Of all the opponents I had fought to the death, the saber-toothed tiger was unquestionably the toughest.

A tiger's ferocity. A terrifying physique. Absurd regenerative abilities.

Without the speed-sloth's timely help, I would have died several times over.

That ordeal had made me immensely stronger. Without the saber-toothed tiger, I probably couldn't have defeated the guardian, either.

Since then, I had encountered all sorts of bizarre creatures, but I had never lost. Whenever a beast I thought I couldn't beat appeared, I fled at once instead of fighting.

FWOOSH!

Aura billowed like flames from Heavenly Demon's sword.

I stared blankly at the gorilla chief holding that sword with nothing but its fingers. Despite my swinging with all my strength, it had caught the blade effortlessly.

I might have understood if it had used its hand. But its fingers?

The raw strength I had gained from eating the eel, and the strength from circulating my internal energy—all of it combined had been stopped by a mere three fingers.

"Nnngh...!"

I couldn't even pull it free. No matter how much strength I summoned, it wouldn't budge.

While I strained with everything I had, the chief looked utterly calm. It was a silent intimidation tactic, showing just how vast the gap between us was.

There was a reason it had so confidently declared it would take one of my arms.

TAP!

"Whoa!"

As I tugged desperately at the sword, the chief released its grip. The sudden release nearly sent me sprawling in an undignified heap.

I just barely regained my balance and faced the chief. It had even folded its enormous arms.

"Bu gou."

There was no time to check the forum right now.

But one thing was certain: it was looking down on me. Realizing that, I resolved to attack more cautiously.

"Kyuu! Kyu!"

Roundfur, who had stayed still until now, suddenly rushed into the fray. Apparently, he had decided the chief was an enemy.

I was just about to tell him to get back when someone else intervened first.

TAP.

"Kyuu?"

"..."

It was the speed-sloth, which had climbed off my back without my noticing. Speedy blocked Roundfur's path and gestured for him to get back.

Roundfur looked bewildered at first, then turned toward me.

"Roundfur. Do what Speedy says."

"Kyuu..."

Only then did Roundfur back away. Speedy actually pushed him all the way into the cave.

Afterward, instead of climbing onto my back again, the speed-sloth stood some distance away to watch. It would be easier to jump in from there than from my back.

'Looks like it has a rough idea of what's going on.'

The chief's personal guard were also standing still and watching. This was a fight between the chief and me. Speedy seemed to understand that, too.

Or perhaps it simply intended to jump in whenever I was in danger, as it always had.

I felt I could count on it a little. Gripping my sword and shield, I glared at the chief.

It was still standing there with its arms crossed. For something with practically no nose, it sure knew how to stick it in the air.

"Hmph!"

Then I'd make it pay for letting its guard down. I kicked off the ground and thrust.

The attack came without warning. And it was a thrust, not a slash—an attack that exploited Heavenly Demon's sword's sharpness to the fullest.

If it chose to block as it had before, it would suffer a serious injury.

SWISH!

My sword pierced the chief squarely in the abdomen. Or so it appeared.

'What?'

But it felt wrong. I had definitely stabbed it, yet it didn't feel like I had. It felt as though I had stabbed empty air. The mismatch between sight and touch was utterly jarring.

SHHHH...

Shortly after that thought, something changed about the chief. Its figure shimmered like a mirage, then vanished.

Flustered, I hurriedly pulled back my sword and looked around.

'Where is—!'

A chill ran through me. An icy warning prickled at the back of my head.

I had only just spent two weeks in the Forest of Four Seasons, but I had learned one thing: never ignore that ominous feeling—your instincts.

This time, I chose to trust them.

SWISH!

I spun around, sweeping my sword horizontally. The flame-like aura streamed fiercely through the air.

"Hmm."

The chief was standing behind me. Unlike before, its arms were unfolded. Apparently, it had tried and failed to catch me off guard.

I didn't let the opportunity slip by. It was still underestimating me.

"Hah!"

With a shout, I slashed, thrust, and slashed again, over and over. Perhaps startled by my momentum, the chief only dodged without counterattacking.

SWISH!

Again. I had definitely cut it, but I felt nothing. At the same time, the chief's figure faded like a mirage.

What on earth was this technique? Could the speed-sloth do it, too?

I hurriedly turned around, remembering to slash as well, just in case.

SWISH!

The gorilla wasn't behind me. There was only empty air.

At that same moment, a sharp tingle ran across the back of my head. It had completely fooled me. But I couldn't turn and slash again like this.

Unless my waist could rotate a full 360 degrees, that was impossible. So I chose the next best option.

'I have to block with my shield!'

I untwisted my torso and raised my shield. Fortunately, I seemed to have chosen correctly: the chief's fist was coming straight toward it.

How powerful would that fist be? This was the creature that had caught my sword so effortlessly.

It might send me flying backward. I'd better be ready to break my fall...

TAP.

Yet, for all those worries, the chief's attack was anticlimactic.

No impact traveled through the shield. I only felt something touch it.

The chief had placed its fist against my shield. That was all.

Puzzled, I looked into its eyes. Its expression couldn't have been calmer.

'Why on earth?'

Before that question had even faded...

THRUM!

A strange sensation traveled through the shield.

CRACK!

I heard something like a branch snapping.

My shield slid downward. Despite my firm grip, it dropped limply.

Wondering what was going on, I looked toward the shield. Then I realized why it had fallen. It hadn't disobeyed my will.

My arm swayed limply back and forth.

It was broken, unable to carry out my commands.

I stared blankly at the arm dangling at my side. But only for a moment. The pain that adrenaline had barely kept at bay came rushing in.

"Aaaaaaargh!!!"

The pain of a broken bone defies imagination. Hadn't I suffered through broken ribs just yesterday?

I even dropped my sword as I grabbed my dangling arm. It felt like needles jabbing directly into my brain.

'H-how? It only touched its fist to my shield...!'

Its body dissolving like a mirage, and now that attack... None of it made sense. The chief's abilities surpassed everything I understood.

"Nnngh...! Hhh...!"

"..."

While I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, the chief gazed steadily at me.

Its expression seemed to ask, Had enough? I answered with an action.

I reached down and picked Heavenly Demon's sword up off the ground.

One arm was broken, but the other was still fine. I squeezed out every last bit of mana I had and concentrated it in the sword.

HUMMM...

Was it an instinctive response to danger? The aura that had billowed like flames began to compress, little by little.

I couldn't die here. My hunger for survival pushed my concentration to its limit.

Just as the flame-like aura began to take shape, the chief moved.

At first, it seemed only to bend its knees slightly. I reacted the instant I saw that motion, but...

SWISH!

Before I could even register it, the chief was right in front of me.

It was as fast as the speed-sloth, if not faster.

I slowly looked up at the chief standing proudly on two legs.

Had I ever been overwhelmed like this before?

Its presence crushed even the slightest trace of defiance.

The chief smoothly drew back its right arm. It wasn't preparing a punch, but a blow with its palm—a palm strike.

A direct hit from that palm would kill me. I had to move somehow if I wanted to live.

But perhaps because I had already been overwhelmed, my legs wouldn't move. It was similar to how I'd felt facing the saber-toothed tiger, yet different.

'I can't die like this...!'

I struggled desperately. I even bit my tongue in an effort to move.

Thankfully, my struggle seemed to work: I barely managed to move my legs. Next was my arm. As time seemed to slow around me, I tried to move it.

WHOOSH!

The problem was that the chief had that same brief instant, too.

The arm it had drawn back shot forward like a bullet. Its huge gorilla hand filled my vision.

Just as I inwardly resigned myself to dying...

BAAANG!!!

The chief's palm swept right past my face.

The explosive blast of air left my ear ringing and sent my hair whipping wildly.

CRAAASH!!!

My other, still functioning ear gave me some idea of what had happened behind me.

That wasn't merely the sound of something collapsing. It was being utterly pulverized. I prayed the cave wasn't back there.

"..."

I froze just as I was. Only my eyes could move.

Slowly shifting my gaze, acutely aware of its trembling, I looked at the chief. For some reason, it was smiling.

TAP.

The chief lowered the hand that had swept past my face, resting it on my shoulder.

It was merely laying a hand there, yet the weight felt immense.

PAT, PAT.

The chief patted my shoulder a few times, as if telling me to relax.

It had meant it when it said it would take an arm. But it had never said it would take my life.

Then it removed its hand from my shoulder and spoke in the language of the Central Plains.

"Wai wen ni."

Welcome to the Forest of Four Seasons.

"Xin shou."

Rookie.

I didn't know why, but that was what it felt like it was saying.

"Zou ba."

The chief turned its back and gave an order to its personal guard. The spear-bearing guards merely glanced at me before following it.

I stood rooted to the spot until the chief and its troop disappeared.

"... Hah."

Only after some time had passed since their departure did I finally manage to breathe out.

I paid no attention to my broken, dangling arm. More precisely, I couldn't.

My pounding heart felt ready to burst at any moment.

It felt as if someone were forcibly pressing down on my body.

If my fear of the saber-toothed tiger had been instinctive, the chief's felt artificially induced.

'Who on earth...?'

At the same time, I found myself wondering who had taught the chief martial arts. What sort of teacher could turn a gorilla into a fighter of that caliber?

I sorted through my jumbled thoughts one by one and pulled myself together.

Right now, I needed to fix my broken arm. Leaving it like this could cause serious lasting damage.

'Will Elixir even heal th—'

I was taking care not to twist my broken arm when I turned around—and stopped short.

The chief had sent a palm strike past my face. I had clearly heard something being destroyed.

I had assumed a tree had simply fallen, but the reality went far beyond that.

A "path" had appeared. The area had originally been packed with dense trees.

Yet a single palm strike from the chief had brought trees crashing down or torn them out by the roots.

The unexpected path left me reeling.

'... Even Sun Wukong couldn't do that.'

Wasn't Sun Wukong a monkey with a tail rather than a gorilla? Whatever.

'Can I really survive here?'