Too Stubborn to Die

Staring down the opposing team, standing as a pawn, Elmira noted that there weren’t any enemy pawns remaining on their side.

They don’t have a queen either? How did this team make it this far, taking so many losses?

“This is the pathetic team that you dare to challenge the Great Lord Draxas, King of Dragons, with?!” Boomed the giant kobold.

“Ah, it seems that leading our team has really gone to that little kobold’s head,” Aaron sighed.

“Ahah! Prepare to suffer my wrath!” Lord Draxas cackled as they prepared for the first turn.

The player opposite Lord Draxas was a young woman. She looked rough and dirty. Her lips didn’t even move as Lord Draxas taunted her, shut thin and straight. She looked hesitant, like a scared girl unwilling to make eye contact, instead glancing down at the board.

Is she looking at her king?

With their pawns gone, there was nothing standing between Elmira and the opposing king. And there was no doubt about it. The girl was looking at her king as if she were waiting for permission.

“I know you’re scared. Don’t worry, Lord Draxas will make this quick,” Lord Draxas said, and immediately, their first turn, moving a pawn forward.

The young girl glanced up and down, hugging herself tightly. Then, her slender, trembling hand reached out and gently moved her king forward.

“Huh?” Elmira gasped.

“What’s she doing?” Talia said at her side.

It certainly was an odd first move. Instead of moving another piece to defend their exposed king, the young girl had moved their king forward.

Lord Draxas responded by moving Elmira forward, and the same scene played out again.

The larger-than-usual chessboard meant that it took longer to cover the distance between them, but Frostborn Sector kept doing the same thing, moving their king forward as Lord Draxas moved pawns, opening space, and then moving other pieces into position.

And soon, Elmira was staring down the massive, imposing king of the Frostborn Sector.

Mala the Avenger [ Level 182 ]

Titles: [ Holder of a True Blessing ] [ Beast Progenitor ]

Elmira gulped. A giant mammoth with huge, curling tusks stood before her. It wasn’t the beast’s size that intimidated her, though. The mammoth’s aura was straight up scary. She felt a deathlessness to it. The desire to kill dripped out of her, and her narrow, scornful gaze glared down at her.

“What are you fools up to?” Lord Draxas sneered. “Is this some kind of trick? You want me to engage your king, and then you’ll spring some form of desperate trap? Haha! Defeating the Great Emperor of Dragons won’t be so easy. You cannot deceive me!”

The mammoth king of Frostborn Sector was right there, and Lord Draxas already had multiple pieces they could use to claim the prize and ensure they moved on. But instead, they spend the next couple of turns repositioning other pieces, moving rooks forward, knights around, and bishops across as he encircled the opposing king, and slowly moving the king.

“This is going to be enjoyable. I will break you down bit by bit. And when I decide the time is ready, your king shall be mine,” Lord Draxas said, and took Mandor, moving him into position to take an enemy bishop.

Being the strongest after Aaron and Mo’han, it was a fairly safe move. A move that would allow them to take a powerful piece relatively safely, and gauge the enemy's strength.

Elmira sighed. Despite all their bluster, it seemed that Lord Draxas was still playing quite smart.

“You pathetic humans don’t want to face me?” Mala—the giant mammoth—taunted as the challenge began. “Fine. My vengeance against your pitiful kind can wait.”

Elmira’s brow furrowed. Pitiful kind? It was strange to hear, since most of Mala’s team appeared to be some kind of human. In fact, her team looked more human than their own.

“Get. Ready,” Mandor clicked, and the two warriors were dragged away.

They didn’t get a good view of what was happening between the two. But the speed at which the challenge was completed confirmed everything they needed to know.

One moment, Mandor had entered the challenge against the Neanderthal-looking man, and the next, he was back standing on his tile.

“What happened? How did you return so quickly?” Elmira called out.

“Don’t. Know. Was. Very. Easy. Ugly. Human. Man. Was. Not. Powerful. Mandor. Disappointed.”

Huh? What is going on? This team is pathetic. Their strategy is insane, and their warriors are weak. How did they reach the top spot?

Of course, Elmira knew Mala’s level was quite high. And she had a true blessing, a massive feat in and of itself. But as impressive as it was, she was hardly the only one with such blessings.

It can’t just be because of that mammoth, can it? That’s insane!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“On with it,” Mala grunted. “Give me a challenge already, and stop messing around with those pathetic fools.”

“What is wrong with you?” Elmira shouted. She was only a few tiles away from Mala, as she stood along the frontline of their team, while other pieces had been moved around to take out Mala’s supports. “You just lost a bishop! That’s supposed to be one of your strongest pieces!”

“So?” Mala shrugged. “He was a weak human. He got what he deserved.”

Elmira’s brow bent. Such talk made her sick. When she had taken on her role as captain, she had done so with pride. She enjoyed leading her people, and she took their well-being seriously. To see someone talk so dismissively of their own companions… it made her blood boil. This Mala was the complete opposite of Pentival, and she already hated them.

“Humans are weak. Parasites to be trampled.”

Elmira shook her head.

“Don’t let her get to you. This might be their plan,” Talia said, only one tile back.

Above them, Lord Draxas was still happily cackling away at their perceived imminent victory, and on his turn, used Voidrin to take out a knight.

And once more, the playful cyclopean entered the challenge, and then reappeared on the board seconds later.

“Well, that was easy,” Voidrin said. “How the heck are these guys ranked first? Bunch of chumps.”

Frostborn Sector’s turn began, and the timid girl looked down at Mala again and weakly nodded before moving forward.

They were now face-to-face. Mala was staring Elmira down, one tile between them. She could tell that the mammoth was powerful. Extraordinarily powerful. But still, she was completely surrounded, and every turn, she lost another piece that could have supported her.

Next turn, a Frostborn rook was taking, and Mala didn’t even turn to look.

“You’re insane,” Elmira shook her head.

“And you’re about to go home.”

Turns changed, and Elmira’s eyes widened as Mala challenged her tile. They really were just going for it. There was no hidden trap. No trick. It was just their king storming forward.

“Fine,” Elmira spat.

If this was what they wanted, then she would give them what they asked for. She would show them the error of their hubris. After all, there were few people as versatile as Elmira. And she was defending, and that meant she got to choose the challenge that they would take. And her runes provided her with so many styles she could harness. She just had to pick the right one for the overconfident mammoth.

“You can do this, Elmira!” Talia shouted from behind her.

She’s big and looks very strong. But strength isn’t everything.

As she glanced across the challenge options, Elmira considered her enemy. She needed a weakness. She read over her Titles, Level, and studied her appearance.

Holder of a True Blessing was straightforward enough. She was worthy enough for a god to grant their strongest blessing. But what was a beast progenitor?

Unfortunately, beasts came in all shapes and sizes. And simply knowing she was a powerful beast hardly helped her assessment.

Think, dammit. What’s likely to be a weakness?

Elmira wished she had more information. Wished that Pentival was at her side. He always had something insightful to share.

I have no choice. I’ll have to go with what’s obvious, Elmira sighed.

Mala was gigantic. She hated building a strategy around such simple takes, but she had nothing else to go on. Elmira would have to hope that a creature the size of Mala had to sacrifice agility.

Here goes nothing.

Elmira selected the challenge of agility, and within seconds, the two of them were brought to a dusty valley, with a line of rocks between them.

She looked around and noticed that there were hundreds of suspended tiles floating around them, and then the System message appeared. It explained that when the buzzer sounded, a tile would change color. Their objective was to strike the tile with a part of their body, and then the next tile to change color. The number of points rewarded was based on how fast they hit the tile, and they had an hour to hit as many as they could, as quickly as they could.

However, the relatively straightforward challenge was not as easy as it first seemed. The tiles were spread all around them, facing all different angles.

But Elmira was feeling confident. Not long ago, she had gained a new rune in her rune deck that allowed her to teleport to wherever the rune was. And she had used it to great effect already.

Come on, you big overconfident mammoth. Let’s see you beat me at this!

Elmira sprang into action the moment the buzzer sounded. Flying into action, she kicked out and punched the nearest tiles, spinning around with grace. And before she had even struck them all, she had thrown out her rune.

The moment she was done, she teleported to her rune, striking a dozen more tiles, and repeating the same.

It was impressive. Even if Elmira wasn’t the strongest fighter or greatest aim, in her empowered D-grade body, throwing a rune around was effortless, and her strategy worked flawlessly.

It was as if she were everywhere at once. Appearing and disappearing just long enough to strike several runes. It truly was a masterclass. She was in the zone and not about to lose her spot in the dungeon to a zealous mammoth with a hatred for humans.

And when the buzzer finally sounded again, bringing the challenge to an end, she landed with a wide smirk.

“Good luck beating that,” she said, and then looked up to the point-counting display to see the final tally.

“What?” Elmira gasped, he jaw falling agape. How? How was that possible? She had moved with such speed and grace that she felt like she might even keep pace with Aaron.

And she hadn’t just lost, she had been completely obliterated. The score was not even close, and she was dumbfounded, shaking her head in disbelief as she turned to look across at the mammoth.

“Humans. Predictably pathetic,” Mala hissed.

“Impossible,” Elmira muttered, and a second later, she was ejected from the dungeon. “I failed Pentival!” Came her twisted cry as she was ripped away by the System.

A moment later, Mala returned to the chessboard looking unfazed.

“Shit, Elmira is out?” Aaron said. “Okay, maybe this team isn’t as weak as they appear.”

“Elmira! We’ll get revenge for you!” Talia said. “My shadowy embrace will claim them!”

“You, A-ran. I think I like this one,” Mo’han’s grin stretched across his face as he looked at his greatest challenge yet. “Please let me do it.”

“You! You will pay for that!” Lord Draxas shouted, pointing at the frail-looking girl across from them, and she shrank deeper into her chair.

“Calm down, everyone. This is still our match,” Aaron said, trying to lighten the mood.

Elmira was a friend, and he had hoped to go all the way with her. But they still had almost an entire team of chess pieces on their side, and the other side had a mammoth.

“So, which of you pathetic humans is next?” Mala said.

Aaron looked across at Voidrin, waiting for the cyclops to make a wisecrack or challenge the mammoth himself.

But nothing came.

She even got Voidrin to shut up. Time to get serious.

Aaron cracked his knuckles as he waited for Lord Draxas to make their next move.

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