Chapter 69: Jayce

Chapter 69: Jayce

The first individual Toms scrutinizing gaze had fallen upon was a young dungeoneer in his late twenties.

At a cursory glance, the blonde-haired man with his scruffy beard, mundane brown eyes and a set of clearly well-worn equipment, faded silver with accents of red running along its edges and sides wasnt all that different from the rest of the dungeoneers frolicking along the districts main street.

He had a sway to his step, a mug of some cheap, dubious ale clenched in his right hand as he kept up with three other adventurers, likely members of his party.

There were three reasons that, in Toms eyes, distinguished the blonde-haired man from his fellow comrades. A intimidating long spear, a thin yet imposing pillar of a deep blue metal tipped with a translucent crystal, casually slung across his back was the first. It couldnt be higher than an uncommon grade, but the simple fact that the dungeoneer carried the weapon so openly and casually meant that he wasnt afraid of any reprisals or attempted thefts.

The second reason was far subtler his gait. While his comrades, for the most part, seemed genuinely drunk as the shambled forward, laughing and clapping each other on the back at a particularly amusing jest, the blonde-haired dungeoneer only seemed to be feigning his drunkenness. There was a natural alertness to his steps, an ingrained caution that Toms high Proprioception had clued him in on.

Finally, [The Fool] seemed to think highly of the dungeoneer in question. Above his head, a piercing red light had twisted and twirled until it had painted the image of an androgynous jester with blurry, shifting facial features a familiar sight at this point with the number 28 written next to it in a sharp, knifing font.

28 Soul Power was the required cost to cast Active Shroud: Maya on the dungeoneer. Which was both a surprising and stark contrast to his party members, who had not even crossed a twenty.

Zenakris Renain had required 34 Soul Power, which had been a whopping number for his SP reserves back then.

And Zenakris had been a Noble, a powerful one at that.

There was no way that Tom would allow this opportunity to slip by him.

Active Shroud Maya.

For a long moment, the blonde-haired man believed that he was going to fall. Then his instincts kicked in and stabilized his footing as he took a step forward.

The worlds momentum, which to him had seemed frozen in place, consumed by an eerie, all-consuming stillness, resumed again.

The man found himself walking down a decently populated street, finding himself feeling quite calm as he shuffled past groups of young armored men and women.

Jayce? Are you alright? A feminine voice of concern rang out from his side. He found himself angling his gaze towards his left, somehow not surprised to see the people walking by his side two men, both a little younger than him and a woman in her early twenties, her vivacious light violet hair causing his gaze to linger a little longer.

Yeah, Im fine, He replied with what seemed to be a practiced response, effortlessly concealing the disdain he felt for the trio with impeccable ease.

That was odd.

Jayce didnt know why he felt disdain towards his own teammates.

Jayce, he mused in the privacy of his mind and memories came flooding back to him.

The brief moment of amnesia was long forgotten as Jayce stepped into the territory of the Zelez Dungeon.

He had taken a moment to examine his status, unsurprised to find the level 16 [Light Arrow] card as his Soul Card. Although it was just a common card, just was perhaps a misnomer when one considered that he was only four levels away from hitting the level cap.

That made Jayce a good deal more powerful than his party members.

Whereas they took a slow and methodological approach towards clearing the insectoid level 9 [Dark Crawlers], Jayce deftly employed his spear to deal shallow puncture wounds to any arachnid that stepped into his attack range.

He stood his ground instead of applying guerrilla tactics and cycling between party members, which was a big part of the reason why his group had come to appreciate him so much.

Whenever a light arrow was fired, it ended up finishing the [Dark Crawler] he was targetingwithout fail.

His party members werent, by any means, oblivious to his prowess. Dungeoneers could be described as reckless, yes. Intrepid, if you looked at it in a different light. Foolish? Occasionally.

Very few, however, could be considered stupid. At least not among those that survived longer than a couple months in this trade.

He clearly outclassed the others when it came to skill, even with the tip of the iceberg he had revealed. That, in their eyes, made him a good candidate to recruit but they werent really threatened by him.

The simple fact of the matter was, [Light Arrow] was simply a weak card, even among common ones. And unlike others, Jayce did not have, no, he simply refused to slot any other [Common] card into his deck.

Not that it would have boosted his prowess by a great deal, for it had taken him far too long to get his [Soul Card] to level 16.

His [Light Arrow] might be a relatively weak and fairly easy to counter ability, but that didnt change the simple fact that any ability was pretty effective at such a high level.

Being underestimated though, was fine with Jayce.

That was what his father, a former vassal for a Noble Family unrelated to Renovias Nobility, had taught him.

He had also taught him how to kill those who tended to place an over-reliance on their cards, which happened to be most dungeoneers, atleast among those hed encountered.

Arrows harmlessly bounced off Jayces shielding as he charged forth with a vengeance. Another lightning bolt was released in his direction, but Jayce didnt let that halt his momentum as he maintained his pace.

The light aegis he was relying upon was a function of his uncommon weapon a defensive uncommon weapon, easily making its value skyrocket to twice that of an offensive weapon of the same rank and for the few minutes he could use it, Jayce was confident that no ordinary attack would be able to pierce it.

Soon, he was within striking range.

His foe had let out a battle cry as he, long having abandoned his bow, reached for the sword sheathed at his waist.

The aegis shielding Jayce flickered out of existence as he planted both his feet on the ground, his hands firmly latched onto his spears haft as he let it explode outwards in a wide arc.

[Titans Sequitur: Tempest]

HIs foe tried to and even succeeded in guarding against his strike, but that did little to halt the burgeoning momentum behind his strike.

A cloud of dust was kicked up in the air as his would-be attacker was sent careening backwards, skidding across the dungeons rocky and uneven surface.

Only giving his enemy moments to come to terms with the counter-assault, Jayce had launched himself in pursuit.

He wielded his spear like one would a glaive, having primarily focused his stats on Physical, with Proprioception coming in second, nearing a third of the total investment.

Unlike most other dungeoneers, Jayce had almost completely neglected his Mental Stat in favor of his strengths. He hoped to bolster his deficiency in the stat with artifacts later on, but he wasnt concerned about being interrogated by Royal Guards.

After all, he hadnt done anything wrong unless possessing anything valuable at all was a sin.

His second arcing blow was barely dodged. The third was a lancing thrust that tore away at the mans leather armor yet miraculously left him unscathed.

His foe was now desperate and Jayce wasnt surprised to see lightning building up in his left arm. He responded with a light arrow of his own, targeting the mans arm without hesitation.

A painful cry was screamed out as the mans arm twisted backwards.

Jayce took full advantage of the distraction and this time

His thrust didnt miss.

The Titans Sequitur had come to an end and his enemy was dead.

As Jayce slapped away an oncoming [Dark Crawler] with a casual arc of his spear, he couldnt help but wear an odd expression on his face.

He remembered feeling nothing but cold satisfaction when he had killed the bowman that had tried to assassinate him.

So. Why was he feeling guilty?

Only then did he notice an unfamiliar weight looping around his neck.

What in the, Jayce trailed off as he raised the card before him, holding it by the lanyard it was tied to.

A name was scrawled across the mundane card, in a language that Jayce shouldnt have been able to recognize.

And that face, though he could have sworn that he had never seen the teenager pictured on the card, why did it feel so.familiar

Almost as if he was looking at a portrait of-

Oh, Jayce muttered aloud, blinking as he took stock of his surroundings. Cracks ran across the periphery of the dungeon walls, a little outside his immediate view.

I guess things really are easier the second time, Tom muttered to himself and then actively exerted his own willpower over the Maya he had fallen into.

With a Mental Stat of 36 reinforcing his efforts, it didnt take long before the cracks visibly intensified.

And then, with a final resentful groan, the world shattered.