In my urgency, I grabbed the Student by the shoulders and shook him.

"Student, the card has to come out now. Whether she endures or plays it now, one way or another, her stamina burns all the same!"

"The longer we buy time, the more we learn about the opponent's perk. We'll see what kind of plan they've drawn up, too."

"?!"

A cold chill ran through me.

He isn't worried about Jang Siwoon at all.

If the man on the Greek side was recklessly short-sighted, the Student was thinking on a level that was almost primal.

He's treating Jang Siwoon as an expendable piece so he can read the flow of the board.

…God, I hoped my suspicion was nothing but paranoia.

"Ugh — I have to use my special card now!! Special card, activate!"

"Noona, no—"

Jang Siwoon finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to play her event card.

The Student whirled around, about to shout at her yet again.

"Mister?!"

Just then, I clamped down hard on the Student's shoulders to keep him from interfering with the board.

"Don't write a game off as already lost and leave someone else to rot."

Around the time the pressure on his shoulders made the Student's brows knit, I let him go.

He looked a little taken aback by my sudden forcefulness.

I tried to spin it as wishful thinking, call it paranoia — but seeing that face, it's real after all.

The Student didn't offer a word of rebuttal. He just stared at me, his pupils trembling.

It seemed I'd hit the nail squarely on the head… which was a pity.

Shaaa—

At that moment, the event card Jang Siwoon had been holding in reserve activated.

"?!!"

I had no idea what "confusion is intensified" meant in concrete terms.

But the light that had been pouring from Horus's eye cut off abruptly.

And the hawk's gaze went sharply murky.

"I can't— I can't— see—"

Confusion had come for the all-seeing eye of Horus.

Freed from Horus's attack, Jang Siwoon's legs seemed to give out beneath her, and she crumpled to the ground where she stood.

"Good card — but of all opponents, it had to be Horus. Wouldn't you agree, Mister?"

"……."

"Still, with your noona's event card landing so well, the other side will probably answer in kind now — either another event card or a perk."

What the Student said was correct, but I had no desire to answer him.

That condescending tone of his, as if he'd been waiting for exactly this moment, rubbed me the wrong way.

"Now you shall be cut down!"

"Uraaagh!!"

Seth charged at the man on the Greek side at full speed and swung his scythe down onto his body.

The man shrieked in pain, but his body was not cleaved in two by the blade.

Instead, his leaflet ink faded by one block as well.

Staring at Seth standing before him, the man trembled — then quickly glared right back.

"You idiot. You knew perfectly well I was the one holding the card. And you play your special card anyway!"

Shaaa—

The moment the man's special card activated, Horus's eye cleared again.

Horus immediately rained blazing flashes of light down on Jang Siwoon once more.

"So it was a straight-up negation skill."

I thought I heard the Student click his tongue softly.

I didn't bother answering anything the Student said anymore. I didn't even have the luxury of telling him to shut up.

"AAAAHH—!"

Chiiik—

Chiiik—

Chiiik—

"Siwoon-ssi!!"

Jang Siwoon hunched over, screaming.

Only a single block of her ink remained.

Seth seemed to have staggered under Horus's assault, his own attack suspended for the moment.

So this is Seth channeling his defeat at Horus's hands into this kind of power.

If Seth wouldn't step in…

Then that was all there was left to do.

"Siwoon-ssi. Use your perk."

I delivered my words in clear, deliberate pronunciation, loud enough for Jang Siwoon to hear.

Her lips had been fluttering open and shut in rapid succession — then, as if she'd finally made up her mind, she spoke.

"Perk. 'Liver Blow,' activate."

…! So that's Jang Siwoon's perk.

When we'd first passed through the Gates of Hell, none of us had revealed our perks to one another.

To the visitors, perks were their trump cards. And now was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment to draw that trump card out.

Just what would Jang Siwoon's perk be?

Shaaa—

"Here it comes—"

For an instant, Jang Siwoon's eyes seemed to blaze as brightly as Horus's own.

She tilted her body slightly and loaded her weight onto her left foot.

Then, dropping her upper body low with her knee bent, she drove her fist upward.

The moment her fist swung, a fierce light burst radiating out from her hand — astonishing to see.

The light surged upward with tremendous force and swallowed Horus's body whole.

"Whoa — isn't that a boxing stance?"

The Student's mouth hung open in shock.

It wasn't some wild haymaker; her body rotated half a turn as the fist landed with flawless precision.

That hand slamming ferociously into empty air as if a sandbag hung there… that was no ordinary person's movement.

"…!!"

Caught in the enormous light, Horus gaped in disbelief.

Unable to repel the light Jang Siwoon had unleashed, he was consumed by it entirely.

"The one who decides the beat of my wings… was a second me—"

Yes. A light that multiplied Horus's own light, exactly.

Light and Horus vanished from the board together.

Still dazzled by that earlier light ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠attack, I frowned and looked around.

From one end of the board to the other — Horus was nowhere to be seen.

"The first war is over."

Then Zeus's voice thundered out.

"The victor is Seth of the Trojan army!"

Wheezing for breath, Jang Siwoon curled one corner of her mouth into a grin.