B2 Chapter 49: Monkey See Monkey Do

There wasn’t much time before our monkey army was decimated by those guns. Sebastian, Hugo, and I hurried around to another part of the beach. I’d told them the plan as we went and they were all onboard with it.

Ostorox, Hugo’s large and terrifying void spawn spirit summon, was brought out first. Hugo commanded it to fill its mouth with as much sea water before we climbed onto its large floating head. We then flew out over the water to approach the fortress from behind.

Ostorox was fast, and the Shrikon were so distracted by the monkeys frontal assault that nobody was even posted on the back wall. We flew up over the wall and water sprayed out of its mouth and onto the cannons. On contact with the water, sparks burst out and they caught on fire.

Huh, that is a serious design flaw.

As soon as the first guns caught fire, some of the Shrikon turned in time to see a giant tentacle monster fly over them. Hugo sprayed them with water too, and several of them yelped and tossed their guns away before they could blow up in their faces.

Not all of them got hit with the water though, and some were smart enough to hide in the buildings as we passed over them. These same Shrikon took aim and fired at us from behind. Red blaster bolts flew past our heads, but we couldn’t turn back to fight them. Getting to the front wall took priority.

One of the blaster bolts caught Ostorox in the side. The voidspawn faltered and dipped in height, but continued flying.

“Osty, can’t take many more hits,” Hugo warned.

Sebastian turned around and brought two axes out of his inventory. “Close your eyes!”

He aimed the axes down below and clashed them together. A burning light blasted out and because it was night, his Sun Strike ability was even more effective. Groups of Shrikon wailed in pain for the attack, while others were reaching for health potions to drink.

They wouldn’t be out of the fight for long, but the important part is that they’d stopped shooting at us.

We reached the front gate. A small handful of monkeys had made it inside and were fighting with Shrikon on the ground. We sprayed them and the front wall with water, disabling the cannons and guns permanently.

We flew over the front wall, hoping to rally the remaining troops. But we were too late.

Most of the monkeys had perished. Only a couple of Stonefist gorillas remained out front, using their broad bodies to try and shield some of the smaller shanker monkeys. I remembered before seeing the gorillas and monkeys play together like family. Now most of them were gone.

With the guns disabled, the battlefield fell quiet and they could finally stop and look around. What they saw filled them with sadness. But also rage. The gorillas roared and beat their chests. They had lost so much, but there was someone to blame.

They hurtled toward the opening with thunderous steps. The first Shrikon they encountered were hit with glowing fists that resulted in bone crunching death.

The rest of the fishmen were shaken but did not flee. Instead they focused all of their attention in grouping up to fight the gorillas.

Ostorox took us down to the ground and Hugo put him back in his Spiritbox. Sure he could have stayed to fight, but he was a big target and some of the enemy still had rifles. Better we save him incase we need his flying abilities again.

Hugo stared at the monkey corpses outside the gate and groaned. “My mass summoning isn’t working. It says I need more bodies, but there’s like a hundred out there!”

He looked like he wanted to keep trying it, so I scooped him up and plopped him on my shoulder before running deeper into the base.

“Figure it out later,” I said. “We need to get to that armory.”

Hugo summoned Archer, who ran ahead of us while Sebastain brought up the rear. When explaining my plan earlier, I’d informed them of the Shrikon’s weakness regarding multiple objects and Archer used it to great effect. She fired multiple volleys of arrows that overwhelmed the enemy’s sight.

The Shrikon were fast but due to their eyesight limitation, they were unable to dodge all the arrows.

The gorillas took note of this and grunted something to the monkeys. The little ones screeched in agreement and began picking up rocks to hurl which further confused the enemy.

As we got closer to the armory, a couple of riflemen leapt out from behind a wall to attack Sebastian. Hugo and Archer whirled around to assist him while I kept running forward.

One Shrikon dashed out of the armory wearing a chest plate of the same blueish metal as the fortress walls. He was holding two grenades in one hand and as soon as he saw me, he reached to activate them. He was too slow. As soon as I spotted the grenades, my blood leash whipped out and sliced his empty hand clean off.

He stared down at his stump in shock, but I was surprised too. My attack was meant to keep going and cut through his chest. It should’ve killed him but armor had managed to block it. Even the green blood it seemed wasn’t tough enough to cut through it.

Unfortunately for this Shrikon, the rest of his body was still very vulnerable. I took his head while he was still mourning the loss of his hand.

DING! You have slain [Shrikon Grenadier (common)] Level 68 – Experience Points and Currency Acquired

DING! Class: [Blood Reaver] has reached level 67 – Experience Acquired. 

I put the experience points into Dexterity and received a new message.

DING! [Basic Acrobatics] has advanced [Elite Acrobatics] – Your body has become more nimble. You can jump higher, move faster, and react with more flexibility.

I felt the change within myself as my movements felt easier but there wasn’t time to examine it more closely.

After the body dropped, I collected his blood and the grenades before continuing my way to the armory. When I reached the doorway, I stopped.

Inside were thirty Shrikon arming themselves and strapping on armor.

Before they could react, I twisted the top on one of the grenades and tossed it into the room. Chaos descended as they shouted and shoved each other to try and flee while others reached for the grenade as it rolled along the floor.

I ran away from the armory. Hugo and Sebastian were coming the other way thinking that I needed help. I tried to wave them off. “No, get back!”

The explosion knocked me off my feet. A concussive blast swept out like an invisible fist and slammed into my back. All the air rushed out of my lungs as I lay on the floor gasping.

Initially I couldn’t tell how bad it was. I resisted touching my red blood stash though and after a few moments, I realized that nothing was broken. After my breathing returned to normal, Sebastian helped me to my feet.

On the other side of the fortress, a group of four Shrikon came out of another building. They surveyed the damage and one of them yelled, “secure the control console!” before handing one of them a black tablet. The tablet was put in a bag and then slung across their back.

This group was different from the others. They were moving away from the fighting instead of toward it which meant that protecting this control console was more important that protecting the fortress.  

The three of us chased after them. The far wall melted away and the Shrikon ran to the water. As soon as their toes touched it, I thought it was over for us, as we’d never be able to swim after them. But instead of diving in, each of them pulled out a small standing platform with handlebars.

They got on these platforms and they sped off across the surface of the water like jet skis.

Hugo resummoned Ostorox, and we climbed aboard to fly after them.

“We gotta get that control console,” I said to Sebastian, pointing at the one with the bag on his back.

He nodded.

Hugo urged Ostorox to fly faster, but we were only able to match their speed.

Sebastian took out a rifle that he must have collected while I was dealing with the armory and fired.  Several shots missed, but he managed to hit one of them in the back and they went tumbling into the water. A shark dove up from below and swallowed him whole.

I guess that explains why they’re not swimming.

The rest of them continued fleeing. We thought that they might be going back to the king’s lair but instead they were heading to the big island and another Shrikon was coming to greet them on their own standing jet ski. Even from this distance his body was unmistakably that of the Captain.

The group came to a stop alongside the Captain. They were so close together that I lost sight of the one with the bag and when they broke apart, all of them were holding bags identical to the one with the control console in it. The Captain slung his onto his back and drove back towards the big island while the others split off in different directions.

“What do we do?” asked Hugo.

I hopped off of Ostorox and onto the standing jet ski that had belonged to the Shrikon that Sebastian had shot.

“We have to split up,” I said. “Go after the others in case one of them has the control console. I’m going after the Captain.”

They nodded and took off.

Item identified [A Helix Jetstream 3000] – A standing device that lets you smoothly sail across the water with a twist of the handlebars. Note: The electronic issue with the 2000 model has been fixed with this latest addition, so have no fear of the water. Nobody is dying in a fiery crash when they’re on a Jetstream 3000!

I twisted the handles and the Jetstream roared to life under my feet. I blasted across the water but the Captain must have heard me coming. He took one hand off his handlebars and pulled out a pistol. Several shots barked out of it, and I had to veer from side to side to dodge them. Worse still was that I could see shadows in the water below. The sharks were hungry for more victims.

The Captain kept firing and didn’t see the small rock directly ahead of him. He was close to the beach, so when the Jetstream hit it, his body was sent flying over handlebars. He landed hard in the shallow water and one shark saw an opportunity. It darted forward with its mouth open.

The Captain was too tough to let something like a mere fall be his undoing.

He rolled onto his back and fired everything he had at the oncoming shark. It died after the first bolt, but the momentum of the heavy beast wasn’t so easily stopped. The dead shark collapsed on top of him while I navigated my Jetstream around the rocks and safely made it onto the beach.

By the time I got to the Captain, he’d shifted the enormous weight of the shark, and was stood there waiting for me. Once our eyes met, his armor and sword appeared. He sneered like this was beneath him while I noted the points where his body was bare and waited for him to make the first move.

He dashed forwards with his sword raised high. My blood leash snapped out, but as soon as he felt it cut into his sword arm, he backed off. The look in his eyes had changed, like he was reappraising me.

“Yeah, round two is going to go a little differently,” I said, and pointed.

My cut had managed to nick an artery, and it was bleeding heavily. The Captain grimaced more in annoyance than anything and stabbed his sword down into the sand. He pulled out a health potion.

I threw a blood spike at it, causing the bottle to shatter.

The Captain scowled, picked up his sword, and brought out his shield.

“I guess a fair fight is out of the question,” I said.

I could also see by the way the bag on his back was swaying that it was empty. He didn’t have the control console but strangely enough I trusted Hugo and Sebastian to get it. We may have had our ups and downs but both of them had proven themselves more than capable.

The Captain rushed at me with his shield. Using my new Elite Acrobatics, I jumped up high, springing over his head in a pirouette, and dropping a surprise in his bag. He smirked at me as I landed and rolled away from him. I guess he thought that the shield was too challenging for me to overcome.

“That’s okay. I don’t fight fair either,” I said.

The grenade I’d dropped in his bag exploded and he died with that arrogant smirk frozen across his face.

Burnt Shrikon pieces were splattered all over the beach, but surprisingly the sword and one of the bracers appeared to be undamaged.

I grabbed the bracer first and slid it onto my empty forearm.

Item identified [Guard of Dark Dispelling, uncommon, grade: E] – This armor is designed to counter shadow magic of a similar level or below.

I went for the sword next and was shocked when I picked it up. Holding it was like a dream. It was perfectly balanced and it felt like it was made for my hands.

Item identified [Dragonsteel Longsword, Rare, Grade: D] – Forged from the bones of a dragon by master dwarf engineers, this blade is everlasting in its sharpness. Note: its additional attributes require the wielder to be a higher grade in order for access to be granted.

Both of these items specialized in fighting the abyssal sharks. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised and hoped their powers would be useful in the future.

I started moving back to the Jetstream to catch up with the others when a cat meowed.

“You’re going the wrong way,” Persephone said as she sat on the sand.

I stopped. “What do you mean?”

“The entrance to the king’s lair is the other way, hidden amongst the caverns. Follow me and I’ll show you. But be warned, there isn’t much time.”