As he turned around in horror to face the creature, he was forced to look up to meet eye-to-eye with the silver-furred ape. The leaves kicked up from its landing were still gliding down around them; spiraling around the two as if isolating their meeting.
It towered over him, hunched over with its massive fists pressed against the ground as if acting like front legs; it stared down at him with primal, crimson eyes that were shrouded by hanging locks of silver hair.
"—-"
Streaks of black fur ran up its wide forearms; its furless, sable-skinned fists were scarred and marked with red, star-shaped symbols.
Dripping from its underbite, saliva rained down as it stood over him, breathing visible, powerful breaths as it exuded an aura of brute strength.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"Oo-ah! Oo-ah!"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
--It wasn't just the knuckle-dragging ape in front of him, but a whole group of branch-swinging, silver-furred monkeys following the burly leader of theirs.
As he moved his pupils up, he could see them watching from up above: the smaller, but still large, human adult-sized monkeys, of varying species, were stationed on the curly-branches around him. They bounced, squealed, and yelled with their fangs bare.
It was as if they were standing by and spectating the battle that was about to occur between the gargantuan ape and the snowy-haired young man, displaying their excitement in their frantic movements.
Not good, he thought.
Though a peculiar observation was made as he looked back at the giant ape standing in front of him, as if waiting for him to strike first. It wore a black-leather piece of armor over its torso; an item that a primal creature should have no business wearing.
Looking up swiftly, the same peculiarity was found with the spectating primates of differing species: they all wore garments, though mostly tattered, shoddily-made robes.
Weird. Definitely weird. But, this means they may be intelligent...if that's the case, then, he thought.
"How about this?" He said, cracking his knuckles, "If I win, I get some damn food. I don't care how, or what it is."
At last, the towering ape began to move as it began to slam its fists against the soil below, beating it like a drum as it roared out.
The sudden, jarring movement forced him to jump back as every movement by the ape three-times his size felt malicious.
I guess that marks the start of the battle? He thought.
Each slap of its knuckles against the moss-layered floor of the jungle resounded like a cannon; the savage display brought the spectating primates into an excited frenzy as they let out anxious calls.
Once the silver-furred ape lifted its head again, looking at him with its crimson eyes--he knew what it meant.
"It was time to battle," he realized.
With a primal roar, baring its fangs, the massive ape charged forward as the fallen leaves in its path were kicked up like a storm of verdant snow.
By the weight beneath its steps, caving into the ground below with such strength, he knew it wasn't something he could take lightly and test the waters with.
I'm starving, so I'll end this quickly, he thought.
As it reached his position, it began wildly slamming its boulderous fists down without any elegance, beating the ground as each hammer-fist missed completely.
He back-pedaled to avoid the reach of the primal savage, having to deafen out the ear-filling yells of the watching primates as he kept his focus on the giant beast before him.
Just as another slam of the ape's fist missed completely, he used the opportunity to spin around into a kick directly against its chin.
"Grugh---!" The ape spit out.
Clean hit! He thought.
The gargantuan, hunched-over beast stepped back, shaking its head as slobber trailed down from its bottom lip. The spectators seemed to enjoy his counterattack as their screams increased as the trees shook beneath their bounces.
It was a scary fact to him that the beast was even still conscious, as the kick he just launched was just about his maximum reinforcement.
Not only that, but it also seemed to make the muscle-bound primate even angrier as the red of its eyes seemed to glow with a savage rage.
Without any sort of warning, the silver ape began to beat its chest with impacts that manifested into small shock waves. The leaves around its feet trembled, being lifted from the ground briefly from the force of his chest-beats.
...This isn't good, is it? He thought.
Keeping himself on his guard, he decided to draw his sword from its sheath as he watched the violent beast come to a stop in its rageful song.
In the next moment, it was gone before his eyes. Even though it stood at a height doubling his, and a weight even more skewed, it displayed a speed that left him dumbfounded at its possibility.
--How the…? Where? He thought.
Though he received his answer indirectly as he felt the creaking of the trees around him, looking up to find the long-haired ape swinging from tree-to-tree with abnormal speed. If it wasn't swinging from a blue-bark branch, then it was kicking off the trunk of a scarlet-skinned tree instead.
He didn't notice it before, but it possessed a lengthy, strong tail unlike normal gorillas, using its hind appendage to allow it to swing from branch-to-branch. Though he already figured it wasn't any sort of orthodox gorilla, by any means.
After jumping around above him for no apparent reason, the ape suddenly crashed down with immense speed, only allowing him a brief window to evade its impact.
Close. This guy is fast--way too fast for his size, he thought.
Again, he was forced on the defense as the aggressive beast charged him, constantly slamming its fists where he stood, but missing each time. Even though none of its wild hits landed, it was a closer battle than it looked.
Each of its sable-skinned fists that were as tough as boulders moved through the air so sharply that the wind hissed each time they passed, leaving small shock waves in the air with each thrust of its hands.
In my current state, one of those connecting would be bad news. I can tell just by looking at him; the way he holds himself, his breathing, the force leaving his fists--this ape is on a similar level to that minotaur, he thought.
To make it worse, the jungle floor produced footing he was foreign to; the protruding roots, uneven spots of firm soil and muddy soil, and strewn vines--it made it a challenge in itself to not trip while backstepping.
He could smell its unwashed, heated breath as it roared out continuously while unleashing its neverending barrage of hammer fists, urging him to put an end to their dance as he spun around the next incoming fist.
After a nimble counter to its chin once more, he halted its assault for a brief moment.
This time, he decided to take the initiative before the ape could try and go another round through the trees, jumping up as he spun around into a spinning slash against the ape's chest.
Utilizing the sharpness of his steel, he cut directly through the leather over its chest, slicing across its bare chest.
It hardly flinched at the deep cut as fresh crimson spewed out from its parted skin, pushing forward with its fangs out and roars leaving its maw.
As its massive hand gripped his leg, he was pulled up into the air; it didn't take him more than a moment to deduce what the ape wanted to do: it wanted to slam him.
Being swung up into the air weightlessly brought upon a certain, unexpected side effect that he loathed: his already empty stomach swirled and churned, forcing a sickening feeling through him that sent him into fight-or-flight more than anything else prior.
Okay! That's enough! Play time's over, big guy! He thought.
Before it could, he left its grip with a swift 'Shadow Step', appearing behind the scar-ridden ape before leaving a strengthened slash against its back.
"Gruuugh--!" The ape roared in pain.
The slash was released with heightened reinforcement, this time leaving more than just a superficial cut as the silver fur of the primate began to be dyed in its flowing blood.
Hunched over, the ape seemed closed to falling over as the slash seemed to leave more damage than expected.
Taking advantage of the ape's weakness in the moment, he stood in front of the lowered primate, pointing his sharpened blade directly in front of its bowed head.
As he looked up, the watching primates fell silent at the unexpected victory, looking down at him with eyes that were unable to be read.
"Isn't this enough?" He asked, "I won."
I really don't want to kill it if it's surrendered already...He thought.
Though he didn't know what sort of answer he expected, but the one he got surprised him--so much so that he didn't quite believe it with his own eyes.
"--You're the victor," an old voice told him.
A talking monkey?! He thought.
It came from atop the trees where the spectating primates stood. Looking up, he found the words to come from the lion-tailed macaque sitting in the center of the group. It had a fluffy mane of white fur that contrasted its sleek, black main coat.
"What is your name?" The talking macaque asked.
He stood there for a moment, questioning reality before answering, "Ren."
The wizened primate descended the tree with its fluffy tail trailing behind it, approaching the young man before stopping just in front of him and the submitted ape. Around his small body, he wore scruffy, tan robes while guiding himself with a small stick as he walked upright.
"You have defeated our champion in combat, a rare feat; even more so, you showed benevolence in sparing his life," the macaque told him, "therefore, you are now our new champion, Ren."
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