novelraw Chapter 623 - 459: Dragonhorn Grass Guardian (2)
Chapter 623 - 459: Dragonhorn Grass Guardian (2)
The difference from a radish was that this thing was plant-green all over, and if you looked closely it actually looked a lot like a tooth.
"D-Dragon Horn Grass!"
Ji Jiao deliberately lowered his voice, but he couldn’t hide the excitement in it.
His eyes lit up at once.
The stories from those Adventurers before were really true, there really is Dragon Horn Grass in Coiling Dragon Valley!
It was just that judging from this setup, the Dragon Horn Grass was clearly being protected.
Either you take down this Guardian, or you wait for them to fly out again to absorb the essence of sun and moon.
Obviously, the team was going to choose the former.
Since they were already here, there was no way they’d explore the entire cave and then leave.
The spot where the stone-walled hut sat was a chokepoint you had to pass if you wanted to go any further.
They had to get through here to keep exploring.
"What the hell, isn’t this just exploiting a loophole, carding a BUG?"
But when Ah Yajun saw it, he was a bit annoyed.
The domain’s restriction was "All Dragon Soldier-type cards ATK/HP -50%."
It specifically targeted Dragon Soldier-type cards.
They’d originally thought it meant even monster cards would be nerfed.
And now? A non-Dragon-Soldier shows up, what is this, some Dragon Taoist or Dragon Mage or whatever.
"Judging from those Dragon Soldiers’ usual bullshit, this guy’s probably one of those with really high power levels too."
"Bro, what do we do?"
Ji Jiao looked at Li Pu.
After spending most of the day together, he’d already figured out this guy was actually the one calling the shots between him and Ah Yajun.
"Really high power level..."
Li Pu pondered for a few seconds, then flipped his wrist.
"Here, this card’s for you guys. Slot it into your decks."
He handed two cards separately to Ji Jiao and Hu Wei.
"Okay... huh?"
At first Ji Jiao didn’t care, but when he took the card he froze.
Because he’d seen this card before, and was very familiar with it.
It was exactly the card Ah Yajun had been spamming earlier: [Chaotic Elements]!
Such a rare card, and he was actually giving it to him?
And just like that, no strings attached?
"..."
Hu Wei held the identical card in silence.
Just what is this lame-legged friend’s background anyway?
Is he a wholesale dealer for dragon-counter cards or something?
You could tell from how completely unstingy he was that he didn’t care about this card at all.
For all they knew, he might have a bunch more on him...
This was getting a bit ridiculous.
In fact, if they hadn’t very quickly managed to put together four full sets of [Dragon Soldier Captain] + 3 [Dragon Soldier] decks, Li Pu had already planned to pull this card out.
Even though multiple copies have diminishing returns, the combined effect of three [Chaotic Elements] was still pretty considerable.
The total debuff would be (1-20%) x (1-20%) x (1-20%) = 51.2%.
A whopping 49.8% reduction, basically close to halving.
"Alright, let’s go."
After everyone finished reconfiguring their decks, Li Pu signaled to move out.
The half-dragon’s alert range was much bigger than they’d imagined; they had just approached when it suddenly opened its eyes.
[Dragon, how dare you!]
With a loud, ringing shout, it flicked its horsetail whisk.
Swish!
A beam of light shot straight down in front of the four of them, and a blue light barrier immediately rose up.
As the blue barrier formed, four 3+1 card slots appeared before them.
"Is this guy a BOSS? Feels kinda shameless."
Ah Yajun’s expression froze as he looked across.
The opponent’s deck was actually 12+3.
Twelve regular slots, plus three trump slots.
You had to know, the individual monsters they’d met before had all only been 3+1 decks.
"I’ve heard about this kind of match."
"Don’t be fooled by there only being one monster— we have to take down all three trump cards for it to count as a win."
Ji Jiao’s face grew serious.
Only particularly powerful monsters or BOSSES would appear in this kind of special format.
"Should be fine. First time seeing it, we’ll just treat it as a probe."
"Worst case, we can run."
That was Hu Wei’s stance.
"..."
Li Pu suspected this person’s real name probably wasn’t "Guard" at all, but something like "Runaway."
How come the first thing she thought of every time they met a new enemy was to run.
If Wu Guinan and Chang Shoushang were here, they’d definitely become good friends with her.
"Flip our cards first, then talk."
Grumbling inwardly, he flipped his own deck.
Still the Kung Fu Zoo, his all-purpose PVE build.
The others’ revealed cards were about the same; aside from a few utility cards, the rest were all their strongest core units.
[Dragon Falalong!]
Their opponent first flipped the trump card in the middle.
It was the same Dragon Taoist who’d just initiated the duel with them.
The Dragon Taoist’s body suddenly started swaying violently side to side, and then actually split into three.
The two clones drifted onto the two adjacent trump slots, and then those two remaining trump cards also flipped.
"What kind of trick is this?"
Ah Yajun’s eyes went wide.
This was his first time seeing a projection split into three separate cards.
The Cube Card Metaverse really was full of wonders.
The header on all three cards was identical:
[Dragon Dao]
Listening Wind, A
Other than knowing it was an A-rank card, they couldn’t see any other stats.
"I’ve heard of cards like this."
"There’s a high chance they’re shared-HP cards."
Fortunately, Ji Jiao shared what he knew.
"Oh?"
Li Pu and Ah Yajun exchanged a look at that.
They’d only just seen a shared-HP card not long ago, You Xinqing’s [Ninety-Nine Thunder Elements].
Cards like that being put on trump slots was basically meaningless.
But... were the ones opposite them really shared-HP cards?
Li Pu had his doubts.
[Play With Beans~] x12
After they finished looking at the trump cards, the opponent’s regular slots all flipped at the same time.
Their projections all looked the same: a uniform bunch of bean-yellow bodies with stick-figure arms and legs, not looking very threatening at all.
[Bean Soldier]
Chasing Wind, C
"Uh, ’scattering beans to make soldiers’?"
Li Pu understood at a glance.
But from these Bean Soldiers, he still couldn’t see any real clues.
Once both sides finished revealing, they entered the action selection phase.
"Everyone, how are we playing this round?"
Ji Jiao looked around at the others.
The opponent had a total of 15 cards, but only 2 types.
The simpler the setup, the more it might turn out to be tougher than expected.
Because a lineup like this was the poster child for straightforward, brute-force tactics.
They’d rely on raw power to steamroll you.
"Let’s go conservative on the first turn."
Hu Wei offered her opinion.
The enemy’s card faces were basically unknown, so it was better to play it safe for now.
The conservative tactic was a detailed plan they’d worked out beforehand.
Basically, it meant all cards taking a [Defend] stance, observe the monsters’ strength for one turn, then decide what to do.
"No, I don’t think that’s wise."
Li Pu wasn’t just being contrary; he had his own view.
So next, he started analyzing it for everyone.
From the little info they had, the opponent only had Listening Wind and Chasing Wind types.
Listening Wind needed to stay completely still to charge, which meant those three [Dragon Dao] had a high chance of staying put for the next turn, maybe even several turns.
Once they finished charging, what would be waiting for them was anyone’s guess.
And the situation was roughly the same for the [Bean Soldiers]; Chasing Wind-type energy storage required turns to build up, so if there was such a thing as their weakest state, it would definitely be right now.
So Li Pu’s suggestion was the exact opposite of Hu Wei’s: go all-in from the start, hold nothing back, launch a full-force assault.
"You’re right, I didn’t think it through."
After listening, Hu Wei felt it made sense and realized she’d overlooked that.
So after that, they went into a round of their standard action routine.
They’d been using this style of play the whole time before they assembled four Dragon Soldier decks, so they were already very practiced at it.
Sure enough, things went exactly as Li Pu had predicted: the three [Dragon Dao] cards didn’t take any action.
The only ones who attacked were the [Bean Soldiers].
Just like in their earlier fight with the Dragon Soldiers, their first target was the [Chaotic Elements] that pissed off dragon-types.
And so, a chaotic brawl that none of them had expected was about to kick off.
...
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