On July 23rd, inside a double room of a five-star hotel in Venice.
Snow-white curtains swayed gently, blocking the bright afternoon sun. Dappled shadows cast upon the floor, faintly shimring like fish swimming beneath the water's surface.
Ayase Origami and Xia Pingzhou had slept in for the first ti in a long while, both slumbering straight through until two in the afternoon without waking.
They were sprawled out haphazardly in terrible sleeping postures. One lay on her stomach near the edge of the bed with an arm dangling over the side, the loose sleeve of her kimono drooping down. The other had rolled directly onto the floor, face buried in the carpet, his right hand still locked in the gesture of holding a chess piece.
A mont later, Xia Pingzhou finally roused. He slowly rolled over, glanced at the ceiling, then at Ayase Origami's sleeping face, before picking up his mobile phone from the floor.
He entered his password, unlocked the screen, and tapped on an app with a skull icon. A map of Venice imdiately appeared on the display, a single dot of light pulsing on the screen.
"Demons..."
Xia Pingzhou let out a breath and slowly stood up. He walked into the bathroom, turned on the tap, splashed water on his face, and dried off with a towel before leaving the hotel. He kept his movents light to avoid waking Ayase Origami.
Following the map's directions, it did not take long for him to arrive at the location of the red dot.
It was a dilapidated and secluded alleyway. Black liquid that resembled blood flowed through the gutter. The lids of the trash cans vibrated bizarrely, as if being battered by strong winds, letting out intermittent clanging sounds.
It was as if so monster was about to burst out from inside.
Sure enough, the very next mont, two giant blue rats leaped out of the bins.
Their entire bodies crackled with electricity. Like two lightning-infused soccer balls, they shot through the air, repeatedly ricocheting off the alley walls at high speeds. Bouncing back and forth, their afterimages ford intersecting pillars of blue light that closed in on Xia Pingzhou.
Xia Pingzhou fell silent for a mont, suddenly feeling quite glad that he had not called the other mbers of the Brigade for help.
"It is a good thing I did not call the other mbers. I must handle these two demons myself to give this a proper sense of ceremony..." he muttered.
'My own brother must be eliminated by my own hands. Die, Blue Arc!'
With that thought in mind, Xia Pingzhou's expression hardened as he violently unleashed his Celestial Drive. A M??bius strip-like path of black and white manifested around his body, while Chess Shadows slowly revolved around the track like orbiting satellites.
He raised his hand and pinched one of the Chess Shadows. With a sharp crack, the piece shattered, and a chess piece that had never before seen actual combat imdiately materialized.
It was a Knight. After investing points into the Swarm branch's Cavalry Training, this Cavalry Chess Piece had evolved from a basic Soldier Chess Piece.
It was clad in silver armor, holding a shield in its left hand and a magnificent silver lance in its right. It sat atop a steed with empty eye sockets that burned with ghost fire. The horse was silver from head to hoof; as its hooves stomped upon the alleyway floor, they burned two black craters into the ground.
The magnificent silver knight remained unmoving, sitting quietly upon its horse, awaiting the Monarch's command.
Xia Pingzhou kept his head raised, his gaze focused intently on the two balls of blue lightning ricocheting toward him through the alley, seemingly trying to capture the bouncing trajectories of the two blue demons.
He quickly closed his eyes and switched to his Chessboard view, looking down at the scene in the alley from above.
In that instant, the bouncing speed of the two electrified giant rats seed to slow down. In his eyes, their forms were no longer re afterimages but complete outlines, as if soone had pressed the slow-motion button while watching a videotape.
In fact, it was not just the two giant rats. Even the swirling fallen leaves in the air and the black liquid flowing through the gutter slowed down to a near-standstill in Xia Pingzhou's eyes.
Because of this, he could clearly see the paths the two giant rats were taking. He could see every bounce and collision, and predict exactly where they would land in the next second. Even the scene several seconds into the future was completely laid out before him.
Suddenly, this stillness was broken. Xia Pingzhou finally realized that he had just entered a state of extrely rapid cognitive processing. Compared to his speed of thought, the entire world was so slow that ti appeared to be frozen.
This must be an ability of his Celestial Drive. The trigger condition was that he had to close his eyes and focus entirely on the Chessboard view.
The world began to turn once more. The fallen leaves in the air continued their spiraling descent, slicing the sunlight into fragnted rays. The filthy water in the gutter also resud its gurgling flow, letting out a series of splashing sounds.
The two giant blue rats bounced off the walls at high speeds, transforming into electrified pillars of light that swept straight toward him.
However, Xia Pingzhou had already grasped the pattern and direction of their movents. As a result, their startling speed lost its intended aning, instead turning into the very guillotine that would seal their doom.
The next second, he issued an emotionless command. "Authority, Charge."
The instant it heard the command, the knight violently lowered its stance and slapped the saddle!
The steed beneath it let out a long neigh before charging forward with unstoppable montum. Its form gradually beca so fast that only an afterimage remained. From a distance, the rider and the horse seed to rge into one, transforming into a silver shooting star!
[Cavalry Authority: "Charge" — The cavalry charges forward on horseback, transforming into a high-speed teor, entering an "unstoppable" state for two seconds (the charge will not be interrupted), and dragging any enemies collided with along the way to the end point.]
He rembered that when he first saw the cavalry's Authority, he could not help but raise an eyebrow, thinking to himself, 'Isn't this just a mob-gathering skill?' However, this was his first ti actually using this Authority in combat, and he hoped it would be as effective as its textual description suggested.
The very next mont, seizing the exact instant when the two giant lightning rats were about to cross paths in mid-air, the cavalry crashed into them with flawless precision. Had he been off by even a millisecond, it would have been impossible to hit both rats at the sa ti—this was the precise window of opportunity Xia Pingzhou had found after his ticulous calculations.
Following that, the silver shooting star completely engulfed the two pillars of lightning. The knight's lance dragged the forms of the two demons as it continued its headlong sprint, aiming straight for the end of the alley.
The sound of galloping hooves swept out with overwhelming force, sounding as though it wanted to drown out the entire world.
No matter how much electricity the two giant blue rats discharged, they could not break free from the fierce and domineering silver streak of light. They were reduced to re background props swept up by the knight's figure, adding a flash of blue electricity to the silver shooting star and making its radiance seem even more blindingly brilliant.
Xia Pingzhou thought, 'This move really can gather mobs... Dealing with demons that live in packs will be much easier from now on.'
Seizing the mont, Xia Pingzhou raised his hand and pinched two Rook Chess Shadows.
The pieces shattered, and two silver Rooks materialized. They stiffly swiveled their barrels while clanking as they loaded their shells. A split second later, bursts of fire erupted simultaneously from their muzzles, firing straight in the direction the horse was charging.
"Boom!" "Boom!"
Two deafening roars echoed at exactly the sa ti. Accompanied by the shrieking of the air, two pitch-black cannonballs blasted forward, colliding with each other in mid-air. They detonated completely, transforming into a terrifying pillar of fla that swept forward.
At that very mont, the cavalry's charge reached its destination. The silver, electrified shooting star slowly ca to a halt at the end of the alley, and the bodies of the two giant lightning rats were subsequently freed.
Dizzy and disoriented, they tried to imdiately put so distance between themselves and the knight, but in a flash, they were swallowed up by the surging pillar of flas roaring from behind, burned into nothing but patches of ash.
As the firelight faded, even the cavalry was unavoidably caught in the blast. Both he and the steed beneath him transford back into Chess Shadows, returning to Xia Pingzhou's circular Chessboard. Following that, a series of reward notification windows popped up in Xia Pingzhou's vision.
[Detected the elimination of two C-Rank or higher demons. The cumulative kill count for the "Wild Hunt's Winter" system has been updated: 19/18 (Task completed. Please claim your reward as soon as possible)]
Xia Pingzhou expressionlessly tapped the interface, and a reward notification chi imdiately rang out.
[You have obtained 1 Attribute Point as a Cultivation Mission reward. The "Wild Hunt's Winter" Cultivation Mission has advanced to the next stage — Cumulative kill count reaching 40!]
[Current kill count: 19. You need 21 more kills to complete this stage's objective.]
[Current advancent progress for Character Two's Celestial Drive "International Chess" is: 5%/100% (Upon reaching 100% progress, your Celestial Drive will automatically evolve into its Stage Three form. After advancing, you can form a pact with a brand-new demon, comprehensively upgrading the capabilities of your Celestial Drive)]
'What new chanics will be born once my Celestial Drive advances to the third stage...' Xia Pingzhou thought. 'Will I be able to form a Chessboard domain and trap enemies inside it? If so, my shortcomings would be completely covered.'
Just then, an unfamiliar notification window suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[Due to the effects of the passive skill "Demon Hunter
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