Martial arts had contributed quite a lot to human history.

From ancient times to the modern day, more than half of recorded human history consisted of war. And martial arts played a major role in those wars. In ancient times especially, individual prowess had quite often turned the tide of battle.

As time passed and technology advanced, the outrageously overpowered weapon known as the gun appeared, but martial arts remained just as important.

After all, martial arts weren't limited to particular tools. They were techniques for wielding force more effectively. Even with guns, accuracy and stability varied enormously depending on the person using them.

And martial arts were difficult to master without someone there to teach you. Teaching yourself might be possible, but only just.

Limb length, height, weight—so many things differed from person to person, and talent varied wildly as well. You needed someone watching you to make adjustments for those differences in real time.

'Who the hell taught it...!'

I was aghast at the gorilla leader that had just thrown a palm strike at me. From its gliding approach to the attack that followed as smoothly as flowing water, everything about it was shocking.

But there was no time to think. What mattered was that this gorilla leader was my enemy. I had to take it down, no matter what.

SWISH!

The moment I dodged its palm strike, I counterattacked. Time seemed to be moving slowly, letting me respond quickly.

My sword descended from above. At this rate, it would bury itself in the gorilla leader's collarbone.

But its expression remained calm. Instead, it moved even closer.

THWAP!

Then it grabbed my arm with both arms. Not only that, it turned its back to me. Just as before, the movement was fluid and natural.

As that sequence of movements unfolded, something happened to my body as well.

WHOOSH!

Both my feet left the ground against my will.

SLAM!

The world spun all the way around, and a tremendous impact struck my back.

My eyes went wide with pain that knocked the breath right out of me. What had just happened?

'Was that a shoulder thr—!'

My shock at the gorilla leader's ability to use grappling techniques lasted only an instant.

I saw the sole of its foot above my head. If that stomp connected, I would die.

BOOM!!

I rolled aside, barely escaping, then hurriedly got my breathing under control and rose.

It closed in while I was getting up. It wasn't going to give me even a moment to recover.

One wrong move and I really would die. I rapidly accelerated the mana inside my body. If even one of its attacks landed, the damage would be devastating.

CLANG!

Another palm strike came at me. I blocked it with my shield.

It was powerful, but not powerful enough to break through the shield. If I could exploit an opening, I stood a chance.

Had my opponent been an ordinary human rather than a gorilla, I would have put some distance between us, but...

'Its arms are so long that my reach advantage means nothing.'

A gorilla's long arms made managing distance somewhat less useful. In effect, I had to outmaneuver it on equal terms. This was very different from my previous battles.

Rather than surviving through improvisation, I had to face it with raw skill. In other words, this could turn into the sort of endurance contest I hated so much.

BAM!

The gorilla leader's hand collided with my shield again. This time it was a fist, not a palm.

The impact traveling through the shield sent a tingling jolt through my shoulder. Its strength was on an entirely different level from the other gorillas'.

Grimacing, I swung the sword in my right hand diagonally, taking care not to get caught in another shoulder throw.

TAP!

But it evaded my attack with a simple backstep. Its distance control was excellent, too.

Who on earth had taught this thing martial arts? Whoever it was, they'd taught it some truly shitty stuff.

'A weakness. I need to find a weakness.'

Its short legs? Those far longer arms covered for them.

Counterattack by exploiting its sluggish movements? Another shoulder throw would kill me.

The difference between bare hands and a weapon? Its entire body was a weapon.

Try as I might, I couldn't find a weakness. As I'd said, this was a contest of pure skill.

'No. I do have an advantage.'

Thinking hard, I realized I wasn't entirely without an edge.

It couldn't block. Dodging was its only option. The moment it tried to block, Heavenly Demon's sword would cut it without fail. That was what I would exploit.

I just had to create a situation where it had no choice but to block. Then an opportunity was bound to come.

SWISH!

I thrust at an opening, aiming for its shoulder.

But the gorilla leader didn't merely dodge with ease; it responded with a tap against the flat of my blade. That knock sent my sword off to the side and threw me slightly off balance.

Which meant it was the gorilla leader's turn. Apparently recognizing this too, it thrust out its palm.

This was what I'd been waiting for. I charged straight at it.

“?!”

The gorilla leader's eyes widened, evidently not expecting me to rush in.

But it was too late to pull back its outstretched hand. Even if it managed to do so, it would only end up in an awkward stance.

While it was flustered, I thrust out not my sword but my shield, as though throwing a punch. I aimed directly at its face. The startled leader hurriedly raised an arm to cover itself, but...

CRUNCH!!

It wasn't enough to stop my mana-enhanced strength and the shield surging with aura.

The sound of breaking bone rang clearly in my ears. The moment I heard it, I was certain of victory.

CRACK!!

“Guh?!”

But was this the price of letting my guard down? Something seemed to burst in my rib cage.

An ominous sound accompanied it. Not the sound of bones breaking, but of them being ground to powder.

At first, I felt nothing but a tingling jolt, as though lightning had passed through me. Then, in an instant, excruciating pain hit and my vision went black. I couldn't breathe.

“Ghh... gh...”

“ROOOAR!!”

The gorilla leader and I staggered back. We'd each dealt the other a devastating blow.

Me in the ribs, the gorilla leader in the arm. In terms of continuing the fight, I had the advantage. The arm struck by my shield hung limp. Its bones had shattered.

'But my ribs...'

Of course, I wasn't fine either. For a start, I couldn't breathe.

It was worse than when I'd been thrown. Unable to breathe, I felt my vision gradually dimming as well.

“Ughhh... Hah! Urgh!”

Fortunately, I managed to exhale, but immense pain came flooding in.

It hurt several times worse than the blow from the orichalcum guardian.

One hit. Just one hit had nearly incapacitated me.

I was lucky it had only been my ribs. Had it struck another vital spot, I would have died in a single blow.

“Oooo!”

Had it decided it couldn't keep fighting?

Clutching its broken arm with its other hand, the gorilla leader fled.

That was a relief. I wasn't in any condition to continue the fight either.

'Elixir... I need to drink Elixir...!'

Clutching my ribs, I headed into the cave. I couldn't breathe properly.

I worried that a broken bone might have punctured my lung. Still, Elixir should heal it.

Once inside, I hurriedly gulped down the Elixir, emptying an entire bottle.

“Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.”

Drenched in cold sweat, I steadied my breathing. The Elixir seemed to have helped somewhat.

But the agonizing pain remained, making me grimace every so often.

“Haa...”

Only after about five minutes did I finally begin to settle down.

This was nothing like what had happened with the orichalcum guardian. With my ribs injured, even breathing was difficult.

“Cough! Cough! Gack!”

To make matters worse, I even spat up blood. That had been a dangerous moment.

I roughly wiped the blood off my hand and slumped to the ground. Somehow, things seemed to get harder with each passing day.

'What on earth... was that thing?'

A gorilla using human martial arts. I simply couldn't understand it.

Perhaps a survivor had taught it, but I wasn't even sure that was possible. People on the forum had said no one had ever achieved notable results by teaching apes martial arts or breathing methods.

'Are things different in the Forest of Four Seasons?'

It had learned martial arts because it was intelligent enough to learn them. That would be the easy explanation.

But I wanted to know who had taught it. They'd taught martial arts to an actual gorilla.

Not only must they have attained a high level themselves, they must also be an outstanding teacher to pass their skills on to a gorilla. To begin with, this was someone who had survived in the Forest of Four Seasons and taught a gorilla martial arts.

As my thoughts grew tangled, someone quietly approached. It was the speed-sloth.

I stared at it for a while, then suddenly remembered what it had done: beheading the gorilla we'd taken hostage and throwing its head.

It had been a truly wild way of doing things, and a new side of the speed-sloth.

“Hey.”

“...”

“Why did you spare me?”

The speed-sloth didn't answer. But it seemed to be saying this:

Because you're a weakling not even worth killing.

'Hmm. Fair enough.'

I chuckled. It was just as well I'd been weak back then. Had I posed even the slightest threat to the speed-sloth, I would already be dead.

“Come to think of it, Speedy. What are you going to eat?”

“...”

That aside, I needed to think about its diet from now on.

The speed-sloth merely wore its usual relaxed expression. Of course, I had no trouble reading what that look meant.

“No fasting pills for a while. I've been told we'll have to wait a bit.”

“...”

The corners of Speedy's mouth drooped slightly.

So it could make that sort of face too. Fascinating.

* * *

The gorilla leader ran and ran.

With one arm completely ruined, it couldn't climb trees. Running was its only option.

Even so, it moved remarkably fast. Its surroundings changed from moment to moment as it ran. Just like the technique it had used to close in on Grylls in an instant, even its running was unlike that of ordinary animals.

RUSTLE!

Before long, the gorilla leader reached its home base. The other gorillas there were going about their business.

One was picking bananas hanging from a tree. Another lay sleeping. Others were splitting stones to make tools, and so on.

“Awoooo! Oooo!”

The gorilla leader roared, clutching its dangling arm.

At that roar, the gorillas stopped whatever they were doing. A strange silence fell over their territory in an instant. What exactly had the gorilla leader said?

Then someone quietly approached the gorilla leader from behind. Sensing the presence, it immediately turned around.

The newcomer was similar in size, but its posture alone set it apart from the other gorillas. Even the leader planted both hands on the ground when running, whereas this newcomer stood proudly on two legs.

Above all, its appearance was strikingly different. The other gorillas, including the leader, were naked. But the newcomer wore clothes, like a human.

Though worn and tattered to the point of being little more than rags... they were still clothes. Black garments that Grylls would likely have described as Eastern-style, had he seen them.

“Ooh! Oooo! Ooh!”

The moment the leader saw that gorilla, it explained everything that had happened, even pointing at its broken, dangling arm.

The newcomer listened silently to its account.

“Ooh!”

“...”

“Oooo! Ooh!”

The longer the newcomer listened, the more serious its expression became. Perhaps it was older than the other gorillas; its face bore wrinkles and the weight of years.

“Ooh! Oooo!”

“...”

And across one eye ran a scar made up of five parallel slashes.