Wild winds howled, and the full moon hung high.
Two days later, Planet Plant's once-in-eight-years full moon night arrived.
Under the silvery moonlight, all the Saiyans donned cloaks and turned out in force.
When they caught sight of the Tuffle metropolis not far away, they stopped.
"All warriors of the Saiyan race, listen up! Prepare for Great Ape Transformation!"
At King Vegeta's command, the Saiyan warriors charged to the outskirts of the Tuffle city and tore off their cloaks.
As their cloaks came off, every Saiyan was bathed in the high-intensity Blutz Waves released by the full moon.
"Roar!"
"Awooo!"
Frenzied roars rose one after another as black Great Apes nearly a hundred meters tall sprang up.
Among these black Great Apes was one unlike the rest.
His fur was golden all over, his appearance alone displaying his nobility and distinction. He was none other than the current ruler of the Saiyan race-King Vegeta.
After their Great Ape Transformation, the black Great Apes' power levels all rose to ten times their original strength, and they began wreaking havoc on their surroundings.
The slight drawback was that most of the black Great Apes had little reason left after growing in size, acting purely on their destructive instincts.
But seemingly because of the differing nobility of their bloodlines, these frenzied black Great Apes were instinctively compelled to accept the Golden Great Ape's commands to a certain extent.
Thus, led by King Vegeta in his Golden Great Ape form, a terrifying army of Saiyan Great Apes surged deeper into the Tuffle metropolis.
The Tuffles were already much smaller than the Saiyans, and now the Saiyans had all become Great Apes.
As a result, even the towering buildings of the Tuffle city looked utterly tiny before these Great Apes.
A casual swipe of a hand could easily destroy a building.
A single stomp could flatten a villa.
Ruins lay everywhere, devastation as far as the eye could see.
Looking at the apocalyptic scene before him, King Vegeta, transformed into a Golden Great Ape, curled his broad ape mouth into a sneer.
"This is the price of resisting the Saiyan race! The Saiyans are the greatest warrior race in the universe!
Not some strange, three-eyed bald martial artist!
Destroy it! Destroy everything! Destroy it all!"
A frenzied urge to destroy filled King Vegeta's mind.
Although he could retain his reason in Great Ape form, the surge of savagery and destructive instinct that came with the transformation was no different for him than for ordinary Saiyans.
But after the destruction had continued for some time, King Vegeta noticed something strange.
They had already all but destroyed the outskirts of the Tuffle metropolis, yet throughout the whole process, not a single Tuffle had come out to resist!
Were the Tuffles all asleep, with no time to come out and resist before they were trampled to death along with the buildings, tall or sprawling?
"Impossible!"
King Vegeta shook his head.
Even if that were the case, there should at least have been Tuffle blood on the ground, and a thick stench of blood should have filled the air.
Yet now, apart from the dust thrown up by the destroyed buildings, there was no other smell in the air at all.
"Keep advancing! I want to see rivers of blood!"
Noticing something was wrong, King Vegeta stopped the other Saiyan Great Apes from continuing to destroy the nearby buildings.
Destroying more buildings would accomplish nothing.
With the Tuffles' advanced technology, rebuilding houses could not have been easier.
If they wanted to truly exterminate the Tuffles and seize Planet Plant completely, only the Tuffles' blood would serve as proof!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The Great Apes, each over a hundred meters tall, continued toward the heart of the Tuffle city.
Their frenzied instincts prevented them from moving in formation, but even as they advanced in disorder, they were still heading in roughly the same direction.
Getting them to advance in the same direction was the limit of the Golden Great Ape's command over the black Great Apes.
There was no way to make the black Great Apes, left with nothing but frenzied instincts, properly carry out more detailed orders.
What they wanted was destruction and devastation, and what the Golden Great Ape could decide was where they would go to unleash it.
"They're here!"
Tien Shinhan and the others, along with all the tens of thousands of Tuffles, were now inside the light-energy barrier at the heart of the Tuffle city.
This barrier had stored several years' worth of light energy, enough to withstand attacks from most Saiyans, even after they became Great Apes.
Its only drawback was its limited coverage: only the palace in the Tuffle capital had one.
Without Tien Shinhan's intelligence, most of the Tuffles would have been trampled to death by the Great Apes before they could enter the light-energy barrier.
Even the Tuffle king and the others who were already inside the palace might have fallen victim to the surprise attack before they could activate the light-energy barrier.
If even the palace had been destroyed in the surprise attack, the light-energy barrier could no longer have been activated.
Now, however, the barrier had been activated well in advance.
Inside the barrier, all kinds of special weapons were ready as well, waiting for the Saiyan Great Apes to come closer before opening fire to counterattack.
"Tien Shinhan, why don't you all stay inside the barrier? With its defenses and the attacks from our special weapons, I believe we can drive those Great Apes back."
Watching Tien Shinhan and the others prepare to leave, Dr. Lychee could not help speaking up.
After all, there were far too many Saiyan Great Apes, and he did not want to see Tien Shinhan and the others put themselves at risk.
Of course, Tien Shinhan and the others rejected his advice.
They had come to seek out formidable opponents for real combat, not to cower inside a barrier.
Besides, although the light-energy barrier was sturdy, if they did nothing but defend, it would still be breached after some time.
To overcome this crisis completely, they had to utterly defeat the Saiyan race!
Whoosh, whoosh-
Soon, Tien Shinhan and the others flew straight out of the light-energy barrier.
After passing through the thick dust and smoke raised by the Saiyan Great Apes, Tien Shinhan and the others saw the Great Apes giving their instincts free rein.
"Tsk, tsk. Every Great Ape has ten times the Saiyan's original power level. They really are pretty tough to handle!"
Krillin and Chiaotzu both had power levels above 300.
Originally, both of them could easily handle most Low-Class Warriors.
But now that they were facing Great Apes, even the weakest Low-Class Warriors, whose normal power levels were only a few dozen, had become formidable opponents for them!
Fortunately, the two had the advantage of reason, while the Great Apes acted on instinct alone and had weaknesses such as their tails, so they could still hold on in the fierce battle that erupted the moment they met.
Compared with Krillin and Chiaotzu, who were barely holding on, Goku could easily handle even most of the Saiyan Great Apes.
Having experienced losing his reason during his previous Great Ape transformations, Goku deliberately kept some strength in reserve during this battle to avoid looking up directly at the full moon. Otherwise, if he turned into a Great Ape too, he would no longer distinguish friend from foe.
Even under these circumstances, only some of the powerful Low-Class Warriors whose original power levels were already several hundred, or Mid-Class Warriors, could give him trouble.
"Heh heh, Tien Shinhan, we meet again so soon.
But this time, you won't be able to dodge and hide like you did last time."
As King Vegeta spoke, he ordered the two strongest Great Apes besides himself to stay close to him, preventing Tien Shinhan from relying on evasion to keep fighting him as he had last time, only to grow stronger as the battle went on.
This time, King Vegeta would not give Tien Shinhan another chance to grow stronger in battle!