It turns out that it was a three round game. Zyair gritted his teeth, while reading the system interface that appeared on the screen.
He wanted to smash the computer to pieces at the unfair treatment, but he endured. Zyair clutched on his chest, while his chest heaved up and down. He was furious.
The system said that there were three rounds in this game. And Zyair needed to win each round. If he loses once, then it's game over.
"What kind of f*cking rules is this?!"
Zyair wanted to quit the game almost immediately, but he still remembered Qantas' words. He needs to finish this instance. Zyair only needed to play two more rounds of GoG then he was free. Playing two more rounds won't even take 30 minutes, so Zyair gritted his teeth and sat back down again.
He arranged his pieces angrily without any plan or strategy in mind. Zyair already guaged this Cinderella princess' strength. And there's only one judgement: A complete Beginner. He doesn't need any strategy to win against this novice at all.
Zyair nonchalantly played the second round whole spacing out. And like he expected, he won. After winning, he received a muffin again. But this time, it was six muffins.
The count down for the last round started to count. Zyair moved the mouse and clicked on a piece. He was just about to place this piece at the bottom, but for some reason he put it in front instead.
That piece was the general. Zyair looked for the lieutenant general, then placed it two boxes before the general. Then he picked the spy, two privates, then the 1st and 2nd lieutenant, and the sergeant, and group them together with the two high ranking generals.
At the first round, Zyair tried to use the "Rampaging Bulls" strategy, by sending his general alone in the front line. He managed to eliminate several high-ranking officers below general before his general was eliminated.
Now, in this last round, Zyair plans to play using "Cluster Task Forces" and "Rampaging Bulls" strategy in combination. Although he could count and memorize the opposite camp's pieces, for some reason, Zyair felt like he raised a flag somewhere.
He has a hunch that he will lose.
Zyair's instincts were really strong. In fact, it was stronger than animals.
Zyair managed to live with his sickly body for a year in such a dangerous place when he was a child.
He was even known as a vicious dog in that dark alley before he was rescued by Qantas.
And right now, Zyair's fragile heart began thumping hard. It hurts, but Zyair only frowned as he touched the place on his chest where his heart was located.
He only felt like this when he was in danger. He started feeling like this the moment the countdown started.
Zyair stared at the screen, wondering why...
...
Zezolla watched as the five minutes countdown turned to four minutes, then three minutes to two. She can't help but glanced at the green board on the table, then frowned. She bowed down her head and opened her palm. Inside her palm was a coin, no more like a token.
This was the Token of Envy she received from Pride from before. This coin was her way out of here.
But before she could use this, she still needed to kill this player. However, unexpectedly, Zezolla really overestimated herself.
That great god already told her that she wouldn't be able to defeat this player. Not on any fight, nor on this board game. But she was furious and angry. 'Those' people never thought about those under those feet. They were so arrogant that Zezolla was so jealous of their power.
She wanted to stand so high as well. High enough, no one would be able to reach her. She wanted everyone to look up to her, specifically those d*mn Seven Lords.
But who was she to desire such power? She was nothing but an NPC. She was imprisoned in this tower, killing players to collect points for her freedom.
She was suffering here alone together with a bunch of mice, while this player was enjoying such VIP treatment.
Zezolla felt angry and frustrated. This was so unfair! She wanted this kind of special treatment as well.
Why does everyone always get what she doesn't have, when they don't deserve it? She worked very hard to level up the difficulty of her instance. She worked hard more than anyone else, but no one seemed to see her hard work.
Zezolla glared viciously at the player sitting opposite of her. Her eyes were full of hatred and envy. Darkness swirled in her jewel-like eyes, then it disappeared.
She took a deep breath, then properly sat on her chair.
"...fine. I will kill him." Zezolla doesn't know what's so special about killing this player that even one of the seven deadly sins came to bribe her especially to make sure this player died. She doesn't know what will happen, but she doesn't care anymore.
She looked up towards the board, and pursed her lips. Since she can't win against him, then let's just use 'it'.
...
The timer turns zero. A coin appeared at the center again for a toss coin. Zyair picked <Heads> as usual, while Cinderella was <Tail>. But unlike the result of the first and second round, the coin landed on <Tails> for this round.
Meaning, it's Cinderella princess' turn first.
Thump.
'Huh? Thump?' Zyair touched his chest, and felt even weirder.
He saw that Cinderella was still thinking of her move and stood up. He walked towards the drawer in his bedside cabinet and went looking for his medicine.
Thump. Thump.
But, there was nothing.
His medicine wasn't there.
In panic, Zyair's mind went blank. Instead of running around, Zyair meditated for a moment. After calming down, Zyair wanted to call Qantas, but then he remembered the game.
Zyair cursed.
Qantas' words are absolute, and this made Zyair want to be compelled even though he was unwilling.
So in the end, Zyair went back to sit on his chair in front of the computer. Qantas was out, and whenever he's out, the phone or whatever will never connect to him. So it's a waste of time trying to call that man.
Zyair sullenly sat on the chair again. He saw that it was his turn now. He heaved a deep sigh, and moved the mouse.
"Cluster Task Forces" is a strategy that uses combined sacrificial forces of different ranks to reduce enemy pieces. While doing so, Zyair would switch to defense after the attack to distract the opposite side and make Cinderella princess confused over the identity of the powerful pieces. He also moved the flag on the way, hiding it within the ranks of ordinary pieces.
Actually, using this strategy, Zyair doesn't have to use the "Rampaging Bulls" strategy. He could just go straight and eliminate many pieces as he could and isolate the enemy flag, but...
There was something suspicious about this Cinderella princess.
Cinderella is the owner of the Crystal Palace, the final boss of the Cinderella Wonderland instance. The fact that Zyair won easily without breaking a sweat was really surprising.
Zyair never expected this kind of challenge in the first place.
Moreover, he never truly believed in this game in the first place. This game pitted him over and over again. Zyair never believed the system would give him this special preferential treatment.
Although Zyair, this single cell organism, was too lazy to think, his passive instinct that didn't need any activation was screaming at him.
What was she planning?
"...she is going to cheat?"
If so, how...?
This was just a game. Even if there's a hacker that could cheat, could an NPC cheat?
Zyair scratched his head irritably. Thinking just made his head ache. "So, I forgot about it. Just finding the game. I want to sleep."
Moving another piece again, Zyair finally began the first phase of his strategy.
His general successfully eliminated the Major. Meanwhile, his two privates successfully trapped one of the enemy spies and would be eliminated in the next turn. Zyair's spy successfully infiltrated inside the enemy lines, and brought the head of the Army General.
Everything was going according to his plan. When the "combined arm task force"– the sacrificial forces made from different ranks– was completely annihilated, Zyair begin the phase two– "Rampaging Bulls Strategy"– sending unsupported generals into the enemy lines to eliminate as many pieces as they can, Zyair plan to end the game with complete annihilation.
Zyair opened the gate and released the bulls. For a few turns, Zyair's Army General and Major General went berserk in the field, eliminating the enemy pieces one by one.
Along the way, as the generals ran forward, leaving corpses on their way, the privates that hadn't been eliminated yet also weren't idle.
Since the Army General was also one of the bulls that was rampanging on the field, as long as the spy on the opposite side was removed, his Army General would survive until the end.
Zyair already eliminated the enemy's Army General and one of the two spies. So there was only one spy hiding within the shadows that he needed to find.
Thankfully, this Cinderella princess seemed a bit stupid and didn't know how to play, Zyair successfully played his arrangements, and none of his plan went to waste.
With only a few pieces left on the field, after Zyair eliminated the enemy spy, Zyair was ready to end the game within two turns.
However, with eyes widened in disbelief and his mouth agape in shock, Zyair looked at the black screen with bloody letters telling himself that he lost...
[GAME OVER]
Blood drips one at a time from the ends of those eight letters.
Like a bloody murder scene, the blood marks in the screen were reflected in Zyair's amber eyes, and this made his eyes looked more red than gold.
Zyair's lips shivered, and his hands trembled as his mind can't believe what he was seeing at all.
He lost...
He f*cking lost!!
How was that possible?!