By the time Don defeated all five of the apes tailing Kat another 18 had taken to chasing the ace around in circles. Tearing up the jungle on the other side of a hill. A few of the strike team members were fully out of venom at this point and left to help him but they couldn't pull the furious monster's attention away from Kat entirely.

He had already taken two stamina potions and was slowed by 20%. Any more would be dangerous, but not as dangerous as running out of steam. The upside was that all this running was wearing out the apes before they even started fighting Don.

It took less venom and effort to bring down each successive ape. It took less time too but Don was going to have to change things up or risk losing Kat. Against his better judgment, Don had Ulf bring two apes to him this time. He double-checked his inventory before the strike team could complete the delivery.

Don still had his magical stink bomb, a magical healing potion, and a good stock of common potions. He downed his uncommon mana potion while he waited. He couldn't use [clarity] often but he was running low on mana all the same.

He reapplied poison to his makeshift gauntlets and prepared to face the next wave of monsters.

They didn't arrive simultaneously and Dak managed to bite the first ape before the other came. After that, Don had plenty of occasions to regret his decision. [Circle Steps] wasn't nearly as effective against multiple opponents. It was no use getting behind one of the monsters if it put him in front of the other.

Don spent a very stressful few minutes jumping behind trees and diving away from killing blows until he stumbled upon a new strategy. As he dodged attack after attack, the apes grew increasingly wild. When he ducked under a horizontal swing and the attacking ape hit his partner, they turned on each other for long enough that Dak's squad was able to dose them.

After that, Don did his best to keep one of the apes between himself and the other. It was suddenly easy to avoid their strikes again. He was still left panting at the end of the fight and the first ape to go down was stirring by the time Don got around to securing it.

Another two apes arrived to terrorize Kat during the fight and Don had no time to waste. He called for another two and prepared a stamina potion. He downed it just before the next fight started and was able to defeat this wave and another pair of apes before the potion effect ended, leaving Don fatigued. It didn't make much of a difference with his high strength and agility and Don was confident that he could take on another three sets of apes quickly if he used another potion.

He finished off another pair, leaving Kat with a dozen monsters trailing him. They had stopped arriving but Kat was nearly spent. He now had a level 4 fatigue debuff. His [forest walk] ability kept him moving fast enough to keep out of the apes' reach but his decreased strength meant that he was only burning through his remaining stamina even faster.

Don wasn't making enough progress. They had failed to take down all the apes but they hadn't lost anyone and Don was getting stronger. So long as their potion supply lasted they could try again. He was about to order the tribe to hide when a supporter dropped onto his shoulder with unwelcome news. The news was a little too late and Don only had time to look over his shoulder and spot the danger.

"[E-Pluribus-Unum]" was followed by the blaring of a horn and a wave of yelling centurions. Four compact and glowing formations did their best to close on Don as they wove around the trees. When the formations came close to each other the glow intensified and they got faster.

Don didn't have time to think. He bolted. His focus on increasing his strength and wisdom served him well against the apes but he was quickly being outpaced by the large group of spearmen yet again. If he could break their formation, the skill should end and he could get away. The question was, how to do that.

"Don't attack them." He shouted to his tribe, afraid of the disaster that would result. Besides, he had a better use for these spearmen. Don charged up the hill, sending his commandos and their strike teams out ahead of him. The shouting fighters and the thrashing they gave the underbrush drowned out all other noise.

Don wasn't any faster than his pursuers, but his superior wisdom helped him to pick out better paths through the maze of greenery. He was just barely able to keep ahead of the spearmen who were encumbered by their weapons and numbers. It wasn't by much, but he managed to keep them far enough away from him until he crested the hill, and found himself faced with an entirely different angry horde.

His commandos' timing had been a little too good. Don barely had time to activate his [circle steps] and layer on [clarity] before they were upon him.

Don did his best to spin around the apes. He crested the hill so suddenly that they couldn't quite react and their momentum carried them onwards while Don slipped past them. Unfortunately, his [clarity] lapsed before he made it out the far end of the crowd.

His wisdom was still higher than the apes and he was able to appear in the middle of their formation and get past most of the surprised monsters before they could wind up for a swing, let alone stop running headlong in the other direction. He still couldn't avoid all the hulking bodies and took a glancing blow that sent him rolling for a few meters.

That was when the fastest apes crashed into the spearmen who came over the ridge just as suddenly as Don had. The few makeshift spears to find marks shattered as the dozen hulking monsters scattered the unprepared fighters. Don smiled as he saw the golden glow flash once before shattering. Their group skill had been broken.

The spearmen outnumbered the apes nearly two to one but that hardly mattered when they were scattered and caught unprepared. The apes, on the other hand, were all too happy to have something to smash after chasing the little green shadow that had taunted them for so long. They laid into the spearmen. Don watched in fascination as they scattered the formations, then trampled the defenseless warriors.

One of the formations lagged behind the others and was saved from the initial charge. They went on the offensive to protect the other centurions. The charge was stopped dead as apes converged on them from every direction, including from the trees above. The brave centurions were thrown or smashed into the air or ground depending on the preferences of the individual apes. The makeshift spears did little to deter the enraged monsters.

In seconds, the remaining spearmen were fleeing in different directions. Some of the apes chased them, but no less than six turned their gaze to Don.

He gulped. He should have been running but the spectacle demanded his attention. Now he held the attention of way too many of the blood-soaked giants. Don slowly lifted a stamina potion to his lips. When he tipped it back, they charged.

Don used his free hand to swipe his stink-bomb through the air, sending a stream of the foul liquid at the apes. They screamed and recoiled a few steps before rage replaced their disgust. Don finished his potion, stuffed a couple of lavender stalks up his nose and squared off against the monsters.

"Brinn idd on!" He shouted past the nasal obstruction. The apes were happy to oblige. What followed was a blur of potion fueled mania. Don slipped into his [circle steps] whenever he could and used [clarity] at every opportunity. All too often, he had to abandon his forms to dive out of the way of a killing blow, or just flat out sprint to keep from getting surrounded. Don circled around the outside of the group, never facing more than two or three at once as he peppered them with [rolling punch]es. The poison wore off after three hits but it kept their attention on him. They hardly noticed as ColoColo periodically dropped down to administer a quick [venomous bite].

The stink bomb didn't drive the apes away but it did drive them into a frenzy which made their movements more straightforward and predictable. It wasn't too hard to use one ape as a shield against most of the others when he had [clarity] active. Thankfully, their short attack on the centurions cost a fair bit of stamina. It only took seven minutes of running and dodging before the last ape fell to the ground.

Don didn't get all the experience for them because he had to leave securing the beaten apes to the support squad while he drew the more energetic ones away. He still leveled up again at some point during the fighting. Gasping for breath, Don decided that his stamina could use a little boost. He put three points into endurance and the remaining two points went into wisdom and agility.

Level Up!

54 / 400 EXP to level 4 STR: 27 CON: 20 INT: 16 DEX: 20 AGI: 24 + 1 END: 23 WIS: 27 HP: 73 / 100 MP: 13 / 80 SP: 16 / 115 Active Effects:

Tired I: -5% mental attributes (INT: 15.2 / WIS: 25.7)

Fatigued II: -10% physical attributes (STR: 24.3 / AGI: 22.6)

Don waved away his notifications. He was cursing himself for not preparing any mana potions. [Clarity] had proven instrumental in a lot of the fights and Don only had enough MP for 2 more uses. There were still at least 6 apes out there but they were chasing down centurions at the moment.

Don took advantage of the respite to check on the ColoColo. There had been numerous close calls but the quick monsters always got away with minimal injury and salves were enough to take care of most of them. The ColoColo who had saved Don against his first ape was back on his feet too.

Kat was looking pretty worn out. Don would have sent him off to sleep if there was anywhere safe. For now, he sent all his strike teams who were out of venom to scout the area while the support squad formed a ring around Don to work as an early warning system. Don did his best to sink into meditation and recharge his pools.

The adrenaline pumping through his veins made that impossible and Don was forced to drink another stamina potion when a supporter warned Don that an ape was ready for him. The striker brought it to Don and after a familiar song and dance, Don was 24 experience richer.

Taking the apes on one at a time was suddenly easy after the crazy melee Don just survived. It wasn't long before all 5 of the remaining apes were bound and secured. Don scratched his head, at a loss for what to do. He could start kicking them until they died. That wasn't really an option before because it would have taken too much time and stamina to kill each ape as more followed the sounds of fighting. Now that they were tied up, he questioned the necessity of such an action.

The ColoColo were still scared of the bound creatures and stayed high in the trees. Don turned to Kat.

"Was that all of them?" he asked. Kat gave a tired shrug.

"How should I know? We were loud enough to bring the whole tribe down on us though."

A silence stretched between the two before Kat continued.

"It doesn't feel real." He said "We were taught that these monsters were unbeatable all our lives. To see them helpless like this, it just seems wrong. Like a river flowing uphill. They didn't even seriously injure any of us." Kat threw his paws into the air, it almost sounded like he was complaining.

"I guess it's all about the circumstances." Don looked in the direction of the brief confrontation between the apes and the centurions. "We were able to control the apes and keep them fighting on our terms. They couldn't touch us but if we made a mistake, or fought on their terms..."

Don was unwilling to follow that line of thought and changed the subject.

"You did great by the way. I couldn't have pulled this off without you." Then he looked up. "I doubt I could have taken on a single one of these monsters on my own without all the help I got from the tribe. We are weak apart, but strong together."

A few of the ColoColo repeated the sentiment as if they were testing its taste.

"Weak apart, strong together"

Kat scoffed.

"If you're weak than what are we?"

"Fast" Don replied instantly. "You're damned fast. Do you think anyone else could have given nearly twenty giant monsters the run-around for an hour straight, all while keeping them close enough so they don't get lost and wander over to me?"

Kat turned away from Don and his praise. His feathers puffed up, making him look bigger but also more fluffy.

"I didn't do it for you." He huffed

"That's fine," Don said and reached down to ruffle the scout's feathers "It's done, that's what matters. Grey would have been proud."

Kat brushed away Don's hand and vaulted back into the trees. Don went back to contemplating what to do with the Apes. He couldn't stand around forever. They were too heavy to move and Don would be surprised if more centurions weren't sent out to investigate the aftermath of the battle. Don grimly set about preparing to execute them.

He stepped up to the pile of tangled vines. It looked like a stack of green balls of yarn. The ColoColo really overdid the restraints in their fear of their ancestral enemy. Once he got enough of the vines pushed to the side to reveal a face he got a shock.

"Don't kill me! I have two kids waiting for me to come home!"