The Innkeeper

Chapter 1829: Playing Go II (I am the best)

Axios was not prepared. No, one moment he was on the verge of the completion of the plan he had worked so long for, and the next moment he was standing atop a very familiar Go board.

For a brief moment, he was confused, unable to understand what was happening. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been here before. Normally, when he was ready to end his game of Go, and had everything well set up and prepared, he would initiate the final match. But he wasn’t ready, nor had he any plans of initiating the final match any time soon.

Yet the sound of a couple of notifications woke him from his confused daze, attracting his attention.

New Notification: Warning! Forceful end game initiated! Since the end game was initiated by the opponent, no bonus rules have been applied to the game! No additional point multipliers applied! No debuffs applied to the opponent. No buffs applied to the host! Basic game mode initiated.

New Notification: Error! Error! Interference detected! Emergen..;askld&&&&&

New Message: "Get wrecked noob," - Mary

Shock and horror filled Axios’ mind as he read the notifications, completely caught by surprise by the unusual situation. But Axios was an elite of the Nas race, and a peak Heaven Immortal, on the verge of taking his tribulation to become a Celestial, so he recovered quickly.

The first thing he had to do...

"Are you done?" a deep voice asked, echoing through the layers and layers of the endless Go board. The voice carried a spiritual interference, showing Axios a vision.

On the go board, instead of a bead, there was a piece that looked like a king from regular chess, except it was fashioned like a throne. Sat upon that throne was a human, looking down at Nas with eyes filled with revulsion.

"Are you done playing your games from the shadows like a rat?" the human asked. "Because I’m certainly done with your games."

The human was not really in front of Axios, but he could sense the human through the vision anyway. Originally he had been concerned, but when he sensed the humans aura, Axios was relieved. He was a mere Earth Immortal.

Yes, even as an Earth Immortal the human had a dangerous aura, but that did not change the fact that between them the gap was too huge. Moreover, even without all the advantages that the Go board offered, this was still a part of his own system. Sure, the human had made the system glitch somehow, but that was an easy fix. Axios merely had to eliminate the human.

In fact, seeing him now, Axios began to wonder why he hadn’t initiated the end match sooner. Was there even a need to put so much thought into facing an Earth Immortal?

"You are awfully confident for someone so weak," said Axios, the blue hexagons on his face beginning to shine brighter as he began channeling energy from his energy shard.

The Nas race was one of the most powerful races in the universe, narrowly missing out on becoming an Elder race - one of the top 100 on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum. The reason for that was that this race was closest any race was to being living spiritual energy.

Each Nas had an Energy core, which was the foundation of their power and cultivation, found within their head.

That energy shard was their everything! It housed their soul, it held their mind, and it controlled the entire body. By absorbing all kinds of energies into the shard, they would make it stronger, for at the end of the day, the shard was actually solidified energy!

That made the Nas race practically immune to any kind of damage from attacks that were predominantly energy, with very few actual weaknesses. Laws, for example, could hurt them, but only if they were strong enough. Similarly, physical attacks on their body could also work, though that was only theoretical. Their bodies were tremendously strong, which made almost all kinds of physical attacks useless.

Of course, there were a few ways in which the Nas race could be effectively attacked, but such information was not widely spread.

Thus, in front of this Earth Immortal human, Axios lost all his fear. Instead, he prepared to finish this game once and for all. Yet unexpectedly, in response to Axios’ words, the human merely chuckled.

"You know, I’m typically not a fan of drawn out chats with my enemies," the human said, his words casual and at ease, as if he felt no threat from Axios whatsoever. "Right now, I would like nothing more than to skip this small talk and end your life once and for all. But, unfortunately, someone has already called dibs on this particular fight. So take this time to flex as much as possible. Show off your meager strength. Try as hard as possible to struggle against your fate. I know he likes to thoroughly crush his enemies’ will before ending the fight."

While Axios listened to the human spout nonsense, he was simultaneously using his system, manoeuvring all his preplaced pieces so that he could end this fight in one swift move. Even so, he could not help but feel confused about the human. Given the obvious disadvantage he was at, why was he so confident?

He could just be an idiot, but the fact that Axios felt danger from him despite his low level contradicted such a conclusion.

As if to answer his very question, the human’s appearance began to change. His body began to grow even more muscular, as steam began to rise from his skin. The Go board around his throne began to warp, as his mere presence exuded an aura so powerful it seemed to press against reality.

Wings grew out of his back, even as two flaming horns grew out of his skull, completing his appearance as a half-dragon.

Deep within Axios’ soul, the Mark of Ownership hummed, as if recognizing that it was the presence of he who had placed the mark.

"You are in the presence of greatness," uttered Dragon-Lex, a proud smile on his face as he looked down upon Axios. "And what a great honor for you to meet your end at my hands. No need to thank me, I already know: I am the best."