What Do You Mean, Card Addiction?!

After Caroso finished speaking, a wave of black mist seeped in from outside, corroding the room's door.

Caroso took a deep breath.

BOOM!

The door and bed were violently blasted apart from outside. Holding Bintink in hand, Caroso swept his sword out.

Flames forced back all the black-clad figures gathered at the doorway.

Like an arrow loosed from a bow, Caroso charged out from within. On both sides, people had already encircled him so tightly that not even water could pass through.

Caroso lightly tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, landing atop a black-clad man's head like a dancing elf. With a nimble turn, he darted in one direction.

The black-clad figures were packed too densely together, which instead made things easier for Caroso.

[Boss Caro's footwork is kind of girly.]

[I told you, Boss Caro is a pragmatist. If he thinks it works, he won't care whether it looks girly, unless it involves the Kolia family's honor.]

[No, do none of you watch dancing? Those are dance steps—waltz!]

[Bruce Lee used tap-dancing footwork too. Totally normal.]

Swish, swish, swish...

Cards flew out one after another, and countless pitch-black arms emerged from the walls.

Caroso's feet slowed as he raced forward, as though he had sunk into a swamp.

Besides the black arms, there were also magic cards restricting him!

There were too many enemies, and they were all at the same level. Even with Caroso's abilities, it would not be easy for him to kill his way out.

Fortunately, the cultists knew this was a large-scale team battle. They had not all squandered vast amounts of magic power to focus-fire Caroso at once. Only five people had acted; the rest still needed to conserve their magic power to deal with the other outsiders.

Caroso was clearly familiar with such rules. That was also why he had dared to charge out.

Just as he had taught the Netizens: if you kept hiding your trump cards away, waiting for some so-called best moment, you might never get the chance to use them.

That was exactly what these cultists were doing. Their desire to preserve their strength had given Caroso an opening.

Caroso swiftly pulled out a card, and white light shone over his body.

Caroso sped up once more. He had used Purification to cleanse the negative effects on himself.

One card was not enough. Caroso used another without the slightest concern for whether it was wasteful.

But while Caroso was using cards, so were his opponents. Caroso had only rushed another dozen or so meters before he was controlled again.

Fortunately, Caroso had achieved his goal. He was right at the elevator entrance.

Just as those people were about to seize Caroso, he shouted, "Let's play Guess the Card!"

In an instant, every black-clad figure froze.

"Hey, sure. I've never lost in this laboratory."

"Haha, I never hesitate when it comes to Guess the Card."

"Oh, then I'm truly flattered."

Caroso blanked for a moment. He had thought only one person would respond, creating an absolute domain and buying him time to recover.

But... what was this situation?

After Caroso landed, a crowd gazed at him eagerly, each seeming to want to play Guess the Card with him.

"With so many people, I can only play with one." Caroso said, "Who should I choose?"

"Of course, me!"

"No, no, no, I'm the strongest one."

"Me! My Guess the Card is invincible!"

Those people began arguing, but no matter how fiercely they bickered, their eyes never left Caroso.

Caroso tested the waters. "How about this—you fight each other first, and I'll play with whoever wins?"

"No. You must choose one."

Every black-clad figure stared fixedly at Caroso and spoke in unison.

After that, the scene fell so silent a pin drop could be heard.

Caroso instinctively took a step back, only to discover a transparent wall of light behind him. There was nowhere left to retreat!

The Guess the Card domain had formed. He could only choose one.

Whew. Sure enough, Guess the Card was not invincible.

[I'm dying, Baby Caro is too adorable. He actually wanted them to fight each other first.]

[If this bug existed, the boss would probably chop up the programmer.]

[Boss Caro won't be in danger, right?]

[Nope. He's Boss Caro—the one who'll run rampant across the entire continent in the later stages.]

[Boss Caro hasn't even started using his real trump card yet.]

Caroso picked the farthest one. "You!"

Very soon, the man in black shoved through the crowd and entered the absolute domain of Guess the Card.

Bang, bang, bang...

Just then, the sounds of fighting came from upstairs.

Caroso's gaze sharpened. These fighting sounds... it seemed only the initial area had been soundproofed.

That made sense. Soundproofing every area would require an enormous investment to set up the magic arrays.

In that case, I can stall for time and wait for rescue.

"We need to go up!"

"Quick, get upstairs!"

"We must complete the task Our Lord assigned us."

"Move aside! The ones in front, move aside!"

The black-clad men began shoving against one another, yet no one could get through.

It had been mentioned before that this laboratory had a peculiar layout. Each floor had only one staircase. Only the floor where the outsiders were held had an additional elevator, and it required their special authorization to enter.

And this first floor had no stairs at all; they could only take the elevator up.

Right now, the spot Caroso was occupying happened to be the elevator entrance.

Caroso had originally intended to find a way into the elevator after the card-guessing game ended. He never expected that by taking this spot, he would make them panic.

Caroso wanted to stall for time, so he did not place his cards.

But soon, a 15 appeared before him, rapidly turning into 14.

It seemed there was a limit to stalling for time as well.

When three seconds remained, Caroso quickly placed three cards face down.

"I'll go first. This card of yours is one Star Level!" the cultist said, pointing at Caroso's first card.

Caroso fell silent for a moment as the countdown began again.

"Your card is three Star Level." Caroso timed it precisely.

"Tch, you guessed right." The cultist sighed.

Caroso was instantly speechless. When he had been upstairs, he had wanted to guess them all correctly in one go, only for it to end in a draw.

Now that he wanted to play a few more rounds, he won the very first one.

Caroso stalled for a full three minutes, until three rounds of card-guessing had ended.

Stalling was useless. The people upstairs were too slow!

If you can't come down, then I'll go up!

"Open the elevator for me," Caroso said.

The cultist ignored Caroso and casually took out a rare card, handing it to him.

Caroso's little face scrunched up. This card-guessing game was only supposed to be for winning cards.

[Name: Evil Spirit Chains]

[Category: Spell]

[Star Level: 3]

[Grade: Blue Rare]

[Class Restriction: None]

[Description: Bind a person with chains. Whether they can break free depends on whether your strength or magic power is strong enough.]

After receiving the card, the Card God Domain vanished. Caroso seized the opportunity and thrust backward at once, his longsword stabbing directly into the elevator.

Rumble!

An explosive force surged forth, blasting a huge hole through the doors.