Chapter 1466 December 14th: Right Before the Decisive Battle Part 1

「Nerikiba-san……You’re way too obsessed with Aggro, you know that?」

「Kuh ………」

「You knew I had “Extinction Avoidance” in my hand, and when you passed the turn, you did not have enough lethal monsters to close the game. With decks like that slow draw or brick hands can really screw you over. And here it goes: “Signs of Re-Prosperity”. Look at the four cards on top of your deck, and if they are the same race as the source of your Origin, place them into the Graveyard.」

「No, not yet! I can still win this! Just be something else, just be something else, just be something else……」

「Well, the first one is “Gluttony Snake”. The second one is “Unbalanced Snake”. The third one is “Giant Gluttony Snake”. And the fourth one is “Gluttonous Snake Helvels Cobra”. All being classified as “Big Snakes”. And the one in your Graveyard is “The Great Skeleton Snake”…… Alright, with that taken out of the way, do you have any other spells that you can play? No, I think that from now on the cost is simply too high!」

「Surrender. Now..」

「I don’t want to.」

「UNFORTUNATELY HERE, WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED, THE OPTION TO SURRENDER CANNOT BE ACCEPTED.」

「Curse you, Mid-Range Extreme Environment! Go die in a ditch or something!」

「High Roller’s hatred…… for Tier 1 decks…… truly knows…… no bounds……! GUWAAAHHH ——!!!!!!」

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This is the “Secret Area” of the third layer of the Leviathan. It is a place that is opened only to those who have completely captured the entirety of the Leviathan, and this particular place is the salon exclusive for the players of the Trading Card Game “Philogentec Geoglyph”, and only those of them who managed to completely master the game’s unique mechanics.

Still, only a handful of “Philogentec Geoglyph” can reach this hidden salon. But therefore, since it is a place for the elite players only, the company here is few but the best there is. The experienced “Philogentec Geoglyph” players who have gathered here are those who have broken through the “Tower”, and even among those players, only hundred of them are granted entrance to this paradise hidden in the third layer of “Entertainment”.

This places creates new trends in the game and here is where the meta tends to shift, a place where the best players of “Philogentec Geoglyph” create and test out new strategies and combinations that may or may not affect the rest of the game’s contents…… Or at least it was like that until now. Until today.

「The “Endangered Species Control” is classified as the “Mid-Range Extreme Environment” type of deck.」

「No,I disagree. The one-chance for a victory is only available when the Polar Ring is Aggro-moved. And if we are discussing one-chance decks, I would say that the 「Color Dragons Single Speed Attack” is still a much better choice.」

Two men were sitting on the luxurious sofas of the hidden salon and were enthusiastically talking about what they thought was the best meta pick “Philogentec Geoglyph” at the current moment. One of those men was named “Nerikiba”. He was a man who was considered to be the leading figure in “Philogentec Geoglyph” at the current moment…… The first player to completely conquer the “Tower”. The “Mid-Range Extreme Environment” that he developed is considered to be the strongest deck that can present the complete answer to the really of top six decks that exist all the way from Tier 3 to Tier 1 at the current meta of the game.

However, was that “Polar Ring” the ultimate conclusion to the “Philogentec Geoglyph” and its possibilities…… No, not in the least.

The “Philogentec Geoglyph” card pool is actually synchronized with the list and types od monsters that the particular player managed to encounter throughout their journey through the world of ShangriLa Frontier. In other words, there is a possibility that the new cards would continue to pop up for as long as new species of monsters would continue to be discovered by the players.

And if so.

「…… Incidentally, Nerikiba-san. Have you heard the latest rumors?」

And there was the other man. His name was High Roller and he was always seen around here while wearing a suit, always conscious of the proper dress code. A true Pioneer of the Unknown, or not really. Nerikiba then answered him in a hushed voice.

「If you are talking about that one…… Then yes, I already know about it. After all, I was the one who spread that rumor in the first place.」

「Oh, so that’s how it is, huh…… Well, what do you think?」

「I doesn’t really matter what I think. It’s a mere fact. There is a Nightprowler Luukan card out there. Both Kutanid of the Abyss and Siegwurm, the Heavenly Emperor’s cards have also been confirmed to exist…… So I’m sure that we are bound to see that card surface sooner or later…… That “Goldunine the Inexhaustible”……!!」

Goldunine the Inexhaustible. The information about her was spreading like wildfire across the frontline base, as well as that a decisive battle with one of the seven strongest Unique Monsters, Goldunine the Inexhaustible, was close at hand. But aside from that, and the fact that she is related to “snakes” somehow, not much is known about her.

.

And then there was the memory of the recent Invasion of a new giant snake-shaped monster that was still fresh in the minds of many. After overcoming numerous attacks in the past, with the support of the reinforced Skull Azuchi Castle, it was possible to suppress the invasion with minor damage that was incomparable to when it was attacked by Noirlind or the Colored Dragons before…… At the same time as the birth of the Production Workers Guild, the frontline base was fortified unlike never before, to be able to withstand all sorts of attacks from all sorts of creatures.

But that was just a trivial matter for “Philogentec Geoglyph” players. No matter how much the eyes of the “Brave Fish” would roll, no matter the glares and complaints, this is the field in this cyber world that they decided to be a part of. And they were dedicated to reaching even new heights in it. For them, every kind of Unique or Rare monster that was mandatory for the story to progress was nothing more but a “shitty lock” that was gatekeeping them from obtaining new and better cards. A sort of necessary evil.

「Goldunine. First of all, if it’s a performance that we want to talk about, we can roughly say that she will synergize well with Snake-Type decks. Now, the exact effects are yet to be seen, as well as the fact if she is going to synergize or not with other Unique Monsters as well……」

「Or the “Shifting Environment”.」

The so-called “Mono-Snake” deck is built with the cards of Snake-Type monsters represented by the boss monster “Gluttonous Great Snake”. It is a fairly straightforward deck when compared to other other race-unified decks. And it has many easy and effective combos that can be adjusted and repeated.

It was also a proof that somewhere out there is a “snake” that might have a stronger connection to the rest of the snakes, standing way above them all. Or perhaps it was also a matter of fact that there was some part of the truth about this world that the Library was not yet able to discover. But whatever the reason here…… From the perspective of card gamers, who also emphasize competitiveness above all else, such things only have the impression that “the movement is complete within the theme exclusively,, so there is a momentum but there is no expandability to it.”