“I… I should probably escape.” Mika said through gritted teeth.
While she hated to admit it, the situation didn’t look good. The monkey leader was stronger than her, and the smaller monkeys constantly pelted her. She loses in a battle of attrition, and a head-on confrontation is not in her favor. She might be able to win against the giant monkey in a one-on-one scenario. But against the entire group? Unlikely.
‘It shouldn’t be much longer until I reach the [Early-Stage-Absolute Sword Body]. If I can break through to the next stage, I can kill this damn monkey!!’
‘System, do you think it’s possible?’
[Anything is possible, Host. Instead of asking me, you should be asking yourself: Can I do it?]
‘...Can I do it? I’m… I’m not sure. I’ve never experienced a breakthrough before…’ Mika thought, not feeling confident in breaking through, but it’s not like she had much of a choice.
‘Alright then, answer me this, System. If I DO breakthrough, will all of my injuries be healed?’
[No.]
Mika nodded, not perturbed by that answer. She was expecting that to be the case. How crazy would her new physique and Body Cultivation Technique be if she could instantly recover just by breaking through?
‘I’ve decided! I can, no; I will kill this monkey! System, trade five mana stones an F Rank Rank Healing Serum and keep it on standby!’
[Ding! You have used 5 Initial-Stage Mana Stones to buy an F Rank Healing Serum. It is inside the System Space.]
‘Awesome! Now, I just have to break through!’
Mika’s black eyes seemed to shine at the thought of getting stronger.
She raised her broken body, steadying her stance, and prepared to take the monkey head-on! After taking a deep breath, Mika used her [Sword Intent], something she’s been hesitant to use since she obtained it.
“Ugh!” Mika grunted in pain, feeling like her entire body was being sliced apart by hundreds of swords, but she also felt stronger and sharper.
In fact, that isn’t too far off from the truth. Mika’s entire body is slowly being torn to shreds by her own [Sword Intent]!
When she was staying in the Zoller Family mansion, she spent most of her time adjusting to her new body. Thus, her [Sword Intent] ended up being pushed to the side simply because Mika didn’t need it, nor was it high on her priority list.
From what she knew, [Sword Intent] would only become important after she completed the first realm of Body Cultivation.
“Is this why [Sword Intent] is only relevant starting from the next realm of Body Cultivation? Because my body can’t handle it? Is that also part of the reason why I couldn’t learn it in my past life?” Mika muttered while gritting her teeth.
[Correct.]
Mika wanted to say something, but the monkey leader was already in her face, swinging its fists.
Mika swung her sword, blocking and parrying each attack. However, with each subsequent hit, the pain in her body intensified as her [Sword Intent] dug deeper as if wanting to slice her apart.
Even her internal organs weren’t in any better shape as her [Sword Intent] ravaged them!
Still, she pushed through the pain as the more damage she took and the more pain she felt, the stronger she became.
Mika couldn’t accurately identify the energy that swept through her body, as it didn’t feel like mana, but the longer she fought in this battle, the more she could feel it.
She could feel herself getting stronger even as her body broke apart! Her [Sword Intent] ripped apart her body, but in this life-or-death situation, it also forced out her latent potential.
The leader monkey kept bouncing around Mika, raining down punches and kicks on her tiny body, but Mika wasn’t idle either. She managed to land several clean hits on the monkey, leaving many shallow cuts and a few deep gashes.
She kept going for its wrists, trying to cut off its hands, but the monkey seemed to be especially sensitive to those attacks.
Not that she could blame him. She dug into the bone on one of its arms and left a deep gash on the other. If Mika were to hit it with one or two more powerful strikes, she’d be able to remove a hand!
The surrounding monkeys kept throwing stones, sticks, and random items at her, but she didn't bother dodging them as long as they wouldn’t hit her head.
‘I have a healing serum and the Absolute Sword Body Technique, so why does it matter if I get a little injured?’ That was Mika’s line of thinking, even if she knew it was a bit flawed.
At some point during the fight, Mika turned off her sense of smell and about 25% of her hearing. That way, she could focus more on the battle ahead of her.
She needed every ounce of focus she could muster since it proved to be a much more formidable opponent than she thought. Not just in terms of strength and toughness but evasiveness and intelligence as well.
Every time she went in for a killing blow, the monkey would bounce back, reposition itself, and come at her from a different angle. It also seemed to have no problem dodging her attacks, and if one did manage to land, she’d usually only end up leaving a small cut.
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However, the pain and damage were magnified every time she took a blow because of her [Sword Intent]. She kept it active in hopes of dealing critical damage to the monkey, but all it did was close the gap a bit between the two.
The two kept trading blows, and after about 30 seconds, Mika noticed it had made a mistake!
She raised her sword above her right shoulder as the monkey lunged forward to punch her with its right fist aimed at her face.
Everything lined up so perfectly that Mika couldn’t help but shiver slightly in excitement.
‘This is it! This is my chance to get ahead in this fight!’
A wild grin appeared on her face as she patiently waited for its fist to enter within her arm’s reach.
As soon as its fist closed in, Mika swung her sword diagonally!
The monkey saw this and tried retracting its fist, but it was already too late.
*Slash*
Mika’s sword cut cleanly through its wrist, removing its hand!
“AUGUGUGUGUGUG!!”
The monkey held its wrist and screamed in pain, momentarily stunned due to the loss of an appendage.
It paused only for a split second, but that was all Mika needed to carry the momentum of her slash into a stab and penetrate the monkey’s stomach!
Her sword wasn’t long enough to go all the way through, but she had managed to deal significant damage without her [Volcanic Burst], causing her smile to widen.
*ROAR!!*
When the monkey felt pain in its abdomen, it glared at Mika with killing intent in its eyes. It rained down heavy punches with its left fist onto Mika’s head, disorientating her.
However, the monkey didn’t stop there. In a fit of rage, it kept throwing punches at every part of Mika’s body as if it wanted to turn her into a meat patty!
Her bones broke, her muscles tore, her skull cracked, and she began bleeding out of every orifice in her body. It wouldn’t be a lie to say she was on the brink of death!
After a few more hits, Mika dropped to the ground powerlessly, still with her sword in hand.
‘FUCK! THIS FUCKING BASTARD! I’ll KILL HIM!’ Mika could only internally curse as the monkey beat her like a dog, but she couldn’t move her body.
She was about to pull out the healing serum and run away but halted when she felt something profound resonate inside her body. It was almost like her body was almost on the verge of something extraordinary, but she couldn’t quite understand what. She could feel an energy that didn’t quite feel like mana entering her body and filling it with strength, but then it suddenly stopped.
The energy was still near her, but it stopped entering her body.
‘What’s going on? Is this a breakthrough? Am I about to break through?!’ She thought and instinctively knew what to do when she reached this point.
With a sword still in her hand, she mustered up every bit of willpower and strength she had left to lift the sword and swing!
*Crack*
*Pop*
*Boom!*
“ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!”
She writhed in pain as an explosion went off inside her body! Cracks formed all over her, including her organs, skin, and muscles, but before she shattered into a million pieces, a torrent of energy flooded her body, invigorating every cell with strength!
The sudden burst of energy sent the monkey tumbling off Mika’s body.
Normally, this would be a cause for celebration, but Mika couldn’t feel happy as her body was still in shambles!
‘Give me the healing serum!’ She screamed, and a vial appeared in her hand.
Fortunately, with the strength that had just entered her body, she could lift the serum up to her mouth to drink it.
Downing it in one gulp, Mika immediately began to feel the healing serum's effects. Torn muscles began healing, cracked and broken bones merged back together, damaged organs regenerated, and her damaged skin began recovering.
However, the nutrients in her body were limited, so she hurriedly took out five nutritional serums and consumed them.
Now that her body was healing, Mika could feel newfound power filling every fiber of her being. With a wide grin, she wobbly stood up and began laughing.
“Hahahahahaha~! So this is what breaking through to a higher stage feels like!! How addicting! Hahahaha!” She clenched her fists in excitement as strength continuously flooded her body.
She still wasn’t done healing, meaning that in a few minutes to a few hours, she’d be even stronger than she was right now.
“Amazing!! Truly amazing!” She couldn’t stop cackling.
Only after basking in the euphoric sensation of strength did she finally look at the monkey, who was staring at her wearily.
With a bloodthirsty grin, she readied her katana in an Iaidō (Sword Drawing) position and lunged forward.
‘Holy shit! I’m so fast!’ Her eyes bulged in surprise at the speed she ran, but she didn’t stop.
Fire and Darkness mana gathered around her sword, and before the monkey leader could react, she unleashed a full-powered [Volcanic Burst] with all her mana!
*Swoosh*
And the monkey was bisected, dying on the spot.
Mika gawked at the sight and stood frozen before the monkey’s corpse.
“What… What the fuck was that? Am I really that strong now?” She wondered in bewilderment.
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
…
“Ah! That’s right! There are other monkeys!” After hearing the other monkey’s cries, she woke up from her astonishment.
“Oi! You poop-throwing motherfuckers, come down from those trees and taste my blade!!” She yelled and began chasing after them.
Although she knew she had no hopes of catching them, she still needed to try. They were the ones who pelted her with feces and rocks, after all!
What sane person wouldn’t want to chop them up into little pieces after experiencing such humiliation?
However, the monkeys quickly jumped through the trees, and Mika lost sight of them in under a minute.
“Dammit! I swear, if I see one of you little fuckers in the future, I’ll hunt you down!” She yelled into the dense jungle.
Afterward, she went back and collected the leader monkey’s corpse and walked back to her shelter. Fortunately, she returned in time before the smell of blood could reach any of the surrounding predators.
“What an eventful day!” She muttered after entering her house.
She wanted to plop down on her bed and sleep, but she couldn’t as intense hunger overtook her body.
“Damn! Why am I so hungry even after consuming five nutritional serums?!” Mika yelled while quickly finishing off her food reserves.
However, that wasn’t nearly enough to satiate her hunger. She needed more. Much more!!
After that, Mika began chugging nutritional serums like there was no tomorrow!
10
25
50
100
150
200
300
She finally stopped chugging nutritional serums after ingesting 300 of them, then proceeded to fall into a deep slumber allowing her body to undergo numerous changes.