Return of the Woodcutter

Chapter 23 - The First Step (part 2)

Dodging and blocking occasional deadly spears thrown at him, Aito pushed the raft using his bamboo pole towards the mountain.

The current being on his side, he progressively increased the distance between him and the bigfoot army chasing Aito through the woods close to the riverbank, with an angry-looking big red evol monkey leading the hunt.

Soon enough, he got out of range from spear throws. However, Aito and Jack would reach the foot of the mountain in a short while, leaving only the land as the sole escape path. Taking advantage of the current, he pushed his muscles to the limits, increasing the raft's speed.

He knew it was pointless to flee the monkey army on such a small island. He could probably last until nightfall, but then exhaustion would force him to stop; given the fact those evol monkeys wouldn't catch him before.

Still, he hoped that once the night came, those bigfoots would settle down like they've been doing the past months. Although he knew nothing was certain on this island, it was his best bet. That and… the cave.

'Shit… I really don't wanna go in there.'

The thing haunting his dreams seemed to have grown tired of waiting. Although his dreams were more pleasant now, the creature had become more insistent during the last part.

Unless forced to do so, he would never, ever take a single step inside that cave.

'Never say never,' He thought, laughing at the irony of the situation while recalling a certain quote from a song that didn't suit his taste.

His previous dwelling rapidly came into view. Checking the forest for any sign of evol monkeys, he disembarked on a rocky riverbank, leaving his bark ashore in case he would need it later, but with the current now flowing uphill, he might as well play the lottery.

Unwilling to stay here longer than necessary, he hurried towards Jack's old broken cage, planning on sticking to the mountainside to sneak his way to the island's opposite side; an area he visited little since it was poor in resources and was too far to be cost-efficient.

However, evol monkeys showed up earlier than expected, surrounding him from all sides. Stuck and with nowhere else to go, Aito—with Jack on his toe—slowly retreated behind the frail-looking bamboo walls he had built in the past.

Feeling familiar with this situation, he recalled, despite his impending doom, the first time evol monkeys had attacked him simultaneously.

"Double shit," Aito said, drawing his shield and a one-handed ax. "So this is it then? Just a few days away from the end?"

Jack eyed him worriedly while gripping its own weapons to prepare for the inevitable.

The fast-approaching evol monkeys then halted their steps when a loud roar echoed throughout the forest. Almost instantly, they reformed their ranks, shield bearers to the front with two-handed ax wielders close by and spear throwers behind the defensive lines.

A huge red monkey then showed itself with an impatient facial feature, looking eager to deal with its unfinished business.

Aito was unwilling to die here, but the odds were against him. Confronting this army on the open ground would be suicide, so was staying here. However, the only solution he had left was far from being pleasant.

'So in the end, it might turn out just how that shameless god predicted.' He thought, resolving himself to enter the cave.

With no choice but to use the cave's narrow passage to limit the evol monkey army's numerical advantage, he slowly back stepped to "safety."

ROAR!

Once again, the army ranks broke up as the shield infantry run to the cave entrance. Standing next to his old bed, Aito raised his shield.

Unwilling to let go of his second chance. Unwilling to let himself die without a fight. And unwilling to accept the seemingly inevitable fate, he drew his ax.

—Gift: Mindless fury—

"Come have a taste of my iron!"

Forced to stand in line by the cramped space, the evol monkeys' charge slowed down before reaching Aito.

BAM!

Shield against shield, Aito stopped the first evol monkey's charge and quickly went for the kill while ignoring the bigfoot trying to outflank him, instinctively counting on his partner to take care of it.

Perfectly blended in the obscurity thanks to its black fur, Jack swiftly sprung to the bigfoot's throat. Caught by surprise, its vital fluid rained upon the cave's wall, spraying on a few enemies' faces.

In between two kills and with his gift obscuring his mind, Aito managed to shout an order, "Jack! The poison!"

At this point, it was unnecessary to hold on to it.

Soon after, some white substance appeared from within the shadows, reaching enemies' faces with its putrid stench.

Chaos ensued as those infected by the poison grabbed their faces, ramming everything around them due to the pain—including their own kin. Aito smiled at the welcomed help and bashed yet another monkey aside.

One man wreaked havoc against the bigfoot's lines inside the cave, mercilessly killing his attackers in a flurry of vicious ax strikes and shield bashing.

The small monkey at his side took advantage of the chaos and relative darkness to either slow down bigfoots by slicing their heels or directly go for their throats.

Outside, the red evol monkey looked furious at the humiliating scene of its army being driven back by only two puny things.

The current successful defense sparked a flickering flame of hope inside Aito. Filled with the will to survive, he redoubled his efforts. Slashing, parrying, blocking. His new found resolve showed results when corpses started to pile up on the rocky ground.

At some point his weapons broke, leaving him defenseless for a moment, but Jack covered him just long enough for Aito to bring out a new shield and ax.

Unable to contain itself any longer, the army leader started to push its way through its own soldiers to deal with the problem itself.

Aito eyed the leader from the corner of vision, decapitating yet another bigfoot. The giant monkey soon arrived in front of him, pushing aside the corpses of its fallen soldiers.

Its hand slid toward its double-edged ax head to shorten the weapon range; it apparently was aware that the narrowness of the space didn't allow for large swings. And with a swift and powerful downward strike, it brought down the ax on its puny target.

BAM!

Aito blocked the blow using the metallic part of his shield and felt the aftermath vibrating through his entire body. Bones, muscles, and organs seemed to sightly shake under the power of the strike. Aito paused momentarily, shocked to be barely able to match his opponent's strength, even with his gift's buff.

The red bigfoot ready its weapon for yet another attack when the temperature seemed to drop drastically. Stopping his movement, a dreadful feeling seized it. Outside, the river current stopped flowing uphill, and the water on its surface froze, creating a thin layer of ice.

Inside, specks of ice dust progressively formed on the cave's walls. The breath of evol monkeys and humans alike became visible to the naked eye as they stood still, paralyzed by fear.

Then, a deformed voice resounded from within the cave's depth, switching from a low rock to a piercing sharp tone.

"MyyY PrEyyY."

The red bigfoot hesitantly took one step forward, seemingly refusing to comply. It knew the creature. That thing had attacked them last night, but with their current number, they were able to repel it at a great cost. But within the cave, it feared the creature might just kill them all. Still, the red bigfoot couldn't afford to look weak in front of its soldiers.

But a pale grey tentacle flashed by it, pierced through leather armors, impaling three bigfoots in one go before pulling them into the cave's depths.

This time, the army leader halted its steps. Its gaze laid upon its target, then the darkness, and, finally convinced of its inferiority, decided to signal the retreat.

Paralyzed by fear, Aito's gift deactivated, leaving him staring at the evol monkeys' backs growing distant as they left the cave. The army leader gave him one last look filled with hatred before finally walking out.

"CoMeE tO mEe."

Aito bit his lips. Using the pain from his self-inflicted wound, he freed himself from the fear and took a step towards the entrance, towards the light.

But before he lifted his other feet, a tentacle wrapped around Jack's body. The small monkey tried to free itself by using iron daggers, but the blades couldn't even make a single scratch on the tentacle's grey skin. Jack gave Aito one last supplicant look before being dragged like the other evol monkeys, into the darkness.

"Kyaaaaaaaak!"

Jack's voice echoed, entering Aito's ears and rebounding on the rocky walls like an endless loop. He turned back towards the disappearing voice of the sole living being who brought him comfort on this island. His thoughts of fleeing instantly disappeared as he brought out a torch and lit it.

Then, gathering every ounce of courage he could muster, he entered the darkness, accompanied by a deformed voice.

"CoMeE tO mEeeeEeE.. AiTooO WallKErrR."