Chapter Eighty-Two

With one gorilla down, Edward brought his attention to the other half of the fight. Leila and the others were almost done, but one of the gorillas was giving them a lot of trouble. As Edward pulled up the stats of the remaining enemies, he quickly noted how most of them, other than the strongest one, were down to half HP. One gorilla was only a single attack from death, while the rest of them would die within two or three strikes so long as one of the heavy hitters of the party was the one who struck them.

The healthiest gorilla was the one that was giving the group a lot of trouble. It seemed to have been hit only once, as Edward only managed to spot one burn injury on the gorilla's shoulder. From the brief moment Edward had seen, the healthiest gorilla appeared to be dodging many of the attacks sent its way, at least compared to the other gorillas, so its agility must've been much higher than the other enemies. 

Markus's [Perfect Provoke] skill allowed the party to focus more on their damage output than their defense, so nobody was struggling. Edward didn't want the battle to drag on too long, so he decided to rush forward, his feet generating thrusts of power that shot him through the air. Edward didn't even wait to land before attacking his enemies. He took a deep breath while he tilted his feet forward to generate some thrust in the opposite direction so he could slow down. Then, as he hovered in the air, Edward unleashed a massive dragon breath.

He didn't focus on one target but instead directed his attack to as many gorillas as possible. The flames quickly spread in all directions and immediately covered what remained of the charred battlefield. His attack killed the weakest gorilla and severely damaged all of the others. The healthy gorilla quickly turned in Edward's direction and roared, its eyes suddenly turning blue as it broke free from Markus's skill.

"I'll take this one!" Edward laughed as he slowly landed on the ground. The flames around his feet hadn't even been extinguished by the time the gorilla before him lunged forward. Edward quickly jumped back and dodged the gorilla's desperate attempt to grab him, then he performed a backflip to gain even more distance. He wanted to get as far away from the others as he could, mainly so Markus wouldn't have another opportunity to tether Edward's foe.

Edward smiled as he felt his heart beating in excitement. He felt like his heart was working overtime simply from his anticipation of a good fight. As he turned back to the gorilla, a laugh began to escape from deep within his chest. His knuckles rocked back and forth, ready to form into a fist at a moment's notice. Small flames gathered near his arms with every muscle twitch, as if even Edward's own abilities sensed his excitement.

"Got it!" Edward heard Markus reply with a shout, though he didn't look back to acknowledge him. He was too concentrated on his enemy to take detailed notice of anything else around him. As the gorilla charged forward once more, Edward's smile grew wide.

Then, just as the distance between the skeleton gorilla and Edward's neck seemed dangerously small, Edward's mind felt a wave of inspiration rush through it. He tilted his torso like a waterwheel until his right palm faced the ground. A brief burst of flames erupted from his palm, pushing him into the air. His momentum didn't cease, however, so his body continued to rotate as his legs left the ground. He tucked his feet and hands closer to his body and watched as the cave's ceiling quickly replaced the floor.

As Edward's body rose over the gorilla, he lifted his right hand from his chest and swung it forward as if his palm was cutting through the air. The momentum of his spin, combined with the speed of his arm, quickly resulted in a powerful attack. A whip of flames sharper and denser than the usual ones created from his legs erupted forward, slicing against the gorilla's back.

Edward laughed as his attack landed, but he wasn't done yet. As soon as his body rotated another 180 degrees, not even half a second after his first attack, Edward found himself facing the ceiling above. His right arm faced the gorilla, so he clenched his fists and pointed his knuckles at his foe. A gout of flames burst forth like an arrow before striking the gorilla in the head.

The gorilla fell to the ground, dead. It hadn't even been five seconds since their battle began, yet Edward had already defeated it like an ordinary mob. Edward quickly stopped his momentum with a quick thrust in the opposite direction and then returned to the ground.

As he did so, he caught a glimpse of Ikarus roasting the last enemy, ending the fight. Edward watched as an influx of XP raised his XP bar to 57%, but he was too occupied to care. His heart was still pumping in excitement as he looked at the gorillas killed by his abilities. Out of the five, he had done the final hit on three of them, yet he still didn't feel that the fight lasted long enough to satisfy him.

He wanted more— desperately.

"That was amazing," Brandon smiled as he stepped forward. Edward looked at his brother and nodded. Then, as the others approached Edward, he turned his gaze to each of them before finally landing on Markus.

"You seemed to enjoy that quite a lot," Markus chuckled, "Maybe I should leave an enemy for you to solo from now on."

"Heh," Edward laughed. He nodded as a small smile of appreciation donned on his face, "I would appreciate it."

"Yay! Now, let's look at the loot!" Brandon smiled as he turned away from the gorillas. Edward and the others watched as Brandon quickly approached the chest in the room. Now that the battle was over, it was time to look at their rewards.