Sam and Mitra are sitting on the bank of a lake.

He set up his barbeque kit and started cooking some venison that he just hunted. He even brought out some very rare spices and herb mixtures that made the meat taste otherworldly. In a way, that is the right word to describe it as those herbs are literally from another world.

"So, what are we going to do? Ever since I said we have free reign, you have been way too relaxed. 

It is almost like you are on a picnic."

"Well, I am on a picnic. Since there is no urgency from the camp side, why would I rush myself? I gave you guys a great performance until now. I believe I genuinely deserve a break."

"Come on Sam, you cannot just mess around like that. The war is about to reach the boiling point. Who knows what will happen? And my brother would steal all the credit."

Sam chuckled at that.

"Your brother is a life time too early to steal credit for my doings. Anyway, just relax, do you think I am the only external variable in this war?"

"What do you mean external variable? I thought you were some kind of hermit living in forest."

Sam shrugged and said.

"Okay then, just think of it like this. I am not the only hermit that is participating in the war. There are some others and they are all humans and if my guess is right, they should already be playing active part in the war."

Mitra is still confused.

"Anyway, don't think too much about it. I know what I am doing. Let's just sit back and relax for a couple of days while my creations and companions help us gather a lot of information. Until then, have this delicious meat and wine before shutting the hell up."

It has already been two days since the day of their bet.

These two days Sam really did have an amazing time. The silence with no questions was delightful. That is why, he decided to go on a picinic mode and enjoy this time.

But an hour ago, the forty eight hour time limit was over and this guy finally opened his mouth and started asking questions. But it is not as bad as before which made Sam be in the pleasant mood still.

As they were eating, a bunch of shadows, souls and a lot of puppets are currently moving around the three cities of the giants.

The next few days, Sam and Mitra are moving freely as they hunted most of the time and just gathered information. The teams from the human camp already started making their move and they are all desperately trying their best to get as much credit as possible.

In a week, Sam managed to get all the information he need about these squads and their activities as well. 

On top of that, he gained information about something significant.

The presence of another player. It seems like the second player finally moved to the task. 

As for how Sam knew of it, it is through studying the tasks and analyzing the surroundings.

This area is definitely not the only area occupied by the giants, but it is the biggest area. Apart from these five cities, the giants are active on two fronts and the alliance created to deal with the giants was operating on those two fronts as well.

In the past few days, Sam made Mitra gather as much information on those two fronts as possible and he finally found clues of a second player.

He doesn't know who it is exactly, but he knew it isn't Dayus. As for why he is sure there is player, it is because of the mission objective.

One of the missions stated that the player should act on behalf of the Giants and go against the humans. They are in charge of capturing certain cities under Giants' hands and they are in charge of certain kill count as well.

From the information Mitra gained, there are traces of some large scale assassinations on human sides while the Giants are attacking these certain cities making their stance weaker.

"I want your people to investigate the deaths, if possible tell them to send a video recording of the scene and send it to us."

"Why? Is it because of another hermit you said?"

"Yeah. And based on that hermit, we can make a grand plan. You want credit right? I will bury you in credit until you can't breath. You will feel like you are literally drowning in water. So, get ready."

"What will we do until the information comes out? Are we going to wait?"

"Of course not, I have a kill count to cover. There is no way I am waiting. Let's just go and start killing some giants. By the time we are done, you should be known as Mitra the Giant slayer."

Sam and Mitra then moved together.

They went to a certain spot in the forest up on Sam's lead.

"Let's set up an ambush here."

"Yeah, our target is tree giants. You hand the close quarters and I will cover you from far away. Don't ask anymore questions and just wait for them to come."

Mitra nodded and hid.

Meanwhile, Sam went on to a tree far away and looked to a certain spot. Based on the latest information he got from a puppet, there is a human squad operating nearby. And there is an exploration team of Tree giants nearby.

If Sam wanted to take them down, it will take days of preparation  since there is no rival giant tribe right under their noses.

The human squad has been circling the exploration team and avoiding them with great efforts, they are trying to damage this Tree Giant camp to gain some massive credit as a single squad.

Of course, Sam decided to use these human squad members and save himself days of trouble.

He disappeared from the tree he was in and reappeared at a different spot. He took out the sniper rifle and changed the storage device used as the magazine. The new one has some special bullets that he kept this specific purpose.

From his position and his puppets, he could get a view of the human squad as well as the exploration team. 

He is in the perfect place to ignite the spark that will soon turn into a wild fire.

In that silent forest a shot was fired silently.

No sound came, but the bullet went towards the exploration camp and right when it reached the outermost tent, the bullet exploded a bit.

*BOOM*

Flames rose out of it and burned the tent along with the Giants in it.

The tree giants in the tent hurriedly came out and tried to put the fire out.

But at this moment a humanoid figure wearing some type of unform appeared out of nowhere and swung a blade at that giant.

The giant's arm was cut off.

The rest of the camp was immediately alerted. Two more people appeared out of nowhere and threw their blades at them.

Once in a while a random fire ball, water spear and lightning bolts appeared and attacked the Giants.

After a few exchanges over half a dozen Giants are dead while the humans ran away in a certain direction.

"Capture them."

The giants started the pursuit.

Meanwhile, back at the human squad camp, they already sensed the commotion that was happening at the Giant's camp. They became alert. 

All of a sudden, one of the members sensed a gigantic frame appear a bit away from their camp. The gigantic figure raised its hands and a bunch of vines appeared to capture the guy who spotted the giant.

The trees around went crazy and started capturing one human after another. They started struggling only for more and more vines to come forward.

They are more annoying than troublesome.

Sam played on both sides. Shooting his rifle and both the humanoid figures and the giants played their role perfectly. 

It is actually a very old strategy. The giants are in pursuit of the humanoid figures that are moving towards the human squad. Meanwhile, the humans are stuck right there with the vines.

After a few minutes, the humans were surprised to see that all the vines disappeared. But only to see that they are surrounded by the giants.

The humans are outnumbered by the Tree giants by a lot and they only had one thought.

"Escape."

The human squad left and they only had one path.

Sam disappeared from his spot and went to a different spot. Then contacted Mitra.

"They are coming, ignore the human squad and deal with the Giants."

Within five minutes, Mitra saw a bunch of humans appear. They are battling with the tree giants. Both sides are pretty beat up. While the humans are trying to run away, the giants who have the wood element and the forest on their side have an upper hand.

Mitra didn't hesitate. He smirked and shook his head before jumping directly into the frenzy.