A sudden respect stirred in Jared’s chest for the lumbering black-furred giant ape. The creature, so clumsy at first glance, had somehow sniffed out this hidden basin and the clump of Blood Ganoderma pulsing crimson at its heart. He swung off the ape’s broad back, boots skidding across moss-slick stone, and strode toward the living jewels, intent on harvesting the medicine his body so desperately craved.
A roar burst through the humid air—raw, earth-quaking, loud, and thick with primordial hate—rolling across the basin like thunder ripped from a cracked celestial drum. The sound detonated from the far side of the valley, deep within a wall of tangled forest.
A second giant ape exploded into view, its fur a sinister dark gold, trees shattering to toothpicks as the monster barreled forward like a moving mountain.
This newcomer stood even broader than Jared’s mount, its eyes two lakes of boiling blood-red light.
Those burning pupils fixed on Jared, his black-furred ally, and especially on the Blood Ganoderma, rage so hot it seemed ready to ignite the very air.
The black-furred giant ape refused to yield. It reared onto its hind legs and answered with a roar of its own, the cry vibrating like war drums.
Massive fists pummeled its steel-hard chest, each strike thudding louder than a battering ram against iron gates.
Bloodshot eyes met bloodshot eyes, the space between them crackling with murderous intent. Their colliding auras whipped dead leaves and broken branches into howling mini-tornadoes that skittered across the basin floor.
At that moment, Jared finally understood. The ape had never been guiding him to treasure out of loyalty. It had simply borrowed a sharper blade—him—to seize this territory and every Blood Ganoderma growing here.
The black-furred and dark-gold titans were lifelong enemies, and these crimson fungi were the prize over which they warred.
“Clever beast…” Jared muttered, half amused, half annoyed.
Still, the Blood Ganoderma were vital to him. Turning back was no longer an option. Besides, the dark-gold ape’s killing intent now swept across everyone in the basin—man, unicorn, and rival ape alike.
“Fire Unicorn… Ready yourself,” he called, voice low and steady.
Dragonslayer flashed free of its sheath, the chill blade glinting as it leveled at the oncoming brute. If he had been dragged into a beasts’ turf war, then swift victory was the only escape.
The small Fire Unicorn answered with a fiery bellow, ruby light flaring along its scales.
The basin filled with overlapping roars, heat, and sparks as all sides braced for impact.
Meanwhile, the dark-gold giant ape could wait no longer. With a ground-splitting roar, it charged first. Despite its colossal frame, the beast moved like golden lightning, fists screaming through the air toward the black-furred rival with power enough to shatter mountains.
The black-furred giant ape roared and charged. Its two fists, each the size of a wagon wheel, met the dark-gold giant ape’s swinging arms with the thunderous impact of colliding battering rams.
Boom!
A ring of compressed air blasted outward in a perfect circle. Earth fractured. Sand erupted. Pebbles became shrapnel that skittered across the shattered ground like sparks from a forge.
Both beasts were pure manifestations of brute power. Every collision shook the basin, a savage ballet of muscle and bone whose raw, untamed violence held a terrible, primal beauty.
Jared did not hesitate. He flickered forward, an afterimage more than a man, slipping between the two titans like a phantom in moonlight.
Rather than meet the dark-gold giant ape head-on, he let speed and swordcraft guide him. His blade danced for the creature’s joints, its glistening eyes, every seam in that iron hide.
Prismatic sword aura spiraled around him. Now and then, he cast a haze of Time Deceleration, slowing the ape’s world to a crawl and leaving it thrashing at empty air.
On the fringes, the small Fire Unicorn prowled in tight circles. Whenever an opening flashed, it exhaled ribbons of searing true fire, stripping hair, scorching flesh, and blinding the foe long enough for Jared’s next strike.
The fire could not pierce hide thick as plated stone, yet the constant burn and smoke gnawed at the giant ape’s nerves until its bellows turned ragged with frustration.
Even a creature as fearsome as the dark-gold giant ape could not withstand a man, a fire unicorn, and its black-furred cousin working in ruthless unison, especially when that man’s sword hummed with the quiet authority of Heavenly Law.
Gashes multiplied across the ape’s frame, each new wound spraying dark blood and stealing a measure of its strength. At last, Jared’s blade flashed with spatial energy, a razor-thin stroke that severed the tendon behind its massive leg.
The ape shrieked, stumbled, and toppled like a felled mountain, its defeat echoing through the basin in a howl of helpless rage.
