Easy Enough

Jessica took a quick look around before moving towards a large glowing blue doorway with Jack. She cleared her throat before continuing.

"Alright, make sure you stay with me, and also don't make any loud sounds."

Jack nodded, and the two of them went through. Suddenly, they were taken from the card grandiose card-filled room into the narrow dirty tunnels. Jack held up the lamp, stretching out quite far into the darkness.

Jessica took in a deep breath before leading the way.

"Alright. The rules of the game we are going to play are simple. It is called 'Slay the Royalty'. We will take turns to fight against a card by using the cards in our playing deck, and cards are given to us by the game."

She ducked into another tunnel and signaled Jack to follow before continuing on.

"The card will have either five or seven attack, and either ten or twelve health. Each turn, we will need to play one card to attack the monster to lower its health. Then, if it's still alive, we have to discard cards with the same total value as its attack. If one of us doesn't have enough cards to sustain the attack, then we will end up losing the game. On the other hand, if we lower the monster's health to zero, then we will be able to win."

Jessica raised up a finger as she approached a crossway, taking a peek both ways before moving on.

"We will each get five cards from the game. The basics are just to use your high cards to attack, and your smaller cards to defend. To not lose, you can use the twos you brought from your playing deck to block in addition to the cards given."

Jack tilted his head to the side before smiling.

"That sounds like the game that Dad and I played a lot!"

Jessica smiled bitterly.

"I guess it does make sense for him to prepare you for this one. This is the safest way to get a promotion admission. Still, keep it a bit down, even if you do have the lantern."

Jack nodded a few times and didn't speak further.

The two of them continued navigating the narrow tunnels, taking turns a few times until they eventually reached a relatively large room. It was still as dirty as it had been before. Realistically speaking, it wasn't actually that large. Probably smaller than most studio apartments. But it was large compared to the cramped hallways.

However, the most noticeable thing was one section of the wall that was made of what looked like polished marble Along with that was the display of a jack of clubs near the top. Just below, were the words, 'Slay the Royalty'.

Unlike the one labeled for Solitaire, this one had two separate slots to insert decks into. The rest of the description was as follows.

'Rewards!

One card from two!

Three guaranteed!

Punishment - 3'

Jack didn't understand what exactly the punishment meant, but glossed over it entirely. More importantly, he was excited about the three since that would mean he could take another step forward to creating a full deck of cards.

A smile formed on his face as he realized that.

Jessica raised an eyebrow when she saw that. In fact, she even seemed a tad bit annoyed that Jack wasn't feeling the severity of the situation, but didn't mention anything about it in the end.

"Anyway, just put your playing deck in there and we'll get started."

After gulping down a piece of jerky, Jack hurriedly did as told with a curious expression.

"Ooh!"

Once again, a light flashed blinding Jack before he suddenly found himself somewhere else. He thought that the bright light would eventually fade, but Jack found himself straining his eyes even several seconds after.

When his eyes did eventually adjust somewhat, he saw a sight he had never come across before.

A bright blue sky.

A blazing sun.

And countless soft clouds.

It was far too different from the oil lamp just barely lighting up the cramped room. Jack wordlessly marveled with his jaw wide open.

He then got a better look at what was underneath him. There were a few patches of grass, which made him bend to touch them curiously, appreciating how they gave when he brushed past his finger.

"Hey! Pay attention, we're starting here!"

Jessica called out with distress when she saw Jack get distracted like a kid with ADHD seeing a butterfly. Jack then snapped to attention, looking at her as well. It was then he saw there was a shabbily made wood barricade in front of him. Just about five meters to his right was a similar wood barricade in front of Jess.

A strong scent of blood hung in the air, but Jack didn't seem to notice it.

Jack was still overwhelmed by all the sensations he was experiencing, thinking he was in paradise. However, that was only in his own eyes. While there was the occasional patch of grass, more than that were the dead bodies littered around the place.

Blood dyed the ground red, while various pieces of limbs, including hands and fingers, were scattered around the place. Thankfully, there were none that appeared too close to either of them and there were no other body parts like the head around either.

And contrary to the brutal appearance of the place, a mechanical status screen appeared in front of Jack.

[Activating the effect of the Joker... Error - no effect for this game.]

[Welcome to Slay the Royalty! In this game, each of you will be dealt five cards from a deck of twelve cards, which you will be using to fight together against the royalty! The rules of the game are simple!]

[1 - To win the game, you must break through the defense and kill the royalty! The life points will be labeled by a card. Each turn, both players may play one card they have to attack.]

[2 - However, at the end of the turn, the player must discard cards equal to or larger than the attack of the royalty! If the player does not discard the necessary cards, they will lose the game!]

[3 - Players will be unable to directly communicate the cards that they have, whether it be through words or sign language. There is a red button to choose to forfeit for each player, which will cause both parties to lose immediately.]

[Those are all the rules! Now kill that noble!]

The wooden barricade in front of Jack had a rather nice table attached to it. And the top left, was a big red button just like what the instructions had said, while the cards from his playing deck were placed face down in a separate glass container that was sealed with a simple latch.

Along with that, A deck of cards had materialized in the air not too far from Jack and Jessica. First, a jack of clubs had been pulled from the deck, showing its face. Then, the card began to twist and turn before expanding rapidly.

In just a couple of seconds, it had transformed into a giant man, wearing what looked like a steel viking helmet with black horns on the sides of its head. He was only wearing leather cloth with fur linings.

A moment later, three more cards shot out. The first was a seven of diamonds which shot towards his chest, suddenly expanding to become plate armor that covered his entire body, labeled with seven diamond suits across the chest.

A second card shot out, a five of hearts. At the same time, the giant viking raised one of his hands. The card suddenly materialized into a giant red shield, which was caught promptly. The five hearts were clearly displayed on top.

Finally, a five of spades shot out. The giant viking raised his other hand, and a moment later, he was holding onto a black club.

Jack let out a loud gasp and pointed at it.

"That's so cool!"

Jess put on a helpless smile, thinking it was just a kid's antics.

"It might be, but take this seriously! Remember what I told you, high cards for attack, small cards for defense!"

After that, five cards were dealt to both Jack and Jessica. Strangely enough, there were still two cards left over that just dropped down.

There were five cards dealt to Jack.

Four of Hearts, Three of hearts, Three of Spades, Five of Clubs, and Three of Clubs.

A few moments later, a blue circle of light appeared under him.

[Player 1's turn]

A blue card-shaped light had similarly appeared in front of him. After taking a look at his cards he remembered Jessica told him to just use the high-value cards, thus put the five, after which it suddenly disappeared.

A giant club appeared above Jack, just floating in the air. He looked up at it with an awed expression. The giant viking lowered his stance and held out his shield in front of him.

The club suddenly swung forth as though it was wielded by a person.

A boom resounded, shaking the air and nearly blasting Jack's eardrums.

The club slammed into the shield viciously, directly shattering it into pieces. The giant took a few steps back but regained his footing rather quickly. It was then he raised the club into the air, but froze before bringing it down.

Jessica muttered under her breath with a bit of displeasure.

"Damn, the five was dealt out again?..."

A few moments later, she yelled out to him.

"Now put your small cards in until they reach five or higher!"

Jack looked at the table, seeing five different red card-shaped lights appearing in front of him. After taking a look at his hand, he put two threes into two random slots, causing them to disappear immediately.

Shortly after, a black shield had materialized about him, with three clubs and spades appearing on top of it. Then, the giant's club suddenly swung downwards. A strong whistle of wind rang out.

A thunderous boom rang out as it slammed into the shield.

Cracks spread out throughout, but it remained strong. Five of the suits had disappeared, but one was still on said shield. The giant slowly retracted his club, while the shield dissolved.

From there, a blue circle lit up around Jessica.

[Player 2's Turn]

She proceeded to put down a four of diamonds, causing an elegant red sword to form in the air. With a slash, it slammed into the giant viking, pushing him back a few steps. Only three diamond suits remained on his armor. However, he quickly regained his footing and raised his club as he had before.

Jessica calmly put down a two and a four to block it.

As it did for Jack, a shield manifested which blocked the strike.

Then, when it came to Jack's turn, he placed down a four. Right after he had done so, a sword slashed through the giant viking, penetrating through his armor and drawing blood.

It fell to its knees before collapsing right after.

[Congratulations! You have completed Slay the Royalty! Issuing rewards]

Jack put on an excited expression and raised his hands in the air.

"We did it!"

However, Jessica looked rather frustrated instead.

"Damn. Not even a four was left over?"

While she was lamenting over her misfortune, the two cards that had fallen at the start rose, each one getting dealt to one of them. Jack looked in front of him and saw a three of diamonds along with three of hearts.

Remembering that he already had the three of hearts, he opted to take the diamonds instead. After that, another notification appeared in front of him.

[Perfect run! You have unlocked - Slay the Royalty 1 (Hard)]

[Would you like to play again?]

Jack turned to Jessica with a tad bit of confusion.

"Um, what does it mean by hard?"

Jessica furrowed her brows. She saw the same message, and thus knew what he was talking about.

"...I'm not sure. I haven't seen something like this before."

There were two buttons that appeared in front of him, one that said to play again, and the other that said quit. Seeing this, Jack put his hand over the play again and shot Jessica a smile.

"Then why don't we try the hard mode?"

Jessica clicked her tongue before shaking her head.

"There's no need to take such a risk. But because neither of us had to use cards from the playing deck, we can just try again with the normal difficulty."

Jack was slightly disappointed, but didn't raise any complaint and pressed the play again button. Jessica followed suit, and a bright light flashed once more.

[...Detected participant with Slay the Royalty 1 (Hard) automatically upgrading difficulty.]

[...Adding effect of Joker - Suit Nullification.]

[Welcome to Slay the Royalty 1 (Hard)! The rules are exactly the same, but there is a tiny addition!]

[Extra 1 - When the player attacks, if the defense contains the same suit, the attack will be rendered useless.]

[Extra 2 - When the Royalty attacks, if the player's defense is the same suit, no protection will be provided.]

[Have fun!]

Jessica immediately began biting her nails anxiously.

"What? We don't have a choice about the difficulty? But... why?"

Jack tilted his head to the side.

"Doesn't this just make it more fun?"