"My turn, draw."
A burst of golden light appeared in Yugen's graveyard, and two cards swiftly returned.
"Activate the effect of the two 'Assassin Snake' in the graveyard. During your standby phase, if 'Assassin Snake' exists in the graveyard, you can retrieve it to your hand."
Two cards were extracted from the graveyard and returned to his hand.
Beetle Knight's face twitched.
Ammunition replenished...
He also understood how the opposite combination worked; Assassin Snake was the never-ending ammunition of those Netherworld soldiers.
Sure enough, Yugen immediately sent one of the retrieved Assassin Snakes back to the graveyard.
"Activate 'Abyss Soldiers' effect. By discarding a Water Attribute monster from your hand, you can return any card on the field to the owner's hand."
"Therefore, I discard the Water Attribute 'Assassin Snake'..."
"I knew it!"
Beetle Knight shouted.
"Flip the cover card, Trap Card 'Forgetfulness'! When an opponent's attack position monster activates an effect, that activation is negated, and the monster switches to defense position!"
Judai: "Huh? But didn't you know there is a Royal Palace Notice on Yugen's side..."
Yugen raised an eyebrow.
This posture seems to suggest there is a countermeasure against the Royal Palace Notice?
"Interesting, then I'll accept the challenge," said Yugen. "Then activate the cover card, Continuous Trap - Royal Palace Notice!
All Trap Cards on both sides of the field have their effects negated!"
The Royal Palace Notice, retrieved by Abyss Soldiers, displayed its divine power once more, an invisible pressure swept across, suppressing the entire field.
"As expected!" Beetle Knight shouted. "Counterattack Trap - Countercheck!
When a Trap Card is activated, that activation is negated, and that card returns to the owner's deck!"
Sure enough, there is a countermeasure.
Yugen gently nodded, stroking his chin.
The counterattack power took effect, and the activation of the Royal Palace Notice was forcibly terminated. The Trap Card turned into a golden light and flew back into Yugen's card deck on the Duel Disc, the deck shuffled on its own.
"Even if it's the Trap Breaker 'Royal Palace Notice', as long as the activation is negated before the effect applies, there's nothing to fear.
And since the later effect will be processed first, when 'Forgetfulness' effect resolves, 'Royal Palace Notice' is no longer on the field, so the effect of my Trap Card 'Forgetfulness' is valid!
According to 'Forgetfulness' effect, 'Abyss Soldiers' activation is negated and switched to defense position!"
Beetle Knight burst into laughter.
"Stay put, Abyss Soldiers!"
The power of the Netherworld seemed temporarily bound, Abyss Soldiers under the trap's bind reluctantly knelt on one knee, assuming a defensive stance.
[Abyss Soldiers, Attack Power 1800→ Defense Power 1300]
"This way, your combination is broken." Beetle Knight said smugly.
He realized that whether it was for attack or operation, that Abyss Soldiers was absolutely central to the opponent's strategy. As long as the effect of Abyss Soldiers is negated, there's nothing to fear.
Next turn, his insect army will launch a desperate counterattack, sounding the horn of reversal.
Can you really produce another one to deal with me?
"Activate the cover card, Continuous Trap - Call of the Living Dead," Yugen said. "Revive a monster in my graveyard in attack position. I choose to revive another 'Abyss Soldiers' from the graveyard."
Beetle Knight: "......"
The vortex of the graveyard opened, and transparent water currents surged out. The soldiers of the Water Race emerged from the abyss, returning to the field, the vortex beneath them blowing a chilling wind from the Netherworld.
Yugen indicated impressive, impressive, very cleverly played.
But what will you do about the second one?
Already foreseeing the unavoidable future, that beetle face was twisted: "No.... don't.... I beg you...."
However, he didn't expect Yugen to not rush into activating the effect, instead calmly revealing another card from his hand.
"Equipment Magic 'Blast Flame Piercing', equip it to your 'Thousand-year-old Scorpion'."
Come on, buddy, have a cigarette, don't be shy.
Beetle Knight: "?"
At this stage, suddenly giving me equipment, what does that mean?
"The monster equipped with 'Blast Flame Piercing' increases its attack power by 400 points, and when attacking a defense position monster, if the attack power exceeds the defense power, it gains defense piercing effect," Yugen said with a smile, "It's yours, don't be shy."
[Thousand-year-old Scorpion, Attack Power 2500→ Attack Power 2900]
When Thousand-year-old Scorpion destroys a monster in battle, its attack power increases by 500, thus the attack power rises to 2900.
"However, of course, you know that strong powers often come with risks. So 'Blast Flame Piercing' has a side effect," Yugen explained with a smile. "When this card leaves the field, the equipped monster is directly removed from play."
Beetle Knight thought for a moment.
When leaving the field, the equipped monster is directly removed from the game...
He suddenly understood something, and his expression twisted instantly: "You... are you about to...."
"Correct, unfortunately, no reward." Yugen smiled. "Activate the second 'Abyss Soldiers' effect. Discard another Water Attribute 'Assassin Snake' from my hand, return any card on the field to its owner's hand.
The one I want to return, of course, is the Equipment Magic 'Blast Flame Piercing'."
The Equipment Magic turned into a stream of golden light, flying back to Yugen's hand.
"Of course, since the owner is me, it will return to my hand. But because 'Blast Flame Piercing' left the field, the equipped monster is removed from play.
Remove 'Thousand-year-old Scorpion' from the game!"
The Dimensional Rift opened again, the immense suction lifted Thousand-year-old Scorpion off the ground, directly sucking it into the rift, removing it from this game.
Beetle Knight looked at his now pristine field, like a blank sheet of paper, and could cry without tears.
Why....
Why is there such a dog-like combination in the world?
And what kind of bastard would come up with such a tactic...
Judai was stunned: "Ah, this..."
Using Abyss Soldiers to banish the opponent's monster is indeed a way to clear the field, but the banished monster returns to the hand and remains a usable resource.
By combining the effects of Abyss Soldiers and the side effects of Blast Flame Piercing, you can directly remove the targeted monster from the opponent's field without returning it to the hand. And because Blast Flame Piercing is bounced back to your own hand, it can be reused, and Assassin Snake can be infinitely salvaged, so the whole process requires almost no resource consumption.
Although Yugen felt that he had basically won at this point, the opponent still had cards in hand. Just in case the opponent pulled a Chestnut Ball and survived this round, compared to directly using Abyss Soldiers to bounce Thousand-year-old Scorpion back to hand, this way you drain an extra card resource from the opponent.
Yes, that's it, it's definitely not because sending Thousand-year-old Scorpion to the Other Dimension is more fun.
But the opponent didn't seem to think so.
Beetle Knight had already given up struggling and donned the mask of pain.
Please just put me out of my misery...
He wanted to quickly leave this unfriendly world and be reincarnated.
In the next life, he swore he would never touch a card again.
"Battle." Yugen waved his hand, giving the order, "Direct attack by Abyss Soldiers!"
Seeing that sinister soldier charging sword in hand, Beetle Knight breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes.
It might sound a bit ridiculous, but after experiencing monsters being repeatedly bounced, sent to the Other Dimension, and a few rounds of one-way announcements, now facing such a straightforward blow coming down on his head, he actually didn't feel fear of death in his mind.
But rather relief.
Finally, no more dueling...
[Beetle Knight, LP 1400→ LP 0]