The Victory or Defeat in Chess Is Not Just on the Chess Board

Chapter 97 The Victory or Defeat in Chess Is Not Just on the Chess Board

Behind the door was a pitch-black room. As the three of them entered, the room suddenly came brightly lit, and a shocking scene unfolded before them.

They stood around a massive chessboard, with black stone chess pieces towering above them. Opposite them, at the other end of the room, were a group of white chess pieces, roughly the same size as the black ones. None of the pieces had any facial features carved on them; they stood motionless, exuding an aura that kept strangers at bay.

Ron tried to take a step forward, and the white soldiers immediately moved, drawing their weapons and blocking Ron's way, forming a "chess" wall.

"It looks like we have to play chess with the other side and win before we can get through, and if nothing unexpected happens, we'll probably have to act as pieces, replacing three black pieces," Ron speculated.

He asked a black knight and received an affirmative answer. This made Ron sigh. He knew very well that the risks of being a piece were far greater than those of being a player; pieces could be sacrificed, but players could not. If he could, he would only want to be a player, but unfortunately, he had no choice.

Ron removed the three black pieces from the board and then, along with Harry and Daphne, took their places.

"I'll take the lead. And I'm not bragging, but my wizard chess skills are definitely among the best in Hogwarts." Before starting the game, Ron wanted to take over the command from Harry and Daphne.

"Oh?" Harry, who was often utterly defeated by Ron in wizard chess, was fine, but Daphne, who had never played against Ron, raised an eyebrow, somewhat unconvinced: she didn't think her chess skills were inferior to Ron's. Ron's previous performance made it difficult for her to trust this freckled Weasley boy.

"Alright, then we'll both command together." Seeing the change in Daphne's expression, Ron's high confidence was instantly dampened, as if doused with cold water. He decided to back down and command together.

However, this inadvertently violated a major taboo in the chess world: multiple people directing the game.

In chess, two people playing together doesn't necessarily mean one person will play better, because not every player can keep up with their teammate's thinking, and sometimes they might even hold their teammate back.

Ron and Daphne encountered this situation.

Both of them were wizard chess masters, but when they teamed up, it had a strange negative effect, causing neither of them to perform as well as they should.

White launched a fierce offensive on the board, putting Black on the defensive. One by one, Black pieces were ruthlessly crushed, reduced to lifeless rubble, and then swept off the board and piled against the wall. However, Ron and Daphne were no pushovers either; they fought valiantly and eliminated a considerable number of White pieces, but ultimately could not reverse Black's decline.

Black's defeat is only a matter of time.

"The bishop moves three squares to the left!"

"Daphne, no! We'll lose if we do this!"

"No!" A ruthless glint flashed across Daphne's face. "Who says victory has to be decided on the chessboard? From now on, we just need to eliminate as many white pieces as possible!"

Ron and Harry were stunned.

Before they could react, Daphne commanded the remaining black pieces to launch a suicidal attack on the white pieces. She successfully destroyed several white pieces, completely collapsing the black position that had been holding on for a while.

But Daphne remained unmoved; her moves looked like she had bet on losing, and sometimes she was even feeding the black pieces kills.

Ron had given up on commanding and was quietly watching Daphne's actions. He wasn't quite sure why Daphne was doing this; perhaps she wanted to start another game so he could command alone?

Finally, the white bishop rushed to the black king, who removed his crown and threw it at his feet. Black lost. Even though there weren't many white pieces left on the board, they still checkmated the black king, didn't they?

Next comes the moves outside the chessboard.

Just as the white pieces were slowly returning to their original positions, preparing to restore the chessboard to its original state, a spell struck the white king's neck precisely, severing its head.

The king's head fell to the ground and shattered into pieces, the crown on his head rolling far away.

Harry and Ron: !

The other pieces were also stunned, as if they had never expected such an operation.

"As expected! Wind Blades—" Daphne was overjoyed. She waved her wand continuously, unleashing wind blades about a foot long, shattering the white pieces on the opposite side.

She noticed this when the chess pieces were fighting each other. The stones used for these pieces were the kind of brittle marble that would crack if hit by a thermos, let alone her wind blades.

Almost every wind blade leaves a huge, one-foot-long gash on the chess piece, from which numerous cracks spread. These wind blades, when they strike vulnerable parts of the piece, such as the neck or limbs, can sever them in an instant; even in thicker areas, only one additional strike is needed.

Daphne's attack caught the pieces off guard. By the time they reacted and attacked her, the vast majority of the white pieces had already been eliminated.

It was only then that Harry understood what Daphne meant by "the outcome doesn't necessarily have to be decided on the chessboard."

Just as Harry was pondering, Ron suddenly lunged at him and tackled him to the ground.

It turned out that Black had started to attack them—when Daphne decided to break the rules, Black was no longer their teammate, but their enemy.

Thanks to Ron's intervention, Harry escaped the Black King's attack, but Ron wasn't so lucky. He took a heavy blow to the thigh and screamed in pain.

Before Black King could finish it off, a wind blade severed its head.

Daphne had already floated into the air and was now unleashing her full power. Wind blades rained down, wiping out the remaining pieces on the field in just over ten seconds.

After the last piece collapsed to the ground, Daphne landed next to Ron, pursing her lips as she checked his injuries. She somewhat regretted not having informed Harry and the others beforehand; otherwise, they could have won decisively.

"You've broken your bone! Quick, smell this!" Daphne opened the bottle of the sleeping potion a crack and waved it in front of Ron's nose. He immediately passed out.

Daphne sighed, indicating that she would have to leave Ron there for the time being.

With the troublesome pieces gone, the two easily passed through the second gate. Behind the third gate was a giant monster, which Daphne easily defeated—having learned from her previous experience, she killed this giant monster in one fell swoop.

Inside the level after the troll, there is a table with seven bottles of different shapes on it.

Daphne picked up the note left on the table. The riddle on the note was not difficult for her to solve. The problem was that when she picked up the inconspicuous little bottle, she found that the potion inside had been drunk.

Daphne and Harry fell silent immediately.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

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(End of this chapter)