040 Wandering · The Art of a Dog Who Mastered Survival
“My turn, I draw!”
Peacock Mai glanced at the magic card in her hand, then looked at the face-down defense monster on the game field, and grinned:
“Yugi, this card in my hand will let my ‘Harpie Lady’ combo reach 50% completion! The trap you’ve set for me is useless!”
Facing Mai’s confidence, Yugi replied with confidence of his own:
“Sorry, but the trap I’ve set is one you’ll step into sooner or later!”
As long as you don’t destroy my face-down card, you’re bound to fall right into this pit! When I, Yugi, say it, not even the gods could change it!
“I activate the magic card ‘Alluring Shadow’ from my hand! With this, the pheromones released by ‘Harpie Lady’ will stimulate the opponent’s attack instinct, forcing all monsters on your field into face-up attack position!”
With the Alluring Shadow-Harpie Lady combo, the face-down monster on Yugi’s field flipped up, revealing the massive figure of Clayman.
(Elemental HERO Clayman, ATK: 800)
Actually, at first Yugi wanted to argue, “Clayman is a hero born of elemental forces, and with his honest and steadfast nature, he would never be affected by your Harpie Lady’s pheromones!”
But, considering his own Clayman combo, Yugi decided to follow Alluring Shadow’s effect and flip Clayman into attack position—after all, this would increase the chance Mai would fall into his trap!
“A defense monster… It’s Clayman? Impossible!”
Watching from the sidelines, Yugi’s friends exchanged glances. Mai might not know, but after watching Yugi’s last two duels, they could already guess what that face-down card was.
The first time this combo was used was in Yugi’s very first duel on this island. Against Ryota Kajiki, he’d only revealed the combo in his hand, but it was enough for them to glimpse its power.
The second time was in the duel against Seto Kaiba in the early hours of yesterday. In that duel, they’d witnessed firsthand just how terrifying this combo could be!
Its power nearly cost Kaiba the match on the spot! If not for his quick thinking, using Lord of Dragons to take the hit, Kaiba’s life points would have plunged to triple digits in an instant!
“800 attack, 2000 defense… not much to worry about!”
Now that she’d seen the stats and confirmed it wasn’t some monster with special effects, and since there was still a face-down card on the field, Mai chose not to attack recklessly and ended her turn.
[Mai: 1100 LP, Hand: 0, Monster Zone: Harpie Lady #1 ×2, Harpie Lady #2, Spell/Trap Zone: Alluring Shadow (anime version: Continuous Spell)]
“My turn, I draw!”
“…”
“I activate a second ‘Ace Chalice’… Heads, I draw two cards. Then I set three cards face-down and end my turn.”
Fully aware of Alluring Shadow, Yugi glanced at his draw, made no attempt to change Clayman’s battle position, set all three trap cards in his hand, and ended his turn.
To win this duel, it would all depend on the Clayman combo!
[Yugi: 2000 LP, Hand: 0, Monster Zone: Elemental HERO Clayman, Spell/Trap Zone: 4 face-downs]
“My turn, I draw!”
“Yugi! Your dueling skills are impressive! But I’m afraid your journey in the Kingdom Tournament ends at the semifinals!”
Yugi: Huh?
Did your draw phase card really give you the courage to say that?
“Now, I’ll show you the most loyal servant of my beloved ‘Harpie Ladies’! The strongest monster in my deck! Come forth—my ace! Harpie’s Pet Dragon!”
As Mai slapped her card onto the field, a long-necked, two-winged dragon with wrinkled brown skin, a collar and chain around its neck, and a protruding belly appeared.
(Harpie’s Pet Dragon, Level 7, ATK: 2000)
“As the favorite of the Harpie Ladies and their most faithful pet, for every ‘Harpie Lady’ monster on my field, Pet Dragon’s attack increases by 300 points! With the effect of two Harpie Lady #1s, that’s another 600 points!”
(Harpie’s Pet Dragon, ATK: 2000→2900→3500)
“Whoa! Such a powerful monster! In one move its attack even surpasses Kaiba’s Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”
She called it cute, but it didn’t look like much. Yet this pot-bellied, wrinkled dragon’s attack actually exceeded that of the Blue-Eyes!
“Harpie Lady #2! Attack Clayman!”
With four face-down cards on the field, Mai chose to attack with her weakest monster first. Even if something went wrong, it shouldn’t hurt her too much.
“At this moment, I activate the trap card ‘Hero Barrier’! When one of my Elemental HERO monsters is attacked, I can use this card to block the battle once!”
The first of the four face-down cards was used to block Harpie Lady #2’s attack.
“If that’s the case, then I’ll attack with #1!”
Seeing her first attack blocked, Mai wasn’t fazed. She still had three monsters left to attack—she could take her time.
“At this moment, I activate a second ‘Hero Barrier’! Blocking another attack!”
The second face-down card was Yugi’s second “Hero Barrier.”
Mai: (ー`´ー)╬
Blocked again, a vein of irritation pulsed on Mai’s forehead.
Fine! Two attacks left!
“The other Harpie Lady #1 attacks—”
“For the third time, I activate ‘Hero Barrier’!”
This time, before Mai could even finish speaking, Yugi activated his last “Hero Barrier.”
Mai: (▼ヘ▼#)
Even someone as even-tempered as she was starting to get angry.
“Pet Dragon’s final attack!”
No way. You’ve used up all three “Hero Barriers”—let’s see you block my Pet Dragon’s attack!
“At this moment, I activate my final trap card!”
Mai: ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ┌┛〃
Seriously?! Will this ever end?!
Not just Mai—even the others watching were left speechless. They’d known Yugi’s four face-downs weren’t simple, and that one of them was absolutely key for the Clayman combo. But who could have guessed the first three would all be attack-blocking traps!
So sly!
Their impression of Yugi at that moment could be summed up in a single word: sly.
“When an opponent’s monster attacks my Clayman, I can activate the trap card ‘Clay Crash’! Clayman and the attacking monster are both destroyed and sent to the graveyard, and then my opponent receives 400 points of damage!”
Kingdom rules: When a monster in attack position is destroyed by a card effect, its controller takes damage equal to half that monster’s original attack.
(Mai: 1100 LP→0)
“Semifinal elimination match, first round—winner: Yugi!”
The butler serving as referee announced, but all he received in response was silence.
“…”
A brilliant duel, cut short without warning by the Kingdom’s rules...