Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Although we didn’t kill the target, we at least recovered some of the power of the [Divine Stele], so it’s not a loss.” Hayato said, then looked at Mimir, “And if you’re lucky, you can get two at once.”

After obtaining the power of the [Divine Stele] from Mimir, Hayato returned to the game after a long absence, but in reality, he hadn't been idle at all during this time. Instead, he had been "restoring the power of the [Divine Stele]" as he said.

Hayato was incredibly excited when he first acquired the complete set of [Divine Stele], but he was equally stunned when he caught the fleeing Loki and was about to put the deck back in storage. He discovered that, apart from absorbing the Fountain of Wisdom and Mimir's [Fountain of Divine Stele], the [Divine Stele] cards he had used in his duel with Loki were turning into blank sheets of paper one by one, as if they were just disposable items.

After Loki attacked Hayato's hand with his face dozens of times, he finally proved to Hayato that it wasn't him who did it, but rather that the power of the [Divine Stele] was inherently like that. Hayato needed to travel throughout the Nine Realms as an adventurer to create a true [Divine Stele] card from his travel experiences, just like recording an epic adventure.

In other words, this is also a kind of "Odyssey".

However, Hayato is the kind of player who likes to speedrun through the Far Cry series. If he knows which adventure each [Divine Tablet] corresponds to, why bother actually going on the adventure? He can just kill the final boss of the corresponding adventure and get the card, right?

Originally, such a kind person like him had no intention of going to the Nine Realms to find the bosses of the Nine Realms—the [Kings], since the strength of the [Kings] was not as great as that of the [Divine Stele]. However, defeating the [Kings] is now connected to his perhaps true [Divine Stele], so that's a different story.

While Misawa was defeating the Iron King - Dwarf Alliance King and Jaden was dueling with the Light King - Queen Mador, Hayato first followed the roots of the World Tree from the hiding place of the Well of Wisdom all the way to Helheim, the Land of the Dead, to obtain the Monument of the God of Rage. Then he went straight through the Dwarf Kingdom, which had no connection with the Monument, and once again followed the roots of the World Tree to find the Ice King - Nidhogg. Just as he was about to be defeated, the Flame King - Nagilfa attempted to invade Niflheim again.

At that moment, when they saw [Ice King War - Nidhogg] being carried around like a dead dog by Hayato, [Flame King War - Nagilfa], who had torn open the portal and said the cool line "I am the Cataclysm," was completely stunned.

[Ice King Battle - Nidhogg] (SOS): "Help, help me! I'm going to die, I'm a dragon!"

[Flame King Battle - Nagilfa] (scratching his head): "Um, sorry, I guess I came at a bad time?"

Hayato (inserts the [Winged Dragon of Ra] card): "No, you've come at just the right time."

Chapter 1356 I fell for a full thirty minutes

"Why are those two losers allowed to escape to other worlds using that combined attack technique?"

Hayato looked down at the pool of water below, its surface frozen but still boiling beneath. It was the result of a combined attack by [Flame King of the Sea - Nagilfa] and [Ice King of the Sea - Nidhogg] during their escape. On the surface, it appeared to be merely the melting of the ice and snow covering Niflheim, but in reality, it was a manifestation of the breached world barrier.

"But I, who can beat them both so badly, can't get through?"

Why can a monk touch something but I can't? What kind of logic is that?

“You are different. Although your combined combat power is no match for yours, you are still a legitimate ‘King’ in this world.” Mimir glanced at the golden “bird” perched on Hayato’s shoulder. “As for you, you’re just someone who sneaked into the Nine Realms by relying on the connection of the World Tree’s roots. Although you are very strong, you still don’t have the privileges of a king.”

"But then again, is this what the supreme gods in other mythologies look like?"

"Eek!" Seeing that Mimir was about to touch his noble body, the golden bird spat out a shower of sparks at him without any mercy. Mimir was so frightened that he darted into the icy snow below to extinguish the flames on his body with the snow. Then, he affectionately rubbed his cheek against Hayato's head.

The little bird on Hayato's shoulder is none other than one of his most trusted cards—[Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra]. However, while both are materialized, [Ra] can easily do things that other card monsters cannot: it can use the changes in the sun at dawn, noon, and other times to gain the power to change its own form and adjust its appearance. The current state of [Ra] is roughly like the sun before sunrise.

However, although she became smaller, the power of [Ra] remained unchanged. She simply gave all that power to Hayato without reservation, allowing Hayato, who appeared to be an ordinary person, to easily defeat [Flame Kaio Battle - Nagilfa] and [Ice Kaio Battle - Nidhogg] with just his physical strength.

Hayato initially intended to play cards, but [Ice King Battle - Nidhogg] looked down on him and tried to use force. After being beaten up, Hayato obediently played cards. [Flame King Battle - Nagilfa], who barged in halfway, also thought himself to be superior in strength, but after being beaten up, he realized that he was no match for Hayato and had to use cards to protect himself.

Therefore, in this world where everyone seems to be a card player, not everyone is actually a card-playing genius. They simply use cards to seal off the opponent's power to prevent certain duelists from taking action themselves, just like how trainers in the Pokémon world avoid personally getting involved.

It's one thing if it's just a card game, but Hayato almost took down both [Flame Kaio Battle - Nagilfa] and [Ice Kaio Battle - Nidhogg], and when those two realized they were about to die, they resorted to dirty tricks and ran away.

Hayato was so annoyed and angry because he didn't get any kills, didn't enjoy playing cards, and couldn't even get his rewards because the duel wasn't completed. It was similar to being banned and fined 700 yuan for asking for a lighter.

The last guy who ran away halfway through a card game with Hayato was Seto Kaiba. How could those two good-for-nothings compare to Kaiba? If we don't bring them back, Hayato probably won't be able to sleep tonight.

However, the problem now is that although Hayato also glimpsed that the world that [Flame King Battle - Nagilfa] and [Ice King Battle - Nidhogg] fled to seemed to be a lush forest world with dense vegetation, this feature is not enough. Midgard, Alfheim, the elven kingdom, and Asgard and Vanaheim, the locations of the two gods, all have forest landscapes.

Finding those two deserters in four worlds with varying degrees of probability, even if their existence is quite conspicuous, is no easy task.

Mimir, who claims to be "omniscient" but only has a "half-baked" understanding of everything, is unreliable, but Hayato has other people he can consult.

Descending from the sky, Hayato casually pulled out a [Summoning Magic] card and tossed it forward. A circular summoning circle unfolded in mid-air, centered on the card, and then a white figure fell from it, landing on the snow.

Covered in snow and looking quite disheveled, [Shadow of the King - Lopt] braced himself with his fists on the ground, raised his head, and said with a gloomy expression, "I've been in freefall for a full thirty minutes!"

"Ha, isn't that good too? Or do you think it would have been better if my brother had killed him earlier?" Mimir mocked as he lay down in the snow like he was taking a bath, seeing [Shadow of the King of War - Lopte]'s disheveled appearance.

Previously, after being captured by Hayato, [Shadow of the Kings - Lopto] proposed that Hayato defeat the [Kings] of the Nine Realms and become the King of the Nine Realms. He even enthusiastically introduced each of the [Kings] to Hayato, believing that Hayato had accepted his proposal and become his collaborator.

Unexpectedly, the information about [Shadow of the Kings - Lopto] was actually completely irrelevant to Hayato. He only needed to confirm whether the rulers of the Nine Realms were the [Kings] he had guessed after learning of [Shadow of the Kings - Lopto]'s existence. In his eyes, [Shadow of the Kings - Lopto] was nothing more than a prisoner, not a collaborator. He didn't have that kind of right.

Just as [King's Shadow - Lopte] was about to lead the way for Hayato, Hayato directly ordered [Summoner - Aleister] to use the reverse spell of [Summoning Magic] to send this guy, who was no longer of any use, to another dimension and lock him up, to be released later when he could be used again, which was at this very moment.

Upon hearing Mimir's words, [Shadow of the King - Lopt] glared at him resentfully, but this look had no effect on Mimir. The one-way anger without any response left [Shadow of the King - Lopt] with a belly full of resentment and nowhere to vent it. He said to Hayato in a sarcastic tone, "You didn't agree to cooperate with me before, but now you've changed your mind?"

"But it's a bit too late for you to come to me now. You want my help? Absolutely not!"

Although he was imprisoned and didn't know what had happened to Hayato, the icy landscape he was in made him realize that he was currently in the land of clouds and cold—the Land of Mist, "Niflheim," which was the "Ice Realm" occupied by that evil dragon.

How Kobayashi Hayato got here was unclear to [King's Shadow - Lopto], but he couldn't have released himself for no reason; he must have had some purpose. There were no enemies around, and it didn't seem like he was using himself to lure them away and buy time for his escape. Therefore, [King's Shadow - Lopto] deduced that Kobayashi Hayato must have something he needed from him.

Previously, he was under someone else's control, which is why he wanted to form an alliance with Hayato without mentioning any conditions. But now that Hayato Kobayashi needs his help, he shouldn't be surprised if he puts himself up for a bargain. For example, he could ask Hayato to kill two or three [Kings] to provide him with strength.

Just then, [Shadow of the King - Lopto] saw Hayato look at him like he was an idiot, then compare the angle and distance before saying, "Who told you I need your help? I just need a cannon fodder to be knocked down into that pool of water."

Behind Hayato, [Phantom Emperor - Labier], [Thunder Emperor - Hamon], and [Divine Flame Emperor - Uria] had already been summoned by Hayato. Fearing that Hayato would find out if there was anything wrong with their attitude, they all stood up straight, even the serpentine [Divine Flame Emperor - Uria] held his head high.

After Hayato snapped his fingers, the group immediately fused together like lackeys, easily forming a three-colored synthetic demon god, [Chaos Illusion Demon Amitel - Void Illusion Luo Shengmen], and aimed at the location of [King's Shadow - Lopte], seemingly preparing to launch an attack.

“Even if the power of a single [Pull] isn’t enough, I refuse to believe that pulling out a few more won’t work. This guy’s power is far greater than the combined power of [Flame King War - Nagilfa] and [Ice King War - Nidhogg], not to mention that it also has some spatial abilities.” Hayato’s smile sent a chill down [King War Shadow - Lopt’s] spine. “Let’s launch an attack along the passage we just cleared, [Chaos Phantom Amitel - Void Phantom Rasengan], we’ll use that guy over there as the cannonball.”

"If he can successfully cross the barrier of the world, then I can take the opportunity to go and catch those two escaped minions." Eager to grab [Flame King of the Sea Battle - Nagilfa] and [Ice King of the Sea Battle - Nidhogg] and refine them instantly, Hayato added, "If that doesn't work, then I'll have to think of another way."

"Hey, people will die! I'll die!" [Shadow of the King - Lopte] said anxiously, "I still have value, why are you using me as cannon fodder!"

"Hmm? What you're saying is strange. Having value is one thing, but if you can't extract any value from it, isn't that the same as having none?" Hayato glanced at [King's Shadow - Lopte] and smiled gently. "This is a necessary sacrifice."

Seeing that [Chaos Illusion Demon Amitel - Void Illusion Luo Shengmen] was about to attack him in an attempt to reopen the closed path to other worlds, [King's War Shadow - Lopte] hurriedly said, "No, no! It's useless. [Flame King's War - Nagilfa] and [Ice King's War - Nidhogg] escaped from this world, from this place, right? Even if you attack here again, it won't make a difference!"

"They left based on their qualifications as [Kings of War], especially [Ice Realm King of War - Nidhogg]. Leaving the [Ice Realm] is as natural as breathing for him." [King of War Shadow - Lopto] had completely forgotten his earlier attempt to bargain with Hayato. To avoid being used as cannon fodder and sent to some unknown place, he quickly said, "I know how to catch up with them, I'll tell you!"

"But didn't you say it was absolutely impossible for you to help me?"

"I am Lopte, the Shadow of War, also known as Loki, the God of Mischief. Can you trust what I say?" Lopte, the Shadow of War, said matter-of-factly. "Anyway, make that thing over there stop!"

[Chaos Phantom Amitel - Void Phantom Rasengan] rarely comes out, and its attack was ready to launch. Hearing [King's Shadow - Lopte]'s words, it angrily tried to attack, but Hayato had already raised his hand to signal it to stop. [Chaos Phantom Amitel - Void Phantom Rasengan], who was terrified of Hayato, could only reluctantly suppress its attack, glaring angrily at [King's Shadow - Lopte] with its six eyes on its head and hands. It was humiliated and forced back into the card.

Only after [Chaos Phantom Amitel - Void Illusion Rasengan] disappeared did [King's Shadow - Lopte] finally breathe a sigh of relief. This wasn't just because Hayato seemed to have abandoned his plan to use him as cannon fodder, but also because the pressure from [Chaos Phantom Amitel - Void Illusion Rasengan] had been quite immense. He was even a little confused about where Kobayashi Hayato got so many powerful card spirits; the evil of the three-in-one demon god just now had even left him breathless.

For a fleeting moment, he even imagined himself as one of those righteous heroes in the folk tales that mortals love, while the one standing opposite him, clad in human skin, was the evil demon king. Tsk, for even a god of evil to have such a strange illusion—truly a reversal of the natural order.

Not wanting to be threatened again, without Hayato even having to say a word, [King's Shadow - Lopt] immediately activated his spell to clear a path for Hayato. As he waved his hand in front of him, several runes appeared in the air and gradually gathered together to form a teleportation array that could allow one person to pass through.

"In the past, the Nine Realms were closely connected because of the Rainbow Bridge in Asgard. However, Odin has been missing for a long time, and Asgard has been blocked by the Kingdom of the Light Elves, Alfheim, in the upper part of the World Tree for many years. No one knows what is going on, and no one knows how the Rainbow Bridge will reopen. Now it has become difficult for the Nine Realms to move between worlds."

"The teleportation array composed of runes, the branches extending from the World Tree, and the spring flowing to the Nine Realms—this combination constitutes the only means of movement available to the Nine Realms at present. At least, beings other than the [Kings of War] can only choose this one." [Shadow of Kings of War - Lopt] shrugged. "Don't worry, I also really want you to eliminate the [Kings of War]. This is my purpose, which I've told you before. Since our interests align, I naturally won't betray you. This is a very safe teleportation portal."

"However, the low temperature in Niflheim has frozen the spring water, and the roots of the World Tree have been gnawed by [Ice King War - Nidhogg] for a long time. The teleportation array cannot be maintained for a long time and can only be used as needed. So if you trust me, go through it quickly."

Whether [King of War Shadow - Lopto] was lying or not, Hayato couldn't tell because he wasn't good at reading lies. But he had a way to deal with it: he could pull [King of War Shadow - Lopto] through the portal together. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about Lopto teleporting him to some random place and then escaping.

Grabbing [Shadow of the King - Lopte] by the collar, and tossing him into the portal with a relieved look on his face, Hayato followed closely behind, entering another world. Seeing this, Mimir quickly followed, slipping into the portal just in time as it trembled and shrank.

Just minutes ago, this icy, snowy battlefield was the site of a joint battle between the Ice King and the Fire King. In a short time, even Hayato, who had been chasing them, had vanished without a trace. Only the frozen pool of water was still boiling and had not yet calmed down.

Amidst the thick fog, a woman in a red robe trudged through the snow and ice to the vicinity. After confirming that no one was around, she slammed her skull staff against the ice. Though the force seemed small, it instantly shattered the thick ice layer, sending it sinking into the boiling water below.

Then, she made a gesture with her fair hand towards the water, and the water began to churn. The two pieces of Hayato's tail, which he had casually discarded, were pulled out of the pool by her magic and raised to her face.

Looking at the two tails before her with her azure eyes, the woman in the red robe smiled and said, "In this way, the power of the [Iron Realm], the [Flame Realm], and the [Ice Realm] has also been gathered."

Chapter 1357 I Have Betrayed Three Times

"I have been betrayed thrice, and thus I have come to understand that everything in this world is nothing but a deceptive facade..."

"One of them is my mother. When I was in school, she left a letter saying that she had gone on a holiday with my father, and then she disappeared for five whole months before she came back."

"Secondly, there's my wife, Isis. She once lied to me, saying she had a cat at her home in Domino City that could do backflips. The next day, we got our marriage certificate."

"Thirdly, it's you, [Shadow of the King - Lopte]."

Hayato, with a serious expression, said, "As expected of a born evil little devil, you even fooled someone as clever and arrogant as me. If I hadn't thrown you here first and then let you pass through the teleportation array, you probably would have shut it down as soon as I passed through and sent me to this wretched place so you could escape!"

Hearing Hayato's words, the [Shadow of the King's War - Lopto], who was hanging upside down, retorted: "That's not true! Even if I wanted to play the trick of betraying and turning against you, I wouldn't choose such an awkward time as the very beginning of the cooperation."

"Huh!? You actually dare to betray me, huh? Fine, then tell me, where the hell did you come from? Is this still within the Nine Realms?"

Hayato looked around and saw nothing but jumbled rocks, cliffs, and desolate forests. It wasn't that the world he had glimpsed—the world that Nagilfa, the King of the Flame, and Nidhogg, the King of the Ice, had fled to—was somewhat different; rather, it was completely unrelated.

【King of War Shadow - Lopte】said nicely that he knew how to catch up with the fleeing 【Flame King of War - Nagilfa】 and 【Ice King of War - Nidhogg】, but when Hayato passed through the teleportation array he activated, he ended up in this desolate place.

“Of course it’s still within the Nine Realms, but the location is indeed a bit out of the ordinary.” Mimir peeked out from Hayato’s deck, looked around, and explained, “The closest kingdoms with large forests to Niflheim, besides Midgard, are Alfheim, the kingdom of the Light Elves, and Vanaheim, the kingdom of the Vanir gods. Asgard, which is under lockdown, is not in the scope of consideration.”

"But, if you can use a runic teleportation array from Niflheim to directly reach the dwarf kingdom of Svartalfheim and the giant kingdom of Jotunheim, how lost do you have to be to end up in such an absurd direction?"

【Shadow of the King - Lopte】 could not accept Mimir's torture and immediately argued, "The fact that I was able to create a teleportation array out of thin air after freefalling for thirty minutes, suddenly arriving in a snowy wasteland and falling heavily, already demonstrates my powerful spellcasting ability. Is it necessary to be so harsh on such a small deviation in position?"

"A slight deviation? Then tell me, where is the [King's War] I'm looking for?" Hayato sneered, looking at [King's War Shadow - Lopt], ​​which still had an arrogant expression even when he was holding it upside down with [Predatory Herbivorous Rhinoceros]. "Since I haven't found the real [King's War], I don't mind using [King's War Shadow] to make up the numbers."

"Who, who said there is no [King's War]? The teleportation target I set is the location of the [King's War] closest to us in Niflheim. Theoretically speaking, there is a [King's War] nearby now that we have passed through the teleportation array."

[Shadow of the Kings - Lopt] was as arrogant as Mimir was, but as subservient as Hayato. His change from haughty to obsequious was laughable. "Since this is Jotunheim, the land of giants, we can take down the [Kings] here first."

"Is this your real purpose? Or do you want to defeat all the [Kings of the Nine Realms] one by one and then ascend to the position of King of the Nine Realms?" Hayato glanced at the [Shadow of the Kings - Lopt] hanging upside down, and then looked around. "The problem is, since this is Jotunheim, why is there not a single trace of giants? And the [Kings of the Giant Kingdom] shouldn't be that small, right? This area is just a barren wasteland."

As previously introduced to Hayato, Jotunheim has now been designated as the "Void Realm," ruled by Utgard Loki. The "King's War" in his memory should correspond to the "Void Realm King's War - Utgard."

If it's a powerful card like "Most Beautiful Freshman" or "Saint Exterminates," or a card like "Future Dragon Emperor" that's a master of creating memes, Hayato has a very clear impression of the card's image. After all, card players generally have a special skill: they can recognize the corresponding card at a glance from extremely abstract drawings or even stick figure poses.

Unfortunately, [King of Hollows - Utgard] and the entire [King of Hollows] series are not very well-known. Hayato can't remember what [King of Hollows - Utgard] looks like, since it's been almost seven years since he last used Synchro or Xyz Summoning.

However, although he couldn't remember the specific image, Hayato vaguely remembered that it looked like a floating castle flying in the sky in the card picture. But even with his 8.0 vision, Hayato couldn't find any suspicious objects in the surrounding sky.

“I know this, I know this.” Mimir couldn’t wait to show off his wisdom. “Although it is the land of giants, that is just the name left by the mountain giants and frost giants who lived here in the past. A long time ago, for some reason, not only giants, but also dark elves, humans and even the Vanir gods, most of the beings in the Nine Realms disappeared overnight. Then even Asgard was sealed off and blocked behind the light elf kingdom of Alfheim.”

"The Light Elves were relocated to the vacant Vanir kingdom of Vanaheim, while Alfheim was guarded by the Vanir god Frey and his minions, who forbade entry. This led to the former being renamed the 'Light Realm,' and the latter receiving a new name, the 'Sword Realm,' because of the sword of victory in Frey's hand."

“We didn’t see many living beings in Niflheim, the Land of Ice, because the venomous snakes under Nidhogg’s command, who had been gnawing on the roots of the World Tree with him, had also disappeared. On the other hand, the fire giants of Muspelheim, the Land of Fire, are currently the only group giants that can still be found in the Nine Realms.” Mimir paused, pointing to himself and Loki, “But strangely enough, lone giants like Loki and I were not affected.”

"The humans of Midgard have vanished without a trace, yet the number of the dead in Helheim has not decreased in the slightest. However, the same is true in Jotunheim. The desolate outer realms where giants once lived have completely lost all trace of life, becoming a void. Even the [Flame King War - Nagilfa], who is keen on invasion and expanding his territory, looks down on this place. Therefore, in the current Nine Realms, this place has also received a new name - [Void Realm]."

Mimir spoke eloquently, while Hayato grumbled, suggesting that the reason there weren't many beings in the Nine Realms was probably because there weren't any terrifying backstories, but simply because not enough people had entered the game. He hadn't forgotten that the characters in this virtual world were created by Kaiba using the redundant thoughts of players collected through his game pods; theoretically, the number of characters created could be directly proportional to the number of people who entered.

Besides the teachers and students of Duel Links Academy and special invitees like Yugi, Kaiba also deployed Yugi pods in other parts of the world and integrated the data to Duel Links Academy using the Kaiba Group's internal satellites to jointly construct this "Duel-Links" world. However, the problem is that there is a limit to the number of people. At most, there can be 500 people. So, after locking in those special NPC characters, the only option is to reduce the number of ordinary characters to reduce consumption.

In Kaiba's early vision, there seemed to be an idea that global players would enter the game, causing the game to generate NPCs in sync with or even more players worldwide, creating a world that was more lively and had more intense duels than the real world. However, at present, the only option is to reduce the number of players.

Mimir's knowledge, as always, was impressive yet utterly useless, but Hayato still pressed on, asking, "Is the name 'Virtual Realm' simply because there's nothing here?"

"Don't listen to that brain-dead, stupid giant's nonsense. No one knows more about Outland than me." The so-called "Outland" refers to Jotunheim, but at the same time, "Outland" sounds similar to "Utgarda," which is the name of the ruler of this place, "Utgarda Loki." "The 'Void' in 'Void Realm' should really mean 'false' or 'illusory.' This is a world where you can't easily believe anything you see."

"It's a coincidence that Utgard Loki's name is the same as mine, but his abilities are similar to mine. We're both skilled in illusion. In the [Void Realm], even if you see a rock, it could be a lion that he's transformed into!"

"I even suspect that his magic was interfering with my decision to bring the teleportation array here."

Hayato wasn't quite sure about the exact strength of [King of the Void - Utgard], but he remembered that Utgard Loki in Norse mythology did indeed have an exaggerated illusion ability, just like [Shadow of the King - Lopte] said.