Finally Meeting

It had started early in the morning of the next day since Mike began his conquest of the Greenback Gorillas.

At some point, he'd noticed a gaze on him.

At first, he thought it was a student and panicked slightly. After all, the observation began while he was still in his partially transformed state.

However, his instincts told him that wasn't the case. Moreover, he didn't feel any hostility from the gaze... yet.

He did, however, notice a few unnerving things about this silent observer.

The first being their inability to stay out of his reach.

Was Mike the fastest person ever? Definitely not. But he did still think he was quite fast for his speed. And yet, no matter how he tried, if he went in the direction of the creature observing him, he realized that he would never reach it.

It was like it had no issue maintaining the same distance between them, no matter how hard Mike tried to reach it.

The second thing that unnerved him was his inability to gauge just how powerful the thing was.

Again, Mike, with his instincts, divided potential opponents into four categories. Easy, effort, gamble, and death wish. And yet, somehow, this creature could prevent him from doing just that.

It was both strange and irritating, and at some point, Mike considered stopping his genocide to see what it would do. But his ferocity was still rising, and there was so much more grinding to do. So he settled for ignoring its existence until it either left or chose to do something.

That said, it was still annoying.

With a snort, Mike ate a few corpses to regain what little energy he lost and went on his way. He didn't bother eating them for stats as the gains had become too low to change anything.

He jumped up a tree and landed on a branch before sniffing the air a few times. However, once he did, he paused.

'Oh?' His ears twitched in surprise.

The Greenback Gorillas... were retreating?

He sniffed a few more times.

'Yup, definitely.' He hummed as he stayed in a crouching position on the branch.

He had thinned out their number considerably, but there were still quite a few large groups to deal with before he'd have fully wiped them out. However, now they were retreating.

That's when it hit him.

A scent so powerful that it shone like a beacon to his senses.

'... There you are.' A slow, predatory grin spread across Mike's face as he real target had finally shown itself.

Without hesitation, Mike started to jump from tree to tree, heading in the direction of the scent. His body quivered with excitement, and it took him quite some effort to prevent himself from just rushing in like an idiot.

He couldn't help it. Other emotions that were more volatile than usual due to his ferocity, he couldn't help but remember the deep, almost euphoric sense of satisfaction he got from killing the 6-armed creature and the Rat King.

Without a doubt, whatever this thing was could bring him a similar level of contentment.

Once the scent became very strong, Mike slowed down. Unseen Hunter quietly activated, and Mike forcefully calmed his excited heart as he lurked on a tree branch.

Then he saw it.

Standing at around 6 meters tall, a Greenback Gorilla that made all its brethren seem like children stood silently in a clearing.

Its body was marred with scars, and it wore a necklace of bones while having the skulls of two other creatures fashioned into shoulder guards. It looked quite ferocious, and yet... Mike couldn't help but feel a deep sense of calm radiating from it.

Its eyes were closed, and its hands held the hilt of a long two-sided battle-axe that sat head down in the dirt, its handle looking like it had been grown from the ground directly with green blades attached.

'Interesting...' Mike thought as he continued to lurk and observe, quietly building up Drive.

He took note of everything he could. From its posture, which seemed relaxed, and yet every muscle was tense and ready to explode with power at the smallest moment.

He noticed how its fur seemed to almost resemble green rocks, which reminded him of his own fur and how it possessed its own armor value.

He noticed how, with every breath it took, energy was drawn into its body. But instead of simply being absorbed, it was almost being... cycled.

'... Huh.' Mike hummed inwardly.

This Gorilla was... different.

Obviously, it wasn't the same as the other Gorillas, but it felt different from his other foes in a way.

It was a beast, bo doubt about it. And yet, it's posture and demeanor reminded him too much of a human, or at least a humanoid, with how it carried itself.

'How surreal.' Mike thought. It was a strange feeling indeed. Not that it would change his mind concerning what he was about to do.

After all, Mike didn't mind killing humans, either.

When he had acquired a decent amount of hunting Drive. Mike decided it was time to move.

Slowly, he crawled down the tree so that he could start to approach the Gorilla silently. However, the instant his feet touched the ground...

Danger

Mike dropped down just as a wave of verdant energy cleaved towards him in a large crescent wave.

It traveled at absurd speeds, and wherever it passed, everything was sliced apart without pretense. In just a moment, dozens of trees had been severed along with large boulders and anything else that was in the way.

'... Hm.' Mike's eyes narrowed as he glanced back at the destruction.

To his surprise, he noticed that the parts of the things that got sliced by the energy didn't just remain like that. Instead, flowers and greenery started to sprout from where they had been sliced.

With a frown, he turned his head towards the large Gorilla which now had its battle-axe on its shoulder, its eyes staring at Mike with a sharp yet calm expression.

Mike felt his hunting Drive fading away rapidly and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

'I probably need a reliable way to actually land those first hits.' He thought before frowning.

'That said, how did... ah.' Mike wondered how the Gorilla had noticed him. After all, unseen Hunter was active, and if it had been pretending not to notice him, he would have noticed almost immediately due to his perception.

No, it noticed him the moment he touched the ground.

'Is it a form of perception similar to what Kris uses? Perhaps it can perceive my location as long as I'm on the ground?' Mike mused. Kris told them that he could detect creatures via the electrical signals from their nerves, so he guessed the Gorilla could do something similar with the ground.

Finally, Mike straightened and looked at the Gorilla, which was also observing him silently.

Finally, the Gorilla gripped its axe, and Mike entered a stance.

BANG

The earth shattered and rippled outwards as a clash occurred.

Mike found himself getting crushed into the ground as he braced his arms above his head, his gauntlets taking the brunt of the damage as the chieftain tried to slice him in half with its axe.

'Fast.' Mike gritted his teeth slightly as he felt himself getting push deeper into the ground, spark flying from his gauntlets and the axe.

With a roar, he redirected the weapon to the side before blocking a follow-up from the chieftain that came in the form of a kick.

He flew backwards, and while still in the air, the chieftain swung uts axe several times, swnsing out even more of those crescent slashes of verdant energy at Mike.

Without his aura, he couldn't create Halo rings to use as platforms. So he did something else.

Sheer strength.

He kicked the air and generated a shockwave with enough power to throw him out of the way of the incoming attacks.

When he landed, the chieftain was already upon him, its axe coming down like an irrefutable judgment from above.

Mike didn't hesitate and switched to his flowing style while running Crimson Ladder.

What followed was both sides exchanging a flurry of blows, with Mike being primarily on the defensive as he observed the chieftain to learn the way it fought.

Considering that it was a Gorilla, it understandably didn't have a true combat style. However, it seemed to know how to fight well enough. All of its movements were swift and vicious, with each strike aiming to end Mike as quickly as possible without overextending or exerting itself.

It sort of reminded Mike of the way Crimson Ladder helped sharpen his movements to resemble trained combat.

That said, Mike noticed something else that made him grin slightly.

Hunter's Resurgence.

His new passive skill that amped him whenever he fought foes stronger than him.

The Gorilla had him beat in raw stats. As such, the skill scaled accordingly, and Mike felt around a 10% boost in his stats. Nothing insane, but certainly tangible.

With that said, Mike decided to up the tempo.

He intentionally blocked a hit instead of redirecting it and allowed himself to be sent back to create distance. Then, he switched his stance to something far more offensive.

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