Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Marufuji Sho, Caesar Ryo, and Ed Phoenix followed the direction O'Brien had fled from, heading straight for the Overlord City where the Overlord Army was gathered.

After glancing at the three departing figures, O'Brien had no intention of following them. He followed his true feelings, turned around, and fled to a more distant place.

In his eyes, the three men heading towards the Overlord City were undoubtedly going to their deaths, because how could anyone possibly defeat "that person"?
O'Brien didn't know what their psychology was like, but he was at least clear about what he was thinking right now. Undoubtedly, his body trembled at the mere thought of "Ba" or "that person," completely dominated by the emotion called "fear."

'Is my body being consumed by terror?'

Looking at his hands, trembling so much he could barely hold anything, even the weight of the gun-shaped dueling disk at his waist felt like an unbearable burden for O'Brien.

In the past, he would check the condition of his weapons every day, test fire them to confirm they were working properly, and maintain a good habit of regular maintenance. But now, let alone disassembling the dueling disc and test firing, even pulling out the dueling disc was difficult because his hands trembled, causing the muzzle to waver, and his weak fingers were unable to pull the trigger.

O'Brien even realized that after attempting to draw his gun, he didn't know when he had dropped the Duel Disk on the ground, as if he was afraid of using the Duel Disk to fight and the terror and despair that fighting would bring.

He didn't even dare to bend down and pick up the Duel Disk. He turned his head away, afraid that just glancing at it would bring battle and death upon himself, and also afraid that seeing the Duel Disk would remind him of the dead Jim.

On his escape, O'Brien encountered several scattered members of the Overlord Army. Witnessing their acts of plunder and destruction, O'Brien had no intention of stopping them. In fact, when he discovered the presence of the enemy, he used his experience as a mercenary to escape quickly and find a place to hide, not daring to fight them at all.

The mere thought that he hadn't escaped the territory of the Overlord Army and that he might be killed by them at any moment filled O'Brien with deep fear.

Across the pitch-black sky, where even moonlight could not illuminate the land, O'Brien realized that he had been on the run for a whole day after once again evading a raiding force of the Overlord Army. Although he could still see the Overlord Army, their frequency had obviously decreased significantly, and the monsters they formed were not as powerful. Clearly, he had gradually escaped to the edge of "that person's" territory and seemed to be about to escape alive.

Even as the monsters' strength decreased, O'Brien still had no intention of fighting them. He didn't make excuses like "attacking one unit would attract more Overlords," because he knew very well that something called "Fear" had already taken root within him.

'Terror, the terror within me'

As the sound of iron hooves trampling the ground gradually faded into the distance, O'Brien remained huddled in the ruins of the building where he was hiding, afraid to show his face and be discovered.

After a while, he suddenly heard someone talking again.

Is this the direction?

"That's right, we sensed the presence of living people."

"There are actually people who survived. They're really lucky."

At first, the voices O'Brien heard were quite far away, but with the sound of flapping wings and footsteps, the voices grew closer and closer, and it seemed to O'Brien that they were moving towards his location!

The more O'Brien tried to remain quiet and avoid being noticed, the more difficult it became for him to breathe. He couldn't help but inhale more oxygen and breathe more deeply. His heartbeat became increasingly violent, whether due to the environment or because of the lack of oxygen, making it sound deafening to O'Brien.

(Cardiac Restoration - Physical Version)
Staring wide-eyed at the only entrance to his hiding place, O'Brien noticed that some of the light streaming into the room from outside had suddenly disappeared, as if blocked by something. He held his breath and covered his mouth tightly, afraid of attracting the attention of the person who seemed to have arrived outside—if he could, he would have squeezed his heart to stop it from beating so loudly!

"Click—" "Huh? Why is this door stuck and I can't push it open?"

"Let's try to break it open."

The voice at the door seemed to be a woman's, but the content of her words sent a chill down O'Brien's spine—the people outside were about to break in; they had really discovered him!

Even at this moment, O'Brien still couldn't muster the slightest courage to fight. Even realizing that the door was about to be broken down and that he was about to be discovered, what he did was to close his eyes in fear and pretend not to see anything!
"boom!"

The door was flung open, but O'Brien closed his eyes and huddled in fear of the unknown person outside. This time, however, without the door blocking his way, he heard a gentle female voice.

"Don't be afraid anymore, the Overlord Army has left, you're safe now."

"Eh?"

(CV: Kaori Araki, representative roles: Hikari Yagami in Digimon, Sabrina in Pokémon)

With a surprised expression, O'Brien slowly opened his eyes, only to find that the person who pushed open the door to find him was not one of the fierce Overlord Army soldiers he had imagined, but a blue-haired girl with feathered ribbons around her body and a trident in her hand.

—As I said before, judging by appearances is not encouraged, but it really works. At least the girl in front of O'Brien doesn't look like a member of the Overlord Army at all.

"You, aren't you the Overlord Army?"

"Yes, don't worry, I'm from the Overlord Resistance Organization, and I'm currently searching for a strong person who can fight against the Overlord." Patting her strong chest muscles, the girl smiled gently, "I am the [Sea God's Priestess], but my friends call me Xiang Hui."

(The animation looks much better than the card art—correspondingly, the pectoral muscles have shrunk a lot, and the clothes are more elaborate.)
"It was because these children sensed the presence of living people here that I was able to find you. So, are you injured? Do you need treatment?"

"We'll help you get treatment~" "All the pain will fly away~" "There's nothing to be afraid of anymore~"

Behind Kaori, the "Poseidon's Priestess," three tiny fairies emerged. The sound of flapping wings and the other voice that had been talking to Kaori seemed to have come from them. Although he was too terrified to fight, O'Brien hadn't lost his memory. He recognized the three fairies as Duel Monsters—the "Dancing Fairies"—possessing the ability to recover Life Points.

Looking at the person before him, O'Brien, recovering from his shock, casually sat down in the room where the owner clearly wouldn't return. Leaning against a bench that had been mostly broken down from a chair, he said dejectedly, "I don't need treatment; physical healing won't work on me. However, I can give you some advice." "Looking for someone who can fight 'that person'? Ha, I advise you to run for your life. It's a complete waste of time. There's no one in the world capable of fighting such a powerful being."

"Hmm? Does 'that person' refer to Overlord?" Xianghui thought for a moment and guessed.

Upon hearing this, the dancing fairies made no attempt to hide their contempt for O'Brien: "Wow, you're such a coward! You haven't even seen the Overlord's face yet, and you're already saying such discouraging things?"

“Who says I don’t know how strong ‘that person’ is?” O’Brien retorted on the spot. “My friend was killed by him right in front of me. He is 1000% more terrifying and despair-inducing than any of the most terrifying beings you can imagine!”

“I’m sorry, sir, I’m sorry to have brought back bad memories for you.” Hearing O’Brien’s words, Xiang Hui showed a look of pity and said with empathy, “I understand how you feel. These children feel the same way, because I, they, and everyone in the Overlord Resistance Organization all had important people killed by the Overlord Army.”

"So even if it's for the faintest hope, we must resist. If we don't try, the sacrifices of others that we bear on our shoulders will never be repaid. And how can we know we can't do it if we don't try?"

“O'Brien. O'Sin O'Brien.” After giving his name, O'Brien shook his head at Xiang Hui. “It’s no use. If there were even a 1% chance of defeating ‘that person,’ I could muster some spirit to fight back. But it’s impossible. Having witnessed his battles, I’m not one of those fools who don’t even know how to duel. The possibility of defeating ‘that person’ is less than 0.1%.”

"Hey, how much more of that weak, discouraging talk are you going to say?" The one with the worst temper among the [Dancing Fairies] glared at O'Brien. "If we don't have 0.1%, then let's go for 0.01%. Besides, even if one person can't do it, as long as we gather enough warriors, can't we double the possibility?"

"That's right, that's right. Although we haven't found any powerful warriors today, at least we found some weapons that the Overlord Army hadn't destroyed and that warriors used in battle. Maybe we'll find some strong ones tomorrow."

Listening to the words of the Dancing Fairies, O'Brien was about to say something like, "Numbers are useless against the Overlord; no matter how many people there are, it won't change the odds of winning." But when he saw what the Dancing Fairies were pointing at, he froze. The reason was simple: what the Dancing Fairies and the Sea God's Witch had picked up was clearly his own gun-shaped dueling disk.

"Mr. O'Brien, what's wrong?" Puzzled by the way O'Brien looked at the Duel Disk, Xiang Hui sensed fear and rejection in his eyes, yet something else was buried deep within them. She couldn't help but ask curiously, "Do you know the owner of this Duel Disk?"

"...Yes, I know that guy. He's just a coward whose mind and body are controlled by fear, and who can no longer fight." Shaming himself, O'Brien had no intention of acknowledging that it was his Duel Disk or taking it back.

"Hmph, do you think everyone is a coward like you? We can clearly feel a special fighting spirit on this duel disk. The person who uses it to fight should be a brave and determined warrior."

"Perhaps that person is the strongman we're looking for, someone who can fight the Overlord."

"Alright, Xianghui, there's no need for us to pay any more attention to this weak man who's full of pessimistic thoughts. Let's continue on our way and explore other places."

Faced with the urging of the [Dancing Fairies], Xiang Hui seemed a little embarrassed: "I'm sorry, Mr. O'Brien, we have to continue on our way. However, this place is not very safe, because even we were able to find it."

“If you want to find a place to hide, leave here and keep going until you reach the edge of the cliff. Our organization has built a small town there, which is safe—at least for now.”

Politely informing O'Brien of the location of their base, the [Sea God's Witch] caught up with the [Dancing Fairy] who had already floated away. During this time, she glanced back at O'Brien, tightened the package containing the Duel Disk on her back as if she wanted to ask something, but in the end, she said nothing and disappeared from O'Brien's sight.

"Snap—"

The broken chair couldn't hold on for long. O'Brien was just spacing out for a while when the chair finally collapsed, causing him to fall hard on his backside into the broken wood. But after getting up again, he dejectedly found a wall to sit on and sat there, sullenly hanging his head in despair.

"Sniff, sniff-"

In the silence, the sound of something sniffing its nose suddenly came through the air, accompanied by the crackling sound of a flame burning something.

O'Brien quickly found a spot to hide, and just then he saw several foxhounds with flames burning all over their bodies running towards him from a distance, occasionally lowering their heads to sniff the ground.

"Be careful, don't let anyone escape alive in this place." Behind the monsters acting as "hounds," followed a goblin army clad in armor and equipped with duel disks. "Leave no one alive, kill them all!"

'Damn it, the Overlord Army is going to wipe us out!' O'Brien's breath caught in his throat. No matter how skilled he was at stealth, his tricks were useless against the Overlord Army, who were letting canine monsters sniff him. He was doomed!

The foxhounds were getting closer and closer to his hiding place, which terrified O'Brien that he was about to be exposed. But just then, he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance of flowers that was almost gone.

That seems to be the scent left behind by the [Sea God's Witch] when she found me; it's the scent of her or someone among the [Dancing Fairies].
Several foxhounds sniffing around O'Brien's hideout suddenly reacted. After all, if even O'Brien could smell it, how much more so could they? Almost simultaneously, three or four foxhounds ran wildly in a certain direction, seemingly having found their target, and the goblin troops following them excitedly caught up.

—That direction seems to be the direction the [Sea God's Priestess] and the others just left in?!

As O'Brien watched the goblin troops depart, his heart gradually calmed down. Only when the last of the Overlord's army disappeared from sight did he finally breathe a sigh of relief, feeling incredibly fortunate to have escaped unscathed.

But he also knew he couldn't stay in this place any longer. No one knew if the goblins would come back and raid it again, and he couldn't expect his current luck to come his way again.

As for the "Sea God's Witches" and the others? I don't need their help, nor have I ever owed them any favors. In fact, I even kindly reminded them not to waste their time.

I am nothing but a cowardly and incompetent man who is afraid of fighting and whose fighting spirit has been devoured by "fear." The life and death of others are none of my business, nor do I have the ability to care.

That's right, that's exactly it. Back when Jim was around, I ran away too, so running away again this time is no big deal—

Coming to his senses, O'Brien found himself instinctively running, not in the direction away from the Overlord Army and the [Sea God's Witch], but following them!?
"Aaaaaaah! Damn it! Why did I have to do this?!"

(Same coughing sound from being startled) (End of Chapter)