NOVEL NEXT Chapter 177: Triple
Damien flinched. "No. Nope. Absolutely not. That's worse. You look like you crush people by hugging them."
Blackie said nothing. She was confused and slightly sad that her master wasn't happy.
Damien shuddered. "Okay, okay. New instructions. Less… beef. Maybe half the muscle. Slimmer. No more terrifying jaw. And tone down the glow. You look like a haunted vending machine."
Mana swirled again. Another transformation. This time she emerged thinner, but still had weirdly angled eyebrows, glowing red fingernails, and eyes that looked like they hadn't blinked since the previous era.
Damien blinked twice. "Why do you look like a tax auditor from hell?"
Blackie shrugged, then gave him a very dignified bow. Her massive hood poofed outward, like a squid flapping in slow motion.
"Alright, listen carefully." Damien pointed directly at her. "Make the face human. Human. Pretty-ish. Keep the height down. Drop the robes. Something elegant. Something that doesn't make children cry. Think… mysterious foreign heiress with too much mana and unresolved trauma. Young. 16 years old like me."
Another wave of mana shimmered, slower this time, more refined.
When the smoke cleared, she was different. Still tall, but graceful now. And fresh looking.
Smooth obsidian skin with a cool undertone. High cheekbones, sharp features, hair pulled into a long shimmering braid. Her eyes, once a swirling mess of clockwork, were now narrowed and focused—still intense, but alluring rather than horrifying.
Her robes were gone, replaced by a dark, fitted cloak over a layered dress of swirling shadows and starlight. She looked exotic, ethereal… and strangely attractive. The kind of woman who looked like she might poison your tea and you'd thank her for it.
Damien stared.
"…Huh."
Blackie tilted her head again, raising one hand slightly as if to say, Well?
He nodded slowly. "Okay. Yeah. That works."
She gave a curtsy, graceful, fluid, and disturbingly flawless.
Damien blinked. "You're still kinda scary, but now it's the right kind of scary."
His gaze drifted past her, toward the battlefield below. The storm had passed. The last screech had long faded, and the trees no longer trembled with violence. It was finally over.
At the center of the scorched clearing lay the ruined body of the dragon monkey, limbs twisted, wings shredded, its once-massive form reduced to stillness. Around it stood seven figures—his descended summons, cloaked in shadows and death energy, silent sentinels to its end.
Damien floated down slowly, his boots crunching softly against the ash-covered earth. Blackie followed behind, her steps eerily quiet despite the long, flowing dress. She came to a halt beside the corpse of what had once been her child… and didn't flinch.
No sorrow. No hesitation.
Her eyes, swirling with clockwork runes, stared down at the broken body with cold detachment, as if it were just another failed piece on the board.
Damien glanced at her sideways. "No regrets?"
Blackie didn't respond. She just gave the faintest shrug.
Damien exhaled slowly, gaze settling on the corpse again.
"Alright then," he muttered. "Let's see what happens when I revive a creature with a monkey's soul and a dragon's blood."
"…Wait a second."
He narrowed his eyes.
"Dragon… monkey?"
His brain stalled.
"Hold on. That means the father was a monkey?! A MONKEY?!"
He staggered forward in disbelief. "Holy shit, what sort of monkey actually manages to impregnate a dragon?!"
Behind him, Blackie tilted her head, then gently mimed a swinging motion, puffing out her cheeks while thumping her chest like a gorilla.
Damien stared.
"…No. No way. Don't even joke about that."
Blackie slowly nodded.
Dead serious.
Damien took a slow, steady breath.
"Alright then… monkey dad or not, let's see what happens when I bring this beast back at its strongest."
He extended his hand again, death energy spiraling out like black silk, wrapping around the dragon monkey's ruined corpse.
Nature reacted, of course it did.
A tremor ran through the trees, leaves rustled in protest, and a low groan passed through the earth. But it wasn't the violent, full-blown tantrum Nature threw when he revived Blackie. No lightning. No screaming wind.
Just a grumpy grumble, like the world was watching and muttering, Really? Another one?
"Relax," Damien muttered. "This one's just half dragon."
He wove in time energy again, lacing it through the death mana with a practiced rhythm. This time he guided it deeper, carving through timelines, following the strands of possibility until he found it.
The monkey's peak.
Its absolute strongest self.
And then he dragged that version forward.
The ground glowed beneath the corpse, then cracked. Mana flared upward in a triple-color vortex.
Red, black, and silver. Fire, darkness, and time.
The body twitched. Then arched. Then rose.
Bones realigned. Wings regrew, this time rimmed with ember-flame. Fur darkened, slick and smooth like polished obsidian. Its tail cracked like a whip, scattering debris. And its eyes snapped open burning with molten heat and swirling silver rings of temporal power.
A low groan rumbled from the beast's throat as it stirred.
"Ughhh… What year is it? Did I win? Is the world mine yet?"
Damien raised an eyebrow. "You can talk?"
The newly revived creature dragged one massive claw across the dirt, gouging a steaming trench into the earth. He rolled his shoulders, then cracked his neck with a loud pop.
"Talk? Talk? Please. I once held an entire battlefield hostage with a speech. I'm not some mindless beast. I'm Rage Monkey, Sovereign of Destruction, Duke of the Flaming Banana Realm, and the Reason Volcanoes Don't Sleep."
Damien stared.
"Did this bugger just name itself?!" Damien was shocked.
Rage Monkey puffed up his chest. "I've returned! Stronger, darker, hotter, and somehow more majestic than before! Look at me! I have triple elements! Fire! Darkness! And time! TIME, baby! I literally aged while being dead and still got stronger! That's efficiency!"
A soft system chime echoed around them:
[Ranked Summon Status]
Name: Rage Monkey
Elemental Alignment: Fire (Level 2), Darkness (Level 2), Time (Level 2)
Combat Role: Ambush Skirmisher / Temporal Juggernaut
[Core Stats]
HP: 7100 / 7100
MP: 18,000 / 18,000
Strength: 120
Agility: 85
Vitality: 95
Intelligence: 40
Sense: 15
Passive Skills
Burning Instinct
Automatically enhances physical power by 20% while below 50% HP. Enemies struck while enraged take burn damage over time.
Shadow Pounce
Allows the user to leap from shadow to shadow, gaining a 30% boost to critical strike chance for the next hit.
Temporal Feedback (Time Affinity)
When struck by a spell, has a chance to reflect a fraction of the damage 1.5 seconds later. Chance increases with agility.
Active Skills
Human Transformation
Transforms into a humanoid form of its choosing. While transformed, it retains all passive skills and limited access to active abilities, with aura suppression for subtle infiltration.
Phantom Lash
A whiplike tail strike infused with darkness mana that can blind targets for 3 seconds and disable shielding effects.
Inferno Leap
Launches high into the air, then crashes down like a meteor, burning terrain and enemies within range. Leaves lingering flames.
Primal Roar
Lets out an earth-shaking roar that stuns nearby enemies for 2 seconds and draws aggro from lower-ranked beasts.
Time-Infused Skills
Delayed Fury (Hybrid Skill)
Channels a strike into the target that detonates 3 seconds later with amplified damage. The delay can throw off enemy healers and tanks.
Chrono Blink
Instantly teleports up to 15 meters forward, leaving behind a shadow afterimage that explodes 2 seconds later.
Timebreaker Rampage (Ultimate – Locked until Lv. 15)
Unleashes a berserk state for 10 seconds. During this time, movement and attack speed double, cooldowns are halved, and physical damage ignores 50% of armor. Causes extreme fatigue after use.
"Little bastard. You actually did name yourself. But.." Damien nodded slowly. "Not bad. Definitely stronger than you were. Triple-elemental too. Not elite, but still…"