[En Passant]
[Detail: This skill allows you to teleport directly behind your opponent, granting you the chance to strike from behind. However, activating this skill requires certain conditions.]
[Condition: You must be aligned with a living being, such as a human or an animal (plants excluded). Once you are parallel to, or have passed a living being, you may activate the skill and teleport directly behind their body. The maximum range of this skill is 10 meters.]
[Cost: 15 Mp]
En Passant? Are all Gambit's powers connected to chess? Balthazar thought, a faint smile curling on his lips.
He glanced at the cost of the skill.
15 Mp.
That was rather steep. With his current maximum of 90 Mp, he could only use it six times.
Considering that, Balthazar began to realize he need to focus on raising his Intelligence first.
Yet if this ability allowed him to teleport behind an enemy, then he should also invest in Strength.
Why? Because after teleporting, he needed to deliver a strike strong enough to inflict significant damage. Otherwise, it would be utterly pointless, teleporting behind his foe only for his attack to feel no stronger than an ant's bite.
Balthazar clenched his fists with determination.
Very well. My focus will be upon Strength and Intelligence.
He then surveyed the room he was in. Ahead stood a brown door carved with the shape of an eagle. Its handle gleamed silver.
To his right stood a bookshelf, its volumes yellowed with age.
He turned toward it, intending to step closer, when a sharp, piercing scream tore through his ears.
"AHHHHH!" The voice of a man, shrill and desperate, rang from outside.
Startled, Balthazar rushed to the window. Through the glass, he caught sight of a frail man bolting for the mansion's gate.
"KHIHIHIHIHIHI!" The sound of hideous laughter, chilling and grotesque, clawed its way into Balthazar's ears.
A flash of white blurred past the fleeing man.
His head snapped clean off, blood spurting upward.
The blur resolved into a figure. A woman with long black hair in a white nightgown stood before the lifeless man, a small knife glinting in her hand. her presence was far from normal.
Balthazar's heart pounded furiously. As he observed her more closely, he noticed her ashen skin.
Her tongue lolled out, long, serpentine, ending like a snake's tip. She licked the blood dripping from her blade.
Her body trembled and writhed unnaturally, shifting from a stoop to a straight stance, contorting into poses no human should ever manage.
Balthazar knew at once. This was no woman. She was a monster.
The creature twisted her head a full 180 degrees, gazing toward Balthazar's window.
Thankfully, all she saw was a curtain of red drapes. She chuckled again.
"Khihihihihi!"
"Huft… Huft…"
Balthazar's breath grew ragged. He had just watched a man's head be severed cleanly from his shoulders. His stomach lurched, bile threatening to surge up his throat. It was the most horrific sight he had ever witnessed.
Luckily, before the monster could notice him, he pulled the curtain fully shut.
Sweat beaded across his face. He covered his mouth, stifling the urge to vomit, then slapped his cheeks to banish the grotesque image from his mind.
After a moment, he steadied himself. Propping his hands on his knees, he rose to stand. His hands trembled faintly.
What in the world was that?! He clutched at the table in the middle of the room.
Her appearance resembled Sadako, a ghost story he had once read in the Silva family library.
This is insane. Should I leave this room at once? Impossible. That monster must already be roaming the mansion. I may as well call this place a Haunted Mansion now. He ran a hand through his black hair.
Balthazar wrestled with the question:
Should he escape the mansion?
Of course I must! What kind of fool would linger inside a Haunted Mansion with a female specter who could kill with a blink of an eye? he thought, a nervous laugh escaping his lips.
First, he needed to analyze his location. He carefully peeked through the window again.
Specifically, he needed to know which floor he was on, and which side of the mansion. By observing the front gate, he could deduce whether he was in the left or right wing. Mansions were often symmetrical, front gates aligned with the main entrance.
Thus, by pinpointing the gate, he could find a clue toward his escape.
But when he dared peek again, what he saw froze his blood.
The monster was still staring at his window, her head tilted ninety degrees.
Shit!
Balthazar jerked back. She was still standing by the gate?!
"KHIHIHIHIHI!"
His heartbeat quickened.
Does she know I am here? Fuck! I must hide! But where?! This blasted room is fucking empty! he cursed inwardly.
He sprang to his feet, scanning the chamber.
THUD! THUD! THUD!
Heavy footsteps echoed closer and closer.
Think, Balthazar! Are you truly so witless? As those who mocked you claimed?
His eyes darted to the table at the room's center. No, hiding beneath it was foolish.
Then to the bookshelf, its rows of faded tomes looming at the side.
There! A grin tugged at his lips.
BANG!
The door burst open. The monster stepped in, small knife in hand, white nightgown now stained crimson.
Her grin stretched unnaturally wide as a twisted giggle slipped out. She scanned the chamber.
Her gaze drifted to the side where books lay scattered. They had fallen into neat stacks upon the floor rather than chaos.
The monster strode toward the pile, raised her blade high, and plunged it downward.
THUD!
The knife struck only paper and floor.
She lifted her blade again, her grin faltering slightly.
Turning away, her eyes landed on the table at the center, where two chairs flanked a chessboard.
On the board sat two white Kings.
At the sight, her laughter swelled into a shrill crescendo.
"KHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!"
Her lips twisted into a monstrous smile. Then, strangely, she turned and left the room without another glance.
Balthazar held his breath for what felt like an eternity. At last, he crawled out from beneath the books.
His lungs burned, dragging in air as though he had nearly suffocated. His eyes fell on the stack of books he had hidden under. He had been lucky, the monster's strike had grazed only his clothes.
He covered his mouth, staring at the open door. Quickly, he dashed to it and slammed it shut.
Slumping to the floor, he buried his hands in his hair.
"This is fucking insane," he muttered.
From what he recalled, in the western region of the Gambit Realm — Where New Gambits were tested — there were no human-shaped monsters. At least, none recorded in the books he had read.
Yet here stood one. A monster bearing the form of a woman: one head, two arms, and two legs.
That meant this place was not the western Gambit Realm. He must be in another region altogether.
He scratched at his head, mind reeling. This monster could sprint from the lower floors to the upper levels in less than a minute.
Ding!
As he struggled for a plan to escape the Haunted Mansion, a familiar sound chimed.
[Two factions have been created! The Black Gambit Faction and the White Gambit Faction!]
What is this?
[You have joined the White Gambit Faction!]
White Gambit?
A band appeared around Balthazar's wrist. White, faintly glowing.
He touched it, soft and smooth.
He clicked his tongue in irritation. He had half-expected the system to grant him something useful. Instead, it was nothing more than an announcement.
Worse still, now that factions existed, did this mean the new Gambits would be forced to fight one another?
This system is cruel… What if two lovers were placed in opposing factions? Their bond could be torn apart in an instant.
Balthazar shook his head. He rose and approached the window again, intent on analyzing his position.
Ding!
The sound startled him once more. He glanced to his side.
[Main Quest and Sub Quest acquired!]