The boy named Lino, having finished playing the trumpet, collapsed to the side as if he’d expended all his energy. The Platinum Dragon he summoned wasn’t as terrifying as a true Dragon Clan member, or perhaps it wasn’t yet mature. Brand gauged its combat power to be between Level 60 to 70, which is at the level of Elemental Enlightenment. Of course, being at Level 70 is already enough to crush the Guardian of Defeat, and in an instant, the hall was littered with corpses—most of them from the Clockwork Man’s side.

Seeing this, Brand took a light breath; he hadn’t expected this older sister beside him to be so formidable, actually able to defeat the Clockwork Man so decisively. However, he maintained his view that things weren’t that simple. The changes on the battlefield proved this true. After Yi Lian gained the upper hand with her Platinum Dragon, she didn’t expand her advantage and launch further attacks; instead, she suddenly ordered her summons to retreat.

Brand didn’t express doubt over this order. He believed that given the understanding between the two, no minor mistakes should occur. And indeed, the Clockwork Man again threw out a Guardian of Defeat card. The scene he had witnessed earlier played out once more, with all the units on the battlefield resurrected as Guardians of Defeat, and ten more appeared. If the Deer Demon Sister hadn’t ordered her summons to retreat earlier, she would have been ensnared, just like Brand not long ago. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"Damned," Brand wiped his sweat, thinking that card was too insidiously deceitful.

After summoning the Guardians of Defeat, the Clockwork Man summoned an Abomination to fight the Platinum Giant Dragon—this creature resembled a Demon from Scorching Hell but had a blue skin instead of red, and its body emitted a blue cold flame. Honestly, Brand had never seen such a creature before. However, this thing was surprisingly powerful, managing to evenly match the Platinum Giant Dragon, with neither side able to gain the upper hand. Meanwhile, the Clockwork Man began summoning Eroconia Weavers, with four of those Four-Armed Mages soon appearing on the battlefield.

"What is it doing?" Brand wasn’t in a hurry to take action; he wanted to see how Travel Mages fought. Seeing this, he couldn’t help but turn back and ask for the first time. He also had an Eroconia Weaver card, but it was a Level 25 elite creature, and he couldn’t figure out its necessary existence on such a high-level battlefield.

At this moment, Yi Lian also summoned two Radiant Trumpeters. The Radiant Trumpeters she commanded seemed to be young boys with such pure looks that Brand almost felt shameful. Hearing Brand’s question, Yi Lian turned around and replied, "He’s filtering light."

"Filtering light?"

"Converting Dark Elements to collect Light Elements. Hmph, without Pure White Heaven, he has to rely on such a clumsy method to gather Light Elements. Dark Adversity is indeed significantly deficient."

Concerning the dignity of Travel Mages, the Clockwork Man couldn’t remain calm. It snorted coldly, "You’re no different. Pure White Heaven may have enough defense, but it’s only waiting for death."

The two were engaged in a verbal battle, yet their hands didn’t slow down. Yi Lian, through the Radiant Trumpeters, summoned two more powerful creatures: a White Elephant in full armor and a giant eagle radiating Heavenly Realm brilliance. Brand finally realized that the Radiant Trumpeters could place Travel Mage’s cards into play for free at the cost of tapping them, rather than performing any Summoning Magic. Even so, it was quite unconventional.

For example, the Platinum Angel in his hand required nearly a hundred resources to enter the field, which he simply couldn’t afford. But if he had a Radiant Trumpeter, wouldn’t he be able to summon it for free? He wondered about the cost of the Radiant Trumpeter itself, thinking that if it were too high, such a card would be somewhat impractical.

The Deer Demon Sister, utilizing the ability of the Radiant Trumpeters, clearly had the upper hand in Creature Cards over the Clockwork Man. However, the Clockwork Man had a clever move, summoning creatures resembling Metallic Beetles, which would reproduce a derivative after a period, and these beetles could unleash a surprisingly powerful Electric Ball. Every time these Electric Balls were fired in unison, the Deer Demon Sister’s summons would fall en masse.

In this way, it seemed that as the Clockwork Man claimed, the older sister beside him had sufficient defense but lacked aggression. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before defeat.

"What on earth is that Electric Ball, how can it be so strong?" Watching for a while, Brand also noticed the problem. The Metallic Beetles that the Clockwork Man summoned were obviously not very strong, barely over Level 20 and not even at the silver strength level. On such a battlefield, they were cannon fodder among cannon fodder, but the Electric Balls they fired were absurdly powerful, equaling Silver Peak attack power.

Some creatures indeed had ridiculously strong attack power, but none would directly leap several ranks. To Brand, this was akin to his Dragon Cavalry tactics, where the Wind Spirit Spider, a weak creature, could perform attacks several ranks above its strength through the Holy Sword Skill.

"That kind of Electric Ball is a Magic Card from that Clock Monster. As long as there’s a Nightmare Furnace Creature on the field, one Electric Ball can be replicated; it’s one of the Clock Monster’s two major supports."

Brand didn’t have time to ask what its two major supports were and instead pursued, "Nightmare Furnace Creature?"

"It’s those Metallic Beetles. Their scientific name is Nightmare Furnace Construct, crafted through Elronia’s Adversity Furnace into constructed life forms."

So, Brand realized that the operating mechanism of these Metallic Beetles was similar to his Dragon Cavalry tactics, no wonder they were so strong. However, it was then that Yi Lian frowned, "Not only that, the Nightmare Furnace Construct can self-replicate by consuming Light Elements... Damn, there are already so many of them, and if we delay any longer, we’ll surely lose..." She suddenly noticed with surprise that the Clockwork Man had hidden some of the Nightmare Furnace Constructs behind itself.

"Damn it, that wooden-headed fool is playing tricks on me!" the Deer Demon Sister exclaimed angrily.

...

(Only two Chapters today) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)