Chapter 340 – #74_The Lazy Witch(5)
#338
1.
“Huh?”
Diana was struck with a shock as if she had been hit on the head.
It was dead.
The magic artillery she had been carefully building up for 15 turns was instantly destroyed.
Moreover, it was Siwoo’s groundwork, laid far back in the early stages of the game, that had connected out of sync and cut off the flow.
For the first time during their match, Diana raised her head to look at Siwoo’s face.
He wasn’t gloating over his successful maneuver, nor was he boasting about having thwarted Diana’s attack.
He was simply resting his chin on his hand, calmly scanning the board with a composed gaze.
As if everything was going according to plan.
An attack being thwarted mid-preparation.
This situation is often described as having one’s ‘back broken.’
Of course, this is a frequent occurrence on a position board where players take turns making moves.
But the method was a dispel pin.
Moreover, it was a dispel pin that originated from a groundwork laid long ago.
Unless he had been playing with her in the palm of his hand from the start, such a thing would be impossible.
What Diana would do.
What move she would prepare.
Was he predicting it all in advance, even before a clear outline had formed?
No, that couldn’t be.
It must have been a fluke.
A meaningless, pointless move that had turned into a sharp, ingenious stroke due to a coincidence of circumstances.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“That’s too kind of you.”
He was an opponent who played the game by luck.
Both yesterday and today.
He didn’t seem to have any intention of playing fair and square, instead resorting to all sorts of strange tricks.
Diana calmly examined the destroyed magic artillery.
It wasn’t completely dead yet.
It could be revived.
If she gave up on stabilization and connected a path to a new magic source, utilizing the runes she had preemptively occupied in the upper left corner, it would be possible to restore its function and fire within 5 turns.
After all, the dispel pin was merely a check and a defense.
The position board was a game where you win by destroying the opponent’s magic source.
A dispel pin alone could not win the game.
So she calmly sought an alternative.
This was the power of the orthodox approach.
Even if she faltered in the face of an unexpected situation, she had the stability to quickly regain her composure.
“Ah…”
Just as she was about to reactivate the magic artillery after making three moves, the same thing happened again.
Based on the groundwork she had laid in advance, a sharp dispel pin nullified Diana’s magic circle.
How was such a swift dispel possible?
Diana’s luminous eyes quickly found the answer.
Those three tightly clustered magic sources.
The concentrated magic sources, which at first glance seemed inefficient, effectively supported the dispel pin, which required a moment’s output.
Was this what he had been aiming for from the start?
“……”
There was still one more chance to revive the magic artillery.
Because there were a total of three magic sources that could activate the artillery.
But was it really okay?
This time, it would take 7 turns.
If the magic artillery, which had been invested in for nearly 40 turns, was dispelled again and completely destroyed, it would be impossible to recycle it through the decomposition and reconstruction of the magic formula.
A major force would be lost.
According to the orthodox approach, it was right not to take risks and to dismantle the magic artillery.
It was right to recover even a part of it and use it as a new resource.
And that was an extremely natural choice, considering Diana’s style of play, which sought stability without overdoing it.
After all, she was confident that she wouldn’t lose if she dragged the game into a long match.
However, Diana felt an indescribable displeasure.
To have her strategy revised by a surprise attack on her trump card.
If she backed down here, she felt like she wouldn’t have truly won, even if she did win.
“I’ll give you some credit.”
She should have vaguely noticed it when she saw his self-generating magic.
It seemed he had a knack for dispelling magic.
But could he notice and block it this time as well?
Diana pretended to occupy a rune, while secretly trying to build a new groundwork for the reconstruction of the artillery.
“Kuh…!”
And as soon as she pretended to be distracted.
A dispel pin, as if finding it cute, pierced through to completely dismantle the artillery.
She should have been focusing on defense for restoration, but she had even tried to take advantage of her opponent’s carelessness, so it was only a matter of time before her major piece was destroyed.
The expression ‘stubbornly sticking to something that won’t work’ couldn’t have been more fitting.
Diana belatedly tried to recover from the game that had been overturned due to her excessive carelessness.
However, Siwoo, who had seized the momentum and quickly switched to offense, and Diana, who had to fight with too great a loss.
In terms of the destructive power of a single point breakthrough, Siwoo’s firepower, with his densely arranged magic sources, was overwhelming.
She was helplessly deprived of the runes she had occupied one by one, and her belatedly prepared defenses were all seen through. After being battered for 5 minutes, one of Diana’s magic sources was destroyed.
If she hadn’t been so stubborn, she could have raised the beacon of counterattack even if she lost a magic source.
There was also the option of dealing with it with minimal defense and looking forward to the next opportunity.
But because she had been needlessly stubborn, the gap had widened too much.
It was as if she was fighting after giving up at least dozens of moves.
Moreover, as long as the rule of one move per turn was maintained, even a great witch would not be able to turn the tables.
In the end, the second and third magic sources also collapsed in succession.
Defeat.
The two words were branded on her mind like a mark.
Diana’s shoulders trembled.
“That was a great match. I was lucky.”
Diana was about to burst out at Siwoo, who was grinning and enjoying himself, but she composed herself.
This wasn’t decided by skill.
It was a sudden dispel strategy.
And it was compounded by her own self-destructive move of stubbornly clinging to a strategy that was already ruined.
However, it was right to show the magnanimity of a countess by admitting her mistake rather than getting angry in a pathetic way.
“I think I underestimated you too much.”
“I think so too. To be honest, even while attacking, I wondered if this was right. Haha.”
“Kuh…”
Listening to the strangely humiliating answer, Diana calmly reset the position board.
“So, that means I’m leading 2 to 1, right?”
She was aware that it was pathetic.
In fact, Diana hadn’t anticipated defeat.
Therefore, she hadn’t bothered to keep track of the score.
But she couldn’t accept ‘defeat’ as it was.
Her pride wouldn’t allow her to treat it as just one game lost in a multi-game series.
“Ah, so you’re counting yesterday’s games as well.”
“You always count all the games you’ve ever played!”
Siwoo blinked as if he hadn’t thought about it at all, and Diana answered with a burst of anger.
“I see. Then, are you going to continue?”
“Of course.”
And so, the fourth game, according to Diana’s standards, began.
2.
A renewed determination.
Diana, who had returned to the game without a trace of carelessness or complacency.
Even if she was briefly angry and surprised, her play was always stable and orthodox.
On the other hand, in Diana’s eyes, Siwoo’s play was bizarre and strange.
-Tap
Siwoo’s finger, imbued with magic, tapped a completely unpredictable spot this time as well.
An unexpected move that Diana hadn’t anticipated.
At first glance, it was a reckless move that seemed like a throwaway, a mistake.
Her mouth was itching.
She wanted to ask what he was thinking.
But it was mutual courtesy not to ask about the game.
Diana calmed herself and did what she had to do.
After exchanging 50 moves, the game was heading towards the mid-game.
In terms of advantages and disadvantages, Diana was ahead 7 to 3.
In the battle to occupy major runes, if Diana subtly induced a melee, he would give up without hesitation and retreat.
In the meantime, he wasted moves in meaningless places that had nothing to do with the fight.
He deployed essential defensive magic, but he was just crouching like a turtle, showing no signs of any counterattack.
“Hmm…”
The power struggle.
The occupied paths.
The runes.
Even the placement of magic sources was superior.
But Diana wasn’t careless.
She had experienced his unpredictable strategy of attempting unpredictable moves at unpredictable timings twice before.
It was a fight she could win just by steadily solidifying her position without rushing.
She had a hunch.
It was the right timing.
If she converted the resources she had secured so far into an all-out offensive…
It would be possible to force a surrender within the next 22 moves.
The moment she was about to start an attack with a smooth expansion.
“Shall I start fighting too?”
Siwoo’s counterattack began.
Diana’s formation was like a full plate armor without any gaps.
The feeling of a cold blade entering the seam that was briefly exposed when she drew her sword to finish the job.
“No problem.”
But there was no problem.
Her preparations were already perfect.
Diana’s eyes widened, lest she miss anything.
It was expected that he would try to do something strange again.
Diana calmly calmed her mind and tried to prepare for Siwoo’s attack.
Because she was confident that she would win if she blocked it.
Then, a dispel pin pierced her, poking a sore spot.
“Another obvious trick… but it’s as expected.”
Diana smiled slightly.
It was a subtle timing, but this time she had prepared a countermeasure against the dispel pin.
It was Siwoo’s specialty to suddenly connect the scattered reckless moves and use them as dispel pins.
But what if it wasn’t a form of pouring all the firepower at once, but rather distributing it and inputting it in stages?
Diana instantly split the prepared magic artillery into 10 pieces.
It wasn’t difficult.
She had secured the runes necessary for distribution in advance.
Just like when you attach a head to a shower, the water stream splits into several streams, the opponent would have to deal with 10 attacks at once.
Could he dispel all of this?
With a dispel pin that had such strict conditions?
There was no way.
Unless he was a superior being far above Diana, such a crazy thing was impossible.
Unlike Diana, whose magic sources were moderately distributed, Siwoo’s magic sources were in a cluster.
As it stood, she would give up some flesh to get to the bone.
Diana continued her attack, prepared to give up one magic source.
“This… I think I’ve won?”
That was what Siwoo said as soon as he destroyed one of Diana’s magic sources.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
Was he acting like that just because he had destroyed one magic source?
What was he going to use to block Diana’s subsequent attacks?
Diana ignored him and began to unleash her attacks.
And then.
She soon realized that his words were not empty boasting.
“No, no way…”
All ten attacks were dispelled.
As if he had predicted that she would force a phased input, Siwoo calmly cut off the flow of all attacks.
The moves that seemed meaningless, that she had thought were just a waste, connected and blocked Diana’s attacks.
Like an air defense system that intercepts countless missiles, there wasn’t a single gap.
“……”
“That was a great match again.”
“It’s not over yet.”
Diana, who had poured all her resources into the attack, had her attack dispelled and one magic source destroyed, but still strengthened her will.
She couldn’t bear to lose like this.
Diana struggled to defend against Siwoo’s attack, which naturally pressed down with force, but the result was the same.
Defeat.
She had lost again.
“I’ve learned a lot.”
Diana, who had finally distorted her expression at the unbelievable result, quickly pressed the reset button.
“Now it’s 2 to 2, right? Let’s do it again.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s time for me to go. It was fun today too. If you come again tomorrow, I’ll welcome you anytime.”
The time had passed quickly.
Diana had no choice but to clench her fist and be kicked out of the host bar.
