“Of course they hunt in pairs,” Kade muttered, helping Aurora to her feet after unceremoniously knocking her out of the path of the beast’s tail.

“Th-thanks,” she stuttered, unsure how to react after her longtime rival had saved her life, nearly jumping out of his burly arms when he’d picked her up without a struggle.

Realising they had no option but to stand and fight, the group formed a circular formation to cover each other’s backs and drew their weapons, tossing their packs to the ground in the centre so they wouldn’t weigh them down.

“Not pairs, more like a pack,” warned Helena, pointing out two more of the beasts hanging in the trees around them.

“Every one of those things is at the fifth stage, we’ll be lucky if we all make it out of this alive,” commented Lawrence rather unhelpfully.

“Damn, I recognise them now. One of the bestiaries I was browsing back in the library had an entry about them - Assassin Macaques. They got the name due to their lethal tail strikes that guarantee death, either instantly or from the deadly venom that corrodes the bodies of weaker spiritual beasts and cultivators. It said they are typically solo hunters, so this pack behaviour is strange. Let’s just do our best to cover each other and survive. Their bellies are soft and unguarded, try to aim for that weak point,” explained Catarina before drawing her sword and readying herself for battle.

Tingggg.

As Kade was psyching himself up for the fight, there was a soft ring in his mind and the Realm Engineer System which had been rather dormant recently provided some insightful information about the current situation.

Anomaly detected nearby!

Mission Log has been updated.

It was hardly the time to be lost in his own mind, but the last time he’d discovered one of the Anomalies it had given him a huge power-up to his cultivation and provided him with the Resonant Echo Staff.

Missing out on another such opportunity would be foolish. Briefly scanning the menu of the system, he noticed a new function had been added, the Mission Log.

It was currently flashing, presumably indicating the update from the system regarding the new Anomaly and with a thought Kade managed to bring up the details.

Mission Log

Mountain Investigation - [x]

The little ‘x’ inside the box presumably meant that the mission was incomplete. This was all new territory for him, since the previous time he’d had little control over the events leading up to him awakening the Realm Engineer System.

The mission itself was extremely straightforward, but it would not be easy. At least the Assassin Macaques would provide a good start if they were able to come out on top after this battle.

Mountain Investigation

The spiritual beasts on the Demon’s Fang have gone berserk and are behaving unusually due to the influence of an Anomaly. Begin by investigating their cores to figure out the cause and find the source of the disruption.

Beast cores harvested - 0/15

Hopefully he’d be able to convince the rest of the group to let him have the cores from any spiritual beasts they defeated.

The mission didn’t mention any requirement in terms of the cultivation stages of the beasts so perhaps seeking out easier prey like the wolfhawk from earlier would suit his needs best.

Returning his focus to the situation at hand, Kade saw the Assassin Macaques were advancing slowly, two of them on the ground while the rest expertly manoeuvred through the trees.

This would be his first taste of real combat since consolidating his new cultivation stage, against a spiritual beast that was a stage above him - a terrible matchup.

After seeing what those powerful tails did to the unfortunate trees he was a little worried about his wooden staff, but as a King grade weapon it should be able to hold out even if an early stage Spiritual Assimilation Realm cultivator was to strike it.

There were just moments left before the tense balance was broken and their enemies struck, so Kade took deep breaths and chanted the mantra of the 【Flowing River Art】to steady himself.

Based on the effects he’d experienced from his practice so far, he was starting to wonder if it wasn’t just a staff technique but rather an entire cultivation method.

Especially in the way it seemed to bring more fluidity to his movements and reduce the cloudiness in his mind, reminiscent of how he’d changed when he began cultivating the 【Nurturing Radiance Art】upon joining Mystic Solar Valley, though the ways each method affected him were different.

The sect’s basic cultivation method promoted building the strength of the physical body in the martial refinement realm through meditation in the sunlight and harmony with nature, whereas the enigmatic manual he’d found seemingly was able to be trained anywhere as long as he chanted the mantra.

A foot slammed into his back, knocking him forwards and out of the path of an incoming tail, dragging him from his distracted mind and into the moment.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Focus you moron, I’ll hate myself if you die after I dragged you out on this expedition,” Catarina scolded while slashing at the tail as it was whipped back, leaving a shallow cut.

“You’re right, thanks for the save,” he responded before thrusting his staff at another tail heading straight for her neck, but the beast snapped it back before he could do any damage.

This was going to be a tricky battle. The monkeys didn’t favour close combat, instead kiting them in the trees and delivering mid range blows with their powerful tails.

One strike was enough to incapacitate them once the venom started to work, so they were fighting against the clock.

The beasts simply needed to wear them down until they had no energy left to defend, yet on the other hand they had to create opportunities to attack without exposing themselves to one of the enemies from behind.

For the time being they simply maintained the defensive circle, covering each other’s blind spots and blocking or parrying the tails as they struck.

Unbeknownst to the beasts and his allies, Kade had a trump card that might turn the tides of battle in their favour.

Each time he struck away one of the Assassin Macaque’s tails, he made sure to be precise and target the area right where the deadly venomous spike was connected to the muscular flesh.

After nearly ten minutes of nothing but defensive manoeuvring the group was starting to tire, small gaps appearing in the formation that the spiritual beasts moved to exploit.

A few of them were a match for the beasts in terms of cultivation stages, though the expert coordination of the monkeys proved a struggle to overcome.

Lawrence faltered as he went to block a lethal jab aimed at his heart, his spear slipping against the spike which was moments from ending his life.

Kade had been expecting a mistake to occur for a while, though he had been impressed at how efficiently the group worked together, surprised they held out as long as they did without casualty.

The particular Assassin Macaque that was about to kill Lawrence was one that Kade had blocked three times now.

Each blow had slammed the tail back a little harder and whether or not the spiritual beast had noticed anything odd was a mystery.

Right now it worked in his favour that the beast had dropped its focus as it prepared to move in once securing the first kill.

He was a little further away than he would’ve liked to be, and ended up having an extremely weak hold on his staff as he thrust out, needing to use one hand and extending his arm outwards as far as it could reach in order to make it in time to save his comrade.

It mattered little in the end, the fourth consecutive strike from the Resonant Echo Staff unleashing power far beyond anything he could produce using his strength alone.

KRKRKKK.

A sickening crunch echoed through the clearing as the metal cap of his weapon shattered bone and tore through the connective ligaments of the beast’s tail, severing the lethal spike from its delivery mechanism.

Lawrence stumbled backwards, falling into the waiting arms of his twin sister, reeling from the overwhelming shock of having nearly lost his life.

Helena whispered something in his ear before slapping his cheeks twice with both hands, at which point he shook himself loose and refilled the gap in their formation.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Trelawney, I owe you my life. I’ll find a way to repay this favour,” Lawrence declared.

The monkey which had lost its main weapon unleashed an ear splitting screech of rage. They clapped their hands over their ears to block out the horrifying noise that was reminiscent of someone dragging nails over sheet metal.

Vibrant yellow venom and crimson blood splattered the nearby plants as the beast’s tail thrashed around uselessly.

Three of the other Assassin Macaques struck simultaneously, using the lull in fighting to surprise their prey with a joint strike, all of them targeting Kade to claim vengeance for their kin.

Catarina and Aurora jointly sprung into action, the former unleashing the full weight of her cultivation with an elegantly executed slash of her sword that cleaved one of the three tails in twain, the half holding the spike falling to the ground where it lay twitching.

Blood and venom sprayed everywhere, hovering in the air for moments before suddenly evaporating as a searing wave of heat radiated from Aurora.

Demonstrating her family’s signature technique at full force, her golden pupils glowing with the light of the sun as she vanished from sight, a set of charred footprints the only evidence she’d been stood there a moment earlier.

Another screech rang out from one of the Assassin Macaque’s as Aurora reappeared, holding its tail firmly in her grasp, flames licking from her hands and searing the hair along the limb.

Unrelenting, her feet planted firmly as the beast attempted to free itself from her burning grip, she demonstrated physical might far beyond what one would expect of a girl at the fifth stage of martial refinement as she heaved on the charred tail.

The monkey was unceremoniously ripped from its perch in the trees, before slamming face first into the ground and being dragged into the circle of disciples, though none of them needed to step forward to assist.

Aurora’s technique had burnt the poor spiritual beast’s tail entirely, the charred remains now littering the floor.

It clawed desperately at the ground to try and escape but she unleashed a frenzied barrage of punches and kicks, so thorough in her decimation that Kade was surprised the opaque red core survived, being the only evidence a spiritual beast had been there seconds before.

The third and final of the strikes which had been aimed at him was on a direct course for his glabella, but similar to its brethren, it was about to lose access to its main weapon.

The Resonant Echo Staff struck the creature’s tail, the familiar crunch of breaking bone sounding as it tore through the spike.

Helena had used the opportunity afforded to her while the monkeys were distracted to prepare her own technique, a bow art.

Twangggg.

The bowstring snapped back into position as a razor sharp arrow was launched at the only Assassin Macaque that still had a tail, cleanly penetrating the beast’s heart.

Even if it was sturdy enough to survive her deadly shot, the quick thinking girl had dipped her arrow in the monkey’s own venom, ensuring the kill as the flesh around its most vital organ began to corrode.

It didn’t take long for them to dispatch of the other four beasts once they lost the use of their most devastating weaponry.

Not to say that the physical prowess of a fifth stage beast was easy to deal with, but working in tandem with each other they had no major issues.

Catarina turned to the group and smiled, “I’m glad we all got through that safely. You handled yourself exceptionally Lawney, well done,” she praised.

Kade opened his mouth to reply when suddenly her eyes flickered and she fainted, collapsing to the ground.