“You guys have one more mission before we leave.”

“Huh?”

We all looked at the puppet master with hardly concealed reluctance.

We had been on three other missions after that search and destroy mission after the siege, but all of them were patrols. That meant we jumped in a Hummer, which was cramped, and rode around a perimeter for hours with nothing to do.

It was boring and always ended with stiff limbs. Not to mention, Umara and I weren’t able to be all over each other since the others were around.

Of course, I tried to make it interesting for myself by shooting at random targets as we drove, testing my skill. But I was yelled at by our supervisor all three times, ending in nothing but more boredom.

So none of us were eager to go on another mission, especially when we only had a day left on this trip.

Seeing how unenthusiastic we were, the Puppet Master laughed.

“Haha, come on now! You guys got the only combat mission on this trip, so you can’t complain. Now, you have one more patrol to do.”

“Ugh!”

We all groaned, making him laugh even harder.

He waved and walked away.

“You leave in an hour! Don’t be late! Hahaha, isn’t military life fun?!”

“I’m going to kill something.”

Tana grit her teeth, kicking back her chair and standing.

We all stood with her and left to get ready.

An hour later, we were all piled inside a Hummer. Our supervisor drove us out and we made our way to the perimeter.

The perimeter wasn’t an actual part of the base. It was merely an invisible boundary between what this base considered their territory and the outer wilderness.

Our job was to look out for anything weird or suspicious. If there were signs of Scourge activity, we needed to report back and investigate.

Of course, there were never any signs of activity. We had figured that out after the first two patrols. If anything, we were just bait for whatever might be lurking around. If we could draw out a Scourge beast, then we had done our jobs properly.

But that meant we didn’t even have to keep our eyes peeled. So as soon as we left the base, Tana and Feiden closed their eyes and took a nap. Vetsmon also seemed to have brought a book, which he read. As for Umara and I, we just cuddled in the back seats.

I had my arm around her as she lounged back into my chest.

It wasn’t long before noon, so the sun was still rising toward its zenith. Since we would be out here for about 6 hours, all of us tried to get as comfortable as possible.

Even I got an hour long nap in, drifting off until around noon.

After that, everyone seemed to have woken up properly, prompting us to start a random discussion that got a bit heated and went on for a couple hours.

It was only during the second half of our drive that everything calmed down again. At that point we just sat around bored.

Then, after having lounged back with Umara for long enough, I opened my eyes and got up.

“I need air.”

“Just don’t stick your butt in my face again.”

“You know you like it.”

“Ew.”

Tana gave me a disgusted face as I climbed up and pushed open the roof hatch, letting me stick my head out.

There wasn’t even a turret on this Hummer, but there was a hatch for it. Thinking that, I let the wind blow across my face as I took some deep breaths.

I looked around, seeing some forests in the distance and nothing but grassy plains around us.

I could also spot a bunch of wildlife. In these undisturbed areas, there were lots of creatures that would wander about. I didn’t recognize a lot of them, but in general they still fell within standard classifications.

Birds with feathers, mammals with hair and fur, small insects, and other scaly or reptilian friends.

It was just the colors and some other special features that made them much different from Earth’s animals.

In one of the forests I looked at, I also saw some monkeys. When we rolled by, a lot of them stopped to look at us. They had black fur and red eyes.

They looked rather menacing. Too menacing, in fact. Seeing them gave me a bad feeling.

“Hey, Vetsmon.”

“Hm?”

“Out your window, the treeline in the distance. Black monkeys with red eyes. Check it out.”

“Hm…”

The big man looked out his window, taking a few seconds before responding.

“They look hostile.”

“...Gear up. I don’t like it.”

“Alright. Hey, buckle in too…”

He didn’t question as he put on his armor. The others readied their gear as well while strapping in.

As that happened, the monkeys all swung away, seemingly having enough of our presence. That’s when the driver looked back.

“Hey, did you find something?”

“Not sure. Some black monkeys with red eyes were looking at us.”

“Those? They aren’t uncommon. The ones with red hands are the ones we gotta watch out for.”

“...Let me check.”

Taking out my rifle, I scoped in and tried to find some more.

But after a minute or so, I couldn’t find any others. Still, my bad feeling grew.

That’s when I heard some sounds from a forest closer to us. Turning, I saw some more monkeys. They were all swinging through the branches, following us in parallel.

And their hands were red with long black claws coming out of their fingers.

My eyes widened, but before I could say anything, I saw everything turn in slow motion.

I felt alarms scream in my mind, my coat flashing with purple as its powers were activated. In the corner of my eye, I could spot the source of my panic.

There was a giant gorilla barreling straight toward us from the treeline of the forest. It was fast and big, almost as big as the Hummer.

It was going to ram us, and I had no illusions about its strength. It was going to flip the Hummer.

So I sunk back down through the hatch, barely closing it behind me while yelling.

“Incoming!”

*BOOM*

It was like we were hit by a bomb as the Hummer was lifted from the ground. I could only duck and cover my head as I went tumbling inside this metal can.

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Right as I went flying though, my entire body was grabbed. It felt like a bear was hugging me as we whipped around, the Hummer rolling several times before coming to a stop.

Once we settled, we could hear a bunch of sounds coming from monkeys that boarded our vehicle, screaming while banging on the windows and doors.

“John? You alright?”

“...I love you Vetsmon.”

“Woah now, your girlfriend is right there.”

He chuckled while letting me go.

Since the car was now on its side, I had to balance on one of the seats. The others unstrapped themselves as well, crawling around.

That’s when I had to close one of my eyes, feeling moisture crawl down my forehead.

“John, you’re bleeding.”

Umara climbed over to me, touching my head and coating her fingers in blood.

There was a lot, so something must have split open. I did in fact have a headache now, but the adrenaline helped stave the pain.

“I’m fine. Get ready for battle. I’m making a call.”

I spoke while bringing out my Aerial, tapping it a few times before bringing up a profile.

I called, and before long, I heard a voice.

“John? What, are you that bored?”

The Puppet Master spoke with amusement, but I didn’t really have time for jokes.

“We’ve been attacked.”

“...By what?”

His voice became serious, and I quickly gave him the details.

“Some monkeys. Black hair, red eyes, red hands, and long black claws. One of them was huge and just flipped our Hummer.”

“Those are Red Eye Bandits. They’re strong and tough, but weak to magic, so keep Umara safe. You said there’s a big one? What’s the color of its fur?”

“Black, like the others.

“Good. If it were purple, you’d be dead. Alright, we’re sending a team. Where are you?

Looking through a window, I described the landmarks around us, which seemed to be enough. After that, I hung up.

“Help is on the way.”

“They won't be quick enough.”

Vetsmon grumbled. At the same time, there was a loud sound.

*CRACK*

One of the side windows was almost shattered. Outside, we could see the gorilla pounding on it.

*Shatter!*

It quickly broke under the second hit. Then, we could see one of the smaller monkeys crawl through it.

Right when it did though, I raised a shotgun and fired.

*BOOM*

“Agh!”

It exploded, blasting the monkey to chunks, but simultaneously ringing our ears.

Everyone recoiled, Vetsmon putting his hand on me.

“Let us take care of things inside!”

“Right.”

I nodded apologetically.

After that, more monkeys started to crawl in, but they were all butchered by the knights. Vetsmon skewered some with his spear while Feiden stabbed others.

We killed a lot of them, and eventually things went silent.

That’s when Tana suddenly spoke.

“The driver’s dead…”

We all looked over, seeing her looking at the driver’s seat.

That’s when I realized.

The gorilla had come at us head on, so the driver took the hardest hit. From where we sat, the entire front of the Hummer looked flattened. The driver was crushed in the process.

I frowned, but didn’t dwell on it. From my experience working with the Tavera Family and killing people in the Trenches, I was rather numbed to death.

But I remembered that the rest of my squad didn’t have my experience. They may have only seen a few deaths before, definitely not as much as I have.

I could see the shock on Tana’s face as she saw the dead body. Even Vetsmon and Feiden seemed a little rattled.

But we didn’t have time for that, so I stepped in.

“Hey, leave it be. We’ve got a huge fucking gorilla outside that isn’t leaving us alone. Get ready to leave the Hummer.”

“Can’t we just stay inside?”

*Creak*

Right as Umara asked me from behind, we all heard the sound of metal bending.

*Bang!*

*Shatter!*

There was pounding on the side of the car, the glass windows being blown to bits and the doors warping out of their hinges.

I looked at Vetsmon while the gorilla tore our car to shreds.

“Just keep it off of us.”

“Yea. Time to put these muscles to work.”

He flexed while looking up at the gorilla. Then, one of the doors was torn off.

Vetsmon jumped out right as the door was thrown, ramming straight into the gorilla and tackling it to the floor.

“Go! Feiden, help him!”

“Got it!”

Feiden jumped out right after him, and we could hear the sounds of battle outside.

I grabbed Tana, who still seemed a bit rattled.

“Go! They need help!”

“...Right!”

She nodded while zoning in, climbing out of the vehicle.

I then looked back to Umara.

She looked to me as well. She seemed scared, but I knew she wouldn’t back down.

“That thing is weak to magic, so you’re the most important here. I probably won’t be able to do much to it, but I’ll keep you safe from anything else.”

“Alright.”

“Then let’s go.”

I climbed out of the car, helping her out as well.

That’s when we saw the battle.

“Oof!”

Vetsmon raised his shield, taking a blow from the gorilla that knocked him back several feet. Feiden then jumped in, drawing his sword across its body and creating some shallow wounds.

But the gorilla was tough as nails. It didn’t even seem to notice the wounds as it attacked Feiden as well. It wasn’t slow, being able to keep up just fine.

The gorilla stood 10 feet tall. Even Vetsmon was dwarfed by it. And its muscles bulged through its skin like plates of armor. I knew at a glance that anything other than a fully empowered bullet wouldn’t be able to pierce through. Even then, I would be hard pressed to give it a single bad wound.

I was still only Authority 3, while Vetsmon and Feiden were Authority 5. They could match the gorilla, but even then, they seemed to be slightly outclassed.

And killing those Authority 5 behemoths during the siege took me time, not to mention that I wasn’t the only one doing damage. If I had an hour to simply shoot this gorilla without it fighting back, then I might be able to kill it. But in this situation, I was almost useless.

In the end, it seemed like I really was the weak link in this team. I liked to think that I was important with my sheer damage, but against a truly powerful enemy, I still couldn’t rise to their level.

But I wouldn’t allow myself to be dead weight. So I did the only thing I could.

Protect them. Let them work.

I looked around, finding some other monkeys that tried to attack Feiden and Tana. Tana was working to fend them off while Feiden tried to help Vetsmon despite getting attacked from behind.

Umara was also attracting attention, and I couldn’t let her get hurt. So I raised my shotgun and fired.

*BOOM*

I blasted a monkey that was heading toward Umara with my quad shotgun before turning and firing at another heading toward Tana.

I walked toward the battlefield, letting off more shells at the annoying pests that tried to distract my teammates. I was completely focused, utilizing the powers of my coat sporadically even though it sucked down my stamina.

I gave everything I had to defend them, because I could contribute nothing else. Only they could fight and kill the gorilla, so until I got stronger, I would stick to what I could do.

And I naturally attracted attention with all the noise I was making. The gorilla couldn’t do anything about it since Vetsmon was fighting it to a standstill, but all the other monkeys could.

There weren’t many, but there was enough. Plus, they came from all directions, surrounding me and testing my reloading speed.

I was practically throwing my shells into the four barrels, running and dodging while firing to keep the monkeys from tearing my throat out with their claws.

But I couldn’t keep everything at bay. Eventually, one got over to me just as I ran out of ammo.

I lunged at me, its claws digging into my stomach. They were no different from knives, so blood immediately spilled.

Taking that opportunity though, I summoned a peacekeeper and pressed its barrel against its head, pulling the trigger.

*BANG*

*Slice*

Its claws fell out, my blood going with it. It made me feel sick, like my life was spilling away with the blood.

But adrenaline was one hell of a drug, so I used it to push through the pain and continue.

I used the remaining bullets of my revolver to fend off anything close before reloading my weapons and firing more rounds. Corpses stacked around me as I did so, and the number of monkeys started to dwindle.

But at some point, I felt myself cough, causing blood to pour into my mouth.

Weakness came over my body for a moment, causing my aim to falter as I fired.

The monkey that took my shot was only injured as it continued toward me and attacked my leg.

It grabbed my thigh, its claws digging in like a vice and drawing even more blood. I barely managed to retrieve my revolver as I fell, firing and killing it.

But there were two others, the last of them that seemed to be emboldened by my fall.

They attacked, and I managed to shoot one, killing it instantly. But the other landed on me, its hands going for my neck.

I wrapped my arm around my neck though, taking advantage of my coat's defensive properties. So instead of cutting me with this claws, the monkey slammed down relentlessly, beating my arm and chest with blows that felt like sledgehammers.

It also clawed around, doing anything it could to kill me. I felt it carve up my face and hands, but I did anything I could to keep it from hitting something that would assuredly end my life.

I didn’t panic, even as I could feel death getting closer. I just kept defending myself while attempting to kick or push it off.

Everything happened so fast. My mind operated even faster, making everything seem like slow motion. But a creature such as that monkey, which had strength and speed so far above mine, moved faster than I could keep up with. If I didn’t have my coat that could hold me together and protect me, then it would have ripped my limbs off and torn my neck out.

It was amazing. I had killed two dozen of these monkeys just for one that slipped through to put me on death’s door in a matter of seconds. How were summoners supposed to fight like this? No wonder they were regarded as the weakest. At least warlocks had barriers to protect them.

If not for my squad, I would be nothing.

Those were my thoughts as I suddenly felt the monkey get yanked off of my body, the next moment accompanied by a sickening crunch.