A massive creature covered in black fur pounded its fists against Elk’s face so violently and so fast that by the time I reached it, blood had already splattered across Elk’s complexion.

  With my new dagger in hand, I dashed toward Elk. He was two steps away. There was no way the monster could kill that fast.

  That’s what I told myself. That’s what made me run so fucking fast.

  I tackled the creature, already stabbing it in the side. I fell over it, and it was…

  A monkey.

  An oversized chimpanzee with red eyes and a fuming mouth. Its muscles were clearly enhanced. Instead of the size of a kid, the chimpanzee was at least as big as a tall teen.

  And it kept punching me in the face as I stabbed its stomach.

  But I felt nothing. It was like the creature was slamming against metal. Its knuckles smashed against my chin, but it didn’t hurt.

  Damn, it annoyed me.

  I slit its throat with the clean edge of the blade, and then it was dead. I got up, shoving it down the slope to gain momentum, and rushed to Elk.

  He was still down, face to the sky.

  It took me a moment to realize it.

  He was alive. Barely. But his lungs worked.

  I thought about buying a potion, didn’t even take the time to search for Mary, and suddenly, it was already in my hand. I downed it into Elk’s mouth and watched as he regained his breath.

  He gulped the drink like a man in an oasis.

  “I need you up and fighting,” I demanded.

  He nodded.

  I needed to demand that he fight. The air was growing thick with the thought of losing another friend. Don’t think about it, idiot!

  “As many illusions as you can!” I shouted and helped him up.

  “Thanks, mate,” he muttered.

  “Thank me when this is over.”

  I finally took a good look around. Monkeys were everywhere. The jungle was infested with them, and they were relentlessly attacking the group.

  A mad frenzy had overtaken the creatures. They only stopped jumping from the trees to land on one of us or to scream what I could only assume was a war cry.

  I’d heard that monkeys waged war against different tribes, and there were a hell of a lot of studies and books about it. The whole thing had fascinated me.

  Now? It disgusted me to the bone.

  Where are Tress and Mary?

  I scanned the surroundings, rushing to help a Myriad fighting two of the monkeys.

  The competitor struck in wide arcs, but the beasts just wouldn’t give up.

  I threw my dagger at one of the monkeys, the blade sinking into its skull with ease. It fell dead on the spot, giving my ally room to breathe, and they managed to kill the remaining animal.

  Above our heads, other chimpanzees leaped from branch to branch, screaming and waiting for the ideal prey.

  I watched as several of them collapsed on the ground, trying to attack one of Elk’s illusions. They kept going, even when the illusion proved intangible.

  These weren’t intelligent. The system had replaced their thinking with pure hatred and strength. We could take advantage of that. But where is Tress?

  Luckily, I didn’t have to wait long to find her.She appeared to be scanning the forest for me, her eyes stopping the moment we found each other and a slight nod of her head given. Mary was by her side, slamming her shield against a monkey and screaming.

  “I hate fucking monkeys!” Over and over again, every time she landed the final hit, she shouted to the skies, “Why did it have to be monkeys?!”

  For just a moment, I was in awe. There was a story behind that hatred, but we’d need to survive to hear it.

  Tress yanked Mary by the collar, pulling her out of her stupor as they rushed toward me.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I caught sight of Mila, fighting with shield and sword in hand. She was in a solid formation, surrounded by three men and two female Myriads.

  Three of her allies lay limp on the ground. I wanted to check on them, but a monkey jumped on me.

  I heard the branch crack before it fell—a frenzy of punches and screams.

  I almost tucked my neck down to protect my face, but that would’ve been a mistake. Instead, I embraced the creature as it fell.

  My Constitution had just been brought up to +10, which meant I was E2 in the stat. In that moment, as I grabbed the beast with both hands while it desperately tried to wound me and slammed it into the ground with all my strength, I finally understood what ten levels in Constitution meant.

  The monster didn’t weigh a single pound as I struck it down. The impact, amplified by my buffed strength, made the creature arch its back when it hit the ground. No air left in its lungs. I threw my dagger into its heart, and it was dead.

  Frenzied Chimpanzee - Rank F3

  You earned 20 credits.

  They weren’t even Rank F2 like some of the other creatures we’d fought—they were just numerous.

  “Elk, distract as many of them as you can. We need to stay together and keep climbing.”

  Elk followed immediately, creating a circle of illusions, each mimicking a terrified version of himself. The monkeys dropped onto them like flies, and when the real Elk at the center of the circle started hurling fireballs, they burned but kept fighting.

  “Go to the others. I’ll check if someone’s alive,” I commanded.

  Tress promptly ignored me. She had to—her job was to protect me. I shot her a side glance, but she remained stoic.

  Out of the three fallen, two were dead—two humans. A man who wasn’t over thirty and an older woman.

  Their belongings were scattered, but no shards were on the ground. They hadn’t had much, but one thing caught my eye—a purse with a C on it.

  The credits?

  I grabbed it just as Tress gave the third fallen a potion.

  As soon as the purse was in my hands, I earned a few hundred more credits. Later, I’d give them back to Mila, but it was good to know that items and credits dropped when someone died—though not their shards.

  “Let’s go. I think they’re getting bored of punching the illusions,” Tress called.

  I watched as the monkeys raised their heads, scanning the area as if searching for better targets.

  The others were now in a tight formation, cutting down any creature that dropped onto them with sword or magic.

  “Keep a tight formation, and let’s keep moving,” I said to Mila as she waved for me to join them. She nodded in agreement, and we pressed forward, fighting off monkeys as they fell.

  Their screams made my head throb, the pain fueling my desire to kill each and every one of them personally.

  But I had a better idea.

  “What are your mages’ affinities?” I asked Mila as she drove her sword through a monkey and looked up.

  “Gravity, fire, and water. There are three of them,” she panted.

  I took a good look at my minimap. The group dangerously close to us was a little behind, but they’d moved to the right.

  There was a group of three farther back and a larger group on the left, but they were also at a distance. The group on the edge would be forced to retreat, and the others would probably collapse as we climbed higher.

  There was no other way to handle this. We needed to go up and never look back. The beasts wouldn’t stop coming for us.

  “Burn this whole place down,” I commanded, and Elk didn’t need another word. As we moved forward, he shot fireballs into the treetops.

  Mila’s fire mage was a male Myriad with his face covered in black ink, a strange symbol carved into it. He followed the command without complaint as well.

  Between strides, we watched the jungle burning. They were smart enough to set fire to the trees away from us first, letting the blaze slowly creep toward us while targeting the ones with the most monkeys in them.

  A volley of creatures tried to surround us, but like a legion, we fought in a circle, cutting them down one by one.

  Some of them fought with their fur on fire, only stopping when their lungs filled with smoke.

  “Keep going!” I shouted—not that they needed to hear it, but it felt right to say it.

  Tress stayed at my rear the whole time, watching over my shoulder, protecting me.

  I took advantage of that to keep an eye on my minimap. There was a gap in the forest a few strides ahead.

  The group close to us was heading our way, probably pushed forward by the spreading fire, making their position too dangerous to hold.

  “We’ll have to fight soon,” I warned. “At the ravine ahead. Prepare to extinguish the flames around us—I don’t think we can avoid this fight.”

  Why didn’t you just move to the right? We’d all still be in the same game.

  I thought that—not because I was afraid of a fight, but because we’d waste time.

  On the far right of the forest, Max’s group seemed to have grown. They were now twelve dots, while our thirteen had become eleven.

  Something told me we wouldn’t still be eleven when the fight was over.

  We reached the ravine at the same time as the other group, my plan of forcing them toward us with fire dying as I watched them cross the edge.

  A part of me wanted them to be human. Maybe I could talk them down, maybe convince them to join us.

  But they were all male Arahaktars. Their bodies glistened with sweat, reflecting the flames rising from the burning forest.

  The whole scene looked… fitting.

  Unfortunately, the fact that they were seven male Arahaktars wasn’t even the worst part.

  The one leading them locked eyes with me, walking slowly forward.

  “You!” he shouted, his British accent sharp. “You won a duel before fighting me?”

  I shrugged.

  “You’ll not bathe in our people’s glory anymore, human. Today, you die,” he hissed, stalking toward me.

  Tress grabbed my arm, but it was Mila who spoke.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “I have history with him,” I said nonchalantly. “Just make sure the others are safe. Fight them for as long as you can. We have the numbers, and their strongest will be forced to fight me.”

  With that, I slipped free of Tress’s grip and walked toward the Arahaktar.

  The same bastard who’d challenged me to a duel to the death back in the briefing room, one week ago, before it all started.