I don't know why but the moment I put on the mask and my outfit magically changed, I felt like I was playing a first-person medieval game. I wouldn't say that I ever learned how to fight or have a secret way of winning but I had no fear of losing either.
I also don't really have a grasp on the power I just obtained but I somehow used it and understood how to be able to control it. Still, I felt happy at getting the opportunity to use a power shrouded in mystery. It was as if I was told to learn the basics using a tough tutorial that isn't usually meant to be beaten. The one thing I do know is that these cards are the weapon I have been provided.
I will continue to learn as more enemies start attacking me. Simple. The thing is... I am treating this whole situation as a game.
'Well, whatever. I am always down for a tough game and I wanted to be a one-man army so... wish granted.'
"Willow, you have the 'Power Gauge' passive skill, right? He is not supposed to be strong right?" asked Barlas, picking himself back up from the ground dusting off the rubble from his shoulders.
"He shouldn't be. His threat should be zero. Killing it should be simple." replied Willow, frowning.
'Power Gauge? That's a skill that allows you see the opponents threat level usually displayed by aura surrounding the body, providing vital weak points. If I remember correctly, it should be a legendary skill. There are strong entities that are able to also discern if someone was dangerous, but it only identified someone was a threat, not how much of a threat.'
"So, you are saying that your skill failed?" Rione butted in, reorienting herself from the sudden knockback.
Willow nodded, "Power Gauge has never been wrong. He might have an item that conceals his identity but I've never seen a skill, much less an item, blocking this skill. I do find it strange that I can't see any weakness either. It's as if my skill isn't activated."
Atlas brows creased the moment he heard this.
"I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about him." Atlas said as he pulled his bow as far as he could, the atmosphere suddenly turning very windy.
[Nature's Judgement]
The moment Atlas released the arrow, a sonic boom was created, cracking the ground beneath his feet and leaving a dust cloud in its wake.
As the arrow approached me, time to be slowed down again and imagined the cards blocking the arrows trajectory. The moment I did, the arrow came to a sudden halt, unleashing a flurry of sharp vines on the card, decimating the card.
'Well, luckily, I didn't get hit by that. I don't know why but it seems like I have really quick reflexes now. I could see a high-speed arrow as if I was looking normally.'
"Hopefully that is enough." Atlas told the rest of them as the dust was beginning to clear.
"A direct hit. Even I would have a hard time surviving that," Barlas laughed praising Atlas.
The demon, now equipped with his katana, only frowned as he noticed that the monster was not where the arrow was.
Willow also noticing this, yelled "Remain on guard everyone!!!"
"You guys have sharp eyesight" I said while I spoke to them from behind.
'It seems that the cards have different functionalities. The spade can teleport me somewhat.'
The armies from both parties did not know what to do since it was just a single small monster so attacking it all at once would prove to be difficult. So, they could do nothing but watch everything unfold. There commanders were struggling so it made it difficult to watch but any wrong move could cause battle to erupt.
Everyone was stiff.
'I was worried about the army but it seems no one will attack me.' I smiled as I thought this.
The card seems to respond to me as if they are an extension of my body. It was honestly the best choice of weapon I could have since I liked cards. I did not actually play games with them but more like just knew how to shuffle or throw them. Some magic tricks too.
To my left were demons and to my right were angels, dwarves, demi-humans, and elves.
"I really don't want to provoke everyone, but I need to know what I am capable of." I whispered to myself.
" Well, whatever. It's decided." now facing them I announced, "Let's see what I can do shall we?"
I smiled, looking more venomous than before.
I grabbed two cards and threw one to my left and one to my right and to my surprise, where the cards were thrown, people's head came clean off, blood spurting from their bodies.
The commanders could not believe their eyes, multiple of their allies were decimated in a second.
The demon noticing his allies falling, grabbed his katana and rushed towards me with a full side slash.
[Hellfire Slash]
Using one of my cards, I enlarged it to create a shield that attached to my arm, blocking the attack only a bit as the slash left a huge slash mark on my arm.
"tch." I winced while I looked at where I got hurt.
'I was sure I could block anything.'
Yet even as I got slashed, I noticed that I was bleeding but felt no pain from the attack.
The demon retreated back temporarily as if he just attacked to assess the situation.
"I thought you knew better monster but it seems you are dumb. No one attacks my army in front of me and leaves back alive." said the demon as he took out another katana for his left arm.
As if the commanders were all in a team now, Willow, Barlas, Atlas, and Rione readied their weapons.
"Hahahahaha. I'm not dumb. Even if I didn't attack your army, all of you would have killed me regardless of what I did."
I also noticed that every time I did something, my deck of cards kept diminishing. Different skills demanded different number of cards in order to be used. If we were to use the logic of this world, magical skills require mana and aura is required for physical skills. This applies to all skills except passive ones. I don't have mana or aura so any knowledge I had about it is useless yet I can use skills no problem.
Given no extra time to think, Willow opened her wings and charged at me with her javelin glowing gold.
Card shield in hand, I blocked her initial charged only for her to follow up her attack with a barrage of swings. Cuts started increasing around my body but luckily, I prevented her from attacking my fatal areas... I think.
'I'm not going to last long like this' I said while I parried most attacks.
Using one of my cards, I decided to buff my speed and strength.
Using this increase of speed, I deflected one of her attacks by tilting my shield to the side, sidestepped, and slammed my left foot to the side of her torso causing her to launch 30 meters away.
Not letting up, Barlas launched a fiery punch straight to my stomach which launched me up in the air although I did block the punch.
"You aren't only fighting one of us." roared Barlas angrily as he witnessed his soldiers get decimated.
Completely airborne and stunned for a moment, I realized a flurry of arrows coming towards me giving me no time to think.
Lifting arm up to block, I heard Rione's voice coming from behind.
"You only have yourself to blame for this monster." she said in a chilling voice, all the curiosity she had earlier now gone.
She swung her hammer straight onto my back flinging me forward towards the barrage of arrows.
Slammed into the arrows, I only managed to block a few, it was just way too many to block after being stunned by the situation. Multiple arrows pierced my skin leaving holes around my leg area and arms, blood flowing like water.
The army stood in awe at the teamwork displayed by all of the commanders, wishing that one day they too could reach the level displayed. They couldn't help but want to join the fight, even if only to avenge their comrades.
"This is your end" said the demon as he flew himself from the ground towards my falling body, two Katanas engulfed in blue fire on hand.
Not having any other time to think, I decided to teleport once more towards the ground causing multiple cards to disappear.
The demon hit nothing but air but as soon as he saw where I teleported, a huge clear red hand appeared out of his body aiming for body.
[Demonic Hand]
Seeing this, I lifted my shield up.
BANG!
As my shield and his collided, a huge shockwave shook throughout the barren land.
Struggling to keep the hand from crushing me, Willow, Barlas, Rione, and Atlas could be seen readying an attack to the opening the demon created.
"Hehehe. Five overpowered commanders are really all coming at me at once. How laughable. You should all be ashamed of how pathetic you are." I taunted while I was shaking. holding up the massive hand wanting to crush me.
Blood flowed all over my clothes, yet my white clothes remained unstained as if it would forever retain its shine. I could feel myself getting sleepy the more time passed.
As I stood there, multiple spells could be seen heading my direction. The armies could no longer hold back, deciding to end the monster with their own hands.
"It seems even the army couldn't stand still while I'm fighting. I guess, I am the raid boss. Funny how my tutorial feels like the opposite what I am accustomed to. Kekeke," I laughed softly.
Using my left hand, I jokingly decided to blurt out a line from a game that I played while taking a card out of my pocket.
"I believe in the heart of the cards. I draw!" It felt stupid but it just felt appropriate for the situation. Perhaps I was going crazy but I always kept my chin up, cracking jokes to myself when things went south.
To my surprise, the moment I took out the card, all of the remaining cards I had disappeared. My power has been diminished.
Multiple cards appeared in the shielding me from all incoming attacks and slashed the red hand as if it was butter.
Surprised that his magical hand was severed right before the attacks, the demon looked down to where the monster was only to find a huge crater with the monster's only visible damage being his previous injuries.
Everyone noticed that the monster was left intact astonishing them as. They couldn't comprehend how anything could withstand that much firepower.
'I did survive the attack, but I don't have any cards left' I sighed as I looked at all of the entities surrounding me while kneeling on one leg, tired after all that happened.
"Just die quietly." uttered Barlas in a cold chilling voice, every footstep sounding like an earthquake as he approached.
"You are a fool of a monster who thought you could kill my people and get away with it." said the demon holding his katanas as he was approaching me.
Death glares were shot from every direction. Everyone wanted me dead.
"..." Willow approached as she clutched her javelin tightly.
"You will first-hand witness the wrath of my artifact, Wrazer." Rione spoke in a chilling voice as the hammer started glowing.
In the barren wasteland full of monsters, stood one lone being battered with injuries. The monster that appeared out of nowhere was nearing his end.
'Fool?' As if a sudden bolt hit me, I noticed that not once did I notice the joker being included in a deck of cards. Perhaps some decks don't include jokers, but I felt like this wasn't the case now.
Out of nowhere, the cold and quiet atmosphere was broken by a singular monster laughing maniacally.
"HAHAHAHHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAA! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!!"
Everyone looked at me as if I had finally lost all my reasoning.
'Everyone's reaction to my presence makes sense now. '
Standing up from my kneeling position and regaining my composure, I once again opened my arms to the air in a rejoicing fashion and addressed everyone.
"I AM THE FOOL. I AM THE JOKER" I declared.
A window then appeared:
Title Gained:
The Fool
The next moment, a scythe appeared in my right hand. A checkered pattern with red and white as its base with a bell at the tip of the scythe. The blade was completely black as if it was too a smile. Not wasting anymore time, I swung it once diagonally around me.
Willow noticing something wrong, screamed desperately "EVERYONE GET BEHIND ME!!!!!"
[Defense Sanctuary] she shouted.
Atlas jumped behind Willow while Rione enlarged her hammer and hid behind it.
[Mithril body] chanted Barlas.
The demon took out a shield artifact and told everyone to get back, but it was too late.
The swing seemed to have cut through the world.
The Barren land which used to be filled with armies was now left with only corpses lying on the ground split apart in two.
A huge gash was left in Barlas body causing him to bleed tremendously.
"Barlas!!! You should have gone behind a shield you idiot!!" yelled Rione at Barlas running towards him hammer in hand.
"I'm not dead yet." Barlas reassured Rione kneeling on one leg, facing the one who caused the injury.
Only the commanders remained with a few elite soldiers who were quick enough to go behind the commanders' protection. Others believed they could block the attack, but most shields were futile unless they were legendary rank or an artifact.
The demon's shield cracked under the slash and Rione's hammer also barely protected her.
The smile of the monster now seemed dreadful. The smile they used to mock was now a source of fear.
Although they wanted to continue to fight, they could no longer, they used a huge amount of power to protect themselves from the previous attack.
They lost. Complete annihilation.
'We shouldn't have ever provoked a sleeping lion' plagued everyone's mind at that moment.
"HAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHHAHHA. Thanks for helping me out. I will be taking my leave" I said as I looked around the thousands of corpses.
A black portal with a mask at the very top and scythes adorning each side appeared in front of me.
As I was walking towards it, I slightly looked back.
Everyone was now staring at the monster named Ronan. Red eyes protruding from the mask. The moment he spoke, everyone flinched.
"I never wanted to fight... So... I hope next time... we won't be playing a game." I giggled softly at how stupid I sounded, as I waved goodbye.
The giggle that Ronan thought meant nothing made everyone feel as if he was just playing this whole time. Cold sweat ran down everyone's back the moment they heard the laugh.
It was the sound of a devil.
Entering the portal, I was greeted by the familiar static zone that I was brought with.
No longer being able to keep acting as if I was fine, I took off the mask and drifted in the void. My outfit returned to normal, but I was still riddled with holes.
"Hopefully I don't die." I chuckled.
I closed my eyes as my consciousness faded.