44 MONKEY

The cliffs weren't exactly like a mountain pass, but more like someone had taken an enormous and rugged mountain stretching up into the heavens, randomly deleted long stretches of it and then smoothed over all of the tops so that the remaining pillars were horizontally flat resulting in a ridiculous amount of crisscrossing ravines dotting every point of the landscape while slowly leading up, like stairs, broken stairs in dire need of repair, but stairs all the same.

Essentially this place would be perfect for existences unfettered to the dirt and rock and a nightmare for any creature bound to the ground due to having to jump and climb up and down cliff faces and along the naturally formed rock bridges that occasionally connected the larger pillars all while avoiding the fate of falling into seemingly bottomless ravines. And speaking of flying creatures, that damned hunter seemed to have it out for her.

Kasdeya pressed herself into a crack in the rock face as the hunter flew past, the generated shockwaves blowing over her and ruffling her hair around her horns.

'That is the fourth time it has flown past my location. Does it know I'm here or is it just surveying its territory?' Kasdeya wondered as she waited for the distant sound of flapping wings to fade, though, if it wanted to, the hunter could be incredibly silent at times so she still needed to be careful.

Extricating herself, she warily surveyed the area, spotting another batch of strange, monkey-like creatures swinging around the rocks.

Much unlike the previous environments, the hunter wasn't the only creature in this place, there were also a few other beings such as the strange primate a few dozen metres in front of her. Kasdeya had yet to figure out how these creatures survived in this barren location of stone ravines, but it was presumed that they simply hunted each other much like the imps, though how they could hide from the hunter was unknown.

[Level: 3

Race: Petram Sim]

Up until now, Kasdeya had decided to ignore all the creatures she came across, even going to the point of hiding from them if they were coming towards her, though this wasn't because she didn't think she could take them, more because fighting these creatures which had been living in this strange environment all their lives while having to cling to the walls would be a serious pain in the ass, that, and if she got distracted she might not notice the hunter in time to avoid it.

'Though, if the hunter is always sticking around here, then was the one I saw when I first arrived a different creature from the same species? I've yet to be able to inspect it as it always shoots past way too quickly so I don't actually know what its species is, but I highly doubt it's fast enough to cover that much distance in an hour or two.'

Despite having these questions, Kasdeya had no way to answer them, so she decided to simply keep progressing forward. However, natural biological needs were slowly catching up to her, so she couldn't keep shurking the acquisition of food forever and, since there was some simple prey right there, she decided to give killing it a shot.

'Since the hunter just swooped past, this'd be the best time to kill something, and that monkey's a prime target.' Kasdeya thought as she climbed around the wall, digging her claws into the solid surface and finding purchase with her feet.

The monkey had just sat on a large stone outcropping, so she planned on attacking it from behind since it appeared relaxed right now. However, just as she stepped on the same rocky surface, the monkey suddenly sprang up and turned, staring right towards her.

Not quite knowing what's happening, Kasdeya observed the monkey for a second, noting it's strange looking fur which seemed rugged and hard, before dashing towards it, nimbly balancing as she swiped a clawed hand towards the primate.

Kasdeya wasn't using the recently acquired swords or any of her carved bones as she hadn��t had the time to stop and carve anything yet, so her supplies were running low. However she had relied on her claws for almost all her attacks up to this point so she didn't see how this creature would fare any better. Though much like any attack, no matter how powerful it is, it doesn't matter if it doesn't hit.

The monkey had speedily slipped off the end of the rock, still gripping it with its dexterous toes, before dashing underneath the outcropping to the opposite side and swinging a hand back at Kasdeya. The attack itself wasn't too powerful and she avoided it quite simply, though in hindsight perhaps her method wasn't the best choice. Right as the arm swung at her, much like she had done so many times in the past she hopped backwards, and slipped off the ledge.

Thanks to their initial positioning, Kasdeya wasn't in any particular danger as there were a few outcroppings below her, which is one of the many reasons she picked this spot to challenge the monkey, but falling and then slamming into a rock a few metres below generally isn't the best of experiences, even if Kasdeya had felt much worse pain in the short time it had been since she'd reincarnated. All of this was made even worse by the the monkey now waving its arms in the air and jumping from one foot to another while making stupid noises.

Despite originally thinking that this dumb creature had only a basic intelligence at the level of wild animals, this little display looked like such an obvious mockery that it irked her to the point where she vowed that this creature must die.

Rapidly climbing back up to the monkey she fuelled her limbs with mana and launched herself up to the platform, just in time to see the monkey turn and start climbing away.

Even more enraged by this action, Kasdeya's mind was almost completely vacant of any thought other than the sole need to utterly obliterate this monkey. She continued to chase the monkey, attempting to close the distance, but despite how much she tried she could never get any closer which made her even more furious.

Kasdeya had been following this monkey for quite a while now, her fatigue at the back of her mind as she moved as fast as she could when suddenly a thought broke through the haze clouding her mind, 'if the monkey is only slightly in front of me, why don't I use something with range?'

This thought disappeared almost as soon as it arrived like a disruptive guest being thrown out of a business meeting, but also like disruptive guest, the intent lingered for a second so she quickly picked up a loose stone and hurled it towards the monkey in an attempt to fluster it, which resulted in her watching it catch the stone, look at it, then toss it away.

Watching how carefree the monkey was as it caught the rock, Kasdeya's anger towards the creature rose to even greater heights. She took out the last exploding bone, charged it, and hurled it at the monkey again. This time the monkey avoided the flaming projectile, causing it to impact the wall near the monkey and explode, scorching the creatures body and eliciting a cry of pain as it fell back off the wall, to then only meet Kasdeya's claws who had expended quite a bit of mana and stamina to reach it before it fell into the abyss below.

Grasping the monkey's neck, Kasdeya dropped down onto an outcropping, not noticing the fact that her claws didn't immediately pierce its neck, as it struggled and she took pleasure in applying more and more pressure until finally her overwhelming force cracked its body and its neck was crushed.