n

n

n

n“What? Why?” Zac asked with some confusion as he looked up at the irate giant.

nHe hadn’t done anything to Billy as far as he knew, and he had even gone so far as to send his forces to help him close out the Ratmen Incursion.

n“Your stupid horny friend tricked Billy. Made Billy thwonk the big shield and the biggest rat. But the horny guy jumped out of the shadows and stole Billy’s money and strength,” Billy muttered and slammed his club into the ground in frustration, making the whole area shake.

nZac blankly stared at Billy for a second before he could translate what Billy meant. It appeared that old habits die hard, and Ogras had actually stolen the kill of the Incursion leader when they assaulted the Incursion together.

nZac sighed in exasperation at the demon’s antics, but he was also a bit confused. Ogras was stuck at the bottleneck as far as he knew, so killing an Incursion leader would be a waste of Cosmic Energy. It would have been far better if the energy went to Billy instead, bolstering the strength of an ally. Since it seemed both Billy and Ogras were able to kill the ratman it was unlikely it was an E-Grade powerhouse, but it would still likely have given Billy at least one level.

nThe only reason that Zac could come up with was that there was some hidden benefit for the demon to perform such an action. Perhaps he could receive a title if he managed to be the one to kill a competing incursion leader. But in any case, such an action could put a strain on the alliance, especially when the other side was someone like Billy.

n“I’m sorry Billy. Ogras is a bit stupid, I will make him give some good things to you as an apology when we go back,” Zac said, which brightened the giant right up. “And uh, it’s called horned, not horny.”

n“What are you doing here?” Zac followed up as he looked at the surroundings a bit skeptically.

nHe had actually almost forgotten Billy was in this hunt due to his less than stellar ladder positions. Billy was below the top 100 of the Hunter ladder, which was surprisingly low considering his strength, and his Gatherer placement was just abysmal. He wasn’t even in the top 1000.

n“Billy looking for treasure while hiding,” the giant said and looked around before bending over toward Zac. “Nigel told me the big secret of the hunt. There are big evil bosses in here. If Billy manages to hide from all big bosses until he gets sent back then he gets a BIG bonus reward.”

nZac gaped at the hogwash that came out of Billy’s mouth. Nigel had obviously been worried about Billy doing something reckless, and tricked him to stay safe with the promise of rewards.

n“Yes, I heard something like that as well,” Zac coughed. “You are doing a good job.”

n“This hunt is so hard, Billy has looked for treasure everywhere, but there’s no treasure. Thwonking animals instead is easier, gives you money and makes you stronger,” the giant sighed. “But all animals keeps running away from Billy.”

nZac frowned in confusion when Billy told him that there were no treasures. It didn’t really matter which palace he had visited, they were all filled with a decent amount of valuables. Of course, most had likely been looted at this point, but to not find almost anything for a month was exceedingly unlucky.

nAs for the reason why the animal ran away from Billy, it wasn’t as big a mystery. The giant’s aura was completely unrestrained as it billowed out from him. Zac was surprised how heavy it was. He knew that Ogras had told him Billy was very strong, but the aura that emanated from him was far greater compared to when they met during the Auction. But Zac wouldn’t pry since it was rude to look into other’s fortuitous encounters.

n“Did you not find anything in the palaces? On top of the mountains?” Zac probed.

n“Billy did not go there. Billy went once and was attacked by ghosts, Billy ain’t going up there again,” the giant said with eyes big as saucers. “Mama told Billy that treasure is always buried, hidden by pirates. Billy has no treasure map so Billy has been digging all over the forest. But Billy has been unlucky and not looted a single treasure chest.”

nBilly then gestured at a few pits not far away, and Zac was stunned silent. Zac had no idea how to speak with this simple giant. For one he didn’t know if he should even tell Billy about how the hunt worked this late into the game, but he also was unsure whether he would even be able to explain it in a way so that Billy would understand.

n“Nigel didn’t come as well?” Zac asked, hoping for some help from the translator.

n“Nigel is stupid. Billy even had an extra ticket, but Nigel was scared,” Billy said with a disdainful shake of his head. “Nigel said he will help make Billyville better while Billy hunts. Nigel sold the ticket instead.”

nZac nodded thoughtfully as he gazed at the giant. His initial idea when he realized it was Billy who stayed here had been to invite him to help in the fight against the Medhin, but he wasn’t sure anymore. It felt like he would trick Billy into risking his life in a feud that wasn’t really his.

n“What are you doing here?” Billy suddenly asked, as if remembering that Zac had appeared out of nowhere.

nAfter a brief hesitation, Zac decided to tell Billy the truth.

n“A very strong bad guy has taken Thea Marshall a prisoner. I am going with a few friends to beat him up and help Thea,” Zac said.

n“Bad guys have taken Thea?” Billy said, immediately looking angered.

n“You know Thea?” Zac asked a bit curious.

n“Thea gave Billy lots of tasty things after the auction, she is Billy’s friend. Billy will come with you and thwonk the bad guys,” Billy unhesitantly said. “Besides, mama always says you need to help those in need.”

nZac slowly nodded in agreement before he started hesitating again.

n“The bad guy is Nenothep Medhin, an emperor from the other world we are doing this hunt with,” Zac started to explain, but was cut off by Billy.

n“Other world? What?” Billy asked with a vacant stare.

n“Uh, never mind. Anyway, Nenothep is very strong. He has evolved to E-Grade. Do you know about E-Grade?” Zac tentatively asked.

n“Yes, Nigel said that after level 75 you get very strong. That is E-Grade,” Billy nodded with a serious face. “But as long as he has a head Billy can thwonk it.”

n“Good. We will trick him a bit first though. You and I are smart, and we will trick the bad guys. We will work together to save Thea. Then we will all thwonk the bad guys together, ok?” Zac said.

n“Good!” Billy enthusiastically nodded and even slammed the enormous club in the ground with enough power to cause cracks tens of meters long to spread out from the camp.

nThe two were soon joined by Ylvas, who clearly had some trouble adapting to Billy’s mannerisms. But soon enough they were back on track, heading toward the hidden camp of the Berum forces. However, Billy’s aura and fighting style proved to be somewhat of a problem since there seemed to be no moderation to his methods.

n“Are you sure this is okay? Your friend is a bit… impulsive,” Ylvas said with a low voice as he watched Billy rove forward like a natural disaster, each swing of the monstrous club causing everything from beasts to huge boulders to turn into small chunks on the ground.

n“He is a bit simple, but he has the highest Strength of anyone on our planet as far as I know, apart from the Dominators perhaps,” Zac whispered back. “Every aspect of him is designed for heavy hits. He effortlessly broke an array in one swing that my number one general wouldn’t even be able to break no matter the time given. He is also good friends with the captured woman, so I wanted to let him make his own decision.”

nYlvas thoughtfully nodded as he looked at the huge club ripping through the air back and forth. It clearly was incredibly heavy, but Billy’s bulging arms didn’t even seem to strain as it tore through the air.

n“Fair point. The Medhin squads always allocate at least a third of their men to erect barriers to protect those who use the War Arrays. If this man can crack open the array for the personal guard, allowing you to slip in, our chances would become far better,” Ylvas agreed. “Only one day remains until the time for our assault. I suggest we head toward the closest base by now. But first we need to teach this man to be more circumspect.”

n“Agreed,” Zac nodded, and soon they stopped and called over billy.

nAfter some explaining, or rather bribing with large slabs of grilled meat, Zac managed to get Billy to take a break from his clobbering. Instead, he took over and dispatched the beasts in a more silent way.

n“Billy don’t like that fighting way. Reminds Billy of your horny friend,” Billy muttered when he saw Zac trying to kill the animals as quietly as possible.

n“Horned friend, Billy. And I agree, I don’t like fighting like this either. But remember, you told me we needed to stay hidden for the big reward. If we make a lot of noise we might be found and lose the reward,” Zac explained.

nBilly’s eyes widened in realization, and he quickly nodded in agreement.

n“Super Brother-Man is pretty smart. Almost as smart as Billy,” he sagely nodded in agreement as he started to walk on his toes in an effort to not make any sound.

n“Indeed, the Super Brother-Man truly seems to be almost as smart as Billy,” Ylvas nodded from the side in a rare showing of humor.

n“Ha ha, I like you Alien-man!” Billy laughed.

nWhen they had explained that Ylvas came from another world Billy had immediately called them both liars, explaining that aliens were much smaller and had large black eyes. Finally, the two had been forced to give up explaining Ylvas’ origins, but Billy still chose to call Ylvas Alien-man as a joke.

n“Alien-man is pretty good at hiding skills,” Zac said, ignoring the comments. “He can teach Billy to hide. Imagine tricking the bad guys you are weak when you are actually strong. This will also trick animals, making it easier for you to thwonk them.”

nBilly enthusiastically nodded and Ylvas started to arduously teach Billy how to control and hide his aura. Surprisingly, as soon as Billy understood what Ylvas wanted him to do his aura immediately and utterly disappeared. The change was so drastic that Zac actually stopped killing beasts and turned over, afraid that Ylvas had assassinated Billy.

nBut Billy was just fine, though he didn’t emit a smidgeon of energy. Unless Zac didn’t know better he would have thought that the man was a level 1 mortal from how his aura felt.

n“He has magnificent control of his Cosmic Energy,” Ylvas muttered in shock. “I can’t sense a thing. I think the man might actually be a genius when it comes to energy control.”

n“He didn’t get to the top ten on two of our ladders due to blind luck,” Zac said with a smile. “Billy, amazing.”

n“Why surprised? Billy is the smartest, Mama always says so,” the giant said, obviously extremely pleased by Zac and Ylvas’ reactions.

n“Remember how you did this,” Zac said. “See, beasts are already storming toward us.”

nIt was true. Only a few moments had passed since Billy took control of his aura, and the more rabid beasts were already closing in on them.

n“In the future, if you want to thwonk things, always hide your aura this way. That way you don’t need to run after the animals. They will come to you,” Zac said as he resumed swinging.

nSince the matter of subterfuge was somewhat dealt with they immediately started to head toward the hideout. They no longer sought out any more cultivators, and Ylvas even scouted ahead to make sure they didn’t encounter anyone. They completely rounded a few squads and stayed clear of all mountains until they finally arrived at a nondescript decorative mountain with an enormous statue at the top.

nHowever, getting Billy to ascend the mountain wasn’t completely effortless. They finally had to say that the ghosts didn’t come to the mountains with statues on top. Of course, it was true in a sense since the decorative mountains did not have gathering arrays making the energies dense.

nThey walked along a hidden path almost halfway up the mountain until they reached a dead end. However, Ylvas simply walked straight through the wall, making Billy’s eyes widen in shock.

n“Alien-man is magic,” Billy muttered with wide eyes.

n