Chapter Eighty-Two
With one gorilla down, Edward brought his attention to the other half of the fight. Leila and the others were almost done with their fight, but one of the gorillas was giving them a lot of trouble. As Edward pulled up the stats of the remaining enemies, he quickly noted how most of them— other than the strongest one— were down to half HP. One gorilla was only a single attack from death. Most of them would die within two or three strikes, so long as one of the heavy hitters of the party struck them.
The healthiest gorilla was the one that was giving the group a lot of trouble. It seemed to have been hit only once, as Edward only managed to spot one burn injury on the gorilla's shoulder. It didn't do much damage— at least compared to the other gorillas— but its health was much higher than the other enemies.
Luckily, Markus's provocation skill allowed them to focus more on damage than defense, so nobody was struggling in the true sense of the word. Edward didn't want the battle to drag on too long, so he decided to rush forward— his feet generating thrusts of power that shot him through the air. Edward didn't even wait to land in order to attack his enemies. He took a deep breath while he tilted his feet forward to generate some thrust in the opposite direction— so he could slow down. Then, as he hovered in the air, Edward unleashed a massive dragon breath.
He didn't do much damage but instead directed his attack to as many of the gorillas as he could. The flames quickly spread in all directions and immediately covered what remained of the charred battlefield. His attack killed the weakest gorilla and severely damaged all of the others. The healthy gorilla quickly turned in Edward's direction and roared— its eyes suddenly turning blue as it broke free from Markus's skill.
"I'll take this one!" Edward laughed as he slowly landed on the ground. The flames around his feet hadn't even been extinguished by the time the gorilla before him lunged forward. Edward quickly jumped backward, dodging the gorilla's desperate attempt to grapple him, then performed a backflip to gain even more distance. He wanted to get as far away from the others as he could— mainly so Markus couldn't grasp another opportunity to tether Edward's foe.
Edward smiled as he felt his heart beating in excitement. He felt like his blood might boil soon, simply from the anticipation of a good fight. As he turned back to the gorilla, a laugh began to escape from deep within his chest. His knuckles rocked back and forth, ready to form into a fist at a moment's notice. Small flames gathered near his arms with every muscle twitch, as if even his abilities sensed Edward's excitement.
"Got it!" Edward heard somebody reply with a shout, but he didn't recognize the voice. He was too concentrated on his enemy to take detailed notice of anything else around him. The gorilla charged forward once again. Edward's smile grew wider as he stepped forward.
Then, just as the distance between the skeleton gorilla and Edward's neck seemed dangerously small, Edward's body acted in a moment of inspiration. He tilted his torso like a waterwheel until his right palm faced the ground. A brief burst of flames erupted from his palm, pushing him into the air. His momentum didn't cease, however, so his body continued to rotate as his legs left the ground. He tucked his feet and hands closer to his body and watched as the cave's ceiling quickly replaced the floor.
As Edward's body rose over the gorilla, Edward brought his right hand away from his chest and swung it forward as if his palm was cutting through the air. The momentum of his spin combined with the speed of his arm and quickly resulted in a powerful attack. A whip of flames sharper and denser than the usual attack generated from his legs erupted forward, slicing against the gorilla's back.
Edward laughed as his attack landed, but he wasn't done yet. As soon as his body rotated 180 degrees— not even half a second after his first attack— Edward found himself facing the ceiling above. His right arm faced the gorilla, so he clenched his fists and pointed his knuckles at his foe. A gout of flames burst forth like an arrow before striking the gorilla in the head.
The gorilla fell to the ground, dead. It hadn't even been five seconds since their battle began, yet Edward had already defeated it like it was some sort of common enemy. Edward quickly stopped his momentum with a quick thrust in the opposite direction and then returned to the ground.
As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Ikarus roasting the last enemy, ending the fight. Edward watched as an influx of XP raised his XP bar to 57%, but he was too occupied to care. His heart was still pumping in excitement as he looked at the gorillas killed by his abilities. Out of the five, he had done the final hit on three of them, yet he still didn't feel that the fight was long enough to make him satisfied.
He wanted more— desperately.
"That was amazing," Brandon smiled as he stepped forward. Edward looked to his brother and nodded. Then, as the others approached Edward, he turned his gaze to each of them before finally landing on Markus.
"You seemed to enjoy that quite a lot," Markus chuckled, "Maybe I should leave an enemy for you to solo from now on."
"Heh," Edward laughed. He nodded as a small smile of appreciation donned on his face, "I would appreciate it."
"Yay! Now, let's look at the loot!" Brandon smiled as he turned away from the gorillas. Edward and the others watched as Brandon quickly approached the chest in the room. Now that the battle was over, it was time to look at their rewards.