“Giigii!” A spiked monkey cried out and beat its chest with its fist before turning around and firing off many spikes at Yuki, who was charging right at it.

These spikes were like thin needles that were sharp enough to stab into rocks. They grew on the back of the spiked monkey’s back and were their main attack. They would either shoot them from their back or pull them off and throw them. Each one was covered in poison that would cause a person to be paralyzed.

Yuki’s eyes narrowed as she saw a hundred or so needles flying at her. She quickly stomped hard off the branch she was on and shot up into the air. She then stomped once more, creating a foothold and shooting forward once again. The needles flew by her missing her by many feet.

Yuki, easily invading its attack, angered the spiked monkey that had a bit more intelligence than a normal rank one demonic beast. It quickly ripped a hand full of needles off its back and ban throwing them at Yuki. Yuki snorted and quickly used her movement technique to nimbly dodged each batch of needles until she was finally in range. Her movement was too fast. Before the spiked monkey could figure out what was going on, its head was already falling to the ground.

“Giigii! Giigii!” On the other side, the spiked monkey who stopped to attack Nana was starting to grow angry because Nana was like an unstoppable force. Every attack it made was batted away with ease. It couldn’t believe the puny humans were able to block its attack.

“Get down here!” Nana yelled out as she suddenly swung her sword at the tree the spiked monkey was on. She used the flat side of her blade, causing the tree to shake violently as the blade made contact with the tree trunk. The spiked monkey who was on the branch was not expecting this and lost its balance and fell to the ground, were it was met with the tip of Nana’s massive blade slicing through its head.

Two of the ten spiked monkeys were now dead. Four split off from the main group charging at Fatty, which split off once more into groups of two. One group headed towards Yuki while the other towards Nana.

Yuki quickly dodged the first round of needles that came at her and then a second and third as she bounced around through the air. She quickly closed into the two spiked monkeys and made them meet the same fate as the previous ones.

Nana also quickly dispatched the ones that attacked her by running up the tree they had perched on and cutting the branch off the tree, and then spinning her body around to sever them in half as they fell past her.

Fatty watched as the last four spiked monkeys came flying at him with a big smile on his face as he raised his massive battle axe into the air and slammed it down on the ground. “Earth Ripper!”

A massive explosion of earth shot out toward the spiked monkeys blocking their vision. Before they could even react to the situation, they were already dead. Fatty may be on the hefty side, he was by no means slow. He only needed a single stomp off the ground to close the distance of a few hundred feet or so.

Fatty landed on the ground with his huge axe resting on his shoulder with a big smile. “Hahahaha! I haven’t killed anything in a long time. This was fun. Hmmm? Junior Sister Maiko are you okay?”

“Huh? Ah… yes… I was just wondering what I have been doing all this time. Watching You, Yuki, and Nana kill so many demonic beasts with ease while all I could do was stand here watching. I really need to start working harder.” Maiko felt like she was hit with another reality check. She felt that maybe coming out here, even if her first intentions were not good, was a good thing. She had realized many things, and the experience alone was worth it.

“Take your time. Yuki and Nana are one thing, but you have only just joined the sect. Take things slow and work your way up. But remember never to go out by yourself. Always group for missions. It’s for your own safety unless you are at least a late stage fifth fate star.” Fatty wanted to make sure Maiko, who seemed new to all of this, understood that she should never do a mission on her own unless she had the experience to do so.

“I will be sure to,” Maiko replied with a nod of her head.

“I spotted a small pond not far from here,” Yuki said. She had taken the chance while Fatty finished off the other spiked monkeys to hop up above the trees and spotted a pond not too far from them.

Fatty clapped his hands and said: “Alright, then, we know our destination. Let’s get moving. Yuki, lead since you know the direction.”

Yuki nodded, and the group once more began to move. They ran into a few more demonic beasts on the way, but they were just rank one demonic beast that even Maiko could defeat if she tried. It took almost fifteen minutes, but they finally arrived at the pond that Yuki had spotted. It had a large rock on one side of it which had a top that slightly jutted out over half the pond’s surface.

“Not much cover….” Fatty frowned. They were still close to the forest edge, so the chances of someone making their way here easily were high.

Yuki thought for a moment before saying: “Fatty, just stand there and keep an eye on the front. Nana and I will take the sides. The rock will block the rear. Maiko, if we yell out that someone is coming, hide in the water.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.