The East Forest, located near the town of Magnolia, was neither large nor small.
Usually!
The residents of Magnolia never came here. Rumor had it that monsters lived deep in the forest, so it was always quiet...
But today!
The quiet of the East Forest was shattered!
......
"Ah~~~"
"Help!"
"Big brother, I know I was wrong! I'll never bother you and your wife while you're getting frisky again. Please let me go!"
......
A piercing scream rang through the air, startling a flock of birds.
In the forest!
Ul fled in a panic, while a blue-furred ape monster hot on his heels. Its eyes were bloodshot, and it growled repeatedly, looking like it was desperately in need of some action.
The ape monster was nimble, especially in the dense woods, where it had even more of an advantage.
And yet, it still couldn't catch Ul.
Ul wasn't as fast as it, but his movements were strange. It was thanks to those bizarre maneuvers that he'd managed to dodge the ape monster again and again.
When it realized it still couldn't catch him, the ape monster looked even more frustrated. In the end, it couldn't help letting out an angry, desperate roar.
Then!
The ape monster sped up once more.
Seeing this, Ul's face turned as grim as if he'd eaten shit.
He'd been here for three days!
His training had gone smoothly during the first two days. He'd run into a few low-level monsters along the way, but he'd spotted them in time and escaped before they noticed him.
But this morning, something had gone wrong.
......
"Big brother, can't you stop chasing me? I swear I didn't do it on purpose. How was I supposed to know you had a 'make the most of the morning' routine?"
"Besides, you can't entirely blame me!"
"Honestly, if you didn't have such an unusual taste for romance, I might've noticed you two!"
Ul shouted as he fled, trying to reason with it!
To be honest!
Ul felt like he'd stepped in dog shit.
Knowing there were monsters in this forest, he'd been on high alert throughout his training these past few days. As long as a monster wasn't particularly good at hiding, he could usually spot it in advance and avoid it.
But Ul had never expected this ape monster to be such a wild one!
If you wanted to "fight," fine—but couldn't you find a normal place to do it?
If you'd been in a cave, a patch of grass, or anywhere out in the open, I wouldn't have interrupted you!
But you just had to wrap yourselves around the vines and get at it.
What?
Now that you've turned into a monster, you have to show off your abilities?
......
"Awooo~~~"
Ul's words didn't calm the ape monster down at all. Instead, it grew even more furious, roaring again and again!
You'd think someone had cheated on it!
Crack!
While Ul was fleeing, he suddenly heard the sound of a branch snapping and couldn't help glancing back.
That one glance made his face turn pale.
The ape monster had snapped off a tree as it chased him, then hurled it straight at Ul...
Boom!
Ul dodged the tree with a forward roll. It crashed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Awooo~~~ Bang bang bang!!!"
Seeing how badly Ul had been forced to scramble by the tree, the ape monster cried out excitedly and pounded its chest several times with its huge hands, each blow sounding like a muffled thunderclap.
The ape monster was intelligent, and it was no less powerful.
Once it realized that tearing up trees and throwing them worked against Ul, it abandoned its usual way of chasing him and began attacking with trees instead.
Crack!
In the ape monster's hands, a tree weighed no more than an ordinary stick. It casually uprooted one and threw it at Ul.
"Damn!"
Hearing the tree whistle through the air behind him, Ul finally couldn't hold back his curse!
Then!
He ran even faster...
......
The mages of this world didn't have a clearly defined ranking system, but by Ul's own standards, this ape monster had probably reached the threshold of a B-rank mage.
A monster of that strength was more than Ul could handle right now...
There was no denying it!
The escape techniques taught in the Guga Combat Arts were truly first-rate.
Ul couldn't beat the ape monster, but with those techniques and his own physical abilities, he kept it from catching up—and it couldn't even land a hit on him...
Not only that!
As Ul gradually grew familiar with the ape monster's attacks, he became even more adept at dodging them.
......
"Seriously, big brother, I love how you can't stand me but can't hit me either!"
After dodging another tree the ape monster had thrown, Ul suddenly looked back and said with a serious expression.
The ape monster: "?????"
"Awooo~~~"
Ul's words clearly struck a nerve. In an instant, the ape monster's eyes, which had just begun to clear, turned bloodshot again, as if it were about to burst into tears of blood.
The ape monster roared madly, its attacks growing even fiercer!
However!
It made no difference.
Before they knew it...
The chase had already gone on for half an hour.
After uprooting trees for half an hour, even the ape monster's arms were starting to ache. Just as it was wondering whether to give up the chase for a while—
Suddenly!
A familiar figure appeared before Ul's eyes...
Before you continue