The gorilla got within 15 meters of the tiger and slammed its fists onto its chest, letting out a ferocious roar.
*ROOOOAARRR!!*
The other monkeys also began jumping around, making all kinds of noise to intimidate the tiger.
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
“Ooh-ooh Ah-Ah!”
…
However, none of this made the tiger panic. It calmly raised its body and looked around, assessing its situation. There were dozens of weaker monkeys, Stages 1 through 4 of the Black Core Realm, up in the trees. While on the ground, in front of it were 5 more monkeys, including the gorilla. There was one in each Stage, starting at Stage 5, with the gorilla being the strongest at Stage 9.
Individually, the tiger didn’t need to be afraid of any of them, but the situation changed with their numbers and the gorilla leading them.
Suddenly, the tiger glanced in Mika’s direction, causing her to tense up!
‘What?! Did it just look at me?! No way, right? Does it really know I’m here?’ She panicked but quickly calmed down.
‘Hmph! Even if it does know I’m here, there’s nothing it can do about it right now!’ She snorted and continued spectating.
After the tiger finished examining the trespassers, it glanced back at the final two fruits on the sapling, then turned its attention to the weakest monkey in front of it.
Without warning, the tiger’s muscles tensed, and it shot through the air-
*Swoosh*
-pouncing on the monkey, making the first move!
“OOH-O-!” The monkey screamed as it tried to dodge, but it was too slow! By the time it could react, the tiger was already on top of it, with its claws and teeth dug into its flesh.
“EE-EACK!” The monkey screeched in pain! It tried pounding its fists on the tiger’s face and body, but the tiger was too strong!
Luckily, the gorilla had run over and smashed its fists into the tiger’s side, pushing it off the monkey. Still, the damage done was minimal.
By now, the weaker monkeys hiding in the trees have reacted and begun throwing shit and rocks at the tiger.
‘Ah! Fuck! Even at this distance, I can still smell their wretched feces! What do these monkeys even eat to make their poop smell so bad?’ Mika cursed and could tell that the tiger’s thoughts weren’t so different.
It rubbed its nose a few times, trying to block the scent, but that didn’t work. Its eyes began tearing up from the horrid smell, causing it to be slightly disorientated, allowing the gorilla and other monkeys a chance to attack!
Mana surged and surrounded their fists, strengthening them, and they hopped on the tiger’s massive body, raining a flurry of punches and dealing significant damage.
Mika could hear its bones creaking and cringed, imagining those attacks landing on her body.
‘I’m pretty sure that would break all of my bones, and I’d die shortly after.’ She thought, feeling a shiver run down her spine at the power these beasts contained, but she was more surprised at how well the tiger could take those hits!
“Hihihihihihi~” The monkeys in the trees giggled and continued throwing poop and stones at the tiger, worsening its condition.
However, it wasn’t a Stage 10 Black Core Realm tiger for nothing. It jumped, shaking all the monkeys off of it, then created some distance between them. It was bleeding in multiple areas and most likely had numerous bone fractures, but it remained calm and steady.
Mika couldn’t help but be impressed with its temperament, ‘Wow! To think I’d see a beast more warrior-like than many humans! I can’t believe it can stay calm even after being covered in so much shit! Is this a result of eating the fruit?’
[You underestimate the intelligence of beasts in this world too much, Host.]
Mika tilted her head, ‘What do you mean?’
But the System didn’t reply.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
‘Whatever.’ She shrugged and went back to spectating.
The monkeys pushed the tiger back, though it was mainly the gorilla that was the primary source of its problems. Whenever the tiger tried to attack the weaker monkeys, the gorilla would come smashing into its blind spot, but whenever it went for the gorilla, it’d have monkeys crawling on its back, beating it with stones.
Dealing with the gorilla wasn’t easy either since its arms and legs were so dense in muscles. On top of that, it was also fast and could dodge its attacks relatively easily, despite being a stage lower.
However, the tiger hasn’t used a single bit of mana, unlike the apes. Until now, that is.
Before the apes could attack it, dark red mana outlined the tiger’s entire body creating a thin barrier and increasing its size by about 30%. The ground beneath the tiger’s feet cracked due to the pressure.
All the apes froze, seeing the already giant tiger get even bigger as an enormous pressed fell on the surroundings, threatening to crush everything around it. Even Mika was stunned by what was just happened.
‘System, what happened? Why did that tiger grow? And why does the mana around it look like a barrier?’
[It’s using a Body Enhancement Spell, giving it extra strength, speed, and size. The downside of this spell is that the tiger will become weak for a while afterward.]
‘A spell!! How did it learn that spell?’
[Many beasts know variations of body modifications spells instinctually. However, this tiger is unique because a thin barrier has formed around its body after using that spell. It most likely comprehended this spell due to eating those mangos.]
‘So, those fruits can actually make me learn spells?!’ Mika’s eyes gleamed in excitement, only to be shut down by the System.
[No. The tiger just added onto an already existing spell, increasing its effectiveness using the increased intelligence it gained from eating the mangos.]
Mika lamented the fact that she wouldn’t be able to learn a spell so easily, but her emotions settled as the fight between the apes and the tiger reached its climax!
With the tiger’s newfound strength and size, the gorilla could not keep it away from its subordinates, allowing the tiger to go on an unstoppable rampage! It first targeted the Stage 8 monkey by lunging at it, ripping its throat and guts out of its body. It died instantly, without being able to put up a fight.
However, the tiger wasn’t the only one that could enhance its body with spells. The rest of the apes understood the severity of the situation and used mana to enhance their physical strength.
While the other apes didn’t see significant growth in their bodies like the tiger, the gorilla’s arms and legs bulked up by another 20%, making its punches even more terrifying than they already were.
The two faced head-on, with the gorilla slamming its fists into the tiger’s ribs, breaking the mana barrier and also its ribs. While the tiger’s claws stabbed into its shoulders and abdomen, ripping apart its insides.
The surrounding monkeys picked up large rocks and hopped on the tiger’s back, and began smashing them into its spine, skull, and legs. Although it took them a few hits to break through the barrier, eventually, they were able to do it and began pounding away at its flesh!
*GrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrR!*
The tiger growled as it attempted to shake off the monkeys, but the gorilla didn’t let up and kept slamming its steel-like fists into its body, staggering it. Since it didn’t have a reliable way to get the apes off its back without creating more openings for the gorilla, it could only direct more mana to the shield surrounding it.
On top of all that, Mika could feel the tiger’s mana decrease at an expedited rate as it absorbed the attacks of the apes.
With its senses partially useless from all the feces, it had a harder time detecting attacks, and its reaction speed was slower than usual.
However, the real reason why it had such a hard time in this battle is that it had to stay close to the pond to protect the fruits! Otherwise, it would run through the jungle, killing everything in its way!
After several minutes of being beaten down by the apes, the tiger noticed a few monkeys from the trees jumping down and running toward the pond.
*GrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrR!*
It ignored the pain and dashed toward the monkeys, squashing them like bugs, but took a direct hit to the face by the gorilla as a result!
*Crack*
*Whimper*
It yelped in pain as a small crack formed on its skull, blood dripping down its face, but it still stood tall, refusing to back down!
‘I refuse to die here to these shit-throwing monkeys!’
That’s what the look in the tiger’s eyes said, or at least that’s what Mika assumed.
‘What should I do? That tiger clearly won’t last much longer at this rate. If the tiger dies, my chances of obtaining that fruit drop to zero. There’s no way I can take on all these monkeys by myself. But is there even anything I can do to help? Most of the beasts here are stronger than me. In fact, just a single hit from any of the apes on the grade, and I’m out of commission.’
She stared at the tiger covered in blood and shit, with wounds all over its body and multiple broken bones. Flashbacks of a year ago replayed in her mind when she faced her first group of trash monkeys.
Back then, was she not in a similar situation as the tiger? She was bloodied, broken, and covered in shit as well. She put her heart and soul into that battle and got completely destroyed. She only survived because she had a breakthrough just in time and had a healing serum and tons of nutritional serums on hand.
“Dammit! I swear, if I see one of you little fuckers in the future, I’ll hunt you down!”
That’s what she said after all the trash monkeys ran off.
After a few moments of consideration, Mika ruffled her hair in frustration, ‘Ahhh! Fuck it! I’d much rather have the tiger eat those fruits than these damn apes!’
Creeping through the trees, she snuck up behind one of the weaker monkeys and slashed, removing its head! A grin appeared on her face upon seeing the monkey’s head leave its body.
‘Hot damn! It feels good to kill these little shits!’
Mika then moved on to the next monkey.
‘First, I’ll take down all these weaklings before moving to help the tiger. I can’t have any distractions while I face off against those monsters!’