Chapter 22: Fighting Chaos Beasts (I)
A group of wild deer—almost twice the size of horses—were feeding on what looked like an antelope carcass. When all of a sudden—
"Whoosh..."
A figure blurred past them at impossible speed, startling them. Some growled angrily at the disturbance.
How long had he been running? He couldn't tell. How far had he traveled? He didn't know. But Apolo knew one thing—he'd been running for a long time now.
He'd crossed rivers, climbed mountains, and leaped between trees with all his emotions in disarray.
"Did I really do the right thing?" he wondered as he ran. "Shouldn't it be a relief to those men that I put them out of their suffering?"
He didn't want to judge or see his actions in a good light, but he knew one thing now: he'd crossed a line tonight. And there was no going back.
Like a phantom, he appeared on top of a small mountain peak barely twenty meters tall, his eyes narrowed.
"Good thing I'm a hybrid now," he thought, feeling lucky.
"How could I have survived all that running and jumping? And to think this is normal for adventurers—that's insane."
Apolo muttered under his breath. Even though Derek and his group had wanted to kill him, considering their occupation, he couldn't help but respect them now.
Throwing aside distracting thoughts, he focused on what was at hand.
Looking at a tall, extremely wide tree in the distance—accompanied by distant beast roars and howls—Apolo revealed a happy, accomplished smile.
"According to the map, that's the Guardian Tree. The legendary tree whose roots and trunk surround the barbarian territory."
Smiling, Apolo jumped from the mountain peak. The cool night breeze whistled past his face.
"Thud..."
He landed over thirty meters from the mountain.
"Now, how do I find Allison's grandfather? It's not like I can just shout his name and he'll answer me."
Apolo thought as he started walking toward the Guardian Tree.
"How about I disguise myself as a barbarian? Wouldn't that be better?"
He paused.
"The Gorilla Tribe is located at the entrance of the Guardian Tree, followed by the Chimpanzee Tribe."
Facepalming himself, Apolo muttered,
"I really don't have a plan. My only thought was to reassure Allison. Sigh... I wonder how she's doing. She's definitely not the kind of girl to just sit still and wait."
"Looks like the more time I waste, the more I'm giving her time to do something dangerous. Let me just go in. Whatever happens, I'll face it."
Apolo thought, steadying his mind as he quickened his pace toward the Guardian Tree.
He hadn't walked even a hundred meters when his ears caught the sound of something moving within the trees.
"RUSTLE..."
Apolo whirled around, alert—but the same sound echoed from his right side as well.
"So much baleful aura. Aren't these chaos beasts?"
Apolo thought as he started taking slow steps backward, trying to rest his back against a tree.
From behind him, a low, menacing growl startled him. Then from his front, two pairs of bright yellowish eyes opened and stared at him like a predator trying to hypnotize its prey.
As if following an order, more pairs of eyes kept opening—trying to mimic the silvery glow of the moon, but as predatory eyes.
Just looking at these eyes, Apolo's expression became one of dread. Against one, two, maybe even four of these beasts wasn't really a problem. But against this many—numbering over ten—he was in trouble.
Finally, the beast that appeared to be the leader walked out of the shadows, revealing a grey-colored wolf with piercing silver glowing eyes.
"Wolves!"
Apolo shouted, shocked.
Immediately, he leaped up and grabbed a tree branch over twenty meters in the air.
From up here, Apolo could get a good view of the wolves.
"Almost twenty of them, with an alpha. What kind of bad luck is this?"
He thought, shocked by the number of pack members.
Then something else caught his attention.
"Are they trying to climb this tree?"
Apolo was shocked as he watched two wolves attempting to scale the tree. Using their claws, they were jumping—slow, but they were doing it.
"I thought wolves don't climb?"
Apolo thought in frustration as he leaped from branch to branch, using all the speed he could muster.
"Crap... what did I do to them? They're chasing me from the trees and the ground!"
Apolo muttered in distress as he jumped from one branch to another tree forty meters away, barely holding on.
"Good thing all these trees are huge. These branches are all wide enough for three adult men to walk side by side."
He thought, feeling lucky for the second time tonight.
However, his relief was short-lived. A huge wolf—over three meters tall and almost five meters long with piercing silvery eyes—leaped forward, smashing into Apolo with its head.
"BAAAANG..."
The impact was like being hit by a speeding car head-on.
Like a kite that had lost its string, Apolo was sent flying, his back slamming against one of the huge trees.
Because of how much force was absorbed, Apolo's body made a dent in the tree, bending its trunk and nearly causing it to break where he'd hit.
With blood flowing from the side of his mouth, Apolo let out a smile, revealing white teeth now stained scarlet.
"So I can survive something like that? How strong am I exactly?"
He wondered, completely ignoring the wolf that was now charging at him again.
Ever since he'd woken up, he'd been having this weird feeling in his chest. He'd explored it, thinking it was connected to his bloodline—but now it looked like he might be wrong.
"This feeling is like the one I got when my mom and dad took me fishing when I was still a kid. This excitement is completely different from the emotions I feel when I accidentally activate my bloodline."
Smiling, Apolo watched as the wolf was about to headbutt him again. As fast as he could, he spun to the side and delivered a punch to the side of its head.
When his fist connected, even Apolo was shocked—the shockwave from it nearly ripped his shirt to shreds.
As for the wolf, it was sent flying, skidding across the dirt, sending wet soil and dried leaves everywhere.
Snapping out of his stupor, Apolo clenched his fist. Excitement flickered across his eyes, which now had a tint of red.
"My dad once said that the strength of wolves lies in their numbers, not individually. I need to eliminate their alpha before the others arrive."
With that, he dashed toward the wolf, which was already getting back up.
Arching his fist back, Apolo released a flurry of punches toward the wolf's head.
The wolf, as if it had encountered something like this before, stepped back. At the right moment, it tried to bite Apolo's fist.
Quickly pulling his fist back, Apolo threw a kick straight at the beast's jaw. It was powerful enough to make it spin before flying several meters away.
Behind it was Apolo, fist arched back. As soon as he was close enough, he released punch after punch to the beast's head.
The beast tried to use its sharp claws—way bigger than normal wolves'—to pierce Apolo in the head. But Apolo quickly grabbed the claw and, with his superior strength, broke it.
The sound was crisp and disturbing.
In pain, the wolf released a loud howl that reverberated in Apolo's ears like thunder.
Because of the loud sound, Apolo was momentarily disoriented, which gave the beast time to wiggle free from his grip.
Almost immediately, Apolo lunged after it when he regained himself—but it was already too late. Another wolf with yellow glowing eyes headbutted him in the side.
Though it wasn't powerful enough to seriously wound him, it was strong enough to lift him off his feet and send him flying.