Mika hopped from tree to tree, slaughtering every monkey in her path. Because of their loud, incessant chirps and yells, they didn’t even sense her approaching before their heads left their bodies.
Only when Mika killed about half of the weaker monkeys did the ones fighting the tiger feel something was off, as there was no noise from one side of the forest.
They turned and noticed a little shadow jumping between trees, lopping off the heads of anything in its way. The gorilla’s face morphed into anger, but not at the loss of its subordinates.
*ROOOOAARRR!!*
It faced Mika and roared in rage, causing the girl to stop killing monkeys and turn her head in the gorilla’s direction.
The two made eye contact, and Mika couldn’t help but flinch.
“Fuck-!” She cursed but made a split-second decision.
She turned to the tiger, who was bloodied and bruised, and yelled, “Let’s work together and kill these fucking monkeys! I’ll deal with the shit-throwing small fries in the trees and will come down to help you afterward! Just hold on for a few minutes!”
She didn’t wait for an answer, nor did she expect one, and returned to beheading monkeys.
Unbeknownst to her, the tiger lowered its head slightly as if it understood what Mika said. Of course, it didn’t actually understand the words coming out of her mouth, but it could sense her intent through her tone and actions.
There was significantly less hostility whenever Mika looked at the tiger than when she looked at the apes, something the tiger didn’t miss.
Although there was still some hostility, that was to be expected from many creatures in the jungle. Also, it wasn’t like the tiger could be picky in this situation. If someone were willing to help, it would gladly take it, even if it was from a weakling like Mika.
The tiger turned its attention back to the gorilla and its 3 companions, but its goal had changed. It no longer thought about killing the trespassers. Instead, it would focus on survival.
Thus, it no longer tried facing off against the monkeys and began running around the small pond, ensuring it was never too far away from the fruits.
The gorilla turned its attention back to the tiger, ignoring Mika, but being a four-legged beast and a higher stage than the gorilla, the tiger was at least 50% faster if it only focused on running, causing it to be unable to catch up.
*ROOOOAARRR!!*
The gorilla roared in indignation, but there wasn’t much it could do.
The apes tried jumping over the pond to the fruits, but every time it tried to do that, the tiger would leap at it and smack it across the face, throwing it back on land. Since they could only take so many direct hits, the apes stopped attempting to steal the fruits and focused more on killing the tiger.
Although the apes were smarter than your average monkey without mana or cultivation, they weren’t intelligent enough to devise elaborate schemes. And since they couldn’t catch the tiger when it only focused on running, the 5 of them stood at a standstill, using this opportunity to regain some of their stamina.
Meanwhile, Mika chopped through noisy monkeys like cabbages, swinging from tree to tree! Occasionally, one of them would sense her approaching and turn to fight, but their overall combat power was weak. Though, Mika wasn’t expecting much from them to begin with.
How could creatures that only know how to throw rocks and poop know how to fight well?
Therefore, it only took Mika a few more minutes to cull the rest of the small fry before jumping down into the clearing where the tiger and the rest of the apes were.
All eyes turned toward her, and the pressure behind their gazes nearly caused Mika to trip, but she forcefully kept her back straight and her head high and continued walking.
The smell in this clearing had reached an almost toxic level of vile, but fortunately, she had already turned off most of her sense of smell, so she wasn’t distracted by the wretched stench all over the tiger’s body.
She waved at the tiger, “Yo! I finished taking out the trash. Now, it’s time to deal with these big guys, but I’m not doing this for free,” She pointed at the two remaining mangos and held up one finger, “I want one of those for my troubles.”
The tiger’s eyes narrowed at Mika as killing intent leaked out, and it growled in aggravation.
*GrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrR!*
However, Mika showed no fear and shrugged, “I just want one. One! Do you understand me?! You can have the last one, but I think this is sufficient payment if my presence can keep you alive! Think about it. You wouldn’t even get one if you died to these apes!” She tried using hand signals, hoping to get her intent across to the tiger.
It thought for a second, constantly switching its gaze between the fruits and Mika, but the apes weren’t going to sit around and watch them negotiate. They didn’t understand what Mika was talking about, but seeing her point at the fruits, it didn’t take a genius to understand what she wanted.
Mika clicked her tongue, “Tch! Make up your mind, you damn greedy tiger! We don’t have all day!”
However, before it could decide, the apes had already attacked them from both sides! The injured Stage 5 and Stage 6 monkeys were on one side, while the Stage 7 and the gorilla were on the other.
Mika, not wanting to get crushed to death on the first attack, instinctively jumped on the tiger’s back!
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
*GrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrRrR!*
Obviously, the tiger wasn’t happy about that and was about to shake Mika off when it heard her voice.
“Don’t get mad at me, you idiot! We’re in this together! The least you can do is let me ride on your massive back!” Then she pointed her sword at the two weaker monkeys, “Let’s go kill them first! The fewer variables we have when facing the big guy, the better!”
Typically, Mika would want to kill the gorilla first, but since the tiger has trouble fighting them as a group and she’s weak as hell compared to the beasts around her, their best option is to attack the weakest links.
Although the tiger was still annoyed that not only had the weak little ant climbed on its back, but now it was even giving it commands, it still listened.
It ran over to the two weaker monkeys, who lunged as they neared them. They were going with the same strategy as before; climb on the tiger’s back and do as much damage as possible before they were forced off.
“Go for the stronger of the two! I got the injured one!” Mika yelled as she lowered her body into an Iaidō stance(sword-drawing stance). Fire and darkness mana was released from her core, flowing through her mana pathways, and circled around her sword.
The tiger listened to her command and lept at the Stage 6 monkey, catching it off guard and plunging its claws into its chest. The monkey didn’t die even with claws sticking through its chest, so the tiger bit its head and yanked it off, spewing blood everywhere!
On the other hand, when the tiger was in mid-air, Mika calmly waited for the Stage 5 monkey to come within range. With flexed muscles, she watched it fly toward her, and when it was close, she unleashed a full-powered [Volcanic Burst] at its neck!
*Swoosh!*
*Psssshhhhh*
“EEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKK-!”
Her sword cut through the monkey’s throat, searing its flesh. It could only release one last pitifully painful cry before she severed its throat, leaving its head to hang by a thread.
Afterward, Mika turned her head and saw the mangled corpse of the Stage 6 monkey.
“Good job, Little Yokutora*! Alright! Now go take care of the last two! Don’t worry! I have a plan!” She pointed at the Stage 8 monkey and the gorilla running toward them.
*(A/N: Here, Mika combined the Japanese words Don’yoku, which means greed, and Tora, which means tiger, to make a name which supposedly means Greedy Tiger.)
The tiger, now called Little Yokutora, didn’t need to listen to Mika as it understood that the gorilla was approaching. Whipping its body around, it faced the two remaining apes and growled, warning them to back off.
*Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!*
Mika frowned, as that growl was less intense than the ones before it, but it didn’t take her long to come up with an answer.
‘Little Yokutora is reaching its limit.’
Its mana fluctuations were weakening while also slowly succumbing to its injuries.
‘We’ll need to end this fast to have any chance at winning.’
She examined the remaining apes and noticed they weren’t in amazing condition either. With numerous gashes, scratches, and possible broken bones, they were certainly doing better than the tiger.
‘If Little Yokutora can pin down the gorilla for a second, I might be able to weaken it enough for us to kill it.’ Mika remembered the Centaremors Mushrooms she always kept in her pocket.
‘Now would be a perfect time to use them!’
The mushrooms didn’t have a chance to gather enough spores to even hope of poisoning either the tiger or gorilla due to the constant movement. Also, the two are strong enough to resist the effects of the mushrooms.
‘But the situation changes if I shove it down that gorilla’s throat! There’s no way it can completely nullify the mushroom's effects if it's in its stomach, right?’ She remembered the pain she had endured for months and shuddered a little.
‘Yeah, there’s no way it won’t feel the effects of this sadistic mushroom if I shove it down its throat!’
Mika crawled onto the tiger’s head and said, “Little Yokutora, if you can pin down the big guy for a second, I have a way to weaken him!” She pulled out a handful of Centaremors Mushrooms, “See? We just need to get him to eat these, and we can kill him!”
The tiger jerked in surprise as the bane of the jungle appeared before its eyes. Luckily, the tiger had a barrier active that prevented it from getting poisoned, but it still wanted Mika to put those vile things away!
Mika could tell Little Yokutora was scared of the mushrooms, so she put them away but reiterated, “That’s how we’re going to kill him.” She said while pointing at the gorilla.
A lightbulb seemed to go off in the tiger’s brain as it instantly realized what Mika wanted to do.
Knowing the plan, the tiger flexed all its muscles-
*Boom!*
-then shot toward the gorilla using all its power!
Mika clenched the tiger’s fur with all her might, trying not to fall off. Fortunately, the gorilla was only about a dozen meters away, a distance the tiger could clear in around a second. When it neared the gorilla, it pounced on it!
Although the gorilla wasn’t expecting such a fast attack, it could still react in time. It stretched out its hulking arms and grabbed onto the tiger in midair.
Mika hopped off at just the right time to prevent herself from flying to the other side of the clearing. She tumbled on the ground due to the momentum but quickly got up, grasped the mushrooms, and ran over to the gorilla!
It was currently wrestling on the ground with the tiger, preventing Little Yokutora from doing any significant damage. The other monkey quickly came to the gorilla’s aid and began beating Little Yokutora.
Mika sprinted over to the gorilla, hopped on its head, jammed the mushrooms into its mouth, kicked it in the face to force it to swallow them, then jumped off and ran away. The gorilla released one of its hands from the tiger and slapped its head, but fortunately for Mika, it reacted a second too late, or else she would’ve been crushed into meat paste!
“You can get out of there now, Little Yokutora!!” She yelled.
The tiger understood her intent, got out of the ape's grasp, and swiped at the Stage 8 monkey, creating a deep gash on its body.
“EEEK!” The monkey yelped in pain and swiftly backed away from the tiger, allowing the latter to turn its attention to the ape.
“HYUK! RAAAAA!” It took a few seconds, but once the mushrooms reached the gorilla’s stomach, it began convulsing on the ground, screaming in pain.
The tiger didn’t miss this chance and pounced onto its large, thick, muscular body, digging its claws and teeth into its neck. It ripped off bits of flesh with every movement until, finally, its body went limp.
Once Little Yokutora confirmed it was dead, it dashed to the last remaining monkey, using the last of its power to tear it into pieces.
Its body trembled, and its legs wobbled as power left it, causing it to shrink to its original size, but the tiger stood tall. Little Yokutora turned around and faced Mika with unwavering eyes, full of weariness.