Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"The Millennium Key, and the Millennium Cone!?" Isis stepped forward in shock, almost unable to believe her eyes. Not only was Priest Aknadi's Millennium Eye present, but the Pharaoh's Millennium Cone and Priest Shada's Millennium Key were also here! Just who were they?!

"The Dark High Priest..." Kaiba looked at the Dark High Priest, his eyes narrowing slightly. For some reason, Kaiba had the unsettling feeling that he had seen the Dark High Priest somewhere before. And as Kaiba gazed at the Dark High Priest, the Dark High Priest also looked at Kaiba, noticing his presence.

The seahorse's appearance and unique aura caused the Dark High Priest's gaze to linger for a moment longer, but he still looked away and turned to the only person in the group who remained calm, saying, "Hayato Kobayashi, you've finally arrived, and you've even brought me three more [Millennium Items]."

The Millennium Cone and Millennium Key are embedded in the stone slab. The Dark High Priest wears the Millennium Eyes, while Kalim and Isis possess the Millennium Scales and Millennium Jewelry, respectively. The Millennium Wisdom Wheel is on Hayato, which means that, apart from the Millennium Scepter that Set has, there are a total of six Millennium Items gathered here!

"Dark High Priest? Heh, what a boring title, but I can play along a little." Hayato knew that the Dark High Priest was the same person as the Priest Aknadi, but he wasn't in a hurry to reveal this information. Instead, he looked at the other party and said, "The Millennium Cone and the Millennium Key, you didn't steal them while Pharaoh and Priest Shada were unconscious, did you?"

The Dark High Priest nodded and admitted without hesitation, "That's right. Although the methods may seem despicable to you, it's all worth it as long as it achieves my goal."

“Stolen? How did this suspicious-looking fellow manage to sneak into the palace?” Hearing the Dark High Priest’s words, Kalim was also taken aback and subconsciously shifted the blame, “I understand, it must be that idiot Seth. I knew that guy couldn’t do the job the Pharaoh assigned him.”

Hearing Kalim's words, even though he knew that the other party was talking about the guy who inexplicably looked exactly like him, because his name was pronounced the same as the other party's name, Kalim's words felt like he was talking about himself. Kaiba snorted unhappily to show his dissatisfaction.

Unlike Kalim, Isis didn't have any issues with Set. She had a different idea: "Even if Priest Set was negligent in his security arrangements within the palace, Pharaoh and Priest Shada had heard from Hayato that they were injured and temporarily unconscious, right? There must have been guards protecting them."

"Could the Dark High Priest, who was able to drive away the guards protecting the Pharaoh and the priests, possibly be someone we know in the palace?"

Kalim replied without hesitation, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

“I, Kalim, have judged countless prisoners in my lifetime, so I can tell a person’s character by their smell.” Pointing at the Dark High Priest, Kalim said firmly, “This fellow is incredibly foul, reeking of something worse than vomit. I have never seen a more evil person!”

"Are you trying to tell me that this guy is someone I know, like a great person like Priest Aknadi?"

Kalim said again without hesitation, "Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Chapter 781: Using something when it's not appropriate is pointless.

"I'm more curious that this guy actually admitted to what he did so easily?" Maliku looked at the Dark High Priest and said with a contemptuous expression, "How stupid. This just gives us another reason to kill him."

"If it were me, I would definitely keep things to myself and would never tell the truth so easily."

"So you can only be a minor boss in a mid-length story, while he can be the final villain, a six-year-old." Hayato glanced at Mariko. "Besides, before you express your contempt for him, could you come out from behind me first?"

As they were talking, the Dark High Priest stepped down from the stone slab where he had been standing, standing at the same height as them. His voice was devoid of any emotion as he said, "The reason I'm answering your questions is because you've already come before me. Do you still think you can leave?"

"If you're going to kill me, this stone tablet would be better," the Dark High Priest said, as a stone tablet suddenly rose from the ground in front of him. "Rise, aggregate of resentment!"

"【Diabund】Yo!"

"What!?" Upon hearing the Dark High Priest's words, the four people except Hayato were immediately startled. From the stone slab that had risen from the ground, its edges inlaid with human skeletons, emerged a pair of strong arms, followed by a winged body and a snake-headed lower half. A monster they had seen many times before crawled out of the slab—it was Diaband!

Just as Hayato remembered, Diaband was the aggregation of the remaining hatred and vengeful spirits of the villagers who died unjustly in the Thieves Village and were refined into the Millennium Treasure. As long as this malice is not dispelled and the stone tablet is not destroyed, Diaband can be reborn infinitely even if it is destroyed time and time again.

However, that's all.

"The same trick won't work on Diaband. I can use that classic Saint Seiya line too." Hayato raised the Gladiator's Disk and said, "Having already killed Diaband once, he's probably regressed to his most primitive state. No matter how many times he can be resurrected, I'll still kill him!"

"Come forth, [Rathalos]!"

Seeing Hayato invoke the gods, Kalim couldn't help but say smugly to the Dark High Priest, "Hmph, you're doomed. Mr. Hayato's [Ra's Winged Dragon] is incredibly powerful, ranking at the very top among the three mythical beasts that guard the Pharaoh."

"I can take you down in less than a second!"

Accompanying Hayato's call and riding the flames was a cry, and Kalim was ready to continue praising Ra's Winged Dragon after its appearance. However, when the flames subsided, the Ra's Winged Dragon that appeared before them looked somewhat strange.

"Eek?"

The Winged Dragon Ra was also a little confused by the way the others were looking at it. Looking down, it found that it had inexplicably shrunk to a size not much larger than that of an ordinary bird!

"Hehe, I forgot to tell you, the stone slab behind me is a stone slab connected to the underworld. Each time a [Millennium Artifact] is embedded in it, a portion of the power sealed within it can be released."

"The Millennium Key, which represents 'life,' can absorb life. The bones you saw on it before were corrupted life forms transformed from this power," the Dark High Priest said calmly. "And the Millennium Cone, which can summon gods, has now granted me the ability to prevent your Divine Beast from casting its power down."

"This place is so far away from the royal city where the stone tablet containing the true form of the Divine Beast is placed, even the strongest [Radragon]'s power is only one-tenth of what it used to be. This is your doom!"

No sooner had the Dark High Priest finished speaking than Diaband took action, unleashing its attack on the group.

Immediately, Isis summoned the three-piece stone tablet monster to try and resist Diaband's "spiral wave". Although Diaband has now regressed to its initial state with much less power, in the past, Diaband in this state still single-handedly defeated the priestly group. At this moment, Isis alone could not stop Diaband, and all three monsters were annihilated and destroyed as soon as they appeared.

Isis stumbled back a few steps after the stone tablet monster was defeated, and Marik quickly caught her: "Hey, are you alright, Isis? Keep fighting! That monster is coming again!"

The second "Spiral Wave" was released, this time facing the [Thunder Dragon] summoned by Kalim. However, the result was the same after the target was changed. The "Spiral Wave" destroyed all three [Thunder Dragons], and Kalim followed in Isis's footsteps and fell down, and was supported by Maliku.

“Hey, Hayato Kobayashi, this isn’t the time to worry about trivial things like pride and honor.” Looking at Kaiba beside him, who, like himself, lacked the ability to summon monsters, and considering that Kalim and Isis were no match for Diaband, and Hayato’s power of Ra’s Winged Dragon of Ra was also being specifically restricted, Maric suggested, “We must run away immediately.”

"To put it another way, let's move to a different location to preserve our forces and find another way to defeat this guy!"

Hayato didn't turn around, but nodded with his back to Maric: "That's right, it's time to leave. So, Maric, Set, you two take Karim and Isis and leave here."

"What are you talking about? How could you possibly be a match for that monster without God!" Mariko was taken aback by Hayato's words and said anxiously, "I'm only urging you once. If you don't run away now, I won't wait for you. I value my life more than anyone else!"

"Hey, why don't you try to talk that idiot out of it!"

Maric turned to look at Kaiba, only to see Kaiba help Karim up. He turned back and said, "Fool, I know Hayato better than you do. He won't do anything without being absolutely certain. Besides, if he were just relying on the power of the gods, he wouldn't be a true duelist whom I can acknowledge."

"That's right, isn't it, Hayato?"

[Diabund] is charging up for his third attack. The energy he gathers creates a gust of wind that lifts Hayato's bangs. With his back to Kaiba, Hayato smiles and says, "Ah, that's true. Although I was a little reluctant to use it at first, a card is meaningless if you don't use it when you need to."

As he spoke, Hayato clenched his fist, and a new mark appeared on the gladiator disk, one square next to the Winged Dragon of Ra.

Just as Diaband's attack was about to be unleashed, Hayato suddenly punched the top of his head: "Now! Use Oyster Root for me, [Neptune - Aron]!"

The next moment, from below Diaband, a monster clad in golden armor materialized out of thin air, its clenched fist slamming Diaband's open mouth shut, and the energy of the "spiral wave" erupted from Diaband's own mouth.

"Oh!"

Chapter 782 The Death of Kalim (Part 1)

"【Netherworld】!?" Watching 【Netherworld King - Aron】 send the unsteady 【Diaband】 sprawling on his back with a rising dragon punch, the Dark High Priest frowned. "Is this all you've got, Kobayashi Hayato?"

Hayato replied, "You think sealing away Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra will defeat me? You're overestimating yourself. Let me make it clear, I'm incredibly strong!"

However, despite saying that, this was actually the first time Hayato had summoned the [Netherworld King - Arlong] to appear. After being sent to the "Chessboard World" by Meliamon in the world of the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel], Hayato had a vague feeling that something was calling to him and waiting for a response. Although he didn't try, Hayato already knew that it was the [Netherworld] monster that Meliamon had used.

At the time, Hayato still possessed [Dragon's Blessing], and since it was a monster of Meliamon, Hayato never planned to summon the [Netherworld] monster, as [Dragon's Blessing] and [Ra's Winged Dragon] were sufficient to handle most situations.

Unfortunately, he had defeated Bakura at the cost of exhausting the power of [Dragon's Radiance] in the Valley of the King's Long Sleep. Now, [Ra's Winged Dragon] has been specifically weakened by the Dark High Priest. Even though he was still reluctant, Hayato summoned [Lord of the Underworld - Aron] to help him.

However, even for [Netherworld King - Aron], suppressing [Diabund] was only due to the advantage of a surprise attack. He caught [Diabund] off guard and detonated his own attack to defeat himself. Such luck is unlikely to be repeated a second time.

Before the next attack arrives...

Hayato turned his head to look behind him and said, "Now that you've seen the trump card I don't want to reveal, then hurry up and leave with your men. Anyway, you're just a burden to me if you stay here."

"A burden? Hmph, you really dare to say that, Hayato. If my Blue Eyes were here..." Kaiba snorted defiantly, but still helped Kalim up and turned to move towards the exit. "Let you continue to show off for now. But this time it won't be like last time, right?"

Hayato knew that the last time Kaiba was referring to was the time with Anubis and the "Pyramid of Light," when he was dragged to another world by Anubis using the "Gate of Illusion" despite having been assured that everything would be alright, and then accidentally ended up joining Doma.

Turning his head away and not meeting Kaiba's gaze, Hayato's voice remained confident: "Of course, I have no intention of sacrificing myself. I'm strong and very lucky."

“Is that so… I understand.” Kaiba seemed to have figured something out, and turned around to say, “Take that woman and go ahead, Marik Ishtar.”

"I don't need you to tell me that! Although I don't understand what you two are talking about, anyway, Hayato Kobayashi will hold off that monster, right? I've been wanting to run away for a long time!" Maric, who was already impatient, didn't need Kaiba's command at all and had already taken the lead while carrying Isis.

"Don't die, Hayato Kobayashi!" With that final shout, Maric, carrying Isis, climbed the steps and headed towards the ground without looking back, with Kaiba following closely behind. After all four had reached the top of the steps, behind them, the [Lord of the Sea - Aron], struck by [Diabund]'s attack, was sent flying, the falling debris collapsing the steps.

"Is Mr. Hayato really alright?" Supported by Kaiba, Karim glanced back at the blocked entrance and asked, "While that monster did temporarily suppress Diaband, its power compared to Ra's Winged Dragon..."

"No one can miss that difference."

Seahorse calmly interrupted Kalim, his expressionless face revealing nothing of his thoughts. "Now is not the time for us to leisurely consider unimportant things; let's move on faster."

Kalim paused for a moment, then nodded: "You're right."

The four of them walked up the steps and soon returned to the ground, but then they faced another problem.

"Crack!" Almost the instant the group returned to the small hut on the ground, sensing the approaching presence of living beings, a skeletal arm wielding a broken longsword suddenly slashed a hole in the wooden door. Through the crack, a skull with empty eye sockets peered out and stared directly at Maliku, who was carrying Isis on his back.

If you were to transform the longsword into an axe, and then have the skull utter "Here-is-Jonney!", the cabin would practically be a live-action recreation of the famous horror film *The Shining*. In fact, a startled Malik was almost screaming like the film's heroine.

But before Maliku could even open his mouth and utter a sound, something suddenly brushed past his ear, and the sound of something cutting through the air and shattering reached Maliku's ears at the same time.

The seahorse immediately swung a broken chair from inside the room and smashed it against the skeleton that had discovered them. The already rotten chair shattered, and the skeleton's head was knocked backward and thrown off the door.

However, if [White Bone] were so easy to kill, the group wouldn't have been chased all the way here. With one hand supporting its head, [White Bone] opened its mouth again and roared silently at the people inside the house.

The only response was the seahorse's clenched fist, as if venting some emotion. The seahorse swung its fist, slamming it into the skeleton's open mouth, sending its head flying. Even if the skeleton was still alive, it needed to retrieve its head before it could continue attacking the group.

"Get lost, you burden!" Unusually, Seahorse actually swore at the blasted-away [Bone], ignoring Marik, and shouted, "Hurry up and catch up!"

Pushing open the door, which was practically just for show, the group headed back the way they had come. However, the commotion they made upon returning to the ground was quite loud, and a swarm of skeletons gathered around them. Even though Seahorse initially managed to take down two or three lone skeletons with his superior strength, the four of them were quickly surrounded by skeletons from all sides.

Faced with the skeletons all around, Isis knew that this was beyond the capabilities of Kaiba and Maric, who were unable to summon the Slate Monster. She raised the Gladiator's Disk and summoned again: "Argento!"

"[Thunder Dragon]!"

As Isis's voice rang out, Kalim, who shared the same plan, also summoned his stone tablet monster. The two priests, whose condition was not as good as before, once again confronted the horde of [Bone].

Chapter 783 The Death of Kalim (Part 2)

"Roar of the Thunder Dragon!"

A beam of light shot out, clearing away some of the [skeletons] blocking their path. Taking advantage of this opening, Kaiba and Maric led Carim and Isis on a frantic escape.

However, compared to the attack of the [Two-Headed Thunder Dragon] summoned by Kalim Fusion when it was in good condition, the number of [Bones] that a single [Thunder Dragon] could repel was very limited. Therefore, it was necessary for [Argito] summoned by Isis to provide support and continuously repel the approaching [Bones] to slow down the shrinking of the road.

They had ventured deep into the village to reach the underground, but now it seemed the journey was far too long. After running only a hundred meters, Kalim had already unleashed three attacks from the Thunder Dragon, and it looked like it was about to launch a fourth.

However, it is still at least two hundred meters away from the village exit.

However, there was still hope. In theory, if Kalim could persist for another six times, the group could leave the village. But at that time, they would still have to face the problem of how to get rid of the [Bone]'s pursuit.

Even now, they still don't know how far the skeletons can roam or whether they can leave the village. If the skeletons weren't restricted by territory, they would also have to deal with the problem of their means of transportation—camels—having already been killed.

But before that, we have to leave the village first.

As they advanced, they were constantly subjected to intermittent tremors and explosions beneath their feet, with energy pillars occasionally blasting through the ground. It wasn't just them on the surface; Hayato, underground, also seemed to be engaged in a continuous battle with Diaband and the Dark High Priest.

“Hayato…” Isis, supported by Marik, glanced worriedly at the energy pillar that had pierced the ground not far away. The intensity of that attack was enough to easily defeat her and Kalim’s combined strength. It was hard to imagine what Hayato was facing underground; all she could be sure of was that it must be extremely difficult.

All she could do was control [Argito] to circle around her again and again, repelling the approaching [Skeleton].

“A burden…” the seahorse muttered, gritting its teeth and smashing the head of a skeleton that had slipped through Argento’s attack with a single punch, its fingers soaked in blood.

“Mr. Hayato…” Kalim’s expression was also grave, not only because he had to summon the [Thunder Dragon] again to exhaust his power before he had fully recovered, but also because he was worried about Hayato. Although there had been some unpleasantness between them at the beginning, and he had harbored some strange thoughts about Hayato in the Valley of the Royal Sleep, Hayato, who had saved him time and time again, had undoubtedly earned Kalim’s respect.

As a nobleman, he was unable to help Hayato. All he could do now was to fulfill Hayato's last wish and ensure the safe departure of the four from the village.

After returning to the royal city—no, the nearest one is the Valley of the Royal Sleep—we must quickly find reinforcements to rescue Mr. Hayato!