Chapter 230: Chapter 229:““Eh?””
BOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
Another deafening explosion rang out as the fleeing figure of the massive ape was reduced to bits and fragments once more.
"Oops.." I scratched my head awkwardly after appearing where the monkey had been.
<Zero Distance Strike> had made escape an impossibility, so before I’d even arrived, I’d already punched the ape to kingdom come, though I might’ve overdone it a bit.
"Haaa... guess I’ll just have to exp..." before I could finish the thought.
Krrrr..
Kah!
The scattered blood mist twisted and churned, flesh, muscles, and bones being reconstructed in real time as the ape’s massive figure reappeared, sweat drenched and pale, yet fully whole.
"Ho? Now what do we have here?" My eyebrow rose in curiosity...
"YOU FILTHY HUMAN!!!!!!!!" The monkey roared angrily, fist balling as energy gathered, I got ready to tank another fist only for the monkey to.
WOOOOOOSHHHHHH!!!!!
Bolt in the opposite direction.
"Did I just get played?" I shook my head, incredulous.
"Alright little monkey, let’s play." It felt weird calling a monkey that stood 10-feet taller than my transformed state "little" but, at the same time, it felt all the more right as well.
"Let’s see just how far you can run." I took a stance, and then...
FWIP!
My fist disappeared into space.
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
Another earth trembling explosion sounding out from the distance..
I took a step, appearing right where the mangled flesh of the ape was trying to reconstruct itself again...
"MONSTER!!! Begone!!!!"
ROOOOARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
A condensed beam of energy shot straight at my appearing figure, giving me little time to react.
BOOOM!!!!
I drove another punch forward, instantly nullifying the attack, the shockwaves disintegrating the still forming ball of flesh..
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Why won’t you just leave me alone!!!!" The monkey raged, his newly reformed body disappearing into the distance...
I took a single step, and the distance he’d tried putting between us, vanished.
"Because, little monkey, I need you to feel." My fingers curled slowly, deliberately, "feel the difference between us." I finally answered as I crashed my fist into him.
BOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!
The entire secret realm at this point was destabilizing, fractures forming here and there, as both mine and Conan’s figure spawned all over the place.
One trying to escape.
The other not letting up...
"ENOUGH!!!!!!"
The furious monkey finally stopped.
"Heh. Done trying to escape?"
"You... you ignorant, delusional, FOOLISH HUMAN!!!!!!"
"You forced my hand..."
ROOOOOOOOOOARRRRRR!!!!!!
A guttural roar tore straight out of the monkey’s throat as he began releasing an ungodly amount of energy into the atmosphere.
My face instantly went blank the moment I felt that energy.
Corrupted Mana.
That nefarious, disgusting thing.
An uncontrollable rage bubbling forth within me.
"You... What are you doing?" My voice came out low, threatening...
"I’LL SHOW YOU, I’LL SHOW YOU ALL, YOU AND THOSE STIFF, MONKEY BASTARDS, I’LL SHOW YOU ALL WHAT PROGRESS LOOKS LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
GRUUOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH.....
The monkey’s already large frame instantly expanded to double its size.
Massive jagged horns growing out of its head as its shoulders squirmed and writhed, the flesh tearing apart to allow for the growth of two more demonic looking monkey heads.
Each with a different expression.
Two more arms grew from the ape’s body, as a long serpentine tail extended from its spine...
GRUOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
Its aura exploded outwards as the realm’s trembling intensified, cracks spread all across the ground, mountains collapsed and crashed, the floating platforms faltered and fell, the whole place was slowly coming apart as the demons energy suffused into the surrounding...
"TREMBLE BEFORE PERFECTION!!!" Conan declared, as demonic energy mixed with something primal poured out of him in suffocating waves.
I just stared.
Expression blank, as a violent rage threatened to explode within me.
Demons.
Once again.
Why is it that I seem to see them everywhere I go? Did they really want to stoke my fury that much? So much so that even monkeys are now tainting my presence with that vile energy?
"Alright then.." it really was.
If they wanted to test my patience so much, then I’ll gladly play with them..
"Alright.." I took a stance, as the newly formed abomination opened all three heads, demonic energy and primal energy mixing into a chaotic sphere of destruction within them..
"Hoooo..." I breathed out slowly, then for the first time in a while,I used my old faithful, merging my consciousness with the atmosphere, I muttered quietly
"Condense"
My fingers curled, the air trembling around my fist as the weight of the realm’s atmosphere gathered around it...
It swirled, condensed and solidified, until I could see a visual milky white aura that radiated an immense amount of pressure but still, "it’s light."
It really was.
This was perhaps the most powerful secret realm I’d stepped into in a while, and from my experience, the more powerful the place, the heavier the weight of its atmosphere, and yet, the weight of this place’s atmosphere felt light, almost as if I wasn’t even holding anything at all, but I knew, the fissures spreading around my fist made it clear that I was literally holding a nuke..
ROOOOOOOOOOOARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!
The maddened roar of the abomination broke me from my thoughts as three massive spheres of pure destruction surged towards me at ungodly speeds.
Space shattered, the earth disintegrated, merely from the leaking pressure of the three spheres.
"Alright then... let’s see what you got.." I drove my fist forward.
My 25-foot figure looking like a child trying to punch an adult as the sheer visual difference would’ve already told the outcome of the encounter, yet when both forces collided, the entire realm stilled....
And then...
Carnage!
The world went white as all sound vanished, before...
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
The entire secret realm imploded.
Space cracks spreading like cancer.
The structural integrity of the entire secret realm collapsed from the collision of powers it wasn’t meant to handle....
RUUUUUMMMMBLEEEEEEE!!!!!!!
"Damn..." was all I could say as I surveyed the destruction wrought to the entire place...
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing was spared.
I’d found myself within a massive space crack, a dome of golden light surrounding my figure...
"You just had to go tamper with the atmosphere didnt you?" Leo’s irritated voice sounded out.
"Heh. That monkey had it coming." I snickered, pure killing intent flashing through my eyes the moment I recalled the monkey’s final transformation, yet before I could dwell on it, a thought hit me.
"WAIT! Where’s Malachi?!!" I snapped my head sideways, "Hooo... damn, almost scared the life out of me.. glad you’re alright buddy." There, also surrounded by a golden light dome, were Malachi and Sorin..
"Alright?? Alright??? FUCK YOU DANTE!!! You almost got me killed!!!" The monkey raged..
"Meh. Meh. Details, you’re alive aren’t you? Stope sweating the little stuff."
"Little stuff... this motherfucker just called my life the little stuff, why I oughta...." He couldn’t complete his words as a golden diagram depicting images of ancient, towering apes flashed above the entirety of the secret realm.
HUMMMMMMM....
A low hum flowed through the entire place as the damage began recovering...
The space mended itself, the earth began filling back up, mountains rose, and before we knew it, we were right back at the base of the giant monkey statue.
"Haaa... of course that happened.." I wasn’t even surprised at this point...
"CLIMB!"
The same ancient voice from before sounded out once more, demanding we climb, but,
"Yea, fuck that." I wasn’t having it.
"Let’s get this over with." Placing my hands on both Malachi and sorin, space warped around our figures as I blinked into existence at the top of the statue..
"You couldn’t have done that before?" Malachi grumbled.
"Before, there was fun to be had, but now? I’m dead tired." I yawned..
"Hey. Catch!" Leo tossed something at me.
I caught the object, opening my massive palm as I inspected it.
It was a round, shiny, red beast core.
"It belongs to that Conan fellow, tenacious little bastard was still trying to regenerate even after all that."
"Heh." I snickered, tossing the core right towards Malachi.
"I don’t know if you can still eat that, it’s got demon energy tainting it." I warned.
"Heh! What’s that going to do? Give me a tummy ache?" The monkey grinned, tossing the core into his mouth carelessly...
CRUNCH!!!
Chewing sounds rang out as he snacked on the core of an SSS-rank ape.
The moment he swallowed, an explosion of energy went off around him as his aura swelled, and his figure grew...
30-feet...
35-feet...
40-feet...
He only stopped growing once he reached a towering 40-feet..
"Heh! Now that’s more like it." I smiled, intending to undo my transformation when.
"Marvelous!"
That same ancient voice resounded once more.
"Finally, a descendant truly worthy of the Monkey King’s mantle."
Malachi grinned, a sharp and excited expression appearing on his monkey face.
I smiled, happy for him, yet all our expressions froze the moment the voice continued.
"So tell me, little one.." the voice was now coming from my side.
I turned swiftly, attention falling on the translucent figure of an aged monkey with a long white beard.
"What shall I call you, o monkey king."
I paused, head turning robotically toward Malachi.
The monkey was also looking at me in sheer disbelief, eyes questioning...
Together, we both turned, slowly, mechanically, as we finally focused on the smiling aged monkey that had somehow manifested a golden hoop in his hands, and all we could say was..
""Eh?""
**************
A/N: well, didn’t see that one coming... damn..
*************
Thanks for reading....
