Defiance of the Fall

After all , the cave where the demons worked all day was quite close to the easternmost peak . It wasn’t unreasonable to assume they would wander around the peak as well , looking for more of whatever they wanted in the cave .

He needed to find the Herald quickly and kill it . He decided to spend the day moving toward the valley and kill any packs that were in the vicinity of it . Then he’d finally try locating the Herald early the next morning .

After he woke up he briefly meditated , and after confirming his axe was back to tip-top shape , set out toward the cluster of peaks . He gained a level on the first pack he encountered , bringing him to level 31 .

He soon arrived at the foot of the westernmost peak of the four clustered mountains . He planned to scale it halfway up , which would lead him to the entrance of the valley . Then he’d make a circle around the peaks to kill off any packs close to the valley .

That would both let him scout out the four peaks for anything out of place , and also kill any potential back-up that the Herald could call for . If the herald was on one of the peaks rather than in the valley he hoped there would be something different about it to give him some hints .

As soon as he started climbing the first peak he started to notice an increased resistance . The packs grew slightly larger , and there were stronger monkeys in the packs . Monkeys in the wild usually had an alpha who led the group of primates , but he hadn’t really seen that so far in the groups he had killed . Zac simply assumed that the Herald was the big boss of everyone , but it didn’t seem that simple .

But now there was a monkey with bulging muscles standing a head taller compared to the others . Zac used Eye of Discernment] on it , but it still was only called a Stone Monkey . The other Heralds both had names , so he could only assume this was not it .

The alpha monkey maybe could be considered a captain , and the Herald was the general . Just the fact that the packs were getting stronger felt like a good indication that he was on the correct path . It showed the Herald likely was nearby as he hypothesized .

Zac hesitated for a second , before doing his customary sweep of the surroundings .

The monkeys in general seemed stronger compared to the outer packs , so he needed to do some preparation . Close to the pack he found a narrow path up in the mountain , with sheer wall on both sides . It seemed that the rocky formation cracked in two sometime in the distant past , which had created this path . That would hopefully only let a few monkeys charge in at the time . It would slow down his assault but he wanted to play it safe until he could gauge the strength of these juiced up monkeys .

The next part was to lure the monkeys over , and Zac simply picked up a boulder the size of a head . With a grunt he threw it straight into the clump of monkeys , and with its huge momentum it smashed a poor monkey’s head in .

The monkeys angrily roared and flooded toward him . Zac slowly backed away and placed himself some ways into the crack . He planned to kill a few and then back further in to make room for the corpses .

The battle started as intended , with Zac quickly reaping the lives of a dozen monkeys in quick order . But as he retreated further in he noticed a very bad sign . The monkeys had no problems climbing the sheer rock walls .

Zac wanted to slap himself in his scarred face . He should have realized that rock monkeys were good at climbing rocks . He had simply forgotten about the nimbleness of their primate brethren as the stone monkeys always seemed to sit immobile among the rocks rather than climbing them .

Just as he berated himself he heard a loud roar from the back rows of the group of monkeys . Suddenly all monkeys in front of him threw themselves to the ground in perfect harmony , and taking their place was a rock hurtling toward him . It was twice the size of the one he had thrown , and he didn’t have time to react before it slammed into him like a truck .

Zac was flung backward from the momentum and spit out a mouthful of blood . It seemed the monkey captain wanted revenge for his earlier throw .

Before he could get up multiple monkeys hanging on the walls jumped down on him . Rather than trying to pummel him like monkeys used to , it seemed that they tried to pin him down . They gripped his extremities with all their might and tried to keep him from getting up .

Unfortunately for them his strength was 160 by now , and he could lift the monkeys like they were children . He ignored the monkey clinging to his axe arm and furiously swung the axe , killing the monkeys who were gripping his legs .

As he finally was getting up after getting rid of all the monkeys another projectile was flying into his direction . This time it was a sharp stalactite , and Zac couldn’t understand where the monkey captain had gotten it . He managed to deflect it in the last minute with his axe , but the force made him fall back a few steps .