Age of Summoner

“He won’t make it, ma’am. I say we better cancel this duel. What if he got destroyed by the bot to the point he doesn't want to continue playing AOS?”

“Who cares.”

That blunt answer caused everyone to scream out in rejection.

“AOS is not a fragile world requiring you to babysit those who take part in it anyway. If a person is as fragile as losing the courage to go on after losing to a bot—I say screw them,” she said harshly before letting out a wide grin. “And to all of you who keep looking at that guy thinking that he’ll give up, have you asked the man if he wants to give up or not, yet? From what I see in those eyes, there is never a thought of giving up going on in there.”

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at each other before flicking their gaze back towards Joke in unison. There were indeed no traces of discouragement or surrender in those eyes. On the contrary, it was filled with determination—a determination towards victory.

“AOS is a card game where no matter how disadvantaged you are if your LP hasn’t reached zero, there’s always a chance for you to turn the table. Besides, even though the deck I prepared is just a tester deck without a single rare card, that deck was not terrible, I tell you. It got a trick up its sleeve against a control deck like this.” Madame Fon’s grin widened at those words. “It’s a matter of if this beginner boy could see through it or not.”

All everyone could do was look at each other wearily. Of course, everyone here had all been through with the store’s tester deck. They had to admit that it was a well-balanced and easy-to-play deck. But, there was nothing more to it and it was also not good enough to win against the Singaporean champion’s deck.

Especially when it was in the hands of a newbie.

Rin, who stood watching, thought the same way.

“He won’t make it…” she muttered.

.

.

“Guess there’s no other way… Oberik!”

Ultimately, Joke was forced to summon the best knight in his deck out.

At first, he was planning to test the abilities of the opponent's deck by sending out mediocre knights, but it seemed like if he continued on with this, he might lose it all.

It was true that the enemy in front of him was just a bot and this was his first duel tryout, but he wanted to win!

In the blink of an eye, the figure of a young warrior in a black leather outfit plunged into the middle of the battle area, drawing its large trusting claymore, ready to fight!

“It’s fortunate that half of my MP recovered when the Ballade Knight’s gone.”

After saying that, Joke skillfully called upon an item card. And the card that he chose was…

"Argus Shield!"

Without further delay, he finally delivered a brown round metal shield to the hand of his principal warrior.

Oberik grabbed the shield and held it in his left hand before spinning the sword in his right hand with ease.

The middle-aged warrior's orbs were fixed straight at the cloaked ghost. It was at that exact moment when Joke pointed his finger forward.

"Attack that lousy ghost!"

The more defensive he was, the more disadvantageous he would be. The longer he let the enemy gain its MPs, the lower his chances were in winning. If his Oberik was still not enough for this fight, he would have to admit defeat by default.

“Magic Missile!”

Black beams of light shot out of the storm lantern that was held in this Mage Candle’s hand just in time. The six-light beams swiftly curved straight onto Oberik’s body.

However, the experienced warrior had already received a superior shield from its master, so it easily lifted up the shield against those spells, causing them to disperse into the abyss!

“Awesome! The Argus Shield could really shield against magic spells.”

Joke shouted cheerfully. If he was able to prevent spell attacks from the opponent, he could now totally relax about the spells that would be shot his way!

Having said that, Oberik dashed towards the cloaked ghost in a straight line with its sword raised, ready to slash the enemy into the abyss. With an additional two units of attack damage it received from the shield, it was enough to put an end to that lousy ghost in one strike.

“Acid Magician.”

Of course, the wicked bot would not allow itself to be played easily. And with a deck aimed at controlling the battle’s rhythm such as this, it was certainly stacked with cards prepared to deal with every given scenario.

In no time at all, a new half sprang into the battlefield, positioning itself beside that cloaked ghost.

It was a mage in a cloak that completely covered its body as well as wearing a mask that looked similar to a gas mask. It had a tall flask in its hands that contained green liquid and diffusing smoke. As soon as this creature appeared, it instantly threw that potion flask at Oberik.

Clanggg!!

What followed was that the shield in Oberik’s hand shattered to shreds, causing the experienced warrior’s eyes to widen—a reaction similar to Jakkarin’s, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.

“Huh? What was that?”

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Acid Magician LV25 (Dark)

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♦♦♦

Race: spellcaster

Pay 2 units of MP or discard one card from the deck to the Graveyard to destroy one wearable item.

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Attack-1

Defense-2

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HP 2,500 (DP-2)

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Joke hurriedly examined information on the new half his enemy had chosen. It seemed that the opponent had a card for dealing directly with wearable items. Joke smiled meekly upon that realization.

“Got a card for every situation, haven’t you?”

The young man sarcased before ordering Oberik to back out first otherwise it might be ambushed with magic spells in the meantime. Furthermore, this cloaked ghost had already created three gigantic pillar candles in a short amount of time since then. Doing quick maths, that was a total of six life points that he might be losing.

It probably would not be good if he left it like this.

He needed to first get rid of that weapon-destroying half.

“Skill Card: Boomerang Sword!”

He quickly deployed his Skill Card to attack. Oberik threw his sword out like a boomerang straight into the body of that Acid Magician. Of course, this wicked bot would not allow its prime half to be destroyed easily.

“Damage Barrier.”

It used a Skill Card to open up a golden barrier that could shield against the Boomerang Sword. The blade bounced against the magic wall in midair before hurtling back into Oberik's hand, being of no use whatsoever. At that moment, three more gigantic pillar candles were conjured onto the battlefield.

"The defensive spell is really thick, and it also continues to summon more of those darn candles..."

With a simple calculation, the damage he received from those candles was worth up to eight units of life point. If that cloaked ghost figured out a way to blow up its candles, it would be able to destroy him without having to move a finger. Joke knew that this insane bot must have a way to make that happen.

If this was the case, he would have to find a way to reduce its MP to the point that it would not be able to use its spells.

“Figurine of Darkness!”