City of Witches Chapter 354

It wasn't that there was absolutely no worry.

But it was a light concern.

Back when working at the host bar, it was Diana who had pestered him to come early and play Witchboard.

Even when Countess Yesod had hinted that Diana was quite the lazybones, Siwoo thought she'd come along if he casually suggested playing a game together.

A shallow scheme: if he stimulated her competitive spirit and made her do things in exchange for a match, wouldn't she listen quite well?

In fact, just looking at the Twins, fellow Witches and Apprentice Witches, they could be controlled with similar methods, so why would this time be any different?

But the attitude Diana actually showed was an iron wall itself.

She showed no interest whatsoever in Siwoo and was busy running away.

He was inwardly taken aback.

It was practically his only plan going awry.

"Who said I was scared? Ha...! Huh...! Really...! It's absurd...."

The last method, which seemed to slightly cross the line, appeared to have an immediate effect on Diana.

Diana, who seemed about to enter her room leaving Siwoo behind any moment, scurried over and sat at the living room table.

She brought the Witchboard and, grumbling, finished setting it up at a speed faster than light.

For now, the nickname 'Lazybones Diana' seemed undeserved.

Having finished preparations in the blink of an eye, Diana shot Siwoo a look with eyes fiercely gleaming with hostility.

"You."

"Yes."

"You must be prepared, right?"

"Prepared?"

Behind Diana's back, an aura was already surging.

A rare item that could only be completed when the annoying pest who kept chasing her had the audacity to provoke her.

It was an aura of rage.

"You provoked me. And with the preposterous black slander of asking if I was running away."

Her voice was still soft and measured, but she had become very talkative, as if whispering rapidly.

"I wanted to sleep. I wanted to lay my head on a warm, fluffy feather pillow and lounge around in comfortable pajamas. No, actually, everything was ruined because of you.

My original plan was to wrap myself in a blanket and sleep in a sunny spot.

Once full winter arrives soon, I won't be able to do that.

In other words, with everything ruined because of you, you made me sit here with a petty provocation that would tarnish my honor if I ignored it."

Could you believe she delivered all these words and sentences in one breath?

It was a volume of dialogue that seemed like exercise just by speaking it.

"If you lose to me, don't think you'll get off easy. A fitting punishment...."

Diana's words, which had been spewing heat, suddenly cut off like a broken radio.

The following is Diana's train of thought.

I'll give him a fitting punishment.

Punishment?

A spanking?

The perverted deliveryman.

Feather tickle-tickle.

The deliveryman pins down the Witch's body writhing from ticklishness and pleasure and with his hard penis....

"A-a-a-anyway...!"

Siwoo looked curiously at Diana, who had been pouring out a torrent of words and whose face suddenly turned bright red.

Diana couldn't even properly look at his face and had to gloss over the rest of her words.

"Anyway, bring it on. I'll crush your pride."

"Understood."

Seeing Siwoo's faint smile, Diana gritted her teeth.

Why did that scene have to pop into her head right then....

She couldn't even finish what she was supposed to say properly.

Thinking about it, her last match with him hadn't been properly concluded.

When she studied hard with a determined heart and went back, she lost because the Apprentice Witch Twins from the House of Gemernai were doing a mental attack.

And when she tried to challenge again, she ran away at the sight of the three of them calmly exchanging kisses.

Let's think positively that at least this way, a stage for a rematch has been prepared.

Diana calmed her boiling heart, as if pouring cold water on hot oil, and took a deep breath.

"It's been a while since we played a game together."

That annoyingly smirking man is, for better or worse, a tutor hired through the favor of her beloved and respected mother.

He was also quite handsome, so she was cutting him some slack.

She had threatened to report him and have him fired tomorrow, but she intended to leave him be if he just kept within appropriate boundaries.

But since the other party crossed the line first and this justification arose, Diana couldn't help but say one more thing.

"Hey."

"Yes."

"If I win, resign without a word. From that ridiculous position of tutor or whatever."

"Hmm, that's difficult.... To be honest, in exchange for becoming your tutor, I was promised research cooperation. If I get kicked out in a day, I won't get any help."

For the first time, a troubled expression appeared on his face, which had been shamelessly and persistently following her around.

She thought he had just come to earn some petty cash falling from the Yesod family, but Magic research?

It seems he has some Witch-like aspects after all.

But it's none of her business.

The troubles of a disliked opponent are rather Diana's joy.

She offered a counter-provocation.

"Ha...! Scared, aren't you?"

"Since my opponent is you, I probably can't predict victory."

"You also annoyed me by chasing me around for 30 minutes when I said I disliked you. Don't even think about changing the conditions."

Thus, the duel began.

Diana, out of habit, placed three magic power sources.

Like most abstract strategy games, the first move usually has no special surprises.

Except for that man.

"What is this now...."

Diana's eyes frowned as she saw Siwoo's magic power source placement.

No matter how unique the tactics, you usually get a feel for them after facing them a few times.

In fact, in the last match where she narrowly sacrificed victory to him, Diana had been dominant until the Twins interfered.

"You're doing weird things again."

But Siwoo's magic power sources now were completely different from before.

Not that they were orthodox either.

They formed an equilateral triangle but were placed very far apart.

Contrary to when they were clustered tightly together, they were spread out spaciously as if staking claim to the yolk of the land.

Diana felt an unreasonable foreboding, combining the unfamiliarity of a never-before-seen strategy with the memory of being swayed by his unpredictable play last time.

As if shaking off that foreboding, she said through gritted teeth.

"I won't fall for such crude tricks anymore."

"Crude? It's a strategy I prepared after much thought."

The opponent is a one-trick pony with surprise strategies.

He's just a beginner who thinks 'if it's a novel strategy, it must be a great strategy,' with a bit of skill added on.

Diana calmly thought, suppressing her unease.

Clustering magic power sources is inefficient for expanding Magic Formulas.

But if it were merely inefficient, Diana would never have lost to the same strategy.A momentary one or two timings from a dense magic power source, pinpoint penetration power.

If there were any advantages, that would be one.

But what about that?

Though it's a distance where they can barely resonate with each other, both the defense and output of the magic power source itself are diminished.

Even if you search with wide-open eyes, there are no advantages to be found.

However, Diana did not let her guard down.

She had already experienced gameplay based on bizarre strategies.

If she just handles it carefully without panicking or getting flustered...

Not only could she repay the humiliation of defeat this time, but she could also get rid of this unbearably annoying man right before her eyes.

And soon enough, Diana was able to grasp his intention.

"Tsk...!"

As always, Diana's style was the textbook itself.

She preferred textbook gameplay: securing useful Runes through small-scale skirmishes, solidifying the substance of the magic formula, and then crushing the opponent with a natural power struggle.

In a word, she excelled at 'games you don't lose,' or to add a bit more, 'games you don't lose if you know how to play.'

The strategy this man had prepared for her today was chaotic warfare.

It was a dizzying guerrilla war.

It involved unleashing a barrage of harassments and engaging in small-scale fierce battles from magic power sources placed all around.

Since the magic power sources weren't densely packed, the pushing power itself was weak, but it allowed for much more chaotic and messy harassment.

And this was a strategy that triggered Diana's trauma and was incredibly challenging.

The fifth game when she had fought this man before.

Back then, they had also exchanged a dizzying chaotic melee.

Judging solely by the mid-game results, victory and defeat were clear.

After a breathless speed battle where they grabbed each other's hair and shook, when she came to her senses, she had naturally lost the game.

But from that moment, Siwoo had thrown the stone and conceded victory to Diana.

A victory that could never be called a victory.

A victory with humiliation and arrogance blooming darkly on its reverse side.

That past, where she had happily accepted it and jumped around gleefully, became the driving force that made Diana grit her teeth and devote herself to studying Magic.

"If you thought you could break me with the same method... I'll have to call that arrogance."

"Surely not."

Diana's eyes shone.

She couldn't forget the humiliation of that time when she realized, while reviewing the game alone, that it had been a courtesy game.

Diana had studied intensively, preparing for situations where chaotic warfare would break out more than any other scenario.

After that, a fierce close-quarters battle unfolded.

The level of the game had risen dramatically compared to before Diana's studies.

The intensity of the fights in the small-scale engagement zones.

The number of engagement zones itself was at least double, no, triple.

Before she knew it, Diana had forgotten words and immersed herself in the match.

For now, there was no anger, no irritation, no demonic delivery boy in her head.

A pure battle of thinking power and Computation power.

It was merely a repeated battle of numbers within this dodecahedron battlefield filled with all sorts of traps and bluffs.

Around the time they had exchanged about a hundred moves without exchanging a single word or even making eye contact.

Diana's concentration broke.

"Ah..."

A sigh escapes her unknowingly.

He's strong.

It's frustrating, but she has to admit it once again.

This man possessed an outstanding intellect that was by no means inferior to Diana's.

Of course, the one winning was Diana herself.

"It seems I've won."

A total of 27 engagements occurred, and Diana secured victory in the engagement zones by a narrow margin.

In Go terms, it was a difference of half a point, a razor-thin margin, but out of a total of 27 Runes, Diana had secured 25.

Once that happens, there's no need for further chaotic warfare.

"I acknowledge your skill. This is sincere."

Now that she had secured this many Runes, there was no need to engage in the fights the opponent brought to her.

She just needed to stubbornly destroy the magic power sources like a bull charging even with a spear in its back.

"Something I always feel..."

A low voice heard the moment Diana confirmed victory in her heart.

That voice, for some reason, held a faint hint of laughter.

"Countess Diana, I think you need to see the board a little more broadly."

-Tap!

And then, a move that would overturn the entire situation unfolded on the board.

One that Diana would never have thought of.

A divine move that perfectly deviated from the textbook.

"Ah..."

Finally, she saw it.

That final puzzle he had prepared, fitting into place even amidst that fierce chaotic warfare.

With that one move, the two Runes he had secured lit up.

With that one move, the lit Runes formed the shape of a sharp dagger.

With that one move, a magic power path connected to the dagger-shaped form.

With that one move, the meaningless, scattered, discarded moves became a single guidance tunnel.

With that one move, the flying dagger shattered all of Diana's magic power sources, which had been depleted after the intense battle.

Like toppling a perfectly stacked domino with not a single gap.

Defeated instantly by the chain reaction of magic that had been completed all at once.

"......"

She couldn't understand.

Why she lost.

It would take her quite some time to understand how she had lost.

Just when had he been drawing this grand picture?

Was it because she felt an involuntary awe before his overwhelming talent and its result?

Diana realized goosebumps had risen on her arms without her noticing.

It felt as if the massive wall of talent she had never felt in her entire life was being eroded by the shadow it cast there.

"So, um... I'll take it as you're letting me off about telling the Countess to cut it, right?"

The first male witch in witch history, putting on what he thought was an endearing expression, clasping his hands together in request.

His name is Shin Siwoo.

She found herself wanting to know a little more about him.