3 The Rising of the Card Mage Part 2

Ahli would never expect to see Flame Blast there. Its appearance in that situation was felt more than just luck. With it as Jena's favorite card, it felt more like how Jena had given him blessing and protection to win the battle.

As he remembered her, tears were almost pouring from his eyes if not for the call.

"Hey, card mage! Stop focusing on yourself and give a little help here!"

Ahli looked in the female swordsman's direction and saw how she was facing three goblins at the same time. She was so swiftly fighting against them, but it could be seen that the tide of battle had turned against her.

In order to help her, he decided to use Flame Blast against one of the goblins, but as he pulled the card from his hand, he noticed a 4th one creeping at her side. It moved slowly as it seemed to aim for her blindside.

With the goblin speeding up and starting to dash toward the female swordsman with a hand axe, Ahli quickly threw Flame Blast from his hand in the 4th goblin's direction and yelled, "Pay one fire mana! Flame Blast target that goblin!"

The red shard in front of him crumbled and became a red-light sphere that flew quickly to the Flame Blast card, enveloping it with its radiance. It then transformed mid-air into a ribbon of flame tongue, flowing quickly toward its target.

The incoming Flame Blast, unfortunately, was not unnoticed by the 4th goblin, as it quickly stop midway through its run and he stepped back immediately to avoid the trajectory of the incoming attack. What it didn't predict, which also Ahli did not predict, was how the Flame Blast movement quickly curved following the 4th goblin. It gave it no room to react anymore, and the flame tongue pierced the 4th goblin, which then engulfed it in fire, killing it immediately.

As the 4th goblin's lifeless body fell to the ground, the flame ribbon then retracted into the air and transform back into a card. It then continued by spinning toward Ahli's right side. It stopped just next to his right arm and it has the form of an illusion card just like the one that appeared when the Card Mage system was activated but in a regular card size version.

Ahli tried to touch the Flame Blast card and his finger passed through the card, showing how it was unattainable. It even stayed at his right, no matter the direction he was facing. With that, he understood clearly that the position of the Flame Blast card at the moment would be considered as the used pile, a place for any used card or dead summons in many TCG games.

"Hey, thank you."

Ahli was quite surprised to see the female swordsman was already in front of him again. He did wonder how she was able to come near him unnoticed.

"Ah, yes. Sorry, for not helping earlier." As he said that, the red shard in front of him was starting to form again. As it finished forming, another card popped out and flew to his hand.

<Turn 4>

Before Ahli was able to see what card he got this time, he felt a strong glare from the female swordsman. He looked at her and saw how those dead-serious eyes somehow were filled with contempt.

"Sorry, anything bothering you?"

"Nothing. Just don't die. I have something to talk to you about." The female swordsman turned to face the other direction as she finished her sentence.

Two goblins were coming at them, which she welcomed by doing a counter rush toward them. As their distance got closer, she quickly stopped and made a quick spin movement.

"SWORD ART! VIOLENT GALE!" With that, she hit one of them with a strong spinning sword swing.

  It was capable to throw the goblin off the ground while slicing it into two. As the thrown body was flying toward the other goblin on its side, the second goblin quickly reacted by sliding on the ground, avoiding the incoming projectile in a split-second movement.

As it passed it, it raised up the hand axe it carried, and made a jump onto the female swordsman, ready to drop a slash on her. Of course, she saw it coming.

The female swordsman quickly positioned her sword on the trajectory of the hand axe, preparing to block its incoming drop. As both weapons clashed, a loud bang was heard from it.

As Ahli was paying attention to that sequence, he did not notice that another goblin had crept into him. In a surprise attack, the goblin swung its club at him. It hit him hard on his right hip, almost making him fall.

Ahli was able to hold his ground, but in front of him, a number 5 appeared, which was then replaced by a 4. He quickly understood the sequence as the notification of him losing his life points. The goblin attack from before had made him lose 1 life point.

The pain in his right hip started to pulse, hindering his movement to keep his distance from the goblin. It was not a pleasant pain, but he could endure it. He also did not worry much about facing the goblin as he knew how this single goblin attack would take at least 4 more turns to kill him.

What came next made him realize that he was wrong in understanding the way the battle works.

A sudden 2nd swing from that very same goblin was going upward to his face. Ahli reacted quickly and was able to move his hand in front of his face, protecting it from the nasty club. Yet, it still hit him with full force, making him thrown into the air. His body flew for around 2 meters from the spot he used to stand. It then landed roughly on the ground where gravity then pulled him for another meter.

Ahli felt the heat of the club friction on his hand. He also felt pain in his entire upper body. He groans and turned his body to face the ground, trying to push his body to stand up again.

[A 2nd consecutive swing? It can't be!]

Ahli looked at the goblin who swung at him and saw its status, it is still showing the same 1/1. But he could not make any sense of how two consecutive hits were able to be dealt with in just a mere 5 seconds. Ahli examined carefully the goblin, who was showing a smug face after he was able to hit him with a devastating blow.

Ahli's eyes quickly widened in shock when he found a familiar icon attached to the goblin's stats. It showed a picture of two swords crossing each other. With him being familiar as well with the digital version of Card Master, Ahli understood quickly how dangerous this goblin was as it has the ability of Dual-Hit.

This new piece of information finally filled in the blank for the reason why the first swing was able to hit him without giving him the chance to avoid it.

In Card Master, Dual-Hit made any summon capable of dealing damage twice, with the first damage faster than the 2nd one. It made both attacks operate at two different timing in the game. The first attack was usually called a Quick Strike and the 2nd attack was called Normal Strike. In the game, it could be handled with a summon that has the same ability or at least has the ability of Quick Strike in order to match with the first attack.

With the existence of this one goblin that had the Dual-Hit ability, then it meant the flow of the battle onward would not be in his favor. Ahli felt not sure anymore if he could have enough time to pull the right card before he dies in that goblin's hand.

<TURN 5>