Chapter 88: The Black Chess King (17/26)

“What should we do?” Several thoughts flashed through Ou Xiaolu’s mind. After all, it was impossible to leave a powerful enemy untouched before the final assault.

But Ou Xiaolu also had no intention of clearing out every chess soldier here. Who knew where those pieces were hiding?

At that moment, the White Queen suggested, “We don’t need to destroy every chess soldier. Chess soldiers are different from poker soldiers. If we take down their king, we win.”

Oh.

Only then did Ou Xiaolu remember that the rules of chess really were different from poker. He gave an awkward smile. “Then can you find the Black King?”

“Yes, but I’m not sure I can beat him,” the White Queen said seriously.

“No problem. I’ll help you.”

The White Queen smiled sweetly, her expression as gentle as a spring breeze. In that regard, she was far better than her sister.

Then she raised a hand and pointed in one direction. “The Black King is over there.”

Ou Xiaolu lowered his gaze to the sonar locator in his hand, but it detected nothing.

Still, he chose to trust the White Queen’s judgment. After all, the Black King was her sworn enemy; there had to be some kind of mutual sense between them.

So Ou Xiaolu released the violet gauze robe, now strengthened once more, and advanced in the direction she had indicated with his long sword raised.

He had only taken a few steps when the air ahead rippled violently, and a black stone man, nearly ten feet tall, burst out from the spot the White Queen had pointed to.

The man wore a crown and held a greatsword even taller than Ou Xiaolu himself. The moment he emerged, he brought it crashing down.

Even though Ou Xiaolu knew the violet gauze robe’s defenses were formidable, he had no desire to test the power of that blade. With a shrimp-like evasive step, he slipped out of the man’s striking range.

At once, two sharks appeared at the very spot he had just stood, lunging from opposite sides to tear at the man.

But the stone man gave no reaction at all. The sharks could not even bite through the stony skin covering his body.

The White Queen’s attack arrived as well. Compared with the Red Queen, who knew only one trick, throwing fireballs, the White Queen had even fewer offensive spells. Most of the White Magic of the Celestial Realm was for healing or defense.

The only usable spell she had was this one: flash.

Under the spell’s blinding burst, the man was instantly blinded, and the sweep of his greatsword went wildly astray.

Such an opening, of course, Ou Xiaolu would not miss. He could already see it clearly: this man’s body had been strengthened countless times. Ordinary swords and ordinary attacks, not to mention weaker ones, could not penetrate his exterior at all.

The only way was the same as when he had fought that fellow with the silver dragon bloodline before: attack from the inside out.

But back then, Ou Xiaolu had the Lung Meridian Golden Fiend Wind-Sand Art. This time he had no such option. His enemy would not even cry out when struck, so he certainly could not rush up and seal the matter with mouth-to-mouth.

At the thought, Ou Xiaolu felt a chill of his own. He really did not want to fight in such a way.

Just then, the White Queen suddenly cried out, “Don’t try to overpower him head-on. The crown on his head is the key. Knock the crown off, and we win.”

Ou Xiaolu glanced at her, and all the good feeling he had just had toward the White Queen vanished at once. This one was even less reliable than her sister. Something this important, and she only said so now.

While grumbling inwardly, Ou Xiaolu leaped upward and brought his sword straight down toward the man’s head.

The man had also heard the White Queen’s words, but the flash spell had nearly blinded him. He could only keep swinging his greatsword above his own head, trying to block Ou Xiaolu’s attack.

Ou Xiaolu was not that foolish. The instant the other man raised his sword overhead, Ou Xiaolu had already withdrawn. To hit something on top of an enemy’s head, one did not necessarily need to jump onto the head itself. Knocking the enemy down would do just as well.

With that in mind, Ou Xiaolu bent his body low and swept his sword directly toward the man’s legs.

The White Queen understood his plan as well, and the flash spell kept raining down on the man’s eyes, denying him any clear sight of what lay before him.

Ou Xiaolu then twisted his wrist and used the long sword like a club, striking from behind and hammering at the joint of the man’s knee.

Under that blow, the man lurched forward despite himself. He struggled to brace his upper body, trying to stand before he fell.

But this was a world of magic, not science fiction. Physical laws still applied. If one wanted to forcibly right a body and stand up, a fellow made entirely of stone simply did not have that kind of strength.

In the end, he slammed heavily into the ground. Even so, his reaction was quick. The instant he hit, he rolled once and lashed backward with his sword.

If Ou Xiaolu had pressed the attack just then, that strike would have been enough to fling him clear away. If his defenses had been a little weaker, it might even have cut him in two.

But Ou Xiaolu did not do that. After knocking the enemy down, he actually took several steps back.

Realizing he had not struck his opponent, the stone man also understood that Ou Xiaolu was now farther away. He planned to get up first and finish off the White Queen.

Just then, gunfire rang out. Ou Xiaolu, having put his sword away, fired a five-shot burst, and three of the rounds struck the crown on the man’s head.

Only after firing those five shots did Ou Xiaolu draw his sword again and move in. Although he was using Booth’s body, his left hand still could not be controlled, so he had to switch weapons on the fly.

Fortunately, the White Queen kept unleashing flash spells without the slightest restraint, leaving the man perpetually blinded and giving Ou Xiaolu enough time to change weapons at leisure.

In the previous volley, two shots had already struck the man in the head, and the third had sent the crown flying. Now Ou Xiaolu held the advantage. He jumped immediately toward the direction the crown had flown and brought his sword down in a heavy slash.

This time he did not use the ultimate technique of the Lion King Swordsmanship. Such techniques required time to activate. Instead, he used only the ordinary forms, relying on the sword’s sharpness and his own speed to cleave the crown cleanly in two.

The moment the crown broke, every movement of the stone-bodied man came to an abrupt halt. The stone on the surface of his body split open by itself, and a great mass of broken rock kept falling away.

Yet the rubble had fallen only halfway when the face hidden in his chest was revealed. The falling stones stopped at once. The face concealed within that stone body turned extremely ugly, and he shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping someone would save him.

In the end, however, what answered him was Ou Xiaolu’s blow at point-blank range.

Only then did the White Queen’s delighted voice ring out. “All the black chess soldiers have disappeared.”