Newbie Guardians

Chapter 10 An Unexpected Gain

The short skeleton, leg bone in its left hand and axe in its right, charged at the tall one. With a practiced swing of its left hand, the leg bone slammed into the bone shield with a resounding thud, leaving the shield unscathed. The tall skeleton remained unmoved, his expression one of utter disdain.

Immediately afterwards, the axe in his right hand followed, and with a crisp crack, the skull was shattered into pieces, and the thread connecting the skull was also cut. The skull fell to the ground with a clatter, leaving only a white left arm still raised there, its fingers still in a gripping position.

The taller skeleton was startled, then reacted, raising its bone spear and smashing it down with all its might. The shorter one was also stunned to see its bone shield shattered. By the time it reacted, the bone spear was already very close. It hurriedly raised its leg bone to block, and with a crack, a thin crack appeared in the leg bone, making it look almost unusable. The smaller skeleton staggered. Since the battle had only just begun, it hadn't exhausted itself yet. This full-force block was extremely powerful. In addition, the bone had just been unearthed and was very hard. The bone spear was also shaken off course and slammed heavily into the ground, its sharp tip deeply embedded in the soil.

The shorter man instinctively swung his weapon in his right hand and fought back with all his might. Crack! The taller skeleton's thigh bone broke in response, and his body tilted and fell to the ground with a crash, scattering bones all over the ground.

The short creature was overjoyed and filled with gratitude upon discovering that it had actually won. It grabbed the tall creature's skull, placed it in front of Huang Xin, shoved the axe back into Huang Xin's hand, made a chopping motion at him, and then lowered its head expectantly, staring intently at the tall creature's skull.

Huang Xin covered her face again! Not wanting to pay attention to this simple-minded and honest skeleton, she looked up at the mission information.

Task progress: Completed.

Task rewards: Being distributed, please wait.

Task evaluation: Evaluating in progress, please wait.

Seeing that Huang Xin ignored him, the short skeleton turned around and rummaged through the taller skeleton's pile of bones, finding a nearly transparent bead. He quickly returned and handed it to Huang Xin. Huang Xin saw that the mission information had refreshed again.

Task Evaluation: Carlo's only wish was to defeat that arrogant fellow—Warrior Derby. After failing a thousand times in a row, he quietly lowered his standards, changing it to simply hitting him, even just once. However, even this wish remained unfulfilled. You helped him realize his initial wish—to personally defeat Warrior Derby, receiving Carlo's most sincere blessing and a special title—"Master of Underworld Languages." Activating this title allows you to communicate seamlessly with the inhabitants of the Underworld. Upon first obtaining this title, you will briefly gain the ability to communicate with the inhabitants of the Underworld for one hour. This task is rated S+.

After reading the mission information, Huang Xin tried to communicate with Carlo.

"Carlo?"

"Yes! That's right! I am the famous, invincible, and unkillable God of War, Carlo!"

Huang Xin was overjoyed to find that they could communicate.

What are you holding in your hand?

"My contract stone was stolen by Derby, and I challenge him every day to take it back with my own hands."

"Congratulations! You've personally slain the enemy and reclaimed the Contract Stone!"

"for you!"

"Give it to me? The fact that you went to any lengths to get it back shows how important it is to you. Why give it to me?"

"Yes, it's very important, so I'm giving it to you!"

"No, no, I can't accept it!"

My biggest wish right now is to fight alongside you!

Huang Xin's mind went blank for a moment, and she couldn't quite process it.

"Fight alongside me?"

"That's right! With the Contract Stone, you can summon me anytime! War God Carlo! Invincible!" Carlo danced around, looking somewhat comical in this burial ground full of graves.

Huang Xin thought for a moment, tacitly accepting that it was a task reward, and then nodded, speaking earnestly.

"Alright then! Please take care of me from now on!"

The moment Huang Shen received the contract stone, the skeleton Carlo's wish was fulfilled. His body collapsed, his bones scattered all over the ground, never to be reassembled, just like the other scattered skeletons.

Huang Xin picked up the axe and strode back, eager to return it to the tree. As he passed the "cactus monster," he heard it repeating the same sentence over and over.

"Please, kind person! Help me out!"

Huang Shen thought for a moment and stepped forward.

"How can I help you?"

"Just move this rock to my left; I accidentally put my foot under it!"

Huang Xin looked down and saw that it was a large rock with a diameter of forty or fifty centimeters. He squatted down, first used an axe to loosen the soil around it, and then used force to turn the rock over, creating a pit half a meter deep in the ground.

The cactus monster lost its balance and tilted to the side. Huang Shen instinctively reached out to steady it.

"Don't help me up, I'm covered in thorns!"

Upon hearing this, Huang Xin immediately withdrew his hand.

The cactus monster swayed from side to side more than ten times before finally moving its body into the pit.

"You can have that uncomfortable thing!"

When Huang Xin looked at it, he found it was a small, jet-black stone.

Picking it up, Huang Xin noticed it was ice-cold, and the quest information hadn't been updated, so it didn't seem like a second quest reward. Taking advantage of the opportunity to communicate, Huang Xin decided to ask it directly.

"Do you have something to give me?"

"No, no!"

Huang Xin looked puzzled, but he had no choice but to return the axe first!

Seeing Huang Xin turn to leave, the cactus panicked.

"Kind person! Please put those three thorns back! I'm all better now, I don't need them anymore!"

Three thorns!

Huang Shen felt his brain was not working properly again, so he squatted down to examine it carefully, found the thorns on his left and right feet, and pulled them out!

"That feels much better! And this one too!"

The cactus stomped its foot and slowly lowered its head. Huang Shen saw that it was deliberately keeping its distance, obviously afraid of hurting itself. He felt a warmth in his heart, reached out and grabbed the last thorn, and slowly pulled it out.

"Wow! Ouch! That felt so good, thank you! Young man! This is for you!"

The cactus hopped around happily, dropping a strange, dark green fruit, and then strolled away with cheerful steps, quickly disappearing from sight.

Huang Shen picked up the fruit, and the mission information was updated.

Task reward: Claimed.

But it didn't explain what the reward was. Oh well, I'll just put it in my pocket for now. After thinking for a moment, I picked up the three spikes again, walked back to the area beneath the bee swarm, and placed the spikes on the ground.

"Here you go! Thank you!"

Three glowing bees flew down, hooked their hind legs onto the stinger, and flew back to the swarm. Huang Xin noticed three pale golden grains on the ground, picked them up, and examined them, but there was no indication of anything.

"It must be a gift from the fluorescent bee!"

He muttered to himself as he put the gift into his pocket.

Running breathlessly to the tree, Huang Xin froze as he tried to return the axe. The original wound was gone! What to do? Chop it off again? Would that damage the tree?

Huang Shen was at a loss and, as usual, started scratching his head in frustration. What to do? What to do?

If only I could ask the big tree!

Yes, my need is still there in my dreams!

"Grandpa Tree! I got the axe back! How am I supposed to return it to you?"

Huang Shen asked several times, but the tree didn't respond. "It seems the tree isn't a resident of the underworld," he thought to himself. He plopped down on the ground. "I can't go back on my word and not return what I borrowed!"

Suddenly, an aged voice came from afar.

"Not bad, young man! The axe is yours!"

Huang Xin's eyes lit up, and he ran towards the pool.

"Grandpa, are you the spirit of the great tree?"

"The spirit of the tree? No, no, no, I am the tree, I have no spirit!"

"So, the axe in the tree..."

"If you're not smart enough, or not kind enough, you won't come back to borrow the axe. After borrowing it, you'll surely discover that it can cut through iron like mud, an extremely rare and divine weapon. If you keep it for yourself and don't return it, then you won't have passed the trial of the Honesty Pool. You won't have a chance to obtain the final reward."

"It can cut through iron like mud! A divine weapon! How come I didn't notice it at all? Is this a case of fools having good luck?" Huang Xin thought to himself.

"Grandpa, what is the final reward for the mission?"

Give me all the cards.

Huang Xin handed over the three cards. The old man held the cards with his thumb, index finger, and middle finger, smiling as he looked at Huang Xin.

"Are you ready?"

"Prepare what?" Huang Xin asked, completely bewildered.

The old man slowly unfolded the cards as if playing cards. A flash of white light appeared, and Huang Xin's figure disappeared, as if erased from thin air.