Mountain Master came back to his senses on the chessboard.
He once again started panting. He looked at Sam who is standing on the opposite side with pure horror. He couldn’t wrap his head around this feeling. No matter how he thought about it, he is definitely dying, but he is coming back to life again.
“What the fuck is this, you bastard?” He couldn’t help but curse out loud at Sam.
The initial grace he had when he offered Sam to be his disciple. The pride that he had when he boasted about his authority and abilities. The aloof disregard that he had when he watched his disappointing disciple died.
None of them are present.
Sam looked at his expression and couldn’t feel more familiar. He has seen that expression way too often. In his previous life, this life, he has seen it in so many people.
It is the expression given by the people that value their life way too much. The expression that is given by the selfish, greedy, and self-absorbed individuals that use and manipulate others for their own gain, when faced with a certain horror of the consequences of their actions.
The most disgusting kind of people. Of course, in a way Sam is very similar to these types of people. He basks in his authority and ability. He takes advantage of people and manipulates them for his own gain.
He makes them into idiots, disdains them, and disregards their lives like it was nothing more than a waste of existence. But there is one primary difference between him and people like the Mountain Master.
He always expects the consequences and he is able to accept them as they were. But guys like the Mountain Master, are way too afraid and cowardly to do that.
Even though Mountain Master is afraid, he still found the courage to talk to Sam.
“I need to get out of here. You better let me out now, or you will regret it.”
“Beat me in this match and you will be able to get out of here.”
“I am not going to play around with you, you bastard. I told you to let me go now.”
“This is the only way for you to go out. Beat me and you are free.”
“You…” Mountain master gritted his teeth and extended his hand. He wanted to attack Sam, but to his surprise, he wasn’t able to attack him.
“What the fuck is happening?”
“I already told you. The only way out is to beat me, or you might as well just whine and moan like you are doing right now. You filthy rodent.”
His words irked the Mountain Master and he steeled his heart for a moment before moving his other pawn.
His anger shadowed his pain and horror for a moment and he decided to play further.
But that only lasted for a few moments, he was enveloped with fear when Sam came on to him like a wild beast when they fought again.
This time, Sam didn’t hold back. He knew that as time passes and the more times the Mountain master dies and comes back, the more he will get used to it.
Even if he is not used to the constant dying part of it, he will definitely get used to preparing himself and bracing for impact as soon as they entered the combat space.
So, Sam is also increasing his aggressiveness as well as his fighting style with every battle just to make sure that he wouldn’t lose the advantage of the surprise factor.
He also switched up to different weapons while dealing with the Mountain master.
Sam advanced as he dealt with four pawns by barely moving two pawns. One of his pawns reached the bishop.
For the first time, the Mountain master felt he had some power left. Because in the process, Sam’s pawn moved forward and fought some battles. The battles might be one-sided, but he also expended a lot of his own energy to deal with the defense of the Mountain master.
Just because he managed to break them with one or two attacks, doesn’t mean, he managed to do it easily. He had to spend a lot of his energy on precise and powerful attacks to achieve that.
So, since his body has limited energy left, at least for that one particular pawn and the Mountain master finally got more power on his hand, he managed to use his abilities.
He extended his arm toward Sam and pulled towards him. The invisible spiritual energy enveloped Sam and tried to drag him. But Sam discharged some of his own energy into the surroundings and used void style.
A small series of tiny explosions loosened the grip of spiritual energy.
But the Mountain master kept on doing the same thing again and again.
Finally, by the time Sam closed in the distance without falling under the control of the mountain master, he sensed something weird around him.
Before he knew it, he is trapped inside a formation. An energy barrier surrounded him. He wanted to break out of it, but in just a moment, he felt the energy surrounding him turning chaotic and…
*BOOM*
The energy exploded and the whole explosion was controlled and contained within that barrier maximizing the damage to Sam.
When the Mountain master released the barrier, Sam’s body was mutilated and there is barely any life left in him.
Mountain master looked at him coldly and decided to torture him.
“How dare you bastard, try to play these tricks on me?
What did you call me before? Rodent? Call me that again. I dare you.”
He tried to maximize Sam’s pain, but he was shocked when Sam suddenly lunged forward with all he got and landed a single hit on the Mountain Master, before fainting and dying.
They were sent back to the chessboard.
Sam started taking deep breaths as he tried to calm down a bit.
His reaction is obviously not as bad as the Mountain Master. He had played this game way too many times for him to react like that. But of course, he is a bit rattled. There is no overcoming it.
Mountain Master noticed this. He was so consumed by the feeling of death that he panted like crazy. His heart raced to its limit while his mind was completely clouded. But all Sam needed was a couple of deep breaths and he is perfectly fine.
This made him feel even more irritated.
He made his move and the bishop that just finished one of Sam’s pawns moved to take out another. Once again, Sam wasn’t able to deal with him, but he still landed a couple of critical hits on the Mountain master and he could feel the health draining.
Mountain Master finally felt a bit confident though, he felt that at the same level, he is no match for Sam with his aggressive nature and his unpredictable style, but if he is a tad bit stronger than Sam in terms of cultivation, then he has an upper hand.
It is because of his unique constitution or something else, but that’s how things are going on.
He figured that he should use his big pieces mostly while using the pawns to drain Sam out as much as he can.
Finally, he had something that resembles a plan.
But what he almost forgot is that Sam also has the bigger pieces and they are completely intact.
And for the first time, Sam moved his Knight to attack the bishop.
To give the Mountain Master a wake-up call and bring him back to reality.
The power has evened out and Sam even has an upper hand because he has a beast that is accompanying him. He chose Raiju for this one and both he and the wolf started picking Mountain Master apart.
They used lightning elemental fusion as they attacked the opponent from different sides. All Mountain Master could see were the streaks of lightning attacking him from all sides and he barely even managed to land any hit on the duo.
By the time, he landed a single clean hit on Sam and tried to get a hold of him, the beast came from behind and tore his arm apart.
It was torn right at the shoulder even so far as removing the flesh until it reached the shoulder blade.
“ARRGGHHHH…”
He cried his heart out in pain. Sam wanted to use this chance to deal with him and finish him off, but Mountain Master suddenly looked cruelly at Sam before he gritted his teeth and held on to Sam by his clothes.
The energy in the surroundings riled up. Sam became vigilant and his first instinct is to kick Raiju out of the way.
The wolf was out of the range when… *BOOM* The mountain master exploded.
Sam also died along with the explosion.
He looked at Mountain Master intently as soon as they arrived back on the board.
