We headed to one of the smaller forests near town. Even if we just walked around, our chances of encountering one of these monkeys was high.
“Sir Noir, I have something to show you.”
Right after we arrived in the forest, Luna pulled her gun out of its holster, pointed it at a nearby boulder, and bang! It sounded much heavier than her usual Energy Shot. The shot was bigger too. And slower. The moment it hit the boulder, the rock went flying up and shattered everywhere. I was in awe.
“It’s a new skill I learned—Impact Shot. It hits with a lot of force.”
“That’s so cool! I bet you could take down any monster around here in one hit.”
“Everyone else has been getting so much stronger,” said Luna. “I didn’t want to get left behind. I want to learn a higher-level Healing Shot next.”
Emma was doing the same thing. All the women in my life were such hard workers. And having a healer around was really valuable. I was glad to have her along.
“It’s not a new skill, but I came up with an idea,”
I took out one of the silk balls. We needed them to be sticky, but they were so sticky that they were difficult to use. If nothing else, they wouldn’t leave your hand very easily. Wearing gloves only made it worse. To throw one, you had to minimize contact and only touch them with your fingertips. Of course, that greatly reduced your accuracy. I tried throwing one at a tree, but it wouldn’t leave my hand.
“I get why these weren’t selling.”
“They’re just too sticky,” Luna agreed. “How can we even use these…?”
“I just have to change myself and we’ll be good.”
My solution was to make a Stickiness Resistance skill. C-Grade would cost 400 LP, B-Grade 600, A-Grade 1,000, and S-Grade 1,500. It seemed like it could come in handy against spider monsters and the like, so I bought the S-Grade version. Immediately, the silk balls got easier to use. They were hardly sticky at all.
Fwip! Splat!
Now I could throw them with ease. I could even make use of my B-Grade Throwing skill again.
“Wow, that was great!” said Luna. “How did you manage it?”
“I gave myself S-Grade Stickiness Resistance. Now they’re just like normal balls.”
“Heh, you always figure something out, Sir Noir. We’ll be more than able to accomplish the request now.”
We just had to find the monkeys. We searched the forest, keeping our eyes peeled for surprise attacks. After about ten minutes, we discovered the corpses of several wild beasts. It looked like the corpses had been moved under trees and concealed with leaves. The monkeys were probably saving them for later. Monkeys were smart, and becoming monsters had only made them smarter.
Luna investigated the soft ground. “Footprints. A lot of them too. They look like monkey tracks.”
“Seems like a group of them. I’ll ask the Great Sage where they are.”
<231 yards to the north.>
My head didn’t hurt yet, so I asked how many there were.
<Twelve.>
More than I was expecting. Luna’s expression darkened when I told her. If these were just goblins, it wouldn’t have been an issue. But a highly intelligent and unfamiliar enemy could be dangerous in large numbers.
“I’d really prefer to take just one body back.”
“Yeah, not having to take them all out would be ideal. I guess it’ll depend on the situation.”
We decided to set up an ambush. Staying low, we crept through the forest, careful not to step on any fallen branches. When we finally reached our targets, we concealed ourselves behind some trees.
We’d found them. The hand monkeys were in the middle of a meal. Some of them were gathered around the corpse of an animal, and some were eating fruit. Their arms were abnormally long—long enough to touch the ground when they stood up. They were about as tall as we were, with long fur and stocky physiques, kind of like orangutans. The main difference was their golden fur and red eyes. And their levels were all over the place—the highest was Level 80, and the lowest Level 20. They had skills like Agility, Tree Climbing, Throwing, Grip Strength, and Superhuman Strength, and they seemed skilled at close and mid-range combat. Pretty tough opponents.
“There are some differences between the individuals here, but they’re all strong.” I said. “Taking on twelve at once will be rough.”
“I guess our best choice will be to take out one and run, huh?” Luna said. “Maybe we should target that one over there?”
It had finished eating and was moving between the trees with its long arms. It looked like it was playing. It was only Level 32 and had mediocre skills.
We had a plan. It was time to put it into action. I aimed for the monkey, waited until it was moving between branches, and threw one of the silk balls.
“Eek?!”
The ball burst, gluing the monkey’s fingers to the branch. That felt amazing! The hand monkey started to panic, but the silk wouldn’t let go. I leapt from the shrub I was hiding in.
Pew! Pew!
I heard two gunshots behind me. The first one grazed the creature’s wrist, and the second ripped through its remaining flesh. The monkey fell from the branch, leaving its hand stuck behind.
“H-humans!”
Its comrades had noticed me. They could talk?! I ignored them, dashing toward the disabled hand monkey and thrusting my sword through its head. It flailed around a bit and died, and I quickly put its body in my Pocket Dimension. When I turned around—
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…”
I was surrounded. These things were fast. They were on the ground and in the trees around me, glaring.
“Kill them and eat them!”
“Eat them!”
“Die!”
A long arm swept for me. I ducked to dodge it.
“Gah?!”
The arm missed, but I felt something hit my shoulder. The ones in the trees were throwing fruit or nuts or something. I put up a Stone Wall, creating an obstacle between us. Of course, it was only a temporary solution, but almost right away, one of the monkeys on the ground went flying. Others soon followed it. The sound of heavy gunshots confirmed that Luna was backing me up.