[Congratulations! You have learned the skill [Horsemanship LVL 1] - 1% increased speed on your land-based Mount.]

Gabriel had just arrived at the base of the Heagle Mountain range and received a notification after riding [Alastor] for the last two hours. As a lone mercenary in his past, Gabriel spent lot of time on Mounts to travel. The portals that will eventually open for main cities of allied Kingdoms cost too much for a poor mercenary.

Gabriel gazed up at the Mountain range, in the sunlight the mountain peaks were a celebration of greys, from sweet blue-slate to silver-white. Gabriel went through the information he remembered from his past about this area. The Heagle Mountain Range was populated with 20-30 Mountains in varying sizes. It will become a popular hunting ground for players between the Levels of 25-35. There are multiple dungeons inside the mountains as well. Many of them requiring certain quests before being opened.

Gabriel remembered that the rumour of the [Cyclops] being seen in this mountain range was true. The guild that ended up taking him down in his past, required at least twenty members of LVL 25 to 30 to take it down. Gabriel was lucky enough to pick up an item early. The item should enable him to take down the boss by himself and without too much effort, that is if everything went as planned.

Dismounting [Alastor], Gabriel let the reins loose and allowed the horse to graze on its own. Gabriel made his way towards the mountains. There were winding pathways all over the mountains leading to plateaus and tunnels.

Gabriel followed along a rocky narrow path for an hour, as it slowly took him higher up the mountain. Halfway to the top, the path split, one side led further up the current mountain Gabriel was on. The other led to a rope bridge over a deep chasm, connecting to a larger mountain on the other side.

With confident steps, Gabriel carried himself over the flimsy, swaying bridge. Even when a strong gust of wind sent the bridge rocking back and forth, he continued unfazed. Gabriel arrived on the larger mountain and started to slow down his pace, his ears twitching at the sound of flapping wings.

The mountain he arrived on was much larger and far wider. Looking more like plateau, in the shape of a craggily table. With a steep incline rising up into the cloudless sky. The slopes and paths were dotted with sharp cliffs, that led to an uninterrupted plummet down the mountain.

Gabriel made his way up, having to climb certain areas as the path abruptly ended. Parts of the plateau rose unexpectedly, like a giant blade had cut into the mountain and chipped away parts.

The further Gabriel went up, the moisture from the clouds, dampened his skin. Gabriel started noticing clumps of feathers, splashed with blood across the mountain.

Gabriel picked up an intact wing. It had a sharp talon protruding at the tip of the wing, feathers composed of a sickly rot and a stench the burned the nose. The stumped appeared to have been ripped off by pure brute force. The smell from the feathers was like hot rotted garbage, making Gabriel drop the wing in disgust.

“Fu*king [Harpies]” Gabriel muttered, scanning the sky for the flying monsters.

“I must be close, [Cyclops] love eating these disgusting Bird-man.” Gabriel said.

He began to follow the feathers and clumps of half chewed meat. The quantity started to increase, until Gabriel came across another sharp 8-foot rise. He looked to the sides and gauged he was at least 4000 feet above ground. Gabriel jumped and grabbed the edge with his hands before slowly raising himself up.

Looking over the edge, Gabriel spotted what looked to be a half-destroyed Harpy Nest. The big bowl of sticks and cloth that makes up their home, was smashed into pieces, with a large creature lying asleep among the remains.

Gabriel pulled himself the rest of the way and could now see the [Cyclops], in all its massive glory. Gabriel’s eyes were glued to its bulbous face, with one closed eye-lid. The floor between them was covered in bones from [Harpies].

Gabriel went to move forwards and felt his entire body stiffen subconsciously, when he saw the [Cyclops] move. Thinking he had awoken the monster due to his presence; Gabriel broke out in cold sweat with the thought, ‘If this thing wakes up now, he is going to kick my ass flying back to Roma.’

Finally releasing a breath, Gabriel’s whole body relaxed after several tense seconds. The [Cyclops] appeared to be still sleeping peacefully. Gabriel thought, ‘probably dreaming of eating huge piles of month old sh*t, considering it likes the taste of harpy’.

The [Cyclops] rolled onto its side, its arm following along with the roll. Lightly slapping the ground with its car size hands. The floor rippled just from the light impact; Gabriel gulped at the thought of it swinging one of its huge fists with force at him.

Gabriel made his way slowly to the other side of the plateau, opposite to the one the [Cyclops] was sleeping on. The plateau they were on was around 300 feet in length, with two sides leading to sharp falls to the ground.

Gabriel approached the edge and pulled out the two flasks of [Sticky Oil] he brought from the Alchemist shop. He spread the two flasks near the edge, making a small pool about two meters wide.

The [Sticky Oil] would usually be able to immobilize an enemy up to a bear in size and weight. However, if the weight was a lot more, it would have the opposite effect and turn the surface covered in [Sticky Oil] into a crude slip and slide. The [Cyclops] obviously fitted into the “lot more” weight department.

Gabriel wasn’t betting all his money on the oil though, he just hoped he would get lucky. [Cyclops] were actually quite stable monsters, even with their large sizes. Their trunk like legs stood firmly on the ground and they were notoriously hard to trip. [Cyclops] were beings with half-giant blood, leading them to have High Resistance against magic damage.

Gabriel whipped out his trump card from his inventory.

[1x Earthquake Spell Scroll (Charges: 1) (Legendary) No Req]

Use 600 MP to activate Charge time: Instant Effects: Activates an earthquake within 200 feet from centre of caster. The earthquake will last 30 seconds. Destroying the landscape around the area. Best used for destroying enemy structures. Warning! The spell affects friend or foe in AOE.

Gabriel made his way back over to the [Cyclops]. He pulled out two [Mana Boost Potion] and drank them in quick succession. Checking his current MP bar, it read.

[MP – 150/150 (+500)]

The [Mana Boost Potion] raised your MP by 250 for each bottle drank. Up to 5 potions can be drunk in one sitting, lasting 10 minutes. They seemed like the perfect potion but there was always a drawback to a powerful item. After the 15-minute duration ended, your MP Regeneration would be locked for 48 hours. For a pure mana type user that was a killer.

Gabriel had just arrived to the side of the [Cyclops]. Its loud snoring sounded like standing next to jet engine. When the [Cyclops] inhaled, Gabriel felt himself being slightly pulled towards its mouth. There were feathers littered all around the sleeping [Cyclops] and mixed into the broken sticks, from the [Harpy]’s nest.

With a [LVL2 INSPECT] Gabriel received the [Cyclops] stats.

[Cyclops LVL 35 (World Boss) (Hostile)]

HP – 500,000/500,000

RAGE – 100,000/100,000

Additional Info: Cyclops are the demented creation of Zeus. The Cyclops, were a tribe of Half – Giants and also Zeus’s personal blacksmiths. After years of servitude under Zeus the Cyclops revolted to earn their own freedom. Zeus defeated them in combat and banished them to Valhalla, after taking away their intelligence, he also took one of their eyes. They didn’t have the dexterity to craft their magnificent creations anymore and turned savage. They still carry their immense strength and high-resistance to magic attacks, due to their Giant blood.

With the softest of steps Gabriel made his way to where the largest amounts of feathers and sticks were. He bent down and place two [Firebombs] next to each other, among the sticks and feathers. Retreating as silently as he came, Gabriel made it 15 feet away before stopping. He pulled out his last remaining [Firebomb], it was given to him by Mouse, after their second run through the Hobbit dungeon.

Gabriel also prepared his [Earthquake Scroll] in one and lobbed the [Firebomb]. Landing with a crash on the other two, the flames spread rapidly. The feathers and sticks surrounding the sleeping [Cyclops], created a ring of fire.

With a bellow that shook the plateau and made boulders from further up the mountain come rolling down. The [Cyclops] stood up, the 6 foot fire encircled dwarfed by his magnitude. An eye the size of Gabirel standing, roved around the plateau, looking for the perpetrator who woke it. Noticing Gabriel standing only a step away, the eye narrowed, its brow creasing, creating large canyon crevices on the [Cyclops] forehead.

Gabriel immediately started to run at his fastest speed the moment, the [Cyclops] noticed him. The [Cyclops] reached down and picked up its club. The club amounted to little more than just a stripped 20-foot tree. Parts of the club had caught fire, and with a light swing, the fires were extinguished from the air pressure alone, creating thick streams of smoke in the air.

Gabriel had already run 50 feet by the time the [Cyclops] started moving. With a couple of wide steps, that shook the ground every time a foot landed. The [Cyclops] was already within an arm's reach of Gabriel.

Feeling a heavy shadow being cast over the top of him, Gabriel quickly dived to the side and rolled. The tree club landed where Gabriel previously was and from the force applied to the attack. If Gabriel had been standing there, he would have become nothing more than a puddle of blood and mashed bones. The impact from the wind and dirt kicked up by the attack, made Gabriel’s body ragdoll to the side.

{-181}

{-103}

{-56}

Regaining control of his flailing body, Gabriel got back up and started running again. He pulled the cork on an [Advanced Health Potion]. Throwing it back in haste. Surviving just one missed attack almost killed Gabriel, he certainly couldn’t survive another with his current health.

“ARGHHH!!!” The [Cyclops] roared in frustration, noticing the annoying firestarter running again. It chased in hot pursuit.

Luckily the Plateau of the mountain wasn’t overly large. Gabriel made it to the edge and jumped over [Sticky Oil] he planted earlier. His heels resting just over the edge, Gabriel stared at the incoming [Cyclops]. Two large truck like feet stepped on the [Sticky Oil] but did nothing.

‘Well damn, that was just a hope so I didn’t have to use the expensive scroll. I guess I picked up my mum’s thriftiness.’ Gabriel thought to himself. With clenched teeth, Gabriel started injecting mana into the [Earthquake Scroll].

The [Cyclops] noticed his enemy had stopped and raised his foot back to kick Gabriel off the edge. With only one foot to balance, the [Sticky Oil] lost its hold on the ground and became [Slippery Oil]. The [Cyclops] fell backwards, landing with a hard crash, sending spider web cracks throughout the edge of the plateau.

Gabriel had to take a couple of steps forwards and crouch on one knee to stabilize himself. He was a hair away from toppling over the cliff himself. The [Cyclops] raised its fist and slammed it into the ground in anger. Creating more cracks. The ground was trembling so much, Gabriel checked to see if the [Earthquake Scroll] had already gone off. It still had 5 seconds left to charge.

Gabriel took a couple of steps closer to the [Cyclops], who was now on its knees. One large eye blinked at the small human stepping towards it. Slightly craning its large head forwards, as the human lifted something up towards its face it couldn’t make out. The scroll started to emit a bright light that blinded it for a single second, hurting the [Cyclops] large eye. It fell backwards again, making another rumble from his weight.

The rumble however didn’t stop after a short moment this time and continued on. Getting louder and shaking the hole plateau. Large cracks spread through the rocky surface and the mountain felt like it was rolling in an ocean. Gabriel watched as the scroll disintegrated in his hand. The ground began moving in waves, with him as the centre.

[Earthquake spell (Legendary) activated!]

The cliff started making a tearing noise, like the sound of thunder and shifted down, becoming a separate piece from the rest of the mountain entirely. Gabriel looked up at the [Cyclops] who was trying to find purchase on the ever-tilting ground. Gabriel used the last of his mana to use [Summon Javelin] and threw it right at the [Cyclops] eye.

[-50]

Getting a measly amount of damage, Gabriel saw the [Cyclops] narrow its eye at him, garnering its full attention again. Gabriel started running and almost sliding down, the now sharp incline. As the slice of plateau toppled over the 2000 feet drop. Bits and pieces of the rocky surface crumbling off and torpedoing down. The [Cyclops] fully enraged now, let go its slight hold and dived at the fleeing Gabriel.

Gabriel had been waiting for this and when the man-sized fingers almost reached him. Gabriel used the almost 90 degree falling ground as leverage and propelled himself off the cliff, activating [Glide] from his cape. Gabriel couldn’t see the [Cyclops] facial expression when he started to fly, looking like a feathered [Harpy] himself and one of the [Cyclops]’s favourite food. But he imagined it was ‘bloody priceless’.

With the added momentum of the leap at Gabriel. The [Cyclops] was now barreling head first into the ground, with the crumbling plateau following.

“ARGHHHHHHHH!!!” With a long sounding wail, followed by a louder, earth rumbling crash, Gabriel got an amazing notification. One that if he wasn’t already flying, would have made him feel like it.

[Congratulations!! You have slayed [Cyclops LVL 35 (World Boss) - Due to environment kill, you receive half the amount of EXP]

Before Gabriel could read the rest of the notifications that followed, he landed on the now deeply embedded corpse of the [Cyclops] and heard a very familiar shout.

“What the flippity fu*k!!! Why do you keep falling with monsters from the God-Damn Sky!!??”

Gabriel looked up slowly, in a reasonable amount of shock, and saw [Lil Tiger] standing at the edge of the indentation. She was holding her strawberry blonde hair by two sides and seemed to be pulling them in frustration, while looking down on him.

“Hey [Lil Tiger]! Ummm... What’s up?” Gabriel awkwardly replied, he felt like he had been caught doing something naughty.