With another jump, the other ropes tore and the mutant chimp barreled into the Magister like a wrecking ball of bloody fur. Their steam mixed into a terrible cacophony. The Magister raised a hand, and Aaron was blinded. He turned his head away and blinked for a few heartbeats. Fuck. I have to help him.

He drew his knife, but only witnessed the end of the vicious melee. The Magister had been on the floor since the beginning, the chimp straddling him. Aaron could only see how Mutant turned his advantage into victory in the brutal boxing match. Mutants fist crushed the Magister's throat.

Another blinding flash erupted, and Aaron only now noticed the spots of molten rock on the back wall and floor. Learn to aim, noob.

The chimp rose—Donkey Kong from hell, skin split and blood-slicked. Fur sloughed off in clumps. Maybe it'll just fall over?

The mutant chimp pulled up its lips, threatening Aaron with its vicious teeth. Aaron took a step back. Mistake. Never show weakness to a predator.

Mutant quickly snapped its foot to the side, grinding Charos's throat into the ground. The crack Aaron heard wasn't a good sign. The beast screamed, spraying out a foam of red saliva alongside bigger, pink pieces. His lungs are falling apart. How is he still fighting?

Aaron's muscles tensed the same moment the beast charged. He dodged deftly to the side, landing a cut on the monster's arm. Spinning around, Aaron's eyes widened in horror. I wasn't the target of that rush. With a splintering crack, the chimpanzee barreled into the bamboo cage and shattered its gate. Fuck, he is getting reinforsments. Do I rush and try to hold the breach?

Aaron was paralyzed with indecision as the chimp disentangled itself from the broken bamboo. Then the first other chimp scrambled forward, standing protectively over her companion. Shit.

Aaron's eyes darted back and forth. Several manacles hung at the wall behind the chimps. Is there something useful in the laboratory?

In the end, Aaron grabbed his chair, spun around, and hurled it at the chimps. It shot forward like a cannonball and hit just as the mutated ape stood up. Both it and Fhe Female were knocked back. Aaron grinned ferally when he saw The Female had lost several teeth and was bleeding profusely.

Just as he went for the other chair, the remaining chimps rushed toward the breach. Aaron looked toward the corridor, but it was barely three steps wide. I'll get flanked. What do I do? I can't even open this deathtrap's door. The lab. Let's pray he has some acid or flammables.

No plan. No backup. Just instinct and steel. He roared and hurled the second chair—this time Mutant jumped, deflected it, and knocked it down like a basketball. Aaron spun around and bolted. The mob of seven chimps screamed like something from a nightmare.

Aaron sprinted, panting violently as he slid into the lab. A body slammed into his legs. Aaron went down hard, the air escaping his lungs with a single puff—but he held onto the dagger.

He spun and moved the knife like a windshield wiper. The freshly freed hero chimp's lunge cost it half its fingers. Aaron then threw himself forward, and the knife plunged past the steely hand clasping his throat—straight into the neck.

He tore it to the side and was rewarded with a fountain of hot blood. He collapsed forward onto Hero's twitching body. Its pitiful moans turned into desperate gurgles. I got him.

Then the others were on him. Six versus one. Aaron kicked and thrashed, but sharp fingers dug into his right calf. The knife!

The Female grabbed his open shoulder and yanked hard. Aaron screamed as the shoulder popped. He dropped the knife as his last arm was captured.

Aaron lay on the dying Hero, pinned down by four monstrously strong chimps. A young female was jumping up and down by the leader's side.

The leader advanced on Aaron on all fours. Its bloody teeth and red eyes gave him a demonic appearance. Its fur was gone—only slick, torn skin remained.

Aaron struggled with all his might, but all it earned him were gingerbread-digger fingers in his flesh and a sharp yank on his dislocated arm. He nearly blacked out from the pain.

But the leader's fingers digging into Aaron's thighs woke him right up. The crazed eyes were intent on his groin.

Oh no. Nononono. Chimps torture other chimps by ripping off the genitals. This isn't happening. This—

A sudden calm crashed through him. Time fractured. 'DeactivatedSpellLimiter. YouAtQuarterSpeed.'

"Thanks," Aaron croaked—drawn-out and surreal.

What can I do?

He recalled the cantrip. All practice had been theoretical.

The fucker is posturing. Can I pull it off?

Aaron inhaled and plunged into the oblivion road's cold waters. Falling like a comet through the green garden, he landed like a superhero on the pillar and carved out a piece of metal from the mindshield sphere.

Become a coin! he commanded, and his command became reality.

He felt the nails digging into his flesh. I need to focus.

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He recalled the manual—how the thought was to be formed, how to lace it with intent. He flipped the glowing mental coin—then gasped back into slow-time reality. The world crawled as he spat, aiming straight the chimp holding his left leg, Legolas.

The coin. It's spinning. You don't know why you're here. You just walked into this room.

Even as Legolas' ravaged brain twitched in confusion—the cantrip striking some faint echo of recognition, like tectonic plates forced to shift. And the claws lessened their pressure.

Aaron yanked his knee up to his stomach and kicked the mutated monster, intent on his crotch, straight into the face.

An animalistic explosion of pain and surprise rewarded him. He kneed the remaining chimp at their legs, then threw the other leg over the body, turning onto his belly. The fingers still cut painfully into his ankles and wrists. He could not make out which screams were his and which belonged to the enemy.

For a heartbeat, the world held its breath. Then, all the chimps let go of his limbs.

He was about to roll again, when one of them threw herself on top of him. Air slid out of his lungs and he felt hot breath and saliva dripping onto his neck.

His offense was recaptured. And anger.

Aaron's world faded into darkness. Only the copper tang of blood stayed with him—and the warm body on top of him.

As he came to, the body had slumped on top of him. Something wet and gooey was covering his hair. A kill shot from the Magister. He is alive? The second one, if I trust my hazy memory.

Another chimp yelped.

The Female to his right turned toward the source of the flashes.

Aaron grit his teeth and retrieved the dagger—one which he had been laying on. The blood-slicked hilt felt like hope.

He clenched his fist, then stabbed The Female right into the groin. Her ear-splitting scream was all Aaron registered as she curled up into a ball.

I'll get you later.

He bowed up, head high, and lifted the core part of himself. Half of his face still greeted mist.

Fuck, my hair is covered in brain matter.

He looked around, trying to get his bearings. Magister Charos had rolled onto his side, a dagger lodged in a hole in his throat below the distortion.

That is metal as fuck. Must be the high attributes.

The big ape—the mutated monster—was charging him. The alpha of the diehard had lost a leg to a terrible burn that seemed to have had the same effect as a grenade going off inside the thigh.

Which leaves me with the fucker who dislocated my arm and the one who held my leg.

He stood up, returning the assessing gaze of the blood-crazed animals. He growled with a shaky voice.

"Let's go, you ugly motherfuckers."

Aaron made a step between the two chimpanzees, but let his weight fall into a sideways lunge at the last moment. As he used his left foot to propel himself toward his enemy, he brought up his functioning arm like a boxer, holding the knife in a hammer grip.

The chimp threw a retaliatory punch at Aaron, but Aaron followed the warmth of the unarmed combat guide and let his forearm form down, letting the blade glide downward.

Got you.

The knife's edge caught the inside of the beast's elbow, and he yanked back with a quick flick, leaving a savage wound on the inside of the arm.

Fuck. I missed the artery.

Aaron winced as his dislocated arm made itself known through the adrenaline rush. Just one and a half monkeys. You can do this.

He could see the burning body of the mutated chimp being bombarded by the staged flash strikes of the Magister. He was backing away toward the end of the room.

Then another monkey pounced on Aaron. He slashed at its throat, causing it to falter. A hammer-like blow followed by a gouge.

I got the knife in!

Aaron desperately flew into the bind through the pain of the scratching motion. It grabbed his fist.

You want the knife? You can have it.

Aaron gave up the tug of war and jumped forward. The body went down, Aaron on top of the screeching chimp.

The knife dropped between their chests, an icicle falling onto an oblivious victim. It hit the chest and met resistance—bones. Then the blade turned slightly and sank in up to the hilt.

The monkey exhaled. Its eyes widened.

Aaron met its all-too-human gaze. Time stood still for a heartbeat.

Then the chimp howled and hugged Aaron tight. It reared its head up, and the teeth tore grooves into Aaron's scalp. He screamed and tried to push it off—to no avail.

Humans are built for endurance. Chimps for strength.

Instead, he pressed upward slowly, until his hand could shoot toward the foe's face and feel the sweat and fur. Aaron got a good dose of bad breath from the next attempted bite.

Disgusting monster.

His hand found the throat, controlling the head and tried to strangle out the monkey. Nothing happened. Aaron pressed tighter and tighter.

Strangling someone slowly seems so easy in stories.

The chimp thrashed, howling. Blows hammered Aaron's back—each one like artillery, each a thundercrack in his ribs. Something shifted inside him. Something broke. I need to change the game.

Aaron loosened one hand and let it shoot up to his enemy's face. The four fingers found the top of the skull. The thumb found the enemy's eye.

Aaron penetrated through the soft resistance into something disgustingly warm. A guttural scream erupted, and Aaron was shifted about. The knife's handle he had been pinned beneath him stabbed into his chest painfully.

But the downpour of strikes had stopped. The chimp was nursing its eye.

Aaron retrieved the dagger. It was slick, but he twisted it and tore it free.

He shoved it upward, into the throat, then ripped the embedded blade to the side, opening a smiling gash. Warm blood greeted him like a long-lost lover.

Aaron rose, roaring. He stomped—once, twice—bone crunching like a beat of victory.

"Fuck you in particular!" A wraparound slammed into his chest, tearing skin from his shoulder. Aaron screamed and swore.

I need to fall on it!

With his remaining willpower, he managed to fall and crash onto the furry pillow. A nasty crack sounded, and the arms relaxed.

Where is the damned knife? Doesn't matter.

He got to his feet, swaying as the bitten and sliced shoulder pulsed violently. Then he stomped on the head. Again. And again. And again.

The skull cracked, and Aaron flattened it.

He retrieved the knife.

Next one.

A blur of motion broke through the gore-stained haze— He turned around just as a bundle of blood-red and turquoise fabric hurtled toward him. The Magister crashed into Aaron's chest, and the air left his lungs silently as they crashed into the doorframe of the entrance tunnel.

Magister Charos groaned.

At least he's alive.

Aaron surveyed the blood-wreck that was the man—throat ajar, dagger hole open, one hand keeping the tissue closed.

How do we even sterilize that?

Footsteps echoed—slow, deliberate, wet with blood.

Aaron looked up and met the black pinpricks in the pools of blood that were the only thing not stained red on the monstrous ape's body.

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