Leaving the Graveyard and crossing the river, Cheng Tian and the others successfully entered the jungle Region filled with towering trees.
Under the obscurement of the dense tree shade, the already Pitch Black jungle appeared even darker.
It was fortunate that they kept the lighter found by One-Ear and the others when crossing the river; otherwise, the few of them would probably have had to grope their way through the jungle in the dark.
He chopped down a thick tree branch, tore off several strips of cloth from Blood Scab, who looked resentful, used the temporary bonfire along with the resin scraped off by melting it with Cheng Tian's helmet, and finally assembled a torch that was clearly very durable.
One torch per person.
As for how to find the correct path leading to the end of the Instance, it was all dependent on the Man-eating Flowers distributed along the necessary path on the jungle floor.
It was probably due to the benevolence of the Chosen Space; since the difficulty had already been ramped up for novice Players regarding Enemies, they were being lenient with pathfinding.
These Man-eating Flowers, positioned like signposts, inherently possessed the Instinct to attack any living thing indiscriminately, and the Fireballs occasionally spat from their mouths to Kill small animals were especially conspicuous in the Pitch Black jungle.
... Aren't they afraid of setting themselves on fire too?
Although he had doubts in his mind, Cheng Tian, whose hands never stopped working, accurately Killed the Man-eating Flowers and a newly appearing batch of Monster Units with a Throwing Object of a straight sword imbued with Holy Damage during the process of clearing the map.
This was a Specter-type Monster Unit, kin to the Ghost Armor, appearing like a mini little wizard wearing a Hood, with eyes faintly visible in the shadow.
Compared to the Zombies spawning in the Graveyard, the advantage of these Specter little wizards was their Flight capability, meaning they were completely unrestricted by the Terrain, and they also possessed ranged attack abilities using peculiar Throwing Objects that resembled scallions.
They were the type of Enemies that become very troublesome once they form a large group.
But their weakness was similar to Zombies: their HP was very low, possibly even less resilient than the fleshier Zombies that had Blood Scabs.
Cheng Tian simply reloaded the Vampire Hunter Template, applying the Holy Damage from Vampire Killer onto his Blank Slate straight sword, successfully stacking it to achieve an Instant Kill effect on them.
Just like the Strength Attribute, the Spirit Attribute also had a Mana Regeneration effect. With the enhancement from the Gentleman's Cane in his Off Hand, Cheng Tian's 14 Spirit provided a recovery rate of about 1.4 MP per minute, while the Underpants' Comes with Knight Throw required 5 MP consumption each time. Theoretically, Cheng Mouren needed about three minutes of 'sage time' to replenish the MP consumed by Knight Throw.
But don't forget, Cheng Tian had a Template Skill called Soul Salvation, which allowed him to obtain Innocent Souls while Killing monsters.
Loading and unloading the Vampire Hunter Template did not reset the number of Souls Cheng Tian had accumulated, leaving Cheng Mouren holding nearly a hundred Innocent Souls.
What surprised Cheng Tian somewhat was that these "Innocent Souls" originating from the "Vampire Hunter" Template had surprisingly high compatibility with the Knight Throw attached to Arthur's Proof.
Only 1 Innocent Soul was needed to directly Cancel out the 5 MP consumption of Knight Throw.
Cheng Tian estimated that this was likely due to Template Stacking, where Arthur's throwing ability was being interpreted as Simon using a Secondary Weapon.
In Castlevania I, besides being able to use the long whip for Close Combat attacks, Players could also throw Secondary Weapons—Small Knives, Throwing Axes, Crosses, Holy Water bottles—to Kill enemies from a distance, and there was even the great killer weapon known as the 'Time Stop Watch'!
... Alright, calling it 'Time Stop' is a bit of an exaggeration, but after it's Activated, it can temporarily pause the actions of the vast majority of non-BOSS Monster Unit entities within the current Scene of the entire Castlevania, while the user can move and attack without restraint.
And these Secondary Weapons required Innocent Souls as Spellcasting Material.
Secondary Weapons like the Small Knife or Throwing Axe only consumed 1 Soul each time, and even an item as ridiculously powerful as the Time Stop Watch only required 5 Souls.
Cheng Tian's Mana Bar limit was 140, and he had accumulated over 90 Innocent Souls. Killing monsters continued to grant Souls probabilistically, and he had even stacked his damage to the point where he could Instant Kill small monsters in one hit.
So, as he fought, a situation of the electricity meter running in reverse occurred for him. Due to the alternating use of Mana and Souls, his Mana Bar barely depleted, and the occasional drop of Innocent Souls actually caused his overall reserve to increase.
This situation left Ghost Cicada utterly confused.
While the world of Pokémon certainly didn't lack capable Trainers, and many understood Fighting techniques and Psychokinesis, a Trainer like Cheng Tian, who kept his Ghost Cicada off the field to save its Mana and chased after Enemies the entire time, could only be described as rare.
One-Ear and Blood Scab once again solidified their belief in clinging to a strong backer.
From the river island location where they dealt with the Ghost Armor to the main gate of the Demon King's Castle where the Instance's final BOSS resided, the straight-line distance was only about 5 kilometers. However, the paths in the jungle were not straight, and even with paths trodden out by the sacrificed Kingdom Knights, the overall terrain was quite rugged.
Not only were the paths rugged, but a Dark atmosphere, seemingly possessing an Evil will, constantly enveloped everyone. Coupled with harassment from Man-eating Flowers and the mini Specters, and only allowing Cheng Tian and Ghost Cicada to fight, along with temporary breaks to replenish torches and boil water, they took nearly two hours to cover these five straight kilometers.
But it wasn't entirely without extra gains.
Cheng Tian's Main and Off-hand Equipment Slots were filled with the straight sword and the cane, while the first two slots in his Inventory held the "Demon King's Castle Map (Limited)" and "Red Demon's Wings (Material)".
The Two-handed Hammer and One-handed Axe had been temporarily relinquished by Cheng Tian and were now assigned to One-Ear and Blood Scab. Considering the Cyclops's size and Strength, trying to engage it head-on was a pipe dream, so Strength-based weapons were useless; movement speed and attack rate were the key.
In the third and fourth slots, he had placed a stack of two Money Bags and a stack of three King Statues, respectively.
【Money Bag: Valuables. The common currency of the Demon World Village worldview. It contains 50 Kingdom Silver Coins, which can be directly exchanged for 50 Chosen Coins in the Chosen Space. 】
【King Statue: Valuables. A King Statue crafted from special material, possessing some value, exchangeable for 40 Chosen Coins. 】
【Additional Note: In the worldview of other Blueprints, Valuables might yield greater profit than direct exchange, but they could also be worthless. 】
Unlike Treasure Chests which directly place items into the Wealth column, these Valuables require an extra step for monetization, which means they might occupy Inventory slots for that purpose.
Furthermore, these Valuables from the Demon World Village might have potential uses in other Instances.
Fortunately, Valuables can be stacked, which is a slightly comforting setting amidst all the trouble.
Just in case, Cheng Tian reserved one empty slot, and the fifth slot conspicuously held a Mishi Windmill he hadn't dared to touch before.
Of course, this wasn't the one with the Negative effect, but the second Easter Egg triggered on the second river island near the Instance's end. This Mishi Windmill was a Valuable, directly exchangeable for 500 Chosen Coins—one-third the value of Killing the Red Demon, and ten times that of a Money Bag.
Regarding the fact that Cheng Tian took all the Valuables, the other two, at least on the surface, had no objections, and Cheng Mouren, who had been fighting all along, had absolutely no intention of making any concessions.
This is what I deserve! This is my money!
...
One-Ear and Blood Scab instinctively swallowed, because the behemoth blocking their path to surviving the Demon World Village had entered their line of sight.
Even while sitting cross-legged and dozing off, they could see that its raised Upper Body, with its rear end sticking up, was already nearly taller than a two-story residential building, with arms and thigh muscles as thick as large rocks, and it was clad in sleeveless metal Armor with spikes on the surface.
The towering single horn directly above its head, and the huge upper and lower eyelids on its ugly face that were clearly closed due to napping, all confirmed its identity.
It was the Cyclops, one of the six Demon Generals guarding the first major gate upon officially entering the Demon King's Castle!
Thanks for the tip from "I Was Originally an Emperor"!