Zamel and Ulfram ran away from their pursuers; desperation fueled their minds as the monkeys relentlessly chased them, lunging without hesitation as their shrill cries echoed throughout the forest.
Zamel didn't waste any time using "Prowl" to conceal himself. The heightened hearing of the monkeys made them way more capable of tracking them, making it impossible for them to hide themselves and shake them off.
What's even more frustrating is that whatever direction they took, countless monkeys would emerge from the trees to block their path, leaving them no choice but to change their course again and again.
Suddenly, Zamel sensed an attack was coming and barely dodged the fist shooting toward his face. He immediately grabbed the fist and pulled it, exposing the monkey who attacked him. Without hesitation he drove his sword through its skull, killing it immediately.
He ripped his short sword just in time to dodge another attack aimed at the back of his head, swiftly pivoting and slashing his short sword at its neck; blood arced through the air, painting the verdant color of the forest with crimson color.
He wasn't given any time to catch his breath as a third monkey immediately appeared. Its fist is rocketing toward his liver. He was about to defend himself against the attack, but his instinct flared. Another attack was coming behind him.
Left with no choice, he ignored the attack coming from his back and quickly adjusted his position. He put all his focus on the foe in front of him. Jumping to the side, he let the fist of the monkey whistle past him, then retaliated in one swift motion—his sword slashing through its neck, cutting its head cleanly.
The fourth monkey, who was attacking from behind, rejoiced in delight after seeing the action of his enemy. Yet it was short-lived, as a tail with a thorn suddenly flew toward its head and pierced through its eyes, injecting the venom it was carrying.
The venom immediately proved its effectiveness as the monkey screamed in agony and thrashed wildly in pain, followed by blackened blood dripping down its eyes mixed with tiny bits of rotting flesh.
But Ulfram didn't show any mercy. He ignored the anguish he put the monkey into; he clamped his jaws to its head and crushed it completely. Dark blood and other fluids gushed out of the monkey's body as Ulfram drank it greedily, his hunger evident.
He wanted to savor his meal a little longer, but he heard the command of Zamel through their connection and obeyed with reluctance, casting one last, saddened eye at the food they were forced to leave behind.
Zamel felt sorry for his first beast, but he couldn't afford to give themselves any moment of respite—unless he wished to be surrounded by the countless monkeys who seemed way too eager to fight them to the death.
From the brief time they'd been pursued, he noticed many things about the monkeys: they were way too battle-hungry. They will always rush toward them with reckless abandon, caring neither for their life or the world around them. Their only desire, shown by their blood-crazed eyes, was to reach their enemy and pummel them to death.
Yet, despite their numbers, they never took advantage of their advantage to simply overwhelm them. Instead, they only focused on surrounding them.
Occasionally, a group with three to five members of monkeys will get closer to them and immediately start a brawl with Zamel along with his tamed beast. They will not exceed this number, while the others merely never step in to aid their fellow tribesmen.
They would wait, and if the current group falls—whether they are defeated or killed—they would immediately send out a new group to fight next and wait once again.
They were incredibly stupid when fighting as a group—so much as their own actions would often endanger themselves or their fellow tribeskin as they barely paid any attention to their surroundings, combined with the sheer intensity and unruliness of their attacks or movement.
Zamel couldn't help but profusely thank the angels above for the weird behavior shown by the monkeys. Although he wished to learn more about the ritualistic behavior of these monkeys, he couldn't spare the time to think about it.
They sprinted to the forest, the once treacherous terrain of the forest, covered in stone, roots, and undergrowth, no longer impeding him as he was getting used to navigating the wild.
He ignored the cacophony of screeches resounding throughout the forest, focusing his senses on the monkeys—whether they were closing in or lying in wait ahead.
His senses flared once more; three attacks were incoming. Without hesitation, he quickly passed his order to Ulfram, who also sensed the attack and sprang into action.
Zamel dealt with the first two monkeys who attacked him first, while his beast, Ulfram, intercepted the third monkey, lagging behind the group.
His sword lashed out at the face of the monkey while he twisted his body mid-motion to deliver a powerful kick at the chest of the second monkey. His efforts were in vain as the first monkey dodged the sword and the second monkey, who was knocked back, simply shrugged off his attack and stood once more.
Zamel clicked his tongue in annoyance; he spared a quick glance at Ulfram, who already gained the upper hand against his opponent. Relief barely had any time to settle in as the two monkeys he was facing rushed toward him at the same time, brandishing all their arms in a frenzy.
He jumped to the side, letting the two monkeys collide with one another. Without wasting a moment, he immediately sprung into action; he struck—slicing his sword through their necks in a clean, decisive motion. Blood sprayed through the air as the monkeys futilely tried to cover their necks, which was all in vain as they dropped dead on the floor of the forest.
He was about to rush to Ulfram's side to assist when he suddenly felt a wave of satisfaction through their connection—his tamed beast had already finished his fight. His opponent lay headless beside him, pouring out blackened blood, tainted by the decaying flesh where its head should be.
Zamel chuckled at the gruesome way his tamed beast killed his enemy, though a thought crossed his mind: what will his tamed beast do if they were to face a larger enemy? After all, he had only been able to brutally crush the monkey's head because it perfectly fit in his jaws.
Shaking off his distraction, he quickly scanned their surroundings and found a hollow space beneath the tree standing beside them. Without waiting for another moment, he rushed inside, followed by Ulfram. The moment they were in, they activated their respective stealth skills.
Just in time, before a wave of monkeys screeched and gathered at the spot they previously stood. Chattering wildly as they search for their prey, then suddenly, the entire horde fell into an eerie silence, their keen ears straining for the slightest sound the intruders would foolishly make.
Zamel and Ulfram stood motionless in the cramped space they were in; they stilled their breath and tried to calm their frantic hearts that were beating wildly.
This was a huge gamble—a dangerous one, in which Zamel wagered his life along with his tamed beast as a bet, putting all his belief that as long as they didn't create any sound while using Prowl, the monkeys' sharp hearing would fail to detect them.
The terror-inducing situation they were in went on for fifteen minutes. The monkeys lingered dangerously close to the entrance, their soft and silent footsteps resounding close to their ears. One even stuck its head inside, its dark beady eyes staring at Zamel before it scanned the darkness it saw while its hot breath brushed close to him.
He held his breath, ignoring the cold sweat pouring down his face.
Then, as quickly as it came, the monkey pulled back, irritated that it didn't find its prey before putting its attention elsewhere, joining the others searching at different spots.
Thankfully his gamble paid off.
The monkeys started screeching, their annoyance mixed with it as they broke off from the horde and formed smaller groups to search throughout their territory.
Still, Zamel and Ulfram didn't let his guard down for three minutes before he relaxed himself and breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't believe that it had actually worked. He was not a hundred percent sure or even remotely confident he would live through that situation.
A sense of pride started to appear within him, and he suppressed the urge to shout in celebration.
Still, he and Ulfram remained in the small space they were in, using this brief moment to catch their breath and regain some energy. He would likely deal with these monkeys for quite a while, so he might as well take advantage of this momentary peace he miraculously got himself into.
The recent events flashed before his eyes as he tried to understand the strange actions of the monkeys.
What really caught his attention was that they were able to predict and block his path. If he remembered correctly, those paths he tried to take all led away from their territory. Yet whenever he tries to break free, the monkey will close in—except they will deliberately leave an opening—sometimes a weak point he has no choice but to exploit so they won't get surrounded completely.
Maybe the groups who were able to catch up and engage them in a fight were merely distractions, buying time so that the main horde of the monkeys were able to move in advance and surround the area in which they were.
It seemed like the monkeys were leading them somewhere—maybe the heart of their territory? If that was the case, it could work in his favor. After all, his objective might be there, emphasis on the "might."
Still, he didn't think it would be that easy; if he trusted his assumption and deliberately fell into the trap set by their pursuers, and it turns out the monkeys led them to a place where the fruit was nowhere to be found, he would surely pay the full price for his recklessness.
But if, at the bright side, the monkeys lured them toward his objective, it would save him a lot of time and effort. Although if he truly followed through with this plan, he and his tamed beast would face a huge problem in the form of hundreds of monkeys along with their strongest members—and, the most dangerous one which was the Alpha of the horde.
"Out of the frying pan into the fire." That was the perfect way to explain the situation he will put himself into if he didn't think this through clearly.
More importantly, if he did manage to find the fruit, would he be strong enough to escape with it? Would he even be capable enough to fight the beast guarding it?
He had nearly died fighting the boar. Hell, he didn't even come out unscathed from his fight with the Alpha wolf. If not for Ulfram who came in clutch to distract the wolf and weaken it, he never would have landed the killing blow.
The sudden realization of his weakness quickly occupied his mind, flooding him with doubt.
But what could he do?
Kill all the monkeys that were currently giving him a bad time to gain enough experience for his level and increase the proficiency of his skills? That sounds so impo-.
Wait.
That might actually work. No, it would work.
Right now, he could take advantage of this situation to grow stronger. If he managed to wipe out these monkeys—or at least cull their numbers—it would give him enough strength to his eventual fight from the guardian of the fruit and although the monkeys have these weird ritualistic habit to not interfere in the fight with the "big boss."
He couldn't rely on that.
What if they ignored their culture?—or whatever it was—and join the fight with their huge number? If that happened, he and Ulfram were as good as dead.
Plus, by fighting them, he could gather crucial information while dealing with these monkeys to assume what other weird powers, skills or things like that to form a conclusion of what the guardian would look like and how it will fight.
"Killing three birds with one stone!!" A perfect plan. Convenient for his poor future self.
But first, he must do something more important to go through with his plan.
He reached out to his tamed beast and communicated the details of his plans to know what he thought of it.
His response was simple Ulfram totally agreed to kill them all so he could eat all their brains. That was the exact message he conveyed through their connection, as his mouth started watering while his eyes glimpsed with undisguised hunger.
Well, that was… convenient, Zamel chuckled at the enthusiasm shown by his tamed beast. Though, this was the first time he had learned Ulfram apparent love for eating brains. Is this something new or was it already there and he just didn't notice it?
He shook off the distraction and refocused himself on what he would do.
It was time to push his stealth skill, Prowl, to the next level.