Chapter 171: Bad Luck, Bad Hands

Chapter 171: Bad Luck, Bad Hands

The ground trembled faintly, and a figure nearly three meters tall appeared at the edge of the island’s primordial forest.

Its entire body was grayish-white, as though it had been built from blocks of stone. Its face was pitted and uneven, with no obvious eyes, nose, mouth, or ears.

“A Stone Giant…” Admiral of Stars Cattleya said softly, naming the monster.

Neither Klein nor Anderson had the slightest understanding of such a creature.

Even so, neither of them turned a questioning look toward Cattleya. They simply stared intently at the monster, each wearing the expression of a seasoned professional.

Cattleya turned toward the Future, which had stopped side-on to the shore. Raising her right hand slightly, she amplified her voice and ordered, “Aim!”

The pirates on watch aboard the ship immediately adjusted the dozens of cannons along the port side, all of them pointing toward the heavy-footed Stone Giant.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cannonballs flew out one after another, landing around the Stone Giant. Dust surged up at once, blotting out a large stretch of ground.

Amid the obvious tremors of the island, firelight coiled, fragments flew, and the scene seemed capable of destroying everything.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The tall, grayish-white figure broke through the dust and smoke, yet it had not suffered any severe injury. Only a few shallow cracks had appeared across its surface.

Without any change in expression, Admiral of Stars Cattleya said, “It isn’t a type of giant. It is a stone monster.

“Its core is the main ingredient for the Sequence 5 Guardian of the God of Combat pathway, so its defensive power is extremely high.”

Amid the lingering echoes of cannon fire, Klein almost suspected that he had misheard.

If you knew the Stone Giant’s specialty, why did you still fire a full cannon volley at it? Isn’t that just wasting shells? he thought, half puzzled and half lampooning.

Perhaps having guessed what he was thinking, Cattleya watched the Stone Giant approach step by step and said, “I had never encountered this kind of Beyonder creature before, so I wanted to test it.”

I can accept that reason… Klein was left speechless.

At that moment, Anderson Hood, who had been observing the Stone Giant all along, raised a hand.

“Does anyone here have Beyonder abilities in the frost domain?”

“I do,” Admiral of Stars Cattleya replied calmly.

Seeing that Madam Hermit had a way to deal with it, Klein swallowed the words that had nearly left his mouth.

For him, unless absolutely necessary, he truly did not want to activate Creeping Hunger, even though Zombie did possess the ability to control frost.

—On this island, he doubted he could find suitable food for it!

Cattleya took a gray-black scroll from a hidden pocket of her wizard-like robe and softly spoke a word in ancient Hermes:

“Freeze!”

Silently, the scroll was swallowed by ice-blue flames. Immediately, crystalline streams of light began raining down from midair.

They swiftly fell upon the Stone Giant, freezing the target within and hanging one icicle after another over its body.

Amid tooth-aching cracking sounds, the layers of ice shattered in succession. The Stone Giant slowly walked out of the frozen zone. However, the gray-white of its surface had deepened a little, and its movements had become much stiffer than before.

At that moment, Anderson raised both hands at once, like a conductor signaling for applause.

Orange-yellow flames, nearly white at their core, instantly surged up beneath the Stone Giant’s feet, as though it had stepped into a trap.

Steam rapidly rose from its surface, followed by cracking sounds. One deep fissure after another appeared.

Anderson pulled back his right arm, and a blazing white spear condensed in his palm.

The flame at the spear’s tip shrank into a single point, radiating dazzling brilliance.

The long spear flew out and struck precisely into a crack at the Stone Giant’s abdomen, directly burning open a large hole.

And Anderson Hood, who had originally been standing on the beach, seemed to have merged with the blazing white spear long ago. The instant the flames brightened, he bizarrely appeared behind the Stone Giant.

His left hand clenched into a fist. His arm swelled, and he drove an uppercut through the large hole, straight into the Stone Giant’s core.

This seemingly simple attack produced an exaggerated result. The Stone Giant immediately froze in place. Cracking sounds resounded continuously inside it, and within seconds, it collapsed into a heap of shattered stone.

An absolute fatal strike… Klein’s gaze narrowed slightly.

Admiral of Stars Cattleya stood calmly in place, not the least surprised.

“Sequence 5 of the Hunter pathway is called Reaper.

“And they excel at discovering the weaknesses of prey.”

Reaper… Reaping lives? No wonder… Klein nodded with minimal movement.

At that moment, Anderson crouched down and rummaged through the Stone Giant’s remains for a while.

Then he turned his head and gave a bitter smile.

“This wasn’t a real monster.”

In other words, no spoils!

As Anderson described the situation, the pile of broken stones vanished at a speed visible to the naked eye.

…Someone as unlucky as you should really stop opening loot boxes and searching corpses… Klein could not help commenting inwardly.

Anderson returned with a gloomy look, unable to stop complaining. “That’s the biggest problem with this sea. Not every monster provides wealth!”

Because these manifested monsters are part of higher-level, stronger monsters—or perhaps the result of residual power or aura… Klein had long since formed his own judgment.

After sailing for some time, he had discovered that this place held Beyonder traces of the Sun, Darkness, Storm, and Spectator pathways. That had given several of his earlier ideas more concrete form.

He had originally suspected that this sea was a battlefield left behind by the ancient gods of the Second Epoch. Storm belonged to the Elf King, Soniathrym; Spectator belonged to the Dragon King, Ankewelt; and Darkness belonged to Flegrea, the Demonic Wolf of Destruction. Through the mythological records of the City of Silver that Little Sun had provided time and again, Klein had preliminarily grasped the authorities held by each of the eight ancient gods of the Second Epoch.

However, the eternal noon of daytime and that golden “Sun Chariot” had shaken his judgment to a certain extent, because none of the eight ancient gods had controlled the Sun pathway.

Soon, Klein thought of Amon and Adam’s father—the Creator of the City of Silver, also known as the ancient Sun God.

After that Creator awakened, through one fierce battle after another, He reclaimed the authorities of the ancient gods!

So this sea was left behind as a ruin of the divine war? In Klein’s mind, the damaged mural he had once seen in the ancient elven ruin surfaced:

The Elf King, Soniathrym, was facing off against the Creator of the City of Silver—the ancient Sun God!

As thoughts rose and fell within him, Anderson had already returned to his usual smiling state. Looking at Klein, he asked, “What should I call you?”

“Gehrman Sparrow,” Klein answered simply.

“Gehrman Sparrow?” Anderson was first stunned, then quickly returned to normal. “I’ve heard of you. The adventurer who nearly hunted Vice Admiral Ailment. They call you the craziest hunter. Last month, when I passed through the Rorsted Archipelago and Olavi Island by ship, I’d planned to find you for a drink and get acquainted, but you had disappeared somewhere.”

Last month? I was volunteering at a hospital… Klein gave a slight nod.

“Now we’re acquainted.”

“And also, try not to speak too much.”

“…” Anderson forced a smile. “I know. My bad luck can make unfortunate words come true. All right, stop looking at me. I won’t talk. You can put down your charm.”

Because the Stone Giant had appeared, the pirates’ time to relax was shortened. The Future soon set sail again, heading deeper into this sea.

Along the way, Klein remained on deck, leaning against the railing as he observed the surroundings. Anderson, by contrast, wandered everywhere on the ship, very naturally striking up conversations with the pirates.

Impressive. He found out the state of the ship so easily… Klein glanced at Anderson, who was drinking with several pirates in the shadow of the cabin, and sincerely sighed.

Of course, this “Strongest Hunter” probably didn’t know that the alcohol he was drinking had sedatives produced by who-knew-what mixed into it… Klein held back his laughter, thinking mischievously.

With Anderson’s help, the Future smoothly bypassed two hidden whirlpools and a palace ruin floating upon the sea, continuing along the safe route.

Roughly three hours later, night came again.

Klein swiftly regained clarity and reason within the dream. He opened his eyes and looked around.

His field of vision was completely dark. There was nothing at all.

…Don’t tell me I’ve gone blind… The thought reflexively popped into Klein’s mind. Then he reached into his pocket with his right hand and took out a box of matches.

These were necessary casting materials for a Magician.

He skillfully took out a match and struck it. With a rasp, a tiny flame immediately appeared before Klein’s eyes.

The flame struggled and expanded a little, vaguely illuminating the surrounding scene.

This was a prison cell—a prison cell whose iron-barred door stood slightly ajar!

Why am I here? I’m neither beside Admiral of Stars nor in the mural hall where Anderson was… Random within a certain range? As his thoughts turned, Klein flicked his hand and extinguished the match before it could burn his fingers.

His left palm quickly became coated in pure, brilliant sunlight, and in his eyes, it was as if two miniature suns had appeared.

Relying on the soul of the Priest of Light, he obtained night vision belonging to the domain of Sacred Light.

After looking around, Klein found that the cell he occupied was not particularly narrow, but the floor was dirty and chaotic, covered with many footprints. He could not tell what had once happened here.

“Most are human footprints. A small number are exaggerated—perhaps from giants… The single bed is broken in the corner. There’s a key by the door… Did someone escape from prison successfully?” Klein walked to the half-open iron-barred door and cautiously looked outside.

Beyond the cell was lightless darkness. That darkness enveloped a stone-paved corridor. Across from it was a cold, hard wall, while both sides extended away, seemingly lined with more cells.

Klein withdrew his gaze, picked up the key from the floor, and closed the iron-barred door a little more tightly.

He did not try to open the door and leave. He remained inside the cell.

He clearly remembered the warning from the Snake of Fate, Will Auceptin: absolutely do not explore the dream world. Therefore, he intended to remain here and wait for noon to arrive.

A cell is still a cell. As long as I don’t go out… Klein retreated into the corner and sat down on half of the broken single bed, seemingly merging with the thick surrounding darkness.

Within that extreme silence, Klein’s head suddenly tilted. He had faintly heard the sound of soft footsteps.

The footsteps came from the hollow distance, slow in rhythm, drawing nearer and nearer.