48: Cross-level challenge

Shi Li only had a 3+1 column of cards, so which cards he played and where each was placed was quite important.

The first card he placed was the Jumping Guardian.

This card was the core of this challenge, allowing him to challenge a two-star LV5 monster at the Gold 4 rank.

The second card he placed was the Stone Demon.

To free up score allowance for the Red Blade Maiden, this 20-point card was essential.

Moreover, after the Jumping Guardian fell, it would be needed to continue taking damage.

The third card was the Crow Warrior.

When battling giant cards, hard crowd control cards are indispensable.

The fourth trump card was, naturally, the Red Blade Maiden.

She would bear the greatest responsibility for output damage.

After rehearsing a few times in his mind to ensure everything was correct, Shi Li approached the Man-Eating Flower and cast a Card Player's Mark at it.

Buzz...

A barrier instantly rose, and the card game began.

Following his preset deck, he deployed all his cards in one second.

Then, the game officially started.

"[LV1 Charge]: Restores 10 energy to 1 card (T1)."

In the first round, Shi Li played his hand on the Crow Warrior.

Because it carried the [Son of Wind] trait, it started at 10/30 upon being revealed.

After receiving 10 points of [Charge] and a round refill, it could use its [Stun] skill at 30/30 in the next round.

[Devour!]

-150

The Man-Eating Flower took a fierce bite out of Tiao Tiao.

Although the damage number looked exaggerated, in reality, a full 100 points were overkill damage.

[Take this!]

Meanwhile, Shi Li's side launched a full assault led by the Red Blade Maiden.

They dealt 230+30 + 20+30 = 310 points of damage.

In one round, the Man-Eating Flower's health became 490/800.

The second round quickly arrived.

"[LV2 Healing]: Restores 40 health to 1 card. (T1)"

Shi Li played another hand card.

The 50 health consumed by the Red Blade Maiden's skill was replenished by these 40 points and the 10 points of recovery from [Unceasing], but after using the skill, she would only have 150 points left.

[Crow People Battle Art!]

-30 (Stun)

The Crow People's projection flew high into the sky and then swooped down, inflicting a hard crowd control effect on the Man-Eating Flower.

And it, being controlled, failed to deal any damage.

In this round, the Man-Eating Flower was once again focused and heavily damaged, its health dropping to 180/800.

Although its health was 180 points, Shi Li's entire deck's attack power was only 150 points.

So, the Red Blade Maiden still had to use her skill.

The third round arrived.

Tiao Tiao's health was completely depleted, but because of [Stasis], it did not retreat, so it was not temporarily judged as "killed," and the Man-Eating Flower could not recover health.

Instead, its own health was cleared, and it would enter its second phase next round.

As for Shi Li's side, the Crow People's energy reached 20/30.

The Red Blade Maiden, with a Level 1 [Healing] hand card + [Unceasing] recovery, recovered 40 points, and after using her skill, she still had 140/200 health.

[Devour!]

The fourth round arrived, and the Man-Eating Flower once again revealed its half-human, half-flower second-phase form.

Dry Domain Man-Eating Flower (Phase Two)

Rampage, Attack 200, 1000/1000

[Blade Edge - Passive]: The target attacked by the Dry Domain Man-Eating Flower gains 5 points of [Bleeding].

[Bloodlust - Passive]: The Dry Domain Man-Eating Flower gains 50 points of [Healing] with each attack (T1).

([Bleeding]: Continuously takes unmitigated damage starting next round; any recovery effect can remove it.)

In this round, Shi Li still had everyone focus fire.

Because the Man-Eating Flower's maximum health increased, the Red Blade Maiden's output also increased.

270+30 + 20+30 = 350 points of damage.

The Man-Eating Flower's attack landed on the 0-health Tiao Tiao, which was meaningless.

Because [Bloodlust] has T1 priority, and damage has T4 priority.

So, in this round, the Man-Eating Flower's [Bloodlust] was equivalent to overhealing.

At the end of the round, its health reached 650/1000.

Tiao Tiao retreated, while the Crow People were fully charged at 30/30.

Shi Li used another [Healing] hand card, and the Red Blade Maiden's health reached 130/200.

"Only 1 [Healing] left. I hope this thing doesn't give me a third phase."

He checked his inventory and welcomed the arrival of the fifth round.

In the fifth round, the Crow People once again unleashed hard crowd control.

Shi Li's deck dealt 270+30 + 20 = 320 points of damage.

The Man-Eating Flower's health reached 330/1000.

The Red Blade Maiden's health reached 120/200.

And Shi Li's [Healing] was exhausted; now he could only rely on the Red Blade Maiden's own health to sustain the output consumption.

It would take 2 more rounds to kill the Man-Eating Flower, which should be enough.

In the sixth round, Shi Li cast [Defense] on the Stone Demon.

The calculation mechanism for [Defense] and other damage reductions is damage reduction first, then [Defense].

So, the Man-Eating Flower's attack was equivalent to (200-10) / 2 = 95 points.

It just barely failed to instantly kill the Stone Demon.

On Shi Li's side, the Red Blade Maiden and the Crow People continued to output damage, taking off 270+30 = 300 points of health.

Under the effect of [Bloodlust], the Man-Eating Flower's health reached 80/1000.

"Whether we succeed or not depends on this round."

Looking at the Red Blade Maiden, whose health had dropped to 70/200, Shi Li took a deep breath.

The Man-Eating Flower would recover 50 health next round, so to take it down, the Red Blade Maiden had to continue using her skill without reservation.

He had little room left for error.

Fortunately, after this round, the Man-Eating Flower finally shattered into scattered light, without producing any more third-phase shenanigans.

"We did it!"

The joy of challenging above his rank made Shi Li clench his fists.

But unfortunately, the creature didn't drop anything.

Unwilling, Shi Li searched the spot again.

Because he heard that in foreign lands, some powerful monsters guard rare treasures.

This Man-Eating Flower should logically be considered a BOSS-level existence, so maybe there really was something.

However, this was not a foreign land after all, so this was just an unrealistic fantasy.

...

At 9 AM, Xiu Qingshan arrived at the office on time.

The first thing he did at work was to handle official business.

He opened his computer and logged into his internal system management account.

Several unread messages were quietly lying in the list.

[Application for the purchase of two-star intelligent-type medium materials]

Many aspects of the Card Hall employed AI management, such as these files now.

When a shortage in inventory was detected, the warehouse would automatically send him a reminder.

Xiu Qingshan generally didn't pay much attention to these types of files.

As a third-tier city, there were mostly Gold Card Players locally, so it was normal for two-star materials to be used up quickly.

After a quick glance, he directly signed his name with an electronic pen.

The signed document would be quickly transmitted to the warehouse, where specialized staff would follow up.

After quickly signing several such documents, Xiu Qingshan's gaze moved to the last unread message.

"Hmm?"

He frowned slightly and blinked.

Then he confirmed again that he hadn't seen wrong.

[Reminder regarding the replenishment of two-star LV5 monsters in the training ground]

...

...