Death… And Me

Chapter 1807: The Chasm

Well, what happened from that point onward wasnʼt even a match. It was basically an adult spanking a newborn child. The other side had absolutely no way of defending himself. Not only that, the moment the terrain was generated, Roan knew what the rigged part of the board meant for Ollyʼs strategy. For Roan, Olly was basically telling him exactly what he intended to do.

”This...” Olly looked at the outcome of the game with his eyes wide open. He hadnʼt lost yet, but he couldnʼt see a way out at all. ”How can that be?” His ʼkingʼ or the piece with the same level of power was completely surrounded. The funny part was that Roan purposely left that piece alive on the board as he focused on wiping out all the rest. 

What did Roan want to show with that? Well, everyone could tell. He simply wanted to show the difference between Olly and himself. ”Thatʼs about it. I can finish it, or you can surrender. Which one do you want?”

Ollyʼs expression went dark as he looked back at Roan. ”Shut up! You must have cheated! Thereʼs no way you could get such an advantage.”

”Is that so?” Roan asked back. ”Itʼs not like I didnʼt expect you to refuse to admit defeat. Very well. If you want, we can start a new game. How about that? This time, I wonʼt hold back, though.”

Olly felt like he was pardoned. After all, Olly could feel the eyes of everyone else behind him. Wasnʼt he supposed to win this match very easily? Obviously, he could imagine how angry the others were. ”Hmph! Weʼll see about that!”

The game was quickly reset as a completely different field appeared. Once again, there was a well-hidden connection that was supposed to give Olly the advantage. However...

”Alright, youʼre planning to take the back valley, which is open and surrounded by the poison mist. You will use only a fourth or a third of the troops that can deal with the poison fog, trying to divert my attention from the mountain range. Am I correct? However, the real plan comes from the river and the narrow path on its south side. Well, if we look from your side of the board, itʼs the north side, right?” Roan asked Olly.

Olly couldnʼt help but sweat a little when he heard that. This was one of the strategies he had developed in his rigged board. He had several other strategies that the board would generate and could make use of. Yet, this one was already out of the question as Roan saw straight through it. In fact, if Roan hadnʼt opened his mouth, Olly would have done exactly what Roan said. ”Hmph! What are you trying to do? Scare me or something? Youʼre wrong! Or perhaps you arenʼt. After all, itʼs not like Iʼll tell you my strategy.”

Without much choice, Olly saw himself forced to take a new path. One mustnʼt have the wrong idea, though. Olly was indeed very good at this board game. Itʼs just that he chose the wrong opponent.

”You will use the swamp and 400 to 500 soldiers and two commanders to form a pincer attack at the entrance. At the same time, another 700 to 800 troops will charge at my group of tamed demon beast riders from the outside, trying to disrupt my defense.” Roan said all of that with a bored expression.

Olly began to wonder whether Roan could read his mind or anything. Even the most unconventional ideas he had were seen through straight away. Worst of all, Roan was speaking out loud, making Olly feel even worse.

”Not a bad decision. Retreating your troops to the entrance of the right castle and holding your position was the optimal choice.”

Olly hadnʼt even done that before Roanʼs words came out.

”I wouldnʼt use the archers to rain down arrows on my riders. Canʼt you see? If I...”

Sometime later...

”You have lost.”

Ollyʼs confidence was getting hurt after that. However, he still asked to play again, which Roan accepted.

”Wrong once again. You lost half of your infantry from the exact same strategy in the last game? What are you thinking? Could it be that you expect me to think that you wouldnʼt use the same method again? How naive can you be?”

”You have lost again.”

Another game.

”Youʼre going to use your riders to pass through my infantry instead of my own riders. No one would expect that in this situation, so Iʼll praise you for coming up with that,” said Roan before Olly even made a move again.

”You have lost.”

”Now the catapults...”

”You have lost.”

”You have lost.”

”How stupid can you be? Canʼt you tell that I can see through the rigged board? Itʼs the same as telling me exactly what you intend to do. You have lost even worse this time.”

The disciples who put their trust in Olly were angry at first. However, they soon began to feel respect for the older black-haired man in front of Olly. Some of them knew the game well. They knew that Ollyʼs plays... or what he intended to do before Roan opened his mouth, were indeed very good. If they were in Roanʼs place, they would have lost many times already. Yet, Roan used every single decision Olly made to strike hard on his weaknesses. Let alone Olly, everyone watching the games understood that they wouldnʼt fare any better in front of Roan.”

”Sigh... this is getting boring,” Roan eventually shook his head. ”Rean, wanna try? He has lost twenty-seven times already. Even if you lose, he will need to win twenty-eight times to catch up to me.”

Rean laughed in response. ”Hey, werenʼt you the one who didnʼt want to waste time? How come you accepted to play it twenty-six times?”

Roan disagreed, clarifying, ”This was not a waste of time. I only wanted to show the difference between them and me. Then again, you should have no problem against him either, so it will be good if you solidify your position as well.”