Chapter 314: The Advancing Black Scorpion

Night Shadow played a card from his hand.

"Summon 'Armor Bee' in attack position!"

【Armor Bee, ATK 1600】

Armor Bee had the ability to halve the ATK of a monster on the opponent's field once per turn. With its 1600 attack points, it could easily solve high-level monsters with less than 3200 ATK in battle; as a low-level attacker, its performance could be said to be quite powerful, and it was easy to exchange for resource differences in the early environment.

"Armor Bee attacks the face-down monster!"

Armor Bee flapped its wings and soared into the air, drawing a golden afterimage as it pounced toward Fujiki You Xuan's face-down monster. The face-down card flipped over; it was a leather-clad girl card holding a whip full of spikes, seemingly with special uses, and quite beautiful.

【Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn, DEF 1800】

Meanae's DEF was higher than Armor Bee's ATK. As she flicked her long whip, Armor Bee was whipped until it was dizzy and retreated in a sorry state.

【Night Shadow, LP4000 -> LP3800】

"The monster you attacked is 'Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn'," Fujiki You Xuan said. "When this card deals battle damage to the opponent, I can choose one of two effects to activate."

"Select a 'Black Scorpion' card from the deck, or add one from the Graveyard to my hand."

Cards belonging to the 【Black Scorpion】 category, which belonged to the same "Black Scorpion Thieves" deck as the "Don Zaloog" Fujiki You Xuan often used.

Viewers who had watched the GX anime should have a deep impression of this deck. Although the monsters of the Black Scorpion Thieves appeared as villains in the Seven Stars arc, they were basically a bunch of clowns. In the end, after being defeated by Manjoume, they were also taken in by Manjoume as spirits.

Don't look at this deck as a joke in the anime; in fact, it received quite good evaluations from players in the competitive environment when it was first released. Several of them were even widely circulated as key cards for some trick combos, and they could be considered to have left their names in the long history of Yu-Gi-Oh.

And among them, Don Zaloog and "Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn" were the members with more outstanding performance.

Don Zaloog didn't need to be mentioned; he was an important member of the first world champion "Hand Destruction" deck, known for his hand-destruction ability. Duel Academy students had already experienced his power with their own bodies.

And Meanae was also a member with great potential. Although her own ATK was only 1000, her 1800 DEF was okay in the early environment with a standard attacker line of 1600. If set face-down, she often successfully counter-damaged, triggering her monster effect.

Her effect simultaneously possessed the ability to search and retrieve from the Graveyard, and was evaluated as having "huge potential to gain card advantage." And she herself was a monster named "Black Scorpion," satisfying the effect conditions, so even if no other Black Scorpion cards were invested, she could exchange for resource differences just by her own search and retrieval ability.

However, the one who truly unearthed the potential of this card and transformed her into the core of a well-known early-stage lockdown deck is the tactic Fujiki You Xuan is currently employing.

"According to Meanae's effect, search for the second 'Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn' from the deck."

Fujiki You Xuan drew the searched card from the deck and added it to his hand.

"Consolidating defenses and gaining resources, huh," Night Shadow said. "Then set one card, turn end."

"Then my turn, draw."

Fujiki You Xuan snapped his fingers.

"Trap card—"

"—Crush Card Virus!"

Crush Card is this thing? Night Shadow was shocked.

He naturally recognized this thing; after all, it was a common tactic of the legendary Kaiba Seto. It's just that...

"Wait, Crush Card must be activated by Tributing a Dark-attribute monster with 1000 or less ATK on my field!" Night Shadow hurriedly said.

Don't think about cheating me; I remember the effect!

"Oh, you might not have heard, this is the latest development result from our lab. We slightly modified the effect," Fujiki You Xuan said with a smile. "Now Crush Card doesn't have to be triggered by battle; as long as I Tribute a Dark-attribute monster with 1000 or less ATK, I can activate it at any time."

Night Shadow: "!"

What the hell, "slightly modified the effect"? Is it okay to do whatever you want just because you rely on the Kaiba family's card-printing factory?

Why don't you just delete the activation cost of "Dark-attribute monster with 1000 or less ATK" altogether?

"I Tribute 'Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn' with 1000 ATK. Calculating from the opponent's turn, all monsters with 1500 or more ATK on the opponent's field and in their hand are destroyed!" (Old effect)

OCG, kid!

The name of this early-stage top-tier deck is 【Minai Virus】; one can tell from the name alone what the key card serving as the face of the deck is.

Crush Card Virus immediately received widespread attention as soon as it appeared as a physical card, and was considered a card with huge potential. And its years of service in the small black room until the text was modified was also an affirmation of this card's strength.

In order to unleash its ability, Dark-attribute monsters with 1000 or less ATK naturally began to receive widespread attention. And the one that stood out from all monsters satisfying the conditions in the card pool at that time was Meanae, who satisfied the conditions of 1000 or less ATK while having decent DEF and resource-gaining ability.

The 【Meanae Virus】 construction came into being and was quite active for a long time afterward, until the Crush Card, as the core of the deck, was sent to jail.

Only to see the red virus spreading along the body of his "Armor Bee," and soon it spread to the whole body of Armor Bee. Then his monster's body began to be corroded and virtualized bit by bit, becoming semi-transparent until it completely disappeared from the field under the virus's erosion.

Immediately after, it was his hand. The red virus ate the monsters on his field and continued to spread to his hand, soon locking onto one of the cards, which exploded into golden light with a pop.

Even the monsters in his hand were destroyed...

And what was worse was that he saw that virus didn't mean to leave the field after eating the monsters on his field and in his hand, but continued to hover over his field, seemingly waiting for fresh food to continue coming to the door.

For the next three turns, as long as he drew any monster with 1500 or more ATK, he would have to continue to become food for this virus.

But it didn't matter.

Night Shadow looked at his hand, his gaze stopping on one of the cards, and he narrowed his eyes.

【Monster Reborn】.

Heh, although Crush Card Virus was indeed powerful, for his deck mainly composed of high-ATK monsters, it almost cut off any possibility of him drawing any monsters for the next three turns.

But as a risk, Crush Card also sent his high-level monsters in his hand to the Graveyard.

This way, as long as he used Monster Reborn to revive the high-level monsters in the Graveyard next turn, the balance of victory would immediately reverse!

"I then Normal Summon the second 'Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn' I searched," Fujiki You Xuan said.

【Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn, ATK 1000】

He paused and smiled: "Then activate Continuous Trap 'Blood Debt.' By paying 500 life points, I can add one Normal Summon. I pay 500 life points and perform one more Normal Summon."

【Fujiki You Xuan, LP4000 -> LP3500】

"This time, summon 'Don Zaloog'."

【Don Zaloog, ATK 1400】

"Battle. First, 'Black Scorpion - Meanae the Thorn' attacks directly."

Night Shadow frowned.

"Meanae, as long as this monster isn't solved, her effect will let the Black Scorpion thieves continuously replenish their troops... but it's not that easy!"

Night Shadow shouted.

"I activate this powerful Trap 'Sakuretsu Armor'! When the opponent's monster attacks, that monster is destroyed!"

Fujiki You Xuan narrowed his eyes.

Hmm, it really is a powerful trap. In every sense...

"Then activate Trap 'Trap Stun'," Fujiki You Xuan immediately chained. "This turn, all other Trap effects on the field are negated."

"Nanda to!? (What did you say)"

Night Shadow's eyelids twitched, and he could only watch helplessly as his powerful trump card "Sakuretsu Armor" quickly faded in color until it disappeared and shattered.

Meanae leaped into the air, flicked her wrist, and the whip full of spikes lashed out. The long whip hit Night Shadow hard, lashing him until he grimaced, and he retreated while shaking under the real damage bonus of the Shadow Game.

While in pain, he was actually terrified to find that he felt a trace of pleasure.

【Night Shadow, LP3800 -> LP2800】

Meanae, who put away the whip, smiled charmingly at him, then withdrew the whip and retreated. Night Shadow's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly restrained his gun, suppressing the urge to open the door to a new world.

No, be serious, the life-betting duel is on...

"Then Meanae's effect, when dealing battle damage, search for or retrieve a 'Black Scorpion' card from the Graveyard to my hand."

Fujiki You Xuan drew another card that popped out from the deck.

"This time, add 'Black Scorpion - Cliff the Trap Remover' to my hand."

After adding to his hand, Fujiki You Xuan waved his hand again.

"Then it's 'Don Zaloog's' direct attack."

Don Zaloog didn't need to be mentioned; he was one of the monsters who had been fighting with Fujiki You Xuan since the beginning, an old acquaintance. The reliable one-eyed captain pulled out his gun, skillfully turned it half a circle like a Western cowboy, and then fired with a bang, another shot hitting Night Shadow's heart.

"Ugh..."

The pain of the Shadow Game, like the burning pain of a real bullet piercing through. Night Shadow groaned and fell to his knees.

【Night Shadow, LP2800 -> LP1400】

"Then Zaloog's effect, when dealing battle damage, I can randomly choose one card from the opponent's hand to discard," Fujiki You Xuan said unhurriedly.

Whether it's offline physical cards or anime, random usually means the player randomly picks one in a face-down state. This is also why Yugi could use a Light of Intervention to nail the "Obelisk the Tormentor" that Kaiba was posing with on the field for three turns.

Night Shadow's heart skipped a beat.

The opponent randomly chooses a card from his hand, damn it...

"Speaking of which, you just stared at a card in your hand and showed a very bad smile..."

Fujiki You Xuan narrowed his eyes and looked at Night Shadow, smiled slightly, and then reached out.

"Then, the second card from right to left... yes, don't look, just that one, throw it away."

Night Shadow: "..."

Looking at the Monster Reborn he was holding in his hand.

Night Shadow suddenly wanted to cry.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 315 =====

Ye Ying suddenly felt like crying.

(End of Chapter)