There is only one move I can perform at this state and it would be the same as they perform on me.

  But comparing my teeth and my jaw to that thing, I'd barely hurt them.

  Golden light beneath me raises and blinds me just as the ape is attacking me.

  Ignoring everything I focus only on its hairy neck and nape.

  "Raaargh!"

  *Bite*

  My teeth bury through the dense fur, the smell makes me so angry and the more I clench the more Focus is automatically released to my jaw and my neck, restricting my breathing.

  *Tear* *Hurl*

  I can feel the hot blood pouring into my mouth as I bite off a large piece of flesh with fur. This does not make me barf at all.

  Spitting out the fur and flesh the ground I launch myself for another bite.

  *Snap*

  I can hear crumbling and cracking, both the spinal cord and almost all my teeth are gone.

  The golden light disappears and so does life energy in ape's eyes.

  Roaring and gurgling through the torn off windpipe, the bite on my shoulder is releasing.

  Goro’s Offspring, level 59 is what I see as the massive beast falls on its knees. My bulletproof vest is damaged, it unhinges and falls on the ground too.

  The light completely blinded the second ape, which is slightly backing out, choosing an easier target, I suppose it is afraid of me?!

  I stomp, stab, and smash the dying ape in front of me with my hammer, making the health bar disappear in seconds and possibly scare off the rest.

  Lookin at the party I can easily conclude that this is not combat; this is pure noisy chaos with a lot of random movement, rumbling and screams. Harald tries to save some ammo, spinning with his new weapon.

  We are overwhelmed and swarmed after all; now after my kill, it is still six versus four.

  “Markus! Boy, what have you done…” Harald looks at me with a terrified and sad expression.

  He stops, drops his sword on the ground.

  Mike and Astrid turn around.

  Astrid screams as she sees me.

  "What?!" I wonder.

  *Bang*

  *Headshot*

  Old man had no time to switch or reload, he barely got his gun out in time. The second ape hits the ground with a loud thud.

  Clearly modern guns are far, far superior to the steel sabre, arrows or a damn sledge hammer attached to a cripple.

  *Bang* *Bang*

  The ape is swift and agile, repelling itself with its arms, it dodges easily.

  *Bang*

  *Headshot*

  The third one hits the ground easily.

  "This will do! Distract them!" Commands the old man.

  Damnit! I don't know how many bullets he has, but at this pace and precision he can annihilate everything and become a powerful high level individual.

  *Fwoosh*

  A shield materializes, getting destroyed in one hit, but saving Astrid.

  Mike spins in place and slashes the beast, cutting through the fur and opening a deep wound.

  The old man completely ignores me, rather focusing on clearing the area as fast as possible.

  *Bang*

  *Roaring and squealing followed by a loud thud.*

  Another one hits the ground.

  Three on four! I can't believe the odds.

  *Click, click*

  Harald is empty and ape roars loudly.

  Spinning my whole body, leaving my hammer arm to hang freely I smack the beast unexpectedly on the back, cracking a bone in the process.

  As at least one of the remaining is distracted, another running towards us and the last one dancing with Mike and Astrid.

  They block and deflect, sharp claws clang against the sabres.

  A long black barrel materializes from thin air, and a quite long assault rifle appears in Harald’s hands.

  He swaps to beast mode, focusing heavily on the environment.

  *Drrrt!*

  *Drrrt!*

  He fires the rifle in short bursts.

  *Thud*

  I see droplets of sweat raining from his forehead as he spins and aims precisely.

  *Drrrt!*

  *Thud, thud*

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  Killing all three monkeys with ease.

  The rifle is extremely noisy, echoing through the bamboo forest, yet satisfying.

  Before even assessing the damage we hear a lot of ape noises and screeching echoing again.

  “Michael! Quickly check the direction!” the old man orders him and moves closer to us.

  “There! About three… No, four… Fuck, five! They are a bit larger than the one in front!” Mike tells him, his voice trembling.

  Mike scared? This is serious, but with a rifle like that, are we not safe?

  I still have no idea what’s going on with me, and nobody is going to tell me now. Looking at my arms, I see nothing besides small scratch wounds and tiny pieces of flesh and skin torn off me.

  I pump my hammer arm and ready myself for defense.

  An ape sprints on all fours toward me.

  *Drrrt!*

  Harald shoots straight at it, but it's not stopping at all. He missed? I frown.

  A golden circle around its neck instead of its tail, unlike the White Guardians.

  That must be the cursed ape! The curse Mike has upon him.

  Eyes glowing red, and teeth always visible.

  Thick white fur on the limbs, but black armored torso, massive muscular arms, and horrendous, aggressive expression, same as before, but larger and bulkier.

  The boss? As the thing closes I focus on its name.

  Goro’s Right, level 71

  Two above myself, I should technically handle it somehow.

  How much stronger is it against me with my Focus? I wonder as the bulletproof leader approaches.

  *Drrrt!*

  The beast covers its face with a massive black hand.

  *Drrrt!*

  Bullets disappear in its chest like it was a sponge.

  "What the fuck!"

  Mike backs away against the denser bamboo formation, and Harald is shooting at full speed.

  His last bullet casing rings as it falls onto the flat rocky slab.

  I decide to go all in, today I'm dying here.

  There’s no way back anyway.

  Manually releasing the greatest amount of Focus I ever have to my torso, I begin spinning and hit the ape with the hammer about three times.

  The ape does not even flinch or shield itself. My blows are being absorbed like I was hitting a massively thick rubber.

  Its fist is closing and it's preparing for the same counter.

  The massive fist pierces the air aiming for my chest, hoping to bash a hole in me.

  "Harden!"

  I focus on my chest and use Focus to shift muscle in a way to increase my stability.

  *Bang*

  *Loud roar* The beast is clearly surprised, checking its arm, my foot buried in the soil.

  The blow that should be fatal is not only absorbed, but deflected. I'm lucky the amulet was not in the way.

  "Aaaaargh!"

  "Well of power!" I call for it at the right moment.

  *But nothing happens*

  I scream weirdly swinging my hammer again instead.

  *Muffled thud*

  My hammer hits the beast but this time I manage to hit its unprotected pelvis area, the hammerhead landing perfectly on the spot where its tailbone should be.

  The ape is stunned, roars and loses control for a moment, rolls on the ground, its back facing up. I notice there is no rubber like skin shield, but just the fur.

  I don’t hesitate even for a second, jumping on it, I lock around its torso with my legs and begin my furious attack. Nothing to lose, on the brink of death, bloody eyes and expression of a serial killer.

  I don’t count; I don’t give a shit.

  I scream aloud, my arm bloated, I keep stabbing the beast all over.

  *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab*

  *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* *Stab* Every stab following a grunt, I can’t stop. The ape has no room for reaction.

  My combat military dagger enters its body like butter due to my superpower and I enjoy every single bit of my rapid stabbing.

  The ape screams, and its HP starts to deplete at insane speeds. I continue despite the groaning is gone and the dead body isn’t moving a muscle.

  “Mark!” The old man calls.

  Covered entirely in red spots, I don’t even catch my breath and stand up.

  The ding I hear only pumps more adrenaline and excitement into my veins.

  This thing was packed with experience.

  The other four apes are on the scene which they witnessed right now and are definitely thrilled—I can tell by their body language as they flinch a bit.

  At least I bought Harald some time.

  He drops the assault rifle on the ground and is now preparing another caliber—the well-known shotgun from before.

  Two rounds are loaded, but I’m not sure if that’s even enough to stop one of them, despite appearing slightly smaller yet again partially armored beasts.

  Mike and Astrid will try their best, but I have a feeling they know this isn’t a fight for them.

  I will do everything to protect everyone as long as possible before dying.

  As the four beasts regroup, preparing for a more organized assault, I go all in again.

  Almost uncontrollable power is released into my calves, and I spring myself into the air.

  One of the apes decides to counterattack and marches toward me.

  I have my hammer in the air over my shoulder, ready to smash—but this is one of my tricks.

  Based on how easily these apes dodged Harald’s sword, I will lure them to dodge my hammer.

  A dagger stab in the back is what I’m aiming for.

  I’m looking directly into the red glowing eyes as we clash, as I predicted, the ape dodges my hammer to the right. And that’s where my right hand, full of power, is heading.

  *Stab*

  My dagger slips in with such power that half of the grip, including the protection ring on top, buries inside the monkey’s side.

  It starts to shake violently, and I use my left arm with the hammer connected to it to pin the ape down by the throat.

  I scream weirdly and gurgly as I press my arm as hard as possible over its neck, releasing more strength.

  The ape roars, and my power grows. I feel a direct flow of muscle and blood to my upper body and face.

  That’s when a huge amount of blood splashes all over the ape’s face.

  I press the handle even tighter until the neck breaks in half.

  The remaining three apes regroup, and I choose the closest one, repeating my trick with the hammer lure.

  *Crack*

  The ape dodges my hammer but goes straight for my dagger arm. It catches my forearm with both of its huge hands, before I even activate Harden the ape tears the flesh apart exposing the bone.

  I gaze at it, unable to believe what I see, blood spurts out, covering the ape’s face and I know this is the end.

  The flesh rolls off both sides of my bone, leaving it exposed, basically degloving me.

  Not feeling the pain, I look at its meaty black ear with rough skin and go for another bite, unaware my lower jaw is dislocated. I barely scratch that ear.

  *Crack*

  The ape roars and breaks my bone in half.

  A wide smile appears on my face.

  I’m not sure, but I believe I notice some fear and confusion in the beast’s eyes.

  Blood spurting from my arm, my bone pierces through the red eye deep enough to reach the back of its skull. I feel the pressure against it.

  Sitting on top of the monkey I just killed, knowing this is the end, I start laughing aloud uncontrollably.

  Covered in blood, with my right arm with a half-broken bone sticking out instead of a forearm.

  The two remaining monkeys regroup and Astrid shoots a pitiful arrow that does nothing, barely scratching the fur.

  Harald, shaking, tries to reload the shotgun.

  “Come here! You stupid bastards!” I yell completely incomprehensibly.

  Apes ignore me completely and go for the easiest targets—Mike and Astrid.

  The tall, skinny boy turns his whole body toward the apes, protecting Astrid with everything he has.

  He points both of his sabers forward like spikes.

  “Heeyaa!”

  The bamboo in the back bursts, getting torn to pieces.

  *Squelch!*

  The head of one of the apes explodes like a melon!

  My eyes wide open and my jaw drops down even further.