Chapter 187: Undead Burial Ground, Cleared
By the time Hayato came back to his senses and opened his eyes again, they, the four of them, had somehow appeared in a Dark Forest.
"So this is the world of Duel Monsters?" Hayato touched his chest. It was a shame he'd forgotten to bring a magenta Camera with him today.
Joey touched his arm, somewhat disbelievingly. "Is this really a Video Game world? It feels just like my own Body. Ow, that hurts!"
Watching Joey pinch himself until tears welled up, Yugi looked around speechlessly. The damp air, the feeling of the wind flowing, the sound of leaves rustling—this place was practically indistinguishable from the real world.
"This is what's called a 'Full Dive' Video Game. Electronic Data completely simulates all the information the human Body can receive, whether it's Touch, Smell, Sight, Hearing, or even Taste, it can be perfectly simulated. In other words, it's a second world," Keipei introduced excitedly. "If we can continue to develop this Video Game further, maybe even Dead people can live here."
"You can even do something like that? That's too exaggerated, Kaiba," Joey said, finding it hard to believe. After all, the idea that even Dead people could live here wasn't something everyone could easily accept.
"Well, you got one thing wrong. This world wasn't designed by my brother," Keipei's tone was slightly nuanced. "This Video Game, or rather, the foundation upon which this Video Game was designed—the Virtual World—was actually a project completed before KaibaCorp underwent its transformation."
"Before KaibaCorp underwent its transformation? I remember, back then KaibaCorp was an Arms Company, right?" Yugi was confused. Why would an Arms Company develop something like this? Could it be to simulate war for soldiers using the Virtual World?
"Who knows, maybe it was used to house Dead people. After all, didn't Keipei say that even Dead people can continue to live in this world?" Hayato, who knew the deeper meaning of this Virtual World, hinted. "However, we can discuss such things endlessly. What's most important now is to rescue Kaiba."
While talking, Hayato and the others didn't forget to move forward. In the time they spent talking, they had already arrived at the edge of a cliff. Looking down from the cliff, below was a desolate Graveyard. Gravestones lay scattered haphazardly on the Ground, and combined with the faint Mist covering the Graveyard, it gave off an inexplicable sense of eeriness.
"Everyone, be careful. This world is designed based on Duel Monsters, a 'Dragon Quest' Type Story," Keipei reminded everyone, raising a mechanical Device on his Left Hand. "The area ahead doesn't look simple. There are probably some Monsters there."
Yugi and Joey raised their hands and found that they also had such a Device on their hands. The Deck they had previously scanned was also placed inside the Device for easy drawing. Above the Deck, there was also a long Scoreboard displaying the number "4000". They didn't need Keipei to explain this; they guessed at a glance that this was probably their Life Points in this Video Game.
Just then, there was a significant commotion from the Graveyard they had seen earlier. The Ground cracked open, and one after another decaying arm stretched out. Countless Zombie-like Monsters crawled out from beneath the gravestones.
"Skull, Armored Zombie, Giant Mummy, and Dragon Zombie?" Joey was reminded of some unpleasant memories. "Are the Monsters here all Zombie-Type Duel Monsters? Hmph, Sir Joey won't be afraid of you guys again!"
"Why did Joey say 'again'?" Keipei was puzzled.
Yugi explained to him, "During the Duelist Kingdom, someone Kidnapped Joey to a very scary cave full of Skeletons for a Duel, and they also used Zombie-Type Monsters. I remember back then, Joey thought he had arrived in the Underworld and was really scared."
"Don't bring up my embarrassing moments, Yugi!" Joey's face turned red, and his gaze shifted to the Zombie army climbing towards them. "Hey, Keipei, how do I use these Cards? After drawing them, where should I put them? There's no Duel Field here!"
"After drawing a Card, you have to shout the Card's name loudly, otherwise the Card won't respond to you," Keipei said. "According to research, the primary Goal of this Electronic Game is young people aged 16 to 30. This game method of shouting the Monster's name before attacking can maximize their enthusiasm for the game."
Joey nodded, drew the top Card from his Deck, which was Flame Swordsman. "Alright, let's go, Fla—"
"VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, Full Firepower!"
Joey had just raised the Card above his head and hadn't even finished shouting the Card's name when he saw an incredibly thick beam cannon fire from not far beside him, blasting into the Zombie-infested Graveyard. Accompanying the light cannon were beams of laser and tracking missiles.
Standing beside the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, Hayato watched as the massive Robot behind him plowed the Graveyard's Ground with its Firepower, nodding with satisfaction.
In this Video Game, the basic principles of Monster Summoning also needed to be followed. To Summon a Fusion Monster, the Materials had to be Summoned first. Therefore, while Joey and the others were chatting, Hayato had already Summoned the five VWXYZ Machines in advance, and then Combined them into the invincible VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon.
Yugi and Joey were somewhat dumbfounded. The opponents were just Small Fry Zombies with less than 2000 ATK. Was it necessary to Summon VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon? Moreover, Hayato, your Monster Summoning speed is too fast! We haven't even had time to Summon a single Monster, and you've already taken care of all the opponent's Monsters?
"No, that's not right!" Keipei noticed something wrong/unusual happening in the Graveyard being bombarded by Hayato's VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon. Although they had clearly been blasted into dust by the powerful Firepower, under Keipei's gaze, a Skull actually Revived into a complete individual using only a tiny bit of bone dust, and its ATK even increased.
These Zombie-Type Monsters here actually increase their ATK as they are Destroyed?!
Keipei was about to remind Hayato of this, but Hayato already knew this would happen. "Weak, weak, weak! In front of my VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon, you are merely Zombie-Type. Watch as I completely bury you!"
VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon's Firepower suddenly intensified. The Zombies that had just Revived narrowly avoided the suddenly thickened laser beams, but were completely erased without leaving a trace, their ability to Revive completely severed.
The most powerful aspect of these Zombies was that they would Revive and increase their ATK after being Destroyed and Send to Graveyard, but their Weakness was that they had no abilities if they were Banished, and their DEF was uniformly 0. And coincidentally, the two Effects of VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon were one that directly Banished, and another that allowed the user to decide the Attack and Defense of the attacked Monster.
Under the unfair Firepower coverage, Hayato plowed this Graveyard back and forth five or six times. The Ground was literally scraped down by about a meter. The originally messy Graveyard was completely cleared and became perfectly flat.
"Hayato, this place should be, like, a Western classical world, right?" Joey looked at the giant Robot standing on the Ground behind Hayato with some hesitation. "Don't you think Machine Type Monsters are really out of place?"
"Heh heh, you don't understand. I'm bringing the Blessing of Modernization to these people immersed in the Feudal System, telling them that times have changed." Hayato snapped his Finger Snap, directing VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon to continue advancing. "Let's go, we're going to rescue Kaiba!"
No, you're very likely to accidentally kill Kaiba like this! Watching Hayato command VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon to blast open a path through the forest blocking their way with Firepower, Yugi and the other two silently Ranted behind him.