After preparing his card deck, the card game was about to begin.

However, before the start of the game, Ree Shil realized that the game had changed while he was specially configuring his deck.

The panel had shifted from 0/999 to 0/9.

"Oh my, doesn’t that mean it’s been reduced to just 1% of the original size?

That’s some good fortune."

Ree Shil felt this might be the most significant reduction he had experienced on an S-rank mission.

But when the monster cards were presented, he found that things were not as simple.

The first wave of monsters was a type called [Devilheart].

A black silhouette in human shape, with no facial features, and blurry details.

[Devilheart]

Berserk, Attack 40, ???/???

[Hearteating - Passive]: For every Devilheart card that exits the field, the maximum Health Points of Devilheart are increased by 10%.

[Heart Sacrifice - Passive]: When Devilheart exits the field, it grants every Devilheart card on the field an additional 5 Attack Power, which is cumulative.

With only two entries, Ree Shil furrowed his brows in contemplation.

It was unclear whether the compensation in strength had occurred because the number of waves had been reduced,

or if the strength of the monsters was originally designed to be this way within the 999 waves.

First of all, the question mark for health made it difficult to judge their strength.

Generally, only the BOSS card in a PVE Game would have such a feature.

Now, all 10 [Devilheart] cards opposite him had health points marked with question marks.

Moreover, the increase in Health Points by a percentage was a very rare type of entry.

These are typically found in PVE monster cards and rarely in a card player’s own cards.

Because if the percentage is managed correctly, it could create a monster card with power exceeding the game’s balance.

Take this card game, for instance.

After the first 9 [Devilheart] cards exit, they would accumulate a 214% Health Point increase for the last [Devilheart], which equates to the eighth power of 110%.

214% might not seem like much, but remember, we do not know its base health.

The accumulation process before that is also quite frightening.

The exit of the 1st [Devilheart] adds 10% to the remaining 9 [Devilheart] cards.

The exit of the 2nd [Devilheart] adds another 10% to the remaining 8 [Devilheart] cards.

Not just in health, but in terms of Attack Power, they would similarly stack straightforwardly.

When only the last [Devilheart] remains on the field, its Attack Power will reach a staggering 85 points.

Ree Shil, however, is willing to accept this.

Because it isn’t just a straight increase, there’s a curve to it.

When the 1st [Devilheart] exits, the opposing side will lose its current 40 Attack Power.

Then, 5 Attack Power will be added to the remaining 9 [Devilheart] cards, which totals to 45 points.

In this way, the opponent gains 5 points.

When the 2nd [Devilheart] exits, they lose its current 45 Attack Power.

The remaining 8 [Devilheart] cards each gain 5 Attack Power, totaling 40 points.

This time there is a loss of 5 points.

When the 2nd [Devilheart] exits, they lose its current 50 Attack Power.

The remaining 7 [Devilheart] cards each gain 5 Attack Power, totaling 35 points.

This time there is a loss of 15 points.

As more cards exit, the greater the loss.

This means that killing the opponent’s cards can still effectively reduce the opponent’s DPS.

It’s just that this rhythm will be somewhat slower than the normal killing.

"This first encounter is a high-intensity challenge," Ree Shil remarked.

He knew all too well that this card game was not going to be easy.

A 9+1 card game where the opponent’s maximum Life Value is unknown, with a total Attack Power of up to 400 points.

It’s a pure strength challenge.

Assuming, like in most PVE games, the front row of the opponent’s side uses [Defense] to soak up damage, they could still deliver an output of 7x40=280 points.

"Apart from [False Saint] or a Giant Card with high Health Points and 10 points of damage reduction, basically no card can withstand a wave of Focusing Fire.

A card like [Weapon Master] would be taken out in seconds.

[Crystal Dragon Queen], with its 10 points of [Shield] per round, plus [Dragon Flag Master]’s protection, might barely manage to hold up."

Moreover, Ree Shil knew that, in fact, this seemingly pure strength card game actually had flaws to exploit.

That is the tried-and-true special effect: Seal.

To be on the safe side, his deck did indeed carry the Seal.

That would be the entry on [Dragon Flag Master].

[Flag Seal Suppression - Passive]: When the Dragon Flag Master is present, and a target receives 5 or more attacks from Kung Fu/Dragon cards in the same turn, the target gets the Seal effect the next turn.

In his deck, there are two cards that could easily trigger this.

The first is naturally the [Soul Dragon].

If it received a single 30-point [Treatment], it could deal 30 instances of damage. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[Flag Seal Suppression] only needs 5 attacks, [Soul Dragon] can easily achieve this.

The second is [Sheep Primordial God].

Once fully Warming Up, [Four God Pursuit] is a 4-strike combo; just pairing it with another card will easily trigger [Flag Seal Suppression].

And once [Four God Pursuit] is released, it can be used endlessly afterwards.

However, there’s some conflict between these two cards.

When [Soul Dragon] uses its Skill, it drains the Energy of [Sheep Primordial God], since its universal label is part of the Dragon Card Label.

If using [Four God Pursuit], it’s not a problem if energy is drawn away.

Because [Four God Pursuit] consumes 3 Point Energy and recovers 4 Point Energy.

And the priority of [Four God Pursuit] is T2, while the priority of [Shackles Divine Light] is T4.

So the energy drain from [Shackles Divine Light] cannot prevent [Four God Pursuit].

But if [Shackles Divine Light] is used before [Sheep Primordial God] has accumulated the 3 Point Energy needed to launch [Four God Pursuit], it will prevent it from Warming Up, preventing the energy from increasing.