[Second Experiment!]
The ape was slow, much slower than Stark, so any attacks he would send at it would probably hit it straight on, meaning that he only had a limited amount of moves before the ape grew too fast and durable for that.
It was a disadvantageous battle against time for Stark (well not really but he can’t keep going forever).
And being watched by all the apostles as well as the [Godless Demon] did in fact add to the pressure.
But oh well…
“AURA SMASH! CRIMSON SPEARS,” Stark summoned the eight projectiles, and his clone did the same too with 5 spears and 1 merged crimson fist.
And then….
“CLAW COMBO,” after Stark avoided his first combo with [Invincible Dodge], the ape lunged toward the boy again, fully knowing a single hit from his claws would be enough to absolutely destroy him.
Stark wasn’t the same to feel the pressure after all: the ape did as well.
He was a calamity-level monster, of course, but in the face of the other apostles he was nothing, and trying to please its masters was its biggest priority.
~FWISH~
Stark kept moving to the side to avoid the giant claws, carefully watching each of the ape’s movements, and activating [Time Vision] for a microsecond each time in case he needed it.
He wanted to do something very precise with that monster for his second experiment.
And so once he saw the opportunity…
“GOT YOU!” he smiled.
The guardian ape swung its massive claws, but Stark was ready.
He met the hand with his own strength, blocking the attack after sliding on the surface for a moment.
He planted his feet firmly in the watery ground, using his body weight to restrain the ape guardian.
“Oh?” some of the apostles were surprised.
“-43613!” because even though he had blocked the attack, there was still an impact, meaning that the human did receive a significant amount of damage from that, no matter how confident he tried to act.
“=)” the clone kept watching, ready to unleash everything at any point now.
But Stark didn’t back down from the pain and damage.
And so, using all of his strength, though lower than the ape’s, he swiftly moved in a way to hold the guardian’s arm on his back. And then, with a powerful thrust, he pierced the ground with the arm he was holding, forcing it to do the same.
He didn’t know if it would work, but if it did, it would be huge.
“This kid might be smart.”
“Nothing better than to just beat its ass though!”
“Weak people need to use strategies to win.”
As expected, the apostles were analyzing the battle, but now that he was locked in, Stark didn’t even pay attention to them, and if he felt their gazes on his back, he didn’t care much to begin with.
The guardian ape tried to lift its arm from the ground, but it just couldn’t.
The claws were put in too deeply, and the hard ground made it even harder to get out: it tried to repeatedly slam the ground with its other hand, but nothing.
Then it tried to use all its force to pull it out, but still, nothing either.
And when it felt desperate, its used its other hand to hold the arm that was stuck and began to pull.
“GROOAKKKK!”
“Groak?”
The guardian ape began to panic.
It tried everything it could think of, but it was trapped. Its massive strength was no match for the unyielding ground and Stark’s clever strategy.
“GROAKKS?! GAORKA!” the guardian ape roared in frustration, but its efforts were futile, it was stuck, and Stark had now the complete advantage against an enemy that couldn’t even move or defend itself.
The guardian ape struggled to break free from Stark’s strategy, and once it knew that it was stuck in place, it immediately went back to looking at the human, trying to at least see what it was trying to do.
But once it did, its eyes widened as it saw 10 crimson spears, 3 crimson fists, and another massive merged one ready to strike.
Stark had been prepared for the ape’s increased speed and stats, thus making it possible for it to either block or avoid his attacks, and so he decided to increase his chances of success to 100% by forcing the monster to stay in place.
“Groa-” the ape didn’t have time to finish its noise, that all the projectiles were right in front of it.
Stark’s crimson spears and fists flew in a tight formation, while his clone’s merged crimson fist and five spears followed closely behind.
The projectiles slammed into the ape’s body with tremendous force, causing it to shudder and roar in pain.
Despite being restrained, the ape was still incredibly powerful. Its muscles bulged as it strained against Stark’s assault, trying its hardest to escape, but all attacks hit their mark.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM
Explosions echoed through the sunken valley as the guardian ape kept roaring,
its body battered and bruised from the relentless onslaught, Stark’s strategy had paid off, and now the ape was at his mercy.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“-44362! -47445! -45649!” first it was the ten spears that hit, dealing around 40000 damage each.
“-64262! -65821! -63487!” then it was the three crimson fists.
And finally…
BOOOOOM!
“148531!” the one that had the biggest impact of all, the merged crimson fist.
And so with all of that…
[-778,331 damage to ‘Guardian Ape’!]
[Guardian Ape HP: 179,041/1,100,000]
Not only was this thing’s body obliterated by all the attacks, one of its arms visibly pierced and most likely unusable, and his chest also having holes in it, but it was also down to its final portion of HP.
Surely it couldn’t do anything now, right?
Surely Stark had won after such a devastating attack… right!?
But of course, reality wasn’t as bright.
“This guy is an idiot.”
“Right.”
“He’s dead, not that impressive, I don’t know how Reaper lost against him.”
All the apostles spoke, mocking the human for doing something so reckless.
And of course, there were many reasons why.
But the most obvious of all…
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[‘Overtime Damage’ has been activated… 14 times!]
“WHAT?!” Stark was absolutely crushed as he saw this.
This had been the topic of his second experiment: to see if dealing damage at the same time would count as a single activation, but it looked like he was wrong, meaning that he went all in for seemingly no reason.
Of course, he had done massive damage, so it wasn’t really ineffective, but now… what could he possibly do?
[“Guardian Ape” passive skill “Overtime Damage” activated]
[+500 speed! +500 strength!]
[+750 speed! +400 defense!]
[+800 strength! +500 strength!]
.
.
.
[+1000 speed! +1000 strength! +1000 defense!]
And so in the end… that thing was…
“FUCK…” Stark took a step back as the ape’s aura was now so powerful it felt nauseating, especially from so close.
The guardian stood up on its two feet, looking down on the human as it easily removed its arm from the ground with its strength.
“Groak,” it now didn’t exude any emotions, it was just… neutral, as if looking at a bug.
And then…
“Rapid Slamming.”
It moved its arm so fast that Stark didn’t have the time to react.
~SLAM~
“-75000!”
Stark received the entirety of his health from that attack.
And so…
Ding!
[You have died.]
