The Ice Evolution card really didn't disappoint me. I thought after some time like about 5 minutes or so, Elara would return to normal.
But no, Elara kept that ferocious form for a full 7 minutes and was still continuing to maintain that state.
And Ice Evolution was only at (I) level! Sure enough, creating that evolution card was the smartest move!
Slurp
"..." I looked at my cheek again being licked by Elara, who was now walking forward as if she hadn't done anything just now.
And Ice Evolution also changed the monster's personality quite a bit. Every time I let my guard down even a little, it would turn its head back and lick my cheek once.
Good thing it wasn't like the description said, it didn't look at me like prey when licking but in a different way.
...What kind of way? You can guess for yourself. I've been in the Pokemon fandom for too long to understand it clearly.
Felia kept blinking continuously when she saw Elara becoming this shameless, always waiting for a chance to lick me once and then acting like she knew nothing.
How should I put it? On the outside a terrifying predator, but on the inside a little puppy that likes to cuddle around its owner?
'But I have to admit this environment magic is really tricky. If I don't know how to get out, we'll be stuck here forever,' I looked around and scratched my head.
Not sure where Alice went. If I don't find her soon, I'm afraid she'll run into that samurai and it'll be over.
"...Ugh, no choice left, huh?"
I then took out a piece of chalk I kept in my pocket just in case.
Felia and Elara tilted their heads, watching what I was doing.
I used the chalk to draw a circle, making it more and more detailed.
Then I put the chalk away and looked at the circle.
Alchemical circle.
And unlike modern alchemy, I decided to use traditional alchemy.
Equivalent exchange.
Alright, I know I'm a bit crazy and reckless for using this method, like it's overkill? But I know what I'm doing.
Equivalent exchange means if I want something, I have to give something in return, right? So as long as what I need is something easy to find, the price to pay will be equally small.
However, it's still dangerous because if I want something rarer than I think, then the one who suffers will definitely be me for being stupid. What else can I do?
Ah, I also hope no one catches me while doing this forbidden alchemy.
"Alright, hope I don't get hurt."
I then channeled magic into the alchemical circle.
Immediately, the alchemical circle glowed, sparks of lightning shot everywhere in the room.
'Now pray that I myself am okay.'
Right away, everything around me was an endless white.
At that moment, I saw an entity that looked exactly like me.
It bared its teeth in a smile, then said only a few words.
"You're still very early, ambitious young man, but I hope we meet again next time."
"..."
Everything returned to normal. I was back and the alchemical circle had disappeared.
Felia and Elara were confused when they saw the alchemical circle I worked hard to draw vanish without a trace. Everything happened like a fleeting moment.
I blinked, sweating a bit.
...Sure enough, it was the Truth. He already knew everything about me, didn't he?
I took off my coat, and everywhere immediately froze.
However, I had the feeling that its power had decreased just a tiny bit.
But right after that, that tiny bit was filled back up and returned to its original state.
'So I was taken from, but for some reason my body recovered to its original condition. I really need to ask someone about this issue right away.'
Putting my coat back on, I looked at both of my monsters and smiled.
"Let's go, I know exactly where Alice is."
***
"Huff huff"
Alice was running, she kept looking around.
She no longer knew where she was. Clearly she had looked out the window and was on the 3rd floor, but when she looked again she was on the 5th floor!
She couldn't even get down to the 1st floor and kept getting stuck on the upper floors of this old dormitory!
"I don't understand?! Is there some weird rule here or what?!" She scratched her head, starting to not know what to do.
Well, she was still an 11-year-old kid after all. These problems were a bit too much for her.
"I have to... I have to find Igor..."
Unconsciously, she thought of Igor again.
After all, at the moment Igor pushed her to move to another place, she still couldn't forget it.
So her instincts told her that the best way was to rely on him. After all, the person who saved her was more trustworthy than herself.
Then she looked out the window. This time she was on the 2nd floor.
Phew, somehow she had gotten down to the 2nd floor, but now how to get to the 1st floor when every time she went down the stairs she was moved to a random floor?
So she kept going, hoping nothing would happen.
After walking for a while, she stopped.
Just as she hoped nothing would happen, something happened right away.
The familiar figure that just stepped up the stairs appeared. It was none other than that samurai.
"...no way" she stepped back, watching the samurai approaching her.
She quickly grabbed the doorknob next to her and tried to enter the room.
Slash!
The katana flew straight into the doorknob, making her step back as the door could no longer be opened.
Then she ran to get another door.
The samurai grabbed the katana and slashed a long line. Immediately all the doors were frozen and stuck shut.
"..." She stepped back, sweat dripping as she watched the samurai approaching her.
Now even running was pointless. This samurai wouldn't let her escape.
Then she took out a card, her face extremely reluctant.
"Summon Ribbon Bunny and the Queen's Poison Apple!"
Immediately in front of her appeared two small monsters: a white rabbit with a black ribbon and a purple skull-patterned apple with a worm crawling out of a hole.
"Poison Apple, quickly use Silk Shot!"
The worm inside sprayed silk at the samurai.
The samurai used its katana to cut through all the silk and charged forward, raising its sword toward her.
"Ribbon Bunny!"
The rabbit rushed in front of her and used Protect.
Immediately the attack was blocked, but the samurai didn't falter and launched the next strike.
"Quickly use Protect!"
The rabbit created a shield circle just like before, but the samurai stopped right when it slashed.
"!!"
Right when the shield circle disappeared, the samurai slashed the rabbit in half, turning it back into her card.
'I-it's too smart! Way too smart!' she panicked seeing how easily the samurai defeated her monster.
She even felt that it wasn't using its full strength at all, just using simple physical attacks to deal with her!
"Ugh! Poison Apple, use your ultimate move!!!"
The poison apple heard that and charged straight at the samurai. The samurai, as if anticipating it, dodged to the side.
But what he didn't expect was that the poison apple started glowing.
"Toxic Explosion!!"
Boom!
A thick purple explosion made the samurai retreat far back.
Alice took the opportunity to run past the samurai, heading down the stairs.
But his hand grabbed her shirt and threw her back to the original spot.
"Ouch!"
Does this guy not know how to treat women?! (He ain't simp)
She painfully rubbed her butt then looked at the samurai still standing firm.
Both of her monsters had been defeated and were on cooldown.
She had nothing left in hand except a healing card.
She didn't know what to do. The situation was very dangerous.
She still didn't want to die yet...
The samurai slowly walked forward, raising its katana.
She closed her eyes, as if accepting her fate.
Bam!
"?"
Both Alice and the samurai looked toward the door.
Bam bam!
She blinked, watching the door being pounded extremely hard.
Besides her... was there someone else?
Right now, there was only one person she knew...
BAM!
The door was smashed open, flying toward the samurai.
The samurai as usual drew its katana and chopped it into pieces.
But what he didn't expect was a monster charging straight at him, biting hard on his shoulder.
"Felia!"
"Wu!"
Felia charged and rammed into the samurai.
Then when it looked up and saw the samurai looking at it with a "really?" expression, it stopped.
"WUUUU!!" Felia turned back to look at me and cried.
"Alright alright, I know," I rushed over, grabbed Felia and ran to Alice's spot.
"I-Igor?! How did you get here so fast?!"
"Uh... Luck?"
"I've been walking around for a while and still couldn't match you."
"That's because you're unlucky."
Then I looked at the samurai who had yanked Elara off and thrown her toward me.
I took out a card to recall Elara and then summoned her again.
'Wait, there's a way to do that too?' Alice was surprised by my proficiency.
The samurai looked at me with a very serious expression, then emitted an extremely powerful aura.
Uh oh, it looked like it wanted to deal with me now.
A strong wind blew from it, sending my hat flying and landing straight on Felia.
"Oh?! The wind is so strong?!" I was surprised watching my Ushanka hat being held by Felia for me.
Alice kept blinking because it was the first time seeing my hair.
"...What are you looking at?"
"No, it's just... Why don't you take off your hat more often?"
"My head gets cold, so no."
Then I looked at the samurai emitting a ghost-type aura everywhere.
"You want to compete to see whose aura is stronger? I'll indulge you. Elara, quickly go protect Alice."
Elara went over to Alice upon hearing that.
Alice kept blinking while looking at the scary spiky creature in front of her.
That?! That's the ice spider Elara?! What did you do to it?!
I took off my coat. A bit of cold started spreading everywhere.
The samurai was also surprised looking at me as I emitted endless coldness.
"Phoo... Hm!"
I charged forward recklessly. The samurai saw that and swung its sword horizontally.
I lowered my body, dodged the samurai's attack, and seized the opportunity as soon as I got close enough.
"I've held it in for quite a while. Now I'll release everything on you!!"
Immediately everything around became extremely alarmingly cold. The samurai took my attack head-on.
For a monster with ice element inside, it already had some ice resistance.
But the person standing in front of it was different. It was so cold that the samurai's entire body gradually froze and started turning to ice.
"H-how is this possible..?" Alice looked at the scene just now in shock.
Although she didn't know much about Igor's condition, almost everyone in the class knew that as soon as Igor took off his coat, cold air would spread.
However, she didn't expect it to be this strong, to the point that even an ice-type monster couldn't resist it.
Looking at the ice statue of the samurai, I took the coat from Felia.
Felia and Elara seemed to enjoy this terrifying coldness, while Alice was shivering.
Seeing that, I scratched my head and threw the Ushanka hat to Alice.
"Put it on. Even if it's still cold, it's better than nothing, right?"
"...Has anyone ever said you're more mature than your age?"
"Only you. Now let's go."
So the two of us walked past the ice statue of the samurai. Alice glanced at it briefly before following.
Crack
"..." Everyone stopped, turning their heads to look at the samurai.
There were a few cracks on the ice.
"...It's stronger than I thought. We should run right now."
So I and Alice sped up running before the ice layer outside was broken.
But the luck of both of us was quite bad. Whether going down stairs, up stairs, or entering rooms to move to another room, we kept ending up on the 2nd floor.
"Damn, is the 2nd floor cursed or something?!" I scratched my head, starting to feel frustrated.
Now were we really going to be stuck here until that samurai came to slash us? Even my two monsters were no match anymore!
No... Calm down...
Remember the gacha time...
If this environment magic is still active, that means its owner is still here...
And there's a high chance that person is in some room, so I have to bet on this.
Boom!
The samurai had broken the ice layer and was slowly moving toward us.
"Igor, what do we do now?!" Alice said worriedly.
'You say that and I'm out of ideas too. If there's someone with good luck maybe-"
I stopped and looked at Alice.
"...Why are you looking at me?"
...I was always curious why she could always create such great cards even though according to the lore she wasn't good at card battling?
Was it because of luck? Or her talent?
"You know? There are a few things I'm a bit curious about."
"Huh? What do you mean- UWAAHH!" I took her hand and touched the doorknob.
Luck doesn't necessarily have to be related to the situation, and it can be elsewhere.
Alice was an example. Even when she was chased by the samurai and moved to the exact floor she wanted.
Yet she remained safe without a single scratch from the samurai, meaning luck had saved her very well.
So could luck help her open the right door?
Absolutely. After all... her life was being threatened.
The door opened, and a black-purple smoke escaped from the room.
I smiled.
'Sure enough, her luck is very high. It compensates for all her combat skills.'
"Hm?"
From inside the room, a guy who was researching something turned his head.
His appearance was a bit messy, his face somewhat carefree, his outfit was... a bit unique? Lots of belts...
"Huh? Why are there two students here?"
Then he looked at what was behind us and clicked his tongue.
"Why did you two kids bring that monster here... Seriously, I used a maze house card to avoid this guy..."
Then he walked out. Alice was still confused while I just breathed a sigh of relief.
"W-who are you?" Alice asked.
"Hm? You don't know? Ah right, you two are new students, right?"
"Yes?"
"Um, then let me introduce myself quickly," he ruffled his hair and yawned.
"Hex Mactor, Ghost Guardian."