176: A different opponent

Chapter 176 An Unprecedented Opponent

"What?"

Xue Zhang's brows immediately shot up at this sight.

"Good, good, good."

But then, he smiled.

"You wouldn't think that this is enough to contend with me, would you?"

As he finished speaking, he revealed his first-row card.

Even though he was certain the opponent would be defeated by the [Blacklight Shockwave], he still included his main deck when arranging his cards.

This was to prepare for any contingencies.

And now, that contingency had arrived.

"All enemies shall be executed."

As the first card was revealed, a barbarian riding a six-legged beast emerged.

He bore unmistakable Fel Energy Characteristics, his skin covered in black Fel Energy tattoos that seemed to writhe with sentience.

His weapon was a massive axe, similarly wreathed in black light, faintly emitting mournful wails.

"Fel Energy Chieftain"

Rage System, 30 points, Three-star Attack 30, 150/150

"Fel Energy Physique - Characteristic": When the Fel Energy Chieftain releases a skill, it gains 20 points of [Healing].

"Fel Energy Abundant - Passive": Fel Energy Chieftain's maximum health +50.

"Fel Energy Runes - Passive": When the Fel Energy Chieftain loses health in a turn, it gains 10 points of [Shield].

"Fel Energy Power Strike - 10 Health Points": Fel Energy Chieftain attacks 1 target, dealing an additional 20 damage. "Characteristic card..."

Shi Li couldn't help but frown.

Although the effect of this [Characteristic] wasn't particularly outstanding among all [Characteristic] cards.

However, appearing on a Rage System card, it could definitely achieve excellent results.

It even meant it could cast skills without taking damage.

And no matter how you looked at it, this was a positive [Characteristic], meaning the opponent's card was a 4-trait card.

Shi Li already had a vague feeling that this opponent was somewhat different from the previous Fel Energy cards.

Starting with a [Characteristic] card, and not carrying the kind of mass-produced, standardized Fel Energy traits.

When Xue Zhang's second first-row card was revealed, this idea was further confirmed.

"La la la~ !"

The card projection was a headless man carrying a pumpkin lantern.

The pumpkin lantern had eyes and a mouth carved into it and was carried by a chain.

The flame of the lantern was black; this was also an Fel Energy card.

"Headless Pumpkin Lantern"

Persistence, 30 points, Three-star Attack 30, 100/100, 0/50

"Fel Energy Warm Lamp - Characteristic": Headless Pumpkin Lantern gains 10 points of [Shield] every turn.

"Fel Energy Quick Charge - Passive": Headless Pumpkin Lantern Recoverys an additional 5 energy when attacked. "Fel Energy Full - Passive": When Headless Pumpkin Lantern's energy reaches maximum in a turn, it gains 10 points of [Healing].

"Fel Energy Defense - 20 Energy Points": Headless Pumpkin Lantern enters [Defense] state. This was also a [Characteristic] card.

It had Damage Reduction, Charge, and Recovery, making it very strong.

However, it's important to note that "in the turn when XXX is reached" means it only triggers in the turn when energy is full.

If it remains full, it can only trigger once.

Additionally, if it was originally full, used an active skill, and then was attacked and refilled in the same turn, it also counts as triggered.

"Pop! Pop! Pop!"

The projection of the third card was a bouncy black Scarlet Slime.

It had a round body but a fierce expression.

"Evil Energy Slime"

Balanced, 30 points, Three-star Attack 30, 150/150

"Fel Energy Bounce - Characteristic": When Evil Energy Slime is attacked, it performs a 10-point [Counter].

"Fel Energy Abundant - Passive": Evil Energy Slime's maximum health +50.

"Fel Energy Charge - Passive": Evil Energy Slime can release 1 [Stun] every 3 turns.

"Fel Energy Split - Passive": Evil Energy Slime can summon 1 [Little Slime] for every 50 points of accumulated damage taken.

([Counter]: Attacks the source of damage once)

"Little Slime"

Balanced, 5 points, No-star Attack 5, 5/5

Three [Characteristic] cards; this person could be said to be the strongest opponent Shi Li had encountered in actual combat.

But it was fine; these three cards of the opponent were very strong but not particularly troublesome.

It was Shi Li's turn to reveal his regular cards.

"Crow Warrior," carrying [Reveal Charge] + [Stun].

The opponent was an Fel Energy card player, so he couldn't reveal the [Cicada Wing Patrol] anti-Fel Energy card too early.

Revealing it too early would place it at the front and also give the opponent more opportunities to reveal cards.

"Two-star character card, hehe."

When this card was revealed, Xue Zhang laughed.

It seemed he had been too cautious; merely Platinum 8, what if he was promoted on the spot?

Nothing to fear.

However, Shi Li then overturned this idea of his.

He revealed three cards in a row, all of them [Characteristic] cards.

"Bouncing Guard," carrying [Stasis] + [Delayed Stasis] + [Big Jump].

Without a summon trait, he couldn't use his signature hand card.

The reason he chose [Big Jump] over [Little Tiao Tiao] was because he knew there were many derivative cards in Fel Energy cards.

[Big Jump] had higher points and was more advantageous in clashes.

"bo shan," carrying [Damage Reduction] + [Shield] + [Active Defense].

Incidentally, this realm also followed the single-hand card rule.

Therefore, it was very necessary for bo shan to carry [Defense], as it couldn't carry [Barrier].

"cloud river," carrying [Linkage] + [Quantum Entanglement] + [Revival].

"No wonder he dared to challenge me after seeing my rank, hmph."

Xue Zhang didn't feel anything about it.

Both sides finished revealing cards, and the action phase began.

In this turn, Shi Li played [LV1 Defense].

However, it was countered by Xue Zhang's [LV2 Counter].

"Replacing LV2 Counter with LV1 Defense, a profit."

"?"

Shi Li and Xue Zhang were both startled at the same time.

Who was speaking?

Soon, they discovered the source of the sound.

The Bone Dragon was currently lying outside the danger zone, watching their duel.

It turned out this fellow could speak; it had never shown it before.

Void commentators are indeed everywhere.

In the first turn, both sides exchanged normal attacks.

Xue Zhang's chosen target for focused fire was naturally the [Crow Warrior], instantly eliminating it with the [Fel Energy Chieftain]'s skill.

Meanwhile, Shi Li's 90 attack power could only leave the [Fel Energy Chieftain] severely wounded.

The second turn arrived, and Xue Zhang revealed his card first.

"Hiss! Hiss!"

In the card projection, a long snake radiating black energy slowly rose.

"Evil Energy Poison Fang"

Momentum, 30 points, Three-star Attack 20, 100/100, 0/40

"Poison Burst - Characteristic": Evil Energy Poison Fang's [Poisoned] effect takes immediate effect and can stack. "Fangs - Passive": Evil Energy Poison Fang's attacks come with a 10 [Poisoned] effect. "Fel Energy Wisdom - Passive": Evil Energy Poison Fang's attack power -10, skill cost -10.

"Double Strike - 20 Energy Points": Evil Energy Poison Fang attacks the target an additional time. Xue Zhang was in the advantageous position, so he naturally played an offensive card to press his advantage.

"This little worm is barely acceptable; once it reaches 20 energy, it can unleash skills infinitely."

"Moreover, the instant-burst [Poisoned] is equivalent to 20 points of irresistible damage."

"It can deal 60 points of output in one turn."

Although it didn't think much of these cards, the Bone Dragon was still watching with great interest.

After all, it had been here for too long.

Watching two little ants fight to determine a winner was quite interesting.

As for Shi Li's revealed card, it was—

"Buzz buzz~"

A woman with cicada-like wings flew out of the card, leaving trails of glowing dust in her wake.

"Cicada Wing Patrol"

Balanced, 30 points, Three-star Attack 30, 100/100

"Universal - Characteristic": When Cicada Wing Patrol is added to the deck, it increases the friendly score limit by +10.

"Blessing - Passive": When Cicada Wing Patrol is revealed, it grants 1 revealed card 10 points of [Encouragement] for this game (T0).

"Fel Purge - Passive": Cicada Wing Patrol deals 15 damage to all Fel Energy revealed cards every turn, doubled for derivative cards (T0).

"Spiritual Leader - Passive": After Cicada Wing Patrol leaves the field, it causes the friendly ace card to be revealed. The initial disadvantage was obvious, forcing him to reveal this anti-Fel Energy card prematurely.

As for the 10 points of [Encouragement], [Cicada Wing Patrol] gave them to itself.

"Oh~ It's actually an anti-Fel Energy card."

"This is getting interesting."

The ghost fire in the Bone Dragon's eyes flickered.

"Anti-Fel Energy card?"

A hint of ruthlessness flashed in Xue Zhang's eyes.

No wonder the opponent immediately exposed his identity; it seemed some Blacklight Society comrades must have fallen at his hands.

Like other Fel Energy card players, upon seeing this [Cicada Wing Patrol] card, his first thought was to eliminate it.

After all, 15 points of full-screen AoE was too damaging.

So Xue Zhang's target for this turn was undoubtedly [bo shan].

However, the consequence of playing [LV2 Counter] too early came to bear; in this turn, Shi Li played 1 [LV2 Defense], directly putting his two outer cards into [Defense].

"Did you think I wouldn't have considered that?"

However, Xue Zhang made a different choice.

His choice was to have his three first-row cards focus fire again, attacking the column where the [Crow Warrior] was located.

Because the position where [Cicada Wing Patrol] was revealed was behind [cloud river], which was the last-row card.

So the character card behind the Crow Warrior was directly a face-down card.

Face-down cards cannot act, and thus cannot Defense.

The way the Crow Warrior was instantly killed by 3 cards before is the same way that face-down card was instantly killed now.

As for the extra Evil Energy Poison Fang, it attacked the Jumping Guard.

"The Fel Energy kid is quite rational."

"Next turn, that Scarlet Slime can trigger Stun, and then focusing fire on the mech will be the right move."

"Moreover, if it doesn't attack the mech this turn, it won't charge it, and it won't have energy to use skills next turn."

"If we play another LV1 Counter next turn, we can prevent the opponent from defending."

The Bone Dragon's comments were very insightful.

After exchanging damage this turn, the low-health Fel Energy Chief was taken out.

Shi Li, on the other hand, lost one face-down card. The row where the Crow Warrior was located, having only two character cards originally, was completely broken through, including the ace card.

The third round arrived, and Xue Zhang revealed another card. "Buzz buzz chew—"

The card projection showed a strange and eerie Fel Abomination.

The chariot's body was a patchwork of various biological torsos, including human ones.

Its appearance was shocking, and black energy emanated from its body.

Fel Abomination

Berserk, 30 points, 3-star attack 30, 150/150

"Fusion Adaptation - Characteristic": Fel Abomination gains 15 points of Healing each turn.

"Unceasing Fel Energy - Passive": Fel Abomination gains 15 points of Healing each turn.

"Abundant Fel Energy - Passive": Fel Abomination's max health +50.

"Fel Energy Strike - 10 Health": Fel Abomination attacks 1 target, dealing an additional 20 damage. This card's position was behind the Fel Energy Chief.

It replaced it as the outer card of that row.

"The second row's outer card should be this kind of card."

"It's both tanky and has output, capable of taking damage and posing a certain offensive threat."

"Moreover, its powerful self-Healing ability is even enough to resist the evil-dispelling aura."

"With the addition of this card, 4 cards should be able to stably take down the white mech."

The Bone Dragon's evaluation of Xue Zhang's card reveal was quite high.

"Another Characteristic card."

Shi Li pouted.

Judging from the opponent's rank and the number of Characteristic cards, this person's status in the Blacklight Society was probably not low.

Subsequently, he also revealed his card for this turn.

Located behind the Jumping Guard.

"Magic is the source of all evil."

The fully armed Demonbane Dark Hunter emerged from the light and shadow.

Demonbane Dark Hunter

Balanced, 30 points, 3-star attack 30, 100/100, 40/40

"Demonbane - Characteristic": Demonbane Dark Hunter has "Magic Immunity" effect.

"Mana Corruption - Passive": Demonbane Dark Hunter's attacks come with 10 points of Quantum Entanglement.

"Conditional Counterspell - 10 Energy": Demonbane Dark Hunter automatically initiates 10 points of Echo.

"Anti-Magic Tattoos - 10 Energy": Demonbane Dark Hunter makes its side unaffected by enemy hand cards this turn (T0).

( "Magic Immunity": Immune to non-control negative effects )

( "Echo": When an enemy target uses a skill, immediately launch an attack )

"Oh~ These cards look even better."

This was the first time the Bone Dragon praised Shi Li's card reveal.

In fact, all of the Demonbane Dark Hunter's terms seemed excellent to Shi Li.

If he could, he would want to bring all the terms in this game.

Unfortunately, he could only bring 3 terms, and after weighing them, he ultimately chose these 3 terms.

Card reveal completed.

Shi Li immediately had the Demonbane Dark Hunter activate its skill, Anti-Magic Tattoos.

Then he played a LV1 Shield.

And Xue Zhang's LV1 Counter, under the effect of Anti-Magic Tattoos, directly lost its meaning.

"Interesting, this way, the white mech can survive."

"The longer the white mech survives, the more AOE the little wings can deal."

"Human boy, this move is good."

This turn, the Evil Energy Slime would unleash Stun, so Defense was useless.

Xue Zhang's 4 cards, under the effect of 10 points of Damage Reduction, could deal the following damage to bo shan:

Fel Abomination: 40 points. Evil Energy Poison Fang: 10+20 points. Evil Energy Slime: 20 points. Headless Pumpkin Lantern: 20 points. Total: 40+30+20+20 = 110 points, which was just enough to instantly kill bo shan at full health.

But now, 30 points of Shield covered 10 points of Shield, and its kill threshold changed.

It became 130 points. After being focused down, it still had 20 points of health left, failing to instantly kill bo shan, which completely changed the situation.

Shi Li's side also didn't suffer a major reduction; focusing fire on the Fel Abomination, they barely managed to get it to half health.

But looking at the current board, Shi Li couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

bo shan: 20/100, 90/100

cloud river: 100/100, 70/100

The opponent already had one more deployable card than himself, plus the Fel Energy buff and all Characteristics, so he didn't have much advantage in the strength of a single character card.

If he couldn't play Synchro - Yunshan, he would undoubtedly lose.

Even if he did play it, he wouldn't dare say how high his chances of winning were.

Looking at the current board layout, Shi Li quickly began to think.

Face-down card, Face-down card, Face-down card

Abomination, Face-down card, Du Ya (Poison Fang)

Empty slot, Pumpkin, Slime

VS

Tiao Tiao, bo shan, Empty slot

Demonbane, cloud river, Empty slot

Face-down card, Cicada Wing, Empty slot

"Got it."

Looking at his regular card layout, Shi Li thought of a countermeasure.

A new turn arrived, and Xue Zhang was the first to reveal his last row card, located behind the Evil Energy Poison Fang.

"Koo-tsoo koo-tsoo.—"

A dull steam sound rang out, and a train engine slowly pulled out.

Its headlights were like a pair of angry eyes, and black energy smoke billowed from its chimney.

Evil Energy Train

Chasing Wind, 30 points, 2-star attack 30, 100/100, 0/60

"Drive - Characteristic": When Evil Energy Train is revealed, it Moves forward until it encounters an obstruction (T0).

"Steam Preheat - Passive": For every 1 space Evil Energy Train Moves, its next energy consumption -10.

"Engine Ram - 60 Energy": Evil Energy Train attacks 1 target and applies a 2-turn Seal effect.

("Seal": Disables the target's passive skills. "This is a very interesting card.")

"From its current row, it's highly likely to Move to the opponent's ace card row."

"Then, based on its position, the train engine can attack any 1 of the enemy's cards."

"2 turns of Seal will be enough to greatly reduce the threat of the little wings."

The Bone Dragon commented.

Originally, Xue Zhang was a bit hesitant to play this card, as it was only a 2-star.

The reasons he brought it out were two-fold.

First, he failed to instantly kill bo shan, causing a delay in clearing Cicada Wing Patrol.

So he had to change his tactics.

Facing such a large-area AOE, relying on just one Recovery card would certainly not be enough to heal back.

So it was better to tackle the root cause and curb the effect of Cicada Wing Patrol.

Second, his damage had already overflowed this turn.

bo shan: 20/100

Jumping Guard: 20/50 + 50/50

These two cards only needed another 20 points of output to be defeated.

And his side, excluding the Evil Energy Train, had over 100 points of output from the remaining 4 cards combined.

Therefore, the optimal solution was to bypass the opponent's front row cards and attack the back row directly.

The Evil Energy Train could both accomplish the task of not wasting output and serve to restrict Cicada Wing Patrol.

It was indeed the best choice.

"Just in time."

Seeing this card from his opponent, Shi Li's eyes lit up.

Subsequently, he revealed his last regular card.

"Brave!"

A girl with a small squid on her head jumped out from the card face.

Tiao Tiao Mo

Balanced, 30 points, 3-star attack 30, 50/50

"Cowardly Instinct - Characteristic": Tiao Tiao Mo's max health -50. At the start of each new turn, re-cover the card (T0).

"Charming Ink - Passive": When Tiao Tiao Mo is revealed, it causes 1 non-ace target to fall into Blindness (T2).

"Deep Sea Immunity - Passive": Tiao Tiao Mo is immune to all delayed effects.

"Water Wave Impact - Passive": When Tiao Tiao Mo is revealed, it releases a 10-point attack shockwave (T0).

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