Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

In the streets of the royal capital, Lake's figure dodged the relentless attacks of two giants.

The giants' arms and legs chased after her like cannonballs.

Despite their immense size, their speed wasn't diminished by their weight; they were like tireless war machines.

Lake tried to escape by using the buildings as cover…

But the giants easily smashed through house after house with their sheer strength and toughness.

Even with Polo's subtle magical interference, the two giants were difficult to exploit in a direct fight!

“Boom! Boom!”

Despite the enhancement from the Starbane Sword, Lake still didn't possess the defense to ignore the giants' attacks.

Just as she turned a corner, an entire wall on her side was shattered by a giant, and dodging a stomping foot, the giant's cloud-like hand slammed down again!

“Boom—”

The air itself screamed as it was compressed and exploded in the giant's palm!

But just then, as the giant leaned down, a faint twang of a bowstring came from the seemingly empty balcony of a building that hadn't collapsed before it—

“Shoom!”

The next moment, a Porcian soldier's magic-piercing arrow materialized out of nowhere and pierced the giant's wide-open eye!

The eyes of the giants were among their few weak points, but it was extremely difficult for ordinary Porcian soldiers to hit such a spot!

Not to mention that giants would consciously block arrows aimed at their faces during combat.

Even if a giant only saw the shadow of an incoming arrow, they could simply close their eyes, and the arrow wouldn't harm them in the slightest.

Therefore...

To hit a giant's eye, two things were necessary.

Extremely close range, and the giant shouldn't have any warning before the arrow hit!

Achieving both was incredibly difficult!

“Roar!”

The giant screamed in agony as the sudden arrow pierced its eye.

Without regard for Lake beneath its palm, it reflexively raised its hand to cover its eye—

And Lake and Polo naturally wouldn't miss such an opportunity.

In haste, the giant's Achilles tendon was destabilized by Polo's magical impact, and Lake spun upwards, stepping on the giant's half-kneeling knee, leaping up, and piercing the giant's throat with her sword.

[Hunting Giants 4/12]

The second giant only recovered from its shock at this moment, raising its hand to attack.

But from the seemingly empty rooftop of a building on its side, another bowstring rang out, and a rune-etched arrow flew from the void, accurately piercing the giant's ear!

The giant felt pain, looked around, but found nothing.

By the time it turned back, the Starbane Sword was already before its eyes!

[Hunting Giants 5/12]

The giant's heavy body fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

Only when Lake and the others ran towards the royal palace did the next squad of Porcian soldiers arrive from the other side of the street, looking at the two heavy corpses on the ground, exchanging glances with horror.

The surviving Porcian soldiers beside the collapsed building muttered to themselves—

As the other wounded soldiers helped them up, their eyes still held the joy of surviving a disaster:

“I saw it, it was the legendary Sword God who single-handedly annihilated the Giant King's Court, just like in our Porcian nursery rhymes—

The swordsman was draped in starlight, the blade was like a crescent moon in the night sky, and with a spin, the giants' remains piled into a hill…”

The distant royal palace drew nearer.

Along the streets, the blood and corpses of Porcian soldiers marked the giants' path.

Lake and Polo ran, glancing at the old soldier who had poked his head out from the invisibility cloak, looking as if half a face was sliding along the ground.

“Uncle Invy, didn't you say you weren't coming? What… is Miss Dansi alright?”

Lake asked curiously.

“Miss Dansi is now… with the ordinary residents, staying at the refuge point in the Porcian capital.

She is very quiet, and with the energy of the 'Dancer', there shouldn't be any danger unless the giants raid the refuge point.”

The old soldier said, not forgetting to pick up some of the Porcian soldiers' dropped bows and arrows as he ran.

“I thought about it, if I always stay out of it, using my own fate as an excuse to turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, then when I face my own difficulties—

What face do I have to ask for help from others?”

Just as the others were about to say something, suddenly, the royal palace in front of them erupted in an earth-shattering explosion!

It was as if… countless bombs were gathered and detonated inside!

“Boom!”

They stared dumbfounded as almost half of the buildings in the royal palace collapsed under a dazzling pale red magical light, bricks and rubble falling off with cracking sounds...

“What exactly are those giants doing?!”

And Polo suddenly recalled the expression of the old Porcian king before the war.

After seeing the Starbane Sword radiating starlight in Lake's hand, the old man's eyes showed unspeakable shock, loss, realization, and extreme regret.

“Could it be… done by the Porcian king?!”

Lake also came to this conclusion through the descriptions in the "Porcian Intelligence Summary".

And almost at the same time as the explosion began, a realization flashed in both Lake and Polo's minds—

[Hunting Giants 8/12]

“Almost there, although I don't know what exactly happened in the royal palace, but no matter what—we are just one step away from victory!”

And after rushing into the royal palace, the four giants and two ghostly skeletal giants on the ruins still shocked Lake and Polo.

“These four… are Seven's giants, what are those two moving statues made of bones?”

Polo looked surprised, sensing a strange energy from the skeletal giants.

The aura of some kind of sacrificial magic.

Polo came to a conclusion through the magical experience provided by [Spiral Beacon: Witch].

“Those carvings look like Porcian inscriptions, but with many modifications and creations…”

Lake also added, “Those things don't seem to be in the queen's notes—but they seem to be on our side.”

“That makes things much easier.”

A gleam flashed in Polo's eyes, “Since there are already big guys helping us hold back these skeletal giants, it should be simple to take down these last four giants, right?”

…

Royal Palace edge, top of the tower.

“Clang—”

With a grating metallic sound, swords clashed, and two figures moved apart.

Commander Ward flicked away the blood on his longsword, but his face showed no joy, he looked at the edge of his inscribed longsword, a tiny nick had appeared!

You must know, his longsword was not a showpiece made for rituals or anything like that.

Nor was it a second-rate product inscribed by a magic apprentice, as most Porcian soldiers used—

But truly forged by several magic craftsmen in collaboration!

A longsword… that could completely wound the giants' flesh and tendons!

“Your body is very hard, like a giant, as expected… are you a giant's chosen?”

Commander Ward narrowed his eyes slightly, scanning Seven.

Commander Ward's swordsmanship was very superb, in the initial confrontation, he dodged Seven's powerful chops, and stabbed his sword towards Seven's neck.

Unfortunately, Seven's speed had surpassed ordinary people at this time, this almost certain sword only hit Seven's collarbone.

A narrow sword mark appeared on Seven's body, and even the white bones could be seen through the blood.

But…

The injury was too light!

If facing an ordinary person, Commander Ward was confident that with the sharpness of his longsword, his force just now would have been enough to split any adult man in half!

Ward's gaze moved to Seven's forehead, seeing the rune glowing red:

“Indeed, you have dedicated your soul to the Giant King, haven't you?”

Seven touched the blood between his collarbones with one hand, his face gradually returning to normal from pale, the rune between his eyebrows flickered slightly, and the narrow wound began to stop bleeding quickly and heal slowly.

“You, how do you know?”

Seven looked at Commander Ward standing upright with his sword in front of him, a trace of timidity flashed in his eyes.

He was not a warrior who fought with a sword in the first place, but the timidity in his eyes was suppressed by an unusually manic red light within a few seconds after it was revealed.

“Yes, humans laugh at me, reject me, only the Giant King above the clouds gave me this opportunity—

But how do you know about the giant's chosen? This should be a secret known only to the royal family, right?”

“Heh, you don't want to be a good human, but you want to be a dog for the giants?”

Commander Ward's mouth showed a mocking smile, and then he said, “As for why I know, it's because the Giant King also gave me the same invitation.

On the day I… got this eye.”

Commander Ward pointed to the orange-red gem-like prosthetic eye in one of his eye sockets, and said word by word:

“In my dream, I saw that huge royal court, the shadows standing around, and—the Giant King.

He put a contract in front of me, as long as I signed it, I could be like you now, gaining great power from the giants.

But I refused!

I am human, how could I betray my kind and do such a thing?

I will realize my ambitions myself, instead of being a beast like you—

Using dignity and soul as a price, bowing to those inhuman beings, and thinking… that you are relying on your own strength!”

Commander Ward's words were like a dagger, deeply piercing Seven's sensitive heart!

He trembled in uncontrollable anger, losing his usual calmness, he thought he was the only giant's chosen, but he didn't expect that the power he was so proud of—

Someone had gotten this opportunity long ago, and even discarded it like a worn shoe!

Seven raised his sword, pointed at Commander Ward in front of him, and roared through gritted teeth:

“This is my power, my own!

I relied on wisdom to get here, killed so many people, and only then did I get the blessing, you are jealous—what does your smile mean? Are you, a weakling, mocking me?!”

The rune between Seven's eyebrows flickered, he stomped hard on his feet, and the solid stone ground shattered.

His expression became insane, Seven used the power bestowed by the Giant King to kill Commander Ward!

“I wonder if you can still laugh at me like this at the moment of your death!”

Commander Ward also gritted his teeth and held his sword, dodging the fatal sword, and inflicting wounds on Seven's body as much as possible.

Although he knew about the giant's chosen, he didn't know the specific details in depth.

The Porcian royal family kept the secrets of the giants very tightly—

The commander also understood, after all, no one can guarantee whether the informed person will be confused by greed and selfishness, and choose to touch the taboo left by the giants.

“Dang—”

Seven's sword was dodged by Commander Ward again, his chops based only on physical fitness, all the movements before the chop were predicted by Commander Ward.

Relying on such a prediction, Commander Ward was barely able to dodge Seven's high-speed chops!

Seven's sword chopped on the stone wall again, and finally broke.

At the same time, Commander Ward's sword hit Seven's torso again, bringing out a strand of blood.

But Commander Ward's heart was still sinking.

Maybe, he can't beat him…

Seven's psychology had suppressed his ordinary human fear because of the pain and the image of the rune, his eyes were red, and he even abandoned the broken longsword and pounced directly at Commander Ward!

The Giant King's contract allowed Seven to gain a body strength comparable to that of a giant by slaughtering countless humans.

And no longer using swordsmanship, the posture of only attacking and not defending undoubtedly hindered Commander Ward's prediction of swordsmanship!

“Ka—”

Seven seemed to have stimulated his primitive instincts, under the crazy attack, he suddenly stretched out his hand.

As fast as lightning, he grabbed Commander Ward's sword in his hand!

The sharp sword tip could not cut off Seven's finger bones.

“Crack—crack—crack—”

Seven tightened his fingertips hard, and the next moment, Commander Ward's longsword was pinched into shattered iron pieces.

Without the threat of the sword, Seven's movements became even more frantic!

He pounced on it at an extremely fast speed, and in close combat, when one side had the power of a giant, the defense of a giant, then no matter how many fighting skills and experience Commander Ward had, it was useless!

Soon, Seven grabbed one of Commander Ward's arms and tore it off.

The other hand, with five fingers as a knife, pierced through the breastplate and into Commander Ward's chest!

Blood splattered, watching Commander Ward's body fall weakly to the ground.

Seven's expression gradually calmed down.

But what annoyed him was that Commander Ward still had that mocking smile on his face before he died.

“You weakling, laugh… why can you still laugh?!”

Seven raised his foot and kicked Commander Ward's dead body as if to vent, until the flesh and bones were mixed into one.

At this time, he bent down and inserted two fingers into Commander Ward's eye socket, and took out the orange-red gem-like prosthetic eye.

In this moment, he could sense the two giant skeleton guards made of giant corpses and the sacrifice of thousands of heroic souls.

"Heh, you cost me so many giants, but these two of yours will have to do as compensation.

No matter whose power it is, I'm standing here, and you're dead—I am the victor!"

Seven said, stepping out of the tower and walking back towards the battle between the giants and the Giant Corpse Guardians.

The earthquake-like sound from before had already stopped.

He wasn't surprised; he had seized Wode's control over the Giant Corpse Guardians, and now, the kingdom's strongest war weapon was in his hands.

He thought this until… he saw the four giant corpses lying on the ground!

"Hmm? My giants, killed so quickly by these Bone Giants!?"

Seven was somewhat puzzled, but as he got closer, he noticed something was off.

Most of the giants had narrow windows cut into their necks, splitting them in two!

Blood poured from the wounds, splattering on the ground.

Those were the real fatal wounds, each giant bearing only a single mark…

The giant hunter had created only one precise sword mark on each giant.

Even the powerful Giant Corpse Guardian lay on the ground.

The gap between its helmet and throat revealed gruesome shattered bones.

A one-hit kill!

"Something's wrong—"

Seven suddenly reacted, but before he could act, a huge explosion rang out in his ears!

"Bang!"

From nowhere, a bullet appeared and drilled into Seven's ear!

"Ugh…"

In an instant, he lost all thought.

The body strength granted by the Giant King Contract only prevented his skull from exploding like a normal person's, but the bullet piercing his brain was still rapidly stealing his consciousness!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wolf-like shadow, its eerie green eyes looking at him.

The activation of Poro Magic perfectly followed the veteran's gunshot!

The next moment, Seven's body was blasted away by a massive magic explosion, slamming heavily into the wall behind him, and behind the wall, a star-lit sword shadow flashed—

Leike, who had been lying in ambush behind the wall for a long time, drew her sword and beheaded Seven!

The headless body fell to the ground, blood spreading.

Just like the thousands upon thousands of dead Bo Ren soldiers.

"Is it over?"

"Well, if this guy really is Seven, then today's matter is probably over."

Poro walked forward, examining Seven's headless corpse, then turned to the other side—

On the head, still wearing an expression of unprepared shock, the strange rune on his forehead began to fade, becoming a patch of bloody filth.

"Without a head, he shouldn't be able to revive, right?"

Leike took out a wanted poster that was common throughout the Bo Ren Kingdom; on it, Seven's appearance was indeed identical to the corpse before them!

"This guy is indeed a bit different. I've killed a few bandits before; at this close range, my bullets can shoot out from the other ear."

The veteran minutely observed Seven's head; a mixture of red and white slurry was flowing from one of his ear canals.

But not from the other side.

This meant that the hardness inside his head was enough to slow down the impact of the veteran's bullet, causing it to remain inside Seven's skull!

"Right now, the king is dead, the palace is gone, and that Wode doesn't even know if he's still alive…"

Poro shrugged, looking at the panting veteran and Leike,

"But since the culprit is dead and the giants have been wiped out, the Bo Ren Kingdom will be rebuilt on the ruins."

After the battle, the stardust on Leike's body began to flow back into the Starfall Sword, her beautiful cheeks flushed slightly from the intense exertion.

And the veteran had used his invisibility cloak to ambush the giants up close many times.

Although he was never hit directly by a giant, the giants' struggles before death still left streaks of blood on the veteran; the invisibility cloak, although undamaged, could not resist the force of the attacks passing through it.

"More than that… well done, Leike; you're a great hero of the Bo Ren Kingdom now!"

Leike smiled, raised her hand, bent down, and lightly tapped Poro's raised wolf paw in the air: "Happy to work with you, Poro; you're a great hero too!"

After the brief celebration, the shouts of surviving Bo Ren soldiers came from afar.

The group quickly began searching Seven's body.

Soon, they found a rather sharp green gemstone on Seven's person, a stack of books carried close to his body, and… a slender horn from some unknown creature.

Uh, when Poro's hand touched the horn, he knew.

[Circular Regression: The Brave Little Tailor · Giant Deception]

[Unsealing Ritual Completed, Gained Fairy Tale Authority!]

[The king, who should have fled, exchanged his life for the death of three giants; the dead villain lowered his wrist, and the symbol of purity rolled from his hand]

[Unsealing Ritual: Kill at least two giants with wisdom and obtain a unicorn's horn]

[Fairy Tale Authority: Words spoken to those of low intelligence will easily be believed, as long as they are not proven false]

[Description: Wisdom allows mortals to transcend themselves; ignorance turns power into a sword]

"So… next time, we can really trick giants like in fairy tales?"

A hint of excitement appeared in Leike's eyes.

If simply throwing a stone could deceive two giants capable of slaughtering the Bo Ren army, causing them to kill each other, then today's battle would not have been so difficult.

Reality and fairy tales are often only separated by a fairy tale-like ability.

"But this condition only seems to make it easier to deceive idiots."

Poro complained, opening his hand, and another golden page condensed; this was a new page.

"More than that, I think this is really useful."

The pattern on the surface of this golden page was an old man with white hair and beard, wearing a pure white robe, sitting in a room with a bookshelf as a background.

He was holding a quill pen, making complex annotations on a piece of paper in front of him.

[Spiral Beacon: The Sage]

[Sublimation Tier: 1]

[Fairy Tale Authority: Your memory and learning ability for all skills, knowledge, and information are greatly enhanced; before your eyes, the haze recedes—the shackles of wisdom are already full of cracks]

[Description: Wisdom, a part of fate, use thought to control action, construct miracles from the ordinary—now, use your eyes to deconstruct this world!]

Poro glanced unexpectedly at Seven's dead body on the ground.

He curled his lip and said:

"This guy… is a sage?"

But then he thought again that this "Little Tailor" was indeed a famous sage figure in the stories of his previous life.

The same was true in this dark world.

A con man under tailoring education was able to deceive the Bo Ren King, almost becoming a consort, without mastering any combat skills.

After being wanted, he not only escaped but also brought giants to take revenge, and even if Leike and Poro hadn't helped, the century-old Bo Ren Kingdom might have been in danger of destruction.

"Okay, putting aside his character, this guy is indeed a sage."

Poro activated the effect of [Spiral Beacon: The Sage]; in an instant, he felt his brain clear, and his thinking and memory seemed to become much more flexible!

He remembered the queen's most important magic notebook, and his eyes gradually lit up.

Perhaps… it might not take much longer to fully learn those spells?

"There shouldn't be anything missing, right? Let's go to the city first, find a tavern that hasn't collapsed, get a good night's sleep, and then we'll have to set off again."

Listening to the Bo Ren soldiers getting closer and closer outside the palace ruins.

Poro looked around again, focusing his gaze on a circular object that Seven had dropped on the ground when he was first ambushed by the veteran.

Poro walked over and grabbed it in his paw.

It was an orange-red spherical gem.

The moment he touched it, Poro's eyes froze, and he looked at the two Bone Giants who were suddenly standing still not far away, he didn't know when they had stopped.

"Luckily… I killed this Seven first; if I hadn't killed him just now, it would have been dangerous."

Poro took a cold breath, then laughed, "But now, I can bring two big guys as luggage again!"

"What's wrong? Poro, did you find something?"

Leike looked at Poro curiously; the gem had already been taken into Poro's mouth.

"A good thing, I'll tell you later, but don't get surrounded by those Bo Ren soldiers."

Poro blinked; on the other side, several Bo Ren soldiers had already appeared from the other end of the ruins, cautiously looking at the corpse lying on the ground.

All of them had a look of astonishment mixed with sadness.

Just then, they finally noticed Leike and Poro—

"Stop, who are you!?"

A blood-soaked Bo Ren soldier saw Leike, who was not wearing armor, and reflexively raised the long sword in his hand.

Seeing this, Leike and Poro did not stop.

They entered the war-torn palace at a speed far exceeding these Bo Ren soldiers, and after a few turns, they were lost.

As for why…

Poro knew that Leike didn't actually want to be regarded as a hero by these soldiers.

Unfortunately, the status of the Starfall Sword in Bo Ren legends was too high.

And now, the Bo Ren Kingdom had been severely damaged, tens of millions of residents were displaced, and countless families were shattered under the trampling of giants…

What if the whole city knelt down and begged Leike to stay?

Poro wanted Leike to follow her inner virtues and save the kingdom, but he didn't want to be bound here.

Leike's heart was soft, and Poro couldn't gamble.

In addition, the Starfall Sword had already recognized Leike as its master, so there was no reason to return it!

In this way, concealing their identities and leaving quietly became the best choice.

"Why are you running!?"

Several Bo Ren soldiers watched Leike turn and leave, shouting loudly and about to chase after them, but just then, another soldier noticed Seven's body on the ground—

"Wait, this corpse is…"

The soldier's pupils shrank, "It's that villain Seven!"

"What!? Seven is dead?!"

The soldier stopped chasing Leike and looked at Seven's head; every Bo Ren soldier had a deep memory of Seven's portrait—

Wishing they could skin him alive.

"I remember, many people in Seventeenth Street saw the swordsman using the Starfall Sword to kill several giants… it was a girl wearing a red cloak!"

A soldier suddenly reacted and said in a daze.

Hearing this, several soldiers looked at the giants who had died here; all the wounds were around the neck, a single sword sealing their throats!

"So, the red-cloaked figure who just left, could it be—"

The remaining soldiers also widened their eyes, thinking of that possibility—

"Could she be the chosen hero recognized by the Starfall Sword, who saved us from the rampage of the giants!?"

Today, two chapters are combined into one QAQ.