Chapter 10: The Story of How I Tried to Escaped from a Group of Crazy Monkeys Who Wanted to Kill Me and Tear Me Apart Because I Decided to Save a Girl I Barely Know.

Daniel carefully and attentively surveyed the monkeys that surrounded Seraphina. In addition to their stone armor, which was clearly more difficult to penetrate than that of the Mountain Macaques, mostly each of these monkeys was armed.

Two monkeys held stones in their hands, which looked similar to the small stones Daniel had, but were about five times larger.

One of the Mountain Monkeys closest to Daniel was unarmed and slightly injured, as there was a crack in the stone layer on its back. Blood was dripping from its forehead. Apparently, Seraphina had inflicted considerable damage on this monkey.

But what worried Daniel the most were two other monkeys who were armed with two stone knives that looked exactly like the knife Daniel had crafted.

No matter how he looked at it, the situation was desperate. It would have been different if his knife was ready. Daniel could have tried to sneak up on the injured monkey and stab it in the back wound, but without a knife, he couldn't do anything to that monkey with his bare hands. Daniel was surprised that Seraphina had somehow managed to injure the monster, as she had no weapon in her hands.

She stood in a fighting stance, scanning and piercing each of the monkeys with her gaze. Despite her dire situation, the girl showed no trace of fear. She looked confident, determined, and seemed to be looking down on the Mountain Monkeys.

The monkeys' gaze, although angry and furious, also appeared somewhat wary. Although they surrounded the girl, they hesitated to attack her.

Only two Mountain Monkeys threw quite large stones at the girl, from which she successfully dodged.

`Maybe she doesn't need my help and can handle it herself?` Daniel was initially relieved, but then he looked at the girl again. Numerous wounds covered her body. A heavy and deep wound was visible on her side. A pool of blood flowed from her wound and dripped onto the grass. But it seemed like the girl wasn't paying attention to it.

Her breathing was heavy and uneven. She was pale. Dark circles were under her eyes. And although she tried her best not to show it, her eyes were slightly closing.

`Hah... So her energy is almost depleted... Damn it. `

No matter how strong the girl was, she couldn't get out of this mess on her own. Most likely, all her strength was focused on not collapsing and losing consciousness. At this rate, if Daniel didn't do anything, she would be killed.

`I barely even know her. Seraphina Wayne. She studies in a parallel group. I've seen her at the institute maybe twice, and I know that, like me, she doesn't have many friends. She's second in academic performance at our institute, right after Young. She's certainly beautiful, but risking my life for her looks is not something I intend to do. But if I think about it, among all the girls at the institute...`

Daniel was deep in thought.

`Her booty's for sure the silver medalist on my ultimate butt rankings...`

A tense silence hung over Daniel.

`So what? Am I supposed to go and save her because of that? That's foolish, Danny. I need more convincing arguments... And if I consider real arguments and look at everything objectively, even if I decide to save her, Wayne's chances of survival are minimal. Let's say I distract those damn monkeys and they all chase after me. Wayne will take advantage of that and try to escape, try to reach the Safe Zone, although in her current condition... that would be impossible. Conclusion: you should drop this, Danny. You'll only die in vain for someone you barely know...`

"I wish I could do that." Daniel calmly said, casting a cold glance at the monkeys. Daniel swiftly summoned two items from his inventory. In one hand, he held a small stone, and in the other, he held a gnawed bone from a Mountain Macaque.

`I already regret this. I need to reevaluate all my life decisions that led me to this moment.` Daniel swung the stone as hard as he could and threw it at an immense speed directly at the injured Mountain Monkey's back, hitting it right in the crack in its stone armor. The layer of stone on that spot cracked sharply. The Mountain Monkey screamed and turned around to face Daniel.

The other Mountain Monkeys also shifted their gazes from Seraphina to Daniel, fixating on the small object he held - the gnawed bone from the Mountain Macaque.

Meanwhile, Seraphina immediately noticed Daniel and without a second thought, ran towards him. She was heavily breathing and could barely speak.

"Aa?! What is that idiot doing?! Isn't it obvious that she should have taken advantage of the moment and hid from them instead of running towards me?`

As soon as Daniel thought about it, Seraphina swung her leg high and delivered a sharp and powerful chopping blow to the back of the wounded Mountain Ape. Seraphina hit the spot where the Mountain Ape's stone layer had fallen off, which was where Daniel had hit it with a small stone. The wounded Mountain Ape immediately fell to the ground and remained lying there. The Mountain Ape was killed by Seraphina's precise blow.

[You receive 10 points for assisting in the kill.]

`What?` Daniel was surprised. Seraphina immediately rushed to him and began to run away with him. She was breathing heavily and could barely speak.

"Their weak spot... Hah... Hah... Strike between their... Stone layer there... Hah... Fragile..." Seraphina struggled to breathe. "I'll leave... you..."

She abruptly leaped into the bushes on the right and disappeared, not giving Daniel a chance to respond.

`Great. Very informative. Thanks. And she's so confident that they'll only chase after me? Didn't she just kill one of their kin!?` Daniel turned around and saw the enraged and furious stares of the Mountain Monkeys directed at him and the bone in his hand.

They paid no attention to how Seraphina slipped away right before their eyes. Like ominous fountains, their mouths foamed, betraying their insatiable rage. Their eyes emitted bloodlust and hatred.

Two Mountain Monkeys relentlessly began throwing stones at Daniel, who barely dodged them. One of the stones only grazed his shoulder, but even then, his health decreased by one point. How much would his health decrease if one of those stones hit him in the head? Daniel definitely didn't want to find out.

He dodged and evaded the stones as best as he could. The monkeys with knives swiftly closed in on him. They were incredibly fast, and the worst part was that the trees allowed the monkeys to accelerate quickly. The monkeys with knives agilely jumped from one tree branch to another and were now just two meters away from Daniel.

Ha, it seems like I have no choice, Daniel thought as he picked up the pace. He stopped looking back to keep track of the stones flying towards him and instead ran forward in zigzags, just like he did when he was running in the tunnel. It was risky, but Daniel didn't have any other options.

He just needed to buy a little bit of time and then return to the Safe Zone. Simple as that.

Although it seemed simple on paper, in reality, running away from enraged monkeys who wanted nothing more than to kill him was incredibly difficult.

Especially when the stones flying towards him started hitting him more frequently. Even though they didn't hit his head, each time they hit his body, his health decreased by one point.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! How long have I been running and they still won't give up! Maybe I should give them back this damn bone and then they'll leave me alone?

One of the Mountain Monkeys with a knife swung sharply on a tree branch and flew towards Daniel like a bullet, holding a stone knife in front of itself. Just a millimeter more and the knife would have deeply pierced Daniel's spine, but he heard the approaching danger and quickly jumped forward, causing the knife to only graze his back, leaving a small cut.

Four stones flew at an immense speed into Daniel's back, from which he couldn't dodge in time, and all four hit him.

`Ugh. That was very unpleasant...`

The second Mountain Monkey with a knife attempted to do the same as the first one, but this time Daniel was fully prepared for the sudden attack and calmly dodged the flying monkey.

But there was no reason to celebrate. Both Mountain Monkeys closed the distance between Daniel and themselves to one meter. The monkeys with stones were also quickly catching up and were now just a couple of meters away from Daniel, making it even harder to dodge their stones than before.

However, suddenly in the distance ahead, Daniel saw a large field. A field with tall grass that was about five meters high.

Another person would consider this pure luck, but Daniel knew this area like the back of his hand. It was his initial plan to reach this damn field. The only stroke of luck here was that he had actually managed to get here.

Speeding up as much as he could, Daniel quickly headed towards the field. Behind him, he could hear the enraged cries of the Mountain Macaques, but they didn't bother him.

Daniel reached the field, rushed in, and hid among the grass. The fresh smell of grass hit his nose. The grass here was very obedient and calmly parted before Daniel's rough touch. The dark-haired boy ran a few meters forward but then abruptly turned to the right.

The monkeys, of course, could know this area well, but they didn't have the aerial view that Daniel had before.

`Somewhere in this place, there was a pit...`

Daniel quickly found it. He immediately lay down in the pit.

In the distance, he managed to catch the angry cries of the monkeys, but these cries gradually began to fade further and further away until they completely died down.

Daniel took a deep breath and exhaled.

`Phew. It all turned out much easier than I thought.`

Suddenly, the stone knife plunged into the ground right next to Daniel's head, and he barely managed to jerk his head at the last moment. Blood sharply flowed down Daniel's cheek, and the knife left a quite noticeable cut on his face.

Daniel quickly looked up and saw in front of him a Mountain Monkey, whose burning gaze was filled with anger and fury.

Daniel jumped out of the pit and met its threatening and fierce gaze with cold calmness.

The monster was alone. There were no other monkeys nearby. Only one Mountain Monkey with a knife.

"There's no point in running anymore," Daniel calmly said. "Stone knife."

A message appeared in front of Daniel.

Crafting time remaining: [0 minutes 13 seconds.]