Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 551 - 47: Cyclops!

Dark clouds gathered densely; the earth was cracked and dry, with hillocks of stone rising intermittently. A few clusters of dark green thorns rose from the crevasses. In the distance, an oasis in the shape of a crescent moon was guarded, and the tranquil black waters of the lake could just be seen extending to the horizon.

This was the Giant Lake, rumored to be haunted by a Cyclops.

The steam car carried two people along a fork in the road, traveling for a full two days. They took turns driving, the scenery growing increasingly desolate, with the weather visibly deteriorating to the naked eye.

However, other than a bare lake, they didn’t even find a taller tree, let alone the legendary Cyclops.

"You know, the Cyclops is often seen near Giant Lake; but only the brave can witness the fabled Giant Lake. Most mediocrities, even if they come to this land, only see a desert and completely miss the vision of Giant Lake. Since we can see the water, we’ll definitely encounter the Cyclops,"

Jane said confidently from the driver’s seat.

Upon hearing this, Li Yan turned his head to look at the lake, frowning deeply.

Suddenly, a bright white skeleton flew out from the waters, landing precisely on the hood of the car. Jane jumped with fright and before she could regain her composure, a thunderclap split the sky directly in front of her eyes!

Boom, rumble~

Jane glared furiously as the car swerved sharply, flipping over. The Hunting Crossbow in the backseat also toppled to the ground.

Bang!

Ejected into mid-air, Jane somersaulted and landed smoothly amidst the thick steam.

On the hillock was a pitch-black scar, only half a meter away from the steam car, with faint tendrils of blue smoke still rising.

"Liang? Are you all right?"

Jane called out while turning on the winding switch of her personal "Unicorn" weapon tied to her waist.

But before Li Yan could respond, a thunderous roar came from the lake.

"Bring me humans to eat, fat or thin, men roasted, women steamed alive."

With that, the lake water churned up a great spray, and a massive black giant leaped ashore. It stood as tall as a tower, with teeth like pig tusks, a mouth as large as a windmill, and a dark, thick tongue that hung down to its chest. On its shoulders perched ears like felts, and it sported nails like lion claws. It was dressed in strange leather patched together, and it emitted a foul odor.

Jane bit her lip, with every component of her Unicorn emitting an urgent humming sound. The five Tri-Orb Devices installed on her elbows, knees, and back began to tremble at once.

"The helmet and close combat weapons are under the car."

Jane cursed herself for her carelessness. But in the blink of an eye,

the giant had already noticed her. Its eyes lit up and it lunged towards Jane with legs as long as locust trees.

Thump!

Jet streams shot out from the soles of the Unicorn’s boots, propelling Jane into the air. Two grenades she released from behind traced an arc and landed on the giant, exploding into a massive fireball.

Jane shielded her head with her armguard, passing through the blast to reach the overturned steam car. Relying on the strength of her Unicorn armguard, she flipped the car over but did not find Li Yan—only her own Unicorn helmet.

Suddenly, a muffled noise came from behind her. Dressing in the Unicorn, Jane pounced forward like a cheetah, narrowly evading the clutter of clanking bones.

A chill shot through Jane’s heart, not from seeing the bones but because...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several thunderous blasts targeted the bones, also sending Jane flying.

As the fire died down, the black giant was slightly charred. It pulled out two human skeletons from its leather trousers, waving them in its hands while bellowing, "Men roasted, women, also roasted!"

Suspended in mid-air, the Unicorn-clad Jane emitted wisps of white smoke, but her expression remained determined.

"More destructive weapons need the helmet to launch. Only four normal grenades are left, and standard bullets won’t be effective. I was too confident. If I had brought Michael and the others to distract, things might have been better."

"Bang!"

A bullet landed askew in the giant’s eye, causing it to flinch with a stinging pain and stagger backward, clutching its eye.

Behind a rocky hill that suddenly rose on the shore of the lake, Li Yan held his gun in his right hand, aiming at the giant, while gesturing with his other hand to Jane, telling her to fetch his helmet.

Jane’s combat abilities were indeed exceptional. Without much communication with Li Yan, she took the moment the giant covered its eyes to draw a net shooter, entangling the giant’s head and both hands in the net. Then, activating all her steam ejectors, she once again rushed towards her helmet.

The giant struggled for a few seconds before tearing apart the capture net, which was embedded with iron wire in oil-soaked hemp. Li Yan fired two shots, lacking his previous accuracy, with the bullets landing between the giant’s toes, only to thoroughly infuriate the giant. It charged with a roar, covering a distance of over ten meters in almost one step and instantly reaching Li Yan’s side.

Li Yan fired his gun carelessly, dodging the giant’s palm with a small jump, then lunging forward to reach the giant’s heel. When he raised his hand to shoot, he realized he was out of bullets.

The giant was by no means clumsy; at least, ordinary people did not possess the agility and composure to play hide-and-seek with it.

Li Yan slipped his revolver back into his pocket, and just in time Jane bellowed, "Jump into the water and get out of here!"

Without a word, Li Yan somersaulted into the water.

Four grenades crossed in a diamond pattern before viciously slamming onto the giant!

The giant paid them no mind, advancing unaffected by the explosions, hurling human bones at Jane that could attract lightning. This time, it was furious, grabbing seven or eight bones at once and, with both hands, scattering a large number of bones towards Jane.

A silver shadow darted at lightning speed through the artillery-like white bones, with thunder following close behind.

The Hex-Core Unicorn’s proudest design concepts were high mobility and high lethality. Jane, like a dragonfly skimming water, wove and dodged, leaving no thunderbolt to touch her, allowing her to push forward more than a hundred meters and reach the giant.

With a cunning twist, she evaded the giant’s palm, extending two steam-powered chainsaws a meter long and striking them against the giant’s neck, but to little avail, the blades penetrating merely a few centimeters. Even as the serrated edges spun wildly, they could not cut deep, and Jane decisively abandoned the chainsaws, raised her elbow, and several round grenades slid down the giant’s skin and into its trousers.

These movements wasted too much time, and the shadow of the giant’s palm nearly enveloped her!

Boom, boom, boom~

The series of explosions made the giant’s trousers bulge, with flames sweeping up and down through the leg openings. The sticky orange flames burned through flesh and skin, causing the giant to howl in agony to the heavens.

These grenades were made using special phosphorus compounds, with highly corrosive flames that could stick to flesh and burrow into bones. Even cannibalistic giants couldn’t withstand it.

This was the Steam Princess’s last resort, but still, the giant was not dealt a fatal blow. It even maintained its vigorous and ferocious desire to attack, launching an assault on Jane, who was nearly out of weapons that could potentially kill it. Except for...

Li Yan aimed the Hunting Crossbow and, upon the rail, he loaded a cyan giant arrow, hooking the string, hands wavering with the aiming monocular between the giant and the unicorn.

Suddenly, Jane sprinted in front of the giant, but halfway through seemed to run out of steam and started to fall. Delighted, the giant reached out its fist to smash the metal shell when a giant arrow directly hit its face, plunging into the giant’s eye socket and burying over two meters of its length.

Bang!

The giant collapsed, powerless.

Jane also crashed to the ground, her hair almost soaked with sweat. She struggled to sit up and shouted to Li Yan, "We did it, Liang."

Li Yan peeked out from behind the Hunting Crossbow, "Maybe we did, or maybe we didn’t. Aren’t the giants of legend cyclopes with only one eye? But it had two."

Jane was taken aback at his words.

Li Yan pointed at the lake surface.

The waters of Giant Lake, disturbed by the repeated explosions, churned restlessly, with earth continually falling into the water from the shore. But gradually, Jane sensed something was off. The lake seemed to be shrinking.

Yes, it was shrinking...

The crescent-shaped oasis...

The barren lake...

Only the brave could witness the legend of Giant Lake...

Jane suddenly screamed, "Run!"

This was no lake at all; it was an eye!

The real Cyclops’s eye!