Chapter 77- Red Scaled Hyenas

Wilson's fist hit the gorilla's huge palm. A shockwave swept out from the impact, waking Jim from his daze.

'What the hell was I thinking?' Jim immediately thought. How could he have so willing to die? He was still too young and even a virgin to boot. He had such a beautiful life ahead of him, why would he want to die in some nameless wilderness?

He quickly retreated, increasing the distance between himself and Wilson. He looked around and perhaps because he was still a little too calm for someone who could die anytime, he noticed that most other one eyed beasts including the other monkeys, chimpanzees and a snow white baboon, avoided a certain range around the gorilla. He pulled the family away from the fight and stopped a little distance from the edge of that range. He looked at the monkey on the gorilla's shoulder that gripped tightly to the gorilla's fur and a thought came to mind.

'What are the chances that the monkey had something to do with my willingness to accept death so easily?' He thought to himself. If that was so, then Wilson was in a lot more danger than he seemed to be on the the surface.

He watched Wilson parry another palm with his fist, rush forward and punch the gorilla in the leg, which created a little *dong* sound, as if a gong was hit.

'Damn. Such strength.' Jim thought. He did his best and rummaged through his messy memory for anything he could do to help Wilson while remaining safe from harm but all he could think of was his wind blades. The wind blades were fast and even though he could not make them quickly, they could still be a scary thing if he had enough time to conjure them up. The problem was, he would be attracting the aggro to himself if he did that and since he loves himself so much, he would rather not risk his own life.

For now, Jim was still standing in front of the family protectively but he knew if things should get worse and he or the family became a target, he would instantly abandon them and run for his life. After all, this family was still mostly a family of strangers to him.

At that moment, a blue furred monkey was hit a great distance away in the eyes. It shrieked in pain so loudly, the gorilla got distracted and looked in that direction. Wilson saw his chance to strike a deadly blow. He rushed in and jumped, retrieving the knife he got from John in the process, but the monkey on the gorilla's shoulder had never taken its eye off Wilson. A thin red laser shot out of its eye and hit Wilson before he could defend against it.

That seemingly weak laser instantly bore a hole the width of a needle through his body, exiting at the other side. Wilson winced in pain and the gorilla promptly swatted him down with a right back hand sweep.

*THUD*

Wilson landed with a resounding thud and groaned in pain. He definitely broke a few bones just now.

Jim knew he had to do something. The old man had woken up, so he waited for Wilson to stand up. When Wilson stood up and ran back at the gorilla, Jim quickly mobilized the family and adroitly walked around the gorilla in a circle, successfully breaking through the encirclement and promptly ran away.

The gorilla had not noticed as it was quite stupid and paid all its attention to Wilson, but the monkey which complemented for the gorilla's inadequate sensibility, had noticed but said and did nothing.

The fact was that, there were only three out of all the one eyed beasts that were not berserk after sensing the dead snow tiger's body. These were the wolf leader, because his mental fortitude was way too powerful to be influenced like that; the small monkey on the gorilla and the gorilla itself, mainly due to the fact that the monkey had helped to dispel most of the effects of the chaotic dead snow tiger's residual aura.

Nobody noticed that a small group of people had managed to escape unscathed and as for the reason why the monkey chose to let them go, that was equally unknown.

Jim and the old man's family was not the first group to have escaped though. The hunters led by Kong had also gone through with the plan and successfully managed to escape with very little injuries. After all, Kong was right. When beasts wnt berserk, they would become very stupid and succumb to their primal instincts. All they would be able to think about was to kill any living thing in sight, regardless of whether their prior target was dead.

Even then, feeding and reproduction to ensure the survival of their species was a priority even for berserk beasts. They would still know to feed and prioritise attacking whoever or whatever they counted as threats first.

In this case, the dead snow tiger was sensed even though it was stored in a space item. The aura emitted by the dead bodies of certain powerful beasts like the snow tiger, usually clouded the thoughts of weaker beasts in the area and causes them to turn berserk. These berserk beasts would kill and rampage in a bid to feed on the flesh of the dead beast before it began to decay because feeding on such a delicacy would most often than not, warrant positive mutations in their abilities, bodies and intellect.

And what living being did not want to get stronger?

The hunter with the travelling bag with the snow tiger inside, stood surrounded by three red scaled hyenas which were relatively small compared to regular adults.

The hunter who went by the name Lane, was very familiar with these species of hyenas. They were usually found in large expanses of barren land, most especially those that was made barren from excessive heat caused by both the sun and excessive volcanic eruptions. The adults were about the size of cows but the stronger they got, the smaller they got and the redder their scales became. When they reduced to the size of adult lions, their scales would become totally red and their fire abilities would begin to manifest. Some rarities had been found to look as small as regular hyenas and possessed dual abilities of fire and earth or wind.

These three red scaled hyenas before Lane were almost at that size and without any weapons, he knew he was dead meat. Bit, he was unwilling to die, not when he was this close to making it rich. He had already struck the gold and mined it. All that was needed was for him to refine it. Wouldn't it be a waste if he died here? But what could he do? He was outnumbered. He could neither defend against their abilities nor outrun them. He was literally between a rock and a hard place but he was unwilling to lose hope. A man without hope was already dead. He looked around but there was no one he knew or could call for help. He cursed out loud as he shivered from both the cold and from fear. He kept spinning round and round, trying his optimum best to keep an eye on all three red scaled hyenas around him.

'These hyenas are really despicable.' Lane thought. 'Why were they taking their time? At this rate, I would die of heart attack before they even strike.' He spun around as the hyenas collectively took a step forward.

'Aren't they supposed to be berserk? Why aren't they berserk? These hyenas! Do they have to play mind games as well?' Lane's mind was going haywire. He couldn't think straight and fear was really beginning to get to him. If this went on, he would have a nervous breakdown from all this tension.

"J...just c..come at me! I...I...I...I dare you! All three of you!" He yelled at them and the three hyenas as if controlled by a remote, turned docile for a second. Then, their aggressiveness shot through the roof. They synonymously growled and pounced on him.