r18novel Chapter 348: Resilient! Invincible! Strongest!
Chapter 348: Resilient! Invincible! Strongest!
Chapter 348: Resilient! Invincible! Strongest!
As your fingertips touch the Starry Gate.
Sharna then felt a momentary sense of weightlessness.
Then she found that her vision had been swallowed up by an endless stream of light.
The square beneath her feet was no longer there—or to be more precise, she hadn't stepped on anything at all.
She was flying—flying at high speed through an indescribably vast space!
As she flew, she could see the endless starlight scattered around her.
She seemed to be on a vast, boundless continent, but it wasn't the Esther.
Even at the limit of her eyesight, she couldn't see the ocean outside the Esther.
On the contrary...
What she could see were vast forests, majestic mountains, and flowing streams.
They are all adorned with starlight, like a scene from a garden.
In the distance, one can vaguely see magnificent palaces in the style of giants, seemingly newly built, and things resembling dragon palaces existing in the streams.
""
Sharna's breath was almost stuck in her chest.
She had become aware of where she was.
New Elbaf, New Dragon Palace City—these were things that Old Rohr had told her personally not long ago.
"This is... the Garden of Stars, Starrosia."
The headquarters of the Twelve Constellations, which only existed in legends of the sea, was now right in front of her!
Thinking of this, Sharna instinctively raised her head, looking even higher than before, even though she was already flying through the sky.
Then she saw that what she saw above her was not the sky, but swirling nebulae.
Starlight flickered within, casting a rainbow of colors that illuminated the land like a dream.
And in the center of each of those slowly rotating nebulae, there seems to be a vast world.
From Sharna's current perspective, she could see an island in the distance that resembled a qilin, surrounded by floating ribbons and gauze robes.
"Neverland..."
She had heard of the legendary island that had once caused a great tremor at sea.
In addition, there is a majestic sacred mountain covered with lush vegetation and flowing with colorful waterfalls.
At the top of that sacred mountain, one can seemingly see a huge iron rod reaching to the sky and standing upright.
"Are those the trial grounds that Mr. Rohr spoke of?"
As she continued to fly, Sharna pondered to herself.
"Which one belongs to me?"
As she thought of this, the world seemed to be giving her an answer—she saw the nebula gradually approaching her, the magnificent pyramid within the nebula, and the three enormous figures at the top of the pyramid.
On the left is a giant dragon with a crimson body, two mouths, and wings.
On the right is a colossal god, entirely blue, with a face full of ferocity and destruction.
At the center of the two, seemingly the leader, was a giant bird, its body entirely red-gold, resembling both a bird and a dragon.
The three figures continued to approach her, and Sharna naturally recalled what she had heard when she touched the Star Gate.
"The Three Egyptian Gods... the Pyramids?"
As she murmured this.
The next moment, she found herself once again enveloped in the starlight of the vortex.
Just moments later, her surroundings changed again—she seemed to have landed successfully from the air and lay down on a soft sofa.
But at this moment, Sharna didn't even have time to observe her surroundings.
Because her body suddenly stiffened.
"My legs!"
At that moment, she felt the changes in her body.
Her right leg, which had been severed, was now experiencing a long-lost, firm, and powerful sensation.
"it turns out..."
She looked down in disbelief at her perfectly intact legs.
She could feel the real sensation of her toes sinking into the sand—everything told her that it wasn't an illusion.
Then she raised her hand and touched her cheek, where the once hideous scar had disappeared without a trace.
"Hey, what are you doing standing up like that, Sharna?"
Immediately afterwards, Sharna heard a sound.
She looked in the direction of the sound and found herself inside a tavern.
The tavern's decor was unique, somewhat resembling the Alabasta style she had heard of before, but not quite the same.
The person speaking to her at that moment was a male customer standing next to her.
Sharna noticed a strange device on his left hand—it looked somewhat like a hand knife, but it had no blade and only a regular rectangular structure.
"He's Red Jack, the duelist who came here with me. What he's holding is... a Duel Disk?"
But strangely enough...
Upon seeing the other person, Sharna was immediately reminded of some memories.
In her memory, she was still called Sharna, a duelist who came from the outer sea to the legendary Pyramid of the Three Egyptian Gods to participate in the dueling tournament.
The man's name was Red Jack, and he shared a similar background with her.
"This isn't my memory; it's what the twelve zodiac signs are trying to tell me?"
Sharna can be certain of this.
"And Old Raoul said I was the first person to participate in the trial, so this man called Red Jack shouldn't be a trial participant... What is he? A non-existent phantom?"
Her gaze swept over Red Jack, who looked like a normal person no matter how you looked at him, and whose eyes were sparkling with concern, and she muttered to herself.
But it was precisely at this moment...
"Quiet down! This is the crucial moment!"
"Quiet my ass! This blood-pumping duel has gone on for so long, how could it possibly quiet down?!"
The sudden commotion inside the tavern interrupted Sharna's thoughts.
She first shook her head at Red Jack to indicate that she was fine, then looked up at where all the patrons were looking.
It was a screen of light, like a broadcast of a Den Den Mushi, but Sharna didn't see the Den Den Mushi; instead, she only saw the dazzling sunlight.
There was a huge platform inside the light curtain.
On the platform, two men are standing facing each other.
They both had duel disks in their hands. The red-haired man on the left looked nervous and was even trembling all over.
In contrast, the man on the right had a calm expression; he was dressed in a priest's robe that resembled a trench coat.
Strangely, even though there was no wind at the scene, his trench coat seemed to roll up as if defying gravity.
He let out a soft chuckle: "Thinking you can challenge the mortal bones of gods just because you've collected thirty stars... Do you realize the difference between us now?"
"He's someone who doesn't bother to hide his arrogance," Sharna concluded in her mind.
At the same time, she noticed that the duel disks in the hands of the two men were now open, with some cards on them and a line of numbers on them.
The difference is that the red-haired man only has one card left on his duel disk, "Giant Axe Raider," and the number on his duel disk is only 300.
In contrast, the man in the priest's robe not only had a full hand of cards, but his duel disk also had a total of 4000 cards.
What Sharna found even more unbelievable was that, right in front of the red-haired man, there actually stood a warrior wielding a giant axe, identical to the one depicted on the card, surrounded by an aura of attack power.
The text reads "1700, Defense: 1150".
"Priest Seth!"
The red-haired man shouted nervously, "I am not challenging the gods. I just want to meet the Pharaoh and witness the glory of the three Egyptian Gods."
"Especially the great leader of the three Egyptian Gods, the Winged Dragon of Ra, the Lord of the Sun," my family has been believers in the sun for generations, and to be able to personally behold his countenance would be my greatest honor!
"That's why I'm determined to defeat you this time!"
As he spoke, he raised his duel disk: "Although I've played all my cards, I still have this trump card—my Tamashi, my brave and loyal strongest warrior!"
"Whoa!?"
Meanwhile, on the other side, the priest named Seth shouted, "As a mortal, your spirit is not bad, but... what a pity!"
"Whether it's to see a god or something else, by choosing to confront me, you will no longer be qualified to see Pharaoh Atum!"
As he spoke, he had already tossed a card onto the duel disk.
"I usually summon the Dragon Ruler!"
As he spoke, a warrior clad in armor and resembling a dragon was summoned.
Attack: 1200, Defense: 1100
"A monster with an attack power of 1200!?"
Upon seeing this, the red-haired man tensed for a moment, but then regained his composure: "It's alright, my ace has a full 1700 attack power..."
"Hmph~"
But at that very moment, Priest Set scoffed.
"This is just the beginning!"
"What!?"
Before the red-haired man could even react in surprise, the priest had already played another card from his hand: "I activate the Spell Card 'Dragon Flute'—Based on the effect of this card, while Dragon Ruler is present, I can Special Summon up to two Dragon-Type monsters from my hand."
He opened his arms, his hands gripping the tin staff tightly.
"Witness the mighty dragon!"
"Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
As he spoke, a card in his hand burst forth with a bright white light.
Then, a giant dragon with blue eyes flew out of his hand and landed directly on the field.
Attack: 3000, Defense: 2500
"Attack power...3000!?"
"It's the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, the symbolic divine beast of Priest Set!"
"They summoned this monster without any sacrifices!"
Inside the tavern, countless people gasped in surprise.
Sharna:
'
She didn't understand, but judging from the reactions of others, it was clearly a very powerful card.
Immediately afterward, she heard Priest Set's almost broken low growl.
"Resilient! Invincible! Strongest!"
"Crushed! Shattered! Cheers!"
"Go, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"
He raised his hand, pointing at the red-haired man: "Destructive jet of white light!"
Then, the explosive energy blast shot out and hit the red-haired man.
"Ahhhhh!"
Amidst exaggerated screams, Sharna saw the number on the duel disk in the red-haired man's hand drop from 300 to 0.
The red-haired man knelt on the ground, looking like he was saying "OTZ".
"Did you lose?"
"As expected of Priest Set!"
"What a wonderful duel!"
"Yeah, it's making my hands itch—hey, everyone here, anyone who challenges me to a duel and wins gets their drinks for free!"
"Oh, oh, oh! As expected of the boss! Come on, let's duel!"
"I'm going to collect thirty stars too, and challenge Priest Set!"
"Let's forget about Priest Set—I feel he's the strongest of the six priests."
Throughout the tavern, sighs and excited shouts rang out simultaneously.
Sharna:
'
'
She didn't understand, but she felt that this place seemed a little strange.
"This is... a duel?"
Taking advantage of the chaos at the scene, she sorted through the extra memories in her mind.
Then, she vaguely understood the rules here.
This is the city of duels, Amaset.
Within this pyramid-shaped city, seek out other duelists and challenge them.
The winner will take one Duel Star from the loser.
Collecting all thirty Duel Stars grants you the qualification to challenge the six priests who guard the Pharaoh.
"Defeat the priest, and you can face the Pharaoh and have an audience with the three great Egyptian Gods."
"The Egyptian God Cards include Osiris, the Sky Dragon who wields the power of the underworld; Obelisk, the Titan who wields the power of the earth and regeneration; and Ra, the Winged Dragon of Ra, who reigns supreme over all things and controls the sun and creation."
When she thought of those three names, Sharna couldn't help but recall the three colossal beasts she had seen before arriving here.
"Winged Dragon of Ra... I think I've heard of it. It was mentioned in a World Economic News newspaper. The ability of the 'Rooster,' one of the twelve zodiac signs, seems to be the ability to manipulate the sun and transform into a special dragon?"
As the leader of the slaves, she paid close attention to news from the high seas.
"So, this must be the trial ground symbolized by the Rooster, the source of his power?"
"And all I have to do is keep going until the very end, and that will be considered passing the trial?"
"No, if we follow old Raoul's advice... after completing a certain part of the trial, we should be able to obtain some things ahead of time—in other words, as long as I get thirty stars, I should be considered to have passed the first part of the trial?"
Sharna took a deep breath as always, letting the dusty air fill her lungs.
She began to realize the purpose of this trial ground.
But clearly, that's not enough.
"To pass the trial, the primary goal should be to figure out the general rules of this world, such as... where those cards came from."
Although it was just a fleeting glimpse.
Sharna, however, was already able to determine that those strange cards were the most important tools in this world.
"The identity that the leaders of the Twelve Constellations assigned to me was precisely to facilitate these activities."
Thinking of this, Sharna turned to Red Jack beside her: "Red Jack, I... well, I mean, we've finally made it this far, and if we want to enjoy the duel properly, it's not going to be that easy, is it?"
She said that.
"Indeed."
Upon hearing this, Red Jack nodded in agreement: "Such a thrilling duel is truly exhilarating..."
You can't do it without preparing in advance!
As he spoke, he winked mysteriously, "But I've already heard that if you want to become the best duelist in this Duel City, there's one thing you absolutely must do!"
"...Oh? What is it?"
Sharna's eyes lit up, and she thought to herself, "Just as I thought."
Then she heard Red Jack reply: "Haircut!"
"...A haircut?"
Sharna almost thought she had misheard.
"That's right... It's said that only those with truly unique hairstyles can gain the favor of the gods and become more outstanding duelists!"
Red Jack said with a serious face, "So I'm planning to dye my hair rainbow-colored. Shaina, do you want to come with me?"
Sharna:
'
'
Again.
Although she didn't quite understand, she wondered... were the people in this place mentally unstable?