Aizel heard a noise coming from the bushes as he tested his power.
He pondered as he hastily called forth his new spirit sword from the ring, "Did someone sneak up on me?
The voices started coming from everywhere, and they got louder and louder.
Aizel was astonished when two groups of monkeys suddenly appeared. They were all black-furred and had four arms.
"Damn, they're at least 14–15 monkeys; I hope they don't use fucking magic." Aizel began to enhance himself with mana while getting ready to fight.
"Let's try something different." Aizel quickly took a quick draw stance and began manipulating the mana around him. The air around him became sharp and heavy quickly.
Small sparks of lightning began to appear on his sword as the monkeys were just a few meters away. He quickly drew his sword as crescent-shaped lightning slashes split all the monkeys in half.
"Awesomeeee." Aizel's eyes twinkled from the move he had just performed.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the tree, a young woman watched the same movement and murmured quietly. "What a monster!"
She quickly emerged from her hiding place and walked straight toward him.
Aizel noticed her and became very serious, not knowing what to expect.
"Who are you? I've never seen anyone like you before." The young woman inquired, her gaze fixed on him.
"I just moved to town a few days ago," Aizel responded.
"What's your name?" she asked.
"Why should I tell you?" he answered.
For two minutes, there was complete silence as they stared at each other.
"Are you a guest of the Paul family?" the young woman inquired, her face slightly hesitant.
"I don't know any Paul family," Aizel responded with the same expressionless expression.
The young woman sighed, indicating that she was involved in family or political matters.
"Let's move on; we're in monkey territory, and while they're weak, they're a force to be reckoned with in numbers. We don't want a herd of them to show up."
Aizel wanted to say something, but before he could, a chorus of monkeys' voices echoed around the area.
"Damn it, they've arrived; come on, follow me." As she began to run away, the young woman said. Aizel paused for a moment before sprinting after her.
"I should make an effort to avoid using any other elements or techniques. She may have noticed me using the lightning with the sword technique. I'll be more cautious from now on." While running behind her, Aizel reflected.
"Isn't she a little fast?" Aizel noticed her as she ran through the trees and bushes. Meanwhile, the monkey groups began to close in on them as they ran.
Some of them began closing them from the right side, while others began from the left. Some were running, while others were swinging through the branches of the tree with their four powerful arms.
"You handle the right ones, while I handle the left." While running, the young woman yelled.
While running, Aizel counted. "One, two... at least ten of them. Four are on the branches, while the others are running."
As he was running, Aizel began charging small thin lightning bolts on his finger. As the monkeys tried to approach him, he aimed it at their heads and fired the lightning bolts one after the other.
The lightning bolts were so fast that they left a small, finger-sized hole in their heads as they died one by one.
When Aizel turned his gaze to the left, all he saw were monkeys lying dead everywhere, split in half from the middle.
"She's strong," Aizel thought as he approached her side.
"Are we now safe?" Aizel inquired of her as the woman began to take inspect her surroundings.
"No, we should go to the forest corner zone; we're too deep in the forest. A large number of deaths will not go unnoticed." She responded, and Aizel nodded in agreement. Aizel took the woman's advice, and they made their way to the forest corner zone.
As they traveled, they encountered many pairs of monkeys. They all got killed while some corpses were being stored in the storage ring.
Aizel's focus was not only on the monkeys but also on the woman. He observed her using her katana as well as her magical abilities. She was making use of the wind element because she sometimes makes herself fly by sprinting or making quick turns with the help of air. She also used air slashes to cut the monkeys at times.
They were still in the middle of the forest when they noticed that the monkeys' attacks were becoming more frequent, and their numbers were also increasing.
"They're getting closer and closer to us. Stay close because we may have to go all out from now on."
After fighting the monkeys so many times, Aizel was irritated.
A loud roar resounded everywhere as he was about to say something, and many monkeys who were running and jumping came to a halt like statues.
The young woman moved closer to Aizel, whispering in hushed tones into his ear. "Make sure you use all of your power or we'll all die."
Aizel wanted to say something, but he couldn't. The reason was that there was a giant monkey with white fur and two large claw-like hands with spikes growing on both of them. They were also four long, curved backward horns of a purple-red color on his head.
The giant monkey moved slowly towards them, while the rest of the monkeys stood still, terrified by the presence of that monster.
It stood at least 5 meters tall and had long, sharp teeth.
"That's a Grade II monster and the area's boss." Aizel's eyes widened in horror as the woman spoke. The monster in front of him was a Grade II monster. He could be even more powerful than the frost wyvern he fought in the trial.
