X-Rank Hunter

Chapter 14: Tree-Merger Apes (1)

"Brat you really did well killing my minions." The boss gorilla harrumphed coldly as it thought frantically, "What the hell is with this brat, why do I feel a very familiar feeling from him."

The gorilla was starting to feel fear in its heart seeing that its many minions that were supposed to bring Jim down were killed in one shot by Jim instead. Besides, it felt rather uneasy as it stared at Jim.

And not just the boss gorilla, its other minions that were still alive and kicking felt a shiver on their spine as their furs were standing in trepidation, hesitant just to come nearer towards Jim.

As the gorilla was staring at Jim with its frantic eyes that it didn't want to show, the gorilla suddenly saw a splitting image in its mind.

It was the day when it got its scar on its chest from a human child, no, it was from a monster 5 years ago.

It was helplessly cut down by that someone it thought as a monster with its bare hand. The more it stared at Jim, the more it thought that the monster that caused its scar was somewhat resembling Jim.

Kutob!

The boss gorilla felt its heart was beating wildly as more fear knocked on its heart. With that, it desperately roared, "Commence attack!!!"

Screeeeeechhh!

Its minions that were hesitating to launch an attack suddenly gained courage from the gorilla's thunderous roar. They all dashed forward at the same time, including all the other apes behind the gorilla. It was now about more than 20 of them.

20 were already dead, more than 20 were still left!

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Jim, who just saw the approaching apes, faintly grinned for a moment as he was about to test his newfound combat prowess.

And just like that, as the apes were about to approach him, Jim dashed forward as well. Five apes took the initiative at the same time, surrounding him while all of them simultaneously launched a deadly punch.

But Jim heard it! Their every moving muscle, and the beat of their hearts, he could predict their every intention and where, when, and how they would attack. He could also clearly hear their frightened heart that they meticulously hid from the temporary courage that they gained from the roar of their boss.

Jim reacted at the perfect time and was able to dodge all of that punch even after he closed his eyes. He then tried to counterattack, but just by the fact that he just simply touched the arms of one of the apes, its blood immediately left away from it and got absorbed by his hand turning it into another dry corpse.

So easy?!

Jim widened his eyes in astonishment.

The other four immediately backed off for several meters away from him as they immediately felt death before Jim.

"Screech!!!" The apes bared their fang, hesitating to come closer.

"The heck... this is insane!" Jim was really flabbergasted this time knowing that just by simply having a slight contact with his enemy he was able to absorb their blood.

All the beasts couldn't help but to halt their onslaught and made some distance away from Jim.

"Why are you backing off now? Aren't you going to bring me down?" Jim sneered, revealing his smug face.

However...

As Jim was astonished by his new ability, a shadow made from something huge could be seen below him. He didn't need to look behind just to know what was covered above him that made that shadow.

The boss gorilla was behind him!

Jim tried to jump to at least dodge the incoming attack but it was already too late. The gorilla was holding a huge trunk, it used it to strike Jim in its hardest making Jim fly away deep inside the woods.

The boss gorilla didn't even give a single sound just to come closer to Jim who just let his guard down. The gorilla didn't even give any warning, it just suddenly appeared behind Jim and attacked him with his blazing eyes without holding back even for a little.

If having physical contact with you can lose our blood for good, then anything around me can do!

See you next time brat! If you can survive after this, that is.

Enjoy the flight!

Just after Jim was sent flying by the gorilla, the apes jumped out of sheer happiness, screeching joyously seeing that Jim flew deep inside their territory.

They were experts on hiding themselves with the tree, that was why.

They could merge with a tree and use that tree as their deadly weapons. Of course, they cannot move their position when they were merged with a tree but still, they could change the tree they were merging with. That was why the woods were the perfect place where their true strength was being revealed.

They knew full well that the brat was still alive despite the attack of their boss. But since that brat had fallen on their territory, they could finally fight back or maybe turn the table.

Jim didn't know it! He was oblivious to the fact that he was just fighting an A-rank boss-type Gorilla and a couple of tens of B-rank Ape-type beasts. He just knew that they were pretty strong but he didn't know what they were called or what actually they were. He was just always trying his best to avoid them and immediately escape whenever he felt their presence.

Almost every Hunter in their kingdom, students or not, knew about these apes. Because of their ability, people called them the "Tree-Merger Apes." They were pretty well-known throughout the kingdom, especially in their village.

Jim probably heard about them as well. He just didn't realize that those beasts he was currently facing were actually the so-called 'Tree-Merger Apes' since he knew that they were a B-rank beast and he knew as well that he had no way to escape from it if he ever encountered one.

But since Jim sometimes encountered these apes and always managed to escape from them, he never considered them as the so-called Tree-Merger Apes. He always thought of it as some kind of random E-rank or D-rank beast since those Tree-Merger Apes could only be found at the much deeper parts of the woods that he had never been before as the rumors say.

The same went for the boss gorilla that just struck him so badly. He knew that it was incredibly strong since he already encountered it many times as well. But he never considered it as the A-rank boss gorilla as the rumors say since he heard that even A-rank Hunter would have difficulty facing against it and the lower rank Hunters had no way to live if they ever encountered this gorilla.

But Jim however, already encountered this gorilla before, and even always managed to escape. The thought of him as an F-rank who always managed to escape from this gorilla made him thought of this beast as some kind of average low-rank beast.

He always thought that if he ever got unlucky and encountered the rumors about the gorilla, he was as good as dead.

Never did he think that he already encountered it before and even always managed to escape. He really never thought of this gorilla as what the rumors say.

Every time he went home from the forest and was severely injured, Jim would never tell anyone how he got those injuries. His only excuse was, he was just fighting a low-rank beast at the outskirts of the woods, so no one knew as well about him encountering such beasts. Even his mother was oblivious about this fact.

But of course, the villager never believed him as well, especially his mom. They sometimes find Jim's half-dead body in the middle of the woods so how could they possibly believe in his blatant lie that he was just fighting some low-rank beasts on the outskirts of the woods.

Besides, his mother who was always healing his injuries knew as well that those injuries were not made by some kind of weaker beast. She even sometimes gets suspicious that Jim was encountering Middle Rank (B-rank to A-rank) beasts.

But Jim was just an F-rank, so how was that possible for him? Charley also thought that Jim had no way to live if he ever encountered one.

Charley even thought to tail Jim but she gave up that intention. She at least wants to give her son some freedom.

Besides, a path of a Hunter was dangerous, if he couldn't overcome his weak self, how could he possibly become strong? Charley could only let her son decide on whatever he wanted. She was only there to guide her son to the right path and help him to the best of her ability.

If he wanted to become strong and took the path of the Hunter then be it, if however, he wanted to stay at home and remain as a normal person then there was no problem with that as well.

And also, Charley had left a portion of her World Energy inside of Jim's body so that whenever Jim's life was in real danger and his life force was weakening, she would immediately know it and save her son right away. It was just that, even after Jim suffered severe injuries, the World Energy she left inside Jim didn't alarm her at all.

Well, it was probably because her son's life had never been in real danger before.

She never thought that Jim's life was actually always in danger whenever he faced middle-rank beasts. It was just that whenever it happened, Jim's power would go out of control and it would leave him overflowing with life, making Charley incapable of notice.

The villagers especially his mom always warned him to never wander in the deeper part of the woods. But Jim was stubborn, he didn't care about anything they say and always tried to enter the woods whenever he had an opportunity.

Among all the kids in their village, Jim was the only one who would ever dare to venture the forest alone!