The newbie’s gambit Part VII

“Figurine of Darkness!”

But, even before Joke could even move, the bot first sprang into action, as if it could read ahead into the game.

The card that this bot used was an item card that summoned a wooden figurine of a deity with ragged wings to appear behind its back. This caused Joke to stop short...

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Figurine of Darkness

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♦♦

When a card is discarded from the deck into the Graveyard, those cards will be removed from the game and 2 units of MP will be added.

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Joke hurriedly examined the information on that broken-winged angel. With only one glance, he instantly realized that it was a card selected to be used alongside a mage that could destroy weapons. Because that mage could discard cards from the deck into the Graveyard instead of paying mana and also gain two units of mana at the same time, this meant that it had an endless amount of mana at its service!

“Hey… That’s how you want to play it?”

Joke was stunned for a while, staring straight at the enemy who was cornering his every move.

Furthermore, this lunatic bot had not even considered attacking him as if it was setting all its traps to lure him out to his own death. It made him feel irritated seeing that.

“Eh? Wait a minute. If that’s the case, then this…”

His iron-colored orbs stared at the information on every one of his enemy’s cards laid out on the arena. His brain began processing information about the cards left in his deck. The young man started to come up with an idea quite risky, but it also had a chance of succeeding. Upon that conclusion, he smirked.

"It's worth the risk."

.

.

“Good grief, that’s practically an inevitable doom!”

“That insane deck even got a Figurine of Darkness? That card’s hundreds of thousands alone. So, that deck’s up to half a million!?”

“That’s nasty. With that card that can destroy all wearable items 24/7, that boy won’t stand a chance.”

“Looks like the spider’s waiting to devour a prey that was caught in its web.”

It appeared that the crowd on the outside had already decided the outcome of this duel because no matter how hard this new beginner struggled, it seemed like this bot had completely blocked all of his openings. They could barely see how he could have turned the tables.

“How could he possibly maneuver out of this cornering?”

Even Rin could not find an opening.

A warrior deck was a deck equipped with various types of wearable item cards of diverse abilities coupled with a high level of defense, making it suitable for attacking the enemy head-on. But on the contrary, if its wearable item cards were blocked and rendered incapacitated, its warrior’s skill would be reduced by more than half. Barging in randomly would end up in getting attacked unawares by various forms of spells,

Oberik was this deck’s finest half.

If it was destroyed, that meant an instant game over.

On the contrary, it was not a good idea to play it go-slow, allowing the opponent to accumulate its MP.

“There's no way to survive like this," Boe, who stood with his arms crossed, asserted. “He was probably out of options, being cornered like this.”

“Yeah. If a control player could dominate the game to this extent, it’s almost impossible that it’ll lose.”

Rin nodded in agreement as she looked back behind her at Madame Fon, waiting for comment. Madame Fon, the shopkeeper, stood quietly with her hands on her hips with a smirk.

"Come on, it's not that bad," she jested, "There’s still a way to turn the tables around."

"How?"

“Hey, that dude armed his Oberik again?!”

Before Madame Fon could make any comments, the group of men gathering in front started talking loudly once again. It seemed like there were some movements in the battle—a moment probably made upon ill decision—when the newbie decided to arm his Oberik with weapons!

“Darn it, the armed weapons will be destroyed again… Ow. There you go, allowing the enemy to bring out more candles.”

“What the heck is he doing? Bet he’s panicking.”

“Yikes. I just can’t. He truly is a newbie. He’s helpless once cornered.”

As was anticipated, as soon as Joke armed Oberik, the bot destroyed all of those weapons along with conjuring more pillar candles onto the battlefield.

In addition, that decision was not carried out just once. He continued equipping Oberik with weapons without holding back as if those weapons would receive the enemy’s mercy and be unharmed. And that, of course, seemed impossible.

“Hey, is he mad? How many weapon cards have he trashed?”

“Almost ten. He’s out of his mind.”

Everyone started to sigh at the battle that appeared to be going downhill. They started to look disappointed; however, there was one person standing at the very back; Madame Fon, who remained silent as if she could understand what that beginner boy was thinking.

“He probably can’t hold it anymore…” All Rin could do was mumble.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Fine?” Rin looked at Madame Fon. “Throwing away his weapon cards for the opponent to destroy for fun is ‘fine’? That’s extremely wasteful of mana and cards.”

“Not really.” The older lady grinned. “Oberik comes with the ability to supply two mana units to its summoner per one warrior half or item card destroyed during the battle. Plus, any wearable item card that was activated during the time when Oberik was on the field will reduce the amount of mana required to activate it by two units. Don’t you see that the boy’s mana has only been increasing?”

“That’s true.” Rin sighed. “But letting the opponent burn away his weapon cards just to pump up his mana—I think that’s just a bit insane.”

“That guy wasn’t doing this to jack up his mana. You have tried out this deck before, haven’t you? If that’s so, then you should be able to see where the strength of this deck lies.”

Rin seemed to be immersed in her thoughts before looking at Joke, who was, to this point, still throwing weapons from his deck to the opposition to be destroyed until a large number of Candle Tokens had been produced on the battlefield.

It was true that what this man was doing seemed as if he was losing his mind. But under that recklessness, there lay some type of plan that she was beginning to discern. Once she tried recalling Oberik’s abilities, this young lady raised her eyebrows in realization.

“That’s it! If it’s for its ultimate skill, then…”

“See?” Madame Fon slightly smiled. “Looks like this young man noticed it—the only way for him to turn the tables around. That guy’s not cornered; he’s trying to make his enemy lower their guards… Seems like that boy got some mischief tucked under that poker face.”

Having said that, Madame Fon chuckled by herself, causing Rin to turn quiet and look back at that man again.

“Remember, Rin. As someone who has been in this industry for so long, I tell you no such thing as an outcome set in stone or an ultimate unbeatable deck in the world of AOS—there are only winners and losers. And a summoner who can truly rise to the top will only think of ways to make themselves a winner. Those who give up because they think that there’s no way out will never be anything more than a loser.”

She then crossed her arms and looked back at the young beginner in front of her intriguingly. She had long forgotten her last encounter with a beginner this fascinating.

“Now, let me see. Is this just a beginner’s luck or your actual natural talent?”