Chapter 340
Chapter 340
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 340
Chapter Title: The Witch of Sloth (5)
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"Huh?"
Diana felt as if she'd been struck on the head, a shock washing over her.
It's dead.
The mana cannon she'd painstakingly built up over 15 turns had been snuffed out in an instant.
And it was thanks to Siu's early-game setup from way back at the start, connecting at just the wrong moment to sever her momentum.
Diana lifted her head for the first time during the match to look at Siu's face.
He wasn't gloating over his successful gambit or strutting about breaking her offense.
His hand rested calmly on his chin as his steady gaze swept the board.
As if everything was going exactly according to plan.
Having a prepared attack fizzle out midway.
Pros call this sort of thing "getting your waist cut."
Obviously, it happens all the time on Wizboard, where players trade moves back and forth.
But the method was a dispel pin.
A dispel pin stemming from a setup laid down turns ago.
Unless he'd been playing her in the palm of his hand from the start, this shouldn't have been possible.
That he anticipated what Diana would do.
What move she'd prepare.
Before it even took clear shape?
No way.
It had to be a lucky fluke.
Pointless flailing that just happened to align with the situation and turn into a sharp counterplay.
"Not bad."
"You're too kind."
Her opponent played the game on luck.
Yesterday and today, same story.
No intention of going at it fair and square with orthodox play—just piling on weird tricks.
Diana calmly assessed the fallen mana cannon.
It wasn't completely dead yet.
She could revive it.
Abandon stabilization, reroute a path to a new mana source, leverage the rune she'd pre-occupied in the upper-left corner—five turns, and it'd be firing again.
Dispel pins were just checks and defenses at best.
On Wizboard, you win by blasting the opponent's mana sources.
Dispel pins alone couldn't clinch a victory.
She methodically sought her next-best option.
This was the power of orthodox play.
Even if jolted by surprises, it offered the stability to regain footing quickly.
"Ah..."
As she made her third move to restart the mana cannon.
It happened again.
A sharp dispel pin from his preset setup nullified her magic circle.
How could he pull off such a nimble dispel?
Diana's keen eyes spotted the answer right away.
Those three densely clustered mana sources.
At a glance, they seemed inefficient, but they perfectly supported the burst output needed for a dispel pin.
Was this what he'd been aiming for all along?
"......"
She still had one more shot to revive the mana cannon.
Three mana sources total could power it.
But was it really okay?
This time it'd take seven turns.
Nearly 40 turns invested in the mana cannon—if dispelled again and fully killed, even disassembly and recycling via reconfiguration would be impossible.
Her main firepower would be gone for good.
Orthodox play meant not risking it—disassemble the cannon, recover what she could, repurpose into new resources.
It fit her steady, risk-averse style perfectly.
She was confident she'd win a protracted war anyway.
Yet Diana felt an indescribable irritation.
Modifying her strategy because her trump card got poked? If she backed off here, even a win would feel hollow.
"I'll give you that much credit."
She should've caught on when she saw his nature magic earlier.
He seemed to have a knack for dispelling spells.
But could she spot and block it this time?
Diana feigned occupying runes while quietly building new setup for the cannon revival.
"Kuh...!"
The moment she turned away.
Like it was child's play, a dispel pin plunged in to fully dismantle the cannon.
She'd have struggled even focusing solely on recovery—trying to bait his carelessness with distractions sealed the great mage's doom in a heartbeat.
Couldn't stubborn it out and face-planted—nothing fit better.
Diana scrambled to salvage the overturned board from her overconfidence.
But Siu, riding momentum into all-out offense; Diana, saddled with massive losses.
In piercing power, Siu's clustered mana sources overwhelmed.
Five minutes of runes pried loose one by one, defenses prepped too late seen through and pummeled.
One of Diana's mana sources shattered.
Without the stubbornness, she could've rallied a counter even losing a source.
Minimal defense, bide time for the next chance.
But pointless pride widened the gap too far.
It was like handing him dozens of moves.
With the one-move-per-turn rule holding, even a great witch couldn't flip it.
Second, third mana sources collapsed in chain reaction.
Defeat.
The word branded her mind like a stigma.
Diana's shoulders trembled.
"A fine match. I got lucky."
Diana nearly snapped at Siu grinning like an idiot but composed herself.
This wasn't settled by skill.
Sudden dispel strategy.
Plus her own blunder clinging to a busted plan.
Better to graciously admit the mistake as befits a countess's grace than throw a tantrum.
"Guess I underestimated you."
"Seems so. Honestly, even attacking, I wondered if it'd work. Haha."
"Kuh..."
His response stung with subtle humiliation as Diana calmly reset the Wizboard.
"That makes it 2-1 my lead, right?"
She knew it sounded pathetic.
Truth was, Diana hadn't even considered losing.
So she hadn't tracked the score in her head.
But she couldn't accept "defeat" like this.
In a multi-game series, writing off a loss would wound her pride too deep.
"Ah, including yesterday's full count."
"We always tally lifetime scores!"
Siu blinked innocently like it hadn't crossed his mind otherwise.
Diana bristled in response.
"Fine. Shall we keep going?"
"Of course."
And so Diana's fourth game began.
2.
Full resolve.
Diana dove back in without a shred of complacency or carelessness.
Even if briefly angered or surprised, her play stayed stable and orthodox.
Siu's, in her eyes, was bizarre and erratic beyond belief.
Tap.
Siu's mana-charged finger struck another utterly unpredictable spot.
A move Diana never saw coming, out of nowhere.
At first glance, it looked like a throwaway blunder, an overreach mistaken for nothing else.
Her mouth itched to speak.
Demanded to know his thinking.
But etiquette in a match: no questions about the game.
Diana settled her mind and focused on her task.
Before long, 50 moves exchanged, midgame loomed.
Advantage Diana, 7-3.
In key rune skirmishes, she'd bait a melee, he'd abandon without hesitation.
Waste turns in irrelevant spots unrelated to the fight.
Laid essential defenses but hunkered like a turtle—no counterattack hints.
"Hm..."
Territory battles too.
Paths secured.
Runes.
Even mana source placement—she led across the board.
But Diana stayed vigilant.
She'd endured his unpredictable timings and moves twice now.
Just steadily consolidate without rushing—she'd win.
Instinct hit.
The moment.
Convert secured resources to momentum, launch all-out assault...
She could force surrender in 22 moves.
The instant she shifted from safe expansion to attack.
"Shall I start fighting back too?"
Siu's counter began.
Diana's formation was like flawless plate armor, seamless.
Drawing her sword to finish, a fleeting gap at the joints—cold blade slipping in.
"No issue."
But no problem.
Countermeasures perfect.
Just in case, Diana widened her eyes.
Expected another weird trick.
She calmed herself to meet Siu's offense.
Block it, win—that conviction held.
Then a prod at her sore spot: dispel pin.
"Same old trick... But right on cue."
Diana flashed a faint smile.
Tight timing, but she'd prepped for dispel pins.
Siu's specialty: linking scattered overreaches into sudden dispel pins.
But what if she split firepower, fed sequentially instead of all at once?
Diana split her ready mana cannon into ten in a flash.
Not hard.
Runes for distribution secured ahead.
Like a showerhead splitting streams—opponent suddenly faces ten prongs.
Could he dispel all that?
With finicky dispel pins?
Absurd.
Unless a far superior archmage, impossible.
Unlike Diana's spread sources, Siu's clustered in one lump.
Time to give flesh to take bone.
Resolve to sacrifice a source, press the attack—Diana.
"Looks like... I win this one?"
Siu's words the moment he shattered one of Diana's sources.
"What nonsense is that?"
Strutting over one source down?
How to block her follow-up?
Diana ignored him, unleashed her barrage.
And.
Soon learned his boast rang true, bone-deep.
"No... way..."
All ten attacks dispelled.
Siu, as if foreseeing sequential input, calmly severed every one.
Those meaningless wastes chained to block Diana's assault.
Like an anti-missile system intercepting a barrage—zero gaps.
"......"
"Fine match again."
"Not over yet."
All resources poured, attacks dispelled, one source lost—but Diana steeled her will.
Losing like this burned.
She'd flailed against Siu's natural overpowering offense, but result same.
Defeat.
Lost again.
"Learned something there."
Incredulous outcome twisted Diana's face; she jabbed the reset button.
"2-2 now? Again."
"Sorry, time's up. Had fun today too. Come back tomorrow, you're welcome anytime."
Time had flown by unnoticed.
Diana clenched her fist, chased out of the host bar for the night.