Chapter 4 - Golden Ape

BOOM!

The magical car shook violently from the powerful impact outside. The passengers inside quickly felt the vehicle begin to plummet through the air as multiple alarms blared throughout the cabin. "Damn it, the car's engine is damaged!" The young man shouted in panic, staring at the magical car's control panel.

"Get out!" Rock yelled, slamming the emergency button next to him. The moment he pressed it, the door beside him vanished, and the large man was ejected into the air. The purple-haired woman immediately mimicked Rock's actions and was also launched into the sky. The young man hesitated for a moment, but with no better alternative, he too pressed the emergency button, ejecting himself from the car's front cabin.

The three were now airborne, ejected in the same manner as Mike had been earlier. However, unlike the boy, none of them were falling helplessly. All three stopped mid-air, defying the laws of physics, a feat made possible by magic once someone reached a certain level. Still, it was clear that some were far more comfortable with this than others.

The young man seemed to be struggling the most to remain aloft, while Rock and the purple-haired woman appeared capable of maintaining their positions effortlessly. But at the moment, none of them were focused on this. Their attention was on the magical car, which was ablaze and plummeting through the air nearby, while a golden silhouette rapidly approached them. Before they could discern what the golden figure was, an immense magical power surged from its hand, directed straight at them.

"Professor, look out!" The young man shouted, propelling himself through the air and courageously placing himself in the path of the incoming magic.

WOOSH!

At that moment, the young man could only hear the sound of air being sliced as he saw a golden disc, radiating an intimidating magical energy, flying rapidly toward him. He instinctively raised his arms and attempted to conjure a spell to block the disc, but it was simply too fast and too powerful.

SLICE!

"Noooo!" The purple-haired woman screamed as she watched the disc cleave the young man into two perfect halves. She propelled herself toward him in a futile attempt to help, but there was nothing she could do. He was completely dead, his body divided into two clean halves that quickly plummeted toward the ground.

The woman glared at the golden silhouette, now much closer, her expression filled with rage. She had no emotional connection to the young man, but he had been an assistant and a personal guard assigned by the royal academy to help her with the tests. His death would undoubtedly cause her some headaches when she had to explain it to the academy.

A powerful surge of magical energy began to radiate from the purple-haired woman, stirring the air around her. She gathered an immense amount of wind into her palm, which rapidly condensed into a wind spear. She prepared to hurl it at the golden figure, but as she focused on her target and finally managed to make out what it was, she froze in shock.

Standing before her was a towering creature over two meters tall. It had two arms and two legs, but the tail protruding from its back and the beautiful golden fur covering its entire body were clear indicators that it wasn't human.

The purple-haired woman stared in disbelief at the creature in front of her. She immediately recognized it as a powerful magical beast known as a Golden Ape, a creature infamous for its extraordinary combat capabilities. But before she could react, she caught sight of another large figure moving out of the corner of her eye. She turned in shock to see Rock propelling himself through the air, heading straight for the Golden Ape.

"I need to get out of here!" Rock's only thought at that moment was escape. Of course, his actions might have seemed counterproductive, as he was flying directly toward the danger. But unlike the purple-haired woman, Rock had already identified the Golden Ape and assessed its power. He had quickly considered all possible escape options and was now executing the only plan that gave him even a slim chance of survival.

"Ahhhhh!" Rock roared as he rapidly approached the Golden Ape, channeling all his energy into his right arm and placing all his hopes on his best attack, a powerful right hook.

"Human! DIE!" Unfortunately for Rock, the Golden Ape had no intention of playing around. As soon as Rock was close enough, the beast swung the massive red staff it was holding with incredible force, aiming to obliterate Rock's arm completely.

"Hehe!" Rock ignored the searing pain that shot through his arm and grinned. At that moment, he released all the magical energy he had accumulated, not at the Golden Ape, but at himself. Using his magic, Rock altered the gravitational field around his body, making himself as light as a feather. As a result, the powerful strike from the Golden Ape's staff sent him flying toward the ground at incredible speed, much farther than he would have gone without his magic. Most importantly, neither the purple-haired woman nor the Golden Ape noticed Rock's maneuver. They simply assumed the man's body would become a bloody smear upon hitting the ground.

"Good luck." Rock thought to himself as he hurtled toward the earth. Deep down, he knew the purple-haired woman stood almost no chance of surviving against this Golden Ape. After all, this particular beast was far stronger than usual, and only a handful of individuals in the entire Silver Flame Nation could take it down. But in the end, Rock simply didn't care enough about the woman to risk his life helping her.

Unaware that Rock was executing his escape plan, the purple-haired woman assumed he had died at the hands of the Golden Ape. Desperation began to consume her as she realized the beast before her was far beyond her abilities. In a desperate move, she hurled the wind spear in her hand at the golden beast. To her shock, the creature didn't even bother to dodge. It allowed the spear to hit it, and watched as the attack vanished without leaving so much as a scratch on its body.

"Pathetic." The Golden Ape sneered after the attack dissipated. It looked at the purple-haired woman as though she were an insect, unworthy of any consideration. This cold gaze sent shivers down her spine. She thought of fleeing, but that was impossible. In an instant, the beast, which had been dozens of meters away, was suddenly right in front of her. A moment later, she felt the crushing blow of its red staff.

SLAM!

The purple-haired woman hit the ground with such force that the earth trembled, leaving a massive crater where she landed. She struggled to her feet, feeling numerous broken bones and a significant amount of blood pouring from her body. At least she wasn't dead. Well, not yet.

She staggered out of the crater, the first thing she saw being the wreckage of the magical car, still burning on the ground. It seemed she had been thrown to the same location as the car, though luckily, she hadn't landed directly on it. Otherwise, she would already be dead.

WOOSH!

Before she could take in anything else, she heard the sound of something cutting through the air at high speed. Unfortunately, it was the last sound she would ever hear.

SLICE!

A golden disc decapitated the purple-haired woman so swiftly that she didn't even realize she had died. Her head hit the ground, eyes still open, while the rest of her lifeless body collapsed in the opposite direction. The Golden Ape gazed indifferently at the bloody scene it had created.

Without lingering, the beast leapt into the air, flying high as it scanned the direction where Rock had been flung. Spotting a crater in the middle of a forest several kilometers away, the beast quickly flew to check the dead body.

But When the Golden Ape landed in the crater and found only a large bloodstain, a sense of being tricked overtook it.

"Ahhhhhhh! HUMAAAAAN!" The Golden Ape roared in fury, its cry striking terror into every living creature nearby.