Monkey With a Spear

While Jessica and Mia were rendered speechless and unmoving, Jack had finally grown most of his foot. Although he was missing his toes, it was still enough for him to run over, albeit not without tripping and falling a few times.

"That was so cool! Can you teach me that then?"

Emma giggled and covered her mouth with her fingers.

"Sorry. Unfortunately, this also isn't something you can really learn since it has the same nature."

Jack pouted, looking down at the floor.

"Aw... but it looks so cool!"

Emma let out a laugh before patting him on the head.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you're plenty cool yourself."

Jack looked up at her with starry eyes, holding his hands together.

"Y-You really think so?"

Emma put a finger on her bottom lip before tilting her head to the side ever so slightly. Her smile curved up a little while her eyes narrowed.

"Well, I feel it would be better if you showed off your... cool side. But I like you this way as well."

It was not hard to tell that the strength that Jack had right now was nowhere near what he needed in order to kill the monster she could smell on him. Emma was incredibly curious as to what kind of trick he had that could pull off such a thing.

However, Jack had no idea what she was walking about.

In the end, he just scratched the back of his head with a clueless expression.

"My cool side? How do I show that off?"

Emma's expression faltered, though it was only noticeable if you paid way too much attention.

"...I suppose it isn't necessary to do it right now. Though I imagine the way to do so will come to you naturally, one way or another."

Jack got lost in thought, thinking about what she was talking about and trying to process it. Though, the more he pondered over it, the more confused he got.

Before they could continue talking, the man in a suit waved his hand.

"Alright, alright, who wants to go next of you two? If we hurry on then we're just saving everyone's time. I get that you're a bit surprised or whatever, but you can't be in shock forever."

Mia ended up coughing a few times in an attempt to gather her bearings. She looked over to Emma while a bit sheepish.

"Um... which one of us should go next?"

In response, Emma shrugged her shoulders.

"It doesn't really matter."

Hearing that, Jessica raised her hand while looking at the man in a suit.

"Then I'll go next."

Before any objections could be raised, the man in a suit nodded and tossed a card to Jessica.

"Alright then, we'll go with that."

Jessica was flustered trying to catch it, but the throw was so good it seemed like the card was magnetized to her hand, allowing her to grab on rather easily.

Turning it over revealed a 9 of spades.

Jessica's brow twitched when she saw that.

She wasn't going to lie to herself and say that she could beat something at this level. Recalling the fight that Jack had made her shiver, especially when the ground continuously shook as a forest suddenly manifested in the middle. And more importantly, even if she could miraculously beat it, since Jack had already beaten a monster at that level, it wouldn't help them clear the test.

And even if that wasn't the case, Emma's battle humbled her and Mia greatly, even if Emma said that they weren't technically expected to beat such a monster.

After taking a deep breath, she looked up with determination.

"Alright, let's hurry and find them. I won't be able to fight one at level 9, so I'm going to need to find one at a lower level. Let's hurry on so that I have enough time to find it."

Emma slowly brought her hand up before pointing in a direction.

"Why don't we go that way?"

Though confused, Jessica and Mia both nodded. They decided to just listen to her, as that probably had the least risk of randomly angering her.

Jack raised his hands excitedly.

"Let's go!"

Though after taking a step forward, he tripped.

"Ah-"

Emma held out an arm and caught him that way. Mia thought it was a tad bit strange Emma would be doing such a thing since she was complaining about her enemy being disgusting earlier.

Although Mia didn't think lowly of Jack, it was frankly an objective statement that he was quite dirty right now. Blood had stained his clothes, and he had already tripped several times, getting literal dirt all over him as well.

Though this went even a step further than she thought.

"Here, let me carry you since you are having difficulty walking now."

The hand Emma used to catch Jack deftly swooped him, before putting him in a princess carry. Although this might've been humiliating to other people, Jack was actually rather excited.

After all, he had never been carried like such as a baby, so the new experience was enjoyable.

"Woah! This also feels like I'm flying, but a bit different!"

Emma jogged lightly with a smile on her face, which made for quite a strange scene. Though it wasn't an unpleasant one.

Mia and Jessica kept up with her, walking briskly to keep up.

After traveling for roughly ten minutes, they encountered a cage labeled as a 5 of spades. It was almost like Emma had already known where the closest one was. Within the cage itself was what appeared to be a monkey. Unlike the other monsters, this one wasn't overly large. In fact, it was shorter than Jessica's. However, it had strangely humanoid proportions, as though it was actually someone in a very realistic-looking costume.

The monkey was sitting in a primitive wooden chair looking quite relaxed. It was leaning back with its eyes closed and even had its legs crossed.

Next to it was a spear made out of a long stick and a stone tied on top.

After reading the label of the cage indeed being a 5 of spades, Jessica examined the monkey for a little while.

"...I think I stand a chance against this one."

Emma raised an eyebrow.

"Just don't let your guard down."

"O-Oh, yes."

After that, Jessica pulled out a 4 of spades from her playing deck. Just as she was wondering how she was supposed to use it, the card magnetized to the 9 of spades, combining together and becoming a 5 of spades instead.

The card itself started to feel unstable. The design on top began to wobble somewhat like it couldn't contain its form for too long.

Spurred on by that, she hurriedly inserted the card into the padlock, unlocking the cage with a click. The moment that happened, the monkey's eyes snapped open. It glanced over before quickly standing up, picking up the spear, and kicking the chair to the side.

"Ooh, Ooh!"

It pointed at Jessica aggressively, showing off its intent to fight. Seeing this, Mia felt compelled to cheer her on.

"You got this Jess!"

Jessica herself took a deep breath while taking out the katana from her storage deck. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, but they remained serene, like an undisturbed pool of water. Her lips were parted ever so slightly as well, though it didn't seem like she noticed.

Unlike her usual nervous self, she actually was the first one to rush to her opponent. Though the monkey was not flustered, wearing a determined frown on its face.

The monkey didn't move as Jessica closed in, and even let her swing her katana first before doing anything. Though right after that, the monkey flicked its spear, slamming the side of the spearhead into the side of the katana, deflecting it far away.

It was an overly precise move that seemed to be more for the sake of showing off rather than anything else.

Jessica grit her teeth after that happened. She could tell that the blow wasn't particularly strong and more or less the same as her own strength. But despite that, she had lost control over the katana, needing at least a second to recover.

But obviously, the monkey had no plans of giving her that second.

In one smooth motion, it brought its spear back and thrust it forward.

"Ooh!"

It was a simple, but effective move. With how close it was, even an expert would find difficulty getting away unscathed. Yet, before Jessica even realized what was happening, she naturally slid backward, tilting her foot to the side as she leaned over, letting the spear just barely graze her clothes.

Jessica didn't spare a moment to hesitate despite just barely avoiding a spear to the gut. She brought down the Katana in an overhead strike, causing surprise to flash across the monkey's face.

However, it twirled the spear with uncanny expertise, once again slamming the stone spearhead against it, diverting the trajectory so that the monkey only needed to take one step away to dodge it.

Mia's eyelid twitched while watching this fight.

"How is this monkey... so good at using a spear?"