CHAPTER 273: MIND STALK APES III

The effect was instant.

Black fire burst from the dragon construct, leaping free from its flapping wings and sending heat racing through the lair, drying out the sky.

The air around grew warm, and then hot. Dry leaves and wood popped, smoked, and burst into flames. The smaller monsters, insects in the surroundings, instantly died from the heat, and the bigger ones felt the uncomfortable heat and began to shift away from the dragon construct that hovered so high above.

The fighting had stopped momentarily as the mind stalk apes shifted their attention away from the fleeing Magus to the black fire above them.

The bigger apes commanded their monsters to turn their attention on Vacuse, and the air was suddenly filled with the clash of magic, but most of it was burned away before it could reach him.

Vacuse was hesitating.

He could wipe out the whole lot of the mind stalk apes with the amount of power he had gathered around the dragon construct. It wasn’t that the apes weren’t terrifying—they were—they just met their natural nemesis in Vacuse.

The apes’ main power was in the mind. They could instantly control anything with intelligence as easily as plucking a fruit from a tree. But Vacuse couldn’t be controlled, which meant that their greatest power had been taken from them.

In physical strength, they weren’t as strong as Vacuse when he went all out, and the veteran Magus were just as strong.

Added to all this was his terrifying black flame that was being amplified by the dragon construct. He knew he could kill all of them.

But two things were making him hesitant. One was the fact that if he used the dragon construct to kill them, wouldn’t they be burned away into ashes? Only some of them might get faded into his void.

How then would they successfully complete their mission?

"Ah! Fuck it!" Vacuse cursed.

The other thing that was staying his hand was the "boss"—the true leader of the mind stalk apes.

Where was the thing?

Vacuse had already sent his senses scanning the surroundings, but he came up short each time and did not see the leader.

Vacuse grunted, shrugged, and then dipped down.

He went down so fast that all the air in the lair was sucked toward him in a mini explosion. The ground and the walls glowed as heat spread like the rays of the sun.

The monsters howled.

The smaller apes began to run, jumping out of the lair and fleeing down different tunnels.

Vacuse ignored them, not letting the dragon construct reach so low that it would cause the damage of burning all the monsters. The little kid monsters were fainting and dying in numbers; only the older and adolescent monsters seemed alive as they quickly tried to get away.

Vacuse grinned and covered himself with his energy. "I guess there’s always a middle ground. Just enough heat to cook you alive but not turn you to ashes, eh. Time to get my hands dirty."

He created his umbrella and then fell.

One monster—a bear with three horns and teeth so long they pierced through its jaws—jumped forward to stop him. It was a controlled monster, and its new orders were to give its life to stop the human.

Alas, its efforts were for naught.

Vacuse did not dodge as he slammed into the monster like an arrow. They clashed with a mighty sound of flesh on flesh and the cracking of bones as the monster’s chest was crushed while he forced his way in.

He burst from the monster’s back, his body bloody but his face filled with a grin. The blood on him was drying quickly thanks to the heat, making him appear like the statue of a carnage god. "Time to let loose!"

And let loose he did.

With his umbrella in hand, he began to cut down the monsters. His strength proved superior, and his speed was better than the monsters’. It didn’t matter what type of monster stood in his way—ape or controlled—he killed them all.

The bigger apes, like the smaller ones, tried to flee when they realized that they were no match, but Vacuse wouldn’t give them the chance as he used his void threads to surround the area.

Before long, he had killed all the bigger apes, taking great pains to leave their bodies intact and only going for their heads or spines.

The smaller apes still tried to flee, but the Magus returned after he finished killing all the bigger apes with black gashes on their foreheads.

They made short work of them as the Magus turned their fury on those who had controlled and mocked them. Magus with earth control and manipulation collapsed all the tunnels around, forcing the fleeing ones to return to their deaths.

After all of that was done, Vacuse returned his dragon construct and Sivan and surveyed their work. Everywhere still stank of piss and shit, but now it was mixed with the smell of blood and fear left out to dry in the heat.

It was a very unpleasant smell, but at the same time, Vacuse breathed it in with deep satisfaction because it represented victory. "Well then. This isn’t bad at all for a day’s work."

The Magus all looked at each other sheepishly. Even Captain Amros had a strange grimace on his face, as if he had a lot to say but did not know how to say it.

Vacuse snorted when he saw this. "Forget it, don’t say anything. We were told the apes were strong and very dangerous, but we did not believe it. That was a fault of mine as I was arrogant about it."

There was no reason to avoid blame when he was at fault. It was a mistake he had now learned from and wouldn’t make again... hopefully.

"Come. Let’s see what we can take back to the hunting regulations. I don’t know how much we can make from this, but I guess it’ll be a lot."