Seed of Titan-Chapter 162: A Thunderous Reunion

For the next few minutes, the five apes kept on fully alert, but there were no more signs of their attacker. Eventually, they dropped their guards and gathered on the ground next to one of their unconscious comrades.

Unbeknownst to them, Drai was silently observing from above, seated on a tree branch.

’If they don’t move those two away, I only need one more ape to complete the task. Based on my first encounter with them, their next move is probably gonna be...’

One of the apes suddenly leaped up and swung vertically through the branches, reaching the canopy in no time. It then leaped once more into the air and began to emanate light.

Right at that moment, a white streak shot toward its head, and Drai’s fist slammed hard onto the ape’s temple, instantly rendering it unconscious. At the same time, the light from its body subsided.

Before the ape could plunge, Drai grabbed its ear and lowered it down to the trees where he laid it against some thick branches. Then, he took out a huge roll of white string from his storage and tied the ape’s hands and feet together.

’Nice. That’s one ape secured. Now, what will those four do?’

Far below, the rest of the apes started panicking upon realizing that they had failed to send a distress signal. After a round of discussion, they leaped away together and left the area.

Shortly after, a tied-up giant ape dropped to the ground. Connected to its tied-up limbs was a long, thick string that was held by Drai.

Gazing in the direction of the escaping group, he mumbled, "I guess they decided to look for help by themselves. I need to move faster then."

Following this, Drai tied up the other two apes that were still blacked out and brought the three to the cliff’s edge.

He glanced at the fruit trees nearby and pulled out his virtual map.

"I might return here someday. Maybe these red fruits could give me something good," he remarked while noting down a few words on this spot of his map.

After closing the projection, he grabbed the three long strings connected to the lightning apes and flew across the canyon once more. This time he had to fly a bit higher to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally smash his captives against the trees or cliff wall.

After crossing the canyon, Drai rose above the trees and kept flying forward at full speed. When his time limit was near, he lowered his altitude and carefully laid the apes on the thicker parts of the tree canopy before deactivating Nova Flux.

Looking at the three large heads near his feet, Drai let out a wry smile.

’Defeating them is one thing, but bringing them all the way back to Misty Forest is really a hassle, especially since I couldn’t get bigger anymore. I wonder how long it would take to reach the Endless Blue if I keep pausing every six or so minutes like this. I don’t have a choice though—I don’t wanna waste essence here since I need a lot of it to cross the Endless Blue. Maybe it would be faster if I sprint on the ground instead, but I’m sure these guys would get completely battered from bumping into trees. Besides, it would be harder for their crew to track me up here.’

After he was done recovering, Drai set out again until he was forced to rest once more several minutes later. While he was waiting for the cooldown to reset, one of the apes seemed to wake up as it started to move, but a quick chop to its temple sent it right back to sleep. Due to this, Drai closely watched the other two in case they also regained consciousness, but up until he was ready to set out again, the apes hadn’t moved at all, so he immediately took flight once more while keeping an eye on his dangling captives.

’Max’s rope is really strong,’ Drai thought as he glanced at the white threads in his grip. ’I wonder why he didn’t make use of it more for the camp or other stuff. Hmm, maybe it isn’t that simple to keep them materialized since they usually disappear in no time whenever he stops his cast. Looks like I’ll need to get something for Max to repay him. Without his rope, I’d probably end up impaling their arms with wooden stakes to keep them from escaping unless I could find a really tough vine—these bastards are pretty strong after all.’

After flying and resting for a couple more rounds, a vast blue strip finally emerged ahead, right below the horizon. A smile appeared on Drai’s face as he decided not to rest and just recover his skill with essence from this point onward.

’System, set auto recovery for Nova Flux.’

[Affirmative. Automatic recovery for Nova Flux has been set.]

Soon, Drai zoomed past the last lines of trees. The humid and slightly pungent jungle air was instantly replaced by the river’s cool breeze.

Just then, the three apes below him abruptly came to life, screeching and howling loudly while thrashing around.

"Fuck!" Drai cursed, startled by the sudden commotion. Looking down, he furrowed his brows in annoyance. "Looks like you guys had deliberately stayed quiet, huh? Damn it, why does this have to happen after we passed the shore—there’s no place to set you lot down now. Really, I should’ve just kept knocking you out whenever we sto—"

A sudden jolt silenced Drai, and his grip instantly loosened.

Thunderclaps resounded from the direction Drai had flew from and was rapidly closing in, but Drai wasn’t in the position to worry about them, as he was frantically diving below, trying to catch up to his plunging captives before they hit the water.

At that moment, a huge flock of birds suddenly swooped down and assaulted the apes, chomping off pieces of fur and flesh with every bite while their claws dug into their body. The apes shrieked in pain, but there was nothing they could do as their limbs were still firmly bound.

"GET THE FUCK OFF MY APES!" Drai shouted angrily from a distance, but the birds remained unfazed as they fully enjoyed the rare feast.

To make matters worse, the waters below began to churn, and shortly after, several elongated maws leaped out into the air. The flock quickly dispersed before these newcomers tore the apes apart.

Drai halted his flight. He hovered there, quietly seething as he watched the fruits of his labor turn into croc-fish feed, scattered all over the turbulent water and dying parts of it red.

Meanwhile, the thunderclaps grew louder, and soon, a golden figure arrived at the sky above.

"AMAG!" it roared excitedly.

Drai raised his head, staring coldly at the golden ape that was periodically releasing small bursts of lightning sparks from the soles of its feet to keep itself afloat.

"You’re not even saddened by the death of your minions, huh? Good. That’ll make it even more satisfying when I ram my fist down your filthy throat."

Without further delay, Drai launched himself toward the Lightning King. Despite being utterly defeated in their last encounter, Drai was fearless. Not only was he emboldened by rage, he had also grown much stronger to the point that the lightning attack earlier didn’t manage to hurt him at all.

Likewise, the Lightning King was also unperturbed by the foe’s resilience—after all, it only launched a small attack to get Drai’s attention. It did wonder a bit how Drai could’ve survived after getting absolutely thrashed by it the last time around, but its eagerness for battle quickly dissipated the thought.

Life at the apex was pretty boring and uneventful, so much that the golden ape even began longing to get bothered by Max again. That’s why it personally went to the fruit-tree area after hearing a report about a mysterious assailant that had just attacked their harvesting group before following the scent left by its captured underlings. And although the foe didn’t turn out to be Max, the Lightning King felt excited regardless.

When Drai was just a few meters away, a loud thunderclap sounded, and the golden ape blurred. A split second later, a giant golden fist slammed into Drai.

Yet, Drai simply hovered there, unmoving. On the other hand, the Lightning King faintly whimpered as he felt his knuckles throbbing with pain.

This time Drai had fully activated Nexus Augmentation from the start. He would gladly spend all his essence if it meant he could vent all his anger and past grievances.

Drai immediately countered with a rapid barrage of fist strikes, which created numerous dents on the golden ape’s fist, turning the impacted flesh into mush and fracturing any stricken bone.

A large electrical explosion blasted right in front of Drai, shoving him backward ever so slightly. Lightning currents spread across his body, but he barely felt pain. It seemed like his lightning resistance had increased greatly due to his extremely dense muscles and bones along with his altered biological structure.

Meanwhile, the Lightning King had blasted itself away from the unexpectedly terrifying foe. It hovered at a distance away, its eyes darting between its heavily wounded hand and Drai’s white figure.