The defeated system stolen by the Succubus Army: Trading Card Games.
Takuto scoured his memories of the Seven God Kings’ online database that he used to browse. If he remembered correctly, Vagia had just played a Spell Card with the effect of preventing your opponent from escaping. Originally, it was meant to prevent summoned monsters from evading or turn freeze new summons, but…it was really troublesome to see the ability activate in accordance with the flavor text on the card.
I recall the effects of the Primeval Forest Barrier only last for one turn, so it should wear off soon, but that’s long enough to be fatal for us under these circumstances.
It was unclear how long one turn lasted in this world and if the turn system varied based on the game. But it clearly lasted for more than a few minutes. Enough time for the army of Succubus to fall on them.
Vagia’s instant reaction to Ai’s teleportation spell was brilliant. She had predicted they would use such a spell and prepared for it. Takuto hated well-prepared enemies.
“As you well know, we Succubus don’t have any of the mysterious spells or abilities the rest of you do. We hail from an eroge, after all, woof♡. Our abilities only activate when we are doing something erotic. But with this, it’s a diff-er-ent story. I was lucky enough to get my hands on an SGK deck, ehe♡. It’s costly to use, but we were blessed to find raw Mana Sources within El-Nah!”
The Succubus Army has seriously annoying synergy with El-Nah! The Mana produced from the Dragon Vein Mine is limited, so the SGK cards that consume Mana will eventually become unplayable. The question is when that time will come.
The Seven God Kings also has a way to increase Mana by using mana-producing cards. But Takuto didn’t know whether she had those cards in the deck, and she hadn’t given any indication of it so far. So for now, he needed to be wary of sorcery and summons that could be activated immediately. The fact that they had to be cautious of interference and attacks of the same scale for the next few turns was a trying predicament that even Takuto didn’t want to deal with.
“Don’t you worry your dark little heart, darling. I promise it won’t hurt♡. It will be over before you can finish counting the stains on the ceiling, aahn…”
Takuto’s party was up against ten people at this point. Freesia and Goliath, plus the nearby common Succubi guards racing to join the fray. Qualia’s Pope had fallen out of sight when the Deliberation Chamber was destroyed, and that destruction made it hard for the Elves to reach them up in the treetop. The stone statues they were using to communicate with the absent Players had also gone missing.
Wait, Vagia is holding Mr. H’s statue… I need to remain vigilant of what he’ll do, too.
Mr. H. was easy to overlook because he made his presence as inconspicuous as possible, but he was another Player. One who was a complete unknown.
Of course, Takuto’s party had to be wary of the Succubi, but since they didn’t know when Mr. H would intervene, they needed to be extremely cautious of him.
“Master, let’s do it!”
“Mnnnn!” Yu groaned. “But we’re in a serious pinch. It’s too dangerous to do it—”
“Boooo! The Succubi vixens are going to steal you away from me, Master! They are going to cuckold my master! You’re mine! Mine! I won’t allow it…I won’t…”
“Yummy-yum, a yandere! Such heavy and oppressive love on display…” Vittorio squealed as he watched Ai’s aura darken.
Seeing how Yu rushed to pacify her, it was clear what kind of relationship they had. Shady relationship dynamics aside, they were obviously not going to be of much help right now. Meanwhile, the Phon’kaven Beastman had passed out inside the tentacle’s grip and become nothing short of a complete burden. Takuto hadn’t expected much of the envoy, but it would have been nice if he could’ve at least taken care of himself.
“Welp, I’m ready to go if you are, King Takuto! This was destined to happen sooner or later! It’s just happening sooner!”
“And here I was counting on Brave Questers’ magic to help,” Takuto sighed. “Do you really not have any spells or abilities that can resolve this? Isn’t it the Hero’s special right to make the impossible possible?”
Takuto was asking him about the power of Forced Events. He didn’t know if that was something Yu could activate himself, but that would be his only way out of this. Regrettably, Takuto didn’t know of any Events throughout the Brave Questers’ series that would be useful here.
“Sorry, man. Can’t escape until that Barrier thingy is taken care of,” Yu said, answering exactly as Takuto had expected. “Make your move, King Takuto.”
Yu was telling him to make his move before it was too late. Takuto was well aware he couldn’t buy them any more time by talking.
His hand forced, Takuto concentrated on aligning his senses with the Botchling to take more accurate control of it. Half of its body trembled and transformed into a deformed baby, letting out a strange cry that corroded souls.
“Haa, if I must, I must…” Takuto sighed.
“Ehehe. You will experience the Succubi’s special techniques with your whole body, darlings♡.”
The battle was about to move to the next stage.