The ape demon that had been chasing Zhao Yunxiao Two all this time stopped in its tracks.
Rahhhh-!
After giving a ferocious roar, it suddenly turned around and started charging in the complete opposite direction.
"Where do you think you are going?" Zhao Yunxiao Two shouted.
He threw two daggers at it, only to have the ape demon block them easily with a single swipe of its arm, almost as though it had eyes on the back of its head.
Just like that, the ape demon quickly disappeared from Zhao Yunxiao Two's line of sight.
Without the traps to hinder the ape demon, there was simply no way for Zhao Yunxiao Two to keep up with its speed.
"Shit, it's coming!" Zhao Yunxiao said. "I think it sensed the death of the monkey demon somehow."
"How much time do we have?" Chu Han got straight to the point.
"At this rate, one minute," Zhao Yunxiao answered.
The party members exchanged glances.
One minute was not long at all.
"What's the plan?" Pu Feixiang asked before swallowing a pill.
He had expended quite a bit of his energy with that last strike, and wanted to recover as quickly as possible, considering the current situation.
In fact, that applied to everyone else as well.
After dealing with the monkey demon, none of them could be considered to be at the top of their game right now.
"Should we... retreat?" Gui Longcan asked hesitantly.
It had taken a toll on them just to bring down the monkey demon.
If Zhao Yunxiao's assessment was accurate and the ape demon was indeed stronger than the monkey demon, then taking it down might be challenging considering their current condition.
"What do you think, Junior Martial Brother Zhao?" Mo Mian asked after putting away the carcass of the monkey demon. "Do you believe that we have what it takes to win? We will retreat if you think otherwise."
Up until now, Zhao Yunxiao was the only one who had any contact with the ape demon, so he was naturally the best person to make such a judgement.
The only complication was that Zhao Yunxiao was new to the Mystic Cavalry.
This meant that while he might be the only one with any information about the ape demon, he might not have a good gauge on the party's abilities.
Considering that, leaving the decision to him could be considered a rather risky endeavour.
Zhao Yunxiao understood that as well, so he was rather surprised to hear Mo Mian's question.
He looked around at the party members, and saw every one of them staring right back at him, waiting to hear his evaluation.
This was not a position that he enjoyed finding himself in.
Zhao Yunxiao had always preferred to be careful about everything he did.
In almost any other situation, he would not have hesitated to decide on retreating for now. That way, they could avoid putting the lives of the party members at risk.
However, the grand array overhead would not last forever.
If the party were to retreat right now, this would mean allowing the numerous monkey monsters and the ape demon to roam freely in the forest once the grand array dissipated.
Once that happened, it would be nigh impossible to gather all of them and get rid of them in one fell swoop ever again.
Who knew where they would go and what they would do after today, and how many lives would be lost because of that?
"Just go with whatever you think is right," Chu Han urged. "I trust your decision making."
"Junior Martial Brother Chu is right," Mo Mian nodded in agreement.
Huu-!
Zhao Yunxiao closed his eyes and let out a deep breath to compose himself.
He knew better than to endanger everyone's lives for mere pride and blind optimism, so this was definitely not a decision that he could make easily.
After all, if they were to perish here, the same negative consequences would occur as if they simply gave up here.
With their defeat, the grand array overhead would still give out eventually, and the monkey monsters and ape demon would escape all the same.
All that would change was that there would be five more names added to the casualty list.
In his head, the various scenes from the past few days intertwined with the information he had on hand.
The party members' individual abilities and specialties.
Their current condition and any potential recovery.
The monkey demon's abilities and traits.
The ape demon's abilities and traits.
He systematically broke down every last bit of information he had to come up with the probability of success.
After a few moments of silence, Zhao Yunxiao finally opened his eyes to face the rest of the party.
"I think we've got this," Zhao Yunxiao said while looking straight at the rest of the party members.
His answer drew smirks from the others.
"Then that's decided," Mo Mian nodded. "Let's do this."
"We have slightly less than one minute," Chu Han reminded everyone. "As for the battle plan, we will be following Junior Martial Brother Zhao's lead this time, and adapt accordingly. Don't slip up!"
"Got it!" the rest of the party answered in unison.
***
In the silent forest, the sudden rustling of leaves sounded especially pronounced as the ape demon gently pushed the bushes aside to step into a wide clearing.
There was a sole figure standing in the clearing.
With his Jadewind Sword in one hand and the monkey demon's severed head in the other, Mo Mian stared right at the ape demon with a look of determination in his eyes.
Not just that, but his eyes also contained hints of various coloured lights, testament to the amount of support buffs that had been casted on him beforehand.
Rahhhh-!
The ape demon roared in rage as it saw the head of the monkey demon, revealing its fangs that were as sharp as razors.
Mo Mian was unfazed.
He flicked his wrist to store away the monkey demon's head and pointed his sword at the ape demon.
"Come!" Mo Mian taunted.
The ape demon did not need to be told twice.
In fact, it did not need to be told at all!
It roared once again while charging straight towards Mo Mian, its demonic aura exploding in all directions.
Mo Mian let out a wry smile upon seeing this.
Zhao Yunxiao was right.
Just from the demonic aura alone, he could tell that the ape demon was likely to be stronger than the monkey demon.
But that was something that they had already taken into consideration.
"Now!" Chu Han shouted from within the shadows.
Daggers flew out.
Bolts of lightning shot out.
At the same time, an illusory emblem formed above the ape demon, creating a suppressive force upon it.
Everyone attacked at once from where they were hiding, aiming to catch the ape demon by surprise.
Earlier, Zhao Yunxiao had already seen that the ape demon was able to somewhat detect attacks that were coming from behind.
But even if it were capable of doing so, there should still be a limit to how many attacks it could handle at once!
As expected, the ape demon immediately spun around and swiped with its arms.
One arm blocked the daggers, while the other blocked the bolts of lightning.
Bang-!
The daggers exploded upon impact, and so did the bolts of lightning.
Seemingly unaffected by the explosions, the ape demon immediately looked up at the illusory emblem above it and roared.
Its demonic aura erupted towards it, causing large cracks to appear on the emblem. It did not take long before the cracks eventually grew large enough to cause the emblem to shatter altogether.
Just like that, it neutralised the attacks from three different members of the party.
However, this also meant that the ape demon was now leaving itself open to the most dangerous combatant of the party – Mo Mian.
And he did not intend to let this opportunity slide.
Wind gathered behind him, granting him an additional boost in momentum as Mo Mian charged forward.
[Unyielding Stone Bind]
Two chains shot out from the ground and headed straight for the ape demon's face.
Zhao Yunxiao knew that, with his current mastery of the technique, it would have little to no effect on the ape demon.
However, what mattered was that the ape demon did not know that.
The two thick chains made of earth and rock would appear to be a menacing threat to anyone, so it was only normal to feel apprehensive about ignoring it altogether.
Indeed, the ape demon did not choose to ignore the chains, even with Mo Mian fast approaching from behind.
It swiped out with one arm, easily smashing apart the two chains that came from the front.
With its other arm, the ape demon swiped at the approaching Mo Mian.
But with its attention divided, the ape demon had absolutely no chance of stopping Mo Mian with such a haphazardly executed attack.
Mo Mian did not even have to slow down his steps as he easily ducked to avoid the swipe from the ape demon.
Slash-!
The Jadewind Sword drew blood on its first attack, directly cutting through the ape demon's thick hair to reach its flesh underneath.
Mo Mian did not allow himself to get carried away with a single successful attack, immediately leaping back to create distance between him and the ape demon once more.
Rahhhh-!
The ape demon roared as it turned towards Mo Mian, its eyes filled with hatred. It was evident from its gaze that it could not wait to tear Mo Mian to shreds.
"Terra Seal Formation!" Chu Han shouted without hesitation.
It was almost a necessity at this point, considering just how strong this ape demon was.
The quintet were well prepared for the order, instantly jumping into position to activate their battle formation.
Unfortunately, the ape demon did not react the same way that the monkey demon did previously.
Even though Mo Mian was the only one who had shown himself since the start, the ape demon was not overly fixated on him.
Instead, he suddenly turned around and charged straight towards Gui Longcan who had only just shown himself for the Terra Seal Formation.
"Watch out!" Mo Mian shouted and immediately ran after it.
"Dodge!" Chu Han yelled in shock as well.
"Shit!" Gui Longcan cursed as he saw the ape demon's figure rapidly approach.
He had seen for himself how even the close combat specialist Pu Feixiang had struggled against the monkey demon earlier.
As for Gui Longcan himself, he might be able to engage in close quarters combat to a certain degree, but it was not nearly at the level where it was comparable to his peers.
And that was before considering the fact that the opponent this time – the ape demon – was supposedly stronger than the monkey demon.
Even with the ape demon being subjected to the suppression of the Terra Seal Formation, he would not stand a chance in a direct confrontation!
Gui Longcan did not dare entertain any crazy thoughts.
His immediate reaction was to retreat as quickly as possible while throwing out all the negative buffs he could!
"I'm on it!" Pu Feixiang shouted.
He was the one nearest to Gui Longcan at this moment.
As a close combat specialist, he naturally took on the responsibility of intercepting the ape demon's charge.
"Tundra Former!" Pu Feixiang did not hold back, using his most powerful spear technique right from the start.
He understood that if the ape demon was allowed to get to Gui Longcan, that could very well mark the end of the Terra Seal Formation.
And without the aid of the battle formation, it might be rather unlikely that they would be taking the ape demon down today!
But unlike earlier when he had used it against the monkey demon, Pu Feixiang did not have as many support buffs on him right now.
At the same time, he was also approaching while completely under the vision of the ape demon, meaning that he no longer had the element of surprise on his side.
The technique itself might be powerful, but its speed did not match up as well.
The ape demon grunted upon seeing Pu Feixiang's approach.
Its gaze quickly swept across the ice aura gathering at the tip of the spearhead and, with a sudden burst of speed, changed directions to head towards Pu Feixiang instead.
"What?!" Pu Feixiang exclaimed in shock as the ape demon appeared in front of his face.
The ape demon had closed the distance far too quickly for Pu Feixiang to react in time.
And now that they were in such close proximity, it would no longer be possible for him to land a proper strike with his spear!
But just as Pu Feixiang was at a loss, Zhao Yunxiao suddenly appeared right behind him, having accurately read the ape demon's move beforehand.
Zhao Yunxiao might not have a powerful technique like Pu Feixiang's Tundra Former, but he was still rather confident in his handling of his trusted halberd.
From behind Pu Feixiang, Zhao Yunxiao put every last ounce of his strength into his halberd and thrust it forward without hesitation.
If the ape demon were to choose to attack Pu Feixiang in this position, it would have to suffer his halberd strike as instant retribution!