A white ray flashed in the dark, and a sword flared out of the mist in a horizontal arc, its sharp edges sinking deeply into the black ape's neck like the canine of a beast.

Its head nearly flew off as it smashed it away with the staff, saving its life at the very last second.

Death had come for it too suddenly, and it had barely evaded it!

If not for its trained reflexes and quick reaction, it would've died there and then!

Its heart palpitated crazily as another ounce of its consciousness was consumed by fear!

The fear of the unknown began stalking its every breath.

If it didn't understand how its opponent was pulling off such ghostly stunts, it was bound to lose soon.

The black ape had saved itself from the worst for now, but it seemed unlikely that a mentally unstable beast would be able to save itself from what was to come next.

A part of the mist spurted out like an erupting volcano, and it solidified, becoming sturdier than steel before it crashed into the stupified black ape. The impact hurled it back with such force that it smashed through a few dozen stalagmites, almost destroying one of the two rock formations, and crashed into the cavern's wall before coming to a stop. That one attack had shaken its entire internal system. It would have been forced to puke out its organs if Roy's attack had been any stronger.

"I am definitely a human, but a ghost mightn't necessarily be scarier than me," Roy said in a deep throaty voice that could make any woman who listened to it feel weak in her legs as the black ape pushed itself out of the wall and glared at him.

"I see what's going on. You can shapeshift into the black mist. I get how your ability works. It won't be easy to fool me now." The fear of the unknown was haunting the black ape before, but now things had become clear to it. Roy's soul-herding ability was no longer a mystery to the beast, and its mind cleared up from all distracting thoughts.

It believed that it was caught off guard, and Roy was nothing without his petty tricks. These thoughts weren't ridiculous, considering it was a 20-year-old aura beast, which was the equivalent of a mid-stage aura master, while Roy, on the other hand, was giving off the vibe of a trainee.

He was two stages below the black ape, so it was only right for the beast to believe that the young man couldn't hold a candle to it in a fair fight.

As it was yammering away, Roy cleaned his right ear and blew on his pinky.

"If you're done talking, let's continue," Roy said as he raised his head to stare at it contemptuously.

The black ape had never been embarrassed so much in its entire life. His attitude pushed its buttons and got on its nerve so badly that a vein popped up on its temple.

Whoosh!

The ground cracked as the black ape rushed towards Roy like a cannonball. Its fist of fury passed through him. He wasn't harmed as he shapeshifted in time. But it did consume a few points of his energy. He had a few thousand points in store, so losing a few wasn't a big deal.

The black ape attacked the mist with everything it got, not letting it entrap it. The mist would be blown apart before it could surround the beast. It had learned its lesson the first time, and it wasn't going to make the same mistake again.

"You can shapeshift all you want, but the result won't change. At the end of the day, you will be crawling on the ground begging for mercy." the beast said as it was certain of its victory.

The stamina and endurance of a level 10 trainee couldn't compete with an aura beast.

'He will soon run out of fuel, and that will be my cue to land the finishing blow.' the beast thought as it attacked Roy again and again, giving him no time to rest.

Its assumptions were wrong as its opponent wasn't an average trainee.

The black ape's defense might be better than Roy's, but Roy's stats as a whole were greater than the black ape's. His strength alone was almost 50 points greater than the beast. His speed was nothing to scoff at, either. If he wanted to run, the black ape wouldn't be able to stop him.

He maneuvered his body out of its attack's range most of the time and shapeshifted to dodge the attack that almost connected with him. He was actually fast enough to dodge its attack without much trouble, but he was giving it false hope. And that was, of course, for a reason. It was why they were fighting.

He was putting up an act to fool the black ape away from the dusk tree and the fruits growing on it.

He didn't have any enmity against the black ape personally. Their sight was set on the same thing, and only one person could've it. He was afraid that the beast would try to destroy the natural treasures if it failed to defeat him, or the aftershock of their fight might destroy it. Thus, he lured it away from the dusk tree before using his aura to telepathically communicate with Delilah and tell her to collect them.

(I have lured the beast to the other corner of the cave. Now's the best time to grab the treasures for ourselves. The window is short, but I believe you can do it!) Roy transmitted a message to Delilah. His encouraging words directly rang in her mind.

'I am the best at this kind of thing.' she mouthed. As an assassin, it was her daily routine to infiltrate and steal important documents and lives.

Methodically, Delilah camouflaged herself and sneaked into the cave.

She dodged the aftershock of their battle that pulverized the rock protruding out of the floor and the ceiling by teleporting and made her way to the dusk tree swiftly.

In one breath of time, she was next to the glowing pristine magic fruit!