Endless Leveling Done Right!

Chapter 183: The Red Terror Of Mistral Weave Forest [Part 2]

A few minutes before the angry roar reverberated inside the forest...

”Look, that monster has a violet badge on its neck,” Bob said as he pointed at a Red Ape eating some fruits while resting under the shade of a tree.

”Bob, you’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, right?” Grint asked anxiously.

”Since that monster has a violet badge, I’m sure it’s very strong,” Bob replied. ”But our goal is to get the badge, not to fight it. With your ability, I think we stand a chance of getting the badge, right?”

Grint hesitated for a bit before nodding. ”Yes, we might have a chance.”

”Then let’s do it.” Bob gave his friend an encouraging thumbs-up. ”We’ll just steal the badge and then escape as soon as we get it. Problem solved, right?”

”Right...”

Bob then laid out his grand plan for getting the badge.

When he was done speaking, Grint weighed the pros and cons of the idea. In the end, he thought that it was very feasible, so he decided to give it a try.

”But will you and Jorven be fine?” Grint inquired. ”Distracting that monster is a gamble, you know?”

”Since it’s wearing a badge, it’s probably one of Professor Gareth’s monster acquaintances,’ Bob replied. ”It might hurt us a bit, but it won’t kill us. Even though we did sign those Death Waivers, I’m sure the Professor would not have picked any random monster to carry a badge. At the very least, he would not have picked a monster that couldn’t even control itself from killing his students.”

Earlier in the game, Bob had noticed that the monsters either fled or stopped bothering the students the moment they lost their badges.

Because of this, he had reason to believe that Professor Gareth had instructed the monsters to stop pursuing the students once their badges were taken from them.

And he was right.

The Professor had carefully selected monsters that would not actively kill the teenagers.

Even the Red Ape, which was a Rank 5 Monster, wouldn’t necessarily attack the students and kill them just for fun.

While Bob, Grint, and Jorven were busy discussing their plan, they were being watched.

On top of a tree branch stood a person observing the three students and the Red Ape.

The hint of a smile tugged the corner of his lips, and he took out a dark red vial from his storage ring.

”Hey, Mr. Ape, do you want a banana?” Bob asked as he flaunted the banana in his hand like it was a rainbow-colored cat’s eye with mysterious powers.

The Red Ape looked at the teenage boy disdainfully. Clearly, a single banana was not enough to tempt it.

The Ape even scratched its bum, pointedly ignoring Bob’s sorry attempts.

Just as Bob was about to say something to attract the Ape’s attention, something whizzed past him.

All he saw was a blur before the sound of something breaking reached his ears.

A moment later, the easy-going Ape suddenly unleashed a thunderous roar. Its eyes, which had been as calm as a lake on a peaceful day, suddenly turned crimson.

Bob, Grint, and Jorven had already doubted that their plan could really work, but the wave of bloodlust washing over them banished all doubts. Their plan was definitely not going to work.

Killing intent oozed out of the Red Ape whose crimson eyes were now locked on their bodies.

”Run!” Bob shouted as he grabbed the arms of his two friends, pulling them away with him.

Thanks to his quick reaction, Grint and Jorven were snapped out from their daze and finally found the strength in their legs to start running as well.

The three darted through the trees, hoping that it would allow them to escape the Ape’s pursuit.

But it was all for naught.

The Red Ape didn’t even bother to evade the trees. It simply bulldozed through them, snapping them like twigs as it charged at the first creatures it saw after falling into a berserk state.

Bob knew that the only way to survive this incident was to buy as much time as possible until help arrived.

Although he wasn’t certain, he chose to believe that the Professor and the other students had heard the roar and would come to their rescue.

”Split up!” Bob ordered. ”I’ll distract it, the two of you run in different directions! Don’t worry, I’ll handle...”

Before he even finished his sentence, Grint had already fled to the east, and Jorven to the west. This gave Bob the strong urge to flip them the bird.

However, he tossed this thought aside because Grint and Jorven understood his intentions.

Although he hated to admit it, he had grown close to his two sidekicks who always followed his lead.

Since that was the case, he decided to act like a true leader and lure the monster away from his friends.

Bob turned to look behind him and saw that the Ape was only a few meters away from him.

He knew that he didn’t have much time before it caught up, so he had to do something before he was seriously injured by its attack.

Unfortunately, because he turned back, he failed to notice the inconsiderate tree root that was right in front of him.

The teenage boy tripped and fell on the ground hard.

Although he was in pain and in shock, Bob still had the presence of mind to roll over to his right to evade the Red Ape’s fist that was about to turn him into meat paste.

A loud boom erupted in the forest as the monster’s fist smashed into the ground where Bob had originally fallen a while ago.

The teenage boy was barely able to evade that strike, but he still managed to pull it at the last second.

He then forced himself to stand up and keep running.

However, the monster was not going to let him escape. It lunged at Bob with the intention to kill.

”Shield Charge!”

Alex slammed his shield against the side of the Red Ape’s body, pushing it aside with enough force to prevent it from crashing toward Bob, who didn’t have the time to run away.

The Red Ape crashed into a tree instead, destroying it completely.

”Run Bob!” Alex shouted. ”Dim Dim! Distract it!”

”Dim Dim!” Dim Dim replied and threw a brittle vial on the Red Ape’s head with uncanny accuracy.

The sound of glass shattering was quickly followed by a thunderous roar that seemed to shake even the ground itself.

Dim Dim’s acid vial had taken effect. It was the only thing that was strong enough to cause a bit of damage to the Rank 5 Monster, which was currently not in the right state of mind.

The Crimson-Furred Throwing Monkeys all cried out to Dim Dim, making their intentions known.

”Dim Dim!” Dim Dim understood what its friends were saying, so it didn’t hesitate to jump up high and fling dozens of brittle vials towards its friends, which caught them easily.

”Dim!” Dim Dim pointed its small hand towards the Red Ape, as if commanding an army to fight against it.

The Crimson-Furred Throwing Monkeys mobilized to obey its order and unleashed a barrage of brittle vials, covering the Red Ape’s body with acid.

The smell of something sour and acrid spread in the surroundings, accompanied by the sound of something sizzling.

Despite all this, the Red Ape remained strong. It even uprooted one of the trees beside it to use as a club. It smashed its new weapon against the trees where the Crimson-Furred Monkeys were perched at.

White smoke rose up from the Red Ape’s body—the result of being hit by dozens of brittle vials from every direction.

Knowing that this was not the time to hold back, Dim Dim kept on unloading its brittle vials to its friends.

”Dim Dim!” Dim Dim shouted at Alex.

”Thanks, Dim Dim!” Alex yelled back. ”Bob, let’s go! The monkeys will buy us time to escape!”

The two boys then started to run while the monkeys distracted the rampaging ape, which had shifted its attention to them.

It was also at that moment when Charles and his Ant Army arrived from the opposite side of the forest.

Seeing that Dim Dim and the monkeys were distracting the Red Ape, a plan started to take shape inside his head.

”Go!” Charles ordered his Ant Army, which didn’t hesitate to charge forward, obeying their master’s command.

When they came into range, all of them immediately unleashed silk threads to bind the monster’s body, hampering its movements.

However, a Rank 5 Monster was still a Rank 5 Monster.

It easily snapped the silk threads and unleashed a defiant roar, pounding its chest to assert its dominion.

But the Ants weren’t fazed. They swarmed its body despite seeing their kins turn into particles of light after getting smashed, stomped, thrown, and bitten by the rampaging Ape, whose anger couldn’t be sated by killing a bunch of small fries.