God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

'It can swing from tree to tree pretty quickly. That means I have to destroy all the surrounding trees to hinder its movement.'

He shook his head,

'There much better no need to go that far.'

His eyes darted around.

He already knew he was fast enough to close the distance. All he needed to do...

'I need it to come to me.'

Cain felt the gears in his mind whirring to life.

His eyes widened.

'Being fast enough isn't the answer...'

He grabbed onto a branch and suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Sensing him come to a stop, the {Blackfist Ape} did so abruptly as well.

With two arms holding onto a branch over head, it began laughing erratically while its lower arms clapped furiously.

The beast was clearly enjoying itself.

Cain couldn't help but chuckle. Was swinging around really so fun?

'I need it to come to me. Since we are not both on trees, it won't be able to launch ranged attacks as easily as before.'

And he was right. The {Blackfist Ape} was not dumb. It realized that the probability of any attacks hitting Cain in this case were rather slim.

Despite that, the beast had incredible stamina.

It if wanted,not could go all day long. But Cain didn't want to spend all day swinging around.

The {Blackfist Ape} continued to hang there and clap its hands. As though trying to urge him to continue chasing it.

Cain chuckled.

There really was no need to do that anymore.

He glanced around. Once he found what he was looking for, he reached out and broke off a branch.

The bark of the Blackwood trees that populated the forest was rather tough. They were highly resistant to high impact forces, meaning they didn't snap easily.

The same went for the branches.

The branch he broke off was not too long or thick; about twice his arm's length with a width of three inches at the broken end that tapered off into a narrow tip.

Cain snapped off the weaker curved tip of the branch, leaving him with a shorter, but sharper-tipped branch.

He weighed it and found that it had sufficient weight behind it.

He stomped his feet on the branch he stood on twice to get a feel of it. He nodded in satisfaction when he realized the branch would be sturdy enough.

A look of excitement flashed in his eyes.

"Making me run all around was quite a bit rude," he muttered.

Thick veins popped out on his arms and legs as he took a throwing stance and steadied himself.

Although it retained its relaxed posture, the four eyes of the {Blackfist Ape} were rather sharp and observant. It could see every movement Cain made despite the distance separating them.

It seemed rather curious about what the human was doing.

Cain on the ither hand sucked in a deep breath.

He had suppressed all his killing intent and bloodlust to make sure the beast would sense nothing until it was too late.

His stats, especially his physical stats, had increased tremendously.

Even better, the {Golden Wyvern: Akuma} state was one that greatly enhanced all his physical traits, even down to the nature and strength of his physique.

The increase was at least twice as great as the boost that had been granted by {Golden Wyrm: Asura}.

If he added any other physical enhancing skills, spells or abilities, every random blow would be enough to take away entire swathes of forest.

Causing such devastation was simply too much for hunting down one beast.

A soft, cold breeze blew.

The dark green leaves on the crown of the trees blew with the wind, some of them falling erratically to the forest floor.

Cain felt the power in him travel through his body before concentrating into his arm.

The moment he swung forward, he felt it all pass into the branch he held.

A flash of crimson light cut through the world.

Then there was a sound.

Like the crackling of thunder.

Much to his surprise, there was not much of a physical change.

Trees weren't blasted away, and the leaves weren't shredded until the air was painted green.

Instead, there was a shriek of pain.

And it came from the {Blackfist Ape}.

Cain's eyes narrowed.

The grin never left the face of the {Blackfist Ape}. However, one of its fists was clenched around its shoulder.

There, Cain could see that a bloody hole had appeared in its flesh.

The {Blackfist Ape} was agile. It also possessed a great throwing arm.

Or four...

Because of this advantage, it could fell beatss much slower and larger than itself. Compared to the other titanic creatures in the island, the {Blackfist Ape} could even be described as rather little.

Despite this, Cain could tell it was a Hunter that had felled many goes greater and stronger.

All due to its unique characteristics.

In fact, he could also tell it had slain smaller and faster creatures.

However, it was unfortunate that it had never come into contact with a beast like Cain.

Not only was he faster, he was also smaller, stronger...

And smarter.

Such tactics would have worked, maybe if he wasn't one of the above.

Just one powerful throw had been enough to deal injury.

The {Blackfist Ape} extended a hand and grabbed a branch.

Without hesitation, it broke it off and swung its arm back.

'Here is comes.'

Like a thunderbolt thrown from the heavens by the gods, the broken branch cut through the crown of leaves towards Cain.

A terrifying grin appeared on Cain's face.

"Just as I thought."

He calmly jumped up to the branch of a taller tree.

The thrown branch harmlessly flew right under.

The {Blackfist Ape} made a deep, guttural sound as its two lower arms smashed into its toned chest.

Cain chuckled,

"What is this? Are you angry?"

Cain broke off another branch and sharpened it the same way,

"Then why don't we make you even angrier? This next one is going to get your eye."

The {Blackfist Ape} couldn't understand human speech. Despite that, Cain's words seemed to reach it.

There was a brief pause.

Then it let out a spine-chilling cackle.

Its arms shot forward and grasped onto two branches.

Without a moment's hesitation, its arms tensed and it shot forward, the branches beneath its feet shattering from the vibration.

Cain's grin widened as he let his wooden spear fly.