Valerian, The Legendary

142 Iron Ape.

Grace was riding Mathiyus, and despite his reluctance, Fortuna made him do it. Valerian and Priscilla were mounting their wraiths and the four men were left inside the cave, tied with vines. The entrance of the cave was also covered with vines so that no wild beast comes and make their meal. He did this when Grace had left with Mathiyus so that she does not discover his actions.

Grace provided them directions when they were moving and quickly came to the place where they had encountered the swarm of fire ants. Priscilla said, “We can track them from the signs they left.”

Valerian nodded and growled to communicate with Mathiyus and they moved, his voice was low and only the beast could hear it. This was a technique he learned back in the academy. Fallax taught him the words of the wind. This sort of technique needed one to channel mana in their throats and manipulated the vocal cords.

This was a technique that Fallax had modified for Valerian slightly to help him cloak his skills. The boy did not want Grace to think of him as a monster and thus used this method. Mathiyus took charge, as a beast that had spent its entire life in the woods, he was very sensitive towards the signs left by others.

Shadow Leopards did not have a territory, they moved around and survived by killing others with surprise, the assassin king of the beasts. Their ability to track the prey was second to none. The group moved quickly and soon they found signs of human movement visible to a novice like Grace. She exclaimed, “That staff belongs to Munya, she is a mage.”

Valerian quickly moved through the woods and came to the place pointed out by Grace, he leaned to the side and picked up the staff. It was s simple wooden staff, and Valerian thought the owner must have made it to add to her appearance.

Mathiyus let out a low roar and dashed forward. Priscilla and Valerian were hot on his heels and they soon heard a clutter of screams. Fortuna raised her head and said, ‘I am hungry.’

Valerian said, ‘I will get you good food after we have dealt with the beast up ahead.’

Fortuna nodded and went back to sleep, making Valerian shake his head. Priscilla leaned forward on the back of her mount and said, “It’s a magical beast chasing after four people.”

.....

Valerian squeezed the belly of the wraith under him and let out a low shout as the beast picked up the pace. Soon, he could clearly see, a beast, at least, five meters high, with a body covered with hair giving off metallic luster. It was like a black shadow hammer trampling the landscape. He mumbled faintly, “Grade seven Iron Ape.”

Priscilla’s face turned somber. She asked, “Your Highness, what to do with this beast?”

Valerian shrugged and said, “What else can we do? To save the lives of that group we need to kill this thing first. Also, looking at the red eyes and sluggish movements, it seems this guy just woke up from a prolonged hibernation.”

Priscilla opened her eyes wide and looked at the ape chasing after the people once again. She noticed that the beast was unable to keep up with the four people in front of it. The people in front of the beast were not fast or skillful at all. They were just running ahead without turning back. Priscilla asked, “But why is this beast here? Are they not found in dry regions?”

Valerian nodded and said, “Good geographic awareness, Lady Priscilla, since you have managed to point out such a crucial issue, why not you go and confront this traveling beast for us all?”

His sarcasm made Priscilla turn pale in comparison. Not to mention she was trained as an assassin, brute strength was not her strong point, she was even two realms behind this big guy. If the arm as thick as a tree trunk, managed to even brush her, she will turn into a flesh and blood stain on the ground.

She shook her head and said, “You jest, Your Highness. Hahaha... Please forgive me.”

Valerian snorted and said, “I will take charge, you better rescue those dimwits and have them stay put. If they failed to even stay silent, I do not mind feeding them to Mathiyus.”

That said, the young boy placed Fortuna on the head of the Wraith, jumped off, and said, ‘Fortuna, Ape meet for dinner?’

The kitten raised her head and looked at the beast in front and nodded after much thought. Valerian shook his head and dashed off under the shocked gaze of Grace. Priscilla noticed this and said, “Do not worry, he is not weak anymore. Stay here, I will bring over the survivors.”

Priscilla also vanished from her spot, she was very fast and did not waste any time.

...

The iron ape raised one of its arms and made a punch at the ground. The force behind the attack was so high that the ground shook and some trees in close range were directly uprooted. The people running ahead could not help but scream.

Suddenly, Priscilla appeared in front of them and they froze in their spots. The shock of a sudden appearance was too much for them at this point when they were at the end of their wits. The maid smiled faintly and said, “Multiplex Umbra Disiectio”

The four youths were covered with dark smoke and the next moment, they vanished. The forest had a lot of trees and the canopies provided many shadows to move. Priscilla had cast her first chain spell to move them all to safety.

Just as she vanished, the ape was enraged, this was his prey, how dare this human take them away? It stood up on its hind legs and began to hit itself on the chest with two thick arms. The impact sent out visible ripples in the void.

The sound from the hits was akin to a metal gong being repeatedly. Priscilla, who reappeared in the distance mumbled, “Indeed made of iron.”

Grace was shocked at the side, and so were her friends. They were about to cry out loud when Priscilla said, “Do not make any loud noise, if that ape came, here again, I will leave you to fend it on your own.”

Her threat worked like a charm and the group was pacified in an instant. They watched as the ape destroyed the surroundings in its rage. Valerian should have come over to tackle the beast, but when he found that it was enraged and busy leveling the arena, he stood at the side, waiting patiently.

The ape had yet to regain its true strength. It had just come out of prolonged hibernation and needed food, a lot of it. The more it raged, the weaker it became, and after a few minutes when the beast ran out of gas, Valerian appeared in front of it. Iron Ape was wise beast, it was said that they could tackle humans in wisdom and intelligence, but when a human feels hungry, they do unexpected things.

The beastly nature of this Ape overwhelmed it as it charged head-on to tear Valerian to shreds and feed on him. However, was it that easy? Valerian smiled at the beast and said, “Micare.”

A light flashed in front of the beast and left it stunned, Valerian rushed forward and took out a red dagger from his right thigh, holding it in a reverse grip. The moment he reached closer to the beast, he jumped high. The reaction was just right to avoid the punches of the beast.

Iron Ape used its instincts to attack at the position, but Valerian was paying attention to its every movement and got away. The child landed on the shoulder of the beast and stabbed the crimson dagger right in the jugular of the beast.

The Ape wailed and roared in rage. The attack managed to penetrate the iron fur which was enough to stop spears stabbed by a peak grade seven warrior. This was because Valerian had channeled fire mana in the dagger to make it more efficient. The Iron Ape moved its hands and tried to attack Valerian and make him fall away off the shoulder.

However, the young man held onto the dagger hilt and hung on the back of the beast. The bigger it was, the clumsier it became at this moment. Valerian and the beast struggled, but then slowly, the roaring and raging beast came to its knees and began panting hard. Valerian had input the fire mana in the body of the beast, burning it inside out.

In the final moment, the iron ape gave up the struggle as it started bleeding from the nasal orifice. With a dull thud, it fell to the ground, giving rise to a shallow dust cloud. Valerian sighed, only he knew, this easy-looking task was not easy. His fire mana was almost empty. The tolerance of this big guy was a bit too much for him.

After the battle, he said, “Priscilla, give me some water.”