143: Black Monkey King

Using the location and signal guidance from the military's emergency communicator, Li Xian, Ye Anhe, and the others struggled to regroup with a dozen special operations soldiers who had parachuted nearby, along with four equally disheveled Evolvers. They found a relatively defensible rocky hollow on the mountainside, backed against a steep cliff, and attempted to establish a temporary defensive line. However, they soon discovered they had stumbled into the territory of a troop of mutated wild monkeys!

These monkeys were nearly twice the size of ordinary ones, with protruding fangs, blood-red eyes, and swift, frenzied movements. They swarmed out from behind the woods and rocks, letting out sharp screeches as they launched a tide-like attack.

“Open fire! Hold them back!” Li Xian hid behind a giant boulder, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling as he commanded the special operations soldiers to shoot. Assault rifles spat tongues of fire, and bullets shredded the monkeys at the front into a bloody mess, but more monkeys used the rocks and trees to flexibly close in, throwing stones that thudded against the cover.

“Damn it! Why are there more and more of these cursed beasts the more we fight!” Li Xian kicked away a rankless wild monkey that had been shot dead and rolled to his feet. Looking at the constantly shifting dark shadows and the increasing number of crimson eyes in the surrounding woods, his face showed obvious anxiety and irritability.

“Where are the people from Lujiang Base? Why aren't they here yet?! Are they part tortoise?” Li Xian suddenly turned his head and barked at a special operations soldier who was changing a magazine, “Send them another message to hurry them up! Ask them exactly when they will arrive!”

The soldier's face was still stained with gunpowder smoke and monkey blood. He responded in a low voice, “Sir, we just contacted them five minutes ago. They are on their way and are expected to arrive within ten minutes.”

“I told you to hurry them, so hurry them! Enough with the nonsense!!” Li Xian exploded in rage as if he had been defied, roaring out of frustration while slamming a fist hard against the nearby mountain rock! With a muffled thud, the hard rock actually developed several cracks from his earth-element-enhanced fist, and gravel rustled down. His privileged, domineering manner—disregarding the situation and only knowing how to give orders—was fully exposed at this moment.

Seeing this, Ye Anhe's beautiful brows furrowed tightly, and a flash of undisguised disgust crossed her eyes, but she ultimately held back from speaking.

“Yes, sir!” The special operations soldier gritted his teeth, suppressing his dissatisfaction, and expressionlessly picked up the communicator to call again. A soldier's duty is to obey orders, even if the superior is a fool... “ROAR—!!!”

A roar far more violent than the screeches of ordinary monkeys, containing startling power, suddenly exploded from behind the monkey troop! It made everyone's eardrums ring!

Alarm bells rang in Ye Anhe's mind. The pale green wings of a wind spirit instantly unfurled behind her, and she lightly took to the air, rising several meters to look toward the source of the sound. She saw the monkey troop part like a tide as a giant black ape, far exceeding its kin in size, walked out! It was nearly four meters tall, its muscles knotted like layers of hard black rock, and its glossy fur shimmered with a metallic luster in the dim light. A pair of fan-sized giant hands hung down to its knees, with fingertips sharp as knives! Its blood-red eyes locked onto the figure in the air, filled with a lust for brutality and slaughter!

“Not good! It's a Monkey King! At least Second-Tier!” Ye Anhe cried out in alarm. Not daring to be careless, she immediately pulled the wind energy longbow in her hand, and a 'Wind Arrow' composed entirely of compressed airflow instantly condensed!

“Swoosh—!”

The arrow tore through the air with a whistle, accurately shooting toward the Black Monkey King's eye socket!

However, the Black Monkey King's reaction was incredibly fast! It didn't even dodge; its giant right palm reached out like lightning and snatched the Wind Arrow—which was powerful enough to pierce steel plating—right out of the air! Then, its five fingers gripped down with sudden force!

“Poof!”

The arrow, containing powerful energy, was actually crushed by its raw strength, turning into scattered, turbulent air currents!

“ROAR!” The Black Monkey King, provoked by a tiny creature, was completely enraged! It dropped to all fours and charged like a heavy black tank, its immense power making the ground vibrate slightly! The bullets fired by the special operations soldiers hit its thick fur and muscle, only leaving shallow white marks or being bounced off directly!

Seeing it rushing close, one special operations soldier gritted his teeth and threw a high-explosive grenade!

The Black Monkey King displayed agility that belied its massive size, leaping seven or eight meters to the side and easily escaping the core blast radius! The booming explosion only served to infuriate it! It instantly locked onto Ye Anhe, who had just attacked it, and its massive body leaped up. A fist the size of a millstone, accompanied by a vicious wind, slammed toward the spot where she had been hovering!

Ye Anhe hurriedly flapped her wings with all her might, perilously gaining altitude and just barely dodging the fatal blow. The sharp wind from the fist made her cheeks sting.

Missing its target, the Black Monkey King landed directly in the middle of the crowd! It let out an excited roar and began to wreak havoc! Its giant fists swung left and right!

“Thud! Splat!”

One special operations soldier didn't even have time to react before his head burst like a smashed watermelon!

“Crack! Aaaagh—!”

Another soldier tried to block, but his arm and rifle were crushed and deformed together. He screamed as he was sent flying!

A third soldier was grabbed casually, used as a weapon, and swung against the rock wall, instantly turning into a pile of mangled flesh!

The smell of blood stimulated the monkey troop further, making their offensive even more ferocious.

Li Xian was pale with fright, his legs trembling. He scrambled backward almost on all fours, screaming at the four equally pale Evolvers, “You four! Get in there! Stop it! That's an order!”

The four Evolvers looked at each other, but their feet seemed rooted to the ground. Was he joking? This Monkey King was clearly a Second-Tier monster; its strength, defense, and speed all crushed them. Going up there was just suicide, wasn't it? None of them were fools.

The Black Monkey King seemed to single out Li Xian, who had just been shouting orders. Its blood-red gaze shifted, and it roared as it charged toward him!

With no way to dodge, Li Xian let out a terrified shriek. In his haste, he covered his body with earth-element energy, forming a layer of brownish-gray rock armor, and braced himself to punch back!

“Bang! Crack!”

Accompanied by the crisp sound of armor shattering and a miserable wail, Li Xian was sent flying like he’d been hit by a speeding truck. He slammed heavily into the rock wall and rolled to the ground, spitting out a large mouthful of blood with a “wah.” He felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and the pain was piercing. Seeing the Black Monkey King approaching again, intense fear overwhelmed everything. His eyes rolled back, and with very “timely” precision, his head slumped to the side as he “fainted,” lying on the ground playing dead, even holding his breath.

The Black Monkey King possessed no small amount of intelligence. It looked suspiciously at the limp, motionless Li Xian, whose aura was weak. Its nostrils flared as it sniffed, seemingly judging that this prey was no longer a threat, and it turned to continue attacking the others who could still resist.

The remaining special operations soldiers and Evolvers could only rely on the terrain and coordination to barely hold on, desperately dodging and kiting. However, the disparity in strength was vast, and people were constantly being hit by the Monkey King's terrifying giant fists, resulting in death or maiming! An atmosphere of despair began to spread.

Just as the Black Monkey King smashed an Evolver who had tried to attack it—caving in their chest and sending them flying while spitting blood—and prepared to move in for the kill—

“Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—!!!”

A series of muffled yet massive autocannon roars, like the death knell of the Grim Reaper, suddenly rang out from the high heavens! Immediately following, countless thick lines of fire, like the punishment spears cast down by gods, accurately blanketed the area where the Black Monkey King was!

The terrifying shells of the 30mm Electromagnetic Kinetic Helios Autocannon carried immense kinetic energy and explosive power, slamming hard into the Black Monkey King's crossed, guarding arms!

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!”

The flames of explosions rose one after another! Even as strong as the Black Monkey King was, it was forced back repeatedly by this sudden, sustained barrage, its feet plowing two deep furrows into the ground! The fur and skin on its arms, which could ignore ordinary guns and cannons, were blasted open and charred black, even revealing the white bone beneath! The intense pain made it let out a roar of shock and fury!

Everyone instinctively looked up! They saw a silver point of light diving toward them at an incredible speed, revealing its massive and futuristic triangular fuselage in the blink of an eye—it was the apollo aerospace fighter from Lujiang Base!

The hatch at the bottom of the fighter opened, and a five-meter-tall mecha—gunmetal gray with sharp lines and surrounded by thick, earthy-yellow energy—descended from the sky like a meteorite!

“Boom!” The mecha slammed heavily onto the ground, kicking up a circle of dust! The laser sword in its hand instantly deployed a glowing hot blade. With a casual swing, it sliced several nearby stunned monkeys in half! Then, the mecha strode forward like a prehistoric giant elephant, charging straight at the wounded Black Monkey King!

A metallic Iron Fist wrapped in dense, earthy-yellow energy smashed squarely into the face of the Black Monkey King, who had just lowered its arms!

“Bang!”

A tooth-aching muffled thud! The Black Monkey King's cheek instantly caved in, and several bloody fangs mixed with saliva were sent flying! Its massive body staggered, nearly falling over!

At the same time, the apollo fighter hovered steadily at a low altitude, and the magnetic suction hatch lowered! Several figures charged out like tigers from a cage, entering the chaotic monkey troop with a sharp, imposing aura!

The leader was none other than Shen Nan, transformed into a werewolf! His height had surged to over three meters, his body covered in needle-like gray-black fur, his muscles bulging to the point of bursting. A pair of sharp wolf claws shimmered with cold light, over ten centimeters long! A cruel, murderous glint shone in his bloodthirsty wolf eyes; with every pounce and swipe, a wild monkey was inevitably torn to shreds! The smell of blood instantly filled the air!

Following closely behind was “Iron Fist” Gold Dragon, whose fists had grown giant and were covered in a metallic luster. His fists were like pile drivers; every strike produced a dull thud, smashing the monkeys in front of him directly into meat pies!

Then came “Muscle Tyrant” Wang Kun, four meters tall and like a mobile fortress of muscle! He didn't even need any technique; simple charging and stomping cleared out the nearby wild monkeys, his berserk strength making hearts race with fear!

The dozen or so First-Tier Evolvers following them also displayed their various skills—fireballs, wind blades, ice spikes, earth spikes... various Superpower lights exploded within the monkey troop. The monkeys, who had been fierce just moments ago, were instantly slaughtered, wailing and leaving the ground covered in corpses!

On the other side, the battle between destroyer mecha piloted by Yang Ning and the Black Monkey King was also nearing its end. The mecha's strength, defense, and weaponry completely overwhelmed the monkey king. The laser sword drew a scorching arc!

“Sizzle!”

The Black Monkey King's hideous head soared into the sky, a pillar of blood several meters high erupting from its severed neck! The headless corpse swayed for a moment before falling heavily. Yang Ning controlled the mecha, skillfully slicing open its skull to retrieve a green, shimmering crystal core.

The battle quickly subsided, leaving only a ground full of monkey corpses and a heavy scent of blood.