Chapter 148: Surprised? Shocked?

"Let's see what pathetic little Flip Effect monster you've set down!"

Seeing Rowan's unbothered expression even after he'd summoned two decent attack monsters onto the field, the elder frowned and swept a hand out to give his command.

"Gravekeeper's Spearman, attack that set monster! Direct Thrust!"

"Hyah!!"

The black-robed spearman let out a low battle cry and charged forward, spear raised, straight toward the horizontal, face-down card silhouette on Rowan's field.

Alexis, Professor Banner, and Jaden all leaned in, curious what the mystery monster would turn out to be.

The next instant, as the spearman's attack landed, the massive face-down monster card flipped over, revealing itself.

"Hmph!!"

A bald, potbellied figure in black robes, leaning on a long spear, materialized into view.

[Gravekeeper's Guard] [Level: 4] [Attribute: DARK] [ATK: 1000] [DEF: 1900]

Surprise, surprise.

"What?! No, that's impossible?! That's... Gravekeeper's Guard?!"

The elder's eyes went wide with shock at the sight of the bald, black-robed figure, letting out a disbelieving cry.

Especially once he registered that thanks to his own Necrovalley effect, Gravekeeper's Guard had also gained 500 attack and defense, its defense now sitting at 2400. And the moment he remembered Gravekeeper's Guard's Flip Effect, his face turned positively green.

Even Alexis, Professor Banner, and Jaden stood there stunned for a moment, completely unprepared for the possibility that the monster Rowan had set could also belong to the Gravekeeper clan.

And of all things, it just happened to be Gravekeeper's Guard, the very card the elder himself had used as an example earlier.

"Gravekeeper's Guard's Flip Effect. When this card is flipped face-up, I can return one monster on the field to its owner's hand."

Rowan wore an easy smile, the very picture of respect for his elders, as he raised a hand and pointed across the field at the Gravekeeper elder himself.

"And naturally, the one I'm sending back to the hand is you, old man, seeing as you decided to step onto the field in person. You're getting up there in years, you really shouldn't be jumping into the fray so much. Why don't you head back to your pillar and just play cards like a normal person for a while."

As Rowan finished speaking, a golden glow rose up around the elder standing on the field, and he was forcibly wrenched back across the canyon, returning to the pillar on the opposite side.

The elder's hand, which had held only three cards a moment ago, gained one more in a matching flash of gold.

The elder stood there, face dark with humiliation, staring at the card representing his own return to his hand.

[Ding. Gravekeeper's Chief's Emotion Points +500!]

At the pleasant chime of the system notification, a satisfied look crossed Rowan's face.

"And meanwhile, Gravekeeper's Spearman's attack against my Gravekeeper's Guard continues! Let's see how a battle plays out between a 2000 attack monster and a 2400 defense monster you just called pathetic, old man!"

The moment Rowan said that, the dozens of bald, potbellied Gravekeeper guards stationed around the altar all turned distinctly unfriendly looks toward their own elder.

If they remembered right, the elder had indeed just called the monster this boy set down pathetic... which meant he'd basically just called all of them pathetic too, hadn't he?!

The elder's face darkened even further.

"Hmph!!"

But before he could get out a single word of protest, Gravekeeper's Guard, crouched low in its defensive stance on Rowan's field, let out an indignant grunt and raised its spear, easily slashing through the charging spearman and knocking it clean back.

The spearman went tumbling, landing in a heap right back on the field in front of the elder himself, nearly toppling him over in the process.

The elder's Life Points, at 4000, ticked down by 400, dropping to 3600 LP.

"Rowan's using the Gravekeeper clan's own cards..." Alexis said, watching the whole ridiculous scene unfold with a strange expression.

What was even more absurd was that he'd somehow managed to stir up resentment among the Gravekeeper guards toward their own elder in the process.

Every one of those guards was now studiously pretending not to notice, not one of them making a move to help steady their elder as he nearly fell over.

"Boy, why is it that you have cards belonging to our clan in your possession?!"

The elder, having steadied himself back on his pillar, asked Rowan with a stern frown.

Cards belonging to the Gravekeeper clan shouldn't exist at all in the real world, as far as he knew.

Looking at the bald, potbellied guard standing on Rowan's field, he was half-convinced some traitor from his own clan must be behind this somehow... and yet the aura coming off the card clearly didn't belong to any of his people.

"As for why I have it, well, that's actually something I'm still trying to figure out myself!"

Rowan said, putting on a thoughtful expression, delivering the kind of classic nonsense answer that says absolutely nothing while sounding profound.

Real smooth, that one.

The elder, along with squinty-eyed Professor Banner and the others, immediately started overthinking it.

Could there be some hidden secret behind all this?!

"Anyway, old Gravekeeper gentleman, I believe your turn is over."

Before the elder could dwell on it any further, Rowan cut him off.

Once the elder grimly confirmed as much, Rowan drew his card without further ceremony.

"My turn, draw!"

He glanced at the card, and his mouth curled into a smirk as he placed it directly onto his Duel Disk.

One of the pieces I needed, finally here.

"I'll Set another monster face-down in Defense Position. Turn end."

With another soft thunk, a second massive face-down card silhouette appeared on his field.

"Don't tell me that's Gravekeeper's Guard again?!" The elder's expression froze at the sight.

For a moment, he genuinely wasn't sure whether he even wanted to step onto the field in person next turn anymore.