RB Chapter 102 Three Parties

The silence of the plantation except for the chattering of the monkeys in the clearing was calming for Fumu. He was trying to get rid of the terror that was gripping his mind and body, but to no avail! Sweat was continuously running down his face onto the ground. His loin cloth was so soaked that he had become uncomfortable in it. At some point he would peek a little at the clearing to see what the the monkeys were up to, that was what he was trying to tell himself but, he was checking to make sure that they weren't discovered.

With his current situation, his entire group would probably take off in terror if the monkeys discovered them. They were far from being able to fight. Fear and terror can be disadvantages in certain situations. Of course they were occasionally catching some sounds in their ears, signifying that those people were still fighting the monkeys, a feat which shocked them to no end! 

How were those people still alive? Isn't this their first time inside this forest? What are they relying on to have survived this long? 

Many doubts appeared in their minds. It was simply puzzling as they should have died a long time ago.

By chance, a blue streak appeared on the edge of the clearing. It paused for a moment and since Fumu's eyes had been coincidentally gazing in that direction, he managed to catch sight of what it was when it paused. His eyes widened a little.

It was a boy, about 16 or 17 years old with a woman about, 20 years holding her hand in his left. He had black hair and dark blue gem like pupils, which were slithering with electric arcs just like the rest of his body. From the elbow down, his left arm was missing and black scales had covered up his entire skin up to his face, only leaving the sensory organs. He was exuding an aura of fearlessness.

The moment their eyes met, Fumu's mind came to one conclusion, that boy was about to reach the same level as him, he only lacked a catalyst. The boy's eyes had widened a bit, and he even managed to catch a trace of fear inside them for a moment, but they went back to normal afterwards and his face turned towards the monkeys. All that, had happened in one second!

'Why would he show fear? Did he figure it out? But I am far away!' If he knew that Eric had special eyes, he probably wouldn't have been so surprised.

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'So that is what they are guarding.' Eric thought as he caught sight of those almost ripe yellow bananas dangling under the leaves of the banana plant. His body and Chloe's once again turned into a blue streak and raced towards the banana plant. He passed by the monkeys, which were too slow to react and, and Chloe, picking up the clues about what was to he done from his expression, raised a palm and severed the entire bunch from the banana plant. Then, they ran away and appeared on the other side at the edge of the clearing.

A banana plant normally had many fruits growing on one fruit stalk, almost over 30, but now this one, only contained 5! 

'What is its use?' Eric thought as Chloe played with it. They had stopped and weakness was starting to overwhelm his body. The energy he had used had been too much and he hadn't captured any replenishments when he broke through the monkey wall.

"Chloe, energy!" He said. She had lost a minimum amount since she had mostly been pulled along.

Before the monkeys could even react, she vanished and came back with one of the four with closed eyes. She had broken its neck and was holding it out for him. He took it in his only hand and tore chunks off it.

"The fruit! My fruit!" All the four remaining monkeys one with open eyes, and four with closed eyes, shouted in the same voice as if one was using them  as its speakers. It was eerie and creepy. They all turned in the direction the blue streak had went and saw the fruit in Chloe's hands, plus one of its companions in Eric's.

"You have ruined my chance at reaching that level! It was just a step away, A STEP AWAY!" All four screeches so loudly, that the sound must have travelled far into the plantation. They had only caught sight of a blue streak and then the fruit had vanished. The other three with closed eyes knew that it was going to be next to impossible to once again reclaim the fruits. That boy and woman could explode with agility far surpassing them at their fastest!

"What does it do?" Chloe asked, entirely ignoring their dissatisfaction. Her light blue eyes were locked with those of one if the four monkeys. She wanted to catch any change in their expressions.

"Woman, I want to partake in the fruit." A man's voice came from a bit behind the monkeys, causing everyone, except Eric to become startled! It was Fumu's voice. He had walked out of his hiding place with the others trailing behind him, trying to make themselves inconspicuous.

Since Chloe hadn't seen him when Eric paused, this was her first time learning that someone had been lurking this close. She raised her guard the moment she saw four savages walking out into the clearing. Since they could reach this far into the clearing, it meant that they weren't simple.

"Their leader is the one who hurled that stone at us." Eric said upon seeing her puzzlement.

"What?" Chloe's eyes widened in shock. She knew that Eric had entered this plantation to run away from them in the first place and since he had been terrified to the point of fainting, then that meant that these four weren't simple.

"How could they have appeared here?" She asked.

"No idea." He devoured another chunk even when talking to her. Right now he was starting to recover from that trauma, so he wasn't as scared as he had been.

The four monkeys only flinched a little and one of them turned back, but the other three didn't. They had their eyes focused on the fruit in Chloe's hands. A patch of red was gradually covering up the yellow in their in their pupils.

"Where did you come from?" The monkey interrogated the savages. Three had their legs shaking, and the one, whom Eric had locked eyes with was the one who wasn't at all intimidated. He had managed to gather up courage from somewhere. The three were trying their best to hide behind him.

Fumu didn't answer. All his attention was directed towards Eric as he could sense a faint threat from the boy. Even the monkeys in the clearing didn't give him such a feeling. That's what gave him the courage to step out. The monkeys didn't appear to be as terrifying as the stories in his village depicted them.

'You should never trust legends and stories.' He thought, shifting his gaze to the four monkeys, even if they knew energy channeling, so what? Of course he didn't alert his other three companions about his findings. They needed to die here if he wanted to truly break up his ties to the village. They were both his surbodinates and watchers at the same time.

'But that boy, how can he be about to reach my level at his age? Is his willpower simply that easy to control?' He wondered curiously.

"Woman, give me the fruit and I will let both you and the boy leave." The three monkeys once again said, with the same tone of voice and pitch.

"You are The Collective, right? You don't look that scary." 

'Collective?' Eric's ears perked up upon hearing the voice of the leading savage. He didn't want to get close to the man as he knew that the guy was bad news!

'But he is still not at the level of that monster, or else he would have definitely not had that look of terror in his eyes.' That made him less cautious, but he still kept up his guard.

"A monkey capable of making infinite clones, with every clone able to use energy channeling and what some of these outsiders, use...I think they were called genetic abilities!...and I hear that they come from some sort of slots!" Fumu said with his eyes occasionally falling upon Eric.

The monkey didn't answer as even the one with its vision on the savages was mostly linking its vision with the other three to keep eye on the fruit. It was just too important. It would allow it to take the next evolutionary step!

"What is the purpose of the fruit?" Chloe asked. If this fruit was beneficial even to humans, it would be a great discovery as so far they hadn't heard of anyone having come across such a thing. Her eyes were also occasionally shifting towards the savages as she had to monitor their movements.

'Infinite clones and genetic abilities? This monkey could have been invincible, but I think there must be a drawback to the infinite clones...probably energy consumption? Those three monkeys are thin, like they have just expended a lot of energy, causing their cells to start devouring each other to support their bodies.' Eric analysed.