Chapter 28

After I won the match, I was once again brought back to my cell and was given some food to eat. Of course, given all my injuries, I happily consumed the food that was given to me in order to quickly recover for the next match. Though because of a certain skill that I acquired during the match, recovering from my injuries had become a lot easier compared from before. And as you may have already known, the skill in question was the one called Recuperate.

[Recuperate (Rank D)]

[Rare]

[Passive]

[Allow a slight healing of health and injuries at all times.]

Based on the description alone, it was easy to tell that the skill was somewhat similar to my other skill Recovery. Though in this skill’s case, it was completely focused on the health and injury department which was probably why it had the effect of constant healing. To make it better, the skill’s description seemed to indicate that the skill had the same effect on fatal and heavy injuries.

Honestly, even if the description said that the skill has only a slight healing effect, being able to heal any injuries at all times was still a very powerful effect. And if you include the fact that I had Devour and Recovery which both had a similar effect on top of that, of course I would be able to heal my injuries faster. Though, I had a feeling that I was only able to acquire this skill because of how I used Devour on the match. Which by all means made the acquisition of this skill a dangerous task.

Well, it’s no surprise that the skill is rare. I concluded.

Anyway, because of the combination of my three skills, I had almost completely recovered by the time I woke up. Of course, I said almost because there were still some lingering effects from the injuries that I had sustained. But even then, if I didn’t have the skill Recuperate, then I wouldn’t be able to recover this much with just a single night of rest. And given the fact that I would be fighting once again the next day, being heavily burdened by the effects of my injuries would surely put me at a disadvantage.

Man, I am so thankful that I acquired this skill. I thought while sighing in relief.

For now, though, I was currently waiting for the Banobos to come and fetch me for the next match. But for some reason, the Banobos had still not come. In fact, I wasn’t even hearing the usual hustle bustle noise from outside. It was really confusing, and for some reason, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something different this time.

Because of the ominous aura surrounding the entire area, I couldn’t help but wish for the better. Please don’t tell me that another dangerous event is about to unfold.

Because of all the fighting that we, the captured monsters had done, the entire prison-like area was now covered in silence. Well, maybe it would be more accurate to say that a lot of captured monsters had already passed. As a result, there were now only three bound and imprisoned monsters residing in this place. The first one was, of course, me, and then there was the Savaga and the Hackclaw respectively. Though knowing the fact that there were only three of us left, I couldn’t help but wonder…

Who’s gonna fight who? Or maybe we will be having a three-way battle? Was what I had been wondering about.

It was then the Banobos finally arrived. But for some reason, there was something different about the aura they were excluding. To be more specific, the festive aura that they always excluded whenever they came to fetch us was gone. In its place, a seemingly tensed aura was hanging in the air. Though for me, I knew all too well what this tensed aura meant. Actually, I had experienced it myself in the past when I was still a human. And what I was talking about was the aura of someone that was about to head out into battle. In short, it was the mixture of uncertainty, fear, and resolve to die.

Oh boy, here we go again… I couldn’t help but complain.

Completely ignorant about my inner thoughts, a Banobo lifted me up unto its shoulder then proceeded to take me outside. And just like what I had thought, it looked like there would be no match for today. Because instead of bringing the three of us into the usual place, we were brought into an area where a battalion of ape type monsters had gathered which judging by their numbers and formations, the Battalion was made up of at least nine squads and each of those squads were being headed by a single Banobo. As for the composition of each squad, they were made up of about five to six Lesser Banobos each.

Wait, are these guys preparing for some kind of a raid?! Was my immediate conclusion.

Of course, being a former leader of a familia, I was familiar with these kinds of operations. After all, there were a lot of instances in my past life that I even personally led one. But clearly, what was fascinating about this one in particular was that all the participants were monsters. For now, though, I still haven’t seen any ape type monster that resembled a commander from the group. And since this raid group was still completely made up of monsters, the would-be commander of this group would surely be an exceptionally powerful monster. There was even a chance that the commander was actually the leader of this whole society of ape type monsters.

Now, this turn of events are getting more and more interesting. And if my guess is right, this raid operation had something to do with all that stuff about forcing some monsters to fight inside a ring.

Looking around, the other two monster prisoners were also in the same situation as mine. From the way it looked, these Banobos were going to bring us right into the middle of the battle. Though to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t want my theory of what our role would be for this operation to be true.

While I was thinking things like that, my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of a monster.

The monster in question was of course also an ape type monster. Though unlike the gray and white color scheme of the Banobos’ fur, this ape type monster’s fur had some black tattoo-like stripes all over its body. And on top of being taller than the other Banobos, this particular monster also has some boulder like muscles which made the other Banobo’s toned body pale in comparison.

Immediately after that, I unconsciously used Assess on the monster.

[Name: (Unnamed)]

[Race: Tronobo]

[Status: Healthy]

Honestly, just one look at the monster and anyone would instantly conclude that the monster was a pure strength type one. And if I was asked if I think I could defeat the monster, I would only say that I didn’t know. Well, maybe it would be possible for me to use my speed against it and employ a hit and run tactics. But even then, I doubt I could inflict a fatal wound on the monster given the fact that it has those boulder-like muscles all over its body. Of course, you could probably argue that all I had to do was attack the monster in those parts that weren't protected by those muscles like its neck and head for example. Well, yeah, I could probably deal a fatal wound with that; the problem was; given the exceptional intelligence that these ape type monsters have shown so far, I am pretty sure that this monster also knows about its weak points. And if so, the monster probably has some counter measures against those kinds of attacks.

If I ever fought this monster, the only way I could probably win would be if I managed to inflict it with the status effect of madness. Though I truly doubt I would be able to injure it that much or if I could even survive long enough until my fangs effect had kicked in. And what was more terrifying about this situation was the fact that this monster didn’t seem to be the ruler of these ape type monsters. Actually, the monster seemed more like a general rather than the ruler. Yet, the monster has already been this strong.

If this thing is just the general. Then how freakishly strong is that monster who managed to turn this thing into its subordinate?!

Well, there was still a high chance that the ruler of these ape type monsters was also a reincarnation just like me. The problem with that was I still didn’t know if it was an enemy or an ally. And in the case that it was the former, then all I could do was try to negotiate my release (though I had no idea how) or if possible, to escape. But then there was the worst-case scenario where the ruler wasn’t a reincarnation and was simply just an exceptionally intelligent monster through and, though. If that was the case, then all I could do was hope that the ruler wouldn’t suddenly turn hostile and kill me on the spot.

I didn’t know if it was just my imagination, but I felt a cold and chilling sensation on my spine when I realized the predicament, I was in. This is seriously bad!!

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted when the Battalion of ape type monsters finally moved out. And for some reason, we (the three monster prisoners), were at the very front of the formation just right after the commander which was the Tronobo.

Looks like I have no time to think about that stuff right now. Okay, first, let’s focus on trying to survive and worry about that later. I told myself while being dragged by the Banobos to who knows where.