As the monkeys jumped at us from all directions, multiple webs of darkness emerged from Dark Domain and stopped the attacking monkeys in their tracks. Entangling them in the air as I then followed it up by using Slaughter on them all. However, it wasn't enough to penetrate their bodies as they merely got pushed back instead, while more of them come to attack as one monkey got through the Shadow Web and throws a punch, which lands on Kyuki's barrier. Knocking us back to the wall behind.

Holy crap! That's was a powerful blow!

And here comes the next one!

Super Speed!

I swiftly dodged to the side, evading the monkey's second punch. Even if Kyuki's barrier were to protect me from it, I do not want to strain it too much, since I want to preserve the barrier's strength for as long as I can and I do not want to wear Kyuki out by having it constantly use magic to protect me.

Once I have dodged the attack, I clenched my fist and landed a punch onto the monkey's face.

Ow! God damn, these monkeys are really hard! Why must their Defense stats be so high!? Lower them down, damn it!

I attempt to give it another punch. However, some of the other monkeys begin to bypass the Shadow Web. Attacking us from behind, while the one in front attacks us as the same time.

Kyuki, expand the barrier now!

Kyuu!

The barrier expanded quickly, acting with enough pushing force to knock the monkeys away from us as I cast more Shadow Webs around us to keep them at bay, as well as Doppelgänger to fend off the enemies.

I need a plan right now. Before the monkeys could reach us, I need to think of a way to survive! For that, I need more skills. The current ones I possess aren't enough.

Ok... now there's a lot of new skills. And most importantly, I see Magic Vein as one of them. Yes~! I must get that.

«1000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Magic Vein LV 1]»

*Rraaaaawwwwrrr~*

Tch. No time to think about which other skills still I should get. In that case, I'll just get the ones that will be most useful to me now!

«500 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Poison Resistance LV 1]»

«1000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Unarmed Combat Mastery LV 1]»

«500 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Intuition LV 1]»

«500 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Evasion LV 1]»

«1000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Impact Resistance LV 1]»

«1000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Iron Skin LV 1]»

«2000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Super Strength LV 1]»

«5000 Points Spent... Skill Acquired: [Thought Acceleration LV 1]»

Ok, that's all for now. Time to focus on the battle. With Thought Acceleration active, I can have time to think of a strategy while fighting.

The monkeys have bypassed the Shadow Webs, and killed the Doppelgängers already. Right now, they are banging on Kyuki's barrier, attempting to break it with their sheer numbers and punches. Kyuki is holding on firmly, but it would be bad if it gets exhausted from overusing magic.

Kyuki, release your barrier. Let them in and come here.

Kyuu!

Kyuki dispelled its Barrier Magic and used Spirit Return to return onto my shoulder. The monkeys begin flooding in as I use Super Speed to run and reach out for the snake monster's corpse lying nearby.

Ack! It burns!!

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Super Speed LV 1] -> [Super Speed LV 2]»

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Pain Resistance LV 2] -> [Pain Resistance LV 3]»

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Poison Resistance LV 1] -> [Poison Resistance LV 2]»

Alright, it feels a little better now...

Super Strength!

As the monkeys approach from all corners with their fists clenched, I grabbed the snake monster's poisonous corpse and swung it at them. Hitting the attacking monkeys away from us and poisoning their bodies in the process, effectively making them scream while their un-poisoned allies pressed forth with the assault.

Not caring about your comrades, huh... How cruel of you, crazy monkeys!!!

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Thought Acceleration LV 1] -> [Thought Acceleration LV 2]»

I continued swinging the poisonous snake corpse around, hitting any monkeys that tried to attack us while Kyuki covers my blind spot using Barrier Magic.

It's great to have Kyuki by my side. Otherwise I would've been dead within the first few minutes of the battle.

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Poison Resistance LV 2] -> [Poison Resistance LV 3]»

The monkeys keep coming as I swipe them back with the snake's corpse. However, none of them have yet to be dead, but that is fine as I didn't plan on killing the enemies with the snake as a weapon; I just wanted to weaken them using the snake's poisonous body.

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Poison Resistance LV 3] -> [Poison Resistance LV 4]»

Still... the poison sure is affecting me as well. If not for Poison Resistance, I would be on death's door by now.

But nonetheless... Come on, you crazies! Let me beat the crap out of you!

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Poison Resistance LV 4] -> [Poison Resistance LV 5]»

I swung... and swung... and swung... and swung.... Not relenting the battle just yet while I can still fight. However, the same goes for the monkeys as a group of them stood their ground and caught the snake's corpse after I have swung it at them, as they begin to pull on it, wanting to snatch the weapon out of my hand despite being poisoned.

I let go. Not wanting to initiate in a tug-o-war with them right now, I let them have the corpse.

You can have it, if you want it so badly. Because... I have another one inside Dark Domain!

I dipped my hands into the darkness and pulled out another snake's corpse which I had stored, back when Kyuki was under attack by it. Proceeding to hit every monkey that come close with it.

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Poison Resistance LV 5] -> [Poison Resistance LV 6]»

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Super Strength LV 1] -> [Super Strength LV 2]»

Unfortunately, the monkeys seemed to have quickly adapt to the situation, as they begin using their poisoned comrades as meat shield to guard against my attack. Sacrificing themselves afterwards to grab onto the second snake corpse, in order to rip it out from my hands again.

Like before, I didn't want to start a tug-o-war fight with them so I let it go.

And now, I have no weapons to defend us from the monkeys. However, I have successfully poisoned a lot of them, despite being poisoned like them. All I need to do now is to buy time and wait for the lot of them to drop like flies, while I focus on the ones who aren't poisoned.

And fortunately, unlike those monkeys, I have the Poison Resistance skill... and Kyuki.

Kyuki, use your Healing Magic on me!

"Kyuu!"

Ahh~ That feels good. I doubt the poison have disappeared just like that, but my body feels much better than before.

«Proficiency Threshold Reached... Skill has Levelled Up: [Auto-Healing LV 2] -> [Auto-Healing LV 3]»

Oh right... I also have the Auto-Healing, huh? Totally forgot about that...

Now then... The monkeys are coming; they are all still alive despite many being poisoned. And I have lost my poisonous weapons.

But that does not mean it is over yet.

Because it is time for me to use magic on these crazies!

Ah wait... What kind of Dark Magic spells are there?

Argh, screw it!

Dark Magic: Random Bullshit... GO!

«Conditions have been met... Skill Acquired: [Persistence LV 1]»