Chương 57: Hungry Apes

Maximus swam through the cool water, the sensation of it flowing alongside his scaly body filling him with a sense of quiet joy and easing his mind. He arrived at the large crystal and used his clawed hands to shatter a few pieces and store them. [Mana Crystal] Crystallized mana, usually found in locations where mana and numina are plentiful, causing mana crystallization to occur.

He paused for a moment, and a hint of greed enveloped him as he laid his scaled hands over the crystal and tried to store the whole island. Warning: Impossible to store such levels of condensed mana. Denied! Hm, makes sense. Why did I even try it? Who needs this much crystallized mana? He argued with himself as he clawed out dozens of large chunks until he was satisfied and called it quits. On his way back to the surface, he dove deep into the waters, enjoying the sense of freedom before leaping onto the shore.

"How is it?" Silex asked, intrigued.

"That felt… freeing. I've swum and dived before, but this was truly different, as if I were made to swim. My body adapted to it, embraced the cool waters," Maximus said, his tail swaying idly as he recalled the sensation.

"Now you see why I need water!" Silex added happily.

"Indeed," Maximus nodded and walked toward one of the coconut trees, punching it and knocking a few coconuts down. He ripped one open with his bare hands and drank the milky juice inside. Tastes great… and calms the mind, he thought as he picked up a few more.

"We should start moving. Stars know when another group of monkeys will come out of the woodwork," Maximus said with a sigh.

"Can't we stay here a little bit longer?" Silex groaned.

"Uhm, Boss… you should stop saying things like that," Vesper said seriously as he jumped forward, spitting a cluster of bloody crystals that detonated on impact. Maximus turned and froze. A group of fifty Weaver Monkeys stood barely a hundred meters behind him. I got too relaxed… He frowned and summoned his falchion. The reptilian rage stirred within him.

"Let's slaughter some beasts!" He snarled as he exploded forward, casting Lesser Wind Enchantment alongside Static Strike, while Embi blessed them all with Fire Enchantment. The falchion shone crimson-grey and extended into a shimmering energy blade just as the monkeys created massive boulders of concrete-thick webbing and hurled them toward the group with shrieking cries. Swish. Maximus sliced through the boulders like tofu as he descended like a starving beast into the horde, carving through them in a frenzy.

They screamed, covering him with thick webbing, lunging at him, biting at his torso, and striking wildly as Cyclone Shell and Barkskin flared to life over his already durable scales.

"Look at him go," Silex chuckled as he used Surf. His body surged forward in a torrent of water, crashing into the monkeys like a living torpedo, releasing Echo Crunch mid-flight and snapping the nearest beasts clean in half. Vesper sent his strengthened pack into the fray as well while he moved as silently as the wind, cutting down one beast at a time with precise, lethal strikes while dodging glue-like webbing.

Noticing the numbers, he split his focus and continued the hunt with cold efficiency, picking off weaker monkeys one by one. Sprout and Embi joined in, one raining fire from above while the other lashed out with whipping vines. Noticing his ineffectiveness, Sprout leapt onto a nearby tree and commanded it to attack. The tree bent backward unnaturally before slamming down, crushing several monkeys beneath its weight.

"Boss, there are too many; we'll need something stronger!" Vesper shouted mid-slash, his claws raking through another beast. Maximus, influenced by his transformation, barely registered him and continued slicing. Some he cleaved in half, others he slashed with his claws, and others he bit with his maw, snapping limbs and ripping flesh apart. Finally, once he sensed the transformation ending, his reason returned. By the heavens! This is dangerous.

He gasped and lunged backward, activating Sanctuary and Dread Hollow in the same breath. A six-meter radius arena spread out around him as spirit energy condensed heavily in the air. Vines erupted from the soil, followed by seed mines scattering across the ground.

While he stood and recovered his mind and spirit, Bramble Hollow spread through the nearby plants and trees, sprouting thorny tendrils that lashed out, binding the monkeys in a brutal embrace of thorns and vines, draining them dry before crushing them into mangled heaps. Maximus stood there like the wrath of nature itself, unmoving, simply observing, his mind cooling.

"Silex, take that group to the right. Swallow them with waves. Vesper, shoot three globes into the center and pull your wolves in from the left," he ordered calmly, his voice steady as he regained his composure. Sprout leapt in front of him and took control of the vines and tendrils, targeting the monkeys with far greater precision. He then summoned Spectral Wolves to assist while releasing Lunar Flare. This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

The sky dimmed slightly as pale white light descended over the left flank, and cold, silver flames spread like a creeping plague, devouring the monkeys alive. The beasts screamed and lunged at Maximus, pain and hunger driving them into complete madness. They ignored the exploding seeds, the constricting vines, and the tearing thorns, and a wave of burning monkeys crashed into him, only for a primal roar to erupt in response.

An Ankylosaur form came to life as Maximus morphed again, his massive body bracing as his tail hammered downward with brutal force, while his spiked hide reflected the damage he received. Spectral Wolves lunged through chaos, finishing those that survived the onslaught, and just as it seemed they had things under control, another roar echoed from deeper ahead. A massive gorilla with spider-like legs and three pairs of log-thick arms descended.

Each arm gleamed silver as it slammed its fists into its chest and bellowed with terrifying force.

"Silex, Vesper, come to me!" Maximus roared. But before they could, the ape launched itself forward with its arachnid legs, descending upon him and unleashing a relentless barrage of monstrous fists. Maximus, still in his tank form, charged in an attempt to push it back, but the ape caught him by the neck, using the force of the charge to lift him effortlessly, and suplexed him into the ground before continuing its brutal assault.

The gorilla hammered his softer underbelly, each strike bellowing like metal as ripples of silver energy seeped into his body while the gorilla spat copious amounts of concrete-like webbing that hardened, trapping Anky Maximus on the ground, unable to escape. Maximus roared again and again until his transformation shattered, leaving him half-naked on the ground, his health frozen at a single point.

He screamed, the pain clouding his mind, as a thick, strengthened, bloody barrier formed around him, Vesper leaping onto the gorilla's back in a frenzy, sinking his teeth into its neck and twisting violently. Silex, on the other hand, raised an enormous wave and roared, "You dare touch my damn Max!" as he descended like a wrathful lord of the seas.

He unleashed Aqua Jet, severing one of the ape's arms and biting deep into another, only for the gorilla to grab him like a toy, slam him repeatedly into Maximus on the ground, and hurl him through a tree. Vesper's pack and clone abandoned the surviving monkeys and joined the battle, swarming the ape's limbs, tearing flesh, and dragging it down piece by piece. The beast ignored them. Instead, it leapt high and crashed onto its back, crushing Vesper beneath it, who cried out as something cracked loudly.

Then it grabbed Maximus, who was still lying beneath the layered barriers, struggling to breathe through the pain as he attempted to stand up. The gorilla tossed him into the air like a puppet before punching him dozens of meters into the dirt. Maximus screamed, his body held together only by his strongest trait, thanks to the system's blessing. He hugged a nearby tree, trying to stand. Think, Aurelius, think, you old bastard! He cursed inwardly as the gorilla turned its rage towards his companions before his eyes.

The cost of his skills had doubled, and his regeneration was halted. He had seconds at best before he would become completely vulnerable again. Luckily, Sanctuary still held, but it would not be enough.

"Sprout, buddy, I'll need your help! My spirit alone won't be enough!" He shouted and released Spore Cloud. The enraged ape inhaled the spores almost instantly, its body stiffening as paralysis set in for a brief moment.

"Solar Pyre!" Maximus roared. The sky flared as a blazing beam of sunlight descended, scorching the gorilla's body until its skin blackened and cracked.

"Now, Sprout!" Maximus surged forward, summoning his staff in hand, unleashing Nature's Wrath, which erupted across the gorilla's chest and tore open a massive wound, just as he and Sprout pushed everything they had left into a final strike. A massive violet Vine Tendril descended from above, smashing the gorilla into the ground.

Vesper staggered to his feet somehow, gathering the spilled blood around him to mend his broken back before unleashing the rest in a beam as thick as a tree trunk, which shattered the ape's many legs. Silex followed, lunging forward and tearing into the crippled beast in pure rage. Above them, Embi, long drained, spat a final few fireballs before fading slowly back into the Spirit Realm. Vesper's pack turned once more to hunt the remaining monkeys, finishing them off as the battlefield quieted.

Notifications flickered into existence before Maximus's eyes, and he collapsed to the ground once more. Skill Leveled Up: [Spectral Wolves Lv. 10] Skill Leveled Up: [Nature's Wrath (E) Level 20] Skill Leveled Up: [Basic Swordsmanship (F) Level 20] Alert: Multiple Skills Leveled Up. Check Skill Status. You have defeated: [Weaver Gorilla Lv. 30] You have defeated: [Weaver Apes Lv. 25] x 53 Talent Points gained: +4 Battle Tokens earned: 5000"Come to me, let me see you.

The Sanctuary is still up, heal, please, come," Maximus groaned as he lay on the ground, surrounded by a widening pool of dark, glistening blood. Vesper lay next to him, pressing his head against Maximus's chest, listening to the faint, uneven rhythm.

"Boss, I'm healing fast… the croc is in bad shape," he said quietly. Seeing Maximus come so close to death had stirred old, buried memories he had long tried to forget.

"Silex, leave that corpse and come here!" Maximus shouted, his voice cracking as his ribs and back screamed in sharp protest. Silex was covered in blood, some of his, most from the countless apes he had torn apart with ruthless efficiency. He stumbled over to Maximus and collapsed within the Sanctuary's fading glow.

"Damn you, Max… I thought you were gone. What the hell was that beast?" He muttered as his wounds slowly began to knit and close. Sprout sank his roots deep into the ground and began observing the surroundings with quiet vigilance as Maximus summoned a potion with trembling hands. He forced himself upright with a strained, pained cry and drank deeply, then shoved potions toward Vesper and Silex, forcing them to drink as well before activating Healing Flow.

It restored his health, but the heavy weight of the Death Defiant debuff clung to him, preventing his spirit from recovering until his broken body was fully mended. Like that, he sat there recovering for nearly half an hour, his breathing gradually evening out, before he was finally able to cast Rejuvenation on Silex to mend his shattered back. He followed it with Focused Treatment on Vesper, ignoring his protests entirely as the spell wrapped him in a soft, persistent glow.

Once they were able to move again, the three of them descended into the lake, floating in its faintly glowing waters and letting the liquid mana and numina seep into their bodies, repairing what had been broken and reinforcing what remained.

Night had fallen by the time they finally dragged themselves back onto the shore, their movements slow and heavy with exhaustion.

"I will make camp here. We should rest for the night… That was far too close for comfort," Maximus sighed, calling Embi back to check on him and help start a campfire. Sprout planted himself beside them, standing watch like a silent sentinel, while Vesper and Silex devoured what remained of the gorilla, both agreeing it tasted far better than the smaller monkeys they had eaten before.

Maximus, on the other hand, ate some of the centipede, its flesh rich and thrumming with dense spirit energy, before exhaustion finally claimed him and he fell asleep beside the fire. Vesper left his wolves to stand guard before settling down himself, his eyes lingering on Maximus for a long moment before finally closing as the forest around them grew quiet. ‎ ‎