Waldo snorted coldly.

He took two quick steps, moving incredibly fast, like a ferocious beast charging.

The sudden movement scared the man with the fire pattern, who staggered back in terror.

"What do you want to do? Stop! Otherwise, don’t blame me for being rude! One more step and believe it or not, I’ll kill her?"

Waldo’s movement halted.

His dangerous eyes flickered with an ice-cold glare.

More intimidating than the eyes of any wild beast.

Waldo stared intensely at the man, exerting immense pressure on him.

The fire-patterned man felt panic, took a deep breath, and pressed the dagger in his hand even more tightly against the throat of the female trialist.

Thin streams of crimson blood trickled down from the blade.

Seeing Waldo stop, the fire-patterned man breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, the terrifying figure did not advance further.

Otherwise, he was certain he would have been dead.

A flash of terror quickly passed through the man’s eyes!

Just moments ago, as Waldo charged at him, he felt as if he was facing an unbeatable, fearsome beast, completely powerless.

He knew very well that he couldn’t defeat this mysterious person.

The opponent was too strong, absurdly so.

If Waldo had been reckless, he would have had no chance of survival.

He would never forget that feeling of suffocation, as if drowning, unable to breathe, just moments ago.

Fortunately, this mysterious trialist was not without weaknesses.

Like the woman he held captive.

"Do they know each other? Otherwise, why would he try to save this wretched woman?"

"And using her as a threat actually worked!"

"They must know each other, maybe even have a good relationship, they could even be lovers or married!"

With this thought, the fire-patterned man’s eyes grew even more fierce:

"Back off! Or this woman is dead!"

"Let me tell you, this knife has taken countless lives. If you push me, I’ll make her my next victim!

If you don’t believe me, try me!"

As he spoke, the fire-patterned man pressed the dagger even harder.

The female trialist started to sob quietly, not daring to be loud.

Any sudden movement could easily cut her throat!

Despair filled her eyes.

She didn’t recognize this mysterious trialist.

How could he possibly save her?

Resigned to her fate, she thought this was just reality.

However, to her surprise, the mysterious trialist lowered his hands.

"Alright! Don’t be rash, I’m backing off! Be careful not to hurt her, if anything happens to her, I promise I’ll beat you to death!"

Waldo’s eyes flickered, refraining from immediate aggression.

He stepped back gently and steadily.

His eyes, colder than those of a viper, were fixed intently on the fire-patterned man.

"Keep moving back!"

"Back off!"

"Continue to retreat!"

The fire-patterned man commanded repeatedly.

Only when Waldo reached the edge did he feel somewhat relieved.

Then, he chuckled sinisterly.

"Kid, she must be special to you, right?"

"Too bad, she’s been taken by me."

"Are you angry? Do you want to kill me? Good! Now, listen to me, hand over your weapon, or she’s dead for sure!"

"Fine!"

Waldo casually threw his axe away.

...

Seeing this, the fire-patterned man’s vigilance relaxed considerably.

Without his weapon, the opponent’s combat ability plummeted.

If he could also be made to sever an arm, he would pose no threat at all.

At this moment, the fire-patterned man almost saw the scene of this mysterious and powerful being begging for mercy under his feet.

A wicked smile even appeared at the corner of his mouth.

However, just then, his expression changed slightly. A strong sense of crisis instantly invaded his entire body.

...

It turned out that the axe thrown at him didn’t hit the ground.

Midway, it erupted with an even more powerful force.

Instantly, it propelled the axe forward.

Whoosh!

The speed of the axe increased, tearing through the air!

Faster even than lightning!

With a gruesome sound, the axe cleaved off the fire-patterned man’s head right before his terrified eyes.

The fire-patterned man died instantly on the spot!

"Trying to threaten me and even planning to make me harm myself? Every word you said, every action you took, was purely seeking death!"

Waldo snorted coldly, not even glancing at the corpse.

"Thank you, my savior! Thank you for saving me!"

The female trialist expressed her gratitude after her narrow escape.

Just moments ago, she thought she was doomed.

Unexpectedly, Waldo appeared at that time and efficiently killed the villain!

Overwhelmed with emotions of relief and gratitude, she was indescribably moved.

"Just doing what feels right."

Waldo shook his head.

He turned and rolled the dice again, disappearing from the spot.

In this Chessboard World, everyone was just a chess piece, with their fate not in their own hands.

Days later, Waldo became widely known.

On the progress leaderboard, combat power leaderboard, and even the newly opened wealth leaderboard, Waldo was ranked first!

Combat Power Leaderboard, First Place, Waldo, Total Combat Power 531!

Progress Leaderboard, First Place, Waldo, Number of Moves 150!

Wealth Leaderboard, First Place, Waldo, Gold Coins 220!

...

First place in all three leaderboards!

And the gap between him and the second place was enormous.

This made Waldo’s name impossible to remain inconspicuous.

Not to mention, Waldo also had the identity of a "system’s favored son."

"Waldo is really awesome!"

"Heard he saved several female trialists from abuse."

"Strong in power and has a moral baseline!"

"Compared to those trialists who become lawless with a bit of power, he is much better. Both in terms of strength and character!"

"Indeed, exceptional people are just different!"

Some trialists praised Waldo without reserve.

As they talked, they began discussing another person who had recently become prominent in the Chessboard World.

"Recently, there’s another person who’s become quite famous. It’s that cute girl called Little Rabbit, have you heard of her?"

"Of course! A strong and cute, beautiful girl, who wouldn’t like her, who wouldn’t know about her!"

"This girl is indeed cute and beautiful, but she’s too powerful. I heard that she has made quite a few guys who had inappropriate thoughts about her regret deeply!"

"Yikes! Could it be that her favorite move is the ’lineage-ending kick’?"

"That’s terrifying, isn’t it? My goodness! Anyone who gets together with her might spend the rest of their life in misery!"

"That’s too scary, isn’t it? I had only vaguely heard about her ’lineage-ending kick’ before and didn’t pay much attention, thinking it was just a rumor. After all, who would want to think otherwise about such a cute and adorable girl!"

"It’s true, I’ve seen it with my own eyes!"