Ape Man Joins the Team

The battle arena was bigger than what Alex had imagined, larger than he could process. It was about twice the size of a foot ball stadium, or maybe even bigger.

The three were one of the first to get to the arena and as Alex watched the demigods' stream in through, he was taken aback.

He had thought the whole demigod in the facility couldn't be more than seventy or eighty, but he had counted more than hundred and there were still more rushing in; all wielding weapons and armors glinting in the harsh light.

The good thing was that the combat arena was more than enough to accommodate them all, with lots of spaces still left.

"so what's the game today?" Alex asked Harry.

"I already told you guys, we do not know of the game until it starts." Harry said, a little bit irritated.

"So how long do we have to wait until the game officially starts?" Alex asked again, "I'm kinda, you know…" Alex rubbed his arm up and down.

"I know you guys are flabbergasted to have me on your team, but I'll consider joining." A baritone voice that sounded like that of singing crocodile sounded behind them which was soon followed by a shadow that completely covered all three of them as a gigantic figure blocked the sunlight from reaching them.

"I'll consider teaming up with you lots, but note it's only out of pity." The person said again in the voice that seemed to be giving Alex goosebumps.

"Excuse you?" Harry squinted and looked back at Dylan and Alex, "Did you guys invite this…mountain of flesh?"

The two shook their head and focused their attention on the figure in front of them.

They soon saw him scratching his head, "But Kal Boon said the line would work," He muttered, "Pardon me. My name is Bab Boon."

"Baboon?" Alex bit his tongue to stop the violent laughter from rushing out.

"Yes, that's correct" The figure nodded like he didn't know what the name means.

Alex even narrowed his eyes as he looked at the guy who just called himself a Baboon and sure enough he truly did look like an ape.

He was huge, very huge. It also didn't help that he was using similar weapons to the Cyclopes Alex and Dylan fought recently, and that coupled with his extremely large figure, he truly did remind them of the twin Cyclopes.

His skin was dark brown and covered in sweat like he just finished running a marathon. One obviously noticeable thing about him was the very fact that he was hairy, very hairy. He had skin on almost every part on his body; his skin, his face, his elbow and Alex even thought he could make out few strands of hair here and there on his palms. And that only made Alex curious of just how hairy it must be down there. The only visible part of his body that wasn't hairy was his bald scalp which reflected the sky above.

"And may I ask why you want to team up with us?" Alex folded his arms. He was already irritated by the guy's lame entrance, and then his appearance that almost made him puke.

Bab Boon also folded his arms, his already bulging muscles expanding the more. It was no surprise that his shirt now looked like a vest with it sleeves thorn; there was no way it would be able to contain those mass of muscles.

"Well, the main reason I want to join is because I find these two kids interesting," Bab pointed at Dylan and Alex. "After all, not just anyone can cause three genocides."

Alex looked at Harry who just whistled away

"And I also believe you'll need me on your team. You see, there are always those people who target newbie to prove some sort of hierarchy. Not to talk of the person you're currently teaming up with." Bab pointed at Harry, who once again looked at the sky and started whistling like he didn't hear what Bab said.

"…Harry…?"

"Look, it's about that, you know, Butch thingie." Harry quickly said, "You see, the demigods around here have a strange ego. They felt helpless at Butch's complete annihilation and couldn't do anything about him. But when he left, they turned to the only other person they can pass their frustration on – me. That is the main reason why I still hadn't found any team member since then…. Until you two came."

Alex could only sigh, "Still, you could have told us. What if we decide to leave now then?" then he looked at Bab who had a blood shilling smile on his face. "Look here Mr. Ape, nice try but we ain't needing anyone on our team. We're as complete as good."

"Mr. Ape?" Bab Boon frowned, "That's an animal. Did you just refer to me as a bush animal?"

"What's the different?" Alex smirked, "Your parents probably named you after a monkey. Bro, if you don't know, that basically makes you a monkey in human skin."

Bab unfolded his arms like he wanted to smash Alex to the ground but before the two could get into a fight; Harry was there to stop it.

"Well, well. I think Alex is right…" Harry said.

Bab squinted his muscular eyeballs, literally. "Are you also saying I'm an animal?"

"Yes…I mean no," Harry quickly said, trying his best not to laugh, "I mean you were right, Mr. Bab….boon. One more people on our team wouldn't hurt, right? Besides we need enough man power since we're basically public enemy. And Ape Man… Bab here is the perfect meat shield…"

Alex only just clicked his tongue and walked a few meters away from Bab.

From the other end of the arena, a door similar to the door which they entered through opened, but instead of demigods rushing in like Alex expected, what streamed in were monsters.

The thing was, the monsters weren't restricted in any way. And there were still people in the area. But when Alex looked, he realized everyone in the area were gone.

Herry chuckled softly as he could read Alex thoughts. "Only a fool would choose to stay a second when that door opens,"

An ear piercing sound like that of a mal functioning radio as heard and an announcement was made.

"Good day, Mutts!"

"Mutts?" Alex turned to Harry once again. "Is that…?"

"A slang for unclaimed demigods, duh" Harry just continued to focus his attention on the big screen which put on view the image of a Shadow Ninja, except this one was a bit…eye catching, with the golden patterns on his mask.

"A lot of interesting things have been happening lately and with some of you complaining on being bored, we have decided to take the evening games up a level." The Shadow Ninja said. "Today's game is what you would call Capture the Swag; Humans against Monsters."

A stand opened up from the ground and there, their swag was lying. And for those with far enough eyesight, if they looked keenly at the other side, they would see the same thing at the back of the monsters.

After hearing the shadow Ninja there were a few murmurs and there but it all stopped when he started to speak again.

"You know the rules; you take your enemy swag and return it to your zone, while at the same time you prevent the enemy from doing same to yours."

"But these monsters are mindless beings; they only know how to kill. Why don't you just let us kill them and see whoever gets the highest kills?" Someone voiced out. It was the same thing so many others were thinking, including Alex and Dylan, so they just nodded along.

The Shadow Ninja sighed deeply like he was disappointed. "Can't you see these monsters are different from the ones you've always fought. Except from their unstable minds, they're almost as intelligent as you mutts."

Everyone looked at the monsters but apart from all of them being somewhat humanoid, there didn't seem to be anything special about them.

"An addition; the person that successfully returns the swag to their side gets an addition of 100 points."

There was immediately an uproar that shook the whole arena.

Alex could only look at the walking Wikipedia beside him.

"Wait, don't tell me I didn't tell you guys?" Harry looked surprised at first before he palmed his face. "Oh, I must have forgotten."

"From the looks of it, you forgot to tell us a whole lot of things." Alex scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah. You see, apart from the fun, we also receive points based on our achievements and at the same time decrease it when we break rules. These points, when gathered to a certain level, could be used to rank up." Harry explained, "No one knows what this next rank really entails. It could mean getting new sets of weapons and equipments, new entitlements, new living conditions. But of you would ask me, I would say it means leaving this place, like something like they did with Butch. After all, anyone with enough points to rank up have t o be crazy strong…or deadly."

"Points, hum" Alex murmured, "So how many points do you currently have?"

Harry looked away in embarrassment and once again…faced the sky and began to whistle sharply. But Ape m…Bab turned his face back to Alex.

"Three hundred and seventy seven points," Harry tried to look away but found himself unable to do so against Bab's Ape-ish grip. "Out of one thousand points needed to rank up. But look, I'm currently ranked like 35th in terms of point accumulation. The number 1 is like six hundred points or so."

Alex nodded, "I see, it must be pretty hard to level up. I wonder how long it would take me"

"possibly forever, I think they made it that way so no body would be able to rank up. Besides this place is already like a paradise to most of us, ranking up or not does not really matter." Harry said, "Besides, there are two known ways if you want to rank up real quick. First is to get claimed, and the other is to be so troublesome that even the Shadow Ninjas deem you too dangerous to be with us."

"To me, it looks like you're talking from experience."

"Sure, I've been here for a very long time. there was one time they brought this short girl" Harry's eyeballs pierced the sky as he tried to remember the details, "On her first day here, she killed two people and even fought a blue Shadow Ninja because she wanted more food. The only way to define that girl is crazy. She fights over the slightest provocation, and she also had dangerous strength to back up her hotheadedness. Well, the Red Shadow Ninjas came and took her away. It was a relief to everyone."

"So we'll be giving you guys five minutes to devise a plan. And once the glass separating the two sides opens up, the battle begins. I'm sure you'll be in for a nasty surprise. Have fun and try not to die. Good bye."

It turned out the Gold Shadow Ninjas was still talking, probably explaining all the rules and that, while they were discussing. With that, the screen went blank and slid into a compartment in the roof.

Everyone gathered in the centre with a certain someone in the middle. One would think it was the demigods, but instead it was the monsters.

The demigods on the other hand just stayed on their own and looked at the monsters. It was hard to tell if they were really planning something or they were actually performing was some sort of monster rituals.

But the demigods could not care less, after all, all they wanted was the fun of having to kill some monsters. Their hands were shaking from the excitement and they couldn't wait for the glass to open up. Some would have even tried to break the glass open if they didn't know how durable it was.

"Like always," Harry's voice phased through their ears, "They always make things interesting. At first, they make us work together to defeat the monsters and take their swag but then what happens after that? The real fun begins. All of us would have to fight for the swag."

Alex nodded and asked. "So, what's the plan?"

"What plan?" Harry raised his eyebrows, "We plan with our fists not our head.."

He then looked at Bab's hand and thought of adding, "…And maybe our weapons. Kill as much monsters as you can and gain some damn points. Sure, we'll have each other's back but the main priority is killing those god damned monsters and gets some points?"

"You seem to be mentioning the word 'point' too much. If I may ask…" Alex raised his voice. "How many points does a monster cost?"

Harry smiled wryly. "About 0.5, I think?"

"What!"

Now Alex understood why everyone went crazy over a hundred points. They were basically getting something that will take then over a hundred and ninety monsters to get.

* * * TO BE CONTINUED * * *

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