Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1894 First Exploration of the Overlord City

"Is that place the headquarters of the 'Overlord Army'?"

Sitting in the back of the [New Generation Fossil Motorcycle - Skull All-Terrain Vehicle], O'Brien frowned and looked at the dark city in the distance. "It's only been a few days, and the 'Overlord Army,' which was a disorganized mess before, has suddenly been organized—by that guy called 'Overlord' who suddenly appeared."

“According to Bagandy, that ‘Overlord’ only appeared three days ago. In just three days, he reunited the scattered ‘Overlord Army’ which originally belonged to different ‘Overlord Army Four Heavenly Kings’ and even re-selected the ‘Four Heavenly Kings’,” Jim said, driving the vehicle.

Among his fossil locomotives, this one isn't the safest or fastest, but it's the most suitable for traveling between this valley and the Gobi Desert. Even so, he still needs to drive carefully to avoid crashing into rocks and getting bumped around endlessly.

"Bagandy" is the name of a card spirit they encountered in the past two days—the [Absolute Defense General]. He's a man with a hearty laugh who uses an absolute defense called "Return to Heaven." He's currently fighting the "Overlord Army" to protect the village they just left, and thus formed a bond with Jim and O'Brien, who had narrowly escaped from the [Chaos Wizard] and were also fighting the "Overlord Army" while searching for Jaden and the others.

"However, after unifying the 'Overlord Army,' the 'Overlord' did not restrain the 'Guardian-Bao,' one of the former 'Four Heavenly Kings,' from his continuous conquests. Instead, he led the other members of the 'Overlord Army' to join the campaign, further expanding the 'Overlord Army's' invasion range and forcing more elves to leave their homes and flee to places farther away from the 'Overlord Army.'"

"Bagandi and the others were forced to gather together because of the recent actions of the 'Overlord Army.' However, given the 'Overlord Army's' expansion speed, even though they had previously moved to a remote location, their current village will soon be found and destroyed by the 'Overlord Army.'"

“In this process, compared to the past when some ‘Overlord Army’ would purposefully capture powerful duelists, the current ‘Overlord Army’ has become a pure and indiscriminate killing of ‘duelists’, but non-duelists are also killed. It’s as if they just found a reason to carry out the massacre.”

"What a dangerous guy."

Listening to Jim's thoughts, O'Brien said seriously, "But no matter what, the other side has at least maintained one habit, which is to still take the duelists they defeat to a certain place. Although, as Bagandy said, there has never been a precedent of those who were captured returning, if we want to find Jaden and the others, going deep into that 'Overlord Army' castle may be the only way."

O'Brien and Jim were separated from Jaden and the others at the Chaos Wizard's place due to a series of events. Three days have passed since that day. During these three days, they have been trying to find the others, but ultimately have no clues. They feel that they cannot betray their comrades and abandon their friends, but they are unwilling to go back like this.

No, it can't be said that there were no clues at all. At least during their search for Jaden and the others, the two heard about Jaden from a child named "Nero" whom they had rescued. He said that although he wasn't very sure, he had seen a winged Kuriboh appear in the territory of the current "Overlord Army".

Jim and the others thought that it must be the spirit of the important card monster of Jaden, Winged Kuriboh. If Winged Kuriboh appeared there, it basically meant that Jaden might be with the "Overlord Army".

—It's worth mentioning that Nero's grandfather looks a lot like an older version of Principal Samejima, especially his bald head, which has the exact same curve. He also has some of the physical features of Principal Ichinose from the Northern Branch School. When they rescued the grandfather and grandson from the "Overlord Army", Jim and O'Brien almost mistook them for each other.

Nero is one of the villagers protected by Bagandi. He saw the Winged Kuriboh last night, about six hours ago. Jim and the others took a short rest in Bagandi's village to recover from the fatigue of the continuous battles and long journey, so that they could challenge the Overlord Army in the best condition.

Taking into account the time needed for travel, they had already compressed the time to within eight hours as much as possible. While delaying further would allow for more thorough preparation, no one could guarantee that Jaden and his team could hold out for even longer.

However, Jim and O'Brien considered many possibilities for what would happen if they arrived in this land that had been incorporated into the "Overlords'" territory. For example, they might be besieged by the "Overlords' Army" as soon as they arrived and have to retreat in defeat, or they might manage to bypass the guards' patrols and sneak deep into the "Overlords' Army's" headquarters.

However, there was one situation they hadn't considered: even though they had driven quite a distance out of the valley, they hadn't seen a single member of the "Overlord Army" along the way.

The two didn't see Scar, the scout of the Dark Realm, who could attract ten or a hundred enemies with a single attack; the Goblin Assault Force didn't appear either; and even Becky, the vanguard of the Dark Realm who outnumbered the wild dogs on the roadside in the Overlord Army, wasn't spotted by the two. The two even drove their vehicle to a very close distance to the city where the Overlord Army's headquarters was located, but not a single guard appeared.

It's almost as if this place is completely deserted? That's just too strange.

Jim and O'Brien cautiously withdrew their rather noisy [New Generation Fossil Motorcycle - Skull All-Terrain Vehicle] from a distance and approached the city on foot. However, even after they reached the open gate, they still couldn't find any other living creatures.

"What? There's no human presence?" Jim was unsure of the situation and turned to look beside him, saying, "A trap?"

“I’m not sure, but we need to be more mentally prepared than before.” O’Brien shook his head in response to Jim’s question. “Although I’ve heard of tactics like the ‘empty city ploy,’ they’re more of a ‘deceptive’ tactic than actually setting up an empty city.”

“Now that things have come to this, it’s too late to feel uneasy and be afraid to go any further just because there’s no danger anywhere. We can only keep going.” Jim tightened the bandages binding the crocodile Karen on his back. “However, this might also be a good opportunity.”

“Let’s go, O’Brien bro, let’s go rescue our friend.” He paused, not forgetting to soothe the suddenly agitated crocodile Karen behind him, “Of course, you’re also an important friend of mine, Karen.”

"Yes, following orders is a mercenary's duty. You're the captain for this mission, so do as you see fit, Jim."

"Yes, thanks, O'Brien."

As they walked into the castle before them, although they still didn't encounter any guards, O'Brien and Jim quickly realized their mistake: this place didn't seem to be the "Overlord's Army's" headquarters, at least not this "castle." Rather than being the "Overlord's Army's" encampment, it was more accurate to say that this place, despite its large size, had been completely hollowed out and built as a prison.

Although this enormous prison contains numerous cells, each cell is completely empty, devoid of any living creature. Meanwhile, lava flows into the prison from a more distant location, forming a lava river that resembles the outstretched branches of a tree.

Counterintuitively, several of the lava flows did not flow downwards with gravity, but instead flowed upwards against gravity at several specific locations, reaching even higher up in this city-sized prison.

Rather than searching for the source of the lava river, Jim and O'Brien chose to first conduct a cursory search of the city they had already infiltrated, which resembled a prison. However, after following the flow of lava to find the path leading upwards and reaching the top floor of this prison city, Jim and O'Brien were somewhat dumbfounded, and continued their journey toward the unknown end with a solemn attitude.

What did they see?
“Are those Duel Disks floating in these lava pools?!” O’Brien swallowed hard as he caught sight of the orange-yellow thermal pools on both sides of the road, which were connected to the lava below.

Although the deck he was using was called "Volcano," it mainly referred to the fact that his monsters' attacks were like a volcano, and it didn't mean that he could get close to his "Volcano" monsters. Just standing in the open space in the middle of the scorching lava pool like this made him sweat profusely and his mouth dry.

Jim, on the other hand, had a serious expression and stared straight ahead with his one eye, trying his best not to look at the things on either side so as not to be affected by what he saw. But in the end, he couldn't help but speak out.

"Could those things all be duel disks?"

"Even Duel Monster cards were thrown into it and swallowed by the lava. What kind of place is this?"

At that moment, a voice suddenly answered Jim's mutterings, chuckling evilly, "Here? This is the holy land prepared by the great 'Overlord' to complete the card that houses that ultimate power. It's a sanctuary-level place where tens of thousands of duelists' souls have been sacrificed so far."

"Tens of thousands... Could it be that Judai and Marufuji were also among them?!" O'Brien could almost picture the scene of Judai and his friends' defeat. Jim stepped forward and shouted in the direction of the voice, "What are you talking about? Where did Judai go after he was captured?!"

"Hahaha, what a stupid question! Do you really think the legend of the 'Overlord' can be realized simply by conquering this 'Overlord City'?"

"The Dark Ruler 'Overlord' has taken three thousand years to reclaim his legend, three hundred years to cross dimensions, thirty years to be reborn, three years to regain his power, and three days to conquer the world once more." The voice emerged from the shadows before Jim and O'Brien. "And this is the starting point for the rebirth of that great one's legend. Those who will come here, where do you think you are now?"

The monstrous creature with an ugly appearance, wearing a tattered white coat, was the owner of the voice. He stood in front of Jim and O'Brien, and despite facing these two intruders, he had an arrogant and composed attitude.

"Here, Lord 'Overlord' is victorious in every battle. Use your stupid brains to think—is there any other creature here that you're looking for? Look at these two sides and you should understand. The consequence of losing a duel here is that they will all become nourishment for Lord 'Overlord,' and any loser is destined to be swallowed by the magma here!"

"Not a single person was left behind?" Jim looked around, unable to believe this place had been used for such a cruel sacrifice. Had they arrived too late after all? Damn it, if they had known the defenses here were so weak, if they had come an hour earlier...
As Jim lamented, [Mediocre Ghost] grew even more contemptuous: "Hehehehe, you guys are really stupid. If even one person were left, it wouldn't be considered a 'complete victory,' would it? The 'Overlord Army' is very pragmatic, you know. Even if that lord claimed to be the 'Overlord' as soon as he returned, if he hadn't demonstrated genuine strength and an undefeated record, how could the originally unruly 'Overlord Army Four Heavenly Kings' have submitted to him?"

"Ah, calling them the 'Four Heavenly Kings' isn't quite right. After all, Lord 'Overlord' himself has already personally removed two former 'Four Heavenly Kings,' and the two who are now here are just substitutes to make up the numbers. But I feel that I, [Mediocre Ghost], should be able to earn half of the title of 'Four Heavenly Kings' just by suggesting to Lord 'Overlord' that we complete that ultimate card here."

Seeing that [Mediocre Ghost] suddenly started rambling on about other unrelated things, O'Brien denied it, saying, "There's no need to believe such garbage nonsense as Jaden losing a duel here and dying. I think it's better to believe that Jaden was never captured at all."

“Yes, I also think Jaden isn’t that easy to kill. At least in the Duel Monsters world, he’s not the kind of character who loses easily.” Jim nodded to O’Brien and agreed with him. “Why don’t we follow the clues Nero gave us and find out where Jaden’s Winged Kuriboh might be?”

"Trash? They actually called me trash? Unforgivable!" Seeing that Jim and O'Brien completely ignored the great one and even mocked him as trash, [Mediocre Ghost] was furious. "As for finding other elves? Hmph, this place is the territory of the 'Overlord Army,' how could there be any other beings besides them? In fact, because Lord 'Overlord' doesn't like being confined to one place and prefers to fight, the 'Overlord Army' is now launching a full-scale attack southward. There are no other soldiers left in this castle except for me."

"South? Oh no! That's the direction where Bagandy and the others are!" They hadn't seen any "Overlord Army" along the way because they had just missed the "Overlord Army" that was on its way to war? Jim looked at O'Brien with some seriousness and said, "It seems we have to move faster. If possible, it would be best to go back and support Bagandy and the others."

"Yes, I agree."

"Hey, ignoring Lord [Mediocre Demon] is an even bigger crime! I hate being ignored!" The enraged [Mediocre Demon] shouted as Jim and O'Brien seemed about to turn and leave. "Besides that Ultimate Power, I have other research too. [Giant Mediocre Demon], stop them!"

"boom!"

Suddenly, a mechanical creation leaped out of the lava pool and blocked the entrance to the cave where Jim and his group were entering. It was a mechanical monster whose overall shape was a completely enlarged version of the "Mediocre Ghost," and its appearance was simply bizarre.

"Hmph, I won't engage in such vulgar battles here. Let's duel! This is the way a master like me fights!" Raising his duel disk and using his creations to block the way, forcing Jim and the others to accept his duel, [Mediocre Ghost] confidently declared, "By making you all part of Lord 'Overlord's' power here, no one should ignore me anymore!"

"Tsk, no time to waste on such trash. I'll finish this quickly, O'Brien." Nodding to O'Brien, Jim unfolded his duel disk and accepted the duel invitation from [Mediocre Ghost].

"Duel!" x2
Looking at the cards in his hand, [Mediocre Ghost] felt he had a huge advantage and confidently said, "I will win!"

　Thank you to reader "Starry Night Illusion" for the 500 points!
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