Building The Strongest Territory With My Sacrifice System
Chapter 39: Monkeys

Chapter 39: Monkeys

Afternoon approached, the scorching heat of the sun bathed down on the forest, blessing every lifeform, both the innocent and deadly, with its light.

At the moment, a group of three young men could be seen fleeing from a group of mutated monkeys.

The monkeys chasing after them were about three feet tall, they had the usual appearance of a monkey but their hands, mouths and eyes told a different story — their hands were clawed, their mouths filled with rough and sharp fangs and their eyes were dark, filled with bloodlust.

SCREECH!

Their bestial screech reverberated across a small region, pursuing all the small life forms within, as they chased after the three young men.

"Be careful!" Milan warned while running, he turned back to observe the raging monkeys leaping from trees to trees behind them.

Ragnar and Noah were running ahead of him, observing the movements of the monkeys from time to time.

’These monkeys are relentless,’ Ragnar thought as he observed their population.

There were at least two dozen of them. They had both environmental and population advantage over Ragnar and company.

They were able to use the tall trees to their advantage, making it extremely difficult for the three of them to fight.

Thus, they had decided to draw the monkeys to an area devoid of trees, only then could they fight on equal footing.

"There should be a field up ahead," Milan announced as he accelerated forward.

Ragnar and Noah nodded and increased their running speed.

Very soon, the three of them found a plain area in the middle of the woods and stalled at the middle of it, awaiting the mutated monkeys.

Barely five seconds later, the mutated monkeys appeared!

They perched on the branches of the trees encircling the plain at which the three humans stood, their bloodthirsty eyes fixated menacingly, fangs revealed, ready to tear down on the humans.

SCREECH!

With a loud, horrifying screech, the group of monkeys leapt towards the humans with insane speed.

Ragnar took a bold step forward, grasping his sword tightly. Noah and Milan readied themselves beside him.

SCREECH!

Two mutated monkeys targeted Ragnar at the same time, their mouths wide open in a biting motion.

"Go to hell, stinking black monkeys!" Ragnar barked as he slashed at them.

The sharp blade of his sword easily slayed one of them and badly injured the other, which fell on the ground with a low, pained growl.

At the same time, another two attacked Ragnar from both sides.

"Hehe," he grinned, his thinking accelerated, quickly creating a brief strategy to take care of his two new opportunities.

|| You’ve slayed X1 mutated monkey, +32 XP ||

|| You’ve slayed X1 mutated monkey, +32 XP ||

Two notifications popped up in his vision as the two mutated monkeys fell to the ground, headless.

Fighting beside Ragnar, Noah and Milan took care of their opponents with strategic moves.

Noah’s attack power and movement speed had grown severely from the previous hunts.

He easily fought back a couple of monkeys, who were over two times stronger than the mutated rabbits they fought at the beginning.

’This feels so great! It’s as if I get stronger after every kill!’ Noah thought as he stabbed his opponent. ’Is this what others feel when they hunt down mutated beasts?’

Milan wasn’t as nimble as the youths, but he stood his ground against his opponents. Noah and Ragnar assisted him most of the time when he had more than one opponent fighting alongside him.

SCREECH!

A few minutes later, the last mutated monkey let out a low growl as it fell to its death from Milan’s blade.

"Huff, Huff..." Milan gasped, trying to catch his breath.

He sneaked a peek at the two young men, who, unlike him, seemed fine and breathed steadily. How much stamina do they have? he wondered.

While he struggled for breath, Noah and Ragnar observed the results of their battle.

|| Host has made a lot of kills this time. || Onyx commented.

|| These mutated beasts’ corpses would fetch a lot of rewards if you activate SACRIFICE on them. ||

’I already thought of that,’ Ragnar replied telepathically as he observed the large number of mutated monkeys’ corpses lying in their own pool of blood.

’We have fought two different groups of mutated rabbits so far; the number of intact mutated rabbits’ corpses I’ve stored is over forty—they would be more than enough to feed the people in the Hamlet for at least one week,’ his mind continued pondering.

’I could sacrifice these mutated monkey corpses right away, but the cooldown of the skill is still not over,’ Ragnar sighed, disappointed.

He gathered the intact mutated monkeys and stored them in his inventory.

"We should rest," Ragnar suggested. "Big brother Milan has to catch his breath."

Milan nodded his head slowly. He found a tree with good shade from the scorching sun and sat under it.

Noah and Ragnar sought out shades and relaxed as well.

Ragnar took out some canned fish and shared it with his colleagues. They ate and relaxed, the gentle breeze from beneath the tree blowing against their faces.

While they relaxed, Ragnar observed his progress so far.

___

HOST: Ragnar Yellowwood

LEVEL: 5 ( XP: 270/450 )

HP: 98/100

MP: 20/50

RANK: FF

INNATE SKILL: Sacrifice Lvl 1

ACQUIRED SKILLS: Blade Mastery Lvl 2, Efficient Harvest Lvl 1, Inspiring Orator Lvl 1, Muscle Enhancement Lvl 1, Power Inspection Lvl 1

ATTRIBUTES:

• PHYSIQUE: 5.2

• AGILITY : 4.9

• SPIRIT : 4.3

TERRITORIES:

⤷ 10th Hamlet (FF) ▶ Details

COMBINED TERRITORY RATING: FF

[🎒 Inventory] [📜 Quest]

___

’Nice,’ Ragnar rejoiced.

’I am already as strong as the monsterborn sabotaging the storage house. I should be able to take it down now,’ he smiled.

’I wonder how many levels the goblins and hobgoblins are. The mutated monkeys were only level 3, but they were really troublesome, so I wonder how troublesome the goblins would be,’ Ragnar wondered.

He closed his system and leaned his back on the tree comfortably, relaxing his body in preparation for the hunt ahead.

===

It was evening hours, nighttime drew nearer as the sun gradually withdrew its light.

Ragnar and company could be seen strolling through a marshy area within the forest. Milan led the way, using his pathfinding skills to determine their next path.

Thanks to his pathfinding skills, they have been able to avoid areas with powerful monsters and had only faced mutated beasts.

"Nighttime is approaching," Milan said. "Goblins and some pretty lethal monsters like duskhowlers are usually active at night."

"Duskhowlers?" Noah asked curiously.

"Duskhowlers are peculiar monsters that usually parade at night, they share resemblance with wolves but possess magical powers, insane speed, and good stealth that make them nearly invisible in the dark," Milan explained.

"Oh," Ragnar and Noah exclaimed in unison.

"Have you seen or fought any of them before? How strong are they?" Ragnar asked.

"Fighting duskhowlers is the same as seeking your own death. Our collective combat power won’t last us a minute against one," Milan shook his head.

’They must be level ten at least, given his description,’ Ragnar thought.

"Then we should find a safe spot to rest and take turns to watch," he then suggested.

Milan nodded.

The three continued through the marshy area and soon found dry land.

They found a perfect spot to rest, but Milan suggested they survey the surroundings for danger.

Noah and Ragnar agreed and followed Milan.

They were surveying the area when they spotted the opening of a cave not so far away.

It seemed empty from their position. Noah even suggested they check out the cave and stay in it for the night instead.

But as they discussed the matter, four goblins carrying a wild ox on their shoulder emerged from the woods and approached the cave.

"Hide!"