Chapter 301: Surging Undercurrents, Decapitation (Part 2)

[An Array with a disguise Ability will appear on the front lines. Five Chess Pieces can enter the Array to receive a Demon Faction disguise.]

HUMMM—

A white Array appeared on the Kingdom Faction’s front line, emitting ripples of mysterious Power.

But when the five-man squad saw this message, their faces turned green.

“Damn it!” Shore immediately started ranting. “This suffocating play again! Why does that asshole love assassination attempts so much? Is it because it has no brain of its own?”

The others were also rendered speechless.

…During their last match, they had all experienced the Kingdom Giant’s idiotic masterstrokes. They never expected to have to go through it again.

An assassination attempt didn’t sound wrong on the surface.

In reality, however, the most powerful Chess Pieces in either faction were the King types. They were hardly helpless lambs waiting for the slaughter.

And the Demon Faction’s Demon King was stronger still.

In a situation like this, trying for an assassination was practically feeding the enemy kills.

The others were at a loss for words.

But since things had already come to this, they had no other choice. On the chessboard, many things were restricted, and they had to follow the Will of the two Giants. All they could do was quickly think of a countermeasure.

“I’ll go.” Niuniu covered his face, sighing in resignation. “Since it’s come to this, we might as well give it a shot. I’ll see if I can trick the Demon King Chess Piece and kill it. If I succeed, the payoff will be huge.”

Although the death of a King piece wouldn’t decide the match, it would inflict a negative “Chaos” Effect on the entire faction until a new King could be converted.

So, even though the Kingdom Giant shouldn’t have made this move, its intentions were good…

Gray Sky spoke up. “Brother Niu, I’ll go with you.”

After grinding for a while, Skyrim’s Power had skyrocketed. He had now reached the Scorching Charcoal Tier, making him an expert. If he worked with Niuniu, they might actually have a chance at pulling off the assassination.

After all, there were no players on the enemy team.

“Alright, we’ll stay and defend,” Wa Zai said with a nod. Shore and Guagua agreed.

Although they didn’t get any notifications about the Demon side’s movements, the Demon Faction would be making its own moves in response.

They just wouldn’t know what those moves were.

That’s why they needed to leave some players behind to handle whatever came next.

With their strategy decided, the five of them quickly sprang into action.

First, the attackers: Niuniu and Skyrim, along with three other Soldier Pieces, entered the Array on the front line. A moment later, they were transformed to look like Demon Chess Pieces.

“These three NPCs are uncontrollable. We’ll just let them go die and draw attention. It’s our chance to sneak into the nest,” Niuniu whispered to Skyrim after they successfully snuck onto the Demon Faction’s side of the battlefield.

Skyrim nodded.

The three Soldier Pieces were beyond their command and couldn’t communicate. They just acted mechanically. They would probably be exposed and get themselves killed soon enough.

Since that was the case, they decided to use the NPCs as bait in a classic feint, creating an opportunity to slip in unnoticed…

“Shore, go and stand watch over by the residential area. If anything happens, you can provide timely support to the city wall and the Royal Palace,” Wa Zai and Niuniu suggested in the team channel.

With his Demon Hunting Staff, Shore was a major asset. But they still didn’t know what the Demon Faction was planning, so they could only react. Therefore, it was best to have Shore wait in the residential district.

“Got it.” Without another word, Shore left the city wall and headed for the residential area.

Inside the Royal Palace, Guagua paced back and forth, holding the Applicable Curse Formula and vigilantly scanning his surroundings.

The bearded King, wearing a Crown and holding a Scepter, sat solemnly on his throne, completely ignoring this strangely behaving “Guard.”

‘An NPC.’ Guagua glanced at the King before looking away, resuming his vigilant search of every corner of the Royal Palace.

…

「Demon Faction」

Compared to the noble, heroic style of the Kingdom Faction, the architecture on the Demon side was, naturally, much darker.

A muddy battlefield of sticky black ooze that burned with black flames, bubbling pools of blood, high walls stacked from flesh and fat… The style was distinct and utterly nauseating.

After passing through the wall of flesh, events unfolded just as Niuniu had predicted.

The three Soldier Pieces made it past the front line and through the wall, but as they carelessly tried to enter a “Hatching Zone” building, a [Black Death Corpse] noticed something was off.

As an elite Chess Piece, it immediately blocked the three Soldier Pieces.

And just like that, the three NPC-like Soldier Pieces dropped their disguises.

“For the Kingdom!”

The three Soldier Pieces revealed themselves and roared furiously, their voices carrying a great distance, as if they were afraid the Demons might not notice them.

Immediately, the surrounding Demon Chess Pieces turned their attention toward them, then shrieked and swarmed forward.

Though the three Soldier Pieces were not weak, their deaths were now only a matter of time.

“Go, go, go.”

Niuniu and Gray Sky seized the opportunity, crouching as they slipped inside.

The architectural style of the Demon Faction’s “Hatching Zone” was also quite unique, fully taking into account the habitats of various Demons.

There were tombstones, flesh tumors, eggshells, spiderwebs, broodmothers—you name it. So cozy and lovely.

“The art design for this fleshy tumor isn’t half bad. It’s even oozing.”

“Hmm…”

Niuniu suddenly stopped, looking extremely interested.

Skyrim had no idea what he was up to. Just as he was about to hurry him along, Niuniu’s next move left him stunned and bewildered.

SLURP…

“…” Skyrim’s eyes widened as far as they could go, his pupils shrinking to pinpricks. “B-Brother Niu, why are you licking that thing?!”

‘Dude, is a fleshy tumor something you should be licking?’

‘And you sucked up the yellow pus oozing from it!’

“I… GAG…”

Skyrim felt like he was going to puke. He swore that this was, without a doubt, the most absurd thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

‘This terrifying shock to his Spirit…’

‘In the face of Niuniu’s actions, any “Madness” debuff was simply not worth mentioning.’

“…Ptooey.”

Niuniu frowned as he sampled the taste, then rinsed his mouth and spat it out. After smacking his lips, he nodded in approval.

“Not bad, not bad. It really does taste a lot like pus. This game is so dedicated to the details.”

“C’mon, Skyrim, don’t make such a big deal out of it. It’s just a game. This thing might look and taste disgusting, but at the end of the day, it’s fake. It’s not like I actually ate it.”

“It’s rare to find a game this realistic. It’d be a huge shame not to try it out.”

“Here, you want a taste? You only live once, gotta try everything.”

Niuniu was brimming with enthusiasm. As he spoke, he even reached out and scooped up a handful, offering it to Skyrim.

Staring at Niuniu—who was covered in a Corpse Shell and holding a mysterious, viscous substance in his hand…

Skyrim’s pupils contracted, and he instinctively backed away.

“N-No, I’m good…”

Even though he sort of had a point, Skyrim just felt his skin crawl.

‘And… what do you mean, it tastes “a lot like pus”?’

‘You’ve definitely fucking tasted it in real life, haven’t you?!’

Skyrim roared internally.

“…Let’s get going. We’re running out of time.” Though he had a million things he wanted to say, Skyrim ultimately took a deep breath, changed the subject, and urged him on.

For some reason, he was now desperate to meet the Demon King as soon as possible!

“Fine.” Hearing that, Niuniu realized this wasn’t the time. He casually tossed the gunk aside and continued toward the nest with Skyrim.

…

Just as the two of them were heading for the nest…

…the Kingdom Faction was also being affected by one of the Demon Faction’s schemes.

In a residential building behind the city wall, there was a sudden BANG.

Shore let out a sigh of relief as he looked at the [Earth-Digging Spider] that had just exploded into a bloody paste in front of him.

The creature had tried to destroy the building, but he had spotted and stopped it just in time, preventing any real damage.

“You okay? Need any help?”

Guagua and Skyrim quickly asked over the channel, but after a moment’s thought, Shore refused their offer.

“I’m fine. You guys hold your positions. I can handle things here for now.”

“This Monster Giant is smart. I have a feeling its plan isn’t this simple.”