Bang!
A sharp crack rang out from the roof of the Chariot.
Sure enough, the entire Chariot was frozen in blue ice. Even its wheels made stiffening "crack, crack" sounds.
Seeing that the Chariot that had been charging around recklessly was finally frozen, the Archbishop burst into a smug laugh and said, "Heh! Heh! Can't move anymore, can you?"
Ethan didn't respond to the Archbishop's words. Instead, he smiled and ordered the little soldiers inside the Chariot, "Get out and kill that dumbass Bishop!"
Then, the two little soldiers sitting inside the Chariot immediately pushed open the doors and climbed out.
As the saying goes, once a soldier crosses the river, he's invincible.
The two foot soldiers really did charge toward the Archbishop. One of them even swung the long spear in his hand and thrust it straight through the Archbishop's chest.
Bang!
The Archbishop was instantly shattered, turning into several pieces of stone that fell to the ground.
Seeing this, the bearded man turned as dark as could be with anger. For crying out loud, this Archbishop was one of only two types of chess pieces in his arsenal capable of ranged attacks.
Now, he had only his Queen left, which could carry out semi-ranged attacks.
Fortunately, his two Knights weren't pushovers either.
"Knights, attack the foot soldiers!"
The Knights, riding horses and wearing full suits of heavy armor, charged toward Ethan's two foot soldiers and then killed one of Ethan's soldiers with a single sword strike.
Then they put away their swords and stopped moving.
"You idiots! Kill both of them!"
The bearded man was so angry he was practically fuming, but his Knights simply wouldn't obey him. They just put away their swords and stood motionless.
In the end, the bearded man was helpless against the rules governing the chess pieces. He could only curse angrily, "Damn it! We shouldn't have stepped onto this chessboard in the first place! Fuck, everything has to follow the game's rules. What a pain in the ass!"
"Heh! Heh! The chess pieces may be inconvenient, but we can help you!"
"Sounds good! When it's my turn to act in the next round, you all attack together and go straight for the person playing chess!"
"If the person playing chess is dead, won't the outcome of this game be up to me to decide?"
"Hahaha!"
"Exactly!"
The black mages standing beside the bearded man laughed. They acted as though they didn't take Ethan seriously at all.
Nightmare Eye seemed to have noticed the black mages' sneaky intentions and immediately reminded Ethan, "Hey! Ethan, they seem to be planning to ambush you."
Hearing this, Ethan smiled and said, "Do you think... I brought out this chessboard just to play a game of chess with them?"
"Then what else?"
Nightmare Eye was confused.
Ethan gestured for Nightmare Eye to look at the waterline and said, "I brought out the chessboard solely to lure them into a trap."
"Holy shit! You're one sneaky bastard!"
Nightmare Eye noticed that, at some point, the chessboard had descended from the air until it was almost level with the surface of the water.
That meant that the moment Ethan removed or recalled the chessboard...
Splash!
Those people wouldn't even have time to react before falling straight into the Red Sea.
If they fell into the water somewhere else, it might not have much effect on a group of black mages who could fly and wield magic. But here...
Heh!
Falling in here meant certain death.
And not just death, either. Their bodies would be completely destroyed, to the point that not even their remains could be recovered.
"Your Knights have stopped moving. It should be my turn now, right?", Ethan tapped his own Cannon and said, "Cannon two moves to five!"
At Ethan's command, the Cannon on the chessboard immediately moved toward the center, following his instructions.
And just as Ethan was moving his Cannon forward, sure enough, every black mage stared intently at it.
After all, they had witnessed the Cannon's power with their own eyes. It had not only blown up the Castle's Cannon but had also nearly blown up their river-crossing ship with another cannonball.
[River-Crossing Ship: In Wizard Chess, there is also a river similar to the River and Border, with a three-masted sailing ship moored on it. Only chess pieces that board the ship can cross from the Black Kingdom to the border of the White Kingdom.]
So, at that moment, all the black mages stared intently at the black stone Cannon.
They were terrified that it might suddenly fire a cannonball straight at them.
"Heh, took the bait!"
Everything Ethan had planned from the beginning had been leading up to this very move.
First, eliminate the opponent's ranged-attack chess pieces, then move his own ranged-attack piece. This would create the illusion that the opponent had no way to fight back.
Then, while they were all focused on the Black Cannon, Ethan would pull the rug out from under them.
"Recall the chessboard!"
At Ethan's command, a pair of wings sprouted from his body in an instant, and he flew toward his top-tier raft.
At the same time, his chessboard rapidly shrank at his command.
Then...
Plop! Plop! Plop!
The black mages standing on the chessboard hadn't even figured out what was happening before they all fell into the Red Sea together, one after another, like dumplings being dropped into a pot of boiling water.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 40 advance chapter through P@treon. And, it gets updated everyday.