254 Chapter 254: Inferno Kong

I didn't wait for the Inferno Kong to hit the water barrier. The bastard was using what looked like Flare Blitz (okay, I'm too much of a fan of Pokémon) and charging toward us while its body was completely wreathed in flames. Gritting my teeth, I stood my ground and unleashed a tidal wave at the Inferno Kong.

Aquarius's tsunami didn't help much, boiling and vaporizing instantly the moment the water came into contact with the flames. The Inferno Kong charged through the roiling inferno and slammed into the water barrier, breaking it upon impact. Fog erupted out as the water barrier collapsed and transformed into steam.

Black Tortoise started forward, but I was ahead of him, swinging Aquarius to meet the Inferno Kong's charge. The gigantic gorilla smashed my blue broadsword aside, shattering it into spirit fragments that gradually disappeared as they sailed through the air, and swatted me aside. I tumbled through the forest helplessly, parts of my body seared and scorched by his ferocious flames.

Snarling, the Inferno Kong turned toward me, intent on finishing me off, but Black Tortoise charged him, slamming into the monster and almost knocking it off its feet. The rank B Fiend twisted around and grabbed Black Tortoise, who wisely withdrew into his shell. However, Inferno Kong lifted Black Tortoise up, slowly but surely, the veins popping and muscles bulging in its arms from the sheer exertion.

With a grunt, it raised Black Tortoise over its head, its knees buckling from the tremendous weight. Baring its teeth and bellowing triumphantly, it tossed the helpless giant tortoise away, flinging him somewhere deep into the forest.

"HAH!"

It was then Craig struck, his glowing demonic spear piercing through the Inferno Kong's chest. The tip of the crimson weapon sank deeply past the thick muscle and skin of the rank B monster, and then stopped.

"?!"

Craig's expression twisted in surprise. The Inferno Kong stared at him, bemused, and then swatted him away. Coughing and leaving a trail of blood as he cartwheeled haplessly through the air, Craig crashed onto the ground.

The Inferno Kong snarled as it slapped at its bleeding chest where Craig had stabbed it before. The sheer force of its swipe had dislodged the spear along with Craig, leaving a small wound. However, it appeared to look extremely shallow. While Craig's crimson spear and his demonic techniques allowed him to pierce through any defenses – and penetrate the Inferno Kong's defense he certainly did – it didn't pack enough power to deal any significant amount of damage.

Realizing that it had been wounded, albeit slightly, the Inferno Kong's features curled in rage. With an enraged roar, it leaped forward to pounce on the stunned spearman, its fists wreathed in violent flames.

It planned to pulverize and incinerate him to bloody ashes!

"Not on my watch!"

Even though I was still breathless and fazed from the blow I took earlier, I refused to give up and leave my friend to a monster. Summoning Orion, I got ready to aim at the charging Inferno Kong. However, the surviving Fiery Apes descended upon me. Cursing, I rolled away before they could crush me under their feet.

Unfortunately, that slight delay was enough to prevent me from assisting Craig. While I was evading the Fiery Apes, the Inferno Kong's fist was crashing down upon the downed spearman and about to obliterate him…

A burst of white light slammed into the Inferno Kong, deflecting its massive fist by half a meter. Slight, but more than enough to just barely miss Craig. Instead, the Inferno Kong's flaming punch pulverized soil and earth, leaving a scorched crater.

Harrison Reed dove in and kicked at the Inferno Kong, white light wreathing his body. His holy magic augmented his strength and allowed him to deal bonus damage to the rank B monster, but it fought with him evenly. The two of them exchanged a flurry of punches. Harrison was forced to rely on his tinier size and superior speed to weave through the Inferno Kong's attacks. Each punch was devastating enough to pulverize him into a bloody pulp, so he had no choice but to be careful. In contrast, the Inferno Kong was extremely powerful, but its movements were slow and cumbersome.

As much as I wanted to rush in and help, I had my hands currently full with the five Fiery Apes pursuing me relentlessly. Twisting around, I let fly a volley of azure arrows that peppered the first one and punched bloodied holes through its body. Even as it fell, two more Fiery Apes took its place and closed the distance.

Cartwheeling in the air, I kicked off a tree before revolving in the air. Shifting my aim, I fired a single blue arrow that caught the second Fiery Ape in the forehead and blew a massive crater in it. It dropped immediately, but its comrade furiously and vengefully continued to charge at me. Conjuring another powerful arrow, I took it out by firing into its chest and rupturing its heart,

The final two remaining Fiery Apes launched a few fireballs at me, but I used Betelgeuse to shoot them down before they could hit me. Firing at a rate of 1,200 arrows per minute, the sheer number of arrows overwhelmed their relatively pitiful volume of fireballs and destroyed the last two Fiery Apes, transforming them into bloody pincushions.

Spinning around, I caught sight of Harrison still engaging the Inferno Kong. Even though he had successfully avoided the Fiend's barrage of attacks thus far and even managed to retaliate, none of his holy attacks seemed to have effect. I watched as he jumped over a huge swing, landed on the monster's arm, and then ran up its length to deliver a kick to its temple. Despite the holy white light shrouding his leg and increasing the force of his attack, Harrison's kick did not even faze the Inferno Kong, who merely roared thunderously and swatted at him.

Harrison flipped himself off its shoulder, spinning in the air, and then pulled his knees in his chest and rolled in midair to avoid getting struck by another swipe. Stretching out his body, he twisted around and lashed out with another kick that sent the Inferno Kong staggering, but he otherwise did little more than buy some distance for himself.

The Inferno Kong growled and began to move toward him, but before it could, an immense dog pounced on him.

"Canis Major! Sirius!" I shouted.

While the Inferno Kong grappled with my large Constellation spirit, Canis Major's jaws yawned wide and a destructive blast of mana washed out to engulf the rank B monster. The Iron Kong bellowed in pain and struggled to throw off Canis Major, but the hunting hound nimbly landed on all fours without sustaining any injury.

"Thanks," Harrison told me as he heaved heavily from the exertion. Wiping the perspiration from his face, he readied another holy spell to blast the distracted Inferno Kong. The monster turned to snarl at him, but Canis Major chose that moment to pounce and closed his jaws around its neck.

With a roar, the Inferno Kong tried to force Canis Major's jaws open to release its injured neck, but found them closed tightly and firmly, the teeth puncturing its thick skin and embedding deeply into the muscle beneath. Taking a deep breath, the Inferno Kong cast a fire spell to immolate itself, forcing Canis Major to let go and retreat or risk getting himself incinerated.

At that moment, Black Tortoise returned to the battlefield after crawling his way back, and he knocked the bleeding Inferno Kong over with twin jets of highly pressurized water.

"Harrison! Take Craig away and run!" I shouted. "I'll hold the Inferno Kong off for as long as I can!"

"But…" Harrison, like any natural leader, was hesitant about leaving a teammate behind. Even so, he could see that Craig was in pretty bad shape. If we continued to battle, it was highly likely that we would advertently draw the semiconscious spearman into our fight and he was in no condition to evade or fight back.

"Trust me! If there's anyone who can defeat a rank B monster, it's me!"

Harrison regarded me for a moment, digesting my words. He was very aware of my reputation for taking down high-ranked monsters, having heard of me nuking three rank B Crastrates at once and even witnessed firsthand my subjugation of the Silver Skeletal Wolf. He probably also heard of me destroying two rank A dragons – the Hellfire Drakes. Of course, I had help in the two latter cases, working together with Harrison, Craig, Theodore and the rest to slay the Silver Skeletal Wolf, while Troy King and the Sword Saint Kureha assisted me in exterminating the two Hellfire Drakes. If it weren't for my reliable teammates, I would never have lasted long enough to kill either of them.

"I can't nuke the Inferno Kong if you guys are still in the area," I reminded him gravely. As if I ever intended to nuke the Inferno Kong – that would start a forest fire, which would go out of control as well as drew the attention of not just the other students but other monsters to me. By then I would have used up all my mana and wouldn't be able to fight them off.

Not that Harrison needed to know that. and before readers started complaining and calling me stupid for bravely sacrificing myself for my friends and seemingly to walk to my death, allow me to remind you that I could still kill a rank B monster without needing to rely on a spell of mass destruction. That was how I slew the Silver Skeletal Wolf, remember?

"Aquila!" Even as the Inferno Kong managed to knock Black Tortoise and Canis Major aside, I summoned a new Constellation spirit. "Altair!"

The giant eagle soared through the air before releasing a devastating torrent of crimson energy that sliced through the clearing and struck the Inferno Kong with full force, knocking it aside. Stunned, the Inferno Kong tried to roll back up to its feet, its chest bleeding profusely, but Canis Major fired off another Sirius spell that engulfed it.

Visibly, it seemed that I was winning. Just a few more spells here and there and I might finally be able to finish it off. It might be a gradual process, but anyone could see that I was slowly but surely chipping away at its health. I should be able to finish it off before long.

That was the appearance I wanted to give, anyway.

Fortunately, it was enough for Harrison to accept my proposal. He slung Craig's arm over his shoulders and hefted him up.

"Don't die. I forbid it."

"Hah! Who do you think you're taking to?" I scoffed. "If anyone dies, it'll be the Inferno Kong." As if to punctuate my statement, a combined volley from Canis Major and Aquila, casting their Sirius and Altair at the same time, slammed into the Iron Kong and knocked it off its feet, engulfing it in a maelstrom of destruction.

Black Tortoise then unleashed a waterfall to crush the seemingly hapless Inferno Kong.

Harrison flashed me a smile, but he knew as well as I did that the Inferno Kong wouldn't go down so easily. Already the waterfall was transforming into steam as the rank B monster boiled it with its incredible flames.

Even if I could prevail over the Inferno Kong eventually, it would only be after a long, grinding battle. And the rest of my teammates couldn't afford to wait that long. Craig was injured, and the students we had just rescued were also hurt and being escorted by Theodore and Lily. The groups that were spectating earlier had been eliminated and killed by the Inferno Kong, their charred corpses callously discarded to the side.

Karma was a bitch.

Aware of my predicament, and knowing that it was not realistic for me to waste too much time and energy on defeating a single opponent especially when there were so many other enemies to keep an eye out for, Harrison issued another instruction.

"Our objective is not to kill as many monsters as possible. It's to survive until the end of the Spiritual Road. Once we're clear and retreated to a safe distance, withdraw. Leave the Inferno Kong, and try to catch up with us."

"I'll do my best," I replied, deliberately being vague. There was no way I was going to let the Inferno Kong live. Not because I was seeking revenge for the ten students it had slaughtered, but because it had attacked me. Of course, it wasn't just because I was being petty. The Inferno Kong was going to hunt us down, and being a highly intelligent rank B monster, I was sure it would continue to pursue the puny humans who had dared hurt it so badly until it wiped all of us out.

It would be too dangerous to let the Inferno Kong live past this battle. Not after I had caused so much damage to it. It would definitely want vengeance for the wounds I had dealt it.

But Harrison didn't need to know that.

"Go on ahead. I'll catch up with you guys later."

Harrison studied me, his instinct for some reason informing him that I wasn't quite telling the whole truth. But with the weight of a teammate on his shoulders – quite literally – he couldn't afford to quibble. Taking a deep breath, he nodded.

"You had better."

Then he was gone, along with the rest of my teammates and the people we rescued. Turning to the Inferno Kong, who was still flailing against my three Soul Beasts, I grinned and raised a hand to finish casting one final spell. Golden mana swirled violently as it coalesced around my right arm and extended to cover the rest of my body.

"It's just you and me now."