Venerable Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Golden Apes

Read chapter 14 of Venerable by Jade_White on NovelPedia.

Dustin kept moving forward through the glowing tunnels of the beginner dungeon. Several hours had passed since he killed the snakes. He was completely covered in dried blood and looked incredibly disgusting. His clothes were stiff with the dark red stains, and the smell was starting to make him sick. He kicked a small rock out of frustration. Clack. The stone bounced off the cavern wall. Right at that moment, Dustin sensed multiple things moving rapidly into his perception bubble. The mental map in his head lit up with fast, erratic signatures. He quickly became vigilant. He gripped both of his steel daggers tightly in his hands and turned to face the direction of the disturbance. His muscles tensed as he waited in the pale light. After just three breaths, a pack of creatures rushed into his line of sight. They looked like monkeys, but their fur was a bright, unnatural yellow instead of black or brown. Most of the monkeys were roughly the size of human teenagers. They bounded across the rocks with terrifying speed. However, two of the monkeys in the back were entirely different. They were massive, standing taller and wider than adult humans, and looked more like heavily muscled gorillas. Dustin quickly scanned the newly arrived creatures. Thanks to his years of gaming experience, it took him less than two seconds to process the information the system fed into his mind. These creatures were called Golden Apes. Most of the smaller ones were common grade and ranged from Level 5 to Level 8. The two massive ones standing in the back were uncommon grade. One of them was a Level 11 monkey, and the largest one was a Level 14 monkey. 'I am in serious trouble now,' Dustin said to himself internally. He stayed rooted to his spot and held his fighting stance. He did not attempt to make the first move. There were ten of the smaller monkeys and two of the massive ones. Even if these creatures possessed low intelligence, their sheer numbers made this an extremely hard fight. Screech. One of the Level 6 monkeys lost its patience and jumped directly toward Dustin's face with its claws extended. Dustin had been considering backing down slowly, but that option was gone now. "Damn it," Dustin cursed. He dodged to the right with a quick burst of speed. His high Agility stat made the monkey look like it was moving in slow motion. As he stepped past the lunging beast, he brought his left dagger down hard. Slash. He delivered a long, deep cut across the monkey's left arm and completely ruined the limb. The beast hit the ground howling in pain. The smell of fresh blood sent the rest of the pack into a frenzy. More of the smaller monkeys started attacking Dustin all at once. They leaped from the walls and rushed him from the front. Dustin kept his eyes darting around the chaos. He noticed that the two larger apes just stood there in the back. They were simply watching the commotion unfold. 'I really hope they don't join in,' Dustin thought as he ducked under a wild swing. He kept dodging the relentless attacks from the smaller monkeys. He would weave through their grabbing hands and strike back with his daggers whenever he saw an opening. Thud. Squelch. He killed three of the smaller monkeys in rapid succession. It was not very hard to put them down, even with his naturally lazy body, because his level and stats were so much higher than theirs. But the entire time he was fighting, he remained hyper-vigilant of the two giants in the back. If those bigger monkeys suddenly decided to attack him, he would not have any way to fight them off while the smaller ones were still swarming him. However, the two massive apes did not attack. They just stood with their arms crossed and watched as Dustin effortlessly slaughtered their subordinates. This was simply the nature of the Golden Apes. The system had designed these specific creatures to be incredibly prideful. Fighting an enemy who could not even defeat their lowest ranking members would hurt their pride. Eve