Chapter 1981: Chapter 1008: Dragon and Human (2)

So, only then did the Dragon Witch of the Mountain casually promote Humans to one of the selectable factions for players. But to be honest, she’d had this War Chessboard for hundreds of years already, and she and her friends had played countless matches on it. In all that time, the number of players who actually picked the Human faction could be counted on one hand.

A few self-proclaimed "pros" had wanted to show off their skills, talking big about using the weakest to defeat the strongest, so they deliberately chose Humans. In the end, they all crashed and burned, and brutal reality taught them what "you can’t polish a turd" really meant.

When everyone else is flying in on Dragon Riders, what is your little mortal infantry supposed to fight with, their skulls? Just a few Flying Dragons and a few waves of aerial Dragon Breath carpet-bombing are enough to turn the tens of thousands of troops you painstakingly built up into dust and ashes.

Play my ass, this kind of trash-tier power level is just unplayable.

And now, the young lady on the other side seemed to have made the same mistake as those pretentious friends of hers from before.

Of course, Estelle still respected Teacher Guigu, that God of War idol of hers, so she didn’t arbitrarily label the young lady’s actions as just putting on a show. But she really couldn’t understand what kind of operation picking Humans was supposed to be.

What, are you planning to copy the God King and lead a bunch of Mortals to steamroll the Calamity Legion or something?

Even with her idol-brain, the Dragon Witch of the Mountain wasn’t delusional enough to think a mere God of War could stand shoulder to shoulder with The Third King.

Besides, back then the God King had directly used his own bloodline to promote Mortals straight into witches. What kind of Military Strategy is that supposed to be? In game terms there are only two words for it: cheat mode.

That guy just turned on a save editor; he wasn’t following any basic rules whatsoever.

So she really wasn’t looking down on Teacher Guigu; it’s just that using Mortals to fight a Calamity Race really doesn’t have any winning odds. If someone could actually pull off something that absurd, she’d be even more impressive than the God King.

But is that even possible?

Absolutely impossible.

In all these years of the Western Universe, there’s only ever been one God King, and aside from the same old three Catastrophe Species, the only new outlier among the Calamity Races is witches.

"Teacher Guigu, I clearly picked the Dragon Clan just now. How about we restart and play a new round?"

Estelle made this suggestion.

What she yearned for was a balanced, evenly-matched war that could make her brain burn from nonstop calculations, not some boring one-sided slaughter.

Honestly, even if you want to go from weak to strong, Teacher Guigu, you could at least pick Goblins or the Slime Race. Those two Black Iron Races are trash, sure, but their racial traits are decent enough. They really have created miracles of the weak overcoming the strong before.

"No need, let’s keep it this way. Rather than worrying about me, you’d better spend that effort thinking about your next tactics. Otherwise, I’m afraid you won’t even last thirty minutes."

On the other side, the homebody witch just waved her hand, her face wearing a harmless, rabbit-like expression—but her mouth was saying something extraordinarily arrogant.

Estelle: "..."

Teacher Guigu, even rabid fans have a temper, okay? If you put it like that, then I won’t hold back.

The Dragon Witch of the Mountain thought with a hint of anger.

Even if the other side was the idol she admired, even if she truly felt inferior to her, she still had her pride. No one could be underestimated like this and not get angry—let alone her, a hot-tempered Dragon Witch.

"This round, I’ll make you surrender at fifteen minutes, Teacher Guigu."

Estelle swore to herself in her heart.

She was very confident about this.

After all, the Giant Dragon Race was one of the races she used most often. Although Great Dragons hatch and grow very slowly, the flow of time in the Chessboard World isn’t the same as reality; the ratio is ten years to one.

Which means ten years in the game world is one minute in reality.

Fifteen minutes—that is, a hundred and fifty years—would be more than enough time for hatchlings to grow into Youth Dragons. By then, a clutch of Great Dragons launching a surprise attack on a Human Kingdom that’s only developed for 150 years would be an easy stomp.

After all, what big achievements can a mere 150-year-old Mortal country possibly have? Even Magic Kingdoms that had developed for thousands of years might not be able to fend off a surprise attack from a Dragon Swarm. Among Humans, only a very small number of Lucky Ones have Magic Talent. In 150 years you can’t even accumulate a few Human Mages, much less raise those frail Human Mages to the level where they can do dragon slaying.

In short, this round is in the bag.

As for Dorothy, she certainly noticed that Miss Estelle was a little angry, but in her Moon God state she couldn’t be bothered to say much more.

Instead of saying a bunch of things, it was better to wait for the fight later. At that time Estelle would naturally understand that she wasn’t bragging or looking down on her—she was simply stating facts.

How to use a Mortal body to counterattack a Calamity, she had already achieved that in the Dream on Witch’s Night; it wasn’t some impossible task.

Not to mention, under the rules of this War Chess, both sides start developing from the exact same starting line.

She started with one Human tribe on her side, and the other side only had one clutch of Dragon Eggs. Compared to the pressure of facing Gabriel, the strongest King of Angels, head-on in Witch’s Night, this was nothing.

So the homebody witch just silently watched the game board.

The so-called board setup wasn’t like the Arena’s field, conjured from the void out of nothing. This Chessboard was, after all, a real, vast world.

It’s just that the Chessboard’s rules are this great world’s Heavenly Dao rules—or you could call them the laws of Fate—and as the game began, Fate started exerting its power to guide this world. It was as though someone had pressed the fast-forward button, and everything began developing toward its predetermined destiny.

Dorothy and the others, looking down on all beings from outside the Chessboard, naturally witnessed the evolution of this world.

She saw the rise and fall of many races in this world; she witnessed the fall of a once-prosperous Mortal Magic Kingdom, and watched as the Survivors of that Kingdom were forced to drift north to the polar wasteland and eke out a living.

She also saw the Dragon Clan’s internal strife: an enormous Great Dragon fled with a clutch of Dragon Eggs and finally crashed down into the sea. Its Dragon Body turned into a great mountain, while that clutch of Dragon Eggs absorbed Magic Power and lay waiting for the day they would break out of their shells.

Very soon, the Mortal Survivors formed a small tribe on that cruel ice field. To calm the hearts of the people, the young tribal chief decided to hold a ceremony to pray to the gods.

And on that island made from the Dragon Corpse, the clutch of Dragon Eggs began to tremble, and then cracks started to appear on their hard eggshells.

[Match start...]

...

"O great Deities, we offer you our sacrifices and beg you to show mercy, to bless our tribe so we can survive this cold winter."

In the night sky, a bright, flawless full moon hung high, like a cold, indifferent Eye of God overlooking the earth.

And out on the pure white ice field, in that tattered little tribe, the young chief and her people were dancing a ritual dance around a bonfire. This was the only legacy their Ancestors had left to these descendants.

As for whether this Prayer Dance to the Gods could actually bring the mercy of the Deities, the young chief Elsa wasn’t sure. But if it could at least put her people at ease a little, that was already good. Worst case, dancing around the bonfire would at least warm them up—no loss there.

Only, as their dance gradually reached its climax, the bonfire in the center suddenly let out a loud crack, and then the flames surged upward like a pillar of fire, shooting straight into the sky.

Up above, the bright full moon like a silver plate also cast down a pillar of light. That light pillar merged with the pillar of flame, and a Deity emerged from the fusion of light and fire.

It was a Goddess so beautiful that words couldn’t describe her. She had rabbit-like ears growing from the top of her head, and four white Wings spread from her lower back. Moonlight and firelight floated behind her like colored ribbons, twining around her wings and arms, making her look utterly sacred.

The Goddess’s figure was tall and voluptuous; even compared to the tallest warrior in the tribe she was in no way inferior in height. Add in those gentle, motherly curves, and she was the perfect blend of strength and beauty—just looking at her made people feel at ease.

If there was anything strange about her, it was that such a holy Goddess was not holding a Magic Wand or a Holy Sword or any other cool piece of equipment. In her hand she gripped an utterly ordinary-looking hammer.

"Uh, wait, she actually answered the prayer?"

Elsa blinked in a daze, completely forgetting the ritual dance she had been performing. Thankfully, the elderly Elders beside her still had their wits about them; they hurriedly tugged at her clothes and pushed down on her head, wanting to kneel together.

But their knees never touched the ground.

The Goddess born from light and fire opened her eyes and spoke the first words of divine scripture she had brought into this world.

"Stand up. Do not kneel."

...Moon God theophany in progress...