Chapter 472
Chapter 472
Chapter 472
'A Constellation Battle Game.'
Zeke had already understood about the Demon Realm's chess when Anastasia proposed the chess match as a bet.
Demons who use mental abilities steal territory from powerful competitors using various schemes and psychological tactics.
Zeke wasn't naive enough to think that Anastasia, a princess of the Demon Realm and adopted daughter of the Demon Archduke, would truly compete through chess that humans could play too.
As soon as he heard Anastasia mention competing in chess, he immediately used the Akashic Code to learn about Demon Realm chess.
And Zeke discovered that this Demon Realm chess was reconstructed by the Demon Archduke based on a game created by the Constellations in the past.
This game, known as the 'Constellation's Battle Game,' was surprisingly a war of slaughter using real races from the physical realm.
The Constellations of that time influenced the development of cities and civilizations, demonstrating their power by strengthening their own cities to invade other Constellations' cities.
As a result, possessing stronger cities and military forces meant gaining superiority among the Constellations.
The Demon Archduke had created Demon Realm chess based on the past Battle Game system.
Unlike regular chess, the reason it needed a production process was because it was based on the Constellation's game of strengthening factions by developing civilization.
The surprising fact was that there was a possible connection between Zeke's Kabbalah System and this Constellation Battle Game.
'If system linkage is possible, there's a chance of winning. I can even detect if that demon tries to cheat.'
Learning this fact, Zeke boldly accepted Anastasia's bet.
Zeke raised his head and spoke to Anastasia.
"I'm ready."
At those words, Anastasia grinned.
"Good, then let's begin. Game start!"
When she snapped her fingers, the surrounding scenery changed.
THUD!
Zeke's body floated in the air, and he could see his human faction below his feet.
It seemed to be a method where one enters the chessboard directly to control it.
'How fascinating.'
Zeke tried moving the pieces in his faction directly.
The pieces moved immediately according to Zeke's instructions, but controlling them one by one wasn't easy.
When moving one piece, the others remained still, making it difficult to control many at once.
Additionally, with the commands being so detailed and having too many options, it was hard to get a grasp on what to do.
'To make this kind of thing a bet. She has no conscience.'
Zeke cursed at Anastasia while connecting the Battle Game and Kabbalah System according to plan.
[Connecting system.]
[Syncing with Defense Mode.]
[Displaying manpower and production buildings owned by administrator.]
Having handled the Kabbalah System for a long time, Zeke could quickly adapt once it synced with Defense Mode.
Zeke gave orders to the system.
"Connect this Battle Game with the Akashic Code and suggest the most suitable guide by finding past Battle Game entries through karma data."
Anastasia proposing this proxy war as a bet meant she was that confident.
Even with system synchronization, it would be difficult for Zeke, who had never fought a proxy war before, to defeat her.
Therefore, Zeke decided to actively utilize the system and past karma data.
[Proceeding with relevant record access and data extraction.]
[A certain amount of karma points will be consumed for application and guide suggestion. Would you like to proceed?]
Since quite a few karma points had accumulated after the large-scale battle, Zeke boldly spent points and received the karma data.
TSTSTSTS!
Past battle data began updating.
Zeke spoke to the system.
"Alright, system. Proceed with the proxy war automatically based on the guide."
[Switching to auto mode.]
[Will proceed with proxy war by predicting optimal results based on past data.]
When switched to auto mode, the previously stationary pieces began to move.
Workers went to production buildings and started producing resources, while scouts explored the surroundings on their own, expanding the field of vision that Zeke could confirm.
After some time passed with the pieces moving automatically, visible development could be seen in Zeke's faction.
If Zeke had controlled them directly, it would have been impossible to progress at such speed.
While observing the progress, a message appeared before Zeke's eyes.
[Hero summoning is now possible with the completion of the summoning facility.]
[Which hero would you like to summon as commander?]
Then several heroes appeared before Zeke.
While examining various class heroes like knights, mages, archers, summoners, etc., an unexpected figure caught Zeke's eye.
Zeke read the description of that hero in detail.
―Holy Knight Saint George―
A hero who slew the evil ancient god Darkness with the holy sword Ascalon.
The holy sword Ascalon, which reappeared in this world as a new divine weapon through the power of the great sage.
A knight who had used the original form of the holy sword Ascalon as his weapon in past civilizations existed as a piece in this battle.
Then something flashed through Zeke's mind.
'Could these pieces... be recreated using karma data from lost civilizations?'
Thinking about it, it seemed to work on a similar principle to how karma data was used to recreate the past in the Inverted Tower.
Zeke looked at the floating Sir Saint George.
"Alright. Sir George, let's give those guys a taste of our power."
When he selected Saint George, a holy knight holding the holy sword Ascalon appeared at the summoning facility in brilliant light.
Since the system was moving other pieces automatically anyway, Zeke had nothing particular to do.
He stepped forward, specifically synchronizing with Sir George.
"Now, shall we go cut off some monster heads?"
* * *
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Black smoke erupted from Anastasia's faction as thunderous sounds spread in all directions.
She quickly built production buildings and strengthened combat units using Orc races.
Actually, there was something she hadn't told Zeke - the race most advantageous in this proxy war was none other than the Orcs.
Strong from the beginning and with production capabilities as good as humans, they were a race with well-rounded balance from early to mid to late game.
Anastasia's win rate when using the Orc race was an incredible 95%.
Moreover, besides choosing the well-balanced Orc race, her unique ability was quite advantageous in Demon Realm chess.
TSTSTSTS!
When Anastasia used her ability, the pieces moved in perfect coordination automatically.
Her unique ability was 'Puppetization,' which could capture the spirit of targets and turn them into living puppets that she could freely control and command.
As such, moving chess pieces that didn't even need their spirits subdued was far too easy for Anastasia.
Unlike other administrators, since Anastasia could control pieces freely, there were almost none in the Demon Realm who could defeat her at Demon Realm chess.
'Much less could a mere human possibly defeat me.'
When the Orcs' steel legion was created, Anastasia split the units and moved them from the fortress to other territories along with workers.
Before heading to Zeke's fortress, she needed to first occupy a strategically important stronghold to fight advantageously in the mid-game.
'He's probably still struggling to figure out how this works. But thoroughly humiliating him will be fun too.'
Anastasia floated in the air and led the Orc legion toward the empty fortress in the northeast.
Neutral territories that were still empty could be occupied by whoever entered first.
Quickly occupying such strategic points early on was one of the key strategies in proxy wars.
It was when Anastasia's Orc legion reached the neutral territory's fortress.
SWISH!
Surprisingly, arrows flew from the fortress.
THUD! THUD!
The workers in the back were suddenly killed by the incoming arrows.
Anastasia was shocked at this sight.
"Wh-What?!"
Startled, she sent a scout toward the fortress to secure vision.
Surprisingly, a red flag indicating Zeke's faction was planted at the fortress.
Anastasia shouted in shock.
"Im-Impossible! He's already expanded his territory this far?"
The distance from Zeke's fortress to this fortress was quite far.
So Anastasia had planned to establish her first intermediate base here, and expand second and third bases to threaten Zeke's fortress after mid-game, but unexpectedly, Zeke's soldiers had occupied this place first.
Then arrows flew from afar, killing Anastasia's scout in one shot.
As vision was blocked again, the fortress's appearance was covered by a black veil.
Anastasia gauged the development speed of the human faction by the arrows' strength and range.
'That level means they've already progressed to second-tier ranged weapon enhancement. They've developed that far already?'
Anastasia could only be shocked at the progression speed that was faster than her own, who had chosen the Orc race.
She didn't have enough troops yet to break through and invade the solid fortress.
Then something occurred to Anastasia.
'Could this guy have emptied his fortress and placed all his troops here because he doesn't know how to fight proxy wars?'
It was a mistake often made by proxy war beginners.
Anastasia changed her plans and decided to advance directly toward the fortress.
If the fortress was empty as she expected, her current Orc legion would be sufficient to conquer it.
She led her Orc javelin thrower units for ranged attacks and the Orc steel legion toward Zeke's fortress.
Though she would leave her own territory empty if she lost troops here, Anastasia was confident that wouldn't happen.
Following Anastasia's guidance, the Orc units went around the fortress, crossed the hills, and arrived at the plains.
Beyond these plains lay the fortress where Zeke's main force was located.
Anastasia ordered 'Blood-Soaked Steel Axe,' the Orc commander, to cross the plains.
It was when the Orc legion had crossed about half the plains.
Something appeared in the distance.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Along with a massive dust cloud, fully armored cavalry units charged toward the Orc legion in perfect formation.
Seeing this sight, Anastasia was startled and her thoughts froze for a moment.
"Huh?"
On the plains, human cavalry units demonstrate their most powerful might.
And they were just as difficult to produce. Yet hundreds of such cavalry units were charging across the plains with their lances forward.
Anastasia, who had been momentarily dazed, hurriedly ordered the Orcs.
"Sh-Shields! Raise your shields!"
The Orc steel legion possessed solid defensive capabilities.
As they lowered their stance and raised their sturdy, crude shields, it looked like a massive wall had formed.
But then the commander at the front raised his sword and gave some order to the knights.
The mounted knights suddenly split into two groups and charged at both flanks of the shield-bearing Orc legion.
CRASH!
As the knights charged the flanks rather than the front, the Orc legion was swept away without proper defense.
They were skewered by lances, trampled by hooves, and had their necks cut by swords.
Among them, the commander wielding the holy sword showed particularly outstanding performance.
The commander's level was impossible to achieve in the early game.
It would be impossible without abandoning all production control and focusing solely on leveling up the commander.
'Insane, how is this possible...'
Before she knew it, the Orc legion Anastasia had brought was completely annihilated.
After defeating all the Orcs, the knights returned to their main force beyond the plains.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Watching the knights disappear like a gust of wind, Anastasia wore a dazed expression.
'Am I dreaming right now?'
Even during the proxy war tournament in the Demon Realm, she had never been pushed back this hard from the beginning.
Anastasia gritted her teeth and glared toward Zeke's veiled fortress.
'I didn't want to use this...'
An ominous power of authority rose from her body.
In that moment, her pupils turned white.
All veils were lifted and the situation in every area of the game became clearly visible.
As she surveyed the situation, Anastasia couldn't help but be shocked.
'Insane...'
Zeke's fortress was twice as tall, heavily reinforced, and all surrounding strategic points already had red flags planted.
Moreover, the pieces on Zeke's side were moving much more cohesively than Anastasia's pieces controlled by puppet power.
'How is such a movement possible? Unless the pieces are moving on their own...'
While spying on Zeke's territory with such confusion, something caught Anastasia's eye.
BOOM!
Hundreds of knights, mages, and siege weapons had appeared right in front of Anastasia's fortress.