Chapter 144 The Mind Game of Dueling

"At this instant, I activate a Trap!" Just as Brother Jue drew his card, Snow shouted quickly, "[Curse of Enmity]!"

As soon as the declaration was made, the animation effect followed. A Trap Card that was set on his field flipped over, revealing the card description.

"This card can be activated during the opponent's Draw Phase. Its effect is... to declare a type of card. During the next two Draw Phases, including this one, if the opponent draws a card of the type I declared, he must discard the drawn card." Snow paused for a second, then said, "The type I declare is... Spell Card!"

As he finished speaking, Feng Bujue looked at the card in his hand without any expression, and said in a strange tone, "Ho~ Spell Card, huh..."

"Hmph... if I guessed right, please discard the card in your hand." Snow snorted coldly. "Of course, even if you insist on not discarding it, the system won't allow it."

"Yeah." Feng Bujue said, "That's why..."

At this point, he waved his hand and placed the card he drew face-down in the monster zone of the Duel Board. In the arena, a huge face-down card image immediately appeared.

"I Summon a monster in face-down Defense Position." Feng Bujue's declaration was tantamount to announcing that the opponent had guessed wrong. He hadn't drawn a Spell Card.

"Tch... consider yourself lucky." Snow clicked his tongue in displeasure. "But this still doesn't change anything... you can't possibly survive the next turn."

He had a huge advantage, so he was confident.

Snow's activation of [Curse of Enmity] was well thought out. In a duel with such a large card disadvantage, the weaker side could only rely on Spells in 80% of cases. Whether it was replenishing hand cards or clearing the field... Quick-Play Spells were the most effective and could be activated instantly in almost any phase. Therefore, Snow declared "Spell Card."

If Feng Bujue had really drawn a Spell Card at this moment, he would have to discard the card directly, which would be equivalent to losing...

Even if he didn't draw one, the situation wouldn't improve much... After all, Brother Jue's current situation made it impossible for him to withstand another round with his life points. He had to play the card in his hand in order to survive the next turn. In this way... Snow could also judge the type of his card based on the position of his set card - simply put, if it was set in the front row, it was a monster; if it was set in the back row, it was a trap. In any case, it couldn't be a Spell.

"Don't worry, I'll live until you die..." On the other hand, Feng Bujue's momentum didn't diminish at all. While retorting, he issued an attack command, "[Sakamoto-kun], attack [Python], Knee..."

"Trap Card! Activate!" This time, Brother Jue's attack declaration was only halfway through (actually, it had already taken effect; whether or not he announced the name of the move was irrelevant), when Snow interrupted him, "[Demonic Awakening]!"

This was the second [Demonic Awakening] in his deck, and its effect had been explained earlier...

Without a doubt, [Python] was also a Fiend-Type monster, and it now met the condition of "being attacked," so the Trap Card was successfully activated.

After some operation, [Python] turned into white light and became a tribute. Another Fiend-Type monster, [Nodera-bo], was Special Summoned from Snow's deck.

[Nodera-bo]'s image was roughly that of a monk wearing tattered Japanese black monastic robes. His appearance was decadent and strange. Although he didn't have the feeling of being "powerful" or "ferocious," he exuded a sense of coldness.

Legend has it that Nodera-bo is a youkai (Japanese spirit, monster, or demon) that appears in abandoned temples. Because the villagers never went to the temple to donate, the head monk died resentfully. His resentment after death turned him into a youkai, who appeared in the dilapidated temple every evening, lonely ringing the bell. The bell sounded extremely sad. If someone stayed in this temple, Nodera-bo would bite the traveler's throat.

"Attack power 2000, huh..." Feng Bujue muttered when he saw the card, "And... it also has the effect of 'cannot be targeted for attacks when there are other allied monsters on the field.'"

"How is it? You should be despairing by now, right?" Snow said at this time, "I know what you're planning. You're hoping to kill my [Python], and then let [Sakamoto-kun] continue to stay on the field. That way... next turn, my [Tamamo-no-Mae] still can't attack you directly, and you can still take the 800 attack power of [Kappa of Nenshou]. Heh... too bad, now I have another monster with 2000 attack power on the field, and this monster can also attack you directly with the effect of [Oxygen Deprivation Zone]. Even if you kill [Kappa of Nenshou] with [Sakamoto-kun] now, next turn... you'll still be taken down by [Nodera-bo] in one hit."

"[Sakamoto-kun], attack [Kappa of Nenshou]! Secret Technique - Knee Impact!" This time, Feng Bujue completely ignored the opponent, just shifted his gaze slightly, and once again commanded the monster on the field to attack.

After he finished speaking, the rather bizarre fighting pose reappeared. [Sakamoto-kun] appeared behind [Kappa of Nenshou] like a flash, using his long-legged knee to smash the back of the latter's head.

Given that this was an all-ages game, the scene of the skull cracking wasn't shown too explicitly. At the moment of the kill, the killed party turned into white light and exploded.

Di Di Di—

After the monster was destroyed, Snow's LP was reduced by 1200 points, but he still had 6000 left.

"Tch..." Then, Snow spat and continued, "[Kappa of Nenshou]'s effect... activate!"

Obviously, [Kappa of Nenshou] was also an Effect Monster. According to Snow's logic, a thing with only 800 attack power like this was not worth putting in the deck just for the sake of its Fiend-Type attribute.

"When [Kappa of Nenshou] is destroyed, you can add a Fiend-Type monster with 2000 or more attack power from your deck to your hand, and then shuffle the deck." As Snow said this, the system's "floating card selection" effect had already appeared in front of him.

He quickly completed the selection on the virtual interface, and then a card automatically popped out from the deck slot of the Duel Board.

Snow drew the card, glanced at it, and put it into his hand. At this time, his Duel Board automatically shuffled his deck.

"Hmph... your turn ends here, right?" Two seconds later, Snow spoke again, his eyes full of killing intent.

"My turn... ends." Feng Bujue really had nothing else to do - he had played the card he drew, and the monster on the field had attacked...

"My turn! Draw!" Before the other party could finish speaking, Snow shouted loudly and reached out to draw.

After looking at the card he had drawn, he said, "At this instant, the effect of [Nine-Tailed Fox Tamamo-no-Mae] will be recalculated."

As he spoke, Tamamo-no-Mae's ATK and DEF returned to 0, and Sakamoto-kun's ATK returned to 4000.

However, a second later, Tamamo-no-Mae's "absorption" effect began to activate again... Since Feng Bujue's other monster card was face-down Defense Position, its gender and race were unknown and were not included in the absorption range. Therefore, Tamamo-no-Mae could only absorb Sakamoto's ATK and DEF this time.

In the blink of an eye, Sakamoto-kun's ATK and DEF were halved again, and the reduced value was added to Tamamo-no-Mae's stats.

"Alright... let me be frank." After the effect calculation was completed, Snow's gaze shifted to the face-down monster card on Feng Bujue's field. "Your strategy is obvious... You know that [Oxygen Deprivation Zone] only works on face-up monsters, and face-down Defense Position monsters... Since their race is unknown before they're flipped, they're not affected by this effect. In other words... no matter what this monster card is, the only way you can survive this turn is to set it in face-down Defense Position." Saying that, he held out three fingers, "Of course, to me, behind your 'no choice'... there are still three possibilities to ponder."

Snow paused, then continued, "First, the monster card you set is a monster that has no face-up flip effect and is affected by [Oxygen Deprivation Zone]. In this case, you're doomed to die. Even if this monster's DEF is over 2000 (a monster with 2000 or more ATK that can be Normal Summoned without tribute will definitely have some kind of negative effect, but many Normal Summon monsters with 2000 or more DEF don't have negative effects), it's useless. As long as I attack it once with Tamamo-no-Mae, turning it to face-up Defense Position and clarifying its race, then my [Nodera-bo] can bypass it and attack you directly.

"Second, the monster card you set has no face-up flip effect, but it's not affected by [Oxygen Deprivation Zone] and also has 2000 or more DEF. In this case, I have to find a way to destroy this monster to kill you... But what are your chances of survival? Not to mention whether your deck has a card that meets the above conditions, even if it does, can you happen to draw it this turn?

"Third, the monster card you set is a card with a face-up flip effect. In this case, it doesn't matter whether it's affected by [Oxygen Deprivation Zone] or not, because the DEF of a Flip Effect Monster that is Normal Summoned like this will definitely not exceed 2000. As soon as it's attacked, it's dead. Once it's dead, you'll have no 'wall' to use. The remaining question is... what is this monster's effect?"

After analyzing all of this, he laughed, "Oh, right, the above assumptions are based on the premise that I don't do anything this turn and go straight to the Battle Phase... Now that I've said this, do you still think you'll have another turn?"

"As someone who isn't even a duelist, you're quite talkative." Feng Bujue crossed his arms over his chest, standing proudly, completely unmoved. "Whether or not I have another turn, why don't you try and see?"

"Tch—you're first-rate at talking big even when you're about to die." Snow retorted unhappily. "Are you trying to bluff... to make me think that the card you set is an 'Effect Monster' and not dare to act rashly? Dream on!"

"Sigh..." At this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly sighed and said something that seemed unrelated to the current topic, "So... you failed to draw a Normal Summon monster that doesn't require a tribute during that draw, right?"

These words made Snow's pupils shrink and his expression tighten.

"Before drawing the card, you were clearly full of killing intent and confidence, but after drawing it, your momentum changed." Feng Bujue continued, "Then you gave me a long speech, trying to test my reaction by saying 'various possibilities', wanting to find clues from my facial expressions or body language... Haa..." He yawned pretentiously as he said this, "These... are all tricks that I've already played to death, I advise you to save them."

"Damn it..." Snow was already cursing in his heart, a little annoyed and embarrassed by being exposed again.

After a second's pause, Snow raised his voice again and said to Brother Jue, "How do you know I didn't draw a Normal Summon monster!"

"It's simple." Feng Bujue said, "The monster you Normal Summoned last turn was [Kappa of Nenshou], with a mere 800 attack power... In a situation where you could directly deal LP damage to me as soon as you Summon it, you should have Summoned a monster with higher attack power, even if you had to give up the monster's flip effect. From this, it can be seen that among the four cards remaining in your hand at that time, there were no four-star or lower monsters (monsters greater than or equal to five stars require a tribute to be Normal Summoned)." He paused slightly, then continued, "According to my judgment, at the end of the last turn, the four cards in your hand should be a combination of a minor Trap, a Quick-Play Spell, and two high-level monsters; or a Quick-Play Spell, a high-level monster, plus two minor Trap Spell cards."

As he said this, Snow tried his best to control the change in his expression, but he was secretly shocked in his heart, "He actually guessed right again!"

That's right, the four cards in his hand at that time were indeed a minor Trap, a Quick-Play Spell, and two high-level monsters.

"With your level and style, you won't fill up the Spell & Trap Zone with five cards." Feng Bujue's words continued, "Because after that area is filled, you can't play Quick-Play Spells until you free up a spot.

"This... is your 'inclination'. In order to implement the concept of 'complete suppression' and 'foolproof', you will 'leave room' to a certain extent.

"So I speculate that you left at least one or two Trap Cards that you thought were 'not so urgent to set' in your hand, and you also held a Quick-Play Spell. Your action of eagerly using [Demonic Awakening] on [Python] is a very good proof; if you didn't want to 'free up a Set Card Zone as soon as possible', you wouldn't have chosen that - leaving [Demonic Awakening] for [Kappa of Nenshou] and letting [Sakamoto-kun] kill [Python] would have resulted in 200 fewer LP lost.

"But you can't wait any longer, because [Curse of Enmity] will only be removed from the field during my Draw Phase next turn. If you don't activate [Demonic Awakening] at that time, your Spell & Trap Zone will still only have one empty space this turn, which is what you don't want to see...

"Based on this idea, it's basically clear what kind of cards are in your hand.

"Heh... at the beginning of this turn, you were confidently convinced that you would draw a four-star or lower Normal Summon monster; after all, you had drawn nine cards before, and only one of them, [Kappa of Nenshou], was a Tribute fodder monster. Considering the balance of the deck construction, the probability of drawing such a card again is very high. However... you just didn't draw one.

"If you had drawn one, everything would have been easy to say. You could have directly Summoned it to the field and used this fodder to attack my face-down Defense card and trigger the effect. But now... one of the monsters on your field is a divine card that can't get past Sakamoto-kun's wall, and the other is an Effect Monster with 2000 or more attack power... It's a waste and inappropriate to use these two monsters as tributes; even if you're willing to do so, the situation hasn't changed. After a Tribute Summon, the number of monsters on the field is still two; if you want to complete the kill this turn, you have to 'take a risk', you have to let your powerful monster attack my Defense Monster whose effect is unknown..."

Speaking up to this point, Feng Bujue closed his eyes and snorted coldly, "Hmph... if it were a 'real duelist', they would never be confused and hesitant at this moment, but you... you're clearly the one who's bluffing and probing, but you still say that I'm bluffing." At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and glared at the other party, "It's ridiculous! I already said... I won't lose to you! Do whatever you want, bring it on if you have the guts!"