Eve spun in the air, watching as the mud dragon swallowed his clay soldiers. In his mind, he felt like two strings attached to him were cut.

‘Was it from my soldiers?’ Eve had little to no doubts. It was his first time losing a clay soldier, but the timing was right. Before he could think further, he was free falling with the mud dragon staring at him.

‘Crap,’ Eve gritted his teeth, thinking about his clay soldiers. Then, he felt like tumors were expanding from his back!

The mud dragon shot up, and just as it opened its mouth, Eve felt something pushing him from behind. Glancing back, he saw two more clay soldiers get eaten!

‘They’re all my old clay soldiers, the puppet-like ones,’ Eve thought, but then he crashed hard on the ground. His lower body splattered, but his upper body was whole. Gasping, he let out a silent wail, rummaging through the cloud pain and thought of his clay soldiers. As he did so, he felt something growing out of him and two more clay soldiers were summoned.

‘Run, we need to run,’ Eve didn't even look at the Mud Dragon. “Carry me away!” Eve yelled, when he saw a blue figure manifesting beside him.

[Eve, we can't run! If we run, the next penalty will kill you!] Felix urgently yelled.

“Penalty?” Eve frowned, but then his soldiers threw him away. CRASH—Eve heard the mud dragon slam on the ground.

“What penalty?!” Eve yelled, summoning two more soldiers while he rolled like a tube on the ground. He tried summoning more, but two was his limit.

[We get penalties every time we flee from a fight, and after the first penalty, a random card will be destroyed if we flee again!]

“So it's win or die,” Eve cursed, glaring at both Felix and the Mud Dragon. ‘Can I heal my body, at least?’ He looked at the clay soldiers carrying him. Then, he thought of something.

One clay soldier carried him on its back, while the other tore off its legs and shoved its body parts at Eve before crumbling to clay.

‘No,’ Eve shook his head and summoned a clay soldier after the failed experiment. ‘How about just merging together.’

Eve thought, but instead of the newly summoned clay soldier, the one carrying him started melting. Then, the clay seeped into his back as a warm energy worked its way to his body. Soon, his legs grew back, but he still felt sluggish.

“Quick, heal me!” Eve yelled, grabbing the remaining clay soldier. He absorbed it, and ran with his legs on fire—FOOSH!

Eve hissed as he felt his back nearly get torn off.

[It's you, Felix! Show your Ocean Monster or your Clay Soldier will die!] The Mud Dragon yelled, turning to locate Eve.

Felix tilted his head, narrowing his eyes at the comment. [Rebecca, are you dumb… Nevermind. Did you know that Philip stalks you everyday?] Felix said in a matter-of-fact voice.

Rebecca paused, giving enough time for Eve to gain some distance and absorb two more clay soldiers.

[Who the hell is Philip?]

[Oh sorry, I got them mixed up. I meant Philippe was stalking you last night.]

Rebecca didn't answer, charging at Eve. Eve scoffed and threw his newly summoned clay soldiers at the Mud Dragon. The latter ignored them and slammed into clay soldiers, turning them to paste. Seeing that, Eve jumped high and watched as the Mud Dragon rampaged below him.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

[You're dead!] The mud dragon lifted its head, opening its jaws to gulp Eve.

Two clay soldiers grew from Eve's body and threw him to the ground, where Eve grabbed onto one of the Mud Dragon's legs. Then, the clay soldiers tore each other's head swiftly, as two more grew out of Eve's back and held onto the Mud Dragon's limb.

“HA!” Eve grabbed the mud leg tightly, pushing off the ground with his feet to anchor himself. The clay soldiers pulled on the limb as well, and with a tearing sound—

[ARH! Piece of ant!]

Eve jumped back, with the two soldiers pushing him out as the Mud Dragon zigzagged.

Felix materialized behind Eve, whispering, [18 seconds Eve.]

Eve furrowed his brow for a moment, when he remembered something that Felix mentioned.

“Got it,” he ran forward, but this time Felix followed him. Eve frowned, “Won't you get hit?”

[No, I have a card that's A rank or above on the field, unlike Rebecca earlier,] Felix answered and as the Mud Dragon charged at Eve, he phased through the attack. Eve rolled on the ground and summoned teo clay soldiers. This time, Eve had the two merge and mimic his size.

Felix glanced at the copy and followed it, before speaking loudly. [Kill his other card first, Eve!]

Eve didn't react, instead looking around while keeping an eye on the Mud Dragon. With Felix's trick, the Mud Dragon chased after the copy and killed it.

‘Eight seconds,’ Eve thought when a butterfly caught his eye. ‘Found ya,’ Eve smirked. He didn't know why Felix wanted him to kill the butterfly, but he trusted the man. After all, Felix knew more to the game than him!

[It's already been a minute?!] Rebecca yelled and frantically searched for Eve. However, Felix suddenly ran to the opposite direction, dragging Rebecca’s gaze with him.

[Idiot!] Felix laughed, watching as the Mud Dragon started to dissolve.

[That's cheating! It's only been a few seconds!] Rebecca yelled as her avatar was revealed. Eve, having reached the butterfly that was staying still, crushed it mercilessly.

Unexpectedly, the butterfly bent like rubber and didn't die, prompting him to keep stomping.

[Accept it,] Felix waved Rebecca off, who was slowly fading. Eve then looked at his feet, seeing that the butterfly had become mush.

[Felix, fuck you.]

[I love you too, Becca.]

Eve approached Felix, looking at Felix strangely. “Is she your lover?”

Felix laughed. [No way! She's an online friend. God Players have group circles, and the two players we fought happened to be my friends.]

Eve silently accepted it. “What now?”

[Huh? Weren't you the tactician?]

Eve clenched his fists. ‘I’m too tired to think, damn it!’

“Let's rest for now. I have to confirm a few theories,” Eve sighed and sat down.

[Wait, we can't. The border is closing in,] Felix looked behind Eve, making the latter follow his gaze. Eve squinted, seeing nothing but the giant trees and lush foliage.

“... which means?” Eve frowned.

[If the border closes… err, if the world shrinks on us, we'll die.]

Eve groaned, summoning two clay soldiers and having them carry him.

“Okay, let's move.”

And like that, another hour for Felix passed by.

+

“Kill them,” Eve said while sitting on the ground. In front of him were two clay soldiers holding a stick spear. The clay soldiers charged forward, facing against a hundred clay soldiers and a Clay King on their own.

Listening to the screams and war cries, Eve nodded and relaxed.

‘It’s unbelievable no matter how many times I see it,’ Eve closed his eyes, trying to feel the energy inside his body. It was miniscule, but he could sense that it was connected to something outside of his body.

‘Using the energy I managed to conjure, I can summon the clay soldiers from my homeworld,’ Eve tried summoning another clay soldier, but the energy inside him wouldn't budge. It was like a string that was stretched to its limits, and no matter how he tried, he couldn't stretch it further.

‘I need more energy,’ Eve hummed. ‘The more clay soldiers I own, the more energy I get.’

During the past six days, he once again raided as many villages as he could, but this time he only gained seven hundred clay soldiers.

‘It seems my prey ran out,’ Eve sighed before opening his eyes. Seeing that the battle was over, he told his soldiers to gather the bodies.

‘For some reason, the clay soldiers I summon obtain my battle instincts and some of my strength.’

Including this village, he raided four villages in total, but he didn't move an inch during the four raids.

‘That’s another hundred,’ Eve resurrected his new soldiers. Then, he felt his energy growing slightly, only to be stretched thin once again.

Looking at his clay soldiers, Eve's suspicion grew more.

“One of you is enough to destroy a clay village with hundreds of clay soldiers,” Eve mumbled and tried manipulating his energy.

If his body and the clay soldiers were cups, then his energy was water. His own cup barely had a few drops of water, while his soldiers shared the exact same amount of water, which filled their cups to the brim.

Visualizing this, Eve grabbed both of the clay soldier’s cups and poured half of it back to his body. Then, he opened his eyes and saw his clay soldiers as usual.

“Punch me,” Eve said and slowly, the two did as he wished. Eve raised his hand to block the two fists, and feeling the force behind it, he couldn’t stop grinning.

“Aa expected,” he chuckled and summoned two more clay soldiers, totalling it to four.

“I'm getting the hang of this.”

+

“That was nonsense! He cheated! Not even thirty seconds passed!” Rebecca held her mouse tightly, making it creak. Seeing the “LOL” barrage on her livestream, she let out a heavy sigh.

‘That’s unlucky,’ she sighed inwardly. ‘What happened? How could a little Clay Soldier survive my Mud Dragon?’

Looking at her screen, which still had the [Game Over] displayed, she moved her mouse cursor. Clicking on the [Notification] button, she read all the notices she got but ignored.

‘Oh? It actually told me I was fighting a Legendary Card,’ Rebecca chuckled behind the mic in front of her. Thankfully, she didn't have the face camera activated, she thought.

‘Huh? What are these penalties?’ Rebecca stared blankly at the tens of penalties she received.

Of course, she wasn't the only one who saw them, and her viewers went crazy while asking questions.

‘What the hell,’ Rebecca sighed and cleared her throat. Taking a deep breath…

“What the hell is this?! Why didn't the game tell me about this earlier?! Felix's a hacker, I swear!”