Chapter 194: The Labyrinth (6/7)
The sky was dim and the earth dark, with yellow sand filling the air. Within the overwhelming sandstorm, several figures advanced slowly but steadily.
"Luckily Hayato took us to find this Chick card," Joey said, his words slightly muffled. He was using the cloak from the Arena as a mask to avoid a mouthful of sand. "Otherwise, this sandstorm probably would have driven us straight back."
About half an hour had passed since they left the nameless town. It started with just a few strong gusts of wind, but now the sky was filled with dust and sand. The further they advanced, the greater the resistance they faced. Fortunately, they weren't traveling on their own two feet but were being carried by the Fat Chicken beneath them.
Due to their portly figures, the Fat Chicken weren't particularly afraid of the sandstorm. Although the storm was intense, the winds weren't strong enough to move their heavy bodies, and the swirling sand and gravel hitting their thick layers of fat didn't hurt at all.
As they continued on, it felt as if they had crossed some sort of boundary in an instant. The sand and gravel that had constantly been swirling around Hayato and the others suddenly vanished.
"Did we pass through the sandstorm?" Yugi raised his head in confusion, shaking the sand from his hair, only to discover that the gale was whipping up sand and gravel into a high wall around them, as if to trap them inside.
"While a typhoon is powerful, the very center—the Eye of the Storm—is a magical windless zone." Hayato drew two cards from his Deck. "This must be the central area of the sandstorm."
Hayato had just raised the drawn cards above his head when they burst into light. Before everyone's eyes, a pile of sand and gravel flew into the air, gathered together, and quickly coalesced into a Monster made of wind and sand.
Sandstone Monster [1300/1600]
"A mere Fodder Monster, daring to show off in front of me. How reckless, it clearly doesn't take me seriously!" In front of Hayato, Armed Dragon LV5 revealed itself. Time was short, so he had only managed to Summon Armed Dragon LV3 and then use Level Up! to Evolve it to LV5.
However, it was more than enough.
Relying on the strength of its metal armor, Armed Dragon LV5 completely ignored the Sandstone Monster's Attack. Flapping the dragon wings on its back, which still retained the ability to fly, it lunged forward and pinned the Sandstone Monster beneath it.
Striking the Sandstone Monster's neck fiercely with the spikes on its knees, Armed Dragon LV5 finished it off in a few swift moves, not even giving it a chance to say, "I can't breathe." Having left the Battle Phase, the dragon itself also began to fade away.
Almost at the exact moment the Sandstone Monster was defeated by Armed Dragon LV5, the sandstorm that had been enveloping the area surprisingly began to subside. The sand and gravel fell back to the ground, the fierce winds blew into the distance, and even the light grew much brighter.
Joey lowered his cloak. "So that sandstorm was actually stirred up by that Monster?"
"What a terrible experience. It's a good thing this is a game world, or else I feel like my hair would have been ruined," Mai Valentine said, tossing her long hair and shaking out a large amount of sand and gravel.
As soon as his vision cleared, Mokuba looked into the distance and said excitedly, "Everyone, look over there!"
Following the direction Mokuba was pointing, they saw a simple, ancient, temple-like building standing at the foot of a distant mountain. It seemed to be the Giant Rock Temple, and it wasn't too far away.
"That must be the Giant Rock Temple. From what I know, the Tributes for the final Boss were taken there." Taking his cards back, Hayato patted the Fat Chicken beneath him, urging it forward. "Our next target is there."
The group continued onward. Without the sandstorm, their pace quickened considerably, and they soon arrived at the steps of the temple's entrance.
Dismounting their "chickens," Hayato took the lead, with Mai Valentine and Joey bringing up the rear, and Yugi and Mokuba in the middle. The group entered the ancient temple.
Though it was called a temple, the inside of this Giant Rock Temple looked nothing like one. It was more like the lair of some evil demon. The ground beneath their feet was rugged rock, and the ceiling resembled a grotto full of hanging stalactites, dripping water from time to time. Occasionally, a couple of bats hiding within would even fly out, giving the place an incredibly gloomy feel.
"This feels awful," Joey complained. "It's like someone who hates strawberries discovering the only toothpaste left in the house is strawberry-flavored when they go to brush their teeth!"
"I think it's more like your boss sending you a report to finish right as you're about to leave work for the day," Hayato chimed in. "But this isn't the true interior of the temple. Look, there's a large door up ahead."
At the very end of the passage they had been walking down, a tall wooden door stood erect. It was a mystery why a wooden door would be in such a damp place. Standing before it, Hayato and Joey pushed together with all their might, slowly forcing the heavy door open.
But what appeared before them were several high walls.
To call them high walls wasn't entirely accurate, because these walls were all connected to each other, forming countless interlocking paths—it was a complex labyrinth!
"First the Graveyard, and now a labyrinth... I'm getting a really bad feeling about this." Joey couldn't help but remember his terrible experience in Duelist Kingdom. After being kidnapped by Bandit Keith and his cronies, he was forced into a horrifying Duel full of Zombie-Type Monsters.
After that, he and Yugi's group were trapped underground and forced to Duel the Labyrinth Brothers to find a way out.
This experience in the game world was eerily similar. If he didn't know this game was developed by KaibaCorp, Joey might have even suspected the final Boss was Pegasus.
"But all we can do now is keep moving forward," Yugi sighed, looking at the labyrinth before them. "I hope it's not too difficult. And I'm more worried that there might be some dangerous monsters guarding it."
Speak of the devil.
Yugi had barely finished speaking when they heard a noise from the ground nearby. A large, square section of the floor sank, and from it slowly rose a blue, mechanical war machine. The front of the vehicle was equipped with several dangerous-looking drills.
"Is that... Labyrinth Tank?!" Joey recognized the Monster at a glance, as he had encountered it during his Duel with the Labyrinth Brothers. "Everyone, run into the labyrinth! Quick!"
The group scrambled into the labyrinth. The very next second, Labyrinth Tank activated. Its drills whirred as they spun at high speed, and it charged after Yugi and the others who had entered the maze.
Struggling to sit up in my sickbed, here's another short and feeble chapter (lol)
(end of chapter)