Twin Iron Scaled Cobalt Bone Apes.
A very rare mutated duo of the Cobalt Bone Ape monster species.
These twin monsters always worked together, splitting their duties between themselves. One was the 'combatant', and the other was the 'strategist'.
As for why the strategist was needed, it was because one of the twins always possessed a skill that empowered other monsters under their control.
These monsters were smart enough to not let such a good skill go to waste, so they always conquered any surrounding monsters and took control of them, and the strategist of the duo was the one who commanded these monsters in battle.
It was even better when the subordinated monsters were also Cobalt Bone Apes, as their skill usually had a greater effect on their fellow species.
Anyway, the Cobalt Bone apes indeed possessed the Cobalt coloured bones that their name referred to, and when harvested, their bones were very useful in forging powerful weapons, especially those with water elemental-type skills and effects.
The monsters had powerful regenerative capabilities, making them quite the menace to deal with, and their Iron Scaled mutations, had robust defences that made them even harder to kill.
Of course, this is taking their water elemental manipulation abilities out of the equation.
And then for the Icing on the cake, the Iron Scale mutation was something that could only happen when these monsters were becoming Grandmasters.
Long story short, if you ever met a pair of Iron Scaled Cobalt Blue Apes, they were at the very least, level 300 monsters capable of wiping out an entire town.
And right now, one of these two monsters, the 'combatant' of the duo, was receiving the beating of its life from a party of powerful adventurers who had made a name for themselves across the continent in the past year.
They were monsters that had been chased out of their original home after suffering defeat at the hands of another Iron-scaled mutant duo, and they came to reside in the forests of a town called Damerel, located in the north-central area of the Alpha continent's Beast Kingdom.
After subduing the native monsters of that forest, they plotted to once again attack the duo who forced them out of their old home.
But first, they decided to use the tens of thousands of inhabitants of the nearby town, as food and experience sources to empower their armies.
They were met with fierce resistance, their monster armies being repelled by the numerous C & B ranked knights and adventurers, while the town's six A rank level fighters succeeded in defeating the Iron Scaled Cobalt Blue Ape.
Yes...they defeated the 'Ape' and not the 'Apes'.
Due to their rarity, the full characteristics of the Iron Scaled mutants were not known to many, as such, these A rankers were not aware that they always worked in duos.
Just when they finally managed to defeat the 'Strategist' who was more than 30 levels higher than they were, they were hit with a full-power Tier 3 Magic attack from the 'Combatant'.
All six of them were instantly incapacitated and would have met their doom at the hands of the monster if it wasn't for the corporate-dressed man wielding a large great sword that suddenly flashed in and smacked the monster's head with the flat side of his blade.
Mind you, these Cobalt Bone Apes were large humanoid monsters that were close to 15 metres in height, and with a large muscular body to match said height.
Yet this man who was clearly not dressed for the occasion, casually smacked this monster with enough force to send it flying, drawing a clean parabolic arc in the air before crashing down more than a hundred metres away.
And that strike, was the beginning of the battle against this monster, as his three other companions instantly charged at the monster from different directions and attacked it simultaneously.
However, the Cobalt Blue Ape quickly got to its feet, conjuring magic shields to block two of the attacks while using its aura-laden sword to block the third from which it sensed the most danger.
And thus, a battle ensued, with powerful attacks being thrown about, each releasing shockwaves that overlapped each other, and devastated the thousands of monsters that made up the Cobalt Blue Apes' army.
As expected of a powerful grandmaster-level beast and the 'combatant' of the duo, it possessed a high-level swordsmanship skill and combat abilities to match its level.
But unfortunately, this party of four were not your regular adventurer party, with each one of them possessing skills that made the monster fear for its life.
Yet it knew running was not possible as it would leave itself open to the attacks of these four in that process.
One reduced the monster's raw strength, the other sucked out its very life force, the third burned it with flames and cut through its iron scales like butter, while the fourth slashed at it with a sword coated in an ominous red aura that dealt damage to its very soul.
It was a 'short' battle, one that devastated everything within a 500-metre radius of the forest's entrance.
The C & B rank fighters had concluded their battles and succeeded in chasing the other monsters back into the forest, as such they were able to witness as the party of four made short work of the other mutant Cobalt Bone Ape, before the person they believed was the party leader, struck it with a whirling spiral shaped mass of reddish gold magic power, ending its life.
It was then that the B rank and some of the C rank adventurers got closer to this party of four, and managed to identify them as the 'Anomalies'; a party originating from a foreign country that had gained risen to fame over the past year, starting from their actions in the undead Crisis that occurred in the Western part of the Alpha continent last year.
Each member of the Adventurer party was a 'Titled' adventurer, with their leader being one who possessed two 'Titles' and was even more famous than some more powerful A and S rank adventurers on the Alpha continent.
"That kid's the one they call 'Irregular'?"
"Yeah…it's definitely him…he has those strange eyes after all."
"So, he's the human hero who became popular recently, huh?"
Such were the words of the Adventurer's guild's monster handlers who were chatting with themselves while dismantling the corpses of the monsters defeated by the other adventurers.
Since the party had gotten themselves into all sorts of situations that boosted their fame over the year, they had gotten popular to the point where they could people could easily discern their identities after hearing their names or seeing their appearances.
"They say he's the youngest A-rank adventurer in the world."
"For real?"
"Yeah…didn't you just see him kill that rare monster? So strong, and he's not even in his mid-teens yet."
While they were chattering away about the boy's power, the teenager in question was standing atop the corpse of the monster he had just dealt the final blow to, with a blank expression on his face.
Seeing this, the eyes of his blonde companion who had a black cat in her arms, instantly flashed with realisation as she activated a skill instantly.
"Barrier.
Sound Negation."
A translucent cube-shaped barrier of light surrounded the boy's body, a second before he screamed out in annoyance.
"WHY AM I NOT GRANMASTER YET!"
The truth of the matter was that the boy was not the 'Youngest Grandmaster' people thought he was.
On this day that marked exactly one year after the Cheverton Undead Crisis…
The 'Second' of the New Generation Seven Heroes, known widely as the 'Irregular' Evan:
Was still Level 299.
Visit freewe𝑏(n)ovel.co(m) for the b𝘦st novel reading experience