Marvel's Hogwarts Wizard

Chapter 363 Missile Crisis (5000+ words)

It was 10 p.m. in the lobby.

"Oh, shit, I shouldn't have taken that step!"

Grant watched as his king was utterly defeated and couldn't help but curse in frustration.

Meanwhile, Coulson, sitting opposite him, chuckled and said:

"Chess is about strategy, a big picture perspective, and cooperation, not just winning with a single move. Your approach to chess is wrong, and your technique still needs improvement!"

As an agent who is particularly good at commanding squad operations, Coulson is also very good at playing chess. At least when he plays against Grant, he wins ten out of ten games.

"I can't beat you, so I'm not playing anymore. I'm going to organize my equipment."

After a series of defeats, Grant made the decisive decision to stop there to prevent himself from having a mental breakdown.

Seeing that Grant had given up, Coulson showed a hint of regret. He had just gotten into the swing of things when his opponent was suddenly defeated.

Unfortunately, apart from Grant, who was technically inept but addicted to chess, no one on the team wanted to play chess with him.

But then, when he spotted Jerry sitting there reading a book, a thought suddenly struck him:

"Jerry, wanna play a game with me?"

"Forget it, I don't know much about chess, I definitely can't beat you."

Jerry looked up, smiled, and politely declined the offer.

However, Coulson clearly didn't want to give up and continued to extend the invitation:

"The instruments show the owl hasn't descended, so it's clearly still some distance from the target. Let's go for it, I'll let you win a few shots!"

He still harbored some resentment about Jerry using magic to erase his memories, and now he could use his best skill, chess, to vent his anger.

Just imagine Jerry's expression as he's tortured to the point of questioning his existence; for some reason, he feels a little smug.

Jerry, seeing Coulson's persistent pleas, finally said helplessly:

"Alright, but I don't need you to give me a handicap. Just let me use my own pieces."

"no problem!"

Coulson agreed without hesitation.

Whether a game of chess is played well or not depends mainly on the player's skill, and has nothing to do with the pieces. He didn't believe that Jerry could beat him by changing the pieces.

When they saw that Jerry was going to play chess with Coulson, everyone put down what they were doing and gathered around.

"Jerry, Coulson is a very good chess player. Apart from the director and a few others, no one in S.H.I.E.L.D. can beat him, so I think you should avoid playing against him."

Mei Jian Jerry got up and sat down opposite Coulson, kindly offering a reminder.

Jerry's recent Chinese meal reminded her of her father's cooking when she was a child, so she didn't want to see this big boy, Jerry, being tortured by Coulson to the point of questioning his existence.

Fitz, Skye, and Gemma nodded in agreement.

When they had nothing to do, Coulson would sometimes drag them into playing chess, but after being thrashed a few times, they never played with Coulson again.

"It's fine, as long as Coulson agrees to let me change the pieces."

Jerry smiled nonchalantly, then placed all his black pieces aside and took out the wizard chess pieces he had specially made using alchemy from his box space, placing them on the chessboard.

"Hahaha, it's finally our turn! Our broadswords have been itching for a fight!"

The eight pieces that had just been placed on the chessboard, representing soldiers, all drew their swords from their waists, looking quite menacing.

"The day the broken sword is reforged will be the day the knight returns!"

After the two knight pieces were placed on the board, the knight drew his lance, pulled the reins, and the black horse beneath him leaped high into the air, neighing loudly.

"To resolve conflict, one must inevitably fall into conflict!"

The two chess pieces representing the bishops waved their scepters, speaking in a compassionate tone.

"With a general commanding a vast army, taking something out of a bag is a piece of cake!"

Two chess pieces, representing chariots, stood up proudly from their chariots.

"Kings came and went, leaving behind only gold coins!"

A beautiful queen chess piece let out a long, mournful sigh.

"Death is like the wind, always by my side. Soldiers, charge!"

The last chess piece, representing the king, wearing a golden crown, stroked his large beard and roared.

Looking at Jerry's unique pieces on the chessboard, everyone's mouths immediately formed a big "O," even Mei, who was usually expressionless, was like that at this moment.

"Jerry, your chess piece seems a little different?"

Coulson's voice was stammering.

Jerry replied with an expression that seemed perfectly natural:

"Oh, they're called Wizard's Chess. They're the pieces wizards use when they play chess. Don't worry, even though they look fierce, they won't move randomly. They move according to the rules of Western chess. Just play normally."

"If that's the case, then there's no problem."

Coulson breathed a sigh of relief.

It's normal. It's understandable that the opponent, being a wizard, might use unusual chess pieces. Just like some people use gold pieces while others use diamond pieces, it's a matter of personal preference. As long as the game is played according to the rules, he can win.

After figuring out that Jerry's pieces were just "more lively," Coulson focused on making his first move, cautiously moving his soldier forward two squares.

He had just finished placing his piece when the opposing soldier also stepped forward two squares.

"Jerry, your pawn?"

"They all know the rules and can walk on their own without me having to tell them to."

Jerry smiled.

Normally, Wizard Chess moves only when it obeys the wizard's commands, but Jerry isn't very good at chess. After he made this Wizard Chess set, he showed them a lot of chess scores and videos, letting them learn on their own.

Over time, the Wizard Chess game no longer needed Jerry's direction and could play against its opponent on its own.

Moreover, because they have absorbed the essence of many of the world's top chess masters, their chess skills are also quite superb.

Jerry had used this set of chess pieces to play against Ron several times, and each time he made Ron question his existence.

"Why are you taking so long? Can't you even download it?"

At this point, the pieces under Jerry were quite dissatisfied with Coulson's delay in making his next move and began to criticize him.

Seeing this, Colson quickly resumed playing chess.

Six moves later, Jerry's pawn kicked Coulson's pawn to the ground and then dragged it out of the game.

Ten moves later, Jerry's knight spurred Coulson's chariot off the board.

And just like that, without realizing it, Coulson suddenly realized that he had been reduced to only one king, while the other side still had eight pieces. What was even more infuriating was that the pieces that had already been eliminated from the game were still waving flags and shouting outside the board, celebrating their victory.

"Hey, where's Jerry?"

Looking up, Jerry, who had been sitting opposite me, was nowhere to be seen.

"Coulson, he went back to reading when we were halfway through the game. He said that if you wanted to continue playing after this game, these pieces could stay with you."

Skye pointed to Jerry, who was reading a book over there, and replied.

Coulson glanced at Jerry, who was engrossed in his book, then looked down at the wizard pieces on the chessboard, now back in their positions, and gritted his teeth inwardly.

"I refuse to believe I can't beat a bunch of chess pieces!"

At midnight, the plane was still flying high in the sky, clearly still a long way from its target.

"Jerry, you're my pawn!"

Coulson, his lips twitching slightly, carried a pile of howling chess pieces to Jerry.

For two whole hours, he played twelve games against the wizard chess pieces, and didn't win a single one. He was so thoroughly defeated that he completely lost confidence in playing chess and didn't want to play anymore.

He even wanted to get revenge on Jerry by playing chess, but he never expected that he would be the clown.

Jerry glanced at Coulson, then at the sixteen chess pieces he was holding:

"This is for you, as compensation for casting the Oblivion Curse on you before!"

With his current level of alchemy, he could easily create such wizard chess pieces; they weren't anything particularly precious.

Upon hearing Jerry's words, Coulson's previously dejected face immediately lit up with a look of surprise.

"Give them to me? You mean give me these wizard chess pieces? Isn't that a bit too much?"

"It's nothing expensive, don't you like it? If you don't like it, then forget it."

Jerry reached out to take the chess piece back.

Cole quickly stepped back to avoid it, saying:

"I love it! I really like this gift. Now that no one will play chess with me anymore, I can use these to play with them."

Although he was almost driven to despair by this bunch of wizard pieces, it didn't mean he disliked them.

This is a chess piece with its own thoughts, almost like a living thing, and with superb chess-playing skills. I'm afraid that apart from Jerry, no one else in the world could possess such a magical chess piece.

From any perspective, this is an extremely precious gift, one that could even be passed down as a family heirloom.

"I'm glad you like it. By the way, you don't all need to stay here. It's so late, you can go and rest. I'll call you if the owl finds its target."

Jerry stopped joking and got down to business.

Coulson shook his head:

"Let's take turns keeping watch. You can't stand it all by yourself."

"No need, I don't need sleep in my current condition."

Jerry looked down and turned to the next page of the book.

After achieving immortality, his body underwent a fundamental change. He could not only control the changes in his body's age at will, but also survive for a long time without needing to eat or sleep.

"Oh, alright then, thank you for your trouble!"

Hearing Jerry's explanation, Coulson was surprised but stopped worrying about it. After all, wizards have so many amazing abilities, and the fact that they don't need to sleep is really nothing special.

However, Coulson and the others did not really intend to go back to their rooms to rest. Instead, they dressed neatly and rested temporarily on the sofas and carpets in the lobby.

Five o'clock in the morning.

"It's hidden quite far away!"

Sensing that the owls outside had finally begun to descend, Jerry closed his book and woke up Coulson and the others who were sleeping nearby.

"Mei, where are we right now?"

After being woken up, Coulson immediately asked May.

Mei returned to the front cockpit and checked the positioning:

"We're currently in Alaska, but not in a city; we're in a remote mountain area!"

"Fitz, scan down below for any unusual buildings. Mei, don't rush to land. If this area is a base of the clairvoyant, there will definitely be defensive weapons down there."

Once we've identified the target, Mike, you're injured, so stay here and take care of Ace. The rest of you, grab your gear and come with me to capture Clairvoyance.

After confirming the location, Coulson quickly assigned tasks to everyone except Jerry.

However, not long after, Fitz gave an unexpected answer.

After scanning, it turned out that there was no base or buildings below, just a barren wasteland and rocky mountains.

Coulson clearly didn't believe the scan results. After May parked the Airbus in a safe area away from the vicinity, he led his team to the location shown by the tracking equipment.

"Jerry, is the owl tired, so it's just stopping here to rest for now?"

Coulson watched as Jerry's owl wandered around the barren hillside, carrying a sheepskin letter. He assumed it was tired from flying, since the area was desolate and showed no signs of a base.

Jerry went over and put the owl into the box:

"It wasn't tired from flying; it had already found its target but was blocked from view."

Owls have amazing abilities that allow them to pinpoint the location of a recipient, but if the recipient has sealed all the windows and doors at home, the owl will be unable to deliver the letter.

That's the situation now.

Coulson was a smart man; after Jerry's reminder, he immediately understood what Jerry meant.

"You mean, the base of that clairvoyant is inside these mountains?"

Jerry nodded, confirming Coulson's guess.

According to the principles of owl delivery, if the eagle is hiding in a secret base built inside this mountain, the owl obviously cannot deliver the message. It is not a pangolin and can only wander outside.

"If the base is hidden inside the mountain, how can we get in? We don't have the machinery to blast open this mountain right now!"

Fitz looked at the mountains completely covered in rocks, his face full of helplessness.

Coulson, however, looked at Jerry.

Jerry didn't waste any words, pointing his wand at the ground not far away:

"Dig three feet into the ground!"

A beam of blue magical light shot out, instantly blasting out a huge crater. At the bottom of the crater, a thick layer of steel plate was revealed.

Meanwhile, at the lowest level of the base in Shishan.

"Commander Garrett, Agent Grant just sent a signal: concealment failed. The enemy has discovered our base and is forcing their way in!"

An unusually tall young agent reported to a middle-aged agent who looked to be in his forties.

The middle-aged agent waved his hand:

"Let's proceed with the final plan!"

"That Agent Grant?"

The tall, young agent hesitated for a moment.

The middle-aged special agent sighed and said:

"Someone always has to sacrifice for a great cause. I believe the Grantham Guild understands this. Long live Hydra!"

"Long live Hydra!"

The tall, young special agent, with a solemn expression, turned and jogged outside.

The middle-aged agent is named John Garrett, an ammunition expert, interrogation expert, operations expert, a Level 8 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., a Hydra spy, codenamed "Clairvoyant".

Like Coulson, he was one of the agents trained by Nick Fury.

However, unlike Coulson, he did not believe Nick Fury's ridiculous ideas about "S.H.I.E.L.D. being the last line of defense for world security" and "protecting the Earth's safety with one's life."

Perhaps I did believe that for a time when I was young and full of passion.

But after being seriously injured during a mission, leading to organ failure, and being saved by Hydra's "Death Soldier" program, he felt that S.H.I.E.L.D.'s ideals were all bullshit.

Of course, he also scoffed at the rhetoric Hydra used to deceive its agents, the grand ideal that "the world needs to be managed and supervised by Hydra to be better."

He joined Hydra for one purpose: to use Hydra's resources to strengthen himself, completely repair his failing heart, and be reborn.

This was also his original intention in combining parts of the Extremis virus, an incomplete version of the Super Soldier Serum, gamma rays, and Chitauri metal to send people to develop and create the Centipede Virus and Centipede Warriors.

As for why Coulson was kidnapped?

That was also because he wanted to know exactly how Nick Fury brought Coulson back to life, and whether he could use the same method on his own dying body.

Moreover, he has no ability to predict the future at all. He only has the authority to obtain intelligence in advance because he is a Level 8 agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., which allows him to prevent his subordinates from being found.

However, he did not expect that the wizard would interfere in the matter, causing the whole thing to deviate from his original plan.

Fortunately, Hydra has always been wary of and researching wizards, and has developed various countermeasures against the abilities they have displayed.

Even the wizards' most troublesome teleportation ability, Hydra has a way to deal with it, and now it's just the right time to use it.

In fact, we have to thank one of the big bosses in Hydra, Baron Wolfgang von Stark, who was obsessed with capturing, dissecting, and studying superhumans.

In order to deal with those with teleportation abilities, Dr. Lister invented a quantum device that could interfere with the surrounding space for a short period of time, thus rendering the teleportation ability ineffective.

The only regrettable thing is that in order to eliminate the threat of wizards, he has to sacrifice Grant Ward, the ace agent he has painstakingly trained.

But that's nothing. As long as they can complete their plans and be reborn, they'd be willing to sacrifice even their own son, let alone Grant.

"Damn it, ten missiles are approaching this area, and they'll be here in less than twenty seconds!"

Just as Jerry used the Dig Three Feet Spell to dig open the surface of the rocky mountain, revealing the hidden base inside, the monitoring device in Fitz's hand suddenly sounded a piercing alarm.

"What? A missile? Who launched that missile?"

Coulson looked utterly astonished.

They're still within the country's borders. Who can control the launch of missiles, especially ten of them? Are they going to raze this place to the ground?

Fitz replied in alarm:

"It's S.H.I.E.L.D.!"

"S.H.I.E.L.D.???"

Everyone except Jerry was completely dumbfounded at that moment.

Meanwhile, Jerry wasn't idle. He reached out and drew a portal to take everyone away from the overwhelming missile barrage.

However, his portal was only half-drawn when it suddenly collapsed.

"Huh? Why has the spatial structure around here suddenly become so unstable!"

(End of this chapter)