The Sound Of Despair

"There is not much time left. Schatten, prepare as many traps as you can. Licht, it is time for that technique."

The brumawolf released countless threads of dark lightning and imbued them in every single surrounding shadow. A black substance manifested inside them while slowly melting into shadows. Sturm helped with building the tens of mana constructions needed to give the volatile shadowy mass additional stability. 

Even then, Schatten was getting visibly exhausted by the consumption of his will. Sweat started pouring down his fur, and his legs started shaking, but the wolf did not stop. The ape monarch could arrive at any moment, and every single second was precious. They simply did not have the luxury to take it easy and prepare appropriately.

At the same time, Licht was busy manifesting two giant bright lightning orbs inside one of the collapsed tents. The orb's diameters were at least two meters, but they were slowly being compressed into a mana construct with a diameter of only three centimeters. As the lightning spheres shrunk, their light increased in intensity, and if not for Sturm's innate affinity and contract with Licht, he would be at risk of losing his eyesight should he directly look at it.

The process was just as taxing as Schatten's, and the walls made of beast hide could barely prevent the light from interfering with the wolf's task. A moment later, Sturm finished creating the mana constructs for the dark lightning traps.

Now, even if a little bit of light illuminated the dark lightning traps, it would only reveal them for a moment, which was basically inconsequential. As long as the ape overlord did not spot them when he arrived, they could be visible all the time as much as Sturm cared.

With that preparation done, Sturm concentrated his will on his fists and manifested the new [Fists of Mjölnir]. The two conjured gauntlets made of lightning matter shone with metallic brilliance while intricate lightning patterns on them moved as if they were alive, giving off a mysterious and arcane aura.

In comparison to the last time Sturm used the ability, the gauntlet now spotted a round opening on the back of each gauntlet. Licht had finished compressing the bright lightning orbs and used the last of his remaining will to push them into the two openings, after which he exhaustedly dropped to the ground.

Sturm observed his [Fists of Mjölnir] and was very satisfied with the result. Then, with just a few mana cells, he covered the two shining spheres with a layer of lightning, preventing the light from leaving. 

"Just in time. You two have done a splendid job, recover inside the lightning space for now. I will call you out for assistance when needed, so be prepared at any moment."

The two beasts nodded and let themselves be absorbed back into the lighting world. They wanted to fight with Sturm, but their current abilities were still severely lacking. Even though they were physically stronger and even more agile than Sturm, they lacked his proficiency in the Art of the Nine Pillars to avoid incoming attacks.

It did not matter that their bodies were twice as resilient; a single strike from the white ape would kill them just the same. Licht was also adept at dodging, but even if he could dodge 90% of Schatten's attacks during some of their sparring sessions, that still meant he would get hit by one out of ten strikes.

The maclawco overlord, as a tier 10 bronze beast, would certainly not be any slower than Schatten, so those odds would basically assure Licht's demise should he directly confront the gorilla. This was the reason why Sturm decided to let his two contracted companions exhaust their willpower before the fight and only let them out if their surprise attack could assure the white ape's death. 

Every second now, their predator could arrive, so Sturm positioned himself in the middle of the destroyed camp and calmed his mind. The chance of survival was low, but it was not zero. The thunder gauntlets would allow the teenager to slowly wear the overlord down without exhausting too much of his will. 

Should he use his entire willpower for a single, overwhelming lightning bolt, and that proved insufficient, then only certain death would await him. Unfortunately, fleeing was impossible as well, so the only way out was a good old brawl.

<<On Earth, not even the strongest fighter can face an average silverback gorilla. Here I am now, about to throw hands with a giant, mutated gorilla monster on steroids that could probably wipe the floor with the other ape that climbed the Empire State Building in movies.>>

"Can't say I am not excited to finally pummel something with my fists again," mumbled Sturm to himself. 

{Hey Schatten, did you hear that? As someone from a dumb warrior family, surely you can explain to me if that boy has gone crazy or not,} Licht asked his rival.

{Of course, a little greenhouse flower like you would not understand. Sturm knows he may perish, so he is boosting his morale by adjusting his mindset. It is always better to go out with a bang than, for example, die of old age protecting a useless gate,} Schatten answered.

Before they could further bicker with each other, their guest finally arrived. The familiar six-meter-tall gorilla landed at the border of the collapsed village, violently pounding its chest upon spotting Sturm. Its white eyes without pupil or iris still sent a shiver down Sturm's spine, and somehow the clean one-meter long tusks seemed even more menacing than before. 

Sturm saw it in its eyes; the beast remembered him, and judging by the intensity it was hitting its chest, the memory was not a fond one. So now it was do or die, literally. The gorilla finally finished its intimidation tactic and put its giant fists back on the ground, crouching while it did so. 

In response, lightning started to coil around Sturm as he activated his [Avatar of Thunder] form and lifted his fists in a muay thai guard. Compared to a boxing stance, his elbows were almost at the height of his shoulders. Usually, this would allow a fighter to easier block elbow strikes coming from above, but the reason Sturm employed it was to keep the back of his fists out of his sight. 

Even if he had a certain immunity to Licht's bright lightning, constantly staring into it would negatively affect his vision. All of his senses would have to operate on their maximum for the upcoming fight, and the Art of the Nine Pillars was already running on full throttle. While that would exhaust his concentration quicker, it was necessary to increase his dodge chance to a 100%.

The [Black Room] constantly showed Sturm even the tiniest movement of the white gorilla's muscles, so he was prepared when the giant beast finally launched itself at him. Having a six-meter ape trying to jump on you was terrifying, but his experience and mental fortitude allowed Sturm to remain calm. 

<<His trajectory is fixed in the air, so he will land two meters in front of me. Judging by his body position and rotation, it will be more convenient for him to strike with his right arm.>>

A second later, the ape landed exactly where predicted and swung its right fist in the tiny human's direction. With its speed and strength, it would easily squash the bug, and then it was just a matter of time before it enslaved the sasquatch tribe and conquered the island. 

Its fist smashed into the ground, leaving behind a deep crater. Something felt wrong, as there was no blood splattered anywhere. The ape tried to search around for its prey when it suddenly felt a stinging sensation in its right side. 

When the gorilla had landed on its leg and left arm, Sturm had used the second the ape's own arm blocked its vision to step into its blindspot and smash his [Fists of Mjölnir] into the primate's liver with a standard one-two. Even though enough electricity to paralyze a sasquatch warrior was transferred into the overlord's body, it seemed to annoy it more than to incapacitate it. 

<<Nothing at all? I did not expect one strike to be enough but judging by its physiological reaction, that did not cause more damage than a bee sting would to me. Well, thousands of bee stings can even kill an elephant, so let's see if you can keep shrugging it off. >>

After the quick one-two, Sturm was about to follow up with a high kick when he realized that the efficiency would be reduced due to the lack of lightning gauntlets. Just the [Avatar of Thunder] would already imbue every attack with the lightning element, but the intensity could not be compared to the [Fists of Mjölnir] or a lightning bolt. 

Unsurprisingly, Sturm's ferocious high kick caused even less damage than the one-two combination. On top of that, it gave the gorilla behemoth enough time to swing its arm back in retaliation. 

For not even a fraction of a second did Sturm ever stop analyzing its movement with the [Black Room], so as soon as his leg retracted from the kick, he jumped and took cover behind the ape's rear leg.

<<Until I find a way to imbue my kicks with extra lightning, I will have to stick to pure boxing, it seems. I also have to find a way to push the electricity past the insulating layer of hide. Simple jabs won't do the trick, and only straights and hooks possess enough force to drive my fists farther in.>>

With the ape's natural defense, Sturm already found himself in a pickle, as multiple of his options had been turned useless. Then, just as he was pondering about a strategy that would allow him to increase his chances, the gorilla kicked out with its leg, barely missing Sturm, who had already reacted. Even though he managed to evade, the wind pressure from the kick launched Sturm ten meters back. 

Sturm managed to turn around mid-air and land into a forward roll, quickly getting back up on his feet. Then, it was time for round two.