Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

Stepping on the vines, they reached the floating island in the sky once more.

Poro twitched his nose, the mixed human scent guiding them along a clear path.

"Those humans have destroyed many places, it must be the giant chosen one who brought them."

The golden bird on Jack's head said.

But it seemed this bird was much smaller than before, and its spirit was somewhat inexplicably listless. As it spoke, it gently stroked Jack's head with its wing.

"I'm sorry, child, I only just learned that person killed your mother..."

The tall magical plants reappeared before them.

And among these plants, Poro could now more clearly distinguish the path the uninvited guests took into the giant's garden—

Because, in the clouds above the garden, the black smoke of flames still lingered.

A forest was burning in the flames set by those people.

"So, we're facing someone blessed as a giant's chosen, and some ordinary humans, right?"

"But now, it might not just be them."

The golden bird shook its head, gazing at the sky ahead.

Whether it was the smoke from the forest fire or something else, as they went deeper, the sky grew increasingly gloomy.

"I can feel the gates of heaven have been opened."

The golden bird said, "The giant king hasn't awakened yet, those people touched the harp and opened the seal in the clouds."

This time, having learned from their previous experience, Leake and Poro moved quickly.

As they caught sight of the towering castle in the distance, Leake and Poro also sensed that trace of corrupt and depraved odor. In the sky, the black rift was expanding.

The clouds were swirling, revealing a deep hole.

"So, the task is to retrieve the harp and drive those people out of the garden?"

Leake thought for a moment and said.

Poro, standing beside her, suddenly recalled the unsealing ceremony of [Cyclical Return: Giant's Garden · Pure Spring Day].

So, that's what they had to do…?

He felt increasingly aware of the special nature of his ability.

It was as if it foreshadowed everything, each word carrying a deeper meaning, until now, Poro finally understood what it meant.

"Poro, there seems to be someone in front of the castle?"

Just then, Leake's pupils shrank as she pointed ahead.

But the person wasn't a guard, but a blood-soaked youth?

Closer, the details of the person were revealed to everyone.

A young hunter, disheveled and bound to a tree stump that had been cut halfway, bloodstains all over his tattered clothes, head hanging low, his face unreadable.

Only blood dripped down his body.

His limbs were all extremely twisted, as if broken by a great force, hanging limply.

"Is he one of the people who invaded the garden? Why is he trapped here? Did they have an internal conflict?"

The person's life or death was unknown.

But as Leake and the others saw him, not far from him, were three withered corpses of angels, which had landed very close to the ground.

Their abdomens were abnormally swollen, black liquid dripping onto the ground.

From the open crack, it seemed that something was about to emerge!

"Kill those distorted angels first!"

Seeing this scene, Leake and Poro didn't hesitate. From the youth bound to the tree stump, they might learn something.

This time, the hole in the sky was somewhat different from before.

It didn't seem to be more restricted because of its size, but rather, the speed of expansion became greater and greater, the dirty cloud threads around the hole swirling and reflecting dazzling light and shadow.

In any case, killing these monsters first was definitely the right thing to do.

"Clang—"

Leake's figure disappeared, and the next moment, she flashed in mid-air, the Star Killer Sword piercing into the dry corpse's abdomen.

The eyeball monster hadn't even appeared before it died in the womb.

Only dirty black liquid splattered out, corroding the surrounding vegetation into withering decay.

The second and third angel corpses seemed to sense something, and the speed of their descent suddenly accelerated, the angel's abdomen, like a bag propped up from the inside, bulging and wriggling.

But it was still slow, the Star Killer Sword's light flashed, easily taking its life.

The third, the angel corpse screamed, a crack splitting its abdomen, but it was entangled by the vines extending from the ground, the third sword slashed—

Eliminating its deformed vitality.

"Looks like old man Invi's cloak is very useful?"

Poro looked at Leake's figure floating from mid-air and smiled.

"Yes, those eyeballs didn't even have time to find me... In that case, maybe we won't be discovered by those people when we enter the castle later?"

Leake thought for a moment, turning her gaze to the youth tied to the tree stump nearby.

His clothes looked like those of a hunter, and at his feet was a broken hunting gun. For some reason, Leake and Poro had a familiar feeling about this hunter.

Had they met before?

Leake stepped forward and cut the ropes on the young hunter, allowing his body to fall free.

The young man's chest was still rising and falling slightly—

He was still breathing!

"I've seen this uncle before!"

Just as he saw the young man's face, Jack exclaimed first, and the golden bird also showed a look of surprise.

"Earlier, this uncle pushed away the bad guy with the axe and saved me."

Jack recalled.

The golden bird on his head also thought of something, and it said:

"This guy's marksmanship is very strange, if he hadn't injured me—things wouldn't have developed to this point, but he came out to save Jack again..."

The golden bird shook its head, "Many people are like this, he's very strong, but his eyes are blinded, and he didn't do the right thing."

Poro didn't hesitate, he stretched out his paw, a ray of light condensing into a bottle of magic potion.

It was a potion with healing effects.

Realized through [Cyclical Return: Candy House · Sweet Feast], although it couldn't regenerate the young hunter's severed limbs, it might save his life.

After all, in his current condition, even if he wasn't killed by those eyeball monsters, he would bleed to death.

Sure enough, the magic potion had some effect.

In less than half a minute, the young hunter woke up.

He opened his eyes with difficulty and saw Leake in the red cloak, and Jack, who was standing next to the golden bird.

"I, you... are you the savior angel?"

The young hunter's chapped lips opened and closed, but he said such a sentence. After that, his listless eyes revealed endless regret and shame.

"I'm sorry, I... I was deceived, I did irreparable wrong, that giant villain disguised as a human, he's in the castle."

The young hunter lowered his head, tears streaming from his eyes, his voice trembling, as if immersed in the previous shock.

"In the sky, it's in the sky—that person released the monsters in the sky, those... I don't know what they are, but they're definitely not good things!"

As the young man spoke, Leake and Poro also recognized the identity of the person in front of them.

It was the sharpshooter from the Kingdom of Boren, who never missed a shot.

"Sir, don't be afraid—can you tell us, what exactly happened in the castle?"

"Say it, and perhaps it can reduce your guilt."

The golden bird added.

"It's a person with an axe."

The young hunter said, gritting his teeth, his voice trembling, "He deceived us, deceived everyone who came here, he's the one who wants to pursue slaughter—but I only realized this at the end."

……

Inside the giant castle, the top floor.

The figure of the axe-wielding strongman returned to its original appearance, this time, he sat on the head of the giant king.

In his abdomen, an eye with distinct black and white protruded from a crack.

The subtle mist on the surface of the sleeping giant king was sucked out, entering the strongman's body through the eye.

"Now, I don't need any 'king' above me anymore."

"Because now, I am the only giant king, the symbol of violence and destruction!"

After accepting that trace of what he considered "sacred" aura that was leaking from the sky,

The violence and slaughter in his heart could no longer be suppressed in the slightest.

They began to grow explosively, until all the strongman's will was replaced by the desire for destruction and slaughter, this destructive thought had invisibly replaced what little reason he had left.

After being eroded by pollution from a higher source, he was no longer forced by the giant king's pressure, and he began to spontaneously draw on the giant king's power.

Under the influence of the fallen paradise.

He knew that as long as he continued like this, the power on the giant king's body would be lost in his sleep, and the giant king would never have the chance to wake up, until he died!

"Humans, angels, animals... everything will tremble in the destruction I bring."

The strongman only felt incomparable pleasure at this time.

He saw that not far away, the door opened, and a blood-soaked bounty hunter came crawling over.

"Ah—what is this thing, don't come over, don't—"

Behind him, an eyeball monster flew in.

A few feathers were inserted into the bounty hunter's back, the bounty hunter's armor seemed to have no chance of resistance, slowly corroding into scattered debris.

"King, I was wrong! I was wrong—let me go..."

The bounty hunter had no strength, fell to the ground, and crawled towards the strongman, but it was useless.

His body began to ooze black pus, smelling foul, and then, white smoking bone armor emerged from under his body, which had been corroded into a skin bag.

The whole body, in front of his eyes, was gradually turned into pus and rotten flesh!

"See that? Everyone, you want to escape, you want to disobey me—this is the end!"

The strongman turned his head, the bloodthirsty expression on his face no longer concealed, he stared at the remaining seven or eight people who had come with him, who were now kneeling on the ground, shivering.

They were silent, but dared not say a word.

When they came, everyone fantasized about facing the giant king, killing the legendary enemy of mankind, and becoming the hero in the mouths of the bards...

But when truly facing an abnormally powerful opponent.

Not everyone has enough courage to face that death like a solid wall.

"My army, submit to my legion of destruction, how wonderful they are, emitting a golden glow..."

The strongman looked up, looking at the crack in the sky.

Under the erosion, all he saw in his eyes were brilliant golden scenes, and he was the chosen king!

No one dared to refute him.

In the beginning, the young hunter, the only one who had a chance, failed to kill the strongman with two consecutive shots. Under the cooperation of the fallen paradise and the giant's chosen blessing, the young hunter had no chance.

In full view, he was dismembered and tied to a wooden stake in front of the castle.

Of course, although most of the warriors came to the top of the clouds for profit—

But most of them still had the courage to face the giant's battle.

Or rather...

Although they liked money, they would not do things that violated their conscience and humanity for it. They were mercenaries, bounty hunters, but not robbers.

It's just that those courage disappeared completely after they found that they couldn't even defeat the eyeball monsters that crawled out of the dry corpses.

Of course, there were also people who fought to the end—

That's also why there are only seven or eight people kneeling now.

"Why are you sad? Why are you burying your heads and refusing to speak? Are you looking down on me?"

The strongman looked at the silent people below.

A trace of murderous intent arose in his heart for no reason, he remembered the scene when he saw the king ascend the throne in the past, and his face sank.

"I led you to this place, to this cloud top, the giant king is now under my feet, you say—am I a hero?"

He slowly walked down, looked at the kneeling crowd below, and then asked, "Now I have the power of the giant, and the great power given by heaven—

You say, why don't I have the qualifications to be a king?"

He took another step.

A mercenary closest to him couldn't help but tremble under the pressure of the inhuman aura.

The next moment, he was lifted up by the strongman out of thin air!

His scarlet eyes, and the eyeball in his abdomen, stared at the mercenary maliciously, from the depths of his throat, it seemed that two overlapping voices came:

"Why—are—you—trembling?"

The mercenary's face was pale, and he was about to die on the spot—

But at this moment, in a place where there was nothing beside him, a silver light suddenly appeared!

"Who—"

The strongman just reacted, leaned back, and was sealed his throat by a sword!

He looked at the red-clothed girl in front of him in disbelief, madness and astonishment burst out in his chaotic mind, but the severed vocal cords only allowed him to make a "ho ho" sound!

The next moment, his body swelled up like a balloon!

Leake's next sword only pierced into its chest and abdomen, revealing the internal organs and bones below—for some reason, the physical strength of this giant's chosen one was much harder than that of a real giant.

It was like piercing into a hard wall!

"It's you again—now, I am the king chosen by the Lord of Heaven, why do you dare to draw your sword at me!?"

As the giant transformed from the strong man spoke, black pus flowed from the massive wound on his chest, and countless dirty feathers grew grotesquely from the incision.

He lifted his pillar-like foot and stomped down on Lake.