191: Top Kite Chess

Chapter 191: Exquisite Kite Chess

Shi Li quickly arrived at the entrance base by taking a special plane from the Card Hall.

Upon entering the Chess Domain, he was quickly teleported to Radiant City.

While he still had half a day before his appointment with Kairala, Shi Li explored the material shops here.

Although A Qing Material House was the largest chain store, Radiant City was also very large, and it wasn't the only material shop; there were other competing chains, as well as private ones.

He toured almost all the material shops but found little of value.

"It seems Ashiro's material collection quest is really hard to complete."

Let alone all sorts of strange dragon-related materials, even dragon materials in general were extremely rare in the entire Radiant City.

He heard that even if there were any, they would be immediately snatched up by the powerful, high-level chess players, and so on.

The few remaining dragon materials that hadn't been sold were basically enshrined as treasures of the shop, with exorbitant prices of tens of millions of cubic coins.

Since they were called 'treasures of the shop,' the owners didn't really intend to sell them.

Of course, the core materials needed for Red Blade Maiden's Star Ascension were also unavailable.

After waiting for a while at the agreed location, Kairala appeared on time.

"Take this."

After a brief exchange of greetings, Kairala handed Shi Li a small hourglass-like glass bottle.

"This is—"

"Our mission location this time is not in Radiant City, but in Tianshan City."

Tianshan City, Shi Li had heard of it.

It was a large city of the same level, no less grand than Radiant City, but it was very far from here.

"You probably haven't anchored in Tianshan City yet, have you? This is a Tianshan City teleportation bottle.

Just smash it on the ground, and you can teleport there."

Following Kairala's instructions, Shi Li smashed the bottle on the ground.

As the bottle shattered, a visible magical wind swept over him, enveloping him.

Seconds later, he appeared in Tianshan City.

"Comfortable."

Shi Li now had another anchor point.

Tianshan City was very different from Radiant City; this city felt like it was built on mountains.

With varying heights, all kinds of buildings were arranged in a dense, orderly fashion.

As he passed a certain square, he saw groups of people gathered at the dungeon entrance.

This scene looked even more enthusiastic than in Radiant City.

"40-person [Bara Valley], need 1 DPS!"

"[Underworld Bank] 20-person speed run, can bring 2 bosses!"

"10-person elite run for [Frost Ancient Castle], with a master commander leading, need one healer, departing!"

"[Mocan Plains] damage dealers are in position, still need 1 boss!"

Shi Li seemed to hear some things that were different from Radiant City.

"This is unique to Tianshan City, or rather, a particularly strong tradition here: the Gold Group."

Kairala noticed his expression and explained with a smile, "Some powerful or experienced card players will, for a fee, bring individual card players into more difficult dungeons to earn commissions, or to auction off dropped items."

"Gold Group."

Shi Li was not unfamiliar with this term; anyone who had played multiplayer dungeon games was well aware of this concept.

Perhaps if he had the chance, he could try it then.

"Tianshan City also has many dungeon entrances, but our destination dungeon today is not here.

It's still early, let's explore a bit first."

Kairala led Shi Li out of Tianshan City.

Outside the city gate, he saw several Scarlet Mercenary Group members waiting.

There were three in total: two men and one woman.

Their features were obvious: their clothes were all emblazoned with patterns resembling burning flames.

"You're late, Kairala."

The leading Platinum 5 man was a bit displeased.

"Haha, Uncle Leo."

Kairala laughed awkwardly, then pushed Shi Li forward: "This is Shi Li, the expert I mentioned to you before."

"He is Shi Li?"

All three looked over at the same time, but when they saw the 'Platinum 12' tag above Shi Li's head, they each had their own thoughts.

What kind of expert was this?

One should know that all three of them were already chess players who had advanced to Platinum.

In fact, the Chess Domain was different from the outside world; Star Ascension for chess pieces was not as difficult here.

Especially from three to four stars, it was far less troublesome than Red Blade Maiden.

Shi Li's cards had both card and chess properties, so he still had to Star Ascension in the card manner and could not take the shortcut of battle chess.

"Hmm, we must be careful and cautious on this dungeon trip."

Leo nodded, not dwelling on Shi Li.

On the other hand, another man next to him had a slightly displeased expression.

One should know that Kairala's current rank was only Platinum 14.

Such a rank usually only qualified her as a low-level member in the Scarlet Mercenary Group.

If it weren't for her sister being a vice-commander, Lord Leo probably wouldn't have condescended to team up with her at all.

And the two of them also followed because of Lord Leo.

Now this burden had the audacity to bring another burden along.

However, all three were seasoned veterans, so even if they had thoughts, they didn't show them directly.

Under Leo's call, a large cloud descended before everyone.

Shi Li had been coveting this thing for a while.

It was a transportation vehicle exclusive to the Chess Domain.

High-performance ones were incredibly fast, completely comparable to small aircraft.

The cloud carried the five people for about half an hour, then landed on a riverside beach.

The rushing river water was murky and unclear.

On the riverbank, there was a portal entrance.

"This is our destination for today, the [Giant Crocodile Riverbank] dungeon."

Kairala introduced to Shi Li, while handing him a quest card: "This is the relevant quest, I'll share it with you."

[Exterminate the Giant Crocodile Tribe]

[Quest Content]: The crocodile menace in the Great Bend River has become increasingly severe in recent years, causing many injury Events.

The Tianshan City Guard is short-staffed and wishes to hire excellent warriors to help.

But please be very careful, these crocodiles are not easy to deal with.

[Enemy Level]: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

[Recommended Rank]: Platinum 2 or above [Reward Item]: 100,000 cubic coins. This is a shared quest.

As long as one participates, they can receive 100,000 cubic coins afterward.

This was not a small sum.

"Actually, I'm currently doing a quest chain, but you weren't able to participate from the beginning, so I can only give you a single-stage sub-quest."

Kairala explained with a smile.

It turned out that today's dungeon trip was for her.

"Alright, I'll assign the tasks in advance."

Standing in front of the dungeon entrance, Leo began to command.

"Actually, you've all cleared this [Giant Crocodile Riverbank] before, so I won't say much.

However, because Kairala has a quest, there might be some variables in the dungeon at that time."

He looked at his two companions.

The man was named Cain, Platinum 3.

The woman was named Lanshu, also Platinum 3.

Both were Leo's subordinates and skilled fighters in the mercenary group.

"Next, I'll assign everyone's battle chess deployment.

Each of us three will deploy 1 output unit and 1 damage-absorbing unit.

Kairala, you deploy 2 Recovery units.

As for Brother Wang Defa, you go guard the downstream, should be no problem, right?"

After Leo finished assigning, Kairala actively explained to Shi Li.

"This dungeon only has one map, and the rule is a maximum of 60 points + 2 battle chess pieces per person.

And you can switch battle chess pieces every turn.

Then the map basically follows the river, and enemies will continuously emerge from both ends of the river.

However, the number of enemies from the upstream and downstream is different; there are very few enemies at the downstream river mouth, less than 1/5 of the upstream river mouth."

Kairala actually knew that having Shi Li guard the downstream was a bit of an overkill.

However, the main reason for calling him here was to get acquainted.

Moreover, whether he had strength or not, wouldn't it be known once the battle chess pieces were revealed?

Just like that, the five people entered the dungeon.

The dungeon map, as Kairala said, was traversed by a large river.

The map was very large, with the distance between the upstream and downstream river mouths differing by at least 40 to 50 squares.

Then, on both sides of the two river mouths, there were green initial deployable areas.

This map was a defense battle type, so it wouldn't shrink.

And the terrain of the great river was [Water]; unless it was a water-type battle chess piece, a flying-type battle chess piece, or a battle chess piece that could ignore terrain, other battle chess pieces would consume extra Movement distance when passing through [Water] terrain.

"Brother Wang Defa, although we don't have much trouble on our side, you must be careful by yourself."

Leo kindly reminded Shi Li: "Because of the terrain obstruction, it will be difficult for us to support you."

"No problem."

Shi Li looked at the downstream river mouth area he was responsible for.

The enemy's red starting area and his own green starting area were only 5 squares apart, very close.

At this moment, a crocodile had already appeared in the downstream river mouth.

[River Crocodile]

Chasing Wind, Attack 30, 60/60, 0/30

Movement Distance 3, Attack Range 1

[Aquatic - Passive]: River Crocodile consume half the mobility when moving in [Water] terrain.

[Hunter - Passive]: River Crocodile deal +10 Attack when attacking targets in [Water] terrain.

[Camouflage - Passive]: If River Crocodile do not move in [Water] terrain this turn, they become untargetable before acting. There was only 1 enemy downstream, looking easy to deal with.

Not like upstream, which had a full 5 targets.

"The difficulty of this dungeon lies in the endless emergence of enemies.

You must ensure sustained combat, and avoid any casualties.

Otherwise, when the BOSS appears, it's very likely you won't be able to defeat it."

Kairala further explained to Shi Li.

"Okay."

Shi Li thought for a moment, then deployed his battle chess pieces.

Since the rule of this dungeon was that he could switch every turn, it would be easy to deal with.

First, he deployed the Goblin Great Archer.

This was a two-star character card that he had specifically collected earlier to use for the Momentum Trial.

After this card was chess-ified, it had Characteristics very suitable for a chess game.

[Goblin Great Archer]

Momentum, 30 points, Two-star Attack 30, 100/100, 0/30

Movement Distance 2, Attack Range 4

[Great Bow Arrow - Passive]: Goblin Great Archers' Movement Distance -3, Attack Range +2

[Double Strike - 30 Energy]: Goblin Great Archers attack the target 1 additional time. Momentum cards inherently have the advantage of +1 Attack Range, and with the [Great Bow Arrow] Characteristic, the Goblin Great Archer's range is excellent.

Even greater than its Movement Distance.

And now, in this kind of defensive positional battle, the demand for Movement ability was not high at all.

So, sending it into battle could be said to be quite suitable.

As for the second card, Shi Li still used a two-star character.

[Fluorescent Vine]

Listen to the Wind, 30 points, Two-star Attack 30, 100/100, 0/40

Movement Distance 5, Attack Range 1

[Nutrient Absorption - Passive]: Fluorescent Vine restores 10 Energy on the turn it casts a skill.

[Nourish - 20 Energy]: Fluorescent Vine grants 30 Healing to 1 target.

The reason was still the same: in a fixed-point defensive battle, there was no need for excessive Movement.

Therefore, Listen to the Wind chess pieces had an absolute advantage.

Moreover, the Fluorescent Vine would perform better here than in a card game.

Because the additional 10 Energy gain from Listen to the Wind battle chess pieces could make its Healing curve smoother.

It restores 30 Energy in 1 turn, casting a skill consumes 20 Energy and restores 10, leaving 20 available for the next turn.

The Healing frequency was much higher than in a card game.

"Hmph—"

However, Cain, from the adjacent position, couldn't help but let out a cold snort upon seeing these two battle chess pieces.

Looking at their four-star battle chess pieces, and then at this newcomer's two-star battle chess pieces, it was hard not to have thoughts.

But soon, Shi Li's actions surprised them.

He actually—deployed another battle chess piece.

[Careful, Careful]

A fox-eared girl descended from the sky and landed on the chessboard.

After being chess-ified, its stats underwent significant changes.

[Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl]

Listen to the Wind, 0 points, Three-star Attack 0, 100/100, 0/60

Movement Distance 3, Attack Range 1

[Stand Anywhere - Characteristic]: Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl increases the number of allied deployed units by 1.

[Small Animal - Passive]: The first time a target enters its Alert Range this turn, Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl immediately gains 1 additional Movement opportunity.

[Listen to the Wind Sound - Passive]: Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl's Movement Distance -3, Alert Range +4.

[Disrupting Scream - 20 Energy]: Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl selects 1 target, causing it to gain 20 Weakness.

"Oh?!"

This battle chess piece even surprised Kairala, who considered herself relatively familiar with Shi Li.

"An exquisite Alert-type Listen to the Wind chess piece—"

Leo, being well-informed, knew the function of this type of battle chess piece.

Usually in "Kite Tactics" or "Swamp Tactics," this type of battle chess piece that restricts the opponent's mobility is the core of the strategy.

And the Fox-Eared Mongoose Girl, with its super large Alert Range and flexible 2 Movement abilities.

It was definitely an exquisite core chess piece for kiting.

"It's just a pity—"

Leo secretly shook his head.

It was just a pity that the other two battle chess pieces were too bad.

Even though his personality was relatively more tolerant, he still found Shi Li's other two battle chess pieces somewhat unbearable to look at.

Dealing with 1 enemy now was fine, but once the number and frequency of enemies increased in the mid-game, it might not be so easy.

"Don't worry about him, Captain."

Cain seemed to notice Leo's concern: "Even if it's just the four of us, we can still clear this dungeon.

At worst, let his side fall and let the enemies come through.

We can handle it."

Evidently, he still didn't think highly of Shi Li, and at the same time, he was very confident in himself.

g li 8g

li n