Chapter 24: Gathering Equipment

Forge City.

The edge of the cauldron.

The giant leader casually swung his Wolf Fang Club, smashing the approaching attacker into mush. He turned his head to look at the city guards coming after him and revealed a manic smile.

Then, he leapt into the boiling lava, diving like a dolphin, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Jumping into lava, does this guy want to die?"

The arriving city guards, cautiously surrounding the cauldron, stared at the boiling lava, momentarily puzzled by the giant's intent.

Invading Forge City surely wasn't about… committing suicide, but what good jumping into a cauldron of boiling lava would do?

It couldn't possibly be that the cauldron hid some divine weapon.

No… that was impossible. If there really was a divine weapon, it would have been discovered long ago by generations of explorers.

"Seal off the cauldron, don't let any giants near." the leader of the city guard commanded sternly, "and find Lady Jennie, have her divine the actions of the giant."

"Lady Jennie already hastily left Forge City last night." a city guard spoke up, instantly silencing the atmosphere.

The fact that a renowned Astrologer had fled overnight meant the situation in Forge City was dire.

Otherwise, by stepping forward to avert the catastrophe, the Astrologer could have raised her prestige and garnered more honor and wealth.

The captain of the city guard frowned, looked at the boiling lava, and said, "Logue, you take command, I'm going down to check!"

He made up his mind, leapt down into the cauldron, adjusted his body and dived into the scalding lava, pursuing the giant.

Enduring molten lava with one's own body was feasible for the strong in this world, as long as they didn't deplete their Magic Power, they wouldn't have to worry about dying from the high temperature of the lava.

Standing at the edge of the cauldron, the city guards looked at each other, then continued to station themselves around the edge, blocking any giants that might approach.

Although they were unclear why the giants wanted to approach the cauldron, they were certain the giants were scheming something.

So they must be stopped.

Meanwhile.

On the other side.

Xi Mu sidestepped, dodging the cleaving broadsword. He looked at the giant in front of him attempting to draw his sword to strike again. With a powerful push from his legs, he soared into the air, his blade slicing horizontally, accompanied by the splitting of the giant's corpse.

He stood on the shoulders of the giant, eyeing another isolated giant nearby, revealing a terrifying smile.

But his smile soon vanished, as the isolated giant, the moment their eyes met, turned and fled without hesitation.

No sense of a giant's courage to face death.

Xi Mu, of course, wouldn't let go of a moving experience pack. Hefting his greatsword, he chased after the isolated giant who looked back instinctively and saw a blood-stained silver Knight carrying a greatsword charging towards him, panicked so much that he scrambled away madly.

"Help! Help!" Driven by fear, the fleeing giant let out cries of terror, heading towards the outskirts of Forge City.

Suddenly, a luminescent green light ripped through the air and pierced the giant's head.

Xi Mu stopped, expressionless, looking towards the direction from which the arrow had come. He saw a beautiful Elf girl on a broken bell tower, smiling brilliantly at him before turning with a flourish to snipe another giant.

Her posture seemed to say, no need to thank her.

Thanks a damn lot for stealing my experience pack.

Xi Mu withdrew his gaze, observed the number of giants within the city, and realized that snatching experience packs wouldn't be easy. Plus, with a boss character likely to emerge from the cauldron soon, it really wasn't worth continuing to farm for experience when there were more profitable things to do.

He glanced down at the thick greatsword with its blade notched from slaying giants and casually discarded the nearly ruined weapon. He turned and ran to a nearby broken building, tore off a curtain, and draped it over himself, concealing his silver armor.

Perfect disguise, unrecognizable to anyone not familiar.

Then, he stealthily left the room, exhibiting superb stealth skills as he moved through the city like a ghost, even refraining from finishing off giants to steal experience points.

Before long, a mansion smashed by giants caught his eye, with bodies lying gruesomely all around.

Another giant with a wooden club was searching for survivors.

Xi Mu surveyed the surroundings, glided like a ghost, using the rubble of buildings to approach the giant from behind. Along the way, he picked up a fallen spear, approached the giant's back silently.

As he leapt, the spear in his hand stabbed diagonally from the giant's shoulder, accompanied by the spraying of blood and the giant's painful cries.

Xi Mu jumped back and landed on the ground, only to see the giant clutching his shoulder with one hand and his chest with the other, his expression terrified as he fell to the ground.

In terms of anatomical structure, humans and giants were very similar, including the position of the heart. The spear stabbing down from the shoulder was enough to destroy the giant's heart.

Ignoring the dying struggles of the giant.

Xi Mu looked around, came to a pile of ruins, forcefully overturned the collapsed wall, then stomped on the ground, causing it to collapse and revealing a hidden entrance.

He walked in, and torches on both sides of the entrance ignited automatically.

"Hunting King's Greatsword." Xi Mu arrived in front of a long wooden box, easily opened it, and revealed the Hunting King's Greatsword inside.

He reached out and took it, the familiar feel and weight making him smile slightly; now he wouldn't have to worry about his blade dulling during a massacre.