Chapter 680 – #137_Turning Point (5)
#680
1.
The ashtray was already overflowing with cigarette butts.
The two of them stared at the board with bloodshot eyes, not exchanging a single word.
“Hoo….”
Siwoo gasped without realizing it.
Concentration and thinking consume a large amount of oxygen.
The sweat dripping down his chin was annoying.
He realized that he couldn’t win if he went for a normal long game against Rosie.
Before the mutual mana source optimization was complete, he induced a chaotic battle three steps faster.
Fortunately, the large number of runes placed in the center also worked in his favor.
If runes of lesser importance had been placed, or if there had been fewer of them, Rosie might have tried to complete the optimization without taking control of the center.
In other words, he had drawn her into a fight at the right time, a time when she would inevitably lose if she didn’t respond.
This would inevitably lead to a chaotic battle, increasing the possibility of Rosie making a ‘mistake.’
So, if you were to ask if Rosie made a mistake, the answer is simple.
This crazy bitch was continuing the game without slipping up even once.
“…….”
Rosie silently made her next move.
Usually, in board games, the number of choices and decisions decreases as the game progresses.
However, the organic nature of the position board, where all ‘points’ become ‘lines,’ and those ‘lines’ combine with runes to transform into magic, reverses that common sense.
It is a game where the number of cases to consider increases exponentially as it moves into the mid-game.
Of course, Rosie had a defense against this.
If you had to consider every single case, dozens of steps ahead, it would be impossible without bringing in a supercomputer.
Therefore, Rosie created her own calculation formula based on her long experience.
If you think about it, it’s similar to card counting.
Counting used in many card games is not about remembering and calculating every card.
It is about categorizing and simplifying the scheme, performing overlapping calculations in batches, and eliminating unnecessary calculations.
Her optimized algorithm was like a self-magnetizing magic that made the impossible possible.
There was no tournament with billions of prize money, and in a position board game that everyone thought of as just a drinking game, if you had such a cheat, it was natural to win, but….
Shin Siwoo was still not showing any openings.
Even though the game had reached the mid-game, there was no progress from the initial gap.
He didn’t know what kind of tricks he was playing, but it didn’t matter.
He knew exactly what he was aiming for.
Shin Siwoo’s moves were clever.
It was a strategy that seemed to know in advance how Rosie would move.
It wasn’t just about inducing a chaotic battle.
He placed his pieces in places that were difficult to calculate each time.
In other words, he was only digging into spaces where there were no overlapping calculations, where nothing could be omitted, and where the premise had to be re-established.
In other words, what he was aiming for now was not to win the game, but to maintain the status quo.
Meanwhile, he was waiting for Rosie to make a misstep by putting an enormous calculation burden on her.
There was a way to break it.
If she focused on maintenance rather than fighting, without having to counterattack, the burden on Rosie would be reduced.
But she was facing him head-on.
The only opponent who could handle Rosie’s full power was Shin Siwoo.
Now, she had no intention of running away.
The result of the combination of consciousness and thought concentrated to the limit, the unreasonable calculation that overworked the nerve bundles in the brain to the ends, and the excitement for the first interesting opponent she had ever met.
A hot sensation lingered at the tip of Rosie’s nose, and then she started to bleed.
“Slurp….”
Rosie licked her lips with her tongue and licked it away.
Siwoo, unaware of Rosie’s bizarre behavior, was engrossed in the game.
Mid-game, even in the mid-game.
It was supposed to be the most intense battle.
If they were both skilled players, the battlefield should have been covered with the bombardment of mana cannons, and a defensive barrier should have been deployed to prepare for it.
They should have been exchanging attacks and defenses without a moment to breathe.
However, the confrontation between the top-tier and the top-tier.
The battle that unfolded while being tightly sealed without a single drop of water was not outwardly flashy.
If a third party were watching this, they would have yawned out of boredom.
So far, the two of them had not fired a single mana cannon and had only focused on preempting the runes.
However, if there was someone with the insight to recognize the psychological warfare and calculation battle that had reached its limit, they would surely be watching this game with sweaty hands.
The two were sublimating the game of position board to a realm beyond mere entertainment.
“…….”
“…….”
The two people’s gazes, which had not left the board until now, collided in the air.
And at the same time, they realized that the game had reached another phase.
-Clack!
With Siwoo’s move, three secretly hidden mana cannons simultaneously raised their heads.
They were aiming for Rosie’s mana source.
-Clack!
The groundwork that Rosie had laid in advance was connected, and a dispel pin cut the waists of the three cannons.
Not stopping there, a mana spear that received power began to shine at its tip.
-Clack!
This time, a dispel pin that flew from Siwoo’s groundwork broke the spear and lit the trigger for external expansion.
A storm erupted in the quiet center of the board.
Dispel pins, which are usually hard to see even once in a game, crisscrossed like dense blades.
Moreover, they were not ordinary dispel pins.
They were a double-edged move that both interfered with the opponent’s moves and activated a separate trigger function.
The clash of dispel pins, which rained down as if they had been choreographed, piled up a mountain of shattered magic debris on the board.
The situation where the victory would be handed over if either of them made a mistake was repeated, repeated, and repeated again.
If this game were compared to a war, the two of them had entered a full-scale war before the supply system was properly established.
Thanks to that, the mana accumulated in both of their mana sources was flying away at a terrifying speed.
But they couldn’t stop.
From now on, it was the start of a chicken race where the first one to back out would lose.
The tactic that the two of them would adopt was forced into one.
In the terminology of the position board, it was called ‘Desperado.’
It is a tactic that inflicts maximum damage on the opponent in a situation where the loss is certain.
In the continuous fierce dispelling, the first one to run out of mana was Shin Siwoo, who had caused the initial mess.
-Clack!
But Siwoo had already planned for this situation.
He self-destructed one of his mana sources.
This way, he could borrow a large amount of mana.
It was a desperate tactic.
The position board is a game where you protect your own mana source and destroy the opponent’s mana source.
In other words, the mana source is a resource that must be prioritized above all else.
Moreover, it was clear that from the moment the mana source was destroyed, his direct firepower would be lower than his opponent’s.
But it didn’t matter.
“…….”
Rosie, who had been repeating her moves in a trance, stopped.
It was because it was a method that she had rarely seen even after going through many games.
Rosie hesitated for a moment, but as Siwoo had expected, she also destroyed her mana source and used it as a temporary resource.
As mentioned earlier, Siwoo and Rosie had invested an excessive amount of power in the center.
Since the person who backed out first would have to pay the price, she had no choice but to go along with Siwoo’s reckless investment.
The subsequent pattern was the same.
The exchange of dispel pins without mistakes, the ongoing battle, and the debris of magic formulas piling up in the center.
The mana was gradually depleted again.
The position board, which had numerous choices and possibilities, entered a loop.
The mana borrowed through one mana source was also exhausted.
Siwoo released his second mana source and used it as mana.
Unlike before, Rosie released her mana source without any hesitation, following suit.
The reason was simple.
Whether intentional or not, the loop had been established.
The first one to break out of the cycle of intense power struggle would lose.
In the meantime, Siwoo was the one who had exhausted and released his mana source first.
The person who would run out of mana first would also be Siwoo.
However, there were only three mana sources given in the position board.
There were no more mana sources left to release.
“I’ve been waiting for this.”
At that moment.
The debris of magic formulas that had been scattered in Siwoo’s camp all lit up at once.
The remnants of mana cannons or barriers that had been neutralized by dispel pins.
Those tattered remnants created a cannon with a single move.
In fact, it was difficult to see it as a proper cannon.
It was just a shabby firepower that could barely destroy a mana source and a flimsy structure that would break after firing once.
In a normal battle, it would have been useless, only wasting action and mana.
For this cannon to directly affect the outcome, the following premise was required.
There must be only one mana source left.
The opponent must not be able to defend properly.
And Rosie had only one mana source left.
Moreover, she was in the biggest gap, having just released her mana source following Siwoo.
All the conditions were met.
He had believed it.
That Rosie, who could read the entire board, would definitely release her mana source following Siwoo.
That she would reduce the target to be destroyed to just one.
This was the art of setting the board.
He designed it so that the opponent had no choice but to participate in a bad move, reduced the range of choices, and then reversed the game with the last move.
Rosie’s reaction to that was….
“Yeah, I’ve been waiting too.”
It was a smile that bloomed to the corners of her lips.
-Clack!
With Rosie’s response, the debris piled up in front of her stirred.
A crude shield, made by piling up scrap metal, blocked the only remaining mana source.
A preparation that she had subtly concealed while Siwoo was preoccupied with setting the board.
This was also a shield that was too shabby to block a normal mana cannon.
At best, it would be a disposable shield that could block a hastily made check cannon.
That’s why he didn’t notice it.
That’s why he didn’t see through it.
-Patzzzzz!
What ended the game, which was a feast for the eyes, was the clash between a crude mana cannon and a crude shield.
The cannon collapsed, and the shield shattered into pieces.
Since the final blow that broke out of the loop had been in vain, all that was left was to fall back into the loop and repeat until all the mana from the mana source was exhausted.
There were no more variables now.
It was meaningless to play the game any further.
Rosie maintained the slight gap created by the advantage of the first move.
Siwoo failed to narrow or surpass that gap.
“Wow, this is really fun. Ah, nosebleed, nosebleed.”
Rosie, who knew that, was no longer looking at the position board.
She took out a handkerchief from her pocket and ‘popped!’ the blood that had pooled in her nose.
Rosie, who was sniffling her reddened nose, smiled at Siwoo, who was devastated by the shocking defeat.
“Okay, then, what should I ask for?”
It was time to settle the stakes that had not yet been decided because they were engrossed in the game.
