Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

A chessboard?

Mo Fan immediately looked around as far as he could see.

The huge tiles did resemble a chessboard laid into the ground.

If it is a chessboard, where are the pieces?

An eerie red light shone down on Mo Fan and Asha’ruiya while he was confused.

Mo Fan exchanged glances with Asha’ruiya. Asha’ruiya seemed to know what Mo Fan was going to ask. She announced with a grim smile, “We…we are the pieces!”

—

“This is the Chessboard of Slaughter. I now understand why we are not allowed to move backward.” Asha’ruiya’s face remained pale.

“What does it have anything to do with the chessboard?” Mo Fan asked her.

“Pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, queen, and king. These are the pieces in a game of chess. Pawns are like soldiers in your Chinese chess. I’m pretty sure you are aware of their movements,” Asha’ruiya told him.

Mo Fan nodded.

Soldiers were the pieces that could only move forward in Chinese chess!

Thus, they were pawns, and could only move forward!

A strange power had been restricting them since they set foot in the land of ashes and bones, forcing them to only move forward!

“Then… what’s the black forest about?” Mo Fan asked.

“If I’m not mistaken, it’s a selection point. We are going to be some chess pieces of the game. It’s assigning us as pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, the queen, or the king,” Asha’ruiya guessed.

The red light slowly expanded. Mo Fan and Asha’ruiya remained unmoving, but the chess tiles under their feet were moving on their own!

They were shuffling around like a puzzle. Mo Fan, Asha’ruiya, and the Dark Swordmaster were being relocated.

Mo Fan was moved a little to the left from the center at the border of the chessboard. He was the only one in the tile.

Asha’ruiya and the Dark Swordmaster were moved to other places!

Mo Fan and Asha’ruiya ended up two tiles apart. She was not too far away from him.

The Dark Swordmaster was on the other end, around six kilometers away. He had turned into a tiny dot.

Mo Fan was able to move around, but he was unable to leave the tile. When he tested the edge, the red light would force him back.

“Mo Fan, you are a bishop!” Asha’ruiya yelled at him.

Mo Fan was puzzled. Ever since he had come to the Dark Plane, nothing had been logical to him. His brain was having trouble reacting.

“What bishop?” Mo Fan yelled back.

“You are a bishop piece in a game of chess. Look above you!” Asha’ruiya pointed.

Mo Fan looked up and saw a faint light forming a symbol above him. It bore some resemblance to the symbol of a bishop from a chess game!

Mo Fan looked above Asha’ruiya and saw the symbol of a knight taking shape.

“You are a knight?” Mo Fan asked.

“Mm, my Dark Swordmaster is a knight too, but he’s on the other side. There is one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns in total!” Asha’ruiya said.

Mo Fan frowned.

The chessboard was quite empty for now. Only he, Asha’ruiya, and the Dark Swordmaster were on it.

If the black forest was indeed a selection place that would assign the people who found their way out as different chess pieces, he should see other chess pieces soon.

The selection was still happening. They had left the black forest too early, so they were the only ones on the chessboard.

“Mo Fan, you should get some rest and recover your strength. It’s going to be a tough battle after the rest of the chess pieces are here!” Asha’ruiya said.

“Alright, I can’t go to you, so you should be careful too,” Mo Fan said.

“Don’t worry, I’m not as weak as you think!” Asha’ruiya’s gaze sharpened.

——-

The selection process was taking a long time. They were still the only pieces on the board after some time.

They suddenly heard a terrifying cry.

Mo Fan opened his eyes and saw a creature with three heads and hot steam rising from its body in front of him. It was roughly six tiles away.

“It’s a Dreadful Curse Cerberus!” Mo Fan had read about the creature from some ancient records in Greece. It was a high-level species with insane numbers in the Dark Plane.

Was the creature the enemy bishop?

Hang on, something did not seem right. Their strength was not equally matched.

The Dreadful Curse Cerberus was nowhere close to Mo Fan’s current strength. He could easily beat a bunch of them by himself!

“It’s a pawn!” Asha’ruiya was startled by the Dreadful Curse Cerberus’ cry too.

The same red light appeared multiple times and teleported one Dreadful Curse Cerberus after another onto the chessboard.

“So they are the enemy pawns? If the enemy has eight pawns too…” Mo Fan was doing some calculations.

He assumed a tile would only hold a Dreadful Curse Cerberus, similar to his side. Asha’ruiya, the Dark Swordmaster, and he were occupying one tile each. However, he was shocked to see a group of Dreadful Curse Cerberi occupying the same tile!

More Dreadful Curse Cerberi appeared. Their numbers were like an army.

A group of Dreadful Curse Cerberi was equivalent to a single pawn?! The pawns were the weakest piece in chess!

The Dreadful Curse Cerberi were not allowed to leave their tiles either, so they were only glaring at Mo Fan angrily.

They looked like they were going to lunge straight at Mo Fan once the chains broke.

“New pieces are coming,” Asha’ruiya called out.

Mo Fan looked past the Dreadful Curse Cerberi and noticed several strange huge creatures on the same tiles as Asha’ruiya and the Dark Swordmaster on the opposite side.

Black armor, heavy swords, and battle horses with dark blue flames on them.

They were Dark Swordmasters! The enemy knights were Ruler-level Dark Swordmasters!

Four Dark Swordmasters were a knight piece!

Two knight pieces meant eight Dark Swordmasters in total!

Eight Dark Swordmasters… How terrifying was that?

There were still bishops, rooks, the queen, and the king left.

If the knights were already eight Dark Swordmasters, how terrifying would the rest of the pieces be?