Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Never Make Eye Contact With Her

In the quiet, dense forest.

The figures of a young man and a boy darted through the trees.

Both had black hair and were equally handsome. If their features weren’t so dissimilar, one might easily mistake them for brothers.

Furthermore, one was dressed in fine clothes and completely unarmed, while the other wore Leather Armor and hunting attire, a sword at his hip and a Back Crossbow on his back... It looked more like a young noble out on a hunt with his distant cousin as a bodyguard.

"According to the goblins, we’ve more or less entered the eastern part of the Magic Forest... If we keep heading in this direction, we should be getting close to the Mirror Black Lake."

Wang Xi said, glancing around.

Pinocchio, with his porcelain doll-like face, raised an eyebrow and asked:

"Gai, why are you looking for Petrifying Lizards? Those Demons aren’t strong individually, but they’re a huge pain in a group. Not to mention their leader, Medusa..."

"I’m one of the Ice Heart People, Pinocchio."

Wang Xi said abruptly, his words seemingly unrelated.

Hearing this, the boy froze.

"You have the Ice Heart Curse?!"

Pinocchio was clearly familiar with it, his expression one of shock.

Wang Xi nodded and admitted frankly:

"It just flared up not long ago. I probably have less than a year before I freeze to death completely..."

"So," Pinocchio, being very bright, understood at once. "You’re looking for Petrifying Lizards to break the curse?"

Wang Xi grunted in affirmation.

"But as far as I know, there’s no way to completely remove the Ice Heart Curse, and it has nothing to do with Petrifying Lizards."

Pinocchio frowned, raising a hand to stroke his chin as if imitating a human deep in thought.

Wang Xi glanced at him and explained about the Demon Hunting commission. He also mentioned his plan to use this as an opportunity to get in touch with the Queen through Minister Ando.

"I see, so you want to seek help from the Ice and Snow Queen." The boy had a moment of realization, then said with a serious expression, "Gai, my friend, I’ll help you."

"Thanks." Wang Xi smiled.

He’d seen it long ago.

’Pinocchio might be prideful and a bit of a liar, but he’s a good kid at heart. His nature isn’t bad; you could even call him innocent, especially when it comes to his friends. He’s faultless in that regard. If you ignored the fact that he was a mechanical creation, he seemed just like a naive human boy who hadn’t seen much of the world.’

’What’s more, his entry had reached Four Stars, making him a higher-tier Hero unit than even the Woodland Fairy. With his help, things would surely go much smoother.’

The two walked a while longer, chatting idly. Through their conversation, Wang Xi learned about Pinocchio’s homeland.

The Clockwork Kingdom, across the sea.

It seemed to be a nation whose technology far surpassed that of the Stag Kingdom, with trains, airships, cars, and cannons... From Pinocchio’s brief descriptions, Wang Xi pieced together a picture of a steampunk-like society powered by Magic Technology.

And the "father" Pinocchio spoke of was the chief engineer of the Clockwork Kingdom, Gepetto Tesla.

Therefore, the Mechanical Puppet Boy’s full name must be Pinocchio Tesla. Hearing this familiar yet strange name, Wang Xi found it quite peculiar.

"...After your father left the Clockwork Kingdom, where did he go?"

Wang Xi asked, following the topic.

Pinocchio grinned and shook his head.

"Father didn’t say. He just mentioned that a distant old friend had invited him to be a consultant, then left a huge mess behind and disappeared the very next day."

Hearing this, Wang Xi’s eyebrow twitched.

’So irresponsible?’

’But why does that sound so familiar...’

’Oh, right. I used to do that all the time in my past life. Claiming I had a client meeting, then using the company’s dime to go on a trip and slack off.’

’What?’

’You say the deal didn’t go through and I should be punished?’

’You’ve gotta be kidding. The client and I had a blast. A few more good times, and maybe the deal would’ve gone through. That’s just how corporations are. The boss just waits to drive his Ferrari, while us grunts have a lot more to think about.’

As they were walking, Pinocchio suddenly cried out in surprise:

"Whoa! Black stockings!"

The words were like a sudden jolt, instantly pulling Wang Xi out of his thoughts.

"Where are the black stockings?"

He whipped his head around to look.

And froze.

In the woods not far away, dense black spiderwebs hung everywhere. The bushes, twisted tree trunks, and the mud on the ground were all covered in a thick layer of a black, sticky substance. Countless fine threads formed massive webs that trembled and whimpered in the wind.

Inside black, cocoon-like bundles, one could faintly see the remains of various creatures: squirrels, rabbits, roe deer, wolves, wild boars, and even humans... Some were just a layer of skin, their flesh and organs shriveled and dry, all their essence drained away.

Beyond that, Wang Xi also saw humanoid stone statues standing amidst the trees. Some were broken and missing limbs, while others looked quite new.

The statues were in various poses, but most were twisted in agony, as if frozen in their final moments before death.

"..."

Wang Xi stopped dead in his tracks and shot a glance at the black-haired boy beside him.

’So, you call *this* black stockings?’

’Then again...’

’He’s not exactly wrong.’

’They certainly have a slimming effect. You’re left with just a sack of skin hanging there.’

Enchanted Wedding Dress: A web spun from the black silk of the Demon "Eight-Eyed Catcher," it is tough and contains a paralytic toxin. Typically used for creating traps and capturing prey.

Petrified Statue: Adventurers who were cursed and turned to stone after meeting the gaze of the Gorgon, Medusa. They are long dead, but their tragic deaths serve as a warning to all who follow—Do not look into Medusa’s eyes! Do not look!

"Gai."

At that moment, Pinocchio leaned in and lowered his voice.

"Looks like we’re near the Black Lake, and have entered the territory of the Eight-Eyed Catchers and Petrifying Lizards."

"Yeah," Wang Xi nodded. "Let’s be careful. Try not to make too much noise."

The two slowed their pace and continued forward.

Pinocchio reminded him again in a low voice:

"If we run into these two types of Demons, we have to be especially careful of their leaders. The leader of the Eight-Eyed Catchers is the ’Textile Witch,’ Arachne. Once she traps you, it’s almost impossible to break free..."

As he spoke, the boy’s brow furrowed slightly.

"As for the leader of the Petrifying Lizards, the ’Gorgon’ Medusa, she’s even tougher. They say that without exception, all the Adventurers who came to hunt her have been turned into stone statues."

Wang Xi had heard of the fearsome Medusa more than once; she was a staple in the fantasy works of his previous life.

’She’s practically a veteran actress.’

"Okay." He thought for a moment, then added, "As long as we don’t look into her eyes, we’ll be fine, right?"

"Yes, whatever you do, don’t make eye contact with her!"

Pinocchio’s smile vanished, his tone becoming incredibly grave.

...

...

The two made their way through the bushes.

A lake came into view.

The lake was enormous, surrounded by dense, quiet woods, with endless mountain ranges in the distance.

The water was pitch-black and perfectly still, like a polished black mirror.

"Look! White corpses!"

Pinocchio grabbed Wang Xi’s arm, pointing to the lakeshore several dozen meters away.

’Again?!’

Even though Wang Xi was mentally prepared this time, he couldn’t help but take a second look.

The lakeshore was littered with clusters of white corpses, roughly ten or twenty of them by a quick count. Among them were ferocious spiders the size of millstones and giant lizards comparable in size to crocodiles.

Both types of Demons were entirely white. The spiders had pale fuzz on their round abdomens and the tips of their jointed legs, while the giant lizards were covered in grayish-white scales.

The gravelly shore was spattered with dark green ichor. From the looks of it, the two sides had just fought a major battle.

It had been quite brutal.

RUMBLE...

RUMBLE...

Just then, a loud roar echoed from the woods beyond the field of corpses.

A flock of black birds flapped their wings, flying out from the canopy in a panic and fleeing into the distance.

"There’s a fight over there," Pinocchio said softly, staring intently. "Those two groups of Darkened Demons might still be at it. Should we go take a look?"

"No rush."

Wang Xi held up a hand to stop him.

Pinocchio stood to the side, waiting for what would come next.

But Wang Xi said nothing more. He just looked around furtively, then closed his eyes and used 「Listen to Heartbeat」 to scan the area. After confirming there was no danger, he quickly broke into a run toward the Demon corpses.

’I reckon nobody wants these Demon corpses...’

’And if nobody wants ’em, I’ll be takin’ ’em!’

SHING!

He drew the dagger from his waist and, with a quick and precise motion, sliced open the belly of a Petrifying Lizard. Forcing down his disgust, he dug out the fist-sized heart. He wrapped it in a piece of leather he had prepared, tied it tightly with a thin cord, and stowed it away securely.

"Got it!"

Wang Xi broke into a smile.

He hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. He’d stumbled upon a lucky find right away, getting the material needed for the Demon Hunting commission just like that.

According to Kaos’s analysis, this heart was the source of the Petrifying Lizard’s power and contained 50 points of Energy.

That was equivalent to one of Pinocchio’s little lies.

He only kept that one.

As for the hearts in the other corpses, he didn’t even bother to take them out. He just sliced open their bellies with his dagger, reached in, and converted them directly into Energy.

Under Pinocchio’s astonished gaze, Gai bustled about like an old farmer rushing to bring in the harvest, dashing between the corpses. With every flash of his knife, his smile grew wider.

’Gai...’

’He really loves Demon Hunting, doesn’t he.’

Pinocchio rested his chin on his hand, stroking it thoughtfully.

In less than a few minutes, all the Petrifying Lizard corpses on the ground had been disemboweled. Their hearts vanished into thin air, converted into Energy.

「Energy: 1300」

There were 11 Petrifying Lizard corpses in total. Excluding the one he kept for the commission, the remaining hearts provided a total of 500 Energy. Adding in the crystal that had grown from Pinocchio’s crotch, his accumulated Energy was now back in the four-digit range.

Wang Xi was very satisfied.

He was just about to go treasure-hunting on the spider corpses when he suddenly felt the ground tremble.

BOOM!!

It was as if something massive had slammed into the ground, the sound deafening.

He looked up—

And saw a white, rhino-sized giant spider crashing wretchedly onto the shore ahead, sending gravel flying.

Connected to the front of its body was the torso of a beautiful woman. Her waist-length golden hair covered the crucial parts, and her features were exceptionally lovely.

The woman’s face was contorted in pain, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

「Darkened Spider Witch Arachne (Crimson/Three Stars)」

The entry was covered in Bronze Patterns, indicating it was clearly an Elite unit.

"Medusa! Get out of my territory!"

Arachne shrieked.

Her answer was a melodious, cold laugh.

Before Wang Xi and Pinocchio’s eyes, an alluring figure slithered out from the woods.

It was a mature woman with long, dark green hair. Upon closer inspection, one could see that her "hair" was actually a mass of writhing little snakes, rearing their heads and flicking their tongues.

Her face was just as exquisite, and her figure was even more outstanding—especially her massive breasts, which far exceeded human standards. She had no legs; in their place was a long, dark green snake’s tail.

「Darkened Gorgon Medusa (Crimson/Four Stars)」

A Bronze Pattern Entry, an Elite unit.

Because of the distance, Wang Xi carefully sized her up from a slight angle.

’As long as I don’t make eye contact with her...’

He stared, and soon, he froze.

His expression changed drastically.

’Fuck! No wonder all the Adventurers who came to hunt her ended up dead!’

Medusa had no eyes on her face at all!

Her eyes—

Were on her massive breasts!

Who the hell could resist looking at that?!

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