Max sped ahead, and within moments, he was over the approaching horde of monsters. Atop the dust cloud, he was able to get his first good look at them, and his heart sank when he saw that they were the notorious gray apes monsters.

  There were just too many of them to deal with at once, at least quickly. Max knew that if he didn't deal with the leader controlling them, more monsters could be called in, and all the humans caught behind enemy lines would be like victims in a meat grinder.

  Max wasted no time throwing handfuls of explosive beads down into the charging ranks of monsters below. None of them could really retaliate. Although the grey apes were basically eight-foot-tall gorillas with glowing red eyes, none of them could jump high enough to reach Max. So they didn't even try. Instead, all of them ran faster directly at the circled humans in the distance. Max redoubled his efforts, sending a handful of explosive beads down below, using Dalikos’ ability to snap his arm forward and deliver precision death in the form of beads through great ape foreheads. But it wasn't enough. Max's efforts managed to thin about half of the horde until he ran out of beads.

  Then he darted down into the midst of the charging creatures, flying, delivering mana slashes with his sword. One of the apes almost got a hold of him, and Max used Black Mist Incident to great effect, chopping the monster's arm off at the elbow and expertly bisecting the creature with his sword.

  But he had no backup and limited beads. Using up all of his beads would not be wise. Using his mana wave ability from the air wasn't very efficient. He could kill one, maybe two apes at most with that, and it took up a great amount of his energy. Reluctantly, Max decided that he couldn't do any more to stem the tide, at least not without jeopardizing his ability to fulfill his role considering the big picture. With a curse, Max dodged one more grasping set of hands before cleaving one of the ape's skulls and taking off into the air.

  His entire body was covered in dust, blood, and worse at this point. The wind from flying quickly dried all the viscera.

  He could very clearly feel a large energy signature from the direction where the grey apes had come from. It was very obviously the boss monster controlling them.

  The fact that the boss monster wasn’t hiding its presence was interesting. Max wasn't sure if the creature just wasn't expecting anybody to come, or if it was just that confident in its own strength.

  Luckily, the boss wasn't very much farther away, and as Max got closer, he saw that it was a truly massive simian monster like the grey apes but white and about twice the size. He recognized it. The media was calling it White Ape King.

  The monster was not only tall, but muscular too, massive in almost every dimension. Cold, blue eyes, full of malevolent intelligence regarded Max with curiosity. The creature looked like a gorilla on steroids and a mouth full of sharp teeth, but its fur had white-blue crystals in it, and there was a shimmering aura of cold around the monster, like a combination of destructive aura and armor combined. The Ape King’s nails were more like claws, long and thing, no doubt extremely dangerous. But the boss moster’s magic and overall physique were probably what made it most dangerous.

  Max's great experience let him tell just by how the thing was sitting on the rooftop of a gas station that it could move incredibly quickly. He slowed to a stop in mid-air to examine the Ape King, and it lifted its pink nose to stare calmly at Max.

  "The formation triggered. But you aren't one of the humans I was going to meet," it said in a disturbing baritone voice. “You are not an ally.”

  "That's right, I'm not," said Max. "Zed's dead, baby."

  The boss monster gave him an even look with no recognition, and Max said, "Not much of a film buff, huh?"

  "You speak nonsense," said the monster. "But I do not care. My children have died, many by your hand, but you may find my guards more of a challenge." The Ape King smiled.

  As Max watched, several hidden grey apes materialized from their hiding places. He counted four of them, and unlike the stampede that had been heading towards his friends, these ones carried weapons. Two had great clubs, and two had spears. All four monsters were larger than their brethren. Elites, maybe.

  "You dare challenge me?" said the boss monster. "I will not even lift a finger, and still repay you tenfold."

  "Yeah, good luck with that," said Max. “So cliche.”

  When the Ape King began to speak again, likely expecting to monologue to a captive audience, Max darted forward towards one of the guards. His passing slash cleaved through the creature's head and dropped it like a sack of potatoes. The boss monster, the White Ape King, looked on with stunned shock as Max moved to the next creature. This one was a little bit quicker on the uptake and tried dodging to one side, but Max delivered a mana slash with his sword, sending the monster reeling back with a stream of pain, one of its arms severed, and a deep, mortal wound through its chest.

  Suddenly, he had to dodge to the side as he sensed magic gathering from behind. His evasive maneuver was just in time, and even then, only because he borrowed some power from Slick. The ice spike that the Ape King had just thrown at him blurred through the air until it disappeared in the distance. Max gathered his mana and flew down near the wall of the gas station where the great ape couldn't see.

  He dropped down to pick up a stone, but then sprang backward as hard as he could, letting Slick's power carry him along the ground, right before the Ape King's hand slammed through the rooftop like it was made of tissue paper, almost pulping Max.

  At the same time, one of the two remaining grey ape guards almost skewered him with the spear. But Max noticed the movement at the last moment and, using a combination of aerial acrobatics and a half-circle parry, he managed to slip the attack, move close, and plant his sword through the monster's chest. With his other hand, Max delivered a couple of rapid, powerful punches to the creature's temple before putting his feet on the elite grey ape's chest and springing off with great bounding leaps.

  He moved to dodge, but then suddenly stopped as a giant, magic icicle projectile zipped through the space he was about to be. The evasive maneuver left him directly in the path of the last ape guard, who was raising its giant club, about to turn Max into tomato paste. “Shit,” he hissed.

  Max delivered a mana wave attack, but this ape was fast and managed to block the energy with its blue club. The wave cut deeply into the weapon and left a smoking imprint, but didn't do anything more than that. However, it had forced the creature to block. Max delivered another wave that the creature blocked, but threw two beads behind it, both of which passed by the blocking club. Both impacted the creature's face and throat.

  It reeled back, hands going to its ruined face, as Max came down like the hammer of God, cleaving through the monster's shoulder. He dropped to the ground just in time before another deadly icicle attack zipped through the body of the dead guard and almost took Max in the chest.

  Then he was madly retreating as the White Ape King smashed down on the ground, creating a huge spreading ring of icy destruction. Max tried to gain altitude, but abandoned that idea when he had to dodge a shotgun spread of supersonic ice and debris that the Ape King had slung with long, whippy arms.

  He dropped low, behind a shattered restaurant building, then quickly moved behind another building, giving himself a respite.

  The Ape King didn’t cooperate with his plan to rest and have time to think, though.

  Max tensed as the area became covered with a thick, freezing fog. He manifested a pale energy shield on his left wrist, courtesy of Blackmist Incident, and stared into the surrounding vapor, looking for any sign of movement. However, part of his current stance was theatrics. He was also seeing with more than just his eyes, so he was able to dodge directly forward just as the Ape King came down from directly above. Max used a combination of his mana abilities, Daliko’s armor, and Slick's ability to reduce friction, all allowing him to spring forward so fast he was almost like a flicker.

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  Then he tapped into Anansi’s power, creating a lifelike decoy behind him, one that appeared just like Max, desperately looking around, expression fierce.

  Still invisible, the Ape King descended through the mist, sending it roiling outwards like a wave in the ocean. However, one of Saliron's spirits, embedded in the Great Ape's bones, allowed Max to know exactly where the creature was at all times. As a result, he knew that the creature had not been fooled by the decoy, and was able to dodge again when the monster came in from the side. This time, Max threw a hand out, delivering a sticky, web-like, ectoplasmic net to the Beast King's arm, allowing Max to see some of it. A mana slash at the monster was blocked with both its arms, rendering the attack useless. Max wound up and delivered another mana slash, and the Ape King flickered back into the visible spectrum of light after blocking it. The huge monster chuckled, rumbling, "You should know by now that will not work on me."

  "That's true," Max said. He delivered another mana wave at the monster, full of destructive potential, and added, "You have to move your energy around to your arms for it, though." The Ape King cocked its head quizzically before flailing back, screaming.

  Two of Lavinia's spirits, shrunk down to little spiders, each carrying some of Max's very last explosive beads, had managed to climb onto the creature’s legs back at the gas station while Max had been fighting the guards. Then they’d struggled through the Ape King’s cold aura, and eventually positioned themselves on the creature’s face. And just now, they’d detonated at the corner of both of the Beast King's eyes.

  When Max delivered another mana slash, the boss monster snarled, one eye open, still managing to block the attack. Unfortunately, only one eye had been damaged. That was enough, though. Max darted forward, and suddenly the hunter became the hunted.

  As the Ape King thundered in defiance and tried escaping through the fog, Max chased through like a bloodhound. Saliron’s spirit on the creature’s bones made it easy to pursue. However, he was almost too eager and nearly got himself. The Ape King luckily didn’t seem to know exactly where Max was through the fog, but still had good senses. With a whip-crack of its arm, the huge monster threw heavy detritus through the fog.

  Max took the blow on the armor, and the force of even the edge of the cloud was significant. One of the high velocity, concrete chunks that hit Max was the size of a cinder block.

  If the full cloud of projectiles had hit Max head-on, it might have meant his death, or done enough damage to eventually win the fight for the Ape King. But because he only got partially hit, he was able to survive without losing too much combat effectiveness…or his life. It was still enough to rattle every bone in his body, even with all of the fortifications and extra strength that he had.

  Max was slammed to the ground, his face bloody and spitting bloody phlegm. Without his powerful mana body, the impacts would have pulped his guts and broken his bones. He rolled to the side just in time to avoid another giant thrown handful of broken buildings that skipped and whined, ricocheting off the parking lot he was fighting on. From that, he was able to deduce the angle it was coming from and realized that the Ape King must be tracking bones. That fact was verified when Max delivered a mana wave at the monster, slightly concerned that he had used up more energy than he intended. He sped forward, taking a chance, and erupted out of the fog right in the Beast King's face as the creature was about to rear back and throw another handful of gravel, rebar, and broken concrete.

  He snarled, darting forward again in the fog, but the Ape King suddenly came back directly for him, perhaps wanting to check if the thrown attack had connected.

  Max was almost as surprised as the monster when they suddenly met in the fog, but recovered first, delivering a savage kick to the thing's face and almost receiving another handful of stone and concrete for his troubles. However, missing an eye was really messing with the creature, and the throw went wild.

  Finally close enough to go for a kill, Max added mana to his arm, strengthening it and risking the freezing, biting hold of the Ape King's fur in order to grab the thing's arm. Then, while chuckling evilly in Max’s mind, Saliron went to work. The dark spirit gleefully began destroying the Ape King's arm bones.

  Nearby fog trembled as the monster screamed, trying to move back, but Max simply held on and flew forward, not allowing the creature to shake him.

  The Ape King bellowed, its single eye narrowing, and its other hand came up, pointing at Max. With a curse, Max barely managed to spin himself, rotating under the arm to avoid a lethal ice projectile spell. Then the creature began shaking its arm like crazy, trying to dislodge him, but Max held on and kicked the boss monster with supernatural force in the stomach, then circled around again, maintaining contact to kick the Ape King’s face, all while avoiding being grabbed by the creature’s other massive hand.

  All of Max’s distractions worked, and the monster forgot about the real danger. Max enlarged his sword, Blacksmith Incident again, and planted the blade into the monster's side. He ripped the weapon free before slashing, delivering an attack with decades of experience and skill, cutting off the boss monster’s arm that Saliron had not ravaged yet. The creature's arm hit the ground like it weighed as much as a car, and its supernaturally strong muscles writhed under the skin of the severed limb.

  Surrounding fog trembled again as the Ape King screamed, apparently losing its mind, and savagely attacked Max with its remaining, wounded arm. At the same time, the fog almost immediately dispersed, the creature’s wrath and lack of focus dispelling it.

  His enemy losing control was exactly what Max had been waiting for. With the creature missing an arm and not thinking clearly, he was able to flip in midair and chop overhead directly into the Beast King’s skull. His sword erupted out the other side, taking blood, fluids, and pieces of bone with it.

  Max spun, delivering another savage, precise cut through the Beast King's spine. Then, he chose a bead meant to be used as a bullet, cocked his arm back, and used Daliko’s ability, throwing the projectile with the speed of a 45 caliber bullet through where he thought the boss monter’s heart would be. The Beast King fell.

  Almost immediately, as soon as the monster died, Max could sense a change in the air. It made him wrinkle his nose, touching on a memory he couldn’t quite place. He would have liked to stay and figure out where it was coming from or what it was, but instead, he knew that he was still needed where he'd come from.

  The clock was ticking.

  He sped back the way he’d come from, turning on velocity until he reached the battle between the monsters and the Patriot Guild. Max slammed into the rear rank of monsters like a meteor, immediately killing two of them. From there, the next few minutes were flashes of complete chaos, carnage, and bloodshed. When it was all done, Max stood on top of a pile of gray ape bodies, his bloody sword in hand, and his force shield flickering on his left wrist. He dismissed it.

  Amidst the groans and crying of the wounded survivors, Lance painfully limped over to him and said, "Everything here is dead. What now, boss?"

  Max raised his voice, addressing all of the humans present. "Everybody, let's get the hell out of here! I see two people completely down, and one's dead for sure. Take their bodies. Rotate them between all of you. Now. We’re not out of this yet." He nodded at Lance, expecting the other man to know what to do, which Lance did.

  In only a couple of minutes, the surviving humans were a group of controlled chaos moving back to the relative safety of human-controlled territory. The half-hour walk with the civilians felt like one of the longest treks of Max's life, but thankfully the group came within sight of the human line just as there was another cloud behind them, likely another small army of angry, searching monsters.

  "Everybody hurry up," Max yelled. Surprised human Challengers came running out from the human emplacements to help. Thankfully, they were seasoned enough not to ask questions, at least not after running a scan on them and verifying they were, in fact, human.

  In only minutes, all of the survivors were past the defensive lines, on the other side of the concrete walls and big guns before any other monsters showed up. More grey apes. As soon as the creatures appeared, powerful mana guns that humanity used for border defense came online, instantly destroying three monsters. The rest of the creatures almost immediately retreated, fading away, and Max figured it must have been either a recon group or some sort of scout team.

  Now safe behind human lines, Max leaned against the wall, taking a break. When he opened his eyes, there was a semi-circle group around him, mostly reporters, all of them with a glint in their eyes that made him a little uncomfortable. He’d seen that look before, and he knew that it came with expectations, pressures, and a whole host of new problems.

  That was when he noticed the hovering cameras again and realized that his fight with the White Ape King had been captured, maybe even broadcast live.

  He’d only meant to take down the Victory guild in front of the reporters. This was unexpected. What had been a careful publicity plan, similar to when he’d originally formed the Trifecta Guild years ago on earth, had gone FUBAR. He honestly had no idea at this point exactly how public opinion was going to shake out.

  Max looked glumly at the two bodies on the ground–the second downed Challenger, a Patriot Guild member, had died on the way back.Two dead.

  It was better than he’d feared, but still, two more dead fighters meant more grieving people, more mourning family members, two fewer humans, and two less Challengers to fight the monsters.

  When a reporter was brave enough to finally step forward and try asking questions, Max waved her away. “Just give me a minute, please.” He stared at the bodies and rubbed some of the blood off of his face from where it’d dried at the corner of his mouth.

  “Shit.”