Overwhelming Victory

Just before the descending Alpha Ape could tear Lloyd to pieces with its bloody maw, while he was still dazed, Ye Chen drew his revolver without hesitation and fired.

Bang!

To save Lloyd's life, he played his trump card—the "Blood Bullet"—right at the start.

It was instinct that drove Ye Chen to do this. He acted without thinking; his body had simply moved on its own.

The crimson "Blood Bullet" slammed into the Alpha Ape's enormous body, then exploded against its flank.

A horizontal shockwave burst out, hurling the man-eating ape into a pine tree and rescuing the dazed Lloyd below just in time.

Crack—!

The towering pine tree couldn't withstand the giant ape's immense weight and snapped into countless pieces. The Alpha Ape continued crashing into the trees behind it, toppling five pines in a row and carving a dozen-meter-long trench through the snow before finally coming to a halt.

Ye Chen spun his revolver and returned it to its holster, then raised his longbow, an arrow nocked and ready. He kept his eyes fixed on the swirling snow and prepared to take aim at a moment's notice.

"Lloyd, stay behind me on the right. The moment it appears, shoot!"

Ye Chen's words jolted Lloyd out of his daze. He recalled what had just happened and let out a shuddering gasp. Then he followed Ye Chen's lead, raising his longbow and waiting for the shadow to emerge from the snow.

Thud!

The Alpha Ape's outline burst out of one corner of the mist as the ground shook.

Ye Chen and Lloyd were already prepared. Before the Alpha Ape could react, they each released their bowstrings in turn, firing arrows coated in Ye Chen's blood.

Whoosh, whoosh!

Both of them had good aim. Ye Chen hit the Alpha Ape in the shoulder, while Lloyd struck its thigh.

But only Ye Chen's arrowhead pierced the target's flesh. Lloyd's arrow merely grazed its fur like an ordinary arrow, leaving a shallow scratch that had no effect on the Alpha Ape.

As expected, only in my hands does the Blood Spirit Art take effect!

Now that he understood more about the nature of his Spirit Art, Ye Chen immediately told Lloyd to retreat. The battle had already reached a level beyond Lloyd's ability.

"Fall back! But don't go too far. If it turns to chase you, I won't be able to protect you in time!"

Lloyd gritted his teeth. Though frustration showed all over his face, he knew he couldn't hold Ye Chen back, so he quickly withdrew to one side.

As for the Alpha Ape, which Ye Chen's bloodied arrow had struck in the shoulder, it tumbled several times across the snow and staggered before coming to a stop. Then it clutched its shoulder and roared in pain.

"Roar—!"

As it struggled to pull the arrowhead from its shoulder, Ye Chen keenly noticed that the huge bullet wound he had left in its flank and the deep puncture wound from the arrow in its shoulder had both been completely filled in by Abyss Matter.

However, the blackened areas across the giant ape's body had shrunk considerably.

It seemed that the Abyss-tainted creature's regenerative ability had its limits. If he kept inflicting large wounds, it would eventually run out of strength and die.

Having grasped the key point, Ye Chen quickly nocked a second bloodstained arrow and fired it straight at the Alpha Ape's thigh.

This time, the Alpha Ape didn't dare to be careless. It braced both hands against the ground and abruptly rolled backward, dodging Ye Chen's second shot.

"Roar—!"

Having dodged the arrow, the Alpha Ape landed on all fours, kicked up a terrifying gale, and charged at Ye Chen at full speed, claws bared.

The boy calmly fired a third, fourth, and fifth arrow in quick succession, but the Alpha Ape dodged them all, leaping from side to side.

No matter how enormous it was, it was still an agile ape. Hitting prey that moved so fast and dodged from side to side with a bow was simply too difficult.

Realizing the problem, Ye Chen immediately dropped his bow and arrows and drew the long knife at his waist.

The next moment, the Alpha Ape reached him, its savage, frenzied face revealing its intent:

It wanted to grapple with Ye Chen at close range and bring its brute strength to bear!

Yet even with the Alpha Ape right in front of him, Ye Chen's gaze didn't waver.

The ape raised its massive fist high, then swung it down at Ye Chen with all its might.

Ye Chen calmly sidestepped the punch. As he dodged, his left hand swiftly drew the revolver from his coat and aimed it straight at the Alpha Ape's head.

The boy's move instantly unnerved the Alpha Ape. The image of the "Blood Bullet" effortlessly blasting through its body flashed through its mind, and it instinctively raised both arms to shield its face, trembling with fear.

Ye Chen's revolver held only five ordinary gunpowder bullets now, with no "Blood Bullets" left. They wouldn't do much damage to the Alpha Ape. Even so, he had drawn his gun to provoke this very reaction: a tense, defensive reflex.

After all, since the fight began, Ye Chen had fired only two "Blood Bullets" from his revolver. He hadn't used any ordinary brass ammunition.

There were two reasons for this. First, ordinary bullets would have little effect on the Alpha Ape. Its body was far tougher than Goda's, so even a shot to the head probably wouldn't do much. Second, he wanted the Alpha Ape to think he still had "Blood Bullets" left in his revolver. As long as it remembered the terrifying fate it had suffered when one hit it earlier, it would hesitate whenever Ye Chen raised his gun.

And at such close range, even a moment's hesitation meant leaving an opening.

That was the core of Ye Chen's other tactic:

Bluffing and misdirection!

Seeing the Alpha Ape shield its face with both arms, Ye Chen clamped the revolver—its safety already off—between his teeth, gripped the bloodied long knife with both hands, and slashed at the exposed left leg.

The sharp, crimson "Blood Blade" cleanly parted the prey's flesh, carving a wound deep enough to expose bone. The Alpha Ape let out a shriek of pain.

But just as it shook off its surprise and anger and spread its arms to strike back, Ye Chen would release the revolver from his teeth, grip it in his hand, and once again threaten to shoot.

"Eeek!?"

The sight of the cold barrel pointed at it filled the Alpha Ape with dread again. It had no choice but to protect its head with both hands and attack Ye Chen with its remaining ape leg, kicking furiously.

But with both hands covering its head, one leg supporting its body and the other attacking, its awkward stance greatly reduced both the speed and power of its counterattacks. The wild gusts kicked up by its leg barely brushed Ye Chen's clothes, achieving nothing.

Biting down on the revolver's grip to threaten the ape, the boy held the long knife in both hands and moved with nimble, steady steps. He dodged the ape's fierce kicks again and again, swinging the slender "Blood Blade" in graceful arcs and cutting wound after wound into the Alpha Ape's right leg.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The Alpha Ape kicked at the figure before it for a full minute. Yet it gained nothing. Instead, that agile figure mercilessly sliced away most of the flesh on its right leg, spilling warm ape blood across the white snow.

"Waaah—!"

The Alpha Ape began shrieking in pain. At last, it understood that Ye Chen was no ordinary person, whether in courage or skill. Its brute strength alone couldn't overcome him, and the thought of fleeing soon took root in its mind.

But Ye Chen's blade stayed close to the Alpha Ape, leaving it no chance to escape.

It was obvious that the boy wouldn't let his prey go. Besides, the Alpha Ape had been the one to charge in and choose close combat. To now try to break away from its opponent was simply too willful and naive.

After all, what was happening between them wasn't a game. It was a genuine fight to the death.

The Alpha Ape wanted to back out—but how could Ye Chen possibly give it the chance?

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Ye Chen's blade kept cutting away the Alpha Ape's flesh, and soon it would sever the kneecap as well.

The Alpha Ape could neither fight back nor escape. All it could do was keep roaring in impotent fury and offer futile resistance.

Just as the outcome of this death match was about to be decided, a new development suddenly appeared before Ye Chen.

The black sludge that had covered the Alpha Ape's body suddenly flowed toward its throat. In the blink of an eye, its throat swelled like a balloon, growing several times larger until it became a tumor nearly as big as its head.

Faced with this utterly bizarre sight, Ye Chen was suddenly gripped by a terrible premonition.