6: monkey troops

Monkeys are lively and active creatures; whenever they encounter humans, they chatter and howl in a chaotic manner.

Yet, this particular group of monkeys was silent, stealthily surrounding them like special forces in an army.

Xu Le's heart sank: these monkeys were sinister and alert; who knows how many adventuring Professionals they had secretly killed.

Realizing they had been discovered, the monkey troop no longer hid their presence and launched a direct charge.

In the dense forest, the sound of the monkey troop's charge echoed from all directions.

Stones fell like rain.

Li Yang immediately panicked, raising his heavy shield and looking around frantically.

"This way!"

Following the mental connection sent back by the Little Yellow Chicken, Xu Le retreated toward the valley.

The Little Yellow Chicken didn't hesitate to use "Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens." Its 3 Clones cast "Flame Shockwave" at the surrounding monkey troop, sending white fireballs flying everywhere, causing the monkeys to screech in pain.

"Roar!"

An angry roar erupted as a Monkey King over five meters tall charged through, crushing and snapping trees along its path.

As soon as it neared the two, it grabbed a millstone-sized rock and hurled it at them.

The Little Yellow Chicken hastily spat out a fireball, and the two collided and exploded.

Before Li Yang could breathe a sigh of relief, the Monkey King's body leaped over the rock, fiercely slashing its blade at the Little Yellow Chicken.

Flame Shield!

The Little Yellow Chicken waved its two claws, and a layer of red light enveloped it like an egg, tanking the dangerous strike.

The light screen flickered but ultimately did not shatter.

Li Yang raised his shield to step forward and help, but Xu Le quickly pulled him back.

One must know that the Little Yellow Chicken now had 500 points of Mental Energy, and the "Flame Shield" it cast could withstand 4,000 points of damage. Yet it was nearly shattered by the Monkey King's single blow, meaning that slash dealt close to 4,000 points of damage.

Li Yang was only a Rank 9 Shield Warrior, currently only knowing the "Shield Defense" skill learned upon changing classes. With a mere 20% physical damage reduction, wouldn't going up there just be throwing his life away?

"I... I have a heavy shield, I'm a tank." Li Yang said with a conflicted look in his eyes.

The education he had received over the past three years taught him that a heavy shield must stand on the front lines, defending the backline's lifeline even at the cost of his life.

"Survival comes first. If we're any slower, we'll be surrounded on all sides and won't be able to escape."

Xu Le dragged Li Yang along as they ran, soon reaching a canyon with cliffs on both sides. There were no monkeys behind them for the moment, so it was safe for now.

Some of the monkey troop were held back by the Clones, but even more monkeys were rushing over.

The two continued running deeper into the canyon, but their speed was much slower than the monkey troop's. It looked like they were about to be caught.

"Brother Le, you go first. I'll catch up soon."

Li Yang skidded to a halt and raised his heavy shield, preparing to launch a counter-charge.

"That works; this spot is about right."

Li Yang: "?"

Xu Le snapped his fingers. The Little Yellow Chicken left the Monkey King and flew quickly to Xu Le's side, then cast "Phoenix Dance of the Nine Heavens" once more.

The four Clones plus the Little Yellow Chicken itself cast "Meteor Fire Rain" together. A sky full of fire rain fell, causing the monkey troop to scream in terror and scatter in all directions.

But with cliffs on both sides and five Little Yellow Chickens spitting fireballs in front, they couldn't escape at all and could only endure the fire rain.

The Monkey King chased after them, roaring in anger. It leaped up and slashed at the fire clouds floating above the monkey troop's heads, but it had no effect at all; instead, it suffered a wave of fire rain itself.

The monkey troop's Rank was higher than the previous monsters, but enduring ten clouds of fire rain simultaneously, they finally began to fall.

[Experience Points +4,800]

[Experience Points +4,800]

... "Roar, roar, roar!"

As its tribesmen died one after another, the Monkey King roared in fury, shoved through the monkeys blocking its way, and jumped into the group of Little Yellow Chicken Clones, raising its hand for a violent slash.

The Little Yellow Chicken Clones hurriedly put on Flame Shields, but the Clones only had half the attributes of the original. One of them was sliced in half, shield and all, turning into flames and vanishing.

Clearly, the Clones did not have the "Nirvana Rebirth" skill.

Along with it, the fire cloud summoned by that Clone also disappeared.

After the successful strike, the Monkey King did not continue slashing. Apparently, that previous blow had consumed a lot of energy, and even its speed had slowed down by twenty percent.

The Little Yellow Chicken and the remaining Clones took advantage of its weakened state, bombarding it with fireballs.

The Monkey King endured a wave and spat out a large mouthful of blood. It slashed at another Little Yellow Chicken Clone, but this time only managed to break the Flame Shield.

The Little Yellow Chicken Clone casually reapplied the shield and continued attacking the Monkey King.

Thirty seconds passed. Before the remaining monkey troop could even feel happy, four more fire clouds rose.

"Roar!"

The Monkey King roared in frustration, but it was completely powerless. Although its attacks were violent, they could only break the Clones' shields and could not deal any real damage.

Li Yang watched, mesmerized, his mouth never stopping with "Awesome" and "Badass."

[Experience +8,200]

[Experience +8,200]

... Some of the stronger Demon Monkeys began to die. A white light flashed over the two as they reached Rank 10, then Rank 11.

Li Yang immediately pulled out "Tigers Roar." Just as he crushed it, he saw a glint of cunning flash in the Monkey King's eyes. It endured a wave of attacks and leaped up directly, aiming a powerful slash at Xu Le.

This strike was identical to the one it used to kill the Little Yellow Chicken Clone earlier—a terrifying ultimate move.

The Monkey King grinned wickedly.

It was no brainless fool; it had known for a long time that Xu Le was the Contractor. As long as it killed Xu Le, everything would end.

It had been plotting this strike for a long time.

It hadn't forced its way through when surrounded by the Clones just to make the two let their guard down and catch them off guard.

With this strike, the weak but lucky Contractor would surely die!

The original Little Yellow Chicken hadn't cast a shield for a long time, clearly having run out of Mana.

Li Yang's eyes nearly split from strain. He hurriedly activated "Tigers Roar" and raised his heavy shield to stand in front of Xu Le.

The Monkey King sneered with disdain, casually swiping Li Yang aside and bringing down the violent slash.

It already imagined the scene of the Contractor being sliced in two and the contracted beast dying in despair.

Spineless creatures that submit to humans deserve to die.

The Monkey King became increasingly smug. As the blade drew near Xu Le's body, it discovered a layer of red light rising around him.

"Why does he still have Mana?"

"I can do this!"

The Monkey King gritted its teeth and increased the force of its strike, only to see the Contractor move. A fist the size of a clay pot slammed into its head.

"A Contractor can do melee combat too?"

"How can he be so fast?"

As the final thought flashed through its mind, the Monkey King was sent flying, its remaining HP emptied.

Li Yang, enveloped in a layer of red light, landed safely and roared repeatedly, "Why protect me? It was attacking Brother Le!"

[Experience Points +122,800]

?

Turning around, he saw Xu Le also covered in a layer of red light, looking like he still had lingering fears: "Fortunately, the Monkey King's last bit of HP was emptied."

Looking at the Monkey King whose head was bloodied from the punch, Li Yang knew things weren't that simple, but he didn't press for details and instead burst out laughing.

"Yeah! Fortunately! Let's see what it dropped."

Xu Le didn't decline and directly picked up the three items.

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining a special item—heart of the commander.]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining a special skill—Eye of Insight.]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining an Epic-grade weapon—demon slaying blade.]

The heart of the commander is key to building a dungeon. The function of a dungeon goes without saying; it's extremely valuable.

"Eye of Insight" is a relatively common and practical skill that can inspect target information for those not exceeding one's own Rank by more than 20.

Xu Le chose to use it immediately. A piece of information instantly entered his mind, but in the next moment, that information was directly overwritten.

The hidden trait of Innate Divinity had taken effect.