Chapter 2624: 夺骰子

By the time Lu Ye returned, the many Black-aligned Harmonizers had already unleashed their powers in unison, fiercely attacking the dice. With Lu Ye's addition, the protective barrier around the dice continuously rippled.

This scene made Black Blood's face turn ashen.

The protective barrier around the dice was quite strong, and similar in nature to the main defensive array, which meant it was easily countered by the current iteration of the Mountain-Sunderer Blade. Thus, every strike from Lu Ye made significant progress.

After more than ten breaths, during the White side's turn, Yuan Xi did not deploy Lu Ye this time.

A moment later, it was the Black side's turn. Black Blood no longer deployed the Black-aligned Harmonizers, because at this point, with their combined efforts alongside Lu Ye, the protective barrier around the dice was on the verge of shattering. Even if Black Blood moved them away, it would make little difference, so he simply chose not to waste a deployment.

As the barrier completely broke, Lu Ye immediately stepped forward and reached out to grab the dice.

This item was not a physical object, but a phantom image. The moment Lu Ye touched it, the dice transformed into a beam of light that shot upwards, flew off the chessboard, and headed directly towards Yuan Xi, disappearing into her body upon impact.

This clearly indicated that the White side had acquired this dice!

The many Black-aligned Harmonizers watched Lu Ye with trepidation, each on guard. Although Lu Ye had actively sworn an oath to borrow their strength earlier, they dared not let down their guard.

Lu Ye, however, paid them no mind. In his haste to seize the dice just now, he hadn't yet checked the surprises from slaying the two Blood Race Harmonizers.

He quickly approached the first surprise, reached out for the glowing light, and the light imprinted into his body, disappearing.

He then quickly rushed towards the second surprise.

A moment later, Lu Ye briefly investigated, secretly marveling.

The surprises within the Starry Chessboard were indeed diverse. Of the two he received this time, one boosted his power by two hundred Dao, and the other, surprisingly, enhanced his speed!

At that very moment, an invisible force enveloped him, making him feel much lighter.

The increase was about twenty percent. Most crucially, this enhancement differed from the previous Divine Concealment technique, which only worked within a single grid once activated. This speed boost, however, would last until the end of the game!

A twenty percent increase was not insignificant.

This was undoubtedly an enhancement Lu Ye greatly desired at the moment. In terms of strength, he had already surpassed most Harmonizers; looking across the current chessboard, there were not many enemies who could match him.

However, due to the gap in cultivation realms, his weakness was also apparent: his speed was far inferior to that of Harmonizers. This surprise would undoubtedly greatly reduce that disparity.

Without delaying too long, Lu Ye quickly healed his injuries while monitoring the situation of both players beside the chessboard.

The dice on his side was likely the first to be resolved, but many other dice on the board were still being contested. If one side had overwhelming strength, they could naturally seize it quickly, but if the forces were evenly matched, the struggle could prolong.

From his observations, beams of light continually ascended from various parts of the chessboard, flying into either Yuan Xi's or Black Blood's body.

Initially, these lights were scattered, but at a certain point, they became dense. After that period, they grew sparse again, clearly indicating that the number of uncontested dice was diminishing.

During this period, Lu Ye was not deployed. Yuan Xi likely felt his injuries were significant, so she did not disturb his healing.

Until a certain moment, Yuan Xi's voice reached his ears: "Commander, I need you to exert your strength. How are things on your end?"

Lu Ye looked up and said, "No problem!"

His injuries were mostly recovered; as long as he didn't get entangled in prolonged combat with an enemy, it wouldn't significantly affect his performance.

"Then let's begin," Yuan Xi said. As she spoke, Lu Ye felt signs of being deployed and immediately moved in that direction.

However, the moment he started moving, he involuntarily transformed into a streak of light, darting forward at high speed, instantly crossing into an adjacent grid.

Lu Ye immediately wore a look of surprise.

Amidst this surprise, his figure crossed grid after grid, finally stopping at a specific location.

Throughout this entire process, he had no control over his own body.

He knew this must be Yuan Xi directly deploying him to this grid, which meant he couldn't stop midway.

Just now, he had silently counted: he had crossed a total of seventeen grids this time!

Within this grid, Black and White pieces were clashing fiercely. The White pieces were clearly at a disadvantage, simply because the Black side held a significant numerical advantage in Harmonizers.

This was why Yuan Xi had specifically deployed him here!

Lu Ye no longer hesitated, raising his blade and charging in. He even had the leisure to ask Yuan Xi: "My lady, can you now move pieces more than ten grids at once?"

If so, the game's progress would accelerate dramatically.

"You could say that," Yuan Xi explained. "Those dice indeed allow me to move pieces more grids, but there are still limitations. Currently, this limit is one hundred. The minimum limit for a piece is five. In other words, when it's my turn, I can choose to move five pieces up to twenty grids each, or I can move one hundred pieces one grid each. In summary, beyond normal deployments, the total additional grids moved by all pieces cannot exceed one hundred. The rules are somewhat detailed and complex, and the contest for those dice isn't fully over yet, so this limit might change, but that's roughly how it works."

Lu Ye didn't quite grasp all the details; he only understood that if Yuan Xi wished, she could move him up to twenty grids in each turn!

As his thoughts swirled, his blade rose and fell, already severing the head of an enemy Harmonizer.

The root of the conflict in this grid was a dice, which was why both Yuan Xi and Black Blood had deployed forces here. However, limited by the number of nearby pieces, the White side only had three Harmonizers, while the Black side had five.

The game was no longer in its initial stages; rarely did any single piece act alone. With continuous deployments from both players, most pieces had already rendezvoused with their companions, moving in groups of three to five.

The three White-aligned Harmonizers must have received prior instructions from Yuan Xi. Therefore, before Lu Ye arrived, they did not engage in a deathmatch with the enemy but merely entangled them, thus denying the enemy any time to seize the dice.

With Lu Ye's entry and the decisive killing of a Black piece, the situation became four against four.

The White pieces were greatly encouraged, while the Black pieces were simultaneously startled. The Harmonizer who was killed was not the weakest among them, yet he couldn't withstand a single strike from the newcomer. How strong was this enemy?

The next moment, they received a warning transmission from Black Blood, making their expressions even more alarmed and uneasy.

Under Black Blood's command, these four Black pieces immediately scattered and fled in all directions.

Lu Ye grimaced at the sight. Black Blood was focused on the game and had also been closely observing him, clearly discerning his weakness. So, once enemies fled, he genuinely had no good way to deal with them.

Ignoring the others, he fixated on one of the Black pieces and gave chase.

He did not display his current speed, for even with the twenty percent increase from the recent surprise, he was still not as fast as the Harmonizer he was chasing. So, showing it would have little meaning and would only alert Black Blood.

The grid was only so large; with eight Harmonizer-level powerhouses moving within it, he would always find an opportunity to kill an enemy.

Indeed, a moment later, he suddenly changed direction, abandoning his original target, and turned to attack another spot.

In that direction, a fleeing Black piece had been caught by a White piece, who found an opportunity to entangle him, making it impossible for him to escape for a moment.

Seeing Lu Ye charge in with menacing intent, the Black piece paled with fright, furiously channeling his Dao power, fighting with a complete disregard for his own life, hoping to deter the enemy.

But the White piece was clearly a tough character too; facing the enemy's frantic assault, he did not retreat an inch, responding tit for tat, blood for blood.

In just two breaths, both were severely wounded.

The Black piece's face was filled with despair. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lu Ye closing in, and as the blade light flashed, his head flew off.

"Are you alright?" Lu Ye glanced at the White piece from his side.

This Harmonizer's chest was caved in, and his face was ashen, yet he grinned fiercely: "I'm fine, fellow Daoist! You're very capable!"

Lu Ye nodded and turned to charge towards his next target.

Unfortunately, time was too short. Before he could get close, it was already the Black side's turn. Lu Ye could only watch helplessly as the remaining three Black pieces escaped, sighing in resignation.

Still, slaying two Harmonizers was a decent haul.

"Seize the dice," Lu Ye called out, flying first towards the dice.

The three White-aligned Harmonizers followed closely, their gazes at Lu Ye filled with shock. Before Lu Ye arrived, they had indeed received a message from Yuan Xi, telling them to hold on a little longer as someone would soon come to assist them.

They naturally wouldn't question their own player's words. They had expected Yuan Xi to deploy more Harmonizers to help, but unexpectedly, only one was sent.

Yet, this single individual's combat power was terrifying. With two strikes, he cut down two major enemies, scattering the rest.

By this point in the game, the surviving Harmonizers had all killed some enemies, more or less, and had seen their strength increase. For these three, for example, each had gained roughly a hundred Dao of power.

This was actually quite good for them, and for those few enemies as well.

But even so, they still couldn't withstand the power of that one strike.

Only with overwhelming strength could one kill enemies so effortlessly. So, all three White pieces were very curious: how many people had this reinforcement killed, and what kind of power did he possess now to cut down Harmonizers like pigs and dogs?

However, such a question was not appropriate to ask casually, so they all kept it to themselves.

Lu Ye, combined with the power of the three White Harmonizers, furiously attacked the protective barrier around the dice. This barrier must have been attacked before, as it wasn't complete, so breaking it was not difficult without interference.