Meera ran—by ran, she actually ran on branches—she jumped and hopped trees when needed to, but things were not looking too good. No matter how much her Climbing and Tree Walker skills were, the monkeys were far better than her.

They were made for this environment, and she might share the same skills as them, but she was nothing compared to them. They went over and under branches and around tree trunks like they were no hindrances at all.

She decided she would have a better chance on the ground, where she could run without having to watch for her footing. The chittering of monkeys got closer, and she tried pulling her chakram off her wrist, but she couldn't manage in the rush.

"Just come off!" She yelled in frustration.

She pulled on it inadvertently, and to her surprise, the chakram phased through her wrist like it did when it would come on her wrist. She grinned, and without looking, she half-turned and launched it. She heard a couple more bells, which meant at least two were down. She recalled the chakram at a run and hopped to the ground.

But it didn't go as well as she would have hoped. Her foot tripped on a loose branch. Meera yelped and fell face-first onto the ground. Her arms bore brunt of the blow, but her nose wasn't spared either. It took a chunk off her health.

She groaned, and her vision was disoriented. She turned to find a monkey about to smash his fists into her face. She rolled to the side, just in time, but couldn't avoid his second attempt. His fists landed on her arm.

She cried out, her left arm felt like it was broken, or her shoulder was dislocated at the very least. She was still moaning when the monkey tried to smash his fists into her face, but before he could, an arrow found purchase in his neck.

Then arrows flew from the brothers' bows, and the monkeys surrounded them while the rest were still hollering in the branches.

"Meera, get up!" Silas barked, arrow notched and aimed at the foliage.

Meera groaned and peeled herself off the ground. She wiped her eyes which were watering like someone had opened the faucet behind them. Aside from the bleeding, she never knew being hit on your nose had that reaction.

"You'll live," Cossus said. "So, couldn't resist being bait, could you?"

"Not my fault." Meera shot back. "They just showed up."

"Sure, they did."

As they talked, the monkeys started dropping from the trees and closed the circle. Silas and Cossus kept their bows nocked. Meera pulled off her chakrams and was about as ready as she would be.

"Meera, we'll create an opening for you," Silas said. "When you see it, run and don't look back."

"But—"

"Didn't you say that you hated full frontal confrontations?"

He had her there, and he was right. She did hate them. The thought of facing all these monkeys head-on made her hands shake something fierce.

"O-Okay," Meera said, feeling like a coward.

"Cossus, formation two," the Assassin said.

His brother grunted in reply.

Meera didn't know what any of that meant. She focused on the crowd of monkeys, who were now blocking out the light from the planet above.

"Meera, When I give the call, run South."

"Uh, South?"

Cossus laughed. "That's behind us, Bait. Hopefully, you draw the attention of a few of them."

"Enough talk. Get ready, Meera."

She didn't know if she could be more alert than she already was. Ultimately, she tightened her grip on the Chakrams and got in position to run. This would have been an excellent time to train, but she knew when she was outclassed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Now!"

She ran without even looking and trusting the brothers completely, and the monkeys in her path fell dead with arrows sticking out of their necks. She hoped she still got some experience from it. She had nearly left the clearing when a monkey jumped in front of her. He didn't last long when Meera launched her chakram at him.

She heard the familiar sound of the notification bell. She ignored it and ran for her life. A glance behind her and the brothers were raining arrows on the monkeys in the trees. The monkeys fell one after another. It was a sight to behold. They were doing it. Just the two of them were winning. She almost stopped to watch, but a monkey jumped on her from above.

She yelped and jumped back, swinging her arm in an arc, slicing the monkey from neck to groin. The monkey shrieked and died a moment later. Back in the fight, things were going smoothly mostly.

She pulled up her stats.

[Health: 136/170]

[Stamina: 102/200]

[Mana: 110/110]

Meera snapped her fingers. This is the perfect time to eliminate some enemies in an assassin style. Her stamina was not doing too well, but if she kept the use of Eagle Eye to a minimum, she could do this. She ran a little farther away, and when she was sure, no one was following her, she climbed up a tree and returned the way she had come.

She stopped outside the clearing and took stock of her surroundings, and this is where Ambush Tactics shone, even though it wasn't as high-leveled as she would have liked it to be. She activated her Eagle Eye as well so as not to miss anything. There was hardly anything she could miss. Nightcrawler Monkeys were everywhere. They lobbed those thorny fruits and rocks and stones at her hunter friends. They barely did anything, as the brothers dodged them all while launching arrows at the same time.

Their arrows were not infinite, and they would run out soon. Already, their quivers were half empty, if not more. Cossus didn't get enough time to refill their inventory fully in the last two days of peace.

She noted the outer line of monkeys and decided to work her way through. She shut off her Eagle Eye and moved as silently as she could, which was basically moving just about as freely as she wanted, as the monkeys were creating enough racket to wake the dead.

She spotted the first trio of dark-haired, blue-tailed monsters chucking those thorny fruits. She got in position with her chakrams, activated Eagle Eyes, and let them fly simultaneously. The first two died instantly. The third made the mistake of rushing her. She held out her hand, and her death frisbees sliced him into four pieces on the way back.

With that, she moved on. Found the next group and downed them just as quickly, if not faster. The third and fourth groups were the same, but by then, her friends must have noticed the random monkeys that kept dropping from the trees with severed limbs or sliced in half.

"Meera!" Silas roared. "I know you're up in the trees."

Meera almost replied and gave up her position, but one of the first things Silas taught her was never to give up her position, no matter what.

"Hey, let's make a game of it," Cossus said. "Whoever can stick the dead weight first doesn't have to do the dishes for a month."

Meera stopped in her tracks. If this was coming from Silas, she might consider it a joke, but he hardly joked about anything. With Cossus, she could never be sure.

"I'm joking, of course…or am I?"

Silas spoke. "Meera, whatever you do, be careful and call out if you need help."

She nodded as if they could see her. Then she moved about her assassination business. The next cluster she ran into was a quintet, and they were also bunched up together. She paused and was about to go around them but didn't want them to fall on her back if she was spotted further down the line.

She breathed deep, activated Eagle Eye, and let her chakrams fly. They sliced three to death quickly, but the last two saw her. They moved around to box her in instead of coming straight at her. She recalled her chakrams and threw one at each of them. The right one found its mark, but the left monkey jumped aside.

Then before her chakrams could return to her, she felt the branch she was on shake. She moved at the last second as a monkey came flying at her. It would have taken a bite out of her shoulder if she hadn't moved.

She flicked a chakram at it, finishing its life, but the last monkey came rushing in. She recalled her chakram to her hand and, using Monkey Fist, drove it into the monkey's abdomen. The attack was so devastating that her hand went in through in one end and came out the other.

A shiver went up her spine as all the warm blood and organs touched her arm. She pulled her hand out and resisted the urge to scream in disgust. She settled for wiping it on the tree trunk, and when that didn't help, she wiped her arm off on some leaves. Her arm was still sticky, and streaks of red were evident. I guess this is about as clean as I'm going to get.

She moved on to more target practice. That was what this was to her. The monkeys hardly even knew where she was, and those that did did not last long. She quickly peeked down every so often, and the brothers were almost out of arrows and targets.

A group of monkeys was running away, which Meera couldn't resist taking down. After all, it was easy experience, and the more they took down now, the less that would come after them later on. She took down four in two throws. The other three noticed her but didn't come after her. They kept running.

She recalled her chakram, but by then, it was too late for her to take them down. She wondered why they didn't try to come at her. Then she heard it—a roar like none other.

Down below, Silas and Cossus were more confused than concerned, making Meera wonder if a predator was coming towards them for all this free meat.

She felt a thump in the ground. Even being this far up, she felt the vibrations. The hunters notched their bows as a gorilla burst out of the bushes. Her eyes threatened to pop out of her head.

"What is that?" Cossus barked.

She immediately Identify'd it.

[Alpha Nightcrawler Ape – Level ??]