Main Quest Final Objective: 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.

Shaded by the dense canopy, the already dark jungle seemed even more gloomy.

It was fortunate that they had kept the lighter One-Ear and the others had found while crossing the river; otherwise, they would have been groping around in the dark trying to find their way through the jungle.

Cheng Tian chopped down a thick branch, tore off several strips of cloth from the resentful Scab, and then used a temporary fire pit along with his helmet to melt some freshly scraped resin. Finally, he combined them into a clearly durable torch.

One for each of them.

As for how to find the correct path to the end of the stage… they were relying entirely on the man-eating plants scattered along the necessary route on the jungle floor.

Perhaps it was still the Chosen Evolution Space's mercy. Since it had already increased the difficulty for novice players with the enemies, it was giving them a helping hand with navigation.

These man-eating plants, acting as waypoints, had the instinct to indiscriminately attack any living thing. The fireballs they occasionally spat out to kill small animals were especially eye-catching in the dark jungle.

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

Although he had doubts, Cheng Tian didn't stop what he was doing. During the level progression, he precisely sniped the man-eating plants and a new batch of monsters with his straight sword projectile imbued with holy damage.

These were ghostly monsters of the same family as the Ghost Armor, looking like mini-wizards wearing cloaks with only their eyes faintly visible beneath the hoods.

Compared to the zombies that spawned in the graveyard, the advantage of these Ghostly Mini-Wizards was that they could fly, completely unhindered by terrain, and they also had the ability to launch ranged attacks with strange projectiles that looked like giant scallions.

They were the kind of enemy that would become tricky if they formed a large group.

However, their weakness was similar to that of zombies: very low health, perhaps even less than the zombies with their (dried) blood and (rotten) flesh.

Cheng Tian simply reloaded the Vampire Hunter template, adding the Vampire Slayer's holy damage to the plain straight sword, and successfully stacked enough attack power to one-shot them.

Like the Strength stat, the Spirit stat also had a magic regeneration effect. With the Gentleman's Cane in his off-hand, Cheng Tian's 14 Spirit provided a regeneration rate of about 1.4 MP per minute. The Knight Throwing skill attached to his underpants cost 5 MP each time. In theory, Cheng needed three minutes of "sage time" to replenish the MP cost of Knight Throwing.

But don't forget, Cheng Tian also had a template skill called Soul Salvation, which allowed him to acquire Innocent Souls while killing monsters.

Loading and unloading the Vampire Hunter template didn't clear the number of souls Cheng Tian had accumulated, leaving him with nearly a hundred Innocent Souls.

What surprised Cheng Tian was that these "Innocent Souls" from the Vampire Hunter template had an extremely high compatibility with the Knight Throwing skill from Arthur's Proof.

Only one Innocent Soul was needed to directly offset the 5 MP cost of Knight Throwing.

Cheng Tian guessed that this was because, with the template stacking, Arthur's throwing ability was being recognized as Simon using a sub-weapon.

In the original Castlevania, players could not only use the whip for melee attacks but also throw sub-weapons like knives, throwing axes, crosses, and holy water bottles for ranged kills. There was even a "Time Stop Watch," a self-explanatory ultimate weapon!

...Okay, calling it "time stop" was a bit of an exaggeration, but activating it would temporarily pause the actions of most non-boss monster units in the entire Castlevania level, while he could move and attack freely.

And these sub-weapons required Innocent Souls as casting materials.

Sub-weapons like knives and throwing axes only consumed one soul each time, and even the Time Stop Watch, as diooooo as it was, only cost five souls.

Cheng Tian had a mana cap of 140, and he had accumulated 90+ Innocent Souls. He could continue to get souls as drops while killing monsters, and he had even stacked his damage to the point where he could one-shot small monsters.

So as he fought, the situation actually reversed. Because of the alternating use of mana and souls, his mana bar didn't decrease much, and the occasional drop of Innocent Souls (large) actually increased his overall reserves.

This situation left Demon Cicada completely bewildered.

The world of Pokémon was certainly not lacking in capable trainers. Trainers who knew martial arts and psychic powers were also common, but a trainer like Cheng Tian, who didn't let Demon Cicada enter the battle to save its mana and chased after enemies himself, could only be described as rare.

One-Ear and Scab reaffirmed their determination to cling to Cheng Tian's coattails.

From the river island where they fought the Ghost Armor to the Demon King's Castle main gate where the stage boss was located, the straight-line distance was only about 5 kilometers, but the jungle path was not a straight line. Even with the paths trampled by the bodies of the fallen Kingdom Knights, the overall terrain was quite rugged.

Not only was the road rugged, but the darkness, seemingly imbued with an evil will, constantly loomed over everyone's heads. Coupled with the harassment of the man-eating plants and mini-ghosts, only Cheng Tian and Demon Cicada had combat power. With the addition of temporary rests to replenish torches and boil water, it took them about two hours to travel those five kilometers in a straight line.

But it wasn't without additional gains.

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

The two-handed hammer and one-handed axe had been temporarily abandoned by Cheng Tian and were now assigned to One-Ear and Scab. Considering the Cyclops' size and strength, facing it head-on was out of the question, so strength-based weapons were useless. Movement speed and attack speed were key.

The third and fourth slots were filled with two stacked money bags and three stacked King Statues, respectively.

[Money Bag: Valuable item. The common currency of the Demon Village world. Contains 50 Kingdom Silver Coins, which can be directly exchanged for 50 Heaven's Chosen Coins in the Chosen Evolution Space.]

[King Statue: Valuable item. A King Statue made of special materials. Has some value and can be exchanged for 40 Heaven's Chosen Coins.]

[Additional Note: In other blueprint worldviews, valuable items may yield more benefits than direct exchange, but they may also be worthless.]

Unlike opening treasure chests and directly adding to the wealth tab, these valuables required an extra step of monetization, which meant that they might take up inventory space for something.

In addition, these Demon Village valuables might be usable in other instances.

Fortunately, valuables could be stacked, which was a slightly comforting setting amidst a pile of messy things.

To be on the safe side, Cheng Tian had reserved a free slot, and the fifth slot contained a Mobi-chan Windmill that he hadn't dared to touch casually before.

Of course, this wasn't the one with negative effects, but the second easter egg triggered on the second river island near the end of the stage. This Mobi-chan Windmill was a valuable item that could be directly exchanged for 500 Heaven's Chosen Coins, one-third of the reward for killing a Red Imp, and ten times the value of a money bag.

At least on the surface, the other two had no objections to Cheng Tian taking all the valuables, and Cheng Tian himself had no intention of making any concessions.

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

One-Ear and Scab were subconsciously swallowing their saliva because the behemoth that was preventing them from leaving Demon Village alive had already entered their field of vision.

Even sitting cross-legged on the ground and dozing off, its hunched upper body almost exceeded the height of a two-story residential building. Its thick arms and leg muscles were like large rocks, and it was wearing sleeveless metal armor with spikes on the surface.

The towering horn directly above its head and the huge upper and lower eyelids on its ugly face, clearly closed due to dozing off, had already confirmed its identity.

It was one of the Six Great Demon Generals guarding the first gate to formally enter Demon King's Castle – the Cyclops!

Thanks to "I Was Never an Emperor" for the donation!