To be on the safe side, Lorne chose a stable start as usual.
On the contrary, Hecate on the opposite side showed her aggressive edge as soon as she made a move.
After a few moves, she basically exchanged pieces with blood every time.
Hiss, what a fierce chess move...
And from the skillful moves, this was not a momentary impulse, but a chain of offensive strategies.
Obviously, in order to avenge the previous losses, this gambler goddess probably played chess with others in private.
During this period, she had developed her own set of playing methods and evolved into a complete form.
Faced with this posture of a decisive battle at the beginning of the game, the pressure on Lorne doubled.
He immediately lowered his eyes and concentrated on examining the stalemate chessboard, moving the pieces in an orderly manner.
Under the opponent's aggressive attack, in order to try not to make mistakes, he adopted the strategy of soft knife cutting meat with sticking, sticking, blocking and other techniques, and nibbling away step by step.
Gradually, Hecate also felt the pressure, and her eyebrows were unconsciously tightened, but she moved faster and faster, constantly reducing the reaction time left for her opponent.
The reaction and calculation power of the human brain was not as good as those of the gods in the first place, and now with Hecate playing the routine of extreme pressure without any instruction, it was Lorne's turn to sweat.
"The time is almost up, haven't you thought about it yet?"
Hecate pointed to the hourglass on the table that was almost leaking out, and urged with a smile.
"If you don't move, you will lose."
Lorne didn't have time to think too much, and he had no choice but to move the chess piece.
But as we all know, the probability of making mistakes in a hurry will increase linearly.
Soon, he fell into a completely passive position and had to engage in a bloody exchange of pieces with the fiercely attacking Hecate.
Even though he was extremely careful and kept trying to take back the initiative, Hecate did not give him the slightest chance.
After a stalemate of half an hour, Lorne lost all his territory and his chess pieces were almost shaved off.
He could only push down the "king" representing victory and defeat, and raised his hands helplessly.
"You win..."
After the victory, Hecate's beautiful face showed a satisfied smile, and she stretched out her hand gracefully.
"So, what do I deserve?"
Lorne thought for a moment, lifted his sleeves, untied a string of rune bracelets from his wrist, and threw them to the other side.
After receiving the spoils, Hecate raised the corners of her lips with pleasure, looked at her debtor with a playful look, and asked "kindly".
"You were almost there just now, do you want to continue?"
"Come again!"
Lorne's face was dark, and he gritted his teeth to fight.
How can a child cry every night, and how can a gambler win every day?
After all, he carried the competitive experience of thousands of years in the future.
Can't he win back a game before losing all his chips?
'I don't believe it!'
Having made up his mind, Lorne rolled the dice again according to the process, chose the first and last, and faced the opposite side of the dark moon goddess again.
Having tasted the sweetness, Hecate still adopted the previous tactics of exchanging pieces and extreme pressure.
Faced with the continuous offensive on the chessboard, which was stronger than the wave, Lorne racked his brains and struggled to hold on.
But after several years of precipitation, Hecate's iterative and updated playing style was obviously not so easy to deal with.
No matter how stubborn Lorne was, he still turned over in the next few games.
He was repeatedly rubbed and beaten on the chessboard, and could only stiffen his neck.
"Come again!"
"Sorry, you have lost seven games in a row. You should settle the debt first."
"Sorry, but you've already lost seven rounds in a row. Maybe you should settle your debt first."
Hecate pressed down on the chessboard and reminded him with a smiling gaze.
A bet must be honored.
In order to have a chance to turn things around, Lorne had no choice but to hand over his lost wager first.
After rummaging through his belongings, he gathered two encrypted ring sigils, a bronze dagger, and a crystal necklace to repay the debt.
These were practically all the possessions Lorne had accumulated in recent years.
But even so, it was still not enough.
There were still three things missing...
Thinking about it, he hesitated for a moment, and seemed to make up his mind.
First, he removed his outer coat, then his shirt, and finally, he took off his trousers, barely scraping together seven items as betting chips.
Hecate patted the trophies stacked beside her with satisfaction, her beautiful eyes gleaming as she looked at the victim sitting opposite her, stripped down to nothing but his underwear. The smile on her face grew even brighter.
At this moment, a cold wind blew, and some gamblers who were in high spirit a few moments ago, calmed down and began to back out.
"I think, it's a bit inappropriate to be naked in the temple of the goddess Hecate. How about we..."
"Don't worry, she won't mind."
The true owner of the temple waved her hand dismissively, completely unconcerned about such so-called "blasphemy." Instead, she eagerly tossed the dice, announcing the start of a new round of games.
As the goddess of fun who represents [a certain game], [randomness] and [happiness], witnessing others' misfortune was, without a doubt, a source of amusement for her.
—Especially when the opponent was someone who had once used trickery to defeat her.
Faced with the goddess's strong invitation, Lorne, who couldn't get away from his seat, had to bite the bullet and re-arrange his troops and start again.
And, unsurprisingly, he lost yet another round.
As the dust settled, Hecate propped her chin with one hand, looking at the other party with a bright, expectant smile, eagerly awaiting her opponent to remove the final piece of his dignity.
At this moment, Lorne was like a little white rabbit who was humiliated.
He spread his hands tremblingly and took out his final wager.
Hecate looked at the slightly curly silver short hair on the table, and the smile on her face froze.
—A single strand of hair?
"Isn't this a bit too shameless?"
The creditor, the goddess of the underworld and moon found it hard to maintain her composure, and the faint sound of grinding teeth could be heard beneath her veil.
"I lost, so I will give what I own—but what I give is up to me."
Lorne casually flicked a lock of silver hair from his forehead, and calmly reiterating the terms established before the game.
At this moment, the previously humiliated expression on his face was no where to be seen, instead, he was just sitting there with an innocent smile.
"I paid the gambling chips in full accordance with the rules, so don't slander my innocence out of thin air."
"You claim to fulfill all requirements, yet you never actually give people what they truly want!"
Hecate furrowed her brows and let out a cold laugh, exposing someone's shameless nature in one sharp sentence.
From the very beginning, this guy had likely planned everything out and he had never intended to honor his promises properly.
Under Hecate's contemptuous eyes, Lorne spread his hands and blinked sincerely. "If you think this game is unfair, why not just call it off?"
"..."
After a brief silence, the goddess gritted her silver teeth and threw the dice in her hand angrily.
"Continue!"
Hook, line, and sinker.
Lorne's lips curled into a pleased smile, as if he had expected nothing less.
Because that's what gamblers are.
To them, winning or losing wasn't the real issue.
The worst punishment was being forced to stop gambling.
And once they fell into an endless cycle, even the most skilled gamblers would eventually lose everything.
Besides, as the house, Lorne had plenty of chips to play with.