SWNOVELXO Chapter 112 Joyful Games
Inside the room, a group of young boys and girls gathered around the holographic simulation battle table, watching intently the duel between the two players, curious about the next turn of events.
Witches are often shrouded in mystery, and the Witch of the Misty Night Ship, Salemes, is even rarer in the records. Although she definitely appeared during the Mercury Dynasty era, very little about her was remembered, and the references in books were few and far between.
"Now our lofty Necromancy Queen, Her Highness Tilan, has summoned her ally, a legendary witch, so her effect is—" Ruby stood behind Tilan, raised her folding fan, and with a flick, opened it, then produced a 'clang clang clang~' sound.
"When 'Witch of the Misty Night Ship, Salemes' enters the battlefield, she randomly takes away one of the enemy's minions, and cards with the same name as that minion will be removed from the hand, deck, graveyard, and duel as if they never appeared in the first place, unable to be resurrected, unable to be summoned again. After the effect ends, 'Witch of the Misty Night Ship, Salemes' will also leave, both disappearing together."
"What a special effect, not very versatile, but it seems extraordinarily effective against certain decks. Now that our Tyrant Kinsenke has lost his trump card, can he still stir up trouble?"
On the battle table, the witch stood at the bow of a crescent-shaped little boat, slowly sailing towards the ancient tyrant sprawled across the bridge, and then both of them vanished into the black mist, never to be seen again.
"Ugh, ugh, ugh... How can there be such outrageous cards, this has to be cheating," Kinsenke said as he looked at his card that displayed a ban, then at the effect displayed on the battle table, scratching his ears and looking very displeased.
The card 'Ancient Tyrant, Tyrant King' in his hand was his winning trump card, and without it, his other minions were third-rate and couldn't make much of a splash.
"No way, how can I just give up like this? Even if the Tyrant King is gone, Tilan, you have only one battlefield, how can you compete with my four battlefields, hmph."
"Watch this, I'm using the minion card 'Cruel Toll Collector' 3/4, when it enters the field, it reduces all enemy minions' health by one point." He said, slapping down two cards and then adding a 'Slave Trade on the River' to draw two more cards.
The major trouble was dealt with, but the situation ahead was still not going to be easy. The girl mused silently, looking at the limited number of cards in her hand.
"Using 'Halloween Candy Treats,' consume two cards in the graveyard, restore 3 health points to yourself, and draw two cards." The card depicted various pumpkin monsters, witches, and mischievous imps gathered around a candy house. In the center, a packet of colorful candy was tossed into the center of the image, occupying most of the visual space.
Having drawn usable cards, the girl nodded and continued.
"Using 'Ghost Steed Didihi' 4/2, as soon as it enters the field it can attack one minion, and upon death, it deals damage to another enemy equivalent to its own attack."
"With this, two enemy minions are taken care of, then I'm using 'Assembled Skeleton Centaur Knight' 5/3, it has Guardian Ability, and upon death, summons a 'Skeleton Knight' 2/2 and a 'Skeleton Horse' 1/1 on the field."
…
In the following matches, although Tilan was at a disadvantage for a while, she slowly turned the tides by leveraging the various effects of the Mercury Dynasty deck. Eventually, she managed to meet the conditions to summon the "Death Tri-Head Blood-Eye Black Marrow Dragon."
The familiar majestic roar of dragons echoed once more. Black and red flames burned across the duel table, and from within the fierce flames, a pitch-black, three-headed dragon with crimson pupils danced into the air. Its wings beat, dispersing scorching heat as the terrifying trio of dragon heads breathed out intense flames.
"Amazing, crush, invincible, big round of applause! Tilan has summoned the 'Death Tri-Head Blood-Eye Black Marrow Dragon' once again, now that wretched tyrant Kinsenke can only meekly raise the white flag and kneel beneath our Queen Tilan's pitch-black skirt, becoming yet another one of her defeated foes. Perhaps he'll spend the entire night restless, waking from sleep to the imaginings of that Black Flame Dragon's fire," Ruby said, waving her folding fan with flourish as tiny glittering stars fell from it, encircling the black-haired, black-dressed Tilan like celebratory fireworks.
"Defeated, huh," Kinsenke sprawled on the couch behind him, looking utterly spent.
In the subsequent games, everyone became more certain of one truth: it's best not to let Tilan play with the 'Mercury Dynasty deck.' Otherwise, defeat was inevitable, whereas if she used any other themed deck, there was a glimmer of hope.
"You see, this is the charm of card battling, your most compatible deck will unleash the greatest bonds~" Ruby said, with one eye half-closed, blinking the other, and her fingers swaying gently in front of her.
"So, has Tilan really not considered debuting as an idol? I think a beautiful girl who's super skilled at card games would be incredibly popular on the Star Network. As everyone knows, those card game-loving uncles are all without partners~"
"That's a bit offensive," the girl raised her hand and waved it gently, indicating she wasn't quite ready to become an online idol just yet.
Although they did not agree with Ruby's spur-of-the-moment suggestion, everyone still gave Tilan all sorts of mischievous ideas, such as wearing a mask to participate in a card master showdown, or cosplaying as a witch from the card battles and using a similarly themed deck to achieve a startling victory and become a focus of the news, and so on.
The room was filled with laughter and jovial voices for a while, which helped to slowly ease the tension and pressure that had been building up from previous trials.
It seemed like it had been a long time since she'd had such a fun and relaxed time with everyone. That night, as Tilan lay in bed reflecting, she felt a simple happiness she hadn't experienced in a while.
Since her sister's death, the atmosphere at home had been rather somber, and then her mother and father passed away in succession. Because of financial troubles, she had always lived a tight life. Even when classmates like Lina invited her out, the experiences were mostly nerve-wracking, and she could never completely relax.
Things had improved slightly when she worked at Dream of Glazed Glass, but as it was still a workplace, she couldn't fully let her guard down. After that came her time at Edith Academy. Annelli helped her solve many problems, but there was always a subtle pressure not to disappoint everyone's expectations.
Thinking about it, the various incidents that occurred throughout the year were always intense and thrilling. Even though she gained a lot, it was never exactly relaxing.
Playing cards really is a joyful and relaxing thing. Next time, she would play with everyone again.
With that thought in mind, the girl pulled the blanket up to her chin, nestled her cheek against the pillow, and wriggled gently to find a comfortable position before drifting off to a deep sleep.