“Ahhh…”
From within the encirclement of stone giants came a series of desperate, anguished roars. Just as he was about to meet his bitter end, all the stone giants suddenly stopped attacking and dispersed, standing still once more.
As the encirclement opened up, a tall, burly young Asian man collapsed onto the ground, gasping for the dry air, almost in tears but unable to cry.
Around him, there wasn’t a single stone giant corpse. However, there were quite a few broken defensive magical tools. He himself was completely unharmed, just utterly exhausted, his clothes already soaked through.
After a brief rest, he quickly got up, wanting to leave this dreadful place and see if he could find a safe zone without any stone giants.
Who knew when those things would wake up again?
Five kilometers directly ahead of him, Su Mo stretched his arms and let out a satisfied sigh.
All around him were fragments of crushed stone. There wasn’t a single intact stone to be found.
Stone giants?
Within a one-kilometer radius, there were none left.
“That was one hour.” Su Mo glanced at his watch. He was starting to form a hypothesis, but he couldn’t be sure if things would continue following this pattern.
He looked at the stone giants outside the one-kilometer range and noticed they showed no signs of having moved. This meant they only attacked when they detected someone within one kilometer. Those outside that range wouldn’t budge.
Taking advantage of the moment when the stone giants were immobile, he placed his Yin Fire on one of them to test its corrosive effect. The result was quite impressive.
However, the process was relatively slow and not very useful during combat. After all, these creatures didn’t feel pain. Unless you smashed their heads, they could keep fighting almost forever.
Just as he was studying the stone giant’s body, a white figure approached from a distance, exclaiming in amazement as he walked: “Oh, my gosh. Who did all this? That’s incredible.”
Su Mo looked toward the sound and saw a tall Asian man dressed entirely in white. He was at least two meters tall, with muscles that made him look very strong, and he wore a white hat on his head.
“Hey there, friend. Did you smash all these stone giants?”
Su Mo stared at him warily. Only after sensing that his rank was just C-level did he relax a little. “What do you want?”
The young Asian man’s eyes lit up. “Oh, my lady! Could you let me tag along with you? Those stone giants are way too hard to fight. I’ve already broken several of my magical tools. At this rate, I won’t last much longer.”
Su Mo looked at his sincere expression, felt absolutely unmoved, and blurted out, “No.”
The young Asian man was stunned. He clearly hadn’t expected Su Mo to refuse so bluntly.
Which jerk told me that East Asians are generally more indirect when they speak?
Oh, I almost forgot… that jerk was my grandfather…
“I can pay you!” The young man pulled a large handful of gold bars out of his spatial magical tool and held them out with both hands. Seeing no reaction from Su Mo, he pulled out a few more. “I’ve got tons of these things. If you agree to let me follow you and protect me from the stone giants, all of these are yours.”
As he spoke, he pulled out even more.
Su Mo stared, wide-eyed. No way. Is this guy really this rich?
He didn’t lack money himself at the moment, but he certainly didn’t have the audacity to pull out gold bars like they were beans, one handful after another.
Still, given the man’s attire, he could kind of understand.
“Uh… I guess it’s not impossible,” Su Mo said, thinking to himself that if he still refused at this point, he’d be disrespecting the gold bars themselves.
That’s right. He had to show those gold bars some respect.
“You agree?” The young man was overjoyed. He quickly shoved a handful of gold bars into Su Mo’s hands, afraid he might change his mind.
Feeling the heavy weight in his hand, Su Mo’s mouth twitched. This is insane!
The other guy had large hands and had grabbed a big bunch. It took Su Mo several trips to store them all in his jade hairpin. He was just about to say, “Stick with me, and I guarantee you’ll be safe,” when the man unexpectedly spoke first: “That’s a welcome gift, plus today’s protection fee. Starting tomorrow, I’ll give you ten bars a day, and you keep the stone giants off me. How about that?”
The words Su Mo was about to say got stuck in his throat. He was silent for a long moment. The man, thinking he found the price too low, gritted his teeth and said, “Twenty bars a day! I can’t go any higher!”
Uh, kid… who taught you to negotiate like this???
Afraid the man might raise the offer again, Su Mo quickly agreed.
The young Asian man jumped three feet high on the spot, cheering happily, “Great! Now I don’t have to use my own strength anymore.”
He noticed the beautiful young woman standing nearby, then gave an awkward smile and said politely, “Hello, my name is Kash. I’m from West Asia. And you?”
Su Mo thought to himself that his guess had been right – this guy really was from West Asia. He smiled back and said, “My name is Chiba Masaka. You can call me Chiba.”
“Elder Sister Chiba.”
“Uh, you’re probably older than me. Just call me by my name.”
Kash said firmly, “No. You’re stronger than me, so I should call you Elder Sister.”
“Alright, fine.” Su Mo’s gaze swept over his body, and he asked tentatively, “Which organization are you here representing?”
Kash grinned. “I don’t represent any organization. I’m just here for myself. And I’m not here for any opportunity either – just came in to experience things.”
Su Mo asked suspiciously, “Did you pay your way in?”
“Yep. My grandfather sent gifts to both the Samurai Association and the shrine, so they gave me a spot.”
Su Mo held his forehead. “Rich people are just something else!”
“It’s not too bad. The gold bars my grandfather gave away were all produced in our own mines. The purity might not have been very high.”
Su Mo’s expression: (ﾟ⊿ﾟ)ﾂ
He didn’t dare continue the conversation. If he kept going, he was afraid his worldview would shatter completely. So he quickly changed the subject. “Just stay close to me from now on. I won’t let you get hurt at all.”
“Okay.” As if remembering something, Kash suddenly took out a wristband and handed it to Su Mo. “This is a triggered defensive magic tool. It can block any attack below A-rank three times. To help you protect me better, I’m giving it to you.”
“Oh, I really shouldn’t…”
“Don’t worry. I still have plenty on me. Just take it.”
“…Alright.”
You take the money, you handle the trouble.
The two continued exploring and moving forward. When the second wave of attacks came, Su Mo was like a war god descending to earth. The stone giants couldn’t even get within three meters of Kash’s body.
Kash was stunned. She’s so strong! I feel like she’s even stronger than the B-rank bodyguards at home. When we get out, I should ask if she’d be interested in working for my family. As for salary… she can name her price.
They fought and advanced, finally making it to nighttime.
Su Mo’s expression grew serious. He warned Kash, who didn’t seem scared at all, “It’s dark now. This place might become even more dangerous than before. Be careful.”
“Okay, Elder Sister Chiba.”
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the world seemed to change – not visually, but tactilely.
“Something’s wrong. Why does walking feel harder and harder? It’s like something is pressing down on my shoulders.” Kash noticed something was off.
“The gravity has increased. Now that nighttime has come, the gravity is about five times what it was originally.”
“Huh?”
Su Mo took a deep breath. Just as I thought. The Kun Realm is much more terrifying at night. Looks like this is going to be a rough night.
