Is this really a Game?!

Thud

Tens of apes lost their lives each second as the battle raged on. The giant army of apes was stopped as they were getting bombarded from afar by Beast and Laura while Greenie was wreaking havoc with Beast's tamed beasts in their midst. Shadow was nimbly jumping around the army while using his shadow manipulation, many of the apes couldn't even try to dodge or block his attacks as the shadow bindings would get a hold of them and leave them to his mercy. Other apes would suddenly feel a sharp pain as numerous shadow spikes had stabbed them from below, their legs would be left with multiple stab wounds and they would be forced to lie down on the ground as they simply couldn't walk anymore, falling down however meant that the rest of their body would get penetrated by the spikes as well.

The whole jungle was shaking from the fierce battle, corpses were everywhere and the area the battle was taking place looked like it was painted with blood. The trees were completely soaked in blood while bits of flesh and fur was hanging on the branches above.

A bit away from that battlefield were Reign and the others who were currently battling the bosses. Each of the bosses was pretty much the same monster, huge apes that used their overwhelming physical prowess in order to destroy their enemies. It seemed that none of them was intelligent enough to understand what Reign and the others were doing as being divided from the rest of the army would simply make them easier to deal with.

Not only did the bosses have incredible strength but their thick fur was hard to cut through and even Reign with his sharp katana had issues. Wolf on the other hand could use his flames to its fullest against the hairy apes as their fur was perfect for him to light on fire. If not for the control he had over his flames he reckoned he could probably burn the whole forest down, and that was actually something the party considered doing if they needed to kill all of the apes in order to finish this area.

Tank was the one that had, at the same time, the least and the most problems when it came to fighting the boss. His shield and the incredible defense he had allowed him to block the attacks with relative ease and even the powerful ape could only scream in frustration as his attacks were basically useless against him. On the other hand, because of his fighting style, Tank had to stay in the same place most of the fight and couldn't attack often which led to the fight currently coming to a standstill as both the big ape and tall man couldn't injure one another.

Reign was currently dodging attacks left and right while simultaneously swinging his two swords in order to cut open the ape's giant arms. Even with the incredible sharpness that his katana had, it was still tough for him to do so as the strong defense of the ape was not hard to overcome, his broken sword on the other hand was having an even harder time.

With him fully coating both swords with mana using the skill of a magic swordsman he was able to bring the sharpness of his weapons to another level while also making them tougher and more durable, it wasn't an easy thing to do however as it did take a fair amount of mana to have the weapons fully coated during a battle. Reign suddenly disappeared from the spot as a punch from the ape landed on the ground he previously stood on and made the soil cave in from the powerful hit.

Appearing behind the ape Reign slashed at the ape's back multiple times before the giant monster turned around and swung his arm in a backhand motion toward him. The sheer power of the ape's attack created a strong gust of wind that was blowing at Reign who constricted his eyes and kicked at the ape's body in order to dodge the attack. Suddenly lightning erupted from his body as he started flickering around the place, before the ape could even respond to any attacks it was getting cuts all over its body before Reign appeared behind his legs, with both of his arms bulging with full power he slashed at the Achilles tendon of the ape.

Unfortunately even with all of that power he wasn't able to fully cut through and disable the ape's leg, before he could try again he was forced to move as the ape kicked back in an attempt to hit Reign. Reign could defeat a boss by himself but the problem was that he would use too much of his mana if he simply went all out, he needed to use his speed and nimbleness to his advantage and cut the ape apart bit by bit.

He mostly focused on hitting the vital areas of the ape, the Achilles tendon from before, the armpits, neck, groin, eyes… All of those areas were vulnerable and would allow Reign to deal a lot more damage compared to simply slashing at the ape's body without thinking, each cut forced a lot of blood to spurt out and slowly Reign would win simply because the ape would collapse because of blood loss.

Not only were the apes not experienced with dealing with such powerful foes but the sheer size of the bosses also served as a detriment when fighting an opponent such as Reign, not only did its huge size make it sluggish and slow but it also made the boss into a huge target for Reign. Not only did he use his two swords to slash open the ape's body, but he would also send lightning spears and magic missiles toward the ape with every chance he got.

The lightning spears were able to penetrate through the thick defense of the ape, albeit barely and only if he limited himself to launching two of them at a time, the eruption of lightning that came after the attack would land on the ape's body and burn the fur which would do even more damage. The magic missiles, on the other hand, did little against the powerful defense of the ape, the missiles were after all just densely concentrated mana that would explode upon impact and against such defense, they could do little against it. The most damage the missiles did was when they landed on an area of the ape's body that had already been injured.

Upon exploding at the already wounded area the missiles were able to destroy a chunk of the ape's flesh and widen the wound from which more and more blood started flowing out.

On the other hand, Wolf was simply keeping his distance while sending flaming spears and waves of his sword toward the ape. His ability was incredibly effective against monsters such as the apes that had thick fur as he could simply light them on fire and wait for the enemy to get cooked. Not only was he able to conserve a lot of mana doing so but Wolf was also keeping his stamina consumption low as he didn't need to move a lot.

The boss was busy rolling around and putting out the fire that Wolf would once again ignite with his attacks during most of the battle. Most of the fur had already been burned and the ape had multiple burn marks on its body right now, from time to time the powerful ape would release a loud shout and charge at Wolf while ignoring the raging flames, but that would only last for a short period of time as the fire would grow larger and stronger later and it would force the boss to roll around again in an attempt to put it out.

Tank and his opponent on the other hand were broth breathing heavily as they continued fighting the same way, the ape would unleash a barrage of attacks every once in a while and Tank would block them, albeit with some difficulty before hacking away at the ape. Both of them were panting but it was clear that Tank was the one in the better position as of right now as his body was still relatively clear of any wounds while the ape had multiple.

Not only would Tank attack the ape with his axe from time to time but he would also use his shield as well and hit the big monster with the [ Shield Rupture ]. As time passed the boss was simply getting more and more wounds while Tank was still relatively safe. Of course, the enemies in front of them were still bosses and during the course of the battle they had gotten injured as well, Reign was unfortunate enough to get caught by a swing of the ape's arm while being airborne and got smashed down to the ground, the ape immediately continued with a barrage of attacks which he was barely able to dodge.

Wolf was momentarily careless and the ape charged at it as it would do occasionally, the only difference was that this time the ape did it right after rolling on the ground and a lot of soil and dust were also sent Wolf's way. A large amount of soil and dust made it hard for Wolf to see for a moment and the ape capitalized on it.

Tank on the other hand swung his axe a bit too many times during the fight and the ape managed to hit him without the latter blocking the attack with his shield. Even Tank whose body was stronger compared to the rest groaned in pain after being hit only once as the power behind the ape's attack was truly great. The problem for the apes however came a bit later after the others had actually finished dealing with the ape army.