It doesn't matter what the lord is.

The mountain had no name for the time being, so Reed decided to name it Jie Tian Peak according to its shape and size.

Following the same logic, the previous lake was also called Fried Egg Lake by Lid.

It takes about three to four hours to walk from Jiandan Lake to Jietian Peak, but this is the time required to walk in the dark at night. During the day, the visibility has improved significantly, and there is no need to worry about stepping on empty air and falling into the abyss. The walking speed is also obviously much faster. In fact, it only took two hours to return from Jietian Peak to Jiandan Lake.

If the giants were to walk this distance, they would definitely be able to cover it faster.

This time, Lid needed to prepare a lot of things, the first of which was at least 1,500 kilograms of live fish. Although it sounds like a lot, the fish that Alaya had caught at the lake pavilion that looked a bit like a bluefin tuna weighed about 200 kilograms. This was only considered a medium-sized creature in the lake. The lantern fish that Lid saw that night was conservatively estimated to be more than 500 kilograms, which was about the weight of eight adults.

However, fishing on the shore alone would not be enough to catch so many fish. So Lid once again came to the center of the lake. The lake was not as lively during the day as it was at night, but Lid knew very well that there was a bottomless abyss full of dangers below.

Following the principle of retreating when the enemy advances, and with the strong support of Shiloh and Alayya, Lid finally spent a lot of effort to catch enough fish. The lake was very large, and after Lid had caused chaos in one place, he quickly moved to another place to continue tossing and turning, and did not have too much contact with those terrifying creatures. Anyway, one was on the ice and the other was under the ice, and Lid would have run away by the time they hit the ice.

The monsters living at the bottom of the lake did not really break the ice. Except for a few places where there were serious cracks in the ice, there were no major abnormalities elsewhere. Because of the heavy snow and wind, the excavated parts quickly froze again. Lid had to be careful to remember which places had been excavated before, otherwise he might fall into the water while fishing near them.

Seven large fish, about three or four meters long, were piled on the shore, with a pile of fish of varying sizes placed next to them.

Alea lay on the snow, breathing heavily. This kind of hunting was more exhausting than directly fighting with the giants.

Shiloh was also a little tired. She rubbed her belly, squatted down and looked closely at the fresh fish on the shore, swallowing her saliva non-stop, feeling that she would have a chance to have a big meal today. Unexpectedly, Lid put his hands under her armpits, picked her up and put her aside, letting her go to chop trees with Alayya.

The wood of coniferous trees is dry and hard, and after several trees were cut down, the ice field became completely bare.

Alayya split the tree trunk into long strips, and under the leadership of Lid, she and Shiloh carried the pile of things and walked eastward. The little slime had slept in the box for the whole morning, and now it had recovered its spirits and came out from Lid's collar to watch the fun.

In fact, when things were halfway set up, Shiloh had already guessed what Lid wanted to do. She faithfully implemented Lid's idea to the extreme, using her light and flexible body to help Lid build one barbecue grill after another that was taller than a person.

There is a small barbecue grill every five hundred meters or so, and three or four small grills are followed by several large grills. The caught fish are also distributed according to the size of the grills. In some places, a lot of fish meat will be placed close together, just like a reward level.

It extends all the way to the vicinity of Jie Tian Peak.

We went back and forth several times, after all, no one could carry such heavy supplies all at once. It took several people until the evening to set up everything. Finally, we started from the grill closest to the mountain. We put a burning stick on the firewood of each grill. When the stick burned to a certain degree, we would ignite the dry firewood. This took about fifteen to twenty minutes.

To do this, you need to spend some effort in advance to make a simple windbreak with ice and snow to prevent the wooden strips from extinguishing prematurely.

This completes all the preparations.

Fishing requires bait, and the same is true for fishing giants.

For the giants who don't know how to use tools, there is no chance to become fishing masters in the cold winter. When the aroma of grilled fish drifted all the way to the foot of the mountain, the giants living here couldn't help but stand up. The cold wind brought the aroma of food, which was a grand occasion that had never happened before. If they also had the habit of thanking the gods before eating like humans, they should have put their hands together and started praying.

But food is limited. Even the lesser giants, who have little wisdom, know this well.

When food is found, those who arrive there first often get the meat, while those who arrive later have to drink the northwest wind that others have breathed. So the moment they smelled the fragrance, the hungry giants chose to rush forward. The number was even greater than Lid had imagined, not dozens, but as many as two or three hundred, like a landslide.

Lid still underestimated the giants' desire for food. At first, there were perhaps only a few dozen of them, but soon a group effect was triggered, and many giants began to run with their companions without even smelling the fragrance.

Then, they arrived at the first [Supply Station].

This is the fish grilling place closest to the mountain. About a quarter of the grilled fish are placed here. There are more than a dozen grills scattered around. The first giant to arrive pounced on the largest one. Some of the giants behind began to scramble for the remaining grilled fish, while the others had keenly discovered the grills in the distance that no one was interested in, and started a race all the way west.

This amount of grilled fish was distributed to a giant team of this size, and each giant actually got very little. The giants who ate the fish were not full, but were tempted by the food and became more fanatical. The urgency of the giants who didn't get the food was completely visible to the naked eye. Every time food appeared where they could see it, it was swallowed up by others. Even wild beasts would be anxious.

Some of the giants have begun fighting among themselves with roars, while the rest of the giants continue to move westward following the food.

If the large grill is always used, the sense of competition will be greatly reduced. If the small grill is always used, some weaker giants will give up because they can't get food. But Lid adopts a middle strategy, allowing most giants to see a lot of fish and eat a small amount of fish, and their desire will become more and more intense.

So, they rushed towards the Fried Egg Lake in a mighty force.

On the lake, the golden and crispy roasted fish was waving to them.

The giants who traveled a long distance to get here were determined to get it, and the aroma of the food gave them enough reason.

The giants who arrived first rushed forward without hesitation.

When I stepped onto the ice, nothing happened.

Of course, how could the solid ice that even the monsters under the lake couldn't break easily collapse so easily?

It was fine if one went over, it was fine if two went over, it was fine if three, four, five, or six went over... However, when dozens of giants were running, fighting, clamoring, and fighting on the ice, cracks began to appear on part of the ice surface, especially the place where Lid had fished.

Then there were hundreds and hundreds of them. The grilled fish in the center of the lake had been eaten by the first giants to arrive, but the subsequent giants were still coming here in an endless stream. They didn't know that the food had disappeared, they only knew to run in the direction where they last saw food.

A cold wind blew.

When the giant who had first finished eating the grilled fish in the middle of the lake had the idea of ​​"going back", a huge crack suddenly appeared on the ice under his feet, and the crackling sound was so loud that it hurt his eardrums. The thick ice on the vast lake finally collapsed in the middle under the strong pressure brought by the giants. The once solid foothold disappeared in an instant, and the icy water completely paralyzed the nerves of the giants who were already insensitive to pain.

Realizing that they had fallen into the water, the giants began to struggle, but the indescribable huge black shadow under the lake was also approaching them in twos and threes.

45. From the Deep Ocean

The giants living nearby have some understanding of the load-bearing capacity of the ice surface.

They often cross the frozen lake in winter and have never had any problems. They have also walked on the ice in large groups during migration before, and nothing unusual has happened. The lake is dangerous, this is a fact they know, but the ice is relatively safe, and this concept has been deeply rooted in their minds.

Therefore, after falling into the water, many giants didn't know what happened for a while, and they were stunned for a moment before they began to panic. When people are drowning, they will struggle desperately, and the splashes of water are quite large. The giants, who are about ten times the size of humans, use their muscular arms to hit the water surface, and the huge waves they raise are several meters high. In addition, there are so many giants who fell into the water, the whole lake seems to be boiling, and circles of waves are like a tsunami, sweeping towards the shore.

They can only struggle freely for such a short time.

When a lantern fish from the bottom of the lake bit off the ankle of a giant, blood began to spread silently in the lake. The bloody smell turned a simple "fall into the water" into a disaster.

If these water overlords hadn't come, at least two-thirds of the giants would have been able to crawl back to the shore. There were still large pieces of ice floating on the water, and even those who couldn't swim could have held them and floated back to the shore. But unfortunately, the danger of Fried Egg Lake was far more than just the cold water. There were man-eating beasts roaming under the lake.

After the ice surface was broken, the underwater monster finally revealed its tip. It was a creature that looked even more hideous and terrifying than the giants. A black fish with two rows of red eyes on both sides of its body tore off one of the giant's right legs. While tearing it with its sharp teeth, it used dozens of eyes on both sides to examine everything around it. The eyeballs of each eye were moving rapidly, looking in different directions, forming a weird picture.

The strange-faced lantern fish that had met Lid before was also quite active. Its face looked even more ferocious after surfacing. Its teeth flashed a dim light, first gnawing off the giant's hard skin, and then cutting off pieces of meat from it. The giants were invincible creatures on land, but all their struggles in the water seemed so pale and powerless. Even though their powerful fists had beaten some strange fish into pulp several times, they could not prevent the disproportionate casualties on both sides.

Here, they are just food.

Reed asked Alea and Shilo not to participate in the shocking battle in the center of the lake. Even though a large number of giants were torn into pieces and many lacquered moon armors were dropped, Reed just watched those precious materials sink to the bottom of the lake.

He only let Alaya and Shiloh guard the shore. Two or three hundred giants would always be able to swim to the shore. All Alaya and Shiloh had to do was to finish off those giants who were wounded, exhausted, and finally saw hope of survival after struggling. Move quickly and cut off the finger with the lacquered moon armor quickly, and leave the rest to the fish monster in the water.

And Reed sat on a high rock in the distance, overlooking the fight in the lake.

To be precise, it is observing these guys living in the water.

At first, Reed didn't think there was anything unusual, but as the number of active strange fish increased and their size grew larger, Reed began to have to think about a question - if they didn't go to other territories to plunder food, the fish and shrimp living in the Far North were one of the food sources for the giants, so what could such huge aquatic creatures eat?

Feeding on giants? This does not conform to scientific logic. Their main food source cannot be giants.

Feeding on small fish? That's possible, but Lid doesn't think there will be enough algae growing in this lake covered in ice and snow for the small fish and shrimp at the end of the food chain to eat. There is no sunlight here all year round, and the ice and snow are so thick that most plants cannot survive here.

After all, although this lake is quite large from a human perspective, it is not large enough to accommodate so many large creatures by the standards of giants and giant fish. There is not enough food source, and the natural environment such as temperature and pressure does not seem to be suitable for their growth.

Reed narrowed his eyes and paused for a moment, tapping his knees habitually.

The hunt in the lake was drawing to a close.

It was a brutal battle, a war that almost turned the entire lake upside down. The waves raised by the lake flooded the surrounding ground, melting the snow and freezing it into ice. In the end, what emerged was a mirror-like ice surface, a whole circle larger than the original area of ​​the lake, reflecting dazzling light.

The giants had completely disappeared, leaving only some broken limbs and blood floating on the water, while the aquatic monsters, having had their fill, dived back into the bottom of the lake.

Only a few small fish were left, still taking small nibbles of the giant's remains.

Reed walked to the lake, and under the gazes of Alayya and Shiloh, he scooped up a handful of water from the unstained part of the lake, brought it to his mouth to taste it, and then poured the rest of the water back into the lake.

Slightly salty.

Although it is not as bitter as sea water, if you taste it carefully, you will find that the salt content is obviously much higher than ordinary water.

"Little Slime, have you ever seen these fish before?"

Lid asked, and the little slime came out from under Lid's collar, stared at the lake and thought for a long time, then tilted his head and said:

"I haven't seen them. I remember some of the things about the giants, but I still have no impression of these things."

Lid nodded, and the little slime asked back:

"Beji...did you find anything?"

Lid walked towards where Alaya and Shiloh were and said:

"I guess so. In fact, I was quite curious about where these creatures came from in the beginning. Just now it suddenly occurred to me that they might not have originally lived in this area of ​​water."

The little slime tilted its head. Just then, Reed walked up to Alayya and Shiloh, pointed to the center of the lake, and said to them:

"The bottom of this lake is connected to the ocean. The monsters just now were not creatures from the lake, but swam up from the bottom of the sea. The giants are the northernmost race on this continent, and the ocean is further north. Most likely, there is a passage at the bottom of this lake that connects to the ocean, and the creatures in the ocean escaped here."

The little slime blew out a bubble and said doubtfully:

"Hmm... that does make sense, Biji. But I remember there aren't any fish like this in the northern sea. Just one look at them makes me terrified. If I can, I definitely don't want to see them again! Biji... they feel like a whole new species. Why don't we just call them the Ugly Fish Tribe!"

The little slime lay on Reed's chest and lazily made grooves.

But in fact, Lid did not complain about what he said, but looked to the north and fell into deep thought.

Little Slime was right. These strange fish were numerous and powerful, and their extremely distorted appearance made them significantly different from normal marine creatures. If they had existed in the world a long time ago, they should have been treated as an independent race. However, even Little Slime had never heard of them.

Are they new creatures that have appeared in recent years? But how did they come into being?

Or... in the dark, deep and deserted depths of the ocean, has something unknown happened?

46. ​​It’s time to return

"Master, something has floated up."

As Alaya finished speaking, Lid looked in the direction she pointed. He saw many tiny crystals floating on the lake, like fishing floats. They were obviously the same black crystals that the little slime had found in the heart of the giant. It was unknown whether those strange-looking fish had deliberately not eaten them, or had eaten them and vomited them out. In short, a large number of crystal pieces were now floating on the water.

But the water was still in a mess, and it was unknown whether the strange fish had gone far. It was obviously unwise to go over and get it now, so Lid chose to give up. After a day of hard work, Alayya and Shiloh were exhausted, and there was no need to let them take risks for something that they didn't even know the purpose of.

Lid brought Alaya and Shiloh back to the shore, started a fire and grilled the remaining fish. After this big fight, the surrounding giants had been completely killed or injured, so there was no need to worry about danger when making a fire to grill now.

"All the Lacquer Moon Armor that can be obtained is here."

Shiloh handed a cloth bag to Reed, who immediately felt its heavy weight when he took it.

Lid didn't even count how many were inside. He rubbed Shiloh's little head and said:

"Thank you for your hard work."

Shiloh closed his eyes and raised his head slightly, waiting until the grilled fish gave off a rich aroma. Then he moved his body, crawled to the fire, and began to taste the food with relish.

Reed took out several pieces of lacquered moon armor that were originally in his backpack and threw them into the cloth bag handed to him by Shiloh. Then he put the cloth bag back into the box, grabbed two balls of snow, rubbed his hands, and started eating.

The next morning, Reed was woken up by the little slime.

"Beji! My foolish servant, stop sleeping and wake up quickly to see this brilliant sight like fireworks! I have given you the gospel. This is what I have bestowed upon you... Ouch."

Reed hit the yelling little slime on the head with his knife and turned over and sat up.

Countless green magic circles of different sizes lit up in the sky to the west, lingering for a long time, as brilliant as the fireworks display at the summer festival. However, that had nothing to do with the little slime. It was a call from the Lingwu lord. The green magic circle meant that the Lingwu army had rested, and the people in other territories had to stop hunting immediately after seeing the signal and rush to her direction.

To be honest, if there hadn't been this flare, Lid had planned to go to the east of the Fried Egg Lake again today. The traps set yesterday should have caused some infighting among the giants, and some giants would probably have died in the fight. If we go early, we can still recover some of the materials.

When Lid was about to give up those recyclable resources, the little slime suddenly ran to the lake and shouted:

"Beep...ah, the lake is frozen again! That's fast, is it possible to do that overnight?"

Lid walked to the side of the little slime, and the little slime jumped lightly and got back into Lid's clothes. The water in the lake had indeed frozen again after just one night. Lid stretched out a foot and stepped on the lake surface. It felt quite frozen. Although the ice surface was not as thick as before, it should not be a problem to walk on it.

The little slime happily stretched out a tentacle, pointed at the center of the lake and said to Lid:

“Ah! Those crystals are frozen too! We can get them this way! Quick! My servant, present your tribute to me—Beji…w-why are you holding me?!”

Reed gave it a gentle smile and said:

"Do you want those black crystals? If you want, I can give you all of them. Go find them! I buried them all in the center of the lake. Get all the black crystals and become the king of the little slimes! Go!"

After saying that, Lid threw the little slime out. The little slime fell on the ice with tears in its eyes and slid all the way to the center of the lake. It looked down tremblingly and found many huge black shadows wandering on the ice. It immediately dared not to breathe, and a few small bubbles quietly emerged from its round body, silently breaking down the ice into pits, and then stretched out a few tentacles from its body, carefully pinched the crystals and put them into a slime ball that served as a package, and then sneaked to the next place.

While working, I was alert to the creatures under the water and I had already started writing a short essay in my mind:

——It snowed heavily today and the weather was very cold. The Lord of Yuxi City hired child laborers and forced the weak and pitiful King to do dangerous labor. Tears could not help but flow down.

However, when he thought that these things would all become his food later, the little slime immediately cheered up and felt that life was full of hope. The biggest advantage of distribution according to work is that it can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of workers. The joy of the harvest made the little slime feel refreshed. Finally, with a slime ball containing hundreds of crystals on his head, he returned to the shore like a circus sea lion.

"Please keep it well for me!"

Although it is not possible to digest and absorb it for the time being, maybe it will be possible once the little slime becomes stronger.

The three of them packed their bags and headed in the direction where the flare was sent.

After crossing a lonely road filled with wind and snow, we gradually began to see teams from other territories.

Some of these human masters who returned from hunting were covered in dust, while others looked very excited. Most of the territories still had obvious casualties, and many wounded could be seen lying on stretchers. Alaiya even heard many people discussing how to deal with the wounded. Many people were discussing in low voices whether to abandon them, because in such a cold climate, the cost of continuing to fight with the wounded is very high. It takes at least two soldiers to carry a wounded person, and they need to be taken care of. Some seriously ill wounded may not be able to continue fighting after waking up.

For the soldiers, as long as they are alive, there is hope of returning to eternal heaven.

But for the leaders of various territories, the death of these brave soldiers on the battlefield seemed to be what they would rather see.

Alayya looked at the soldiers lying on stretchers, whose expressions showed that they were worried about the future. She felt a little sad, but also a sense of relief. Alayya knew very well that if she was injured, Lid would carry her back to Yuxi City even if he had to. Thinking of this, Alayya couldn't help but start to imagine, if the situation deteriorated to a certain extent, how would she convince the young master to give up on her and run away alone?

Compared to the questions most people think about, Alayya's way of thinking is particularly different.