Monkey Troubles..

KATCHA!

KATCHA!

'Sigh, finally!' Andrea thought. She picked up the two dismembered pincers and held them like swords. They were quite light and not as heavy as she had expected.

They, however, were extremely sharp. She wagered she could battle another mantis if it came after her again.

"Let's hope my pack of food isn't stolen by animals," Andrea said and started walking back the way she had chased the vine.

There was a two meter wide track left by the pulled mantis and thus her trick was unhindered by vegetation.

After walking for around an hour, Andrea noticed an abnormality.

"The sun is not getting hotter?" She looked up with furrowed brows. "Even it's position has not changed at all!"

Rina could not help asking, 'Are you sure about that? We have surely been here for more than three hours..' she summarized.

Andrea found the concept weird but ultimately decided it was due to mana.

'I shouldn't be surprised anymore, magic is too unscientific anyway,' she shrugged away the thought. She kept walking but after reaching the place she had dropped her food, she nearly screamed.

There was a whole group of monkey like creatures trying to open her basket. Luckily, Sally had sealed it magically, almost as if she was shure this would happen.

"Scram!" Andrea shouted and threw her makeshift sword in the middle of the group. To her surprise, majority of the monkeys managed to evade the sword and only the one trying to pick her basket was skewered in the chest.

The creature fell dead and the rest took off running while screaming.

WOOO! WOO! WOOO!

"I said scram, you midgets!!" Andrea lifted her chitinous sword like a javelin.

The oversized monkeys took off into the trees but didn't go away, they sat there looking at her. They seemed quite the intelligent ones.

"Are all creatures here thieves?" Andrea mumbled with disdain. She felt quite tired and thus decided to go back to the old man.

She had already gotten two Martial Souls, three, counting the dead monkey's. When the soul of the monkey entered the dark soul room, it made some screaming sounds while jumping around.

'That's right. It is a monkey,' Rina rolled her eyes. She thought the soul was mischievous.

Andrea chuckled and picked her basket. She started walking in the plaza's direction.

The mantis had assaulted her not more than ten minutes after she descended the ladder and thus it was just a few meters away.

She reached the ladder safely and started climbing it. She was chatting with Rina while climbing when suddenly a chorus of monkey shouts came through her ears.

'Ooh no!' she felt herself shiver. 'Stupid monkeys, I'll show you!'

Not less than a minute, the previous group of monkeys appeared below her on the ladder. She smirked thinking it would be easy to beat them when suddenly, a bigger monkey jumped onto the ladder.

The ladder was made with thick vines but they still shook quite hard under the weight of the car-sized monkey.

Nibbling her lips in fear, Andrea started climbing even faster. The huge monkey didn't seem to want her dead and suddenly jumped.

Andrea was shocked beyond realization. The creature had a weight that shook the viney ladder but could jump a distance that seemed impossible.

"Am I that unlucky? Or am I so beautiful that j attracted such strong beasts?" Andrea mumbled with a faint smile.

Her white robe wasn't helping her with the climbing. It got in her way alot and nearly tripped her. The monkey was now less than two hundred meters below her.

The ladder was quite tall, more than two kilometers high. It never seemed to come to Andrea's mind how she could climb as high as one kilometer without getting worn out.

AWOO! AWOO! AWOOOO!

The giant monkey hammered its fists on its own chest then jumped the remaining distance. Andrea felt goosebumps on her skin.

She had two choices, remain where she was and have to fight the giant monkey or jump down and try to battle on the ground. The second choice seemed more dangerous considering the ground was more than eight hundred meters away.

With a jumpy heart, Andrea stood her ground and looked at the airborne monkey. She waited until it was a few meters away then thrust her sword into its path.

The monkey suddenly smiled wickedly then spun n the air. Using its tail on one of the vines, it slowed itself down a bit then its hand held Andrea's ankle with a terrifying grip.

It yanked its hand and Andrea was thrown away with a sudden yelp.

AAAHH!

The monkey's unexpected strength caught her off guard and when she came to she was falling already. Remembering she had a rope like martial soul, Andrea summoned it and aimed at the proudly watching monkey above.

The green vine shot out of her palm like spiderman's web and anchored itself around the huge monkey's tail.

The monkey had a shocked expression that Andrea enjoyed seeing, but after a brief moment, it started a scary dive with a momentum even more than Andrea's due to its body size.

Andrea turned her head and saw she was about two hundred meters away from her doom and thought of a way.

There was a tree with huge leaves to her left but it was far from her falling spot. Aiming her left palm at the tree, a single vine shot towards the tree and she quickly swung over.

While changing her position, a greyish figure dashed behind her and her weight suddenly increased. Something like a rope tied itself tightly around her right leg.

Frowning, Andrea looked downwards and saw the giant grey monkey hanging below her, its tail around her leg. It looked right between her legs and Andrea felt her veins swell in anger.

"F*ck off!!" She shouted while swinging her mantis sword.

The sword chopped through the tail right away and her load suddenly reduced, making her bounce like a bungee jumper.

She crushed into a giant leaf and tore it apart but the second one only sunk a little. She sighed in relief and wiped her sweaty face.

THUD!

She heard a distant thud and knew the huge monkey was done for. She looked around and saw the leaf had a certain boat like shape.

'That was scary,' Rina said in a shaky voice. She could see and feel whatever Andrea felt or saw.

Andrea rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it," she smiled weakly. She stood up and walked to the leaf stalk then chopped it away using her "borrowed" sword.

KATCHA!

The leaf broke away and glided smoothly in the air. Looking upwards, Andrea groaned in frustration. She had to begin the climb.. again.