Chapter 34: Mandrill

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

“DIE, monster!”

Lu Zhishen immediately regained balance and swiped again, aiming at the monster’s abdomen. As an ancient warrior who had gone through many wars, his bladework was just as amazing as his hand-to-hand skills.

Poof!

It seemed the ghost was unfamiliar with how human warriors used blades. This time, it failed to react in time and took a direct hit.

But the sharp weapon didn’t leave a noticeable wound. It only cut off a strand of black hair that appeared as robust as a body armor, before it was stuck.

There was another flash of yellow, after which Lu Zhishen was bounced away.

Lu Zhishen failed to retaliate this time. When he lost his posture, the ghost grabbed his weapon with a claw.

Crack!

The steel weapon snapped from the middle like a wooden stick.

Luckily, Lu Zhishen retreated to a safe distance in time and avoided the monster’s other claw, which almost slammed into his skull. There was a giant tree behind Lu Zhishen’s original position; it had just lost its entire crown after the claw attack. There was no way a human body could withstand that.

Poom!

Another long blade that was almost invisible to naked eye came from behind and sank inside the ghost’s body, aimed at where a human heart was usually located.

The ghost shrieked in pain as its claws flashed ominously.

“Careful, master! That’s a Mandrill. An Extraordinary Rank-1 monster, or even higher!”

Lu Zhishen had already seen Ji Ye coming. He stayed quiet until then to prevent the monster from noticing there was someone lying in ambush.

“I see…” Ji Ye felt a bit relieved since he happened to know about this particular monster.

It wasn’t exactly a ghost; it was some kind of raving beast that lived in the mountains. Rumors said that it could move faster than leopards and had more strength than mountain tigers. A peerless predator.

Seeing this monster was bad news. Ji Ye used to believe that the settlement was mostly safe from danger with Lu Zhishen watching over it. Still, such a formidable foe soon proved him wrong. Even Lu Zhishen seemed to have some problems dealing with it.

However, this wasn’t the time to be distracted.

Compared to Lu Zhishen’s steel saber, the slender and long Black Serpent Sword was undoubtedly not restrained by the Mandrill’s black fur. In addition, the Black Serpent Sword itself was an Extraordinary item, so it pierced through the Mandrill with one strike.

Unfortunately, Ji Ye failed to kill the monster with that attack. Either its heart was in another position, or it didn’t have a heart at all.

Angered by the assault, the monster bellowed in rage and used its glowing claws to attack the weapon stuck in its body, as an attempt to break it as well.

Ji Ye didn’t think an Extraordinary Rank-3 Superior weapon could be destroyed that easily, though he still tried to pull it away just in case.

Following the retreating blade, a large splash of blood came out and drenched the translucent weapon in red.

“Just as expected.” Ji Ye was satisfied as he checked the new look of the sharp blade, while stepping away from the wounded monster to stay clear of its random flurry of punches.

The “Extraordinary” property of the Black Serpent Sword was controlling blood flow. This was why he took it with him instead of using the crossbow. As soon as he heard that it might be a “ghost” bothering them, he decided to take the new weapon which had extraordinary powers that might be useful.

When he just got his hands on the sword and read its description, he thought the “property” was something related to poison. Even the text considerately reminded him not to cut his hands. Later, he discovered that the warning had nothing to do with poison, but his blood—the weapon could speed up the bloodloss of its victim.

The ape monster was suffering from the consequence right at that moment.

“Roar, roar…”

The injured Mandrill howled repeatedly.

Even when faced with the siege of two Extraordinary humans like Lu Zhishen, with the yellow light that covered its body both offensively and defensively, it didn’t suffer a disadvantage. However, after being stabbed three or four times by Ji Ye’s Black Serpent Sword and about half a basin of blood was sucked out, its actions began to falter.

Bam!

Seeing a chance, Lu Zhishen landed a solid punch against the monster’s back and knocked it over.

Seeing it climbing back up, Lu Zhishen and Ji Ye braced themselves when they thought the enemy was going to retaliate. To their surprise, it turned tail, stumbled into the woods, and fled.

It was clear that even a monster knew it couldn’t keep up while spilling blood like mad.

“Let’s give chase!” Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen moved at the same time.

Apart from wanting to avenge their fallen comrade, they both knew that killing an Extraordinary monster meant finding some nice rewards.

The mandril nimbly avoided its pursuers in the forest by using the trees to swing around. Yet it couldn’t stop the bleeding. A few minutes later, Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen caught up with it.

Thud.

A clean cut of the sword removed the mandril’s head, putting an end to the fight.

[Killed Mandrill (Extraordinary Rank-2, Quasi-Commander). EXP gained: 200. Honor gained: 2.]