SHUFFLE OF FATE: A Deckbuilding LitRPG
CHAPTER 9: ALL IN
The Broodmother screeched, a sound that vibrated deep in Kai's bones. She reared back on her hind legs, exposing the jagged black spikes on her thorax.
She wasn't just going to bite him. She was going to impale him.
Kai's hand closed around **[The Wildcard]**.
"Come on," Kai whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of fear and mania. "Don't give me a spoon. Don't give me confetti. Give me a miracle."
He crushed the card.
**[Aether: 9/12 -> 0/12]**
The card consumed all his remaining energy. The familiar glitch effect exploded in his vision, but this time, it was violent. The colors didn't just swirl; they screamed. Gold. Red. Black.
Time seemed to dilate. The descending spider moved in slow motion. The drop of venom falling from her jaw hung suspended in the air.
The spinning roulette of the Wildcard slowed down.
*Tick... Tick... Tick...*
It stopped.
The card wasn't Gold (Legendary). It wasn't even Red (Destructive).
It was a pale, transparent Blue.
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[Card Generated: Spatial Transposition]
[Rarity: Rare (Utility)]
[Effect: Swaps the physical location of the User and one Target within sight.]
[Duration: Instant]
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Kai stared at the description.
"Swap?"
He didn't get a weapon. He didn't get a shield. He got a movement spell.
The Broodmother began her descent. Five tons of armored chitin and muscle were falling toward him, gravity accelerating her into a living spear.
If Kai swapped now, he would just appear in the air and fall, while the spider would appear on the ground. She would just turn around and eat him.
"Think!" Kai screamed internally. "How do I kill a tank with a teleport?"
His eyes darted around the cave.
The floor was smooth stone. The walls were webs.
Wait.
Directly behind him, protruding from the floor like a stone tooth, was a stalagmite. It was three feet tall, jagged, and sharpened by centuries of dripping water.
Kai realized his position. He was cornered against the wall. The stalagmite was right at his feet.
If he moved, the spider would land on the floor.
But if the spider landed *here*...
A crazy, suicidal plan formed in Kai's mind.
"Hey!" Kai shouted at the falling monster. "Catch!"
He didn't move away. He waited. He waited until the spider's spikes were inches from his face. He could smell the rot in her breath. He could see the reflection of his own terror in her eight eyes.
"NOW!"
Kai activated **[Spatial Transposition]**.
*ZAP.*
The world inverted.
For a split second, Kai felt a nausea-inducing lurch, like his stomach was being pulled through a straw.
Then, the pressure vanished.
Kai blinked. He was no longer on the ground. He was fifteen feet in the air, looking down.
Below him, in the exact spot where he had been crouching a millisecond ago, the Iron-Weaver Broodmother materialized.
She appeared on the ground with zero momentum cancelation. Gravity and her own downward force did the rest.
She didn't land on the floor. She landed on the stalagmite.
*CRUNCH.*
The sound was wet and sickening.
The sharp stone tooth pierced through her softer underbelly, punching straight through her internal organs and cracking the armor on her back.
*SCREEEEEEEEE!*
The Broodmother thrashed wildly, impaled like a butterfly on a pin. Green blood geysered into the air, painting the cave walls.
Kai, meanwhile, was falling.
"Oh, right," Kai realized. "Gravity."
He flailed, trying to orient himself. He crashed onto the spider's back—the only soft-ish place to land. He rolled off her heaving carapace and hit the stone floor hard.
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[Fall Damage: -5 HP]
[HP: 30/60]
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Kai groaned, scrambling away from the dying beast.
The Broodmother twitched one last time. Her legs curled inward in the universal sign of spider death. The red light in her eight eyes flickered and went dark.
Silence returned to the Gauntlet.
Kai lay on his back, staring at the ceiling. His chest heaved. He started laughing. It hurt his ribs, but he couldn't stop.
"Positioning," Kai wheezed. "It's all about positioning."
A glorious golden light erupted from the spider's corpse.
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[BOSS DEFEATED: Iron-Weaver Broodmother]
[Achievement Unlocked: Slayer of Giants]
[EXP Gained: +500]
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[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 2 -> Level 3]
[Level 3 -> Level 4]
[Level 4 -> Level 5]
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The notifications scrolled by like a waterfall. Kai bathed in the warm glow of the level-up energy, feeling his wounds knit together and his Aether pool expanding.
He sat up. He had done it. He survived the tutorial.
But the real prize wasn't the levels.
Floating above the spider's corpse was a single, physical card. It wasn't rusted or glitched. It radiated a pure, silver light.
Kai reached out and took it.
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[Loot Obtained: Silk Binding]
[Rarity: Rare]
[Type: Skill]
[Cost: 3 Aether]
[Effect: Fires a stream of hardened silk to bind a target or create a grapple point.]
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"Finally," Kai grinned, clutching the card. "Something reliable."
He stood up, dusting off his clothes. He looked toward the far end of the cavern.
There was a crack in the wall. Through it, a beam of pure, unfiltered sunlight pierced the darkness.
"The Surface," Kai whispered.
He checked his deck. He had a Rat, a Flashbang, a glitched Wildcard, and now, a Spider's web.
"Time to see the world."