First Move, Checkmate: How Will You Respond?

“Why?”

Gwen was puzzled.

Victor had come with the knights, but now he was proposing to separate and act alone.

She didn’t quite understand – if Victor didn’t need the knights’ protection, then why did he come with them in the first place?

Or rather, what exactly was his purpose for coming to Mount Vesuvius?

“I’m going to the crater first,” Victor said.

Under Gwen’s righteous heart, all lies would be exposed.

But he wasn’t lying, meaning Victor did intend to go to the crater.

Gwen then remembered the reason Victor had given for coming along in the first place.

“Could it be…the creature you spoke of is at the crater?”

“Hmm…”

Victor was silent for a moment, and the image of that towering demonic beast flashed through his mind.

So he answered:

“I guess so.”

…What does “I guess” mean?

And he still wasn’t lying. Gwen was curious, but she wasn’t the type to pry into others’ privacy.

After all, this was an extinct volcano, and Victor had said he was very familiar with the terrain of Mount Vesuvius.

There probably wouldn’t be any issues.

Gwen nodded, agreeing to his request to leave the group.

“I’ll come find you after I finish my business,” Victor said right before a flickering blue magic circle with dots of stars appeared at his feet.

A flash of blue, and his figure disappeared without a trace.

Seeing a living person vanish before her eyes left Gwen a bit stunned.

One of the knights had witnessed their entire exchange. Seeing Gwen still dazed, he couldn’t help but walk over and ask her, “Commander? Did you two have a fight last night?”

Gwen turned her head and opened her mouth.

“No, it’s not what you think…”

Before she could finish, the knight continued, “Hey, it’s normal for married couples to fight. My wife and I argue all the time, but our son is already eight.”

“Make up after an argument, married couples don’t hold overnight grudges.”

The more Gwen listened, the redder her face became.

“Stop spouting nonsense! Move out!” she yelled at the knight before hurriedly leaving.

“Huh? Commander Gwen! I didn’t say anything wrong…” the knight muttered as she left. “Tsk, girls these days are so temperamental. I clearly hit a sore spot.”

Gwen didn’t quite catch what the knight said after.

Her face was slightly flushed, like a little girl whose secret had been revealed.

But she knew better than anyone –

There was nothing between her and Victor.

Just as she would never fall for Victor, Victor could never fall for her either.

Sitting atop her white horse, Gwen thought gloomily.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would probably still end up marrying Victor in the end.

After all, the engagement between their families had long been set.

As the second daughter of the family, Gwen could only acquiesce to the family’s decisions, unable to change them.

Gwen didn’t want to marry, moreover the Victor from before had made her feel terrible.

‘How could I possibly marry such a jerk?’

As this thought flashed through her mind, she suddenly recalled what happened last night.

He was like an elegant noble, every action and gesture a gentleman’s.

She didn’t even notice when he had given up the sole bed to her.

When she woke, she found Victor quietly sitting in the chair reading that abstruse magic tome, having sat through the entire night.

She felt very guilty, but Victor had told her mages had their own rest methods, only needing a quiet environment.

Was he…a jerk?

Gwen couldn’t help but wonder.

Aspiring to be a knight of absolute justice, Gwen had never truly hated anyone. Not even Victor.

‘I should’ve been pretty quiet last night…’

Shaking those unnecessary thoughts from her brain, she raised the silver sword in her hand and swung it forward.

“Move out!”

……

A blue light rain fell from the sky, forming a teleportation array in midair that revealed Victor’s figure.

He opened his eyes, and the surrounding scenery had undergone obvious changes.

The area was so desolate that there was almost nothing left, only scattered chunks of charcoal-like stones standing on the hillside.

He was now halfway up the volcano, much earlier than the Knights.

This was the maximum range that teleportation magic could be used.

To teleport all the way to the top of the volcano in one go was still unrealistic.

Seeing no one around, Veega on his shoulder yelled at him:

“Why did you choose to separate from them?”

“The Knights’ route should be the same as yours. Going with them, you would have gotten here sooner or later.”

Victor patted its head and explained:

“I don’t need their company.”

“There are some things I want to investigate myself, no need to let others know.”

Veega was very puzzled. Victor looked like he had been plotting this for a long time.

Recalling how interested he was when he heard of Mount Vesuvius, Veega could hardly doubt that he knew something.

The man and bird walked on Mount Vesuvius, which had erupted once before.

After that eruption, Vesuvius lost the power to erupt again, becoming a dead volcano.

The residents below built towns here, and hundreds of years had passed since then.

After hundreds of years of wind and sun, the ground here had long turned into charcoal-like limestone, full of cracks and weathered volcanic rocks.

Wanting to see any plants here? That would be difficult.

But after hundreds of years, no one worried that this volcano would erupt again.

The volcano was a few hundred meters high, and he soon reached the top.

The closer he got to the summit, the more clearly Victor could feel the extremely rich fire elemental aura.

Not just him, Veega also had the same feeling.

It turned its head, glancing at Victor with a subtle look in its eyes.

“Interesting, I really want to crack open your head to see how you thought of coming here.”

“You actually discovered a ‘Calamity’.”

Victor’s expression was calm and composed. Veega understood that he had long known there was something here.

Calamity.

To be precise, this was the specific name given to Furnace Beasts in recorded history.

There were a total of six Calamities in the world, corresponding to the six magic elements.

Wind, wood, fire, earth, water, lightning.

And the Fire Calamity, Guldon, that was sealed under this Mount Vesuvius.

Its massive body was like a pillar reaching to the heavens, with molten fire flowing through its entirety, resembling a fire god.

It was called a Calamity because whenever one appeared, it would cause natural disasters and chaos in that land, with power so great it struck terror by reputation alone.

Their existence only brought harm, not benefit, to any creature.

Thus they were the ‘Calamities’, true to their name.

“I’m very curious, it’s sleeping well here, so why did you come looking for it?”

Veega looked at Guldon below the crater and asked Victor.

“To collect some interest in advance.”

Victor stood at the crater, looking down condescendingly inside.

It was so deep and dark, one might doubt if anything actually existed within.

Scorching air spewed out from the mouth, an astonishing heat rushing forth.

His gaze suddenly became extremely determined.

The biting wind mixed with the searing air, fluttering his coat, as he now stood at the volcano’s highest point. Even Veega’s voice beside him was hard to hear clearly.

“Hey, what are you doing standing here? Don’t tell me you’re going to jump down from this spot?”

Victor did not respond. Veega was silent for a while.

“You won’t really jump, right?”

Its questioning word by word had no effect at all.

Because Victor had just said to it:

“Hold on tight!”

Then he leapt down the hundred meter deep crater.

“At least ask for my opinion first!!!!”

The surrounding scorching rocks kept plunging downwards, Veega clutching Victor’s clothes tightly with its beak.

At this moment, it even forgot that it was still a bird with wings.

The scene before it kept shaking, until finally…

A flash of white light later, and their figures vanished in the air.

…

“Being a god for so long, this is still the craziest thing I’ve experienced.”

When Veega opened its eyes, it seemed to have come to another space.

Pitch black all around, the only visible thing was the floor.

“So dark. Victor? Victor?”

Victor was right behind it. Seeing the raven awake, he picked it up and placed it on his shoulder.

Just as Veega was about to ask Victor to light a fire and illuminate their surroundings, loud snores sounded from the darkness ahead before it could speak.

It nearly deafened the raven’s ears.

“Damn it, who’s snoring, oh…”

Veega stopped talking.

It saw the source of the snores, or rather…

It was right in front of Veega at this moment, eyes closed and fast asleep.

How to describe it properly?

Like a towering pillar reaching to the heavens.

It was as tall as a mountain, evoking shock and awe.

The Fire Calamity, Guldon, now appeared before them.

A cold sweat broke out on Veega’s head, its feathers seeming to shine brighter.

“Kid, don’t tell me you want to challenge it?”

“Don’t joke around! I’m just an ordinary bird now, can’t help you at all!”

Victor did not look at it. His fingertips ignited a flame, lighting up the path ahead.

And illuminating the true appearance of this massive beast.

“Don’t say that.”

“You’re my biggest aid in defeating it.”

The next second, the roaring snores stopped.

Enormous red eyes opened, like shocking light bulbs.

“ROAAAAAAR!”

Looking down condescendingly at the two ants, it let out a furious roar that resonated through the entire Mount Vesuvius.