Arkhen quickly took out his Deck of Mystic Cards while the shadow guards surrounded them to protect them.
All shadow guards knew some kind of formation as they created a light blue barrier with a honeycomb design while five rays of snake-like light roamed over the barrier.
Soon, they saw eight people coming. One of them was 6th class while the rest were 5th class.
"Five shadow guards and two of them are 6th class while the other three are 5th class… Boys, it's going to be a bit tough, but we outnumber them, and our overall power is higher," a slender man with a long dagger said as he licked his lips. "Slaughter them!"
This man was the leader of this group. A 6th-class powerhouse.
[My lord. Metamorphic cards won't work on any of them, not even for 0.5 seconds. Your EP is too low to empower cards to take their effect on people at 5th-class or higher].
Arkhen changed the deck to a Status effect deck after hearing that while the fight also started. 'Then Status effect deck would work I guess.'
[Yes, that will be perfect for this situation].
For now, the shadow guards stayed defensive while those eight people bombarded them with attacks.
"Don't hold back, you all! We have to finish the work before their aid arrives!" the enemy leader loudly said as he also released a gray energy spinning drill that hit the barrier, trying to break it.
"Young lady, Arkhen. I'm afraid this barrier won't last longer than fifteen seconds," the lead shadow guard said, a deep frown on her face. "We might be able to win the battle, but... it will be hard to do while protecting you two, and it will also result in causalities."
"No worries. We can win easily and quickly," Arkhen said as he took out three Status effect cards.
1. [Power Down]
-Effect: Decrease the target's EP by 15% for 10 seconds.
2. [Nerve Malfunction]
-Effect: The next skill used by the target affected by this card will not cast properly, resulting in unknown consequences, depending on the skill.
3. [Agility Down]
-Effect: Decrease the target's agility by 20% for 10 seconds.
"Oh, these cards…" Meya exclaimed before she grinned. She knew how useful these cards were in the Labyrinth, making their journey to the last floor way easier.
"Shadow guards, I am going to weaken all of them in the next five seconds. After that, take initiative and attack. Finish off their leader first," Arkhen said before throwing out the three cards, all three on the enemy leader.
"But what about protecting you two?"
"Don't worry, I have the means to protect ourselves and run away from this spot," Arkhen said before commanding Ruan. 'Ruan, use your Elusive Illusion after the barrier goes down.'
"Trust him. It's fine," Meya said to the hesitating shadow guards.
"Alright. Shadows, get ready to strike them down!"
On the other hand, Arkhen had affected three other enemies besides the leader with weakening debuff effects by pulling three more cards.
But there were more targets!
Arkhen pulled three more cards, affecting three more enemies with debuffs, and then again pulled out three more cards.
But he didn't use them and saved them since he pulled out buff cards this time. There was one remaining enemy without any debuff, but he was the weakest in their group, so Arkhen didn't intend to use debuff on him.
"Boss, why am I suddenly feeling weak in strength?"
"I don't know! I am feeling way more shitty right now! It seems to be some kind of weakening spell used by that brat on the wolf!"
"Weakening spells on cards? Is that some kind of item or what?"
"Must be a Realm Artifact with limited use."
Five seconds also passed as the shadow guards deactivated their formation barrier technique and rushed out with full-on offense!
*Awooo!!!*
The moment barrier disappeared, Ruan also disappeared but then appeared with ten illusions that looked exactly the same as Arkhen and Meya sitting on Ruan.
The illusions reflected the live motion of the original Ruan, Arkhen, and Meya while they escaped from the spot after turning invisible.
——
Elusive Illusion: Manifest ten illusions that looks exactly the same as the wolf and people sitting on it while the original turns invisible for five seconds, including people sitting on it. Cost: 40 wolf points.
——
Arkhen still had 50 wolf points, so he could afford to use this skill again. However, there was no need.
The fierce battle between the shadow guards and weakened enemies didn't last long.
Arkhen and Meya watched from afar, and Arkhen also used more cards.
After this Deck of Mystic Card was upgraded, the Status Effect deck also had a slight change like instead of getting random buffs and debuff cards, he could get either buff or debuff cards according to his wish when pulling out the cards.
So, naturally, the cards arrived according to his need as he got three buffs cards, which he used to buff shadow guards.
'Welp, I am now left with 27 cards. I gotta let more recover before using them again.'
On the other hand, the enemy leader was screwed up by the [Nerve Malfunction] debuff. The moment he used his skill to defend after seeing shadow guards coming to attack them, it didn't work, and instead, the energy he gathered to execute the skill exploded from his left arm, destroying it into a bloody mesh. Before he could do more, the two 6th-class shadow guards finished him off.
The rest of the enemies were scared shitless, but they still tried to fight… for barely two seconds before realizing that they wouldn't win and tried to escape. Alas, they failed to escape.
Since all enemies were weakened, the two shadow guards at 6th-class easily overpowered them with three 5th-class shadow guards.
Not even two minutes passed before the fight was over as all enemies died brutal deaths.
"How did they know we came here in the morning?" Meya questioned with a frown as she looked at the dead bodies.
The shadow guards were silent as they didn't know either.
"Obviously, the ambushers got information from the inside," Arkhen said with narrowed eyes.
"The only ones who knew we were going out are us, the shadow guards, and Gereld since I informed him later," Meya said with a frown. "The shadow guards wouldn't rat out the information, so who?"
'Velshi, spend reality motes and find out the culprit.'
[It will cost 598 reality motes. Do you want to proceed?]
'Do it.'
He had farmed a lot of reality motes on this trip anyway.
-[ Reality motes: 20,476 ]
[598 reality motes deducted]
[The culprit is a maid in the Duke's Palace. That maid saw you two turning into different people and then leaving. Afterward, she informed the main planner of this ambush]
'Who is the main planner?'
[That will cost more reality motes. So instead of that, you can get the information out of the maid].
"Arkhen? What are you thinking?" Meya asked seeing Arkhen with a thoughtful expression.
Shaking his head, Arkhen said with a faint smile. "I know the culprit."
"Who?" Meya quickly asked.
The shadow guards also looked at Arkhen, eager to know.
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