Return of the Woodcutter

After putting his equipment back on, Aito dealt with as many evol monkeys as he could find on that side of the island. Attacking small groups with Jack's help and their new powers was much easier than before.

The small monkey would take them by surprise from its hiding spot, taking advantage of Aito's rampage to quickly kill two or three bigfoots.

Using that stratagem, they spent a few hours erasing the evol monkeys' presence in half of the island. Unsurprisingly, they had numbered even more than before.

The duo had probably killed forty or fifty of them already. But Aito knew that much more remained near his second dwelling. He estimated their numbers to be around a hundred—at least he hoped so.

Forced by the forest fire, they would probably soon flee their camp if they weren't already fleeing.

The ocean to his left, and the lonely mountain to his right. Aito stood by the beach. His bare feet anchored in the scorching white sand, unaffected by their heat.

Aito's basic stat "Lv 2 body" had strengthened his physique, allowing him to tolerate the temperature. It was still unpleasant, just like the waterfall pond's relative coldness. But the feeling just amounted to a few insects crawling on his skin.

Remembering his past fight against a certain blue-eyed woman, he had taken off his leather boots kindly provided by a bigfoot. With his toes in contact with the sand, he could use them to move around with more ease.

It might seem like a disadvantage since he had removed a "layer" of his armor, but he preferred to increase his own maneuverability against multiple opponents rather than his defense. At least in his current situation.

A few kilometers away, above coconut, palm, and a few other tropical trees, clouds of thick black smoke danced with the wind. Engulfing a good chunk of the other side, spreading death and desolation.

With that kind of fire, Aito was certain evol monkeys would seek refuge on the beach because of the seawater. He had picked the nearest and safest location to his previous dwelling for that purpose. Maybe just a few of them would show up, but that was fine. He couldn't deal with too many at once, after all.

Jack's piercing shout resounded from the top of a nearby coconut tree, signaling incoming enemies.

Aito took out four one-handed iron axes from his inventory. Three in his left hand. One in the other. Dealing with evol monkeys before had replenished his supply of weapons that had been running low.

'Here they come.'

A dozen bigfoots showed up from different directions. Those coming from the forest had their leather armors partially burnt. Others walking on the beach were tired but had intact equipment, unlike their moral which seemed to be at the lowest point. No leader in sight.

He had been expecting them to be disorganized because of the chaos, but not to that extent.

'Hum. They look relatively unharmed by the fire. Did those guys fled the fastest, leaving their companion behind to burn?' He thought, advancing towards the nearest group.

Because of Aito's previous disappearance, low morale, and fatigue, the bigfoots didn't realize a human was heading their way until it was too late to reorganize themselves.

Flashes of metallic color flew in rapid succession towards their targets as Aito hurled one ax after the other, instantly killing four bigfoots.

At the same time, Jack appeared from behind a coconut tree and cut its way through the enemy ranks—drawing a few bigfoots' attention.

Aito "summoned" a double-handed ax and dashed towards the nearest evol monkeys, slashed through them as easily as he would cut butter.

'They're already reorganizing?' He thought, seeing ten evol monkeys shielding themselves, shoulder to shoulder, advancing towards him like "one monkey." In almost perfect synchronization. Their leather boots digging in the uneven ground made them slightly lose balance from time to time.

Aito's gaze shifted to the spear throwers behind the enemy line, only to see Jack fighting with them. Certain that he wouldn't have to deal with a projectile, he reached back with his two-handed ax, took a few moments to increase its weight by 2.5 times, strengthened his grip, and hurled the weapon horizontally towards the approaching shield wall.

—Active skill: Ax Throw—

Like a giant boomerang, the double-handed ax rotated, pierced through the air, and rapidly reached two shield-bearers.

They braced for the impact, thinking that their shields would preserve them from the attack. But they were seriously mistaken.

The ax head tore apart their protection like it was nothing. Their bodies were sliced in half at chest level as the weapon flew further behind them, finishing its course in the sand.

Instantly, eight shield-bearers turned their gaze to look at their comrades' corpses. They reached a common conclusion and broke their rank, knowing it was useless to keep up the formation.

Aito threw another ax at two of them who dodged aside, slowing their advance. He drew yet another double-handed ax and, too late to use it as a projectile, waited for his enemies.

Six evol monkeys surrounded him in no time, using their shields to block any possible escape path. They slowly, cautiously closed their trap, while failing to realize they were playing in the palm of his hand. Aito waited a bit longer for them to reach his strike zone and, like a tornado of death, rotated on himself.

—Active skill: Whirlwind—

The rotation, speed, strength, and the skill itself sliced through everything. Leather armor, wood, flesh, and bones.

Aito stumbled to a stop. He had trained this skill during those past few days in the cave but didn't manage perfect control yet. Even without the increased strength from his gift "Fury," that active skill was still hard to handle.

He stared intently at the remaining two monkeys, who looked at him first with fear, then ridicule when their gaze moved to his broken weapon.

'Fuck. Gotta get a weapon suited for my strength.'

The two bigfoots seized the golden opportunity to attack him. Aito sighed. With no time to draw another weapon, and with the enemies' axes surrounding him in tatter, he had no choice but to return to his old ways. Something he had avoided doing before killing the Paineater, because it reminded him of his past.

His right foot dug deeper into the sand before kicking empty air. Sand flew towards the two evol monkeys and blinded them both for a short amount of time.

Aito dashed to the nearest one, grabbed its furry arm one-handed. Pulled to straighten it and hit its elbow with a palm strike. Its arm broke, releasing an ax, as a piercing cry forced its way out of the bigfoot's throat.

He pulled again to shake the enemy's balance and swept its foot. As soon as the bigfoot's body touched the sand, he went for the finishing blow with a heavy kick to the head. With his current strength, the evol monkey's skull shattered into pieces.

He darted towards the remaining enemy. Elbowed its solar plexus and sent it flying with a high kick to the head.

'Filona's tits!' He thought, feeling a burning pain from the inner thighs. 'Been too long since I stretched my legs.'

Grabbing his enemy's ax, he checked up on his last opponent and lodged his weapon into its head. He then let out a heavy breath and used "Pneuma" to recover a slight amount of stamina.

Suddenly, a loud roar resounded. Aito turned his head to see a huge red monkey in full plated armor making its appearance on the beach, with a weakened army behind it.

The commotion had attracted the leader's attention while it had been gathering the last of its still breathing soldiers nearby. Most of them had scorched marks all over their bodies. Others had leather armors partially burned. Some even lost their weapons in the forest fire.

"Ho, seems like Big Bad Red finally arrived." He said, using that monicker in reference to a certain bedtime story. "Jack! Come back!"

Jack pulled out its daggers from an evol monkey's corpse and turned back to join Aito. The few evol monkeys still alive from their fight were called back to join Big Bad Red's ranks.

"Time to change tactics," Aito said, aiming for the bigfoot leader. The distance separating them was approximately a hundred meters. He was certain to miss, but his goal wasn't to kill it. His ax flew high in an arced line.

But instead of hitting the leader, it pierced through a soldier's head.

"Oh. Lucky shot." He said, before bravely turning his tail to flee in direction of the waterfall with Jack on his toes.

ROAR!!!