"Thunder Emperor Zaborger's direct attack!"
Lightning gathered in the palms of the Thunder Emperor, transforming into a ball of electricity that roared and surged towards Jim.
But Jim didn't intend to take the damage: "Activate Cover Card!
Trap Card 'Opponent's Entrance!'
Select one face-up monster on your opponent's field, and you can Special Summon a monster with the same Level from your hand!"
The Trap Card in Jim's back row flipped open.
"The effect of 'Opponent's Entrance,' I choose your 'Thunder Emperor Zaborger'!"
Jim clenched his fist.
"Thunder Emperor Zaborger is Level Five, so I can also Special Summon a Level Five monster from my hand."
He drew a monster card from his hand.
"The monster I will summon from my hand is this one, appear now—
—Maze Wall!"
The ground rumbled and shook. Although it was clearly a monster summoning, it sounded like the activation of a Field Spell. With a tremor, interlocking maze walls rose loudly from the depths, forming layers of barriers in front of Jim.
[Maze Wall, Defense Power 3000]
"Maze Wall, an absolute defense on par with the Thousand-Year Shield," Yugen said, "Then the battle rewinds, and I won't attack."
Maze Wall, a Five-Star Mortal Bone, has zero attack but a defense power of three thousand, comparable to the Thousand-Year Shield. This card first appeared in the Maze Brothers' deck and evolved into a maze theme deck in the future physical card environment.
Of course, at this time, the maze had not yet become a special field. It was just a high-defense Rock Race Mortal Bone.
Yugen: "Set two cards, ending the turn."
"My turn, draw!"
Jim said.
"Activate Magic Card 'Pot of Greed,' draw two cards from the deck."
Jim drew two cards, and then the corner of his mouth turned up.
Great, it's here.
Jim looked up with a smug smile.
"Does Mr. Yugen know? There are many incredible things hidden in this world," he said, "Things that existed long before the dawn of human history, those ancient fossils buried beneath the mantle.
Only through modern human science and wisdom can one unearth the wondrous powers from prehistory!"
"Fossils, huh," Yugen said, "Jim Cook, you're a deep archaeology enthusiast."
"Ahahaha, yes. My duels are like that too. The best moments in a duel are when you awaken those slumbering powers from the cemetery, returning them to the field to reveal their all-new forms after being washed by endless time and age!"
Jim exclaimed.
"And this romance in my duels can be best manifested through this card—
—Magic Card 'Fossil Fusion'!"
Yugen squinted slightly, the corners of his mouth rising.
Just as expected.
"Fossil Fusion allows you to remove from play the Fusion Materials determined by a 'Fossil' Fusion Monster from your own or your opponent's cemetery for a Fusion Summon of the corresponding Fossil Fusion Monster!"
Jim said this is the romance of archaeology, and indeed it is. The effect of this card, as its appearance suggests, is essentially grave robbing.
Robbing his own grave and his opponent's grave, stealing the opponent's tomb for his own Fusion Material, this is the greatest feature of Fossil Fusion.
The physical card retained this feature and further strengthened the Fusion Monster summoned by this effect.
For example, Fossil Fusion Monsters cannot be targeted by Monster Effects, and if a Fossil Fusion Monster is destroyed, it can recycle "Fossil Fusion" from the cemetery to maintain sustainability.
But these are new abilities added after the physical card enhancement, which the original version in Jim's hand does not have.
Moreover, sitting before Jim at this moment is an even more awkward issue...
"It's indeed a fitting fusion method for an archaeology fanatic."
Yugen laughed lightly, speaking calmly.
"But it's a pity. For an archaeologist, you are currently in the worst excavation site, aren't you?"
As soon as he spoke, Jim saw the Fossil Fusion Magic card he had just inserted into the Duel Disc, floating on the field, beginning to darken. A transparent lightning sparkled and crackled, and then the Magic Card simply fizzled out, becoming transparent, until it disappeared.
Jim: "!"
What's going on?
"My fossil...?"
Then he suddenly looked up.
At the continuous valley he found himself in, with the gloomy sunlight seemingly imprisoned in this sealed cage.
"Is it because of this field?" Jim suddenly realized.
"You've noticed," Yugen said, "Royal Valley of Eternal Rest, is a field guarded by the Guardian of the Royal Family, an absolute forbidden cemetery not allowing any kind of trespass.
Here, any attempt to rob a grave, resurrect the dead, or cemetery destruction, all are strictly prohibited."
He paused, then with a smile under the cold sunlight, translated into K language for explanation.
"In the Royal Valley of Eternal Rest, the effects impacting cards in the cemetery are nullified, and neither side can remove cards in the cemetery from the game."
Jim: "!"
Nani? Cannot remove cards from the cemetery from the game, does that mean his Fossil Card Deck...
Realizing the severity of the problem, Jim couldn't help but grit his teeth.
"Fossil Fusion... is sealed?"
Yugen said this is the toughest field for an archaeology fanatic, and that was indeed the case. Fossil Fusion's main feature is digging up graves on both sides and fusing them into various fossil monsters, and such a restriction that bans grave digging practically seals off his entire deck's primary arsenal.
Even without using Fossil Fusion, Jim's ace card, "Earth Giant Gaia Stone Tablet," used when facing the Overlord also requires removing two Rock Race monsters from his own cemetery for Special Summoning.
A large monster with 2800 attack that can appear with such simple conditions, and it even has the powerful ability to halve the opponent's Monster's Attack Power during an attack. Under normal circumstances, it's considered a very high-quality strong attacker, but in the Valley of Eternal Rest, even if drawn, it would just remain stuck in hand until forever.
And not just targeting cemetery removal; this valley also prohibits returns and revivals from the cemetery, causing significant disruption as well.
It is no exaggeration to say that just this one card practically shuts down more than half of his paths forward.
Jim suddenly felt a bit of a toothache.
As expected of the Duel King, casually pulling out a Divine Artifact that instantly fills up the rage gauge. No wonder the opponent just kept using various search field effects, as this field card really wins half the battle as soon as it gets into hand...
"Fossil Fusion failed," Yugen squinted his eyes, "So now, what are you going to do?"
Jim pondered for a moment.
"I'll switch 'Maze Wall' to Attack Position."
[Maze Wall, Defense Power 3000→ Attack Power 0]
"Then activate this card—"
Jim waved his hand dramatically, inserting another card into the Duel Disc's back row.
"Magic Card 'Shield in the Left Hand, Sword in the Right Hand'!
Switch the original Attack Power and Defense Power of all monsters present on the field!"