Return of the Woodcutter

Aito dashed through the tropical vegetations as fast as a professional sprinter but with barely half the effort and stamina consumption.

His basic stat "Lv2 agility" seemed to have increased his speed. Although it wasn't clear as to what that stat really did, he felt that it might have a relationship to his current ability to… flee. But since it wasn't named "Lv2 speed" he couldn't be certain.

Coupled with his "Lv2 stamina," which name was self-explanatory this time, it made for the perfect combination to barely outrun his rivals competing in the same Gods' Forsaken Island Olympic Games. The first prize being his tanned ass.

Unwilling to give it to anyone else but himself, Aito sped up once more, using Pneuma to slightly replenish his lost stamina.

Jack, coming in the second position and somewhat faster than its friend, used its active skill to throw a few poisonous feces at the closest evol monkeys to slow them down before catching up to Aito. The small monkey had eaten its fill of food before the fight. With its body now able to secrete the poison without white berries, as long as it had enough raw material, the feces would keep coming.

Big Bad Red was impressively large and muscular. However, its evolution seemed to have sacrificed speed for power. It could barely cope with its subordinates' speed.

Still running, Aito took out a two-handed battle-ax, ready to commit the "ultimate sin" for an ax wielder: use it as a wood chopping ax. He increased its weight by 2.5 times and brought down a nearby coconut tree that had been already cut halfway through.

The tree waved, then fell towards the monkey army. With their enraged state, due to Aito's provocation, they had focused on him too deeply. The tree crushed two bigfoots, while one escaped in the nick of time.

In preparation for the "race," Aito had cut several trees deep enough for them to still stand tall, but shallow enough to go down in one hit. Taking into account the trees' girth, direction, and size he had used his experience as a woodcutter to adjust their trajectories to suit his plan.

His running speed added to the increased weight and strength could probably chop down a tree in one hit. But "probably" wasn't "certainty."Aito wasn't willing to take the risk. Not in that kind of deadly situation. A minor mishap and he could kiss goodbye to the race's first prize.

It could be considered "cheating" but like a wise person once said "If you aren't cheating you aren't trying."

Coconut trees continued to fall on Aito's competitors. After seeing two of their comrades reduced to mashed monkeys, they became more aware of their surroundings. Only a few unfortunate ones were flattened like French galettes.

Seeing its army dwindling bit by bit, the leader roared with fury. After the human's disappearance, it had managed to unite two hundred kins under its command and killed the few who opposed it.

Big Bad Red had lost a quarter of its army in the forest fire. Judging by the lack of response from the scouting groups on this side of the island, it was obvious that the puny human had dealt with them. Diminishing their numbers even lower. Less than a hundred of its soldiers remained.

Aito smirked at the sound of a huge red bastard roaring behind him and cut down yet another tree. That circus lasted until the waterfall finally came into view.

He discarded his ax. After cutting so many trees in such a barbaric way, his weapon was rendered almost useless. Keeping it could only lead to problems.

Jack hopped on Aito's back before he jumped into the pond, swimming for dear life towards salvation. Toward the cave.

The fallen trees having slowed down their advance, the army arrived barely in time to see a human enter the waterfall. Enraged but not foolish enough to enter such an obvious trap, Big Bad Red ordered its remaining twenty-one spear-throwers to surround the pond.

Silence.

A warm wind brushed past its metallic armor as it intently peered into the waterfall, trying to see what hid behind it. Only blurry images of water filtering the cave's darkness entered its vision.

Behind the water curtain, Aito had equipped a shield, and a one-handed ax, patiently waiting for the bigfoots to dare come in. He had hoped to have enraged them enough for their stupidity to reach sky-high. But had been wrong. Feeling that something was amiss, he took a few steps back.

His gift "Instinct" promptly confirmed his suspicions. Aito turned around and darted deeper into the cave, his bare feet only tingling at the contact of rocky ground. Soon after, dozens of spears pierced the water and entered the cave.

Outside, Big Bad Red watched its spear-throwers showering the waterfall with their deadly pointy iron tips until they were out of ammunition. It then ordered a few of its soldiers to enter the cave.

The unfortunate chosen ones approached the water wearily. Evol monkeys instinctively knew more or less how to swim, but were no professional swimmers.

Inside, Aito was weighing his options. He could throw projectiles at his enemies, using the many spears scattered around the entrance. The waterfall blurred his vision, but he could make out many silhouettes outside, including those swimming towards him. However, a good chunk of projectiles was certain to return in some spear-throwers leather bag if he did attack them. So there was a chance that game of throwing spears at each other could go on for a while.

Which perfectly suited his shameless fighting style.

In the pond, six bigfoots were making their way toward uncharted territory when a spear lodged itself into an evol monkey's chest. It died instantly. Following the attack, one spear after another was thrown their way in rapid succession. Sometimes missing. Other times hitting their mark.

In the water, there was nothing they could do but die. Their red-furred leader watched as its soldiers floating corpses riddled with spears redecorated the pond red. Out of victims in the water, the spear's direction switched to targets on solid ground.

Big Bad Red called out its shield-bearers and ordered them to form shield walls. Spear-throwers and two-handed ax-wielders took refuge behind the protective barrier. By the time it took for them to organize, a few evol monkeys had already fallen.

Its army was down to around sixty bigfoots because of the previous chase and the current situation, the leader couldn't afford to be too impatient. The human was cunning. At this rate, its soldiers would number zero in no time. It needed to find a way around this cave. There had to be a solution.

It heard a whistling sound signaling an incoming attack aiming for its red fur. With a swing of its ax, the leader cut down the spear midair, as if it was an annoying fly. Its gaze was still fixed on the point of impact between its weapon and the projectile when it traveled a bit upward. There, it saw clouds of black smoke coming from the other side of the island—albeit slightly smaller than before.

Big Bad Red recalled its previous fight with the human and thought of a possibility. What if the other's side cave and the one in front of it were the same? It could be wrong, but also right. It rapidly devised a plan. If it succeeded, then victory was its.

However, the leader needed to wait until the forest fire dwindled enough to allow safe passage. It was already showing signs of weakening. At this rate, it could take a few hours.

Having decided, it ordered its soldiers to step back until they were out of range. For its plan to work, it needed to let the human see them. If they suddenly retreated, the puny thing could ambush them somewhere and run away again. Staying here would put pressure on the human and could also hide its intention. Or so it thought.

'What are they doing?' Aito wondered, standing at the cave's entrance. Having run out of spears to throw, he could still use the weapons he had in store, but with the distance and trees in the way, he was certain to miss 1 out of 10 times. Maybe 2. It would cost him his weapon supplies, and he dearly needed those. The cost exchange would be too great. At best, he could kill ten or so of them.

Moreover, he could use some rest. Aito felt he only had enough mana left—or whatever that energy hiding in his bosom was—for one more activation of "Pneuma."

Walking out of the cave's darkness with a small torch, Jack silently appeared by his side and gave him a thumbs up.

Aito smirked, thinking that if those furry bastards had the idea of waiting for the fire to subside in order to attack from both sides of the cave, they were in for a "delightful ride."