Chapter 699 (2/2)

The interaction with the tentacle monster had been brief, but it did seem like that monster had been part of a large wave of monster attacks. All around there were yells of battle and fear. As Naffur rushed past unrelated courtyards and gazebos, he saw plasma pistols and exosuits abound, fighting against various strange animal and fish beings.

Then there was a scream that cut across it all. Naffur’s heart hammered in his chest with such force that it felt like his body was going to burst. In his fit of desperation, he yelled. “Mareen!”

Instantly he veered to the left and lengthened his stride. From the screen, he knew which opening in the tall bushes he should aim for. But the responding shout stopped him dead.

“Naffur?!!”

Uh… Naffur’s walked a few steps forward, almost tentative. Could he just rush in there now…? If she found out about his secret identity-

“Don’t come, it’s dangerous! Run away!”

Naffur winced. Not that she didn’t mean well, but yelling ‘Don’t come!’ felt a bit like a rejection.

Why did I fucking buy a flower crown?!?

Lost in his strange reflections, Naffur jumped when it seemed like a hammer was dropped beyond the hedges, causing the ground to shake. Mareen screamed again.

Galvanized by the scream, Naffur’s entire body seemed to hum. But no sooner had he resolved himself to dash the fifteen meters forward and go through the opening in the hedge than he felt Neveah’s hands in his armpits.

“Right now you are not Naffur,” She whispered. “Fly, Knight-Errant Ducis. Take a step and the rest will follow.”

As if she were pushing a child on a swing, Neveah gently pressed forward. Naffur was launched into the air as if he was shot out of a cannon. The pressure from the wind took him by surprise so much that he flinched and blinked wildly. But even as he arced up over the hedge, he realized that he had underestimated the strength of his body; the Stat points he had used over the past few weeks was more than enough to give him the ability to do this.

A blurry image resolved himself as he careened through the air and focused on the condition of the courtyard below. There was a large ape with teal skin and four arms that had left deep impressions in the ground in the shape of fists. The monster’s arms were as thick as tree trunks, with corded muscle that was visible even through a thick layer of fur.

In fact, there were two apes, one in the corner lumbering out of the portal and another slowly advancing toward Mareen.

For a second, Naffur’s gaze hitched on Mareen. She was wearing a long green backless dress and holding a plasma pistol aloft in front of her body. She wasn’t aiming, but simply holding it, as though it would ward off the approaching violence. Scattered around her was a fractured cake and brightly colored chairs that were overturned.

Naffur’s eyes narrowed. “Intrepid….”

The ape monster twisted around as he descended. Naffur thought briefly that it was incredible that Neveah had thrown him perfectly to hit the ape, but that those was lost as adrenaline filled his body. “HAMMERRRR!!”

The first hit knocked the ape in the tremble and it stumbled away. Naffur was about one half of the size of the ape, so his body rebounded harmlessly as he crashed into his shoulder. With a grace that Naffur didn’t know he possessed, he landed on his feet and raised his hands again. Clenching his fingers together, Naffur through punch after punch.

“Intrepid Hammer! Intrepid Hammer! Intrepid Hammer! Intrepid Hammer! Intrepid Hammer!” Again and again, Naffur threw punches against the ape creature. Each time, notifications ticked up that he had gained one, or two, or five Levels in the Skill. Very soon his arms were trembling from the strain of supporting the attacks, But his vision had narrowed to just the ape.

Even the reverberations of the ape’s moans and the feeling of bones shattering under his touch did little to alleviate the feeling of rage that filled him.

Once again, Neveah’s hands brought him out of it, seizing his wrist. The ape was on the ground, its breathing labored. “Perhaps it is better that I handle this.”

Naffur looked up, his breathing labored. Mareen was looking at him with watery eyes, a hand raised to cover her mouth. Nafur turned and ran away.