“Their scent goes this way,” one of the apes sniffed the air, hanging upside down from a tree branch as their leader stood on the ground, holding a giant hammer-shaped rod.

  “Those humans came deep into our forest. They will suffer, just like the others.” He licked his lips while a dozen or so human skulls hung around his furry waist, cleaned down to the bone, and they almost looked like they were polished to shine brighter than anything else he had.

  “This group smells strong, Boss.”

  “Of course, they would! Do you think they sit still while we hunt theirs? They probably sent out some warriors now. Get ready, boys, we finally have some fun, not just butchering their weaklings!” The leader ughed as he started to pound against his chest, letting out wild screeching, pumping up the others.

  …….…..

  “They are so fucking loud….” Ren murmured. Although their group was only a few kilometers away, the chimpanzees’ voices still traveled far and wide in the wild as they rushed through the woods.

  “They easily startled the whole area and forsook the element of surprise. Stupid move.” Leinor agreed, following their route and running to her left.

  “They don’t see us as worthy opponents, I guess." She chuckled, "Who cares? The stupider they are, the better. We take a detour here, then head back to the valley! The army is ready; we need to leave by the tunnel they made and watch the show from afar. Speed up! We can’t be caught now!”

  …….…..

  “Boss, their scent became weaker... They are hurrying back to their base!”

  “They are afraid! Do you smell it? They have females amongst them. I can smell their crotches! Keep those ones alive and kill the rest!" The leader grinned, "After I finish pying with them, you, too, can have a go at them!”

  His words excited their already boiling instincts, and they let out animalistic growls, rushing through the forest with reckless abandon, swinging from tree to tree, sometimes jumping almost a dozen meters, and seemingly gliding through the air.

  When they arrived at the valley’s entrance and saw what was inside, the raised tents, wooden watchtowers, and people standing there acting as lookouts, their bloodlust reached the maximum threshold, tipping over it. Without any tactics or words, they just rushed in from all directions, wanting to be the first to kill one of them... In the end, the first to reach the trap was a wild-eyed chimpanzee demon, reaching over two meters, climbing up the closest tower, and smashing the guard’s torso into mush with one swing of the club in his hand.

  As more and more apes rushed in, the soldiers inside seemed panicked, as they were sughtered by the dozens. The most rampant was their leader, the over three meters tall, bulky chimpanzee, covered in bck fur, which was now soaked in blood as the skulls around his waist made cnking noises every time he smashed apart a group of soldiers... No matter who he hit, they turned into a bloody mess of flesh and blood, leaving behind no bodies or bones.

  “Weak, weak, weak! You are too weak!” He ughed loudly.

  “Only one still stands in the perimeter,” Ren whispered, who was by now observing the whole ordeal from one of the hills from afar.

  “Not all of them are braindead, it seems. He probably sensed something.” Leinor murmured as they watched. True enough... one of the smaller ones, below two meters tall, and the only one who was wearing a leather bandolier around his waist and torso, still stood there at the precipice of the valley. He scanned the battlefield, looking at the hills, at the massacre, before suddenly turning and leaving, running away as fast as he could.

  “Fuck. He knows!” Isha cursed, and Ren immediately made a decision when he turned.

  “After him!” She shot out like a lightning bolt, not watching the fight anymore. They had to catch all of them!

  Meanwhile, up on one of the other hills stood Xendar, Anya, and Dermitos, overseeing the massacre. Xendar wore a bck, full-pte armor, leaning on a giant, red spear, his eyes unblinking. At the same time, Anya was dressed in violet, tight-fitting leather armor, without any weapons, falnking her husband from the right. Finally, Dermitos wore a golden, decorated armor set with dragon figures, holding a glittering, giant bow in hand made from material that reflected different colors as motes of light sometimes flew off its shape.

  “The kids are after him. Send out Boursat as reinforcement.” Dermitos ordered as a shadow moved between the trees, making a sound noticeable only to their ears.

  “The clones made from your powers are something else.” Xendar clicked his tongue, watching the battle pying out.

  “It's thanks to Anya's help. Without enough water, I wouldn’t be able to make copies that realistic.” Dermitos answered with a smile.

  “Stop the fttering and focus,” she rolled her eyes. “Be happy we got some berserk monkeys who don’t realize all of their prey turns to pools of liquid after killing them. Should we start?”

  “Yeah, it’s all of them... Start the operation.” Dermitos commanded.

  Soon, rumbling rushed through all of the hills as if something had exploded. When the noise stopped, water began rushing out, soaking the soil and triggering a giant mudslide from every possible direction.

  The monkeys realized something had gone wrong when the first rumble appeared, but it was too te. The earth, rolling down, blocked their escape route as they were too deep into the valley to just leave. The once serene, beautiful ndscape was washed with dirt in mere seconds, destroying everything in its way.

  The weight of the disappearing sides of the hills crushed the unlucky first ones who got swept under them, gone forever. Then, the rest who survived the initial disaster found themselves cut down from more than two dozen to at least half of their original numbers…

  “Despicable humans!” the apes’ boss roared, pulling himself out of the mud and roaring towards the sky.

  “Really? Well… We humans have a saying. All’s fair in Love and War,” came the reply from the now deformed hills. Following it, the chimpanzee could see Dermitos showcasing the presence of an actual Emperor… the ninth ruler of an Empire. His aura formed a light column, shooting straight up to the skies, while he was holding his bow, fully stretched out with a shimmering arrow, made of pure energy, knocked in already. “So go, cry me a river… monkey.” Then, as he let it fly in the air, the arrow released the cry of a dragon as it split apart mid-flight and skewered four other monkeys who were still struggling, trying to climb out from the sea of mud and dirt. The attack came without them having a chance to react, going through their skulls like nothing... Dead. All of them.

  “Fire!” came another order in a rumbling voice. Following it, more than forty people from the other hills dressed in white armor with golden dragon patterns showed themselves, all of them in the Harmony Realm, shimmering in different colors of affinities, as they followed suit, letting loose arrow after arrow after arrow, constructed from their pure, raw powers.

  “Shower them with our love. Let none escape.” Dermitos said calmly but coldly, overseeing everything from the vantage point.

  As the arrows rained down, the monkey’s boss only let out a roar, as he doubled in size in an instant, shooting upwards where Dermitos stood. His speed was fast, but not enough... Because when he was near the top, he collided with Xendar, who blocked his path.

  “Out of my way!” the chimpanzee roared, smashing hard into him, sending the general flying, crashing into the ground, leaving a deep hole behind. Still, before he could take another two steps, Anya arrived before him. From under her feet, water soaked the ground, turning it into a slippery slope, making the ape lose his footing and stumble backward. “You bitch!”

  That was when Xendar flew out from the hole, stabbing his spear towards the monkey, piercing its skin in multiple pces in an attack that looked like only one stab... Still, he did not get to go too deep to be fatal... the leader was tough... he could feel his own hand holding the spear begin to tremble.

  “You have already lost everything,” came the voice of Dermitos, who aimed his bow, letting it shoot out another arrow. Yet, the monkey tilted his body at the st minute, letting the yellowish energy only pierce his shoulders, instead of his head.

  “You missed!” he ughed while swinging his weapon with an unnatural strength, knocking away the spear from Xendar's hold while trying to get a stable footing.

  “No, I didn’t,” Demitos answered.

  The energy arrow, still stuck inside his body, had a long, shining chain going up, held in the hand of the Emperor. At this moment, the monkey realized his body was being invaded by a foreign, constant flow of lifeforce that started to grow inside him, strangely filling him with overwhelming energy.

  “This just gives me more power, you idiots!” he ughed loudly as he faced Xendar and started to attack him with all his newfound strength, doing his best to smash his head off his shoulders.

  Every swing created sonic booms, but whenever Xendar was pushed back and a crack appeared on his armor, he quickly countered with fast strikes, hitting the ape's body multiple times and opening new wounds under his fur. It seemed like the chimpanzee didn’t even feel any damage he had taken, completely ignoring all of it as his blood flowed like rivers by then.

  “Now!” Dermitos shouted, and Anya formed needles out of the blood he had lost, shooting up from the ground, stabbing the spear wounds, and disappearing into its body.

  “You can’t beat me; you are all weak!” he roared. “My blood is boiling; I’ll skin you alive and rape your corpses, you hairless bastards!” he ughed, ignoring any damage while going for Anya, seeing her as the weakest piece of the trio. Yet, he only took two or three steps before one of his legs exploded into a bloody mess as he fell ft onto the ground, starting to roll back from the hill.

  Not knowing what had happened, he reflexively tried to grab onto the ground, but the force of his fingers was so great that they shattered, leaving behind a mangled mess. Soon, every movement of his resulted in the skin all over his body tearing and blood spurting out…

  “What’s… what's going on?!” he roared and tried to push himself up again, but now his other leg, just like everything else, shattered. Trashing there, he began bloating like a balloon, shedding his skin and exposing his raw muscles and flesh while doing so.

  “You are so full of energy; what's the matter… your body can’t control it?” Dermitos ughed, still holding onto the energy chain that was now not just stuck in its body; it was like taking root inside the ape, becoming part of his body.

  “You okay?” Xendar arrived next to Anya, who was sweating and panting heavily.

  “Yeah, I already boiled the water in his blood to the maximum. It’s only a question of time... He is already burning himself up from the inside; he just doesn't realize it. The rest is up to Dermitos,” she smiled triumphantly.

  “You fu-” The ape tried to roar, but his voice only came out as a whimper as his jaw swelled and blew up into his face before his bloated body ruptured. The monkey’s organs spilled out on the slope, flying dozens of meters before stopping, still giving off popping sounds as the carcass kept twitching.

  “No, you’re.” Dermitos finished his words, letting go of the chain that slowly disappeared as the mutited body of the chimpanzee just y there, steaming in the middle of the valley.

  “Go. I’ll stay with your wife. She needs rest." Dermitos looked at Xendar, "This operation used up too much of her powers. Check on the kids and Boursat.”

  “Be careful,” Anya said to Xendar, who just nodded, smiling at them before leaving.

  “Don’t worry.” Dermitos patted her shoulders. “They are capable kids and also have reinforcement now. They can take care of one stray!”

  “I’m not afraid because of the monkey; I’m afraid because of Ren’s bad habits,” she sighed, but her feelings were much more stable, unlike when she felt something was off as the wasps chased them.

  She just hoped her daughter wouldn't cause too much trouble for Boursat...

  Corty