บท 15: Lux’s Counterattack
Lux stared at the Monkeys and the Monkeys stared back at him.
After staring at each other for several minutes, the Monkeys started to chatter amongst themselves, while glancing at the red-headed boy who was eyeing their every move from a safe distance.
"Doesn't that boy look like a Monkey as well?"
"Maybe he is our distant cousin?"
"I don't think so. He doesn't have a tail."
"Ah! He resembles those Red-Butt Baboons from the East!"
"Now that you mention it, Baboons don't have tails. Also, his face is just as red as theirs. He might be from their tribe."
"Bastard! So he came here to show us his red butt?! How shameless! Let's beat him up!"
"I agree!"
"Let's go!"
If Lux were to know that he had been labeled a Red-Butt Baboon by the Monkeys he was observing, he would have definitely been angered to death, and given all of them the middle finger. Fortunately, he didn't speak Monkey language, so he was able to continue observing the Monkeys without being taunted by their words.
After arming themselves, the troop of Monkeys suddenly started screaming as they advanced toward Lux with determination. All of them carried fruit, rocks, and wooden sticks with them that they could use to throw at the Baboon that had entered their territory.
Seeing that the Monkeys had finally started to move against him, Lux did what he needed to do and that was to… run away!
After a few minutes of chasing, the Monkeys gave up and returned to their territory.
Lux, on the other hand, returned to observing them from a distance.
The red-headed boy was trying to memorize the movements and behavioral patterns of the Barb Tailed Jester Monkeys.
This strategy had been taught to him by the Elders in Wildgarde Stronghold when he had turned twelve years of age.
Lux could recall these lessons by heart and now had the opportunity to apply this knowledge to his current situation.
The Barb Tailed Jester Monkeys would jump from tree to tree using their hands, feet, and tail, on normal occasions. When they were going to fight, however, both of their hands were occupied by fruit, sticks, or rocks, which prevented them from using them.
Even so, the Monkeys could still travel at a fast pace because their strong legs allowed them to jump from tree to tree with ease. At times, their tails would coil around branches and help the Monkeys maneuver through the tree-tops, while still being able to perform ranged attacks with deadly accuracy.
'So they can only carry two to three items at most when they start to attack from the treetops,' Lux thought as he observed the Monkeys from afar. 'However, the compendium said that they are also capable of engaging in close combat, using their fangs, claws, and tails like a deadly whip to injure their enemies.'
After pondering for a while, Lux devised a plan for how to beat the Monkeys in order to pass Vera's trial.
Vera and Eriol, who were observing Lux from far away, smiled when they saw the red-headed boy collecting rocks from the ground and placing them inside his storage ring
The next day, right after breakfast, Lux decided to put his plan into motion. He had already made adequate preparations, and he was confident that he would be able to pull it off, as long as nothing out of the ordinary happened
"Grandma, I'm going."
"Good luck."
Eriol just gave Lux a brief nod of encouragement, and the latter gave the God of Games a thumbs up.
—-
"Look. He's back again."
"This Red-Butt Baboon still hasn't learned its lesson?"
"To arms!"
"Fight!"
"Let's get hi–argh!"
One of the Monkeys fell off the tree branch when it wasn't able to dodge Lux's surprise rock throw from a distance.
The other Monkeys were angered by this action and all of them started to screech while jumping from tree to tree, in order to encircle the red-headed boy who dared to hurt their companion.
—--
< Special Quest: Vera's Trial >
Defeated Monkeys: 1 / 10
—-
'I knew it!' Lux laughed internally as the notification materialized out of thin air. 'I don't have to kill them. Incapacitating them also counts as a defeat.'
Lux dodged the attacks that he could, and used the trees as shields for those that he couldn't.
He had stacked many fist sized rocks inside his storage ring, and he threw them one after the other whenever an opportunity arrived. The Monkeys might be proficient in the art of throwing things, but Lux wasn't a pushover either.
After not being able to practice with weapons, due to his fainting condition, the red-headed boy spent his spare time throwing rocks at wooden targets as a means to pass the time.
As a Half-Elf, he was blessed with a natural affinity when it came to using ranged weapons and projectiles. After practicing rock throwing for nearly four years, Lux's proficiency in throwing things surpassed even that of the Barb Tailed Jester Monkeys!
It didn't take long before the Monkeys realized that the boy that they had bullied yesterday had become a changed man overnight. Six of their members had already fallen prey to his rock throwing, and were now squirming on the ground in pain.
After emptying their hands of things to throw, the Monkeys then decided to take things up close and personal.
As Lux was defending himself from the ranged attacks that were coming from the front, three Monkeys had snuck behind his back with blood-shot eyes.
Without warning, they lunged at the boy from behind with their fangs and claws extended, going for the kill.
Suddenly, two blurs appeared in their vision.
Before the three Monkeys could even react, one of them was sent flying by a bone sword, while the other dealt with an excruciating swipe from the claws of a Forest Wolf.
It was only a short exchange, but both Monkeys suffered from serious injuries. The third Monkey was the unluckiest of all because it found itself face to face with a sneering Half-Elf, who used the flat side of his sheathed sword like a baseball bat to send the Monkey hurtling several meters away.
The Monkey's pained scream spread across the jungle before it smashed into a tree, which knocked it unconscious.
After seeing that their attacks had failed, the Monkeys panicked and ran away in fright.
Lux watched them go, and didn't make any moves to pursue them.
His goal was to only clear Vera's Trial and not to annihilate their troop. After completing his mission, a ringing sound once again sounded inside his head and a series of texts appeared in front of him.
—-
< Special Quest: Vera's Trial Completed! >
< Rewards >
– 5 Free Stats Points
– 10 Body Constitution Points
– 10 Skill Points
< Bonus Reward >
Skill: Accurate Throw
< Accurate Throw >
– Increase throwing skill accuracy by 10% and damage by 10%
< Skill Evolution [EX] detected a new Skill. >
Accurate Throw will be upgraded into Power Shot once the requirements have been met.
< Power Shot >
– Increase Throwing Skill accuracy by 30% and damage by 30%
– Has a 5% chance to deal critical damage when using Power Shot Skill.
– Requirement to upgrade: Hit a moving target using Accurate Throw 100x
– Progress ( 0 / 100 )
—--
Lux was quite surprised when he got a bonus reward out of the blue. He didn't expect to learn a Skill in this manner, but he was quite happy about it. The icing on the cake was that his special ability, Skill Evolution [EX], had upgraded this common skill into a more powerful one.
The Half-Elf was confident that he could easily meet the requirement for the Throwing Skill's evolution.
After calming down, he then returned to the camp where Vera and Eriol were waiting for him. He could tell after seeing the relaxed smile on his grandma's face that she was quite satisfied with his performance.
After so many years of waiting, Lux finally saw the look of approval on his grandma's face. He knew that after they returned to the Wildgarde Stronghold, things would finally change for the better.
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