Chapter 680
Chapter 680
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 680
Chapter Title: Turning Point (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A pile of cigarette butts had by now heaped up on the ashtray.
The two of them stared at the board with bloodshot eyes, not exchanging a single word.
"Hoo..."
Si-woo let out a heavy breath without realizing it.
Deep focus and intense thinking consumed vast amounts of oxygen.
Sweat was now dripping down past his chin, an irritating distraction.
He had grasped early on that a drawn-out midgame against Roji would be impossible to turn around.
Before both sides could fully optimize their mana sources, he had baited her into a chaotic skirmish three beats faster.
Fortunately, the abundance of runes placed in the center had played right into his hands.
If they had been lower-priority runes or fewer in number, Roji might have ignored central control and focused solely on completing her optimizations.
In other words, he had dragged her into a fight at the perfect timing where refusing to engage would inevitably cost her.
This would naturally lead to a messy free-for-all clash, increasing the odds of Roji making a "mistake."
So, had Roji slipped up? The answer was simple.
This madwoman hadn't faltered even once throughout the game.
"......"
Roji silently made her next move.
In most board games, the options for choices and judgments narrow as the endgame approaches.
But Position Board defied that convention with its organic nature—where every "point" connected into "lines," and those lines fused with runes to form spells.
The midgame saw an explosive surge in the number of possibilities to consider.
Of course, Roji was prepared for it.
Manually calculating every branch dozens of moves ahead would be impossible without a supercomputer.
Thus, Roji had developed her own calculation formula, honed by years of experience.
It was akin to card counting, in a way.
Card counting in many games didn't involve memorizing and tallying every single card.
It relied on categorized and simplified patterns—batching overlapping calculations and pruning the unnecessary ones.
This optimized algorithm of hers was practically a self-evolved magic spell, turning the impossible into reality.
It was no high-stakes tournament with billions in prizes—just a casual drinking game for most—yet here she was, armed with this cheat-level edge. Victory was inevitable.
And yet...
Shin Si-woo still hadn't shown a single opening.
Even now in the midgame, there had been no progress in closing the gap from the early game.
Whatever tricks he was pulling didn't matter.
She knew exactly what he was after.
Si-woo's placements were cunning, as if he knew in advance how she would respond.
It wasn't just about forcing chaos.
Every move targeted spots that were a nightmare to calculate.
In essence, areas with no overlapping computations—no shortcuts, forcing a complete recalculation from scratch.
In short, he wasn't aiming for victory. He was stalling for time.
While dumping an enormous computational burden on Roji, waiting for her to stumble.
There was a counter, of course.
She didn't need to fight fire with fire. Shifting focus from combat to consolidation would lighten her load.
But no—she met him head-on.
Only Shin Si-woo could handle the full might of her unleashed skill.
Running away now? Not a chance.
Her consciousness razor-sharp to the limit.
Her neural pathways strained to the brink with relentless calculations.
And the thrill of facing a fascinating new opponent for the first time.
The cocktail ignited a hot rush at the tip of Roji's nose, blood trickling down.
"Sniff..."
Roji licked her upper lip long and slow with her tongue, lapping it up.
While Si-woo, oblivious to her odd behavior, remained locked in the game.
Mid-midgame.
This should have been the fiercest clash.
At their level, the board should have been ablaze with mana blasts by now, countered by defensive barriers.
No breathing room—just relentless offense and defense.
Yet this duel between two transcendent players lacked any flashy spectacle.
Their clash was airtight, not a drop of mana spilling over.
A third-party spectator would likely yawn from boredom.
The two hadn't fired a single mana blast so far, solely focused on claiming runes.
But anyone with an eye for peak psychological and computational warfare would watch gripping their seats, sweat in hand.
They had elevated Position Board beyond mere pastime into art.
"......"
"......"
For the first time, their gazes lifted from the board and met in midair.
And simultaneously, they realized the game had entered a new phase.
-Tak!
With Si-woo's move, three concealed mana cannons stealthily reared their heads.
Aimed straight at Roji's mana sources.
-Tak!
Roji's pre-laid setup connected, and dispel pins sliced through the cannons' waists.
Not stopping there—the spear of mana, empowered by the momentum, gleamed at its tip.
-Tak!
This time, Si-woo's dispel pin snapped the spear, triggering an expansion outward.
A storm erupted in the board's long-dormant center.
Dispel pins—rarely seen even once per game—clashed like a thicket of blades.
And these weren't ordinary dispel pins.
Each disrupted the opponent's play while activating separate triggers—a two-for-one masterstroke.
Like a choreographed dance, the flurry of dispel pins littered the board with shattered spell fragments.
One slip from either side, and the momentum would shift—instantly, repeatedly.
If this game were war, they had charged into total battle before supply lines were secure.
Mana sources drained at terrifying speed as a result.
But they couldn't stop.
This marked the start of a chicken race—backing off first meant blood.
Their strategy was dictated: one path only.
In Position Board terms, "Desperado."
When loss is certain, inflict maximum damage on the foe.
The barrage of dispel exchanges continued until Si-woo—the one who first triggered the chaos—ran dry on mana.
-Tak!
But Si-woo had planned for this too.
He self-destructed one of his own mana sources.
This granted a massive advance on mana reserves.
A no-retreat gambit.
Position Board was about defending your mana sources while destroying the opponent's.
Mana sources were the ultimate resource—lose one, and your firepower lagged inevitably.
But it didn't matter.
"......"
Roji, lost in her trance of moves, halted.
Even she, veteran of countless games, had rarely seen such a play.
After a brief hesitation, as Si-woo predicted, she destroyed her own mana source for the temporary boost.
Both had overcommitted forces to the center—backing off first meant bleeding out. She had no choice but to match his reckless bet.
The pattern repeated.
Flawless dispel trades, mounting spell debris in the center, mana gradually depleting again.
Position Board, with its myriad choices, had looped.
The advance mana from one source ran dry.
Si-woo dismantled his second mana source for more.
Unlike before, Roji followed suit without a second's pause.
The reason was simple.
Intended or not, the loop was set.
In this razor-edge power struggle, breaking the cycle first meant defeat.
Si-woo had depleted and dismantled first.
He would run out first again.
But Position Board granted only three mana sources each.
No more to dismantle.
"I've been waiting for this."
In that instant.
The spell debris scattered across Si-woo's side lit up in unison.
Remnants of mana cannons or shields neutralized by dispel pins.
These ragged scraps coalesced into cannons with a single move.
Hardly proper cannons, though.
Shoddy firepower barely enough to crack a mana source, crumbling after one shot.
In a normal fight, they'd be a pointless waste of action and mana.
For these to sway the game, prerequisites were needed:
One mana source remaining.
Opponent unable to defend properly.
And Roji had but one left.
Moreover, fresh off mimicking Si-woo's dismantle, her biggest vulnerability was exposed.
All conditions met.
He trusted it.
Roji, who read the whole board like a book, would follow his lead and dismantle.
Reducing her targets to one.
This was board-setting.
Design the board to force bad moves, narrow choices, then flip it with the final stroke.
Roji's response...
"Yeah, I've been waiting too."
A smile blooming to the corners of her mouth.
-Tak!
With Roji's counter, the debris piled before her stirred.
A crude shield, cobbled from scrap like his, blocked her lone mana source.
A hidden setup she'd quietly concealed while Si-woo obsessed over his board.
As crude as his cannon—good for blocking only a hasty check shot, single-use at best.
That's why he hadn't noticed.
That's why he hadn't seen it.
-Pzzt!
The game, a feast for the eyes, ended with a clash of shoddy cannon and shield.
The cannon crumbled; the shield shattered.
The final strike to break the loop had failed.
Back to the loop—depleting mana sources entirely.
No more variables.
Continuing was pointless.
Roji held her slim early-game lead from first-move advantage.
Si-woo couldn't close or surpass it.
"Wow, that was seriously fun. Ah, nosebleed, nosebleed."
Knowing this, Roji no longer eyed the board.
She pulled a handkerchief from her bosom, blew out the blood pooled in her nose with a "Pfft!"
Sniffling her reddened nose, she flashed a grin at the stunned Si-woo, dazed by his shocking defeat.
"So, what should I ask for?"
Time to settle the stakes, undecided amid their immersion in the game.