They trekked deeper into the jungle. The signs of their fights with the chimera were nearly indistinguishable if it weren’t for Sapphire's memory.

Despite the disappearing signs, it told them exactly where they were, and they eventually found themselves back at the sight of their conflict.

The clearing was just as empty as before. They all fought the bad memories back and went into tracking mode.

They scoured the ground looking for any fresh tracks only to come up with a variety of animals that they couldn’t place.

The trio cut their losses at the battle site and moved on into the jungle in search of the place where they first saw the masturbating monkey.

It took an hour of searching before they found the exact location. The foliage had changed, but Sapphire's impeccable memory allowed them to finally locate it using the large trees nearby.

Plant life had overtaken the spot where they had made contact, but it gave them a reference point to begin their hunt.

The small opening in the plants showed no recent use for their debauched activities. Unless they were nomadic, they could not have traveled extremely far away from the area. They stuck around long enough to find Nurgle a second time, so they had to be near.

Small game trails weaved in and out of the small underbrush, unbefitting of the large monkeys they were searching for.

If there weren’t any signs of them on the jungle floor, then they would need to start sweeping the entire jungle for anything they might have left behind. Drew looked upwards into the treetops for some kind of answer, signing at the incoming tedious task.

Movement up above caught his attention. Weird bird creatures hopped from branch to branch like chickens with their short flight.

A new idea sprouted in his mind. He looked for the closest tree and unsheathed his ax. He slammed the freshly sharpened ax head into the bark and pulled himself up a few feet.

“Master, what are you doing?” Sapphire glanced around from the slightly higher position.

“You know. I figured if we got a birds-eye view of the area then we might have a better chance at spotting stuff.” He had Nurgle grab onto his shoulder while they moved up another few feet.

They climbed higher and higher in the canopy when the world opened up. Without the underbrush to block their vision, they could see hundreds of more feet.

It was eye-opening to see the life of the forest from an unfamiliar perspective than ground level or a hundred feet up. The small animal trails meandered through every inch of the area. Snapped twigs, chewed leaves, and patted down grasses put everything into a different standpoint around him.

They were in the heart of a living breathing jungle, and they were just bumbling creatures out on a trip for revenge while the world went on for everything else around them.

“Master, do you see those broken branches?” Sapphire pointed upwards for all of them to see. A trail of twigs and thin sticks had been twisted and bent to the point of breaking for hundreds of feet. It looked purposeful and like it served as a guide for something to use.

“Do you think that is the monkey troop? They would definitely be big enough to do it.” Drew dragged himself up to the closest branch he could find with the damage. It was bent and twisted like it was used as a deliberate marking.

“I would say that it is some sort of above-ground trail for them to use. It might even be a territory marker.” Sapphire felt the thin branch with her trunk, moving it around slightly. The fibrous bark was the only thing holding it in place.

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Drew dropped down to the ground and whacked the surrounding foliage out of the way to locate the trail's direction before heading forward.

They walked for hours when the sound of repeated guttural calls sounded off in the distance.

Drew fell to the ground in fear of some unknown attack. No other noises followed up.

“I believe we found our target master.” Sapphire flopped her ears back from their relaxed position and listened carefully.

“Since when can you do that?” Drew spoke in hushed whispers as the plushy slowly rotated her head around to locate the direction the calls came from in the deep jungle.

“I always had enhanced hearing, it was further enhanced with the most recent level-up. I never had a reason to utilize it up until now.” She twitched a few seconds after scanning in silence.

“Master, I believe they are still a bit farther ahead, we should not run into anything for a while. They appear to be fighting something in the distance, that appears to be the cause of the noise.”

Drew stood up and wiped his muddied armor off. He glanced from side to side in the dense greenery before continuing ahead with Sapphire's directional guidance.

The walk was uneventful and tiring, but eventually, they located the source of the noise. Up ahead of them was a large hippo-looking creature that appeared to be bleeding through its mouth like a leaking fountain.

They sat back in the bushes, watching the creature huffing and puffing in exhaustion. The sticky blood pooled below it as it swayed on its feet. Fist-sized rocks sat along the floor covered in the red muck.

A barrage of similar stones came down like hail on the lumbering oaf. They smashed into the large creature, denting its skin and eliciting a groan from it.

The group tried to look up into the canopy but failed to see past the leaves. The monster fell off its feet and into the mucky puddle below. Its labored and shallow breaths came out as bubbles through the bloody mud.

Another barrage of stones ended the hippo's suffering. They hid in wait for whatever creatures came down to enjoy the kill, ready to strike if given the opportunity.

Rustling noises descended in a flurry of motions. A large number of grey monkeys came slamming down on the body of the dead hippo, a particularly massive one beat his chest in a display of dominance. The noises all around them continued as the large creature took the first bite out of the hippo.

Its large yellow incisors scraped a large chunk of meat from its back, filling the monkey’s mouth. Blood dripped from its chin as it hollered all around it. A group of smaller monkeys slowly came into sight as the dominant beast took to devouring it.

Drew held his breath as their mortal enemy finally showed himself. Sapphire stared them down from his shoulder, taking in all of the information that she could. Light and rapid breaths hit his chest as he looked down to see what Nurgle was doing.

The small cyclops had his head pressed into his chest, taking shallow inhales like a nervous wreck. Drew held his small friend closely, trying everything he could do to calm him down without giving his position away to the murderous monkeys.

The horde of beasts tore flesh from bone, organs from the ribcage, and brains from the skull. It made him queasy to see the profound gore before him.

It was like seeing a swarm of piranhas devouring an unfortunate animal.

It took them less than half an hour for the corpse to be completely stripped clean and for the monsters to head out, taking some bones as prizes.

Drew stood up from his hiding spot and made his way over to the skeleton. The bones were covered in teeth marks and the leftover blood that they hadn’t lapped up with their tongues. Sapphire listened as the monkey retreated into the trees towards one direction in the distance.

They finally had a lead and they just needed to follow it.

Nurgle had calmed down since they left, leaving a snot stain on Drew's chest where he hyperventilated.

“Buddy, we are here to do this fight for you. We need to do it. You don't have any reason to be scared of the stupid monkeys.” Nurgles dim eyes lit up slightly as his master spoke to him.

“Think about all of the stuff we have done and how far we have come since then. We beat an entire floor since then. Got the fastest clear time in the first and leveled up multiple times.”

Nurgle looked up and down in thought before calming himself completely. The fear he had for the monkeys finally melted from his body.

“I could crush one of those stupid monkeys with one hand by now. Think about what you did to that summoner. You brutalized him. We will win.”

Nurgle slapped his knees a few times in some show of his metal. The fight was just around the corner now and the air around them tested slightly at the thought of incoming combat.