The Cyclops

Chapter 22: Main Quest Final Objective - Cyclops

Leaving the graveyard and crossing the river, Cheng Tian and the others successfully entered a jungle area filled with towering trees.

Under the cover of the dense canopy, the already dark jungle appeared even more gloomy.

It was fortunate that they kept the lighter found by One-Ear when crossing the river; otherwise, the group would likely have been fumbling in the dark to find their way through the jungle.

After cutting down a thick branch, they tore off several strips of cloth from the resentful Blood Scab, then used a makeshift campfire to melt some of the freshly scraped tree resin with Cheng Tian's helmet. Finally, they assembled a torch that was clearly quite durable.

One for each person.

As for how they would find the correct path to the final boss... it all depended on the man-eating flowers scattered on the jungle floor along the necessary routes.

Perhaps it was the benevolence of the Chosen Space once again. Since they had already increased the difficulty for the novice players on the enemy side, they had gone easy on the pathfinding.

These man-eating flowers, acting as signposts, naturally possessed the instinct to attack any living thing indiscriminately. The fireballs they periodically spat from their mouths to kill small animals were particularly conspicuous in the dark jungle.

...Aren't they afraid of setting themselves on fire too?

Despite his doubts, Cheng Tian didn't stop working. As he advanced, he used his straight sword, imbued with holy damage, to precisely snipe the man-eating flowers and a new batch of monsters that had appeared.

These were ghost-type monsters, kin to the Ghost Armor, appearing as mini-wizards shrouded in cloaks with only their eyes faintly visible beneath the hoods.

Compared to the zombies that spawned in the graveyard, these ghost wizards had the advantage of flight, making them unaffected by terrain. They also possessed ranged attack capabilities, throwing projectiles that looked like peculiar leeks.

They were the kind of enemy that could become quite troublesome if they formed a group.

However, their weakness was similar to that of zombies: extremely low HP, possibly even less than that of the (dried-out, rotten) flesh-and-blood zombies.

Cheng Tian simply reloaded the Vampire Hunter template and attached the holy damage from the Vampire Killer to his plain straight sword, successfully achieving a one-hit kill effect against them.

Like the strength attribute, the spirit attribute also had a self-regenerating mana effect. With the Gentleman's Cane equipped in his off-hand, Cheng Tian's 14 points in spirit provided a recovery rate of about 1.4 MP per minute. The "Knight's Throw" skill attached to his pants required 5 MP each time. Theoretically, it would take Cheng Tian about three minutes of "sage time" to replenish the MP consumed by Knight's Throw.

But let's not forget, Cheng Tian also had a template skill called "Soul Salvation." This skill allowed him to obtain "Innocent Souls" while killing monsters.

Loading and unloading the Vampire Hunter template did not reset the number of souls Cheng Tian had accumulated, leaving him with nearly a hundred Innocent Souls.

To Cheng Tian's pleasant surprise, these "Innocent Souls" from the "Vampire Hunter" template had extremely high compatibility with the "Knight's Throw" from "Arthur's Proof."

It only took one Innocent Soul to directly offset the 5 MP cost of Knight's Throw.

Cheng Tian estimated that this was likely due to the template stacking, where Arthur's throwing ability was being interpreted as Simon using a sub-weapon.

In the first Castlevania, besides using the long whip for melee attacks, players could also throw sub-weapons like daggers, throwing axes, crosses, and holy water bottles for ranged kills. There was even a powerful item called the "Time Stop Pocket Watch"!

...Alright, calling it "time stop" was a bit of an exaggeration, but when activated, it could temporarily halt the actions of most non-BOSS monster units within the entire Castlevania for the current scene, while allowing the player to move and attack with impunity.

These sub-weapons required Innocent Souls as casting material.

Sub-weapons like daggers and throwing axes only consumed one soul each, while even the incredibly powerful "Time Stop Pocket Watch" only required five souls.

Cheng Tian's mana pool had a cap of 140, and he had over 90 Innocent Souls saved up. Monsters could still drop souls with a certain probability, and he had even stacked his damage to the point of one-shotting small monsters.

As a result, his mana and soul reserves were actually increasing as he fought. Due to the alternating use of mana and souls, his mana pool barely depleted, and the occasionally dropped Innocent Souls (large) actually increased his overall reserves.

This situation left Ghost Cicada utterly bewildered.

The Pokémon world certainly had no shortage of strong trainers, and trainers skilled in martial arts and psychic abilities were common. But a trainer like Cheng Tian, who kept Ghost Cicada on the sidelines to save its mana and instead chased enemies himself, could only be described as rare.

One-Ear and Blood Scab once again solidified their belief in sticking to the strong player.

The straight-line distance from the river island where they fought the Ghost Armor to the main gate of the Demon King's Castle, the final boss's location, was only about 5 kilometers. However, the jungle path was not straight, and even with the paths trampled by the sacrificed kingdom knights, it was generally quite rugged.

Not only was the path rugged, but a darkness that seemed to possess malevolent will constantly loomed overhead. Coupled with the harassment from man-eating flowers and mini-ghosts, and only Cheng Tian and Ghost Cicada possessing combat power, along with temporary breaks to replenish torches and boil water, this 5-kilometer journey took them nearly two hours.

But it wasn't entirely without extra gains.

Cheng Tian's main and off-hand equipment slots were filled with the straight sword and the cane. Two slots in his item inventory were occupied by "Demon King's Castle Map (Limited)" and "Red Demon's Wing (Material)."

He had temporarily abandoned the two-handed hammer and the hand axe, which were now in the hands of One-Ear and Blood Scab. Considering the size and strength of the Cyclops, confronting it head-on was practically impossible, so strength-based weapons were useless. Movement speed and attack speed were the key.

The third and fourth slots were occupied by a stack of two Money Bags and a stack of three King Statues, respectively.

[Money Bag: Valuables. Universal currency in the Demon World Village's worldview, containing 50 Kingdom Silver Coins, which can be directly exchanged for 50 Chosen Coins in the Chosen Space.]

[King Statue: Valuables. A king statue crafted from special materials, possessing some value, can be exchanged for 40 Chosen Coins.]

[Additional Note: In the worldview of other blue prints, valuables may yield greater profit than direct exchange, but they may also be worthless.]

Unlike treasures directly deposited into the wealth tab when opening treasure chests, these valuables required an additional step to monetize, which meant they might occupy inventory space.

Furthermore, the valuables from the Demon World Village might also be usable in other dungeons.

Fortunately, valuables could be stacked, which was a small comfort among the pile of troubles.

Just in case, Cheng Tian left one empty slot. The fifth slot held a Miyachi Windmill, which he hadn't dared to touch casually before.

Of course, this wasn't the one with negative effects. This was the second easter egg triggered on the second river island before the final boss. This Miyachi Windmill was a valuable item that could be directly exchanged for 500 Chosen Coins, one-third of the price of killing a Red Demon, and ten times the value of a Money Bag.

As for Cheng Tian taking all the valuables, the other two, at least on the surface, had no objections. And Cheng Tian himself, who had been fighting all along, had no intention of showing any modesty.

This is what I deserve! It's my money!

One-Ear and Blood Scab were subconsciously swallowing. The colossal being that stood between them and their survival in the Demon World Village had entered their field of vision.

Even sitting cross-legged and dozing, its hunched upper body already surpassed the height of a two-story building. Its thick, rock-like arms and leg muscles were covered by a sleeveless metal armor with spikes on the surface.

The towering horn directly above its head and the massive upper and lower eyelids on its ugly face, clearly closed due to sleepiness, confirmed its identity.

It was one of the six Demon Generals guarding the first gate into the Demon King's Castle – the Cyclops!

Thanks to "I Was Originally an Emperor" for the tip!