The Villain has Perished

The Brawl Ape picked the unconscious Sol from the river. The monster gazed at its surroundings, the corpses of Master rank monsters that had come with it, and beat its chest.

It hooted loudly in delight.

The Brawl Ape tribe was a tribe built on strength. They lived and thrived for battles. Their goals revolved around fighting and defeating a strong enemy.

Master rank monsters are treated like royalty among the monsters. And the Master rank monsters follow only those who are stronger than them. Capturing Sol, who was commanding almost 10 Master rank monsters, was an honor of the highest order.

The monster took Sol back to its tribe like a trophy. It issued a short command to the horde before leaving and the Mortal Awakening monsters dispersed toward the lake.

Only one monster didn't follow the horde. It instead accompanied the brawl ape like a servant. This monster had a human-like figure, green skin and sharp fangs. Its muscles were thin and one could see the ribs on its chest, hinting at its poor physique.

The duo of monsters crossed through the middle section at a moderate pace. Throughout the path, the brawl ape kept grunting and hooting, almost as if it was conversing with the scrawny monster. The scrawny monster always nodded or sometimes made weird noises.

They had to rest a few times on their path to the Brawl Ape tribe. The monster had defeated Sol, however, it didn't come out unscathed. It had two new battle scars on its body, one running across its face and the other resting on its fist.

The monster also had considerable burns all over its body. If its berserk transformation hadn't allowed it to ignore pain, its fate would've been no different from the other 9 Master rank monsters that came with it to subjugate Sol.

Ooh-ooh-ooh-aah—! Ooh-ooh-aah-aah—!

The ape continued to make guttural and throaty noises as if it was bragging. In the meantime the ape's servant, the scrawny monster, tied Sol to a log and the ape was holding the log over its shoulder. It made carrying Sol easier.

The path these two monsters were using belonged to the Brawl Ape tribes. Monsters were, by nature, territorial beasts. They created their abodes in their territories and hated other monsters intruding upon them. This naturally included the paths used by every tribe.

Even the hordes of monsters that go to the Lake of Purity do not form before reaching the outer section of the Forest of Silence. The monsters use the path belonging to their tribe inside the middle section and join the monsters from other tribes after entering the outer section.

Hundreds of years had created this inexplicable harmony between the monsters residing inside the Forest of Silence.

Four hours later, the duo was still traveling. Their idle chatter consisted solely of the ape boasting and swinging the log excitedly while thinking about gloating its spoil – Sol – to its tribe.

Sol himself was getting nauseated. But he kept acting as if he was unconscious.

Another card appeared in Sol's hand and he stored a Hound wolf inside it. The process caused copious amounts of mana to move. However, the card absorbed the mana instantly and the duo monsters didn't notice anything this time either.

Sol thought to himself.

'I remember the path clearly. Since I got a path to use in the middle section, I don't need to stick with them anymore. I'll look for an opening and kill them.'

Sol had been acting from the very beginning. He was never knocked out unconscious.

This was Sol's plan. It was to get caught by a Master rank monster and use the chance to enter the middle section unhindered. With this method, he would gain information about a path that was used by only one tribe. This would decrease his chances of getting caught by mistake in the future considerably.

It was Plan C, short for 'Plan get Captured'.

Ignoring Sol's awful sense of humor, he had used the Directory to read the monsters' habits and divided them into different categories last night. The ones who will capture him, those who will kill him, who might or might not kill him, those who would inflict as many injuries as possible before killing him.

Sol might not have fought a Master rank Brawl Ape, but he did defeat a Mortal Awakening rank Brawl Ape among the other species of monster he eliminated surrounding the Lake of Purity. Thus the information about the monsters species' customs and practices were written in the Directory.

Today when the master rank monsters arrived Sol focused on eliminating the monsters that won't capture him before shifting his attention towards the ones that would capture him.

In short, he had purposely allowed himself to get caught. The plan however was risky. The last strike of the Brawl Ape was truly life-threatening.

'No risk, no return.'

Sol mused inwardly. Suddenly, his thoughts were cut short by strange noises. He opened his eyes ever so slightly, to peek at the situation.

'Ah, I got caught.' The scrawny monster was looking at Sol's arm, specifically at the 4th summoner card he was about to use. It was trying to warn the ape by grunting. 'On 2nd thought, I don't need an opening to deal with these two.'

Sol immediately flicked his wrist and threw the summoner card into the air, in front of the ape's face. A wolf came out and bit the monster's neck.

The ape was a second late to dodge. The surprise attack caused it to lose a large portion of its shoulder. In hindsight, it was a good outcome as due to the warning of a scrawny monster, the ape was able to protect its windpipe from getting crushed.

The monster hollered angrily and threw the log tied to Sol at a tree. With its arms free, the ape grabbed the hound wolf by its neck and smashed it into the ground.

The hound wolf tried to claw at the ape while the ape kept pummeling it. However, the ape's fierce attacks left no room for retaliation.

Two more wolves appeared. One bit the ape's right arm, while the other sank its fangs into the ape's shoulder injury that had a portion of flesh missing.

The ape's eyes turned bloodshot. Its black fur changed to crimson red and it grew in size. The growth in size reopened its wounds, but the monster ignored the pain.

It murderously glared at Sol and spun its upper torso to throw the hound wolves off. The wolves were smashed into trees and they whimpered. The monster leaped towards Sol with its fists clasped together and raised high.

Sol had been freed when the log broke after being smashed by the ape. However, he didn't try to dodge the attack.

A faint noise similar to whistling came from far behind the Brawl Ape. In its berserk state, the ape didn't react to the whirring noise that was increasing in intensity.

The ape was about to attack Sol but a sharp object stabbed the ape suddenly in the back at a very high speed. The object penetrated through its body and came out from its abdomen. The abrupt fatal injury caused the ape to stagger and fall.

The cause behind its injury, a black sword, circled around Sol and landed in his hand.

Anger enshrouded the ape's figure. It beat its chest and howled loudly. Blood-mixed saliva dripped through its clenched jaws.

Sol swung his sword and a black arc flew out. It struck the ape's neck, causing it to stumble. A gash formed on the monster's neck.

The monster repeated its previous actions and hollered thunderously. Its figure was riddled with deep gashes and burnt marks. But it continued to move.

It swung its fist, but Sol used another <Holy Slash>, aimed at the ape's neck. The Brawl ape fell to its knees.

Noises of gurgling blood echoed as the ape clenched its neck. The repeated injuries ultimately reached the tipping point and its berserk transformation wore off.

The ape was trying to breathe through its slit throat. It opened its jaws to take a deep breath, however, a swift stab penetrated its mouth. The tip of the blade traveled through its oral cavity and reached its brain.

Ding!

⟪You have slain Brawl Ape, 2-star Master⟫

⟪ 600 Coins Awarded ⟫

|| +600 Life Points ||

A small portal formed above Sol's head. Through the portal, a black crown fell on top of his head and the portal disappeared.

Ding!

⟪ +1 Kill Point ⟫

Sol stared at the corpse of the ape for a few moments. Previously, he had slain a 2-star Master frog monster. The Great Ape was a 2-star monster too. However, the danger the two monsters posed was completely different.

The reason was their skill set. The frog monster had <Amphibian> F and <Shooting Tongue> F as its skill. On the other hand, the Great Ape's skills were <Berserk> F and <Increased Defense> F.

Although both monsters had two F rank skills. The skill set of the Great Ape was more combat-oriented with both of its skills geared towards combat. Moreover, the skill <Increased Defense> F covered the <Berserk> F skill's weakness as the berserk transformation rendered the ape unable to use its mind and dodge attacks.

The two skills synergized and resulted in increasing the ape's combat ability by more than 2-folds. Sol had to use numerous attacks to wear off the ape defense before landing a decisive strike.

He used <Cancel> on the three hound wolves and refilled his MP slightly.

'Did the other monster run away?'

He used <Mana Sense> once before leaving and detected the monster hiding in bushes.

<Partial Body Strengthening>

Sol wrapped his legs in mana and dashed towards the monster's hiding location. He swung his sword. The blade formed a clean arc.

The monster didn't retaliate or attempted to evade the blade. It instead cried, "P-please stop! Don't ki-kill me!"

'It can talk!?'