Clearing the Outskirts

Inside the Rai Territory, Lister ventured onward alone.

The two attendants had stayed behind in the Viscounty of Renekton for the time being. After all, they were ordinary family servants, not trained professionals.

If they followed Lister in, he would have to divide his attention to protect them.

In the end, this so-called extermination mission had become another solo run for him.

In the two hours since morning, Lister had already passed through three villages.

The villages were long deserted, but they did not look as though they had been invaded or attacked.

All the buildings were intact. Along the way, they were all low wooden cottages, arranged in an orderly pattern and possessing a distinctive architectural style.

Some of the cottages even still had a little flour and grain stored inside.

He guessed that these villages were on the outskirts of the Rai Territory and that their inhabitants had fled as soon as they heard news of the cyclops attack.

Lister spent some time walking around the outskirts before gradually exploring farther inward.

At last, he ran into a few scattered cyclopes.

[Target found: cyclops]

[Comparing enemy and player strength... Analysis complete...]

[Level: Lv28]

[Health: 4313/4313]

[Stamina: 2981/2981]

[Attributes: Strength 27, Stamina 27, Intelligence 9, Agility 10]

[Skills: Laser Eye (C-rank): Paralyzes and immobilizes enemies (duration varies according to the relative strength of the enemy and the user); Hardening (D-rank) Lv8: Hardens the surface of the body, negating 24% of incoming attack effects; Heavy Strike (F-rank) Lv28: A charged strike that deals 610-640 damage.]

[Overall rating: E (advanced monster)]

No wonder the cyclopes could run rampant along the border. Even the wild mobs had an overall rating of E, a tier higher than the three-headed dogs.

That was without mentioning the rare skill possessed by their race, Laser Eye, which could immobilize and paralyze enemies.

While Lister was comparing the information, the two cyclopes also spotted him in the distance.

The enormous pupils of the single vertical eyes on their foreheads swept from side to side before finally locking onto Lister, their eyes widening as they stared at him.

Their nearly three-meter-tall bodies lumbered forward, clumsily advancing toward Lister.

They were simply too slow, however, and posed no threat to him at all.

In his previous life, he had never farmed the monsters in this part of the Duchy of Will's border, but he had read some guides about them.

Naturally, he had also come across descriptions of cyclopes in those guides.

Their overall strength was not high, but he could not let his guard down.

The most troublesome thing was the control skill of the single eye on their heads. It was not an area-of-effect aura skill.

Instead, they had to fire a beam from their eye and hit an enemy with it to inflict paralysis.

Their weakness was naturally obvious as well: that very eye.

Lister nimbly dodged the two Laser Eye attacks.

Then he drew his saber in a powerful slash.

"Attack: Dealt 447 damage. Dealt 461 damage."

Lister's strength passive was now level 10, giving him a total of 30 strength, the limit for level 30, on top of the 5% damage bonus from Saber Mastery.

He was already very satisfied that a single draw could deal over 400 damage.

After all, these cyclopes had innate damage immunity and were monsters with high stamina and defense to begin with. Dealing that much damage was already extraordinary.

Having tested his current damage, Lister wasted no more time.

He kept dodging the two cyclopes' Heavy Strikes until both used Laser Eye again. Then he drove a kick straight into one of them.

Using the force to propel himself upward, he found the saber in his hand increasingly easy to wield since his class change.

With one clean stroke, he slashed it into the other cyclops's eye.

"Critical hit: Dealt 2,909 damage."

From just that one critical hit to the eye, the grievously wounded giant clutched his eye and fell flat on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and sand.

Lister showed no restraint. He quickly stepped forward and brought his saber down again, cutting through the giant's hand and into his injured eye.

"Congratulations, you have slain a cyclops."

"Experience gained: 5,515."

As expected of a monster with both a higher level and a higher overall rating than the three-headed dogs.

The experience reward really was generous!

Against the sole remaining cyclops, Lister continued to maneuver around him, waiting for him to use his Laser Eye skill.

Although cyclopes attacked slowly and were somewhat clumsy and stupid, making them seem like little threat,

If Lister were truly paralyzed by Laser Eye even once and took a round of Heavy Strikes, he would probably lose half his life.

Right now, he was entirely built for high attack and low defense, relying purely on his past combat experience to slaughter these unintelligent monsters.

Once he obtained the Will Breathing Technique in the future, the extra stamina would greatly increase his health, stamina, and defense.

"Experience gained: 5,212."

Although Saber Master's current attack bonus was minuscule, it made Lister's saber techniques and skill combinations much smoother.

With strength far above his current level and his dueling experience from the past,

Lister slaughtered every cyclops he encountered along the way in completely one-sided fights.

Because the cyclopes were slow, they were even much easier to clear out than the three-headed dogs.

By evening, Lister had covered half the outskirts of the Rai Territory.

He had also scouted partway inward, toward the former baron's castle.

The cyclopes' main camp was now concentrated in what had originally been the Rai Territory's central district.

By a rough estimate, there were around forty giants in the central district alone. Counting those in the castle, there might also be stronger elite monsters and boss monsters.

Lister did not dare rush in and could only retreat to the Viscounty of Renekton that night.

In any case, this was now the real world, not a game. Monsters would not respawn.

For the time being, he would hunt them daily and raise his level and skills some more before going after the elite monsters or boss monsters farther inside.

"My lord, this is a letter for you from Baron Will."

As soon as Lister returned to his room, one of the attendants, Tim, handed him the letter.

Of the two attendants who had come with him, Lister had a stronger impression of Tim.

After all, he was Butler Anke's grandson. He had entered the castle two years ago, and recently Butler Anke had intended to train him to take over as butler someday.

The title was novel. Lister had not expected Quint to reach Renekton so quickly.

Although Quint had set out a day before him, Lister himself had traveled light with only two attendants.

Quint, on the other hand, had brought several wagonloads of possessions, truly moving here.

That he had arrived so quickly was somewhat beyond Lister's expectations.

"Do you know where Baron Will and his people are staying?"

He asked the attendant as he opened the envelope.

Although the Duchy of Will already had paper and pens, they were mostly used by commoners and for private correspondence.

Parchment was still more commonly used for business and formal occasions.

"They're staying on the west side of Viscount Renekton's castle. That's the Renekton Family's old castle."

He really was the duke's son! Viscount Renekton was treating Quint much better than he treated Lister!

After briefly considering it, Lister paid the matter no more attention and read the letter instead.

"Kailina, heavy warrior, weapon: greatsword, strength: third tier (soon to reach fourth tier).

Lius, mind mage, skill: Heal, strength: third tier.

Ante, puppet master, strength: third tier.

Keep in touch at all times. The three will not act for now. Contact Count Connor as soon as possible. Three months at most!"

There were none of the pleasantries Lister had imagined. Quint had given away every detail about the guards around him right off the bat!

That made sense. If Quint truly ordered the three to kill Lister in secret, the three would surely have to return to Weier Main City.

Then they would instead become enemies on Quint's path to becoming duke.

Quint had probably received a hint from Will II. The three would only stay for three months, or rather, they would definitely move against Lister after three months.

Of course, such a long window was more than enough for Lister.

Once he dealt with this batch of ghost-eye giants, those three should be nothing to fear.

But to be safe, he would go upstairs and write a letter to Count Connor first.

Their interests were aligned with those of the Conner Family, so he still had to send them the basic information.

It would naturally be even better if they could send reinforcements, sparing Lister the need to take risks.