Beauty and the Beasts

The ape king instantly ran to the large tree, and Parker held his breath.

However, the ape king seemed to have sensed something, making him abruptly halt.

“Why are you stopping? Hurry up and run.” Jean was so furious that she smacked the ape king on the head.

“Shh.” The ape king urged her to keep quiet as he gazed around warily. Jean instantly fell silent and slightly squirmed.

Parker froze. Dammit, I’ve been discovered.

He had been pretty confident of his concealment. Even the three-striped Muir didn’t discover his existence, yet the ape king—who had just leveled up to a three-striped beastman—sensed his presence.

The ape king was indeed formidable.

Since his presence had already been detected, Parker directly jumped down from the tree.

“Roar!”

The ape king retreated a step. Just as the leopard flew down, he used his mental power to create a barrier that couldn’t be seen by the naked eye.

Bang! The leopard bumped into the air and came slamming down on the ground with a roar.

“So, it’s you.” The ape king recognized him.

Parker instantly rolled around and got up on his feet. Spit! He spat out saliva mixed with blood, then let out a low growl, digging his hind legs into the ground as he prepared to launch another attack.

Jean could sense the murderous intent of the leopard towards herself. She, who had never witnessed such a scenario, was so frightened that the color drained from her face and she shrieked. “Hurry up and send me into the sea! Once I’m back in the sea I’ll be safe.”

“Don’t be scared. I’ll kill him first.”

The instant the ape king finished speaking, Parker could see that his surroundings were somewhat different.

The trees were still the same, and the vines were draped around the tree branches just earlier. However, they looked somewhat illusory now.

Gazing in the ape king’s direction once more, he saw that they had disappeared.

But Parker could hear the female’s unsteady breathing, as well as the duo’s stench.

As he had never sparred with the ape tribe before, Parker felt anxious, nervous, and even more so, excited.

The sound of wind breaking could be heard from behind. Parker felt the fur on his back stand on end as he nimbly dodged.

When he turned around, he saw that it was a segment of vines draped around the tree branches.

Pa! The green plant created a shallow trench on the ground. One could just imagine what the effect would be if it landed on a person.

The ape king stood a few meters away as though he was watching a show. He injected his invisible mental power into the vines to make them more flexible and resilient like rocks.

Another vine flew over. Parker leaped to dodge, but unexpectedly, his calculations were off.

As the vines were being controlled by mental power, they were not as greatly influenced by inertia as normal objects were. The vines simply changed direction mid-way, bending to curl around the leopard’s tummy.

With the exertion of a force, the leopard slammed heavily onto the ground. Immediately following that, another vine whipped upon his body, instantly tearing a wound in his skin and revealing the flesh underneath.

Cuckoo! The cry of a bird could be heard from the tree above.

The ape king instantly looked up. Alva, who was perched on the tree, instantly felt his throat being choked, and his beak was now tightly shut.

In those short moments where the ape king was distracted, Parker bit the vines and tugged at them frantically to snap them.

The ape king let out a low growl, his face turning green as though he was punched in the face.

Parker raised his brows. Ah, so he could attack in this manner.

This time, Parker didn’t focus on dodging. Instead, he pounced at the vines and bit them.

The ape king calmed down and emanated more than ten wisps of mental power. Though these weren’t as strong as the two initial wisps, there were more of them this time.

The wisps of mental power danced about in the air, densely gathered together. The surrounded leopard would get whipped from time to time when he didn’t manage to dodge it.

But he didn’t seem to fear it at all. The instant he grabbed the vines, he started tugging and snapping them.

Mental power could be retracted. The minute the vines were bitten, the ape king would instantly retract his mental power. This had occurred to Parker as well. So, he sped up and exerted strength to snap the vine the very moment he managed to bite it.