Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 2835: Casting The Bait

Date: Unspecified

Time: Unspecified

Location: Myriad Realms, Card World, Southern Region, Blossom District, Three Mischief Encampment

”Using your vapor venom to slowly poison them while they’re fighting— that’s your grand plan? Now I feel embarrassed for standing up for you.”

The Field Marshal realized Corey had no real plan—just the strong resolve of killing both semi-ruler-class devils. She was grasping at straws. It made him wonder whether any version of Corey had truly killed Devil Peyote. Even if she had, it was probably not the way she was making it sound.

”Guys, trust me, it will work.”

Corey kept insisting her plan would succeed, even though there wasn’t much of a plan to begin with. She sounded so sure of herself that it almost made you believe her and follow along without thinking. But unfortunately for her, she was dealing with the Field Marshal and me, we knew better than to follow emotions.

Meanwhile, Karl was off searching for the Emissary alone. We believed he was hiding somewhere nearby, weakened and with nowhere left to run. His only hope of survival was Konjur. And from the looks of it, Konjur still valued the Emissary and intended to keep him around. That meant the Emissary was most likely living in the Card World under Konjur’s protection.

”It won’t work. All you’ll do is remind them we’re a threat they need to account for in their plan for each other. We already saw your vapor venom get countered by Konjur’s seemingly bottomless faith, and it has no effect on Peyote’s illusionary form.”

I shook my head. Corey’s vapor venom was undeniably potent and lethal, but even it had to bow before Konjur’s overwhelming reserves of faith. Yes, her venom resisted faith to a degree, but as we had already seen, a sufficiently large amount of faith could easily overpower even her most concentrated vapor. I wasn’t foolish enough to repeat the same approach and expect a different outcome.

”No, this time I’ll create a higher concentration of Lil’ Baem’s vapor venom enough to kill ruler-class beings, let alone semi-ruler class devils. I will have the Field Marshal use time acceleration through overclock cards, such that the venom will spread with the speed of accelerated time and infect them without them knowing. With a dose that high, they’ll either definitely die, still by some miracle if they survive they will be forced to retreat.”

”That might work on Konjur—but only temporarily. If he survives, he’ll just spend faith to restore himself. And if he dies, we’ll be left facing Peyote alone, whose overall power far exceeds Konjur’s. We’d end up right back where we started only with a different enemy.”

”Wyatt, why do you keep ignoring the fact that damage dealt to Peyote’s illusion materializations is felt by him, not the illusion itself? If his materialized illusion dies from poison, he’ll reveal himself and be stunned by the shock. I’ll use that moment to finish him off with the biggest supernova I can create. As for Konjur, we keep poisoning him until it works. There—I just improvised. Isn’t that what we do best?”

Corey was so optimistic about her plan that it was almost infectious. I could see her words beginning to sway the Field Marshal. However, they were overlooking one crucial factor—the personalities of the opponents we were facing. Konjur, though arrogant and haughty, had proven himself to be extremely cautious. He learned from his mistakes. I doubted we would get another chance to use concentrated vapour venom on him anytime soon.

As for Peyote, his physiology was closer to that of a cactus. Cacti don’t feel pain—they’re built to endure damage, adapt, and keep going as if nothing happened. If an ordinary cactus was already like a tank, a cactus devil would be far more durable and entirely unbothered by pain. Because of that, I was highly skeptical of Corey’s claim that killing his materialised illusion with poison would force him to reveal himself and leave him stunned by the shock.

I didn’t believe Corey’s plan would work, and I knew nothing I said or did would change her mind. I could have invoked the employment contract between us to force her compliance, but that would have strained our friendship. So instead, I decided to show her just how wrong she was. Not because I wanted to turn this into a lesson for her, but because I needed bait for my own plan.

Yes, I planned to use my friend as bait.

In my defense, she would do whatever she wanted regardless of what I said or did. From where I stood, I could either sit back and let it happen, or take advantage of her stubbornness and make sure something useful came out of it. If she wanted to blame anyone, she could only blame her own stubbornness. Besides, we were aiming for the same outcome, so she wouldn’t hold it against me for long.

”Wyatt, what she’s saying sounds doable. Maybe we should give it a try. We might not be able to kill them outright, but we can at least buy ourselves a few decades.”

I wasn’t surprised to see the Field Marshal side with Corey. I’d already called it. Besides, with him by her side, I had fewer worries about using her as bait.

”You too?” I feigned frustration, my gaze shifting between them. Then, after a brief pause, I relented. ”Fine. You two search for the Emissary above the blood storm clouds. I’ll check within the clouds.”

”Really? Alright.” Corey looked surprised seeing me agree with her, as if she had already expected me to pick her plan apart.

”You’re not coming with us?” the Field Marshal asked, clearly skeptical that I’d let them attempt something so risky on their own.

”I trust you guys. Besides, someone has to find and finish the primary target—the Emissary of light.” I shook my head. ”Be careful.”

”Always,” Corey replied, before she and the Field Marshal shot upward, disappearing into the raging blood storm.

Meanwhile, I made my way to my vantage point, ready to begin fishing, having cast the bait.