69. A Paradise for Great Apes?

As we approached the Seventh Station, our encounters with monsters grew more frequent. The most common among them were the Rampaging Shojo—beasts that looked like massive apes.

"The numbers are awfully high. I wonder if something’s happened further up?"

Pearl muttered suspiciously as she delivered a massive Fireball to a charging ape. Apparently, it wasn't normal to see this many monsters here.

Seven of them had ambushed us this time, though Pearl’s magic had already reduced one to a charred husk and Lowell had cut down another. The remaining five wouldn't last much longer; as D-Rank monsters, they were beneath our level.

I closed in stealthily, ending one with a single thrust of my Dagger of Piercing to its heart. High-quality weapons really did make all the difference. Thanks to the Magic Whetstone, the blade slipped through flesh with zero resistance. At this rate, I felt confident I could deal significant damage even to a Goblin General.

Relying on the power of my dagger, I finished off two more. Lowell defeated another, leaving only two left.

Halfa was handling one of them. Her offensive power had surged since she’d acquired the Bow of Force; she rained down Magic Arrows with such speed that the Rampaging Shojo had no chance to resist. Since she didn't need to nock physical arrows, she could maintain a blistering rate of fire. It drained her Mana, but the burst damage was incredible. Her opponent collapsed before it could even move.

The final one was being handled by the duo of Shiroru and Spira. Well, Spira was just along for the ride while Shiroru did the work. He’d finished it off with a Lightning Strike; he couldn't exactly throw himself into a melee with Spira on his back.

The attack itself wasn't a threat; even seven of them were easy enough to manage. The frequency was the real issue. We’d been jumped by packs of similar size several times already. According to the others, this was highly unusual—an anomaly.

Pearl suspected something was brewing further up the mountain. Whatever it was, it didn't bode well. Even a simple population boom would be trouble; more mouths meant less food to go around. Apes were omnivores, and while these monsters leaned toward carnivory, they’d eat anything if they got hungry enough. My heart sank. What if they've already eaten the Eternal Dream Flower?

We continued the ascent in silence, burdened by the possibility. Spira was being remarkably quiet, as if sensing the mood... or so I thought, until I realized she was just fast asleep on Shiroru’s back. Seeing her so peaceful helped break the tension. There was no sense in despairing before we knew the facts.

Our goal was near the Ninth Station, where the Eternal Dream Flower grew. But with the Rampaging Shojo population exploding like this, the place had become a veritable ape paradise. We’d tried to stick to the shadows, but there were simply too many eyes to avoid.

"Well, it looks like we have no choice but to wipe out these apes," Pearl said.

"Agreed," I replied.

With stealth off the table, we switched to a war of attrition. We didn’t necessarily want to kill them all, but these beasts were hyper-aggressive; they attacked the moment they saw a human. Fighting in such a densely packed area meant risking a total avalanche of enemies. Even if they were lower-ranked monsters, being outnumbered fifty-to-one was a recipe for disaster. We had to be smart about this.

Fortunately, we had Pearl. As a Forestfolk mage, her experience far exceeded anything a Commoner could achieve in a lifetime. Combat might not have been her primary trade, but she was as reliable as they come.

"Honestly... you're working this old woman to the bone," she grumbled, even as she performed something spectacular.

She cast Firewall, but with a twist. Instead of a simple straight line, she shaped the flames into a massive V. While the fire didn't create a physical barrier, its sheer intensity meant anything trying to push through would be incinerated instantly.

This effectively eliminated the threat from our rear. In a chaotic brawl, the most dangerous blow is the one you don't see coming. Now that we only had to focus on what was in front of us, the battle became much more manageable. Pearl had to concentrate fully on maintaining the spell, but the trade-off was more than worth it.

Drawn by the heat, the Rampaging Shojo converged. After watching a few reckless individuals turn into torches against the flame wall, the survivors circled around to the open side of the V. Now, we just had to mow them down as they funneled in.

Lowell and Shiroru held the line as the vanguard. Even with the narrowed approach, the two of them couldn't hold back the sheer tide of apes on their own. I decided to give them another layer of defense.

"〈Shredding Storm〉!"

I called forth a tearing gale to choke the entrance of the V. My magic didn't pack nearly the punch that Pearl's did, but it was enough to make the beasts hesitate. I didn't close the entrance completely, though; I left gaps at the edges to lure them into specific kill zones.

With Lowell and Shiroru guarding the gaps and Halfa sniping anyone who tried to leap through the wind, we fell into a steady rhythm. My only concern was the growing pile of bodies. If the corpses stacked up high enough to block the path, I wasn't sure what the survivors would do.

However, that worry turned out to be groundless.

"Tort, look!"

"Yeah, I see it!"

Halfa and I realized it at the same time. Lowell and Shiroru surely saw it too. The corpse of a great ape we’d just taken down suddenly vanished into thin air. While the first few bodies had remained, every ape since then had dissolved into nothingness the moment they died. It wasn't a ghost story; we knew exactly what this meant.

These guys... they must be monsters that strayed out of a dungeon!