Chapter 140: Home Run

Never expecting this "scrawny" kinsman to dare to take the initiative and attack, the giant ape was still striking a pose while holding its wooden club, reacting a beat too slow. Having survived countless bloody battles, however, this minor surprise was not enough to make it lose its composure. Seeing that dodging was already out of the question, it completely ignored the dagger Catherine was thrusting toward its heart, instead swinging its massive club directly down toward the crown of Catherine’s head!

A chilling wind howled!

Whether it was her imagination or not, Catherine always felt as though countless wailing wraiths were intertwined around the blood-stained head of the club, disrupting her psyche and leaving her feeling slightly perturbed. Sensing the giant ape's formidable momentum, Catherine naturally had no intention of perishing together with it. She halted her forward charge on the spot, spun around to evade the descending giant club, shifted her steps, and reappeared behind the giant ape, thrusting her dagger forward once more!

The giant ape had no intention of turning around whatsoever. Utilizing the momentum of its downward club swing, it smoothly executed a forward roll. Its sturdy, thick foot happened to kick Catherine’s oncoming dagger off course during the roll. The moment it landed, without even adjusting its posture, it leaped with an exaggerated amplitude, swung its club once again, and swept horizontally toward Catherine!

By this point, Catherine was frowning slightly. Judging from these two exchanges, the giant ape was inferior to her in both strength and agility. However, its attack range was vast, and every single move was an exchange of injuries for injuries. Faced with this rogue-like style of combat, Catherine truly had no good countermeasure for the moment.

Leaping backward lightly to evade the wide-ranging horizontal sweep, Catherine pondered countermeasures in her heart without rushing to attack. Unexpectedly, the giant ape mistook Catherine's caution for fear, pursued her relentlessly for two steps, and struck out aggressively once again!

Having dodged the first blow and lost her initial sharpness, she found herself subjugated at every turn. It was evident that the giant ape was not swinging its club haphazardly; every single move and stance possessed profound logic, and its attacks possessed a certain continuous, endless quality. Most astonishingly, its "club technique" was not merely about swinging; there were splitting, parrying, sweeping, and thrusting motions. Disregarding its bizarre appearance, one would definitely mistake it for an extraordinarily brilliant master of martial arts!

"Damn, why do I feel like this dark ape handles a club even more flashily than the fencing masters in the Continental Championship?"

"So I wasn't the only one who felt that way? That spiked club is so thick, yet the ape actually managed to use it with the feel of sword-dancing!"

"They can communicate with each other and use tools—these apes are about to defy the heavens! This is the rhythm of them directly evolving into humans!"

"Evolution doesn't happen that fast! Learn how to make fire before rambling about this kind of stuff!"

"This kind of combat intelligence... I suddenly feel like all human techniques are just crap!"

"The person above me, I disagree with that statement. Look at this ape's physical constitution! It's on par with Monster-like Sister Catherine! Can we normal humans use the techniques it's using?"

"Why do people always manage to start arguing no matter when? Can't you guys just shut up and properly enjoy such a brilliant close-quarters combat?"

"Stop sending bullet comments! If the trolls can't help themselves, just unplug your keyboards!"

"This doesn't make sense! Viewed under the six-fold Eagle Eye technique, Sister Catherine's physical fitness should be even better than that ape's, right? Why has she been constantly kept on the defensive?"

"Damn, doesn't your head hurt from keeping the six-fold Eagle Eye technique on?"

"I also feel that Sister Catherine should have the advantage. Does she probably have some reservations? Or is she waiting for an opportunity?"

"..."

Unlike the guesses in the bullet comments, Catherine truly was not waiting for any opportunity or brewing any ultimate move. From the very beginning, her momentum had simply waned, allowing the giant ape to suppress and beat her all the way to this moment. Although she could not be considered in immediate peril right now, due to the weapon disparity, she had no great way to break the deadlock. Despite the fierce dust and intimidating momentum of their back-and-forth blows, both of them knew very well in their hearts that they were actually locked in a war of attrition, competing over whose stamina would run out first.

Possessing the Fire of Antares, Catherine could absorb energy while fighting and outlast her opponent no matter what. The giant ape was also acutely aware that its sweeping, open-and-close offensive style was fundamentally unsuited for a prolonged battle against her, and a sense of anxiety inevitably arose in its heart. When Catherine evaded yet another chopping strike, a fierce glint flashed across the giant ape's eyes. It forcefully thrust the wooden club into the ground, pressed its palms together in front of its chest, shifted its fingers through a few nimble seal-forming patterns, and clapped hard! A ball of purplish-black shadow energy materialized in its hands. Howling, it hurled this ball of energy toward Catherine, pulled up its wooden club, and immediately charged at Catherine again right behind the energy sphere!

At this moment, Catherine was somewhat speechless. The flight speed of this purplish-black energy ball—wasn't it just a bit too slow?

It was almost neck-and-neck with the running speed of the giant ape. As a detached magical attack, this flight speed was truly sluggish. Without breaking a sweat, Catherine merely executed a side-jump to effortlessly evade the pincer attack of both the energy sphere and the giant ape. Having suffered losses repeatedly, she no longer dared to casually let down her guard during combat and remained completely focused. Sure enough! Having flown less than five meters, the energy sphere traced a bizarre arc in mid-air and, accompanied by the giant ape, smashed toward Catherine once again!

Was it actually a tracking-type special magic? Catherine felt a trace of admiration in her heart, feeling a heartfelt envy for the innate talents of the magical beasts in the Magical Beast Rainforest. One had to know that the casting difficulty of tracking magic was extremely high; even back when she was an Advanced Mage, she couldn't cast a single one, and for a very long time, tracking magic was considered the hallmark of a Great Mage!

However, despite its tracking function, the sluggish speed of this energy sphere remained its fatal flaw, and Catherine easily dodged it once more. More amusingly, in order to coordinate with her own energy sphere, the giant ape's attack posture exposed an opening, and Catherine landed a vicious kick squarely on its backside, almost failing to check her momentum and crashing directly into her own energy sphere! One had to realize that this was the real world, and one's own magic could likewise injure oneself without the slightest bit of exemption!

Although this giant ape was in an extremely sorry state, it attacked again without the slightest discouragement. Three times, four times, five times... with zero effect. Instead, Catherine seized the opportunity to land several blows on it. Especially her left arm—having been struck by a whip kick from Catherine, it suffered severe damage and now hung limply in front of her chest, completely unable to be raised!

With a despairing roar, the giant ape gripped its staff with a single hand and launched a charge toward Catherine once again! Yet, with one of its arms crippled, its posture appeared full of flaws in Catherine's eyes! She had already calculated that after dodging this attack, she would definitely use her dagger to deal a heavy blow to this ape and completely disable its left leg!

While such thoughts were still spinning in her mind, Catherine's eyes suddenly caught sight of the giant ape abruptly halting its charge when it was within five meters of her, using its remaining right hand to swing its club with all its might, striking the dark energy sphere with absolute precision! The posture bore an eight-tenths resemblance to playing baseball, and the struck energy sphere suddenly accelerated just like a real baseball, reaching the ultimate extreme! Without giving Catherine any time to react, it smashed violently into her chest!