Chapter 49: Chapter 43: Breaking the Shackles
Broken Tooth secretly followed a group of goblins to the large cauldron.
He pretended to butcher prey, and when no one was looking, he instantly leaped into the cauldron’s shadow.
Broken Tooth couldn’t quite describe what it felt like to move within the shadows. All he knew was that he felt an unprecedented sense of security.
Now, he didn’t even leave the shadows to eat or sleep. Only when he heard his leader call would he emerge. It was as if the entire clan was missing a person.
This time, his leader had told him to pour the potion into the enemy’s cauldron. Broken Tooth believed he had successfully completed his mission. Although his cowardice had caused him to drop the bottle into the pot, the two Giants hadn’t noticed.
It wasn’t that Broken Tooth didn’t want to retrieve the bottle; the stuff in that pot was just too disgusting. Compared to Bai Mao’s cooking, it was like night and day. He would rather go back to eating his old frog and insect stews than touch that cauldron even once.
However, the order Green Egg Leader had given was to make sure these two Giants fell asleep—dead asleep.
Broken Tooth stayed hidden in the shadows, waiting until the Giants started snoring before peeking out to check on the situation.
He emerged from the shadows and, hunched over, cautiously approached the Giants one step at a time. Seeing that they didn’t react at all, he prepared to go back and report to Green Egg.
But as he turned to leave, he remembered he hadn’t retrieved the potion bottle. He tilted his head and thought for a long time, finally coming up with a good idea.
With the lower half of his body still concealed in shadow, Broken Tooth picked up a thin twig and poked the Giant’s lower back. He poked it more than ten times, but the two Giants didn’t react. At most, they just scratched the itch, not waking up at all.
Broken Tooth figured they must be asleep. He leaped out of the shadows and ran straight for the spot where Green Egg Leader was hiding.
"Are you sure they’re asleep?" Shire asked.
Broken Tooth nodded.
"Did you pour the potion in?"
Broken Tooth nodded again, adding that he had poked them many times and they hadn’t woken up.
"Why did you have to poke them?" Shire wondered, but he immediately understood. His subordinate was probably so scared that he’d thrown the whole bottle into the pot and then, unsure if it had worked, went to poke them to check.
"You’re something else. I say you’re bold, but you’re so scared you drop the bottle. I say you’re timid, but then you go and poke a Giant." Shire didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Regardless, he gave the order to attack.
A group of goblins tiptoed toward the sleeping Giants, not daring to breathe too loudly. It was also Shire’s first time seeing this kind of creature, one he had only read about in natural history books.
The two Giants were tall and sturdy, but incredibly filthy. Their pale blue skin was covered in bumps, and they reeked of an exceptionally foul odor, as if they had been marinating in stinky tofu juice for a decade.
Shire glanced back at the group of goblins standing under a distant tree. They were all just standing there watching, with no intention of helping whatsoever.
’Might be for the best,’ Shire thought. ’If they came over, they’d probably just cause trouble.’ He ordered Broken Tooth to take a rope and tie its ends to each of the Giants’ feet.
After all this was done, Shire ordered Red Eyes and Broken Tooth to each carry a large glass jar and approach the sleeping Giants.
SLASH! The Slime in the jar was cut, and strong acid was poured directly over the two Giants’ faces.
They awoke with a howl, the immense pain on their faces forcing them to swing their fists wildly, but Red Eyes and Broken Tooth had already fled.
The strong acid corroded the Giants’ faces with a HISS. Their eyes had been eaten away; they were blind.
"Bansandy, you dare to harm me!" Zuljin roared. He felt something tied to his leg. Reaching down, he grabbed a rope. When Zuljin yanked it, the nearby Bansandy was nearly pulled off his feet.
"It was you, Zuljin, you bastard!" Bansandy felt someone pull him and charged in that direction, slamming right into Zuljin.
The two Giants immediately started pummeling each other, all while roaring insults.
"Zuljin, you must be mad that I eat more than you!"
"Shut up, you idiot! I’ll beat you to death!"
"You’re the idiot!"
Shire watched the Giants brawl from a safe distance with his subordinates. The THUDDING sounds of their blows made Shire realize once again the terrifying power of the Giants. At the same time, the huge wounds etched by the acid on their bodies stopped spreading and actually began to slowly heal.
’We can’t let them recover.’ Shire gave a hand signal. Ten goblins, each carrying a small glass jar, began to approach the Giants.
"Throw!" Shire commanded.
CRASH! The glass jars shattered against the Giants’ bodies. Ten Slimes burst open, splashing strong acid onto the Giants. They cried out in agony again and attacked each other even more fiercely.
"Second group, get ready," Shire said.
They had brought a total of twenty small glass jars from Agatha. The goal was to use the Slimes’ strong acid to counter the Giants’ regeneration.
"Throw!" Shire commanded.
The twenty Slimes inflicted immense damage on the Giants. They stopped fighting each other and began slapping at their own bodies, but it was useless.
The two Giants finally grew scared. They turned to run, but in opposite directions. The rope tied to their feet pulled taut, and they fell flat on the ground.
The wailing Giants scrambled up again and pulled at the rope, which was on the verge of snapping.
"Third group, go," Shire said.
This time, dozens of torches were thrown at the Giants. The prior corrosion had exposed their muscle and fat, and now they were instantly set ablaze. They continued to pull at the rope even as they shrieked in agony.
Gradually, the two Giants’ voices grew fainter, and then they collapsed to the ground, motionless.
The fire continued to consume the Giants’ bodies. Shire didn’t order anyone to extinguish the flames. Given their incredible Regeneration Ability, Shire wouldn’t be at ease until they were burned to ashes.
An unknown amount of time passed. The flames dwindled, and Shire had his subordinates bring the group of goblins from under the tree before him.
He stood between the two burning pyres, spread his arms, and declared, "I am your leader."
"Green Egg Leader! Green Egg Leader!" his subordinates cheered.
"Idiots, call me Handsome Guy."
"Green Egg Leader! Green Egg Leader!" his subordinates continued to cheer.
The dozens of other goblins looked at each other in confusion. They had lived in numb servitude for so long that they no longer knew what to do.
One-Eyed stepped forward alone and asked cautiously, "Will you eat us?"
"No," Shire replied calmly.
"Will you beat us to death?"
"No."
"Will you give us food?"
"Yes."
One-Eyed slowly bent down, knelt, and touched his ankle. His whole body trembled as he struggled back to his feet, staggering and nearly losing his balance.
"Go on," he said to the other goblins. "He’s here to save us."
The dozens of goblins lined up and touched their ankles one by one. Meanwhile, Shire had his subordinates use the lockpicking tools they got from Agatha to open their shackles.
Freed from their iron chains for the first time, the goblins seemed to have forgotten how to walk. They didn’t know which foot to step with first. Some even fell, but they just lay on the ground laughing, kicking their legs and rolling about, celebrating the return of their freedom.
By the time all the goblins had completed the ankle-touching ritual, the two Giants had been burned to ash.
