Other than the five cards drawn at the start of the duel, a Duelist could draw one card from their deck every five seconds.

Thirteen seconds had passed since the duel began. So even though Lai had already used five cards, he still had two left in hand.

Looking at the fully healthy Demonbane Warrior on the field, Lai showed a troubled expression.

At this point, there was no way he could deal with the Demonbane Warrior while it had the effect of “magic damage reduced by 2.” Even if he had enough damage, he wouldn’t dare use it. If that damn bottom-ranker stacked another magic damage reduction on top, he’d really cough blood from frustration.

As for going straight for the enemy Duelist...

Lai cast a wary glance at Tidelys’s hand.

From their earlier duel, he had already realized just how deep this woman’s scheming ran.

With how crafty she was, there was no way she hadn’t accounted for a decapitation tactic like that.

To be safe, he needed to wait for a better opening.

It was time to switch to defense.

“I use Muddrag. For the next 10 seconds, all followers on the field have their speed reduced by 50%.”

The moment the card was played, it was as if the Demonbane Warrior had an iron ball tied to his leg. Every step became painfully difficult.

By the time he finally made it over, Lai threw out another card.

“Cast Iceguard. I gain 8 armor.”

The halberd smashed into the thick ice, but failed to break through Lai’s armor.

After that, Lai repeated the same tactic. He used several cards in a row that either increased armor or restored health, making it look like he intended to drag the Demonbane Warrior into a war of attrition.

“Revitalize!”

“Elemental Protection!”

“Renewed Vigor!”

The scene was so bizarre that the audience below couldn’t make sense of it for a moment.

“That top student Lai... is he actually at a disadvantage? No way.”

“Since when did the bottom-ranker get this strong?”

No matter what trump card Lai was still holding back, most of the students below could only see that Tidelys was fighting harder and harder, even starting to suppress him. Lai, meanwhile, was being led around by the nose the whole time, reduced to “desperate defense.”

In their minds, the invincible aura around the top-ranked student was starting to crack.

“Mediocrities are still mediocrities. They can’t even read the situation.”

Standing off to the side, Viana shook her head at the murmuring crowd.

Her cold tone, paired with a figure far more mature than others her age, and the fact that she was also one of the strongest first-years, made Simon glance at her again and again.

Who would’ve thought that someone who got along so well with Tidelys, that bottom-ranker, would turn out to be this much of an overpowered queen type?

“Mr. Simon, do you think Little Ti can win?”

Perhaps noticing Simon’s gaze, Viana suddenly tossed the question at him.

Simon smiled and mocked himself. “If I said no, wouldn’t I be smashing my own brand?”

“But if Tidelys wants to win this duel, there’s no way around that B-rank card, no matter how you look at it.”

“Little Ti told you?”

“She did. Though I still don’t know the exact effect of that B-rank card. To understand her explanation... you need a bit of imagination.”

Thinking back to their conversation last night, black lines practically appeared on Simon’s forehead.

Besides asking about the effect, he had also asked how that B-rank card performed in actual combat. Tidris had answered like this:

“Mm, I only remember that after I used that card, the opponent went down with a whoosh.”

“‘With a whoosh’? Can you be more specific?”

“Umm... crackle crackle?”

In the end, Simon’s blood pressure had also gone up with a whoosh, and his veins had nearly reached the crackle crackle stage too.

“Hehe, Little Ti’s way of thinking really is a bit hard to understand.”

Viana covered her mouth and laughed softly, then explained.

“That card is called Chain Lightning. It deals 10 damage in one go to an enemy follower and the nearest target. Unlike normal projectile spells, this one calls down lightning from the sky, so followers can’t directly jump in and block it.”

“A straight 10 damage, huh.”

Simon smacked his lips. Ever since he’d actually gotten involved with the Cardmaker class, he had realized one thing: his peers in this world seemed to be shockingly lacking in imagination.

If an E-rank spell summoned a tiny flame, then an A-rank one summoned a giant fireball from the sky. Other than stacking numbers, they rarely seemed to improve card effects in any other way. It was all brute force, plain and simple.

“As long as Lai hasn’t used that card yet, you can’t call this a comeback. That’s why I said those mediocrities can’t read the situation.”

At that moment, Viana had her arms folded under her chest. From Simon’s angle, she looked even more... ahem, full of pride.

“Getting off track. Mr. Simon, you still haven’t clearly explained the second hurdle.”

Simon shrugged. “I think at this point, it’s already obvious, Miss Viana.”

“If the trump card is something that easy to counter, then anyone would prepare a second backup plan, right?”

E-Easy to counter?

The overpowered queenly air Viana had been maintaining this whole time suddenly froze.

She turned and stared at Simon’s face, but all she saw was his casual calm.

“It really isn’t that hard to counter, right? Setting aside the usual shield boosts and damage reduction, you could also summon a new follower the instant the lightning falls, so you’re no longer the nearest target. That would dodge it too. Or you could kill the target follower before the lightning lands. Once the lightning gets grounded, there’s no way for it to deal a second hit.”

“Also, I heard that in the previous uses of Chain Lightning, the designated follower was always on the half of the field farther from Lai. So is it possible that the ‘nearest target’ in the effect text doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe?”

Simon stressed the words “friend and foe alike.” Almost at the same instant, a surging flash of inspiration swept through Viana’s mind like a tidal wave.

Seeing that she seemed to have realized something, Simon smiled and continued.

“If that guess is right, then it explains why Lai didn’t bring a single follower card. And there’d be even more ways to counter it. For example, you could shove a follower right next to your opponent and make them eat the damage...”

Watching Simon speak so fluently, Viana felt a slight sense of defeat for the first time in front of someone her own age. At the same time, her curiosity grew even stronger.

Even she had spent several days thinking about how to counter Chain Lightning. But this guy in front of her had come up with several methods in just one night.

What exactly was in his head?

Just as Viana was about to dig deeper into this boy’s background, a peal of thunder interrupted their conversation.

Under the dazzling white flash, Simon narrowed his eyes without meaning to.

“Well now, looks like the two on stage finally couldn’t hold back anymore...”

The two of them looked toward the dueling platform at the same time. In that moment, the lightning churning through the sea of clouds pushed the duel into a new phase.