The Way of the Wild (3)
Martial arts had contributed immensely throughout human history. From antiquity to the modern era, more than half of human chronicles were written in the ink of war, and martial discipline had always played a pivotal role on those battlefields. In the ancient world especially, an individual’s personal prowess could frequently shift the tides of an entire war.
Even as centuries passed, technology evolved, and the firearm—that ultimate cheat weapon—made its grand debut, the significance of martial discipline never truly diminished. Martial arts was never bound to any single tool. At its core, it was the systematized method of wielding physical force with greater efficiency. That was martial arts, and even with guns, accuracy and recoil control varied vastly depending on who pulled the trigger.
Furthermore, mastering martial arts was virtually impossible without a mentor watching over your shoulder. Self-teaching was practically a fool's errand. Limb lengths, height, weight, center of gravity—every human body differed, and natural talent varied even more wildly. To correct habits and adjust mechanics in real time, you needed a discerning observer.
Who on earth could have...?!
I couldn't mask my sheer shock as the Leader Gorilla unleashed another palm strike. From the way it glided across the ground to the fluid rhythm chaining one strike to the next, every single movement was terrifyingly refined. But there was no time to ponder the mystery. What mattered right now was that this beast was my mortal enemy. I had to bring it down, no matter what.
Whoosh!
The instant I dodged the palm strike, my counterattack snapped into motion. Time seemed to dilate, sharpening my reflexes and letting my blade strike faster. Downward slash. If the trajectory held, my sword would bite deep into the Leader Gorilla’s collarbone.
Yet the creature's expression remained eerily calm. Instead of retreating, it slipped even deeper into my guard.
Grab!
Both of its massive arms clamped around my forearm. Before I could process it, the ape pivoted, turning its back into my chest in one seamless, effortless motion.
Then gravity betrayed me.
Whoosh!
Against my will, both my feet left the earth.
CRASH!
The world spun in a violent circle, and an explosive impact blasted through my back.
Air violently abandoned my lungs. My eyes bulged in breathless agony. What the hell just hit me?!
Don't tell me... a shoulder throw...?! An ippon seoi nage?!
Awe at the ape's mastery of grappling and judo lasted barely a split second. Hovering directly over my face was the sole of its massive foot. If that stomp connected, my skull would be splattered like a ripe melon.
BOOOM!!
I threw myself into a desperate roll, narrowly evading the crushing blow. Scrambling to regulate my ragged breathing, I sprang to my feet.
In the fraction of a second it took me to stand, the Leader Gorilla was already upon me. It had zero intention of letting me regroup. One slip and I was a dead man. I forced the mana circulating through my veins to accelerate violently.
If a direct hit landed, the damage would be catastrophic.
CLANG!
Another palm strike hammered in, which I caught squarely on my shield. Devastating as the blow was, it wasn't enough to pierce my defense. As long as I could spot an opening, I still had a chance. Under normal circumstances against a human opponent, I would have backed off to exploit weapon reach, but...
Its arms are so damn long that my reach advantage is meaningless.
Its ape anatomy nullified the traditional spacing advantage a sword held over bare fists. In essence, we were trading reads and feints on equal footing. This was fundamentally different from any battle I had fought before. Unlike skirmishes where I squeaked by on improvisation and environmental tricks, this was an uncompromising clash of pure martial skill.
Which meant it could easily devolve into a battle of attrition—the exact kind of fight I dreaded most.
BAM!
Once more, the gorilla's strike clashed against my shield—a clenched fist this time, not an open palm. The shockwave reverberating through the metal made my shoulder throb with a sharp, tingling ache. Its raw muscular power was on a completely different level from the rank-and-file gorillas.
Grimacing through the pain, I swung the blade in my right hand on a sharp diagonal, making sure to stay balanced so as not to get caught in another throw.
Tap.
With a crisp backstep, the beast slipped out of my attack radius. Its spacing control was immaculate. Just who on earth had trained this ape? Whoever it was, they had taught it an utterly infuriating repertoire.
A weakness. I need to find a weakness.
Its stubby hind legs? Its absurdly long arms covered that blind spot completely.
Bait a slow movement and counter? Get thrown again and I’d end up as paste.
Bare hands versus a lethal weapon? The damn thing's entire body was a lethal weapon.
No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't find a single glaring vulnerability. As I had feared, this was purely a contest of technical proficiency.
Wait, no. There is an advantage.
Thinking it through, the scales weren't entirely tipped against me. The beast couldn't afford to block. It had no choice but to dodge. The moment it attempted to parry or guard flesh against the Heavenly Demon's Sword, it would be sliced clean open. That was the leverage I needed.
Force it into a situation where it has no choice but to guard. That's when my opening will come.
Swish!
A sharp thrust probed for an opening, aiming straight for its shoulder. Yet the Leader Gorilla evaded effortlessly, going a step further by lightly flicking the flat of my blade with its fingers.
Tap.
The tap deflected my sword laterally, subtly destabilizing my stance. That meant the initiative had swung back to the ape. Aware of its advantage, it thrust a heavy palm forward.
But that was precisely what I had anticipated. Instead of bracing or backing off, I charged headlong into the blow.
"?!"
The Leader Gorilla's eyes widened in sheer astonishment. It hadn't expected me to close the distance. With its arm fully committed to the thrust, retracting it in time was impossible—and even if it managed, its posture would crumble.
Taking ruthless advantage of its hesitation, I drove forward not with my sword, but by throwing my shield out like a piston punch.
Target: right between the eyes.
Panicked, the Leader Gorilla threw up its arm to guard its face, but—
CRUNCH-SNAP!!
Mana-fueled physical reinforcement combined with a shield shimmering with Aura was far too devastating for flesh and bone to withstand. The sound of splintering bone rang loud and clear in my ears. The instant I heard that sickening crack, I felt certain of victory.
CRACK-SHATTER!!
"Kah-rk?!"
Was it the price of premature celebration? A sudden, explosive agony ripped through my ribcage.
Along with an ominous sound. Not just a clean break—it sounded like bone had been pulverized into powder.
At first, there was no sensation at all—only an electric shock coursing through my nerves. But in an instant, blinding agony drowned my senses, plunging my vision into blackness. My breath froze in my throat.
"Keh-heck... kah...!"
"KUOOOOH!!"
Both the Leader Gorilla and I staggered backward in unison. We had traded devastating, lethal blows.
My ribs; its arm. In terms of combat capability, the tactical advantage was technically mine. The ape's arm hung limp and mangled, dangling like a broken branch where the shield had pulverized the bone.
And my ribs...
Of course, I was hardly fine. I couldn't draw a single breath. The suffocation was incomparably worse than when I had been slammed by the shoulder throw. Deprived of oxygen, my vision began to tunnel and dim.
"Nngh... gasp! Aghhh!"
I finally managed to cough out an exhale, but an excruciating tidal wave of pain instantly flooded my chest. It hurt several times worse than when the Orichalcum Guardian had struck me.
Just a single hit. One direct blow had brought me to the brink of total incapacitation. Had it landed on any vital organ instead of my ribs, I would have crossed the Styx on the spot.
"Ooo-ooo!"
Perhaps deciding that further combat was suicidal, the Leader Gorilla cradled its shattered arm with its good hand and turned tail, fleeing into the trees.
A wave of relief washed over me. I wasn't in any shape to pursue anyway.
Elixir... I need to drink an Elixir...!
Clutching my shattered ribcage, I dragged myself toward the cave camp. Every shallow gasp felt like swallowing broken glass. I terrified myself thinking a jagged bone fragment had punctured a lung. Still, an Elixir would fix it.
Stumbling inside the cave, I hastily unstoppered a vial and drained the golden draught down to the last drop.
"Haaah. Whew. Whew."
Drenched in cold sweat, I slowly coaxed my breathing under control. The Elixir was already working its miracle, dulling the searing heat in my chest. Yet the residual ache was still severe enough to twist my face in pain with every slight shift.
"Haah..."
Only after five agonizing minutes did my body finally stabilize. This was worlds apart from the fight with the Orichalcum Guardian. When your ribs were crushed, the simple act of breathing became a battle for survival.
Cough! Hack! Cough-urgh!
To make matters worse, a dark glob of blood splattered from my mouth. It had been a close shave.
Wiping the blood from my lips with the back of my hand, I collapsed onto the floor. Why did survival in this forest feel harder with each passing day?
Just what... was that thing?
A gorilla wielding human martial arts. The concept defied all reason. Had another survivor taught it? But even if a survivor existed, could an animal truly be trained to such a degree? People on the Gallery had previously mentioned that attempting to teach primates martial disciplines or internal breathing had never yielded any remarkable results.
Is the Forest of the Four Seasons an exception?
It would be easy to dismiss it by assuming the beast simply possessed the intellect required to learn. But that left the bigger question: who taught it? A gorilla had mastered martial arts. Whoever trained it must possess not only an extraordinary cultivation realm, but also superhuman teaching pedigree.
Above all else, they were someone who had survived this treacherous Forest of the Four Seasons long enough to tutor an ape.
Rustle.
As my thoughts tangled into knots, a shadow loomed nearby. It was Fast Tree Sloth.
I stared quietly at Ppareumbo, suddenly recalling what the creature had done earlier—beheading the captive gorilla in cold blood and hurling its severed head at the pack. It was a brutal display of the laws of the wild, showing a completely different side of the sloth.
"Hey."
"..."
"Why did you spare me back then?"
Fast Tree Sloth offered no verbal reply, but its placid expression seemed to say:
Because you were too much of a weakling to bother killing.
Well. Fair point.
A wry chuckle escaped me. Honestly, I was fortunate to have been so pathetic when we first met. If I had posed even the slightest hint of a threat, I would have been six feet under long ago.
"Come to think of it, Ppareumbo... what are you going to eat now?"
"..."
Dietary logistics demanded attention. Fast Tree Sloth merely held its trademark unbothered, serene smile.
Of course, reading the message behind that slow smile wasn't difficult.
"There are no Inedia Pills for the time being. We're told to wait a bit."
"..."
The corners of Ppareumbo's lips twitched downward ever so slightly.
So this guy was actually capable of making a disappointed face. Fascinating.
The Leader Gorilla ran. And ran.
With one arm completely shattered, swinging through the canopy was impossible; its only option was to sprint across the forest floor. Even so, its velocity was astonishing. With every bound, the surrounding landscape shifted in real time. Just like the footwork technique it had used to close the distance on Grylls in the blink of an eye, even its running gait was extraordinary for an animal.
Rustle!
Before long, the Leader Gorilla reached the troop's main encampment. The other gorillas were going about their daily routines: harvesting bananas dangling from the trees, dozing off on the grass, chipping stones into primitive tools.
"Awooo-ooo! Ooo-ooo!"
Cradling its limp, broken arm, the Leader Gorilla unleashed a guttural roar.
At the sound of that bellow, every gorilla froze in place. A bizarre silence descended over the troop's territory in an instant. Just what had their leader conveyed?
Step.
A figure emerged from behind the Leader Gorilla.
Sensing the presence, the Leader Gorilla whipped around immediately.
The newcomer's physical build was similar in scale, but its posture was entirely different. Even the Leader Gorilla ran on all fours with its knuckles to the earth, but this newly arrived entity stood proudly upright on two legs like a man.
More than anything, its appearance set it drastically apart. The other apes, including the leader, were bare-skinned beasts. But this individual wore clothes like a human being. Though the garments were frayed, threadbare, and reduced to mere rags, they were unquestionably clothing—black robes that Grylls would have instantly recognized as Eastern wuxia martial attire.
"Ooo-ooo! Ooo-ooo-ooo! Ooo!"
The moment the Leader Gorilla laid eyes on this figure, it began earnestly recounting the encounter, gesturing frantically toward its dangling, pulverized arm.
The clothed elder listened in total silence.
"Ooo-ooo!"
"..."
"Ooo-ooo-ooo! Ooo!"
The more the Leader Gorilla vocalized, the deeper the gravity settled onto the elder ape's features. Its face was heavily lined with wrinkles and the unmistakable weight of seasoned age.
"Ooo-ooo! Ooo-ooo-ooo!"
"..."
And across one of its eyes ran a fierce, five-clawed scar.