arc5 · 085-ch85

Arc 5: The Immortal's Coup d'État

Episode 85: Cunning Demon Ape Monkey

Late February was approaching. The temperature was still cold, and the howling wind chilled to the bone. Hachioji being a basin meant the bone-chilling cold continued.

Next week would finally be the metropolitan high school entrance exam day, so his classmates were on edge and restless. This didn't concern Suzuka, who wasn't taking the exam, but seeing the class atmosphere change made Suzuka recall old times. Suzuka stood out from his classmates as always, but realizing that would soon end filled him with a quiet melancholy.

But without lingering in that aftertaste, when the dismissal chime rang, Suzuka grabbed his bag before anyone else and headed home. Today was Friday. Since the new year began, this was the day to visit Tokyo Dungeon—a custom that had become established.

◇

That same evening. Tokyo Dungeon, Floor 1, District 5, depths. There stood Suzuka.

How many times had he challenged it now? Suzuka's level was still 52. In these two months, he hadn't grown even one level.

He could certainly challenge it after leveling up. Without this level difference, his skills and stats would grow. But this was Suzuka's pride. Stubbornness has meaning only when carried through to the end. He had decided to get serious about dungeon exploration. If so, he had to carry through his pride or it would look uncool.

"Yo, ape monkey. Getting pretty tired of seeing your face"

Cunning Demon Ape Monkey: Level 120

A massive ape monster stood before Suzuka. Six arms and three faces embodying the phrase "three-faced, six-armed," so large Suzuka had to look up. Each arm was thick, and its fists looked like they could crush Suzuka's upper body in one grip. The overflowing aura was tremendous—an ordinary explorer would probably lose consciousness just facing it.

At Suzuka's words, the ape monkey sighed with a bored face, as if to say it was more sick of him.

But Suzuka didn't mind. Because he thought today was the last time he'd see the ape monkey's face.

"Hey now, don't be so cold. This is the last time, you know? I'll beat you down, and we'll never meet again"

"Voooooouuoo"

Whether it understood Suzuka's words or not, the ape monkey looked down with contempt, as if saying there's no way it would lose.

"I'm serious this time, you know? Didn't you feel anything last time? If you get careless, you'll die quick"

Suzuka circulated mana throughout his body. Mana surged forth, and Suzuka's body glowed faintly.

Then he activated poison magic. Suzuka's poison magic had grown further since then, and its current skill level was 7. Having surpassed the wall of level 6, it had reached a level approaching the Old Master of Gu Poison.

He watched all of the Old Master of Gu Poison's videos. There weren't many videos, and they ended with just explanations about poison magic. Mostly basic things too. They stopped at explaining simple applications and didn't go into detail.

Probably due to confidentiality agreements with the guild, but more likely because they didn't want to narrow viewers' options by revealing too much. If you only explain that at level 5, where you can freely create poison, you can make hypnotic gas or hallucinogenic gas, people can imagine oh, there's probably poison like that too. But if you start listing a hundred types of poison you can create, they'll just choose from among those and no room for imagination remains.

The Old Master of Gu Poison wasn't aiming to create a successor, but merely wished for explorers approaching the peak of poison magic to appear. That's why he left it to viewers with few words.

Don't know if that's the reason or not. But watching the Old Master of Gu Poison's videos, Suzuka was able to build a single solid combat style.

Poison magic activated. The poison magic Suzuka wielded differed significantly in nature from the Old Master's poison magic.

The poison magic, activated as if coursing through his body, began eroding both arms. His white hands became visibly contaminated before his eyes, stained with poison.

Poison Hand. That was Suzuka's answer.

Unlike before, where he applied poison magic to his arms. He turned the hands themselves into deadly poison, refining the toxin to harvest the life of anything touched. Not thin substances like gas, but a poison that didn't exist in this world, solidified in the form of hands.

Poison Hand was both poison magic's answer and body arts' answer.

Suzuka's current body arts skill level was 8. Since the end of January, his body arts skill hadn't risen.

But today, his body arts skill would rise. He was certain of that.

Because Suzuka, through Poison Hand, was able to imagine it. Barehanded, defeating swords.

With Suzuka's current hands, dissolving swords with a mere touch was effortless. If he stroked someone, they'd die. If he touched something inorganic, it would melt.

And this Poison Hand didn't end there. When Suzuka clenched both hands and punched them together, a high-pitched, hard metallic sound rang out as if metal had struck metal.

When Suzuka arrived at the idea of Poison Hand, he sought hardness in his poison's image. If poison had liquid and gaseous states, naturally solids existed too. If solids existed, it should be possible to create poison as an object harder than anything in this world.

At first, it was fine eroding the hands with poison, but that made them too brittle—slight bumps would cause incidents where his hands collapsed. Taking advantage of 『Holy God's Creed』's regeneration, Suzuka kept adjusting his hands—this way and that—punching the ape monkey, strengthening broken hands, punching the ape monkey, strengthening broken hands, repeating training.

And after trial and error, Suzuka's answer arrived—hands like black iron with hardness enough to squarely repel swords.

Poison Hand as an answer. Whether that was correct or not—that would be proven only by defeating the ape before his eyes.

"Come then, ape monkey. Be on full alert. Today's your deathday"

And the curtain rose on the battle between Suzuka and the ape monkey.

◇

Saturday night, late. Though the date had long since turned to Sunday, Suzuka and the ape monkey continued fighting.

"Ahhahahhahahaaahhahhaaaaahah!! I'm nowhere near tiredddd!! Still too early, ape monkey!!!!"

Suzuka's shouting and the sound of flesh being pounded rang out. Suzuka's fist striking the ape monkey's leg didn't break like before, and the struck ape monkey was reeling from pain.

From before, where even beating and beating dealt no damage, this was an unimaginable scene. Since there's a level difference between Suzuka and the ape monkey, even critical hits wouldn't deal major damage.

But for a monster with more than double the level difference—let alone an area boss—to take damage at all was strange.

Suzuka hadn't investigated much, so he didn't know, but challenging District 5's area boss below level 100 was an act of recklessness, blind bravery, and sheer ignorance.

District 5's regular monsters have a maximum level of 100, and the area boss is level 120. Explorers who exceed level 100 can undergo existence evolution. This means you should challenge it after raising regular monsters to level 100 and achieving existence evolution.

Existence evolution causes stats to rise overwhelmingly. Even level 50 strengthening visibly makes fighting monsters easier, but existence evolution brings change beyond that. There's a difference said to be unbridgeable between those who have undergone existence evolution and those who haven't.

Existence evolution isn't an ability that just changes appearance. Literally, it's evolution as a living creature transcending the human species. By abandoning humanity, you gain overwhelming strength.

An opponent you should fight assuming such existence evolution. Monsters appearing in Districts 4 and 5 are themselves strengthened to the point where explorers with high stats struggle.

The opponent is the boss of an area where each and every monster is that powerful, a level 120 monster where even existentially evolved explorers must fight to the death. On the other hand, there's Suzuka—not only not existence-evolved, but just recently surpassed level 50, barely more than a fledgling explorer.

For such a battle to be a contest—it's almost impossible. It's not even a contest. It's one-sided slaughter. Like a child playing with ants. A difference so definitive that the child side would be arrogant for even feeling danger. If you bet on who would win, the odds on the area boss would be 1.0—not worth betting on, and if you could stay standing for 10 seconds, major guilds would rush to recruit you.

In fact, when Suzuka first met the ape monkey, his punched fist was crushed to mush on his side, and against the ape monkey's attacks he couldn't even take evasive action, let alone defend—getting beaten to death one-sidedly. If the unique skill 『Holy God's Creed』 hadn't manifested, Suzuka couldn't have won against District 5 monsters to begin with, and would've become nutrients for the trees.

From there, though skill levels rose across the board, without 『Holy God's Creed』 he would have died again and again and again and again. Just grazes from the ape monkey's attacks killed, just poison gas from the ape monkey killed, just punching the ape monkey crushed his fist, kicking shattered his leg bones. Even if the ape monkey didn't move, he couldn't defeat it—slight movement easily snuffed out Suzuka's life flame.

Such a hopeless opponent.

Even though he wouldn't die from 『Holy God's Creed』, the pain existed. Even with the pain dullness skill, when blisters appeared on his body surface the itching drove him mad, the excruciating pain of his body rotting away inside from poison made his eyes bug out and head go blank white with agony until he fainted, if caught he was gripped until his bones shattered all over, regenerated, shattered again. Suffering like one second stretched to hours raced through his whole body. If he was pulled to be torn apart, skin split, limbs tore off, trying to force regeneration caused permanent pain that nearly drove him mad.

Thanks to 『Holy God's Creed』 he wouldn't die, but because of 『Holy God's Creed』, the agony continued eternally.

Yet Suzuka didn't give up. He didn't flee in fear of pain from the ape monkey, didn't try to beat it with holy magic, didn't cut his losses to raise his level before challenging again.

Simply, thoroughly, to defeat the ape monkey. Suzuka challenged the ape monkey with extraordinary obsession. This became something called fixation, forcing him to persist against an opponent where victory was impossible.

But for those who could continue running believing their own thinking was correct in everything, light shines. Listening to and accepting others' opinions is important, but sometimes that can distort even your own guidelines.

Around Suzuka, no one blamed, admonished, or reproached him. No one interfered with the guidelines Suzuka decided.

Because Suzuka explores the dungeon alone.

Suzuka challenging alone meant all responsibility converged on Suzuka, and all actions were as Suzuka willed.

That's why he could continue such barbaric acts.

"What's wrong, ape monkey!? You're slow!! You hurting, huh? You're hurting, aren't you!! Hey hey hey!! Don't go dull from pain like this, you stupid moraaaaaannn!!"

Suzuka dodging the ape monkey's fierce attacks like a willow. If the ape monkey showed even a slight opening, Suzuka immediately pounded that arm.

"Vooou!?"

The struck ape monkey couldn't help but groan. Where Suzuka struck was faintly black and purple with bruising.

Suzuka's Poison Hand had increased hand hardness, so even pounding with full force didn't break it. But its essence is Poison Hand. A forbidden technique where even just grazing causes poison to invade from there and bring death to the opponent.

Suzuka's Poison Hand is a deadly poison hand created with poison magic level 7. While pursuing hardness, it's also a Poison Hand carefully infused with poison that kills everything it touches. The ape monkey has resistance, so it doesn't die instantly, but the poison still circulates from where Suzuka struck, gradually slowing its movements.

Much of the ape monkey's body was already blackened skin as traces of being struck by Suzuka.

"Poison user, hey!! Just a little poison bath and like that!! Don't go chickening out on me, got it!!! Don't disappoint me, you stupid ape!!!"

The ape monkey used tail and legs too, cornering Suzuka with attack numbers, but Suzuka dodged all of them. He had eaten, died, regenerated attacks again and again and again and again until now, learning with his body to read movements in advance like foresight and avoid. Like trying to punch cotton dancing in the air, the ape monkey's fierce attacks didn't hit Suzuka.

Body arts, body reinforcement, body control, foresight, thought acceleration. All those skills were at high levels, each skill displaying synergistic effects, closing the desperate level difference and enabling him to avoid the ape monkey's attacks, which would normally be difficult even to see.

Suzuka already no longer needed 『Holy God's Creed』's recovery ability. Against an opponent with more than double the level difference—let alone an area boss—inconceivably, Suzuka continued avoiding attacks and landing counters.

"V, vaaaaaooooaaahhhhhh!!!"

Unable to bear it, the ape monkey spewed deadly poison from its three mouths. Gas flowing from each mouth mixed together—the ape monkey's worst poison gas, piercing even level 7 status abnormality resistance.

Ordinarily, you'd create distance. Poison gas scattered instantly over a wide range—one breath would destroy your internal organs, mere contact with skin would contaminate your whole body. As a biological instinct, retreating was the only option.

But Suzuka didn't retreat. The danger alarm ringing in his head had long since broken. His instinct, having given up on warnings Suzuka ignored too much, now instead actively urged him forward.

"Gett out of my waaaaayyy!!! I told you poison doesn't workkk, didn't Iiiiii, aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

Not hesitating even at exposure to deadly poison, Suzuka pressed toward the ape monkey.

He himself says it doesn't work, but Suzuka's status abnormality resistance skill level is 7, so the ape monkey's poison does work effectively. But for Suzuka, if it's an attack that doesn't kill him, it's no different from not working—downgraded to an attack not worth avoiding.

His pain-sensing circuits were already burned out, so no matter how excruciating the poison he bathed in, Suzuka's steps didn't stop. Before now, it would have pierced Suzuka's resistance, and if he had pain perception, he would've writhed in agony; if not, he would've bled from every hole in his body, hampering movement. But, high on battle, believing absolutely it wouldn't work, his skills responded.

Even death ground—if you step one foot forward, the dungeon smiles. Suzuka's status abnormality resistance skill level rose from 7 to 8, successfully suppressing even the ape monkey's worst deadly poison.

He struck the ape monkey, which had opened a gap by spitting poison. Suzuka's single blow didn't have enough power to send the ape monkey flying yet, but his solid fist broke through the ape monkey's defense, certainly accumulating damage, and from there the gradually permeating poison built up, eroding the ape monkey's stamina.

Against the tail swung sideways to create distance, he dodged by crouching like he was crawling on the ground, and against the three backhands descending from overhead matching the tail-swinging rotation, he avoided by leaping backward. When three huge fists are launched at once, it becomes area attacks with no room to dodge.

But because the stat difference was too large, he couldn't take attacks head-on. The ape monkey's attacks—all he could do was avoid them.

With Suzuka pulling back, the ape monkey finally got a brief rest.

The ape monkey glared down at Suzuka anew. This human, small as a bug, somehow avoided all his attacks, and despite not caring about his all-out poison, kept attacking. Glancing at his own body, skin was blackened and beginning to rot from poison infused through the strikes. How many times was he beaten? Finding healthy skin was harder than finding rotten.

Attacks didn't hit, poison didn't work, and conversely he was being poisoned, his life whittled away moment by moment. Understanding that at this rate, he'd be worn down—the ape monkey cornered.

Actions taken by the cornered: two options. Run, or strike back with desperate counterattack. Naturally, the ape monkey didn't run.

Having made his resolve, the ape monkey gathered power to kill Suzuka, power that would pierce even 『Holy God's Creed』. Suzuka also noticed the ape monkey's change.

"Hey hey hey. Happy, aren't I. You've finally recognized me as an enemy, is that it?"

Fierce mana swirled around the ape monkey. As if saying now he'll seriously kill you, the ape monkey was gathering power.

Suzuka rejoiced at that beyond measure.

When he first met the ape monkey, literally he couldn't lift a finger nor foot. Barely able to move, just kept taking the ape monkey's attacks like a toy. Couldn't dodge, couldn't stand, desperately holding on to keep his mind from going mad with pain.

But gradually he became able to follow the ape monkey's attacks with his eyes, became able to dodge, couldn't deal damage but could land counters, and now—the ape monkey was recognizing Suzuka as a clear enemy.

A level 120 area boss was recognizing a solo explorer of level 52 as an enemy and attempting a maximum firepower attack. Truly an earth-shattering scene. If you told this to anyone, no one would believe. Rather, they'd just pity him as mentally exhausted and broken from the dungeon.

But reality is stranger than fiction.

The ape monkey, reigning at the apex of District 1 Area 5 where ferocious monsters dwell, was launching an attack, pouring mana like this, against a Suzuka who hadn't undergone existence evolution—a frail existence here that looked like he'd blow away with a breath.

This fact was unshakable truth, happening right before his eyes.

"I've been thinking about skills a lot since fighting you. Can't level up, so the only way to win is to strengthen skills"

In these two months, to maintain his level, Suzuka fought absolutely no other monsters, continuing to fight only the ape monkey. In that process, skills grew, new skills were acquired, and skill levels rose.

Especially the skill Suzuka now relied on most was body arts. Body arts is basically martial arts. Good compatibility with 『Holy God's Creed』, which can't hold weapons, and a skill filled with possibility of reaching the strongest if mastered.

Current Suzuka is skill level 8, no different from martial arts masters. A skill level where he can subdue any enemy barehanded.

"And so the body arts I arrived at, but it's lame, you know"

The ape monkey didn't attack. Still gathering power, or waiting for Suzuka to approach.

"Skill level 8, you know? 8! You know? Saying 8 means, it's a level ordinary explorers couldn't reach in their whole life, you know?"

Many explorers close their lives unable to surpass the wall of level 100, and similarly many explorers stop unable to surpass the wall of skill level 6. The quasi-first-rank explorer Old Master of Gu Poison's most proficient poison magic is skill level 8, so you can understand the difficulty of reaching skill level 8.

"Yet I'm doing my best just to dodge an ape's attacks. Don't you think it's dreamless?"

Having more than double the level difference, being a monster beyond level 100 where you need existence evolution to challenge, and he's dodging area boss attacks at that—inconceivably useful skill, but Suzuka isn't satisfied.

"Losing to some big lug who's just huge—you can't call that a martial arts master"

Like the ape monkey, Suzuka concentrated all his mana in his lower abdomen.

"I'll teach you, you stupid ape. Soft overcomes hard"

Suzuka's fist shone brilliantly. Strengthening Poison Hand made from poison magic to its limit, pouring mana into body reinforcement to bring out movement beyond his stats.

The ape monkey's forward bored face changed to an angry face like a demon's mask, and it spat out a jet-black sphere. A dark sphere drifting loosely at its chest. It plunged its six fists into it as if soaking them.

The jet-black sphere melted into and was absorbed by the six fists, dyeing them black. Matching the fists' movements, poison like afterimages polluted the air. That was just like Suzuka's Poison Hand.

"Hey hey hey, matching outfits? I filed the patent application first, you know. I'll sue for patent infringement, okay?"

Whether it imitated Suzuka, or was an attack pattern that only appeared when it got serious, Suzuka had no way of knowing.

Suzuka and the ape monkey, each in stance. Coincidentally, both used martial arts and poison as their main attack axes. Similar individuals, one human and one monster, faced each other as if coordinating their breathing.

"Which one's superior—let's settle it today, to the endddd, aaaaahhhhh!!!!"

"「「「VooooooOOOOOOO!!!!」」」"

The one who moved first was Suzuka. Responding to Suzuka's words, the ape monkey's three faces dyed in rage roared.

Since the ape monkey had reach, before Suzuka entered attack range, he'd receive the ape monkey's fierce attacks. With the ape monkey's fists becoming Poison Hands too, he couldn't take attacks even more than before. Moreover, after fists passed, toxins remained suspended like stagnation. At that level, it didn't work on Suzuka, but toxin residue deprived his vision.

Furthermore, until now the ape monkey had attacked without moving from its spot as if intercepting Suzuka, but perhaps recognizing Suzuka as an enemy, it moved about freely and its attack pattern completely changed.

Making good use of the surrounding trees, it fought in a chaotic way that made you think this was the ape monkey's true nature. Just a giant ape moving about freely caused impact that seemed to change the terrain. The rampaging ape monkey was too violent to handle.

But Suzuka didn't get hit. Even if it tried to drop its tail from behind along with its fist, even if it fired six fists like cannonballs however much, even if it tried to grab like a tackle when striking didn't work, it didn't work on Suzuka. Even with bad visibility from poison residue, he read the ape monkey's slight muscle pulse movements, predicted the next move from attack rhythm, and advanced without fear into even needle-eye gaps to dodge. And each time he dodged, he landed counters. With poison-refined fists, he contaminated with poison, building on the damage from strikes.

The more the ape monkey's gears rose, the more refined Suzuka's movements responded in turn.

Even if the ape monkey's attacks hit, Suzuka with 『Holy God's Creed』 couldn't be killed. While rolling around beaten, wounds healed instantly, and standing up would leave him uninjured.

The ape monkey was too slow. To defeat the immortal Suzuka, it got serious too late.

To defeat Suzuka whose attacks didn't work and poison didn't work, the only way was to break his spirit to make him never want to be involved again. Thoroughly crushing him, stamping the difference in their grades as living beings into his soul, inflicting every imaginable pain, making his heart submit—there was no other method to defeat Suzuka.

An ordinary person would have yielded on the first day meeting the ape monkey, retreated like a tattered rag mop to escape the ape monkey, never entered this forest again, maybe even given up on being an explorer.

But Suzuka was different. Suzuka would never swallow his own spit. If he put up a front, carrying it through was Suzuka's style.

The only time he can't maintain that front is when he quits as an explorer. And Cunning Demon Ape Monkey was an existence insufficient to overturn Suzuka's front.

DOOOOOOON———

One of the ape monkey's hands rotted deeply with poison and fell like it was collapsing.

"Vaaaaahhahhhahhhahhhh!!!"

The ape monkey's scream—whether from pain or anger, or both—no way to know, but that voice shaking the atmosphere told that the ape monkey's life wouldn't last long.

Perhaps it understood its fate. The ape monkey understood it would die, and so it poured all its power into this final blow.

"Ah! I see! The end, huh!!! It's the end, right!? Come on!! This one blowwww, I'll crush it head on, you know!!!"

Understanding from the ape monkey's spirit that this was the final attack, Suzuka—unbelievably—to crush it head on, concentrated all his power in his right hand. His brain's broken alarm clamored danger, but Suzuka paid it no mind.

The aura of a single blow an area boss pours its life into releasing is tremendous—even if he dodged, the aftereffects would deal considerable damage. But Suzuka wouldn't do something rude like dodging. The option of dodging an attack the opponent pours its life into doesn't exist for Suzuka.

Matching the ape monkey's attack, Suzuka's gear was also raised to maximum. His brain moved like blood vessels were burning, not missing even the ape monkey's slightest movements, continuing to capture them. The overpoured mana overflowed from his body, illuminating surroundings brilliantly.

Like releasing a spring pulled to the limit, the ape monkey launched its attack at Suzuka with speed as if vanishing from the spot.

As if the frame rate couldn't keep up, the ape monkey's fist approached in stop-motion. Against that fist the size of Suzuka's upper body, Suzuka's small fist was launched to intercept.

The skill level required to crush the ape monkey's attack head on—Suzuka had probably already satisfied it. But overwhelmingly, his stats and level were insufficient. Stats are the fundamental foundation for everything, and only when stats and skills combine can you finally fight head on.

Ordinarily.

But what Suzuka seeks isn't ordinary. Common sense-wise, ordinarily, such frameworks—he has no intention of staying within them.

This is a dungeon. An incomprehensible unknown world. Having stepped into such a world, Suzuka couldn't neatly line up his steps with everyone else's.

Level, stats. Suzuka understands they're absolute too. With that logic, if skill level peaks, it should compensate for insufficient stats—Suzuka believed that.

The ape monkey's attack, where wind pressure alone would tear his body apart. For that insane act of trying to crush it head on, his skills responded. No, they couldn't help but respond.

If not growing right here and now, when would he grow? Not lending power to one trying to respond to the ape monkey's resolve—when would his true value ever be demonstrated?

Skills responded.

"The essence of body arts issssss!!! Hardness cuts through softnesssss!! Remember this, Cunning Demon Ape Monkeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyy!!!!!"

The opposite of what he just said. But all words have two sides, and besides reinforcing his own thinking, no matter how contradictory it was, it didn't matter. Only those who could reinforce their own image and make it certain could advance forward.

KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII———…

From the impact of Suzuka's fist and the ape monkey's fist colliding, the ground tore up, tree branches broke, and shock like an explosion assaulted the surroundings. The resounding shock sound was high-pitched and hard for a fist-on-fist collision. Both were Poison Hands reinforced with poison, and each other's fist hardness was evident.

The kicked-up dust. When that finally settled, Suzuka stood with his fist fully extended through.

The Poison Hand had countless cracks like a spider web, and traces of vomiting blood were visible from his mouth. Though already healed by 『Holy God's Creed』, not just his arms—his whole body was tattered everywhere.

But Suzuka stood. And with his fist fully extended through.

That meant——

"Haaahhh——! Took long! I'll say it for sure, ape monkey. Of everyone I've met so far, you were the strongest"

Don't know what the ape monkey thought hearing that. But the ape monkey, its arm destroyed along with its fist, didn't struggle with its remaining four arms, and fell like sleeping, transforming into huge black smoke.

"Whoa, I can feel my level went up that much. Stats rose a lot. Amazing"

With the black smoke sucked into Suzuka, his level was pushed up dramatically. With a rise of not just 2-3 levels, he could feel the stat increase that's usually hard to sense.

Surprised at his own stats changing, the surrounding area was gradually lit by morning sun.

"Morning already. Man, tired, tired. Should dream well today"

Stretching his arms and loosening his body's stiffness, Suzuka started walking. To leave the tree sea, ravaged from battle with the ape monkey.

"Alright, next's next. Wonder what'll come out next"

Even though he won the fierce battle with the ape monkey, he wasn't particularly dwelling on it. Suzuka's head was already full of the next monster.

Thus, the battle with the ape monkey spanning about two months drew its curtain.

Tips: How to defeat Cunning Demon Ape Monkey

A challenging area boss requiring preparation of large quantities of antidotes obtained from Strange Monkey, Provocative Monkey, and Bored Monkey appearing in District 1 Area 5, and ideally assembling poison-resistant accessories from those monsters for all party members before challenging.

The ape monkey's poison has three stages, each corresponding to the antidote from respective monsters. Since the ape monkey uses poison frequently, melee fighters should always include antidotes with margin. Since half-hearted status abnormality resistance is meaningless and when contaminated by poison you often reach a state where it's difficult to bring antidote to your mouth, the best countermeasure is fighting with antidote in your mouth.

On the other hand, irregular attacks from its three pairs of arms and sturdy tail leave no gaps and are very troublesome. Frontline should have at least two people dedicated to defense, and attack areas by concentrating on legs to reduce mobility.

Weaknesses are the three faces placed opposite each arm. The ape monkey spews poison from each mouth, but if impact is applied to a face, it cannot spew poison for a certain time. Therefore, the recommended strategy is: use magic area attacks to target faces and seal poison, then melee fighters attack legs to reduce mobility before delivering the finishing blow.

Additionally, poison dispersal via wind magic is also very effective, so it's important to temporarily include wind magic users.