Chapter 51: The Masked Sorcerer

Realizing the correct way to open the door to the Spirit World, Yuxuan felt significantly less nervous. He pondered for a moment; he had entered through the stone slab in the ruins, but upon arriving, there was no sign of anything resembling a slab nearby, nor any kind of door.

So, how was he supposed to return?

He thought for a moment and looked toward his spirit companion. "Silent, what do you think?"

The Silent Magician shook her head, seemingly without any clue either. After all, the Spirit World was vast, and although collectively referred to as the Spirit World, it was actually divided into many different dimensions. This place did not seem to be a dimension she was familiar with. However, she tilted her head in thought for a moment, then pointed toward a spot not far beneath the small hill.

Following the direction of her finger, Yuxuan looked over and discovered that it actually looked quite like a town.

"I see. Shall we inquire with the local spirits?"

Indeed, there was temporarily no better option. In the anime, ordinary inhabitants of the Spirit World were generally quite friendly, and the locals might know of a way out.

Yuxuan walked around the slope and arrived at the town. The streets were paved with bluestone, bearing the mottled imprints left by the passage of time. The buildings were constructed of white brick and stone, their windows inlaid with colored glass, and their walls carved with intricate totoms, patterns, and certain text symbols he could not recognize.

The eerie part was that not a single soul was visible in the city.

The shops stood lonely and desolate, doors and windows tightly shut. Hanging shop signs swayed gently in the breeze, and a light wind stirred up fallen leaves, making a rustling sound.

"Is this normal in the Spirit World?" Yuxuan asked.

The Silent Magician shook her head, gripping her staff tightly with a vigilant expression. Judging by this sight, it was clearly far from normal.

Guarding his flank, the two of them continued forward. After walking for about a few minutes, they heard some strange noises coming from behind a row of buildings.

Without changing his expression, Yuxuan followed the sound into an alley, deciding to hide in the shadows to observe the situation first. He saw a few small spirits running frantically for their lives. He recognized only one of them—a tiny figure with a giant key slung over its shoulder, making it quite distinct. In the Duel Monsters card game, that was Key Mace, a level-one vanilla monster with 400 attack points.

Chasing closely behind these spirits were black goblins similar to the ones he had just seen. The goblins rushed forward, shrieking weirdly and continuously drawing their bows to loose arrows.

The arrows seemed to be imbued with a certain magic; the spirits struck by them immediately uttered a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground, instantly transforming into heavy stone slabs with a loud thud.

Yuxuan was shocked. Goodness gracious, getting hit by those arrows turned you directly into a card?

He just wondered if it only worked on spirits.

Thinking of his recent experience in the forest, a lingering fear welled up in him. That was close, too close. Fortunately, I was more skilled and drew my Mirror Force fast enough...

From the look of it, the spirits originally living in this town had likely been attacked by an outside race, and probably all turned into stone slabs, which was why the place seemed completely deserted.

Suddenly, Silent became alert and dashed to guard his rear. Yuxuan turned around to see that a squad of black goblins had appeared at the mouth of the alley behind them at some unknown time.

"Boss, it's him!" a goblin shrieked in a high-pitched voice. "It's a duelist! A duelist has broken into our territory!"

The goblin ranks parted to the sides, clearing a path. A masked monster spirit with a sinister aura slowly walked out.

Yuxuan remembered seeing this monster before.

Masked Sorcerer.

A monster card used by Malik's subordinates, the Light and Darkness Masked brothers, in DM, a level-four vanilla monster with 1500 attack points.

However, the combat power of the spirit didn't seem very important at the moment. Because at a single glance, he noticed that this spirit was different from all the others.

He wore equipment similar to a Duel Disk on his arm.

"To think there would be an outside duelist." The sorcerer snorted. "But since you dare to trespass into the domain of our god, you must have already prepared yourself to become an offering."

He waved his hand, dismissing his underlings, and unfolded his Duel Disk with a clatter.

Or rather, although it was equipment similar to a Duel Disk, compared to the distinctly technological equipment in the real world, this one had a more biological feel, looking as if it were constructed of flesh and blood and had grown right out of his arm.

"The outcome between duelists can only be decided through the ritual of combat. All you underlings fall back; this fellow is mine."

"Tch, of course it's time to play cards again."

Yuxuan knew very well that duels in the Spirit World were akin to Shadow Games, combat rituals that decided life and death. It looked like he had to play cards, but there seemed to be only this one spirit present who knew how to play. As long as he dealt with this one, the rest were just small fry.

"Let's duel!" x2

Yuxuan: LP 4000
Masked Sorcerer: LP 4000

"The first turn begins with me. Draw."

The sorcerer secured the random first turn.

"I set one monster on the field, plus one set card. Turn end."

It was a relatively conventional opening.

But his goblin underlings had already started beating drums and gongs behind him.

"Master Sorcerer's magic is boundless!"
"To think you dare challenge Lord Sorcerer, you're finished."
"..."

Yuxuan ignored the mental harassment from the grunts. "My turn, draw."

He sent one card from his hand to the graveyard and revealed another.

"The effect of 'The Trickster' in my hand. Although this card is a level five monster, it can be Special Summoned directly by discarding one card from the hand. Therefore, I discard a card from my hand to Special Summon 'The Trickster'!"

The Trickster: ATK 2000

"Then, the card I just discarded to the graveyard is the Quick-Play Spell 'Silent Burning'."

The card that had just entered the graveyard automatically exited the graveyard zone of the Duel Disk amidst a flash of golden light.

"By banishing this card from my graveyard, I can add one 'Silent Magician' monster from my deck to my hand. Therefore, I banish 'Silent Burning' to add 'True Silent Magician' from my deck to my hand."

Yuxuan searched his deck and then slapped down the next card.

"I Normal Summon 'Breaker the Magical Warrior'!"

Breaker the Magical Warrior: ATK 1600

"When 'Breaker the Magical Warrior' is successfully Summoned, place one Spell Counter on it, and its attack points increase by 300. However, I am going to activate its other effect. By removing its own Spell Counter, I destroy the set card in your backrow."

Breaker swung his sword forward, and a magical sword-ki whirled toward the sorcerer's backrow.

With a wave of his hand, the sorcerer declared, "Then I activate my set card, the Quick-Play Spell 'Scapegoat'. Special Summon four 'Sheep Tokens' to my field."

Four lazy sheep of various colors jumped onto the sorcerer's field.

Sheep Token: DEF 0 x4

"During the turn I activate 'Scapegoat', I cannot Summon any other monsters, nor can these sheep be used as Tributes for a Tribute Summon." He paused, chuckling softly. "Of course, this is not my turn, so I wouldn't be able to Summon anyway."

Yuxuan thought to himself that indeed, this era was still so simple; if it wasn't your turn, you couldn't summon. If this were modern Yu-Gi-Oh, reading essays for three to five minutes during the opponent's turn would be the norm.

"Then I offer 'Breaker the Magical Warrior', which has already used its Spell Counter, as a Tribute."

Breaker's body turned into golden light, swirling down into a magic circle opening up on the ground. A holy, gentle white light burst forth, and stars seemed to gather at the center of the magic circle as a slender figure stepped out slowly. A white robe fluttered gently in the breeze, and silver hair flowed in the cold light, shimmering with a faint luster.

"Silent Magician, Summon!"

True Silent Magician: ATK 1000

"Silent Magician cannot be Normal Summoned, but can be Special Summoned by Tributing any Spellcaster-type monster on your field," Yuxuan said. "Furthermore, Silent Magician's attack points increase by 500 for each card in my hand. Right now, I have three cards in my hand, so its attack points increase by 1500."

Silent Magician: ATK 1000 -> ATK 2500

The goblins watching from the sidelines immediately fell into an uproar.

"Summoning two monsters with over two thousand attack points on the first turn!"

The sorcerer remained calm, merely saying coldly, "Quiet."

The grunts immediately dared not make a sound.

"..."

"Entering the Battle Phase," Yuxuan commanded. "Silent Magician and The Trickster, attack the two 'Sheep Tokens' respectively."

Naturally, the sleepy little sheep could not withstand the pincer attack of the two spellcasters, and instantly both sheep were blown to smithereens one after another.

"Then I set one card in the backrow. Turn end."

Silent Magician: ATK 2500 -> ATK 2000