Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

If he could summon the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, even if he and Hayato covered the retreat and died in the end, Kaiba wouldn't be in such a terrible state. But he couldn't get a response from the Blue-Eyes, as if the Blue-Eyes hadn't yet formed a strong enough bond with him in this era.

So he came up with a solution—Hayato had told him that he had awakened the card spirit of "Summoning Exophysis" with the help of the Millennium Key. Although it was rather bizarre that a magic card could awaken a spirit instead of a monster, this gave Kaiba enough inspiration.

“I need power, more power, and since the Millennium Artifact can unleash the spirit within people, I will never relinquish this power.”

"I'd gladly give up my life for power, just give me more power!"

Hearing Kaiba's words, Maric gave him a deep look. Although he was a bit selfish, he wasn't ungrateful. Although he had seen Kalim summon [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] when he left, so much time had passed and Kalim hadn't chased after him, which gave Maric a vague sense of foreboding.

Sighing, Maliku covered his forehead: "Damn it, I must have been too frightened today and lost my mind to do something like this."

“Alright, I must admit, I’m actually a little worried about the situation with Priest Kalim, so I’ll just gamble with you, you power-obsessed madman.” Maliku said, holding Isis’s Millennium Jewelry in both hands, and looked at Kaiba seriously. “Let me make this clear beforehand, I’m not responsible if you die.”

"But even if I die, I will never let you go in the underworld!"

The seahorse's lips curled up slightly: "Hmph, whatever. But I'm not going to any underworld. In my future, there will only be the path of glory."

With his eyes closed, Maric focused his mind on communicating with the Millennium Jewel he held in his hands. Under Maric's guidance, some of the power contained within it was triggered and drawn out. Magical energy, filled with a dangerous aura like a bomb ready to explode at any moment, surged out of the Millennium Jewel and rushed into the seahorse's body, which was right next to him.

Before Mariko could even feel a little smug about successfully using the power of the Millennium Jewelry, the magic that had been relatively well-behaved just a second ago suddenly went berserk and exploded. A portion of it flowed back into the Millennium Jewelry, while the rest of the magic exploded and blasted into the bodies of Mariko and Kaiba.

In an instant, the two were blasted away by the sudden explosion and fell onto the sand. Excruciating pain shot through Maric's brain, and magic power faintly gathered on his forehead to form the mark of "Ugato's Eye." Before losing consciousness, he saw a white light appear on the side of the seahorse, who had also been blasted away.

Chapter 787 You've had a tough day.

"Mana Mana-chan's Magical Explosion!"

A huge magic bullet was flung out by Mana's wand and slammed into the group of skeletons. The skeletons, which had approached because they smelled the presence of living people, were blown away in all directions by the exploding magic bullet.

It seems that because the [Bone King] who previously commanded them had been eliminated, the [Bone] creatures at this moment were not only completely undisciplined, but their immortality had also decreased significantly. Many of the [Bone] creatures that had been blown apart died instantly as soon as their heads were severed, making them much easier to deal with than before.

If Hayato and his group had encountered a [Skeleton] of this strength when they first arrived at the Thieves' Village, they probably wouldn't have needed to venture underground to find the source of the dark power and confront the Dark High Priest directly.

With the destruction of the Bone King, who served as the command center for the Bone and the transit point for receiving energy from the Dark High Priest, Mana alone could easily wipe out the remaining Bone. Before long, the group arrived near the center of the village.

Maric told them that Hayato and Karim had stayed behind to cover their escape, and what drew them here, besides the unsettlingly strong aura of evil spirits, was a giant, emerald-green lightning dragon that could be seen from afar.

According to Maric, it was the last stone tablet monster summoned by the priest Kalim before they left. Not to mention the amnesiac Dark Game, even Set was seeing such a stone tablet monster for the first time.

Around the [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] that lay motionless on the ground, merely lowering its lightning-covered wings to protect itself, were broken skeletons. It seemed that the [white bones] were so numerous that the [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] didn't even need to make a move; they were simply destroyed upon approaching.

After clearing out the few remaining skeletons and eliminating them, Mana wiped away non-existent sweat from her forehead and boasted to Dark Game, "Your Majesty, Pharaoh, it really took a lot of my strength to eliminate these monsters."

"Yes, you've worked hard today, Mana." Dark Game also fulfilled Mana's wish and said to her with a smile, making Mana involuntarily exclaim in her heart that the prince's energy had greatly increased.

Seth observed the quiet [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] and muttered to himself, "Hmm, in terms of color, it is indeed the same as Kalim's [Thunder Dragon]. And if it doesn't have three heads from birth, then only Kalim's [Millennium Scales] can fuse monsters to do this."

"Although the [Two-Headed Thunder Dragon] I saw before was a very ugly monster that didn't even look like a [Thunder Dragon], my intuition tells me that this monster was definitely summoned by Kalim."

"That stubborn, old-fashioned, and arrogant priest Kalim... Although I heard from Priestess Isis that he stayed behind to cover their escape, it's hard to believe that he would do such a thing."

Mana didn't have a good impression of Kalim. If the most popular priest was the senior but most approachable priest Aknadi, the least popular was Kalim. Mana's relationship with Kalim was particularly bad. The lively and impulsive Mana was often caught and punished by Kalim when she sneaked into the palace.

Relying on his power and having a particular fondness for making a mountain out of a molehill, Mana could never imagine that Kalim would risk his life for others.

Looking at the [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon], Mana felt something was particularly strange. "Speaking of which, Priest Set said that the spirit was summoned by Priest Kalim, but it's a bit too quiet now. But we were making such a big fuss just now, it couldn't have missed us, could it?"

Mana's doubts were also something that puzzled the others. They carefully approached the lying [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon]. Seth stopped the curiously reaching out Yami Yugi and stepped forward to touch [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] for him.

Sensing Seth's touch, the lying [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] raised one of its heads, sizing up the people in front of it as if confirming their identities. After seeing the [Millennium Scepter] in Seth's hand and Yami Yugi's unique, colorful starfish-shaped hair, it seemed to recognize that the people were trustworthy. It put its paws on the ground, stood up, and moved aside.

But after [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] stepped aside, Yami Yugi and the others saw an unexpected scene. They saw Kalim, missing an arm, lying motionless on the cold ground, facing the sky with a smile and his eyes closed.

That smile was as serene and peaceful as a son talking to his mother, but Kalim's flat chest didn't look like he was asleep at all.

“Kalim, this guy could not be—” Seth stared wide-eyed at the fallen Kalim, completely unexpected that Kalim, whom he had almost come to blows with a few days ago, was already dead when they met again after a period of time.

In just a few days, another priest under the Pharaoh's command was killed.

"Priest Kalim seems to have given his all to protect Isis and the others, burning his own soul in the battle." Arriving beside Kalim, Yami Yugi saw the completely empty "Soul" gauge on the gladiator's equipment, and the Millennium Scales lying on the ground, buried in dust. "[Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon], that's probably the most brilliant light that Priest Kalim shone with his life."

"Priest Kalim..." Mana covered her mouth, never expecting Kalim to end up like this.

As the group approached Kalim's body, the Thunder Dragon, which had been standing nearby, couldn't stay still and collapsed back to the ground. At the same time, its body quickly became transparent, and specks of light emanated from it.

Yami Yugi and the others now understood why the [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] hadn't moved earlier. It was probably conserving its strength to protect Kalim's body from the [Bones] surrounding it. However, the fact that the [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon], summoned by Kalim burning his own soul and combining the power of the [Millennium Scales] and the Gladiator's Disk, could still exist after Kalim's sacrifice was already a miracle. Now, it had reached its limit and was about to disappear from here.

Looking at [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon], Yami Yugi patted its lowered head and said, "You did a great job. Thank you for your hard work today, [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon]."

"Waaah..."

With a low growl, [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] transformed into dissipating blue electric currents, sank into the earth, and disappeared.

Time passed by unnoticed, and the darkest hour had passed. The sun gradually rose from the horizon, casting its light upon the earth and illuminating the departing [Thunder Dragon - Thunder Dragon] and the remains of Kalim.

Just as they were lamenting Kalim's sacrifice, a sudden tremor shook the ground beneath their feet. The shaking almost knocked them over. Seth, who was on horseback, nearly lost his balance and had to dismount to regain his footing. Meanwhile, Yami Yugi caught Mana, who had "coincidentally" fallen into his arms.

A pillar of energy burst forth from the ground right in front of them, piercing the surface. The subsequent shocks and impacts seemed to have destroyed most of the surrounding ground. The ground beneath their feet cracked open, and before they could even react, they fell into the ground through the fissure!

In mid-air, despite holding Mana in his arms, Yami Yugi was completely unaffected. He immediately swung his left arm and, relying on his extensive experience using the Duel Disk, unfolded it, connecting it with the stone slab in the distant Stone Temple: "Come to my side, [Guardian Wyvern]!"

The dragon's wide wings spread out to catch the three falling people. Yami Yugi said that the one he summoned was the "Guardian Wyvern," which was made into a Duel Monster Card in the future but is now a Slate Monster. Although it has always been jokingly called the Wyvern that can't defend anything and has the legendary setting of "35% chance to avoid enemy attacks," it is still very useful for catching the falling people at this moment.

However, only Seth, Mana, and Yami Yugi were caught by the [City Guardian Pterosaur]. As for the horses that fell with them, Yami Yugi said there was nothing he could do; he'd just consider them sacrificed for the greater good (big lie).

Because it was carrying the weight of three people, the [City Guardian Wyvern] could not flap its wings to rise and bring them back to the ground as it normally would. However, it could still glide and slow down to land. During the descent, Yami Yugi, who had been gradually assimilated by someone, was also observing the situation underground.

With just one glance, he noticed the masked person standing prominently below. If he wasn't mistaken, that person should be the "Dark High Priest" that Maliku and the others had encountered before. Because the energy pillar that had been fired from below had created many holes in the ground, some of the light had illuminated part of the Dark High Priest's mask, and the [Millennium Eye] on his left eye reflected the light.

Not only Yami Yugi, but Set also noticed the Dark High Priest. In ancient Egypt, white hair alone was enough to be considered an ominous sign, let alone the Dark High Priest's blood-red hair. When Set saw that the Millennium Eye had indeed appeared on the other person, he was even more furious.

"Although Priest Isis said that Bakura is dead, the Millennium Eye was actually taken from Priest Aknadi. That guy is unforgivable!"

In a fit of rage, Seth took a running start and leaped off the back of the [City-Guarding Wyvern], summoning his own stone tablet monster mid-air: "Come out, [Duvos], take down that guy!"

The stone tablet monster [Duvos], whom Seth trusted deeply, spread its wings and caught Seth as he jumped out. It then swooped down from the sky with Seth in its arms, aiming directly at the Dark High Priest on the ground, determined to kill him with a single blow.

Hearing the noise in the air, the Dark High Priest also raised his head.

Upon seeing Yami Yugi and Mana atop the [Guardian Wyvern], the Dark High Priest's eyes, hidden beneath his mask, instantly turned cold. A smirk appeared on his lips as he prepared to order his controlled monsters to attack. However, when he saw Set and [Duvos] attacking together to block Yami Yugi, his movements froze. After a moment's hesitation, he changed the command he gave to the monsters he controlled.

Duvos's attack was halfway through when an attack came from behind him. It was Diaband, resurrected by the Dark High Priest. The attack that had just broken the ground and brought Yami Yugi and the others underground was also launched by Diaband. However, due to the previous battle, Diaband was still some distance away from the Dark High Priest.

Although Diaband's attack was powerful and locked onto Duvos's path, it was incredibly slow, almost as if it only wanted to force Duvos to stop without harming Seth, who was with Duvos.

But Seth was no ordinary man. Grabbing [Duvos]'s body to hold himself in place, he actually controlled [Duvos] to perform a maneuver to evade [Diabund]'s attack. After narrowly missing the "spiral wave," [Duvos] continued to swoop down towards the Dark High Priest, and in the blink of an eye, he was already in front of him.

Duvos thrust his sword at the Dark High Priest.

"The kingdom's safety is threatened. My people have sacrificed themselves in the fight against darkness, and those I respect have been abducted." Looking at the Dark High Priest, Seth shouted angrily, "How many more times will you provoke me? My anger can no longer be contained!"

"Mahad, Shada, Aknadi, Kalim, this sword strike is to avenge them. Take this, you fool who calls yourself the Dark High Priest!"

Seeing that Seth had actually dodged his attack and was launching another, the Dark High Priest frowned, ignoring Seth's roar and instead helplessly raising his gladiator's disk. On his unfolded disk, besides the first square already occupied by Diaband, the mark of a stone monster had appeared on the second square.

Just before Duvos's attack was about to hit the Dark High Priest, the stone slab monster he had summoned appeared before him. It was a emaciated, deformed green monster with only one eye open, looking at Duvos who had launched the attack.

Seth didn't take it seriously at all. He was already so close that even the most powerful stone monster wouldn't have time to launch an attack to negate the damage. However, Yami Yugi, who had to descend quickly because of Seth's movements, recognized the monster at a glance and immediately shouted, "Don't go near that monster, Seth!"

Before Seth could understand why Dark Game said that, the next moment, the sword that [Duvos] thrust out had already touched the body of the monster summoned by the Dark High Priest.

However, instead of the monster being cleaved in two and killed by Duvos's sword, the monster's body seemed to be a swamp, swallowing and absorbing Duvos's sword directly, and even Duvos himself was sucked in in an instant.

If Seth hadn't reacted quickly and jumped away, Seth suspected that he himself would have been sucked in as well.

Looking at the monster on the ground, Yami Yugi recalled unpleasant memories and said with a serious expression, "That monster is... [Najima]!"

Chapter 788 I am, the King of Trains!

"game!"

Hayato was quite surprised to see Yami Yugi, Seth, and Mana arrive. It wasn't that he saw Yami Yugi wake up from his coma; rather, given Bakura's death, there shouldn't have been any way to lure them here.

Unless, someone did something.

Through the Diaband, Hayato glanced at the Dark High Priest, though his expression was obscured by the mask. The High Priest was likely delighted by the Pharaoh's arrival, as it presented him with an opportunity to kill him here. However, the simultaneous appearance of Set would probably make things difficult for him as well.

"Hayato, are you alright?"

Yami Yugi jumped down from behind the landing [Defender of the Castle] and greeted Hayato. Having witnessed the sacrifice of Kalim earlier, Yami Yugi was saddened by his passing and worried about Hayato's safety, who had also stayed behind to cover the retreat. Seeing that Hayato was safe and sound, he finally felt relieved.

“I’m fine, but you shouldn’t have come here.” Hayato said, leaping backward. A large amount of liquid surged from the shadow beneath his feet, forming a monster that carried him away from Diaband’s attack. “That Dark High Priest has blocked the summoning of the gods. Neither Obelisk, Osiris, nor Ra can fight here. And this guy is wielding Bakura’s Diaband.”

On Hayato's shoulder, the much smaller [Rathalos] also chirped twice, personally proving that it couldn't exert any power at the moment.

Thanks to the "voluntary" sacrifice of [Nur of the Netherworld] ([Nur]: I did not do it voluntarily!), Hayato avoided the attack of [Diabund]. He found that the opponent was still only chasing him and had not changed its target because of the arrival of the other players. This made Hayato breathe a sigh of relief.

It seems the Dark High Priest deliberately brought out the monster [Narcissus] to avoid accidentally harming Seth. Although it's still troublesome, it's better than letting Yami Yugi and the others face [Diabund].

Hayato thought for a moment, then shouted to Yami Yugi from afar, "Don't worry about me, Yugi, I'll hold off Diaband. You guys take this opportunity to kill the Dark High Priest!"

As he spoke, black liquid surged around Hayato, transforming into a crocodile clad in golden armor—[Desert of the Netherworld - Huroggi]—and charged towards [Diabund], shouting to attract [Diabund's] attention: "I am, Train King!"

Although Hayato's actions were somewhat unclear, Diaband, which was born from the aggregation of resentment, was not a rational monster. Its initial order was to kill Hayato. Although it had temporarily blocked Seth under the command of the Dark High Priest, since the Dark High Priest did not want to use it to attack Seth and the others, it would continue to pursue Hayato even if Hayato did not attract its attention.

A "spiral wave" instantly killed the crocodile monster [Desert of the Netherworld - Hulogi], which seemed about to enrage and kill everyone, turning it back into a pool of black liquid and sinking into the ground. [Diabund] chased after Hayato, moving slightly away from the vicinity of the Dark High Priest.

The Netherworld Stone Tablet, which holds the Millennium Treasure, connects to the power of the Netherworld. Although the Dark High Priest used this to suppress the power of the Egyptian Gods, Hayato was also able to use the power of the Netherworld to amplify the monsters of the Netherworld, allowing them to regenerate time and time again to fight against Diaband, and the burden on Hayato was almost negligible.

Yami Yugi accepted Hayato's arrangement and turned to look at the Nasagi, who had completely engulfed Duvos and whose image appeared on the bone wings, as well as the Dark High Priest.

Back in the Duel Kingdom era, Pegasus's "Narcissus" caused Hayato and Yugi a lot of trouble. Later, when Hayato was fighting Dartz, he also encountered Pegasus's "Narcissus" which Dartz had taken. Now, Yami Yugi has actually run into "Narcissus" again in the Memory World.

Considering that [Narcissus] appeared three times, all as a villain, it probably deserves three times the appearance fee of other Duel Monsters.

However, Yami Yugi would rather not pay the appearance fee. If [Narcissus] were in the modern era, it would have long been outdated along with its user Pegasus, who clung to the old ways, due to the ever-changing dueling environment. It could be easily dealt with by his "evolved strongest [Dark Magician] deck".

However, the environment in the memory world has essentially regressed to an ancient era, which has instantly revived the strength of the [Narcissus], which should have been obsolete. While Yami Yugi can't guarantee the extent of its other abilities, judging from its recent absorption of [Duvos], at least the Minotaur's monster abilities have emerged.

As for the reflected damage and the attack-blocking ability of the evolved [Thousand-Eyed Sacrifice Demon], Yami Yugi can only pray that they don't exist.

The Slate Monsters that Yami Yugi can use are taken from the Slate Temple of Mahad. If it were just [Narcissus], Yami Yugi would be confident of victory with some preparation. This is the confidence he needs as a duelist. However, the problem is that Seth's strongest Slate Monster, [Duvos], just gave [Narcissus] a free kill.

Mahad has always been able to keep an eye on Set, mainly because of his own powerful magic and the synergy with the [Fantasy Magician]. However, due to Bakura, Mahad fused with the [Fantasy Magician] to become the [Dark Magician] and has been dormant ever since. To be honest, the remaining stone tablet monsters of Mahad are not much comparable to Set's monsters.

The problem now is that it is known that Mahad's Slate Monster is smaller than Set's Slate Monster, and [Duvos] is Set's strongest Slate Monster. Now that [Narcissus] has absorbed [Duvos], it is equivalent to having [Duvos]'s power. This means that the power of the Slate Monsters summoned by either Set or Yami Yugi is unlikely to exceed that of [Narcissus].

"I can't beat them, how am I supposed to fight this?" Knowing how troublesome the [Sacrifice Demon] was, Yami Yugi started thinking about whether he had any stone tablet monsters that could be used in conjunction with it. He had already recalled the [City Guardian Wyvern] after using it, after all, he couldn't really give it a "35% chance to dodge the opponent's attack" ability.

But it doesn't matter, Seth will take care of it.

"They actually stole my [Duvos]!?" Although Seth didn't know the [Narcissus]'s abilities, he knew that as a warrior of pure love, he had encountered a minotaur.

Seth is furious!