Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Chapter 1849 Five-Year-Old Devil—I'm No Longer a Three or Four-Year-Old Child

"Caesar, Edward!"

Jaden pounded on the entrance to the shelter, which had been collapsed and resealed by the monsters of Caesar and Edward. He gritted his teeth, and the words that the Wandering Hero - Freed had said before echoed in his ears once again.

"If I had enough power..."

In Jaden's eyes, amber light expanded again, attempting to completely cover his original brown pupils.

“I understand how you feel, but we can’t let your companions’ sacrifice be in vain.” [Wandering Hero - Fried] patted Jaden on the shoulder and said, “We should set off, once again.”

Jaden knew that what the "Wandering Hero - Freed" said was true, but he had heard the same words many times before, and some of them, even if true, were still so hard to agree with.

Last time, despite Manjoume's urging, Judai stubbornly chose to support [Wandering Hero - Freed]. [Wandering Hero - Freed] lacked the ability to deal with the aerial combat of [Dark Sword of the Dark Demon World], and Judai's support did change his fate of only being able to die, but the price of this change was that Edward and Caesar had to stay behind to cover their retreat.

Judai nodded silently. This time, he chose to follow the other party's suggestion and head in another direction from the shelter.

Even after Judai and his companion left through another exit, the sounds of battle continued to echo along the shelter's passageway from the other side of the mountain. This indicated that Caesar and Edward still had the strength to fight, but it also meant that they had not yet ended the battle and had probably been dragged into a protracted war by the arriving "Overlord Army."

Since Manjoume and his group were leading the villagers to evacuate and couldn't be found by the "Overlord Army," they naturally didn't leave any obvious traces that could be tracked after leaving the area around the shelter, since the villagers didn't have any supplies.

However, the lack of conspicuous marks did not mean that Judai and his group could not find out where Manjoume and the others had gone. Although Judai did not participate in the discussion before the evacuation began, he was still listening in and knew which direction they would go after they left.

Upon opening her terminal, Judai saw several missed communication messages. Because of the distance that had grown, and in this world where there were no base stations for relaying signals and communication relied entirely on "BtoB" connections between terminals, Asuka could no longer call Judai. In the end, she could only send Judai a few messages to inform her that Caesar and Edward had set off to provide support, and that they had no choice but to set off, their destination being the place they had originally agreed upon.

Switching to the chat interface, Jaden opened the hand-drawn map that O'Brien had previously sent to the group. He first checked their current location after leaving the shelter, and then looked at another location that had been marked in advance.

"This location, between the 'Overlord Army' camp near the town and their fortress?"

Because he was busy changing equipment and preparing to risk his life to buy time, [Wandering Hero - Fried] did not participate in the discussion with Jaden and the others, so he was naturally unaware of the direction they planned to go. This was also to be on the safe side, since the information he provided earlier mentioned that there were spellcasters like [Dark World Strategist - Grin] in the "Overlord Army". No one could guarantee that the "Overlord Army" would not have mind-reading or torture techniques.

Having already resigned himself to certain death, [Wandering Hero - Fried] naturally had no need to know the escape route, thus reducing even the slightest possibility of information leakage.

However, he was unaware of the plan the others had discussed, but he could read maps. After all, the map was drawn by O'Brien based on the information he provided, and he immediately recognized the destination of the others that Jaden had found for their evacuation.

"So that's how it is, the so-called 'blind spot' tactic? As long as we surround the 'Overlord Army' that's closing in on the shelter from the outside, the direction where their previous camp was located will become the direction with the least search effort." The once-undefeated general, [Wandering Hero - Fried], also understood the group's strategy for setting up an extraction point. "After that, as long as we leave through the gap between the garrison troops in the camp and the patrol troops at another 'Overlord Army' fortress, we can escape danger."

"It's just escaping danger." Judai shook his head, glancing at the "Overlord Army" camp not far from the evacuation point. "Besides, that place..."

“That’s enough.” Noticing that Jaden was looking at another location on the map as if he had something on his mind, [Wandering Hero - Freed] said, “I was prepared to sacrifice myself, but your companion saved my life. I’ll take over the villagers’ affairs after we reunite. You also want to go to that place because of what Raz said, right?”

"...You noticed." Judai looked up at [Wandering Hero - Freed] and nodded. "The person Mr. [Raz] mentioned, I don't know if it's John. O'Brien and the others also advised me that the current intelligence is insufficient, and even if they were captured, the 'Overlord Army' doesn't seem to intend to kill the prisoners immediately but rather to gather them in one place. The person who resembles John won't be in any danger in the short term..."

“But I can’t wait any longer, I can’t wait any longer.” Jaden said, reaching out to grab his collar. “I’ve always been moving forward on instinct. If I knew John was likely here and I went around him, I would become unable to run forward anymore—and I would never be able to get to John.”

"...It sounds like John is a very important friend of yours."

"It's not just about being friends. More importantly, the responsibility for John's current predicament lies entirely with me."

【Wandering Hero - Freed】Looking at Jaden, he sighed and said, "Taking all the responsibility on your own shoulders will crush you. The heroes of fantasy can be omnipotent, but in reality, human strength has its limits."

"—Found it." After saying this, [Wandering Hero - Freed] suddenly looked in a direction, signaling Judai to wait there for a moment. He jumped down from the rocky ground, crouched low, and approached in that direction. About ten seconds later, he appeared, leading two strangely shaped ducks.

(Sonic Duck)

"This is... [Sonic Duck]?" Jaden blinked, barely recognizing the green duck, taller than a person and with an iron bucket on its head, as the classic Duel Monster—[Sonic Duck]. "Why are there these monsters here? And why did you bring them here at this time, Mr. Fried?"

"Although it is a remote town, there used to be a business of raising Sonic Ducks, which supported many people in the town. However, when the Overlord Army first attacked the town, a considerable number of the Sonic Ducks were taken away by the Overlord Army along with the captured members of the Iron Knights."

Having already mounted the Sonic Duck, the Wandering Warrior Fried patted the neck of his vehicle and said, "These two are the only 'survivors' left in town. However, due to space limitations in the shelter, we had to release them. But it seems that because they have lived in the town since they were young, they have been lingering around the town and haven't left. Luckily, they haven't been caught by the 'Overlord Army'."

"As for what they do... well, as you can see right now, they're highly efficient vehicles for getting around. While the riding experience might not be great, they're definitely fast, allowing us to meet up with the others more quickly. You need to find that guy named John as soon as possible, right?"

(Sonic ducks that walk at supersonic speeds, birdmen that fly at Mach 5—the bird-beast race is full of talented people!)

"I see, thank goodness you were here, Mr. Fried..." Judai said gratefully, suddenly realizing. "Then let's not delay any longer and set off now!"

Although it was Jaden's first time riding Sonic Duck, he had experienced riding an ostrich abroad before, and the two were quite similar in size. However, when Sonic Duck started to move and galloped away at an out-of-control speed, even Jaden had to hold on tightly to the red scarf on Sonic Duck's body, which served as a rein, to avoid being thrown off.

Meanwhile, [Wandering Hero - Freed] sat quite steadily, looking rather experienced, urging the "duck" to follow closely behind Jaden, occasionally reminding him which direction to turn.

Considering that the Sonic Duck would easily kick up dust and reveal its presence when it moved, Jaden and Freed were worried along the way. However, perhaps due to their good luck, or perhaps because the shelter had attracted enough attention, Jaden and Freed were not discovered by the Overlord Army until they were about to reach the evacuation point. They caught up with Manjoume and the others who had evacuated earlier without any major incident.

However, for the last stretch of the journey, [Wandering Hero - Freed] suggested to Jaden that they leave [Sonic Duck] first and let it escape in another direction, while the two of them would walk to catch up with Manjoume. Previously, because [Warrior - Raz] found the shelter but instead revealed its location to the "Overlord Army", [Wandering Hero - Freed] was worried that the fact that they hadn't encountered any danger along the way was because the other party was using the same trick again and had learned from their mistake.

After watching Sonic Duck leave, Jaden and Freed the Wanderer continued their journey, but just as they were about to approach the designated evacuation point where the others were, a loud noise suddenly came from that direction!

"boom!"

Amidst the roar and explosions, two figures, one golden and one silver, fled from that direction, heading directly towards where Judai was. Their conversation reached Judai and the others.

(The two brilliant duo from the dark world: Why would we duel with you when we can kill you head-on?)

"Hey, Gold, this isn't what I expected!" complained the gaunt silver demon—[Sylva, the God of War of the Dark World]. "How come this brat from another world is so adapted to the rules here? He summoned monsters to attack us right from the start!"

"There are too many unplanned things. [Zul] hasn't been killed yet, and his stuff hasn't been released." The strong golden demon—[Gold, the God of War of the Dark Realm]—ran quickly with his axe in hand. "If it weren't for the orders from the big shots above, I wouldn't be doing this kind of messy mission that I hate the most!"

"Let's not talk about that now, we need to hurry—"

"[Guardian of Solemnity - Guardian of Law]!" "[Dark Armed Dragon]!" "[Mesozoic Fossil Knight - Skeleton Knight]!"

Behind the two demons, Jin, Manjoume, and Asuka summoned their respective monsters, boarded them, and chased after the two.

"We absolutely cannot let these two leave, or our information about this place will be exposed!" Asuka said, her face filled with murderous intent. "Then, Judai won't be able to find this place!"

"Also remember not to kill the opponent directly, otherwise, like with the previous [Scout of the Dark Realm - Scar], this place will be exposed!" Jim reminded him.

"I don't need you to remind me of that!" Manjoume said casually. "But this kind of setup is really disgusting. We can't kill them, and we can't let them go—so, the only way is to knock them to the ground and render them incapacitated!"

"Fools, do you think you can catch us?" Despite being chased, [Sylva, the God of War of the Dark World] still arrogantly mocked Manjoume and the others behind him. "We are different from those lower-level [Dark World] beings you encountered before. We are high-level beings of level 5!"

"Don't spout those five-year-old brat talk like you're not a three or four-year-old!" While grumbling at his companion, [Dark Realm Martial God - Gold] remained resolute, lowering his voice to tell his partner, "This direction leads to the camps of [Zul] and [Dark Sword]. They definitely won't dare follow us. Even if they do get close, we can take the opportunity to release something from that camp to affect those brats!"

"—Although I don't know what you're talking about, you've missed your chance!"

A voice interrupted the conversation between the Gold and Silver Demons. They were startled by the sudden appearance of the figure in front of them, but after realizing that the person blocking their way was also a brat, they became somewhat dismissive.

"Although I don't know where they took the shortcut to surround us..." [Sylva, the God of War of the Dark World] sneered arrogantly, "but they're just a brat—they haven't even summoned an elf yet, they're too green!"

"Don't be careless, Sylva!" [Gold, the God of War of the Dark World] was quite cautious. "It's best to be careful. There's no need to fight him. Just go around him from both sides!"

"Don't even think about it!" Jaden heard their words clearly, and suddenly pulled a card from his Duel Disk. His amber eyes swirled, and the card in his hand also exuded a menacing aura.

(In the original work, after defeating the Kamen Rider, Jaden began to have heterochromia, and his evil doctrines were implanted into other people's bodies.)

Even though no monster was summoned, the mere act of Jaden drawing a card caused the two demons, Gold and Silver, to pause and exchange a glance.

"You think the same thing, don't you, Sylva?"

"That's right, the aura emanating from this brat is far too dangerous."

"So, before he summons his spirit—" "—Let's take him down first!"

Jaden casually slapped the cards onto the Duel Disk, reflecting on the events of the past few days—Professor Cobra's death, Amon's control, John's uncertain fate, Edward and Caesar staying behind to cover the retreat... For a brief moment, one of his eyes was completely covered by the emerging amber color.

On the card on the Duel Disk, [E·hero Neos] appeared instantly without any process, as if he had always been there. However, the energy orb on his body did not shine as brightly as before, but was instead somewhat dark. There were even a few black lightning bolts on his body that quickly dissipated when he appeared.

"Neos!" Judai himself didn't realize that his voice was somewhat cold as he coldly commanded his "Hero," "—Take care of them."

The golden axe swung by [Gold, the God of War of the Dark World] and the silver blade thrust by [Sylva, the God of War of the Dark World] were both blocked by an invisible force when they touched [E. Hero Neos], and the attacks failed to achieve any effect. Meanwhile, [E. Hero Neos], under Jaden's command, raised his hands and grabbed the heads of the golden and silver demons respectively, and then—

A powerful hand splits the skull!

The attack was executed with perfect precision. [E·hero Neos] vanished from Jaden's sight, while the Gold and Silver Demons, having lost the hands that held their heads, collapsed helplessly to the ground, their horns and armor broken and deformed. They fell into a complete coma, their bottom line being that they were "not dead."

Taking a deep breath, Judai tried to calm the inexplicable anger that had just surged in his heart, and gave Asuka and the others a smile that was no different from any other day: "Sorry, everyone, I'm late."

Chapter 1850 What's the point of risking your life for just a few hundred yuan a month?

Cold, without shivering...

When [Gold, the God of War of the Dark Realm] awoke, he realized he was lying on the cold ground. Without revealing that he had woken up, he quietly opened his eyes and found [Sylva, the God of War of the Dark Realm] lying not far from him, while he heard voices from another direction.

Lying motionless on the ground, [Gold, the God of War of the Dark World] was concentrating, intending to listen to what those people were saying—

"Really? Caesar and Edward..."

"Mr. Fried has already led the villagers to their next destination. Although there is a suspicion that he is using us as bait to attract attention, we can indeed prepare to go to the 'Overlord Army's' camp next."

"However, it's always better to be safe than sorry. It would be great if there were a place where we could gather intelligence."

"I think we should have prisoners who can help us."

"Aren't two prisoners a bit too many? We'll be exposing ourselves to cover Mr. Fried and his men anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to kill one of them now, would it?"

"Just pick one, there's no difference, right?"

Upon hearing this, [Gold, the God of War of the Dark World] knew he couldn't pretend to be unconscious any longer. If he continued to feign unconsciousness and was accidentally struck by the other party, it would be too unjust for him to die!

"Wait a minute, the information we have is different!" "There's a difference, there's a difference!"

After saying that, [Gold, the God of War of the Dark Realm] was stunned for a moment, because he had only said one sentence, so why were there two voices at the same time? Turning his head, he saw that [Silva, the God of War of the Dark Realm] had also sat up, just like him. It turned out that he had thought the same thing and had also been pretending to faint!

"They've already woken up?" The man who had just said he wanted to kill one of the prisoners—Manjou—raised an eyebrow, but showed no surprise. "You seem to have heard what we were saying?"

“That would be perfect, saving us the trouble of having to say it a second time.” Jim’s one eye looked at the Gold and Silver Demons, who were still in a miserable state because of the previous attack by Jaden. “We need a prisoner who can betray your comrades and reveal information to us, but we only need one—who do you think is the best candidate to survive?”

“I think—” [Shaiva, the God of War of the Dark Realm] was about to say something when [Gold, the God of War of the Dark Realm] suddenly stopped him. Neither of them were fools; the other party was clearly using the concept of “the only prisoner” to sow discord between them, causing them to fight amongst themselves, thus achieving a different kind of “torture,” and perhaps even obtaining the information they needed along the way.

The smarter a person is, the less they want to get entangled in convoluted schemes. [The God of War of the Dark World - Gold] bluntly stated: "Those kinds of provocations are useless. Our combination is not so easily subject to a crisis of trust. There's no need to test us with 'only one can live.' If you want to get information from us, just make a deal—exchange our safety for it."

The seemingly cunning [God of War of the Dark World - Sylva] was actually the more reckless one, while the muscular [God of War of the Dark World - Gold] was far more intelligent. Their titles, "God of War" and "God of War," were also quite deceptive. Faced with Gold's current attitude, Wan Zhangmu frowned: "Trying to negotiate with us? Do you think you're qualified to negotiate when we could kill you at any moment?"

“Our lives don’t carry that weight, but I think some of the information we have carries enough weight,” said [Gold, the God of War of the Dark World] calmly, though cold sweat was actually dripping from his palms.

O'Brien asked Judai, "So what do you want to do, Judai? They are prisoners you captured, so it's best if you deal with them."

All eyes, including those of the Gold and Silver Demons, were focused on one direction: Judai, who had just been comforting Marufuji Sho after losing his brother, sat there silently, looking at the Gold and Silver Demons under everyone's gaze.

If the Dark God of War - Gold was able to maintain his composure just now, now that he was staring directly at Judai, cold sweat was streaming down his forehead as he could no longer contain his panic. The Dark God of War - Sylva, who had been somewhat restless, was now holding his breath and not daring to make a sound.

—What's going on? It's just a human brat from another world. Even though we were instantly killed by it in one move, it shouldn't be this scary, right? It's like our bodies are instinctively showing fear and submission to it?

"...I don't know either. But if what they say is true, those who know different information should perhaps be kept, because we need to increase the chances of rescuing John, even if it's just by a hair's breadth." Judai said seriously, looking at the two demons in front of him.

Rescuing John is his current obsession. Just arriving here with [Wandering Hero - Fried] and reuniting with the others has already made him very anxious. Now he just wants to get specific information about John from [Dark World Martial God - Gold] and the others as soon as possible.

Throughout this process, although the various experiences made Jaden's mental state worse, he suppressed everything with his determination to achieve his goal, making him appear normal on the surface.

"Did you hear that? So now, tell us your so-called 'different information,' and neither Jaden nor we will kill you." Seeing Jaden start to drift off after speaking, Fubuki knew he was getting impatient and urged [Dark World's War God - Gold] and the others to hurry up.

They exchanged a glance, and [Sylva, the God of War of the Dark World] spoke first: "Although we are working together as a pair, as superiors of the [Dark World], we have different duties and responsibilities, and the information we know is naturally different."

“Gold primarily liaises with higher-ups, while I’m responsible for assigning missions to an army composed of lower-ranking individuals. Our combination acts as a middleman between the upper and lower levels of the ‘Overlord Army.’” After a pause, [Shadow God of War - Sylva] glanced at Judai, relieved that he wasn’t impatient with her explanation of seemingly unrelated information, and quickly moved on to the main topic.

"The prisoners you mentioned, held in the nearby camps, were captured and gathered by the 'Overlord Army' from the surrounding area. However, we don't keep records of prisoners and slaves, so if possible, you'd better provide specific details about their appearance—"