There wasn’t going to be a way out of fighting this giant ape, but there wasn’t an easy way of going about doing that either. Fighting something like that by itself would already require me to have my full focus on it with very little room for mistakes.

  Having who knows how many other monsters around me wasn’t going to give me the time or space to do that with any real effectiveness. Yeah, I had far more mana now, and a powerful attack under my belt, but I couldn’t ignore the monsters around me.

  Just because I had the water didn’t mean this became easy all of a sudden…or the mental burden of it all went away.

  No.

  This was a careful balance that I’ve been managing to maintain for who knows how long at this point and a variable like this added to the picture could easily be thing that sends that balance toppling to the floor like a tower built too tall without a good foundation.

  Unfortunately, reality didn’t care whether my balance was on the verge of falling or not. It would come with its problems, and it would be up to you to meet them and solve them or get rolled over.

  Obviously, getting rolled over was not an option, though an easy way ahead didn’t seem to exist. I had no doubt in my mind whether this big ass gorilla was going to take it easy on me or not. Without a shadow of a doubt, it was going to come here and try to kill me just as much as all these other monsters around me.

  But while it was well within my capabilities to dodge and fight the monsters around me as long as I was careful and remained that way, even with any small advantage that presented itself before me, that sentiment didn’t really apply to the situation I was about to face.

  Needless to say, I would have to take something of a risk. Running wasn’t really an option. The big ass gorilla looked slow, but I’ve seen gorillas moving in plenty of videos. Those bastards were not slow, and if this thing moved anything like a regular gorilla would, there was no way I was going to outrun it.

  It was at times like this where I missed my dashing skill, I couldn’t help but thinking to myself that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to just get rid of it like that, but I can’t cry over spilled milk, especially when the milk has long since been rotten by now.

  The gorilla wasn’t necessarily upon me yet, but he was getting closer. The earth continued to shake even more vigorously as it stepped near me, reminding me I didn’t have a lot of time left. I moved toward the water, forever thankful I found it since if I were to not have access to water in this situation it would probably be the death of me…

  “Crushing Descent!”

  I activated the skill and poured a good chunk of my mana into it, something I’ve experimented with slightly since this all began.

  Of course, the longer I kept it active, the more mana it would use, but I realized I could somewhat control just how much goes into activating the skill in the first place. It was still very hard to limit the amount of mana to a minimum, but it was far easier to just empty whatever I had into the skill without regard for anything else.

  I didn’t quite do that exactly since I still needed some mana and the water was very helpful in building it back up, but it wasn’t like it just filled me back to the top instantly.

  Anyway, the skill did what it had to do and the monsters around crashed into the ground in a chaotic display of gravity working against them. I didn’t waste any time after that and bullets of water formed in the air and shot out towards the gorilla.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  They were too fast and it was too big to dodge them, or maybe it simply didn’t care, either way all dozen bullets pelted it, but I could see no visible damage.

  Shit.

  I managed to let another two volleys fly off towards the Gorilla before the strain of maintain the Crushing Descent got too much to bare while using another skill.

  Unfortunately for me…the Gorilla didn’t seem to be put off at all. I knew right then and there that there was only ever going to be one skill in my repertoire that would actually do real damage to this beast.

  Alright then you big ass gorilla, let’s see who dies first you piece of shit.

  …

  Now, while Freddy was fighting monsters and preparing himself to fight something akin to a boss monster, the same man who welcomed his arrival to this area was watching Freddy’s exploits from the safety and comfort of a small office.

  That very man had something of a frown on his face at the moment.

  The idea of the training was to have Freddy, or anyone else for that matter, fight numerous different monsters of all different shapes and sizes, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, all of which were meant to constantly push whoever was undergoing the training to move their body at a high intensity in far more ways than they typically would for a significant period of time.

  Doing so for a very high intensity stretch over the course of days, weeks, or even months would almost guarantee an individual to successfully integrate their Traits.

  This was not a new concept, and it was not unique to the church, though it was still a highly valued training area, considering that it was all under supervision and with relative safety should something go amiss.

  This type of training was especially valuable for anyone that was born on a more civilized planet, ones that were long since integrated, and unlike Earth were not facing a subjugation.

  On planets such as those, they would be hard pressed in most circumstances to find an area where they would be under constant attack from a varying spectrum of beasts. Sure, there were some planets that fit that description, or very specific areas where something like that could happen, but more times than not that wasn’t the case.

  Now, while Freddy did not come from a civilized planet, as it was currently undergoing a subjugation, the number of places on Earth at this moment where a scenario like this could be replicated was essentially zero.

  Which for Freddy, this was indeed an extremely valuable training exercise, but the acolyte overseeing this training could not help but lament the fact that Freddy was clearly attuned to water, and he had found himself a stream where he was able to regain lost mana and stamina at a relatively decent rate.

  Initially, there was nothing wrong with that fact. Freddy found an advantage and he was making use of it. He likely would have raised a problem if Freddy decided to stay in the water permanently and fight, but the fact that he left and only went back when he was too tired to continue was an honorable choice, and the reason why the acolyte hadn’t done something about it.

  And by doing something, this wasn’t necessarily to say that Freddy was breaking rules. No, it was only to ensure that he would continue to get the most out of the training. Fighting while being supplied mana and stamina constantly without end was not going to meet the desired effect of integrating Traits, if so the acolyte would not have allowed this to happen.

  That was until Freddy integrated his first Trait, and then immediately unleashed two powerful skills in the area around him.

  That wasn’t going to fly in the acolyte’s mind, so he unleashed the deterrent, something that should have forced Freddy to leave the area and continue roaming the massive forest and fighting until he couldn’t fight anymore.

  But instead of running, the acolyte watched Freddy plant himself in the water and prepare to fight something he was not going to be able to win against. Even with that powerful skill, defeating the enemy sent after him was not going to be possible. That gorilla was not something that any ordinary F Grade would be able to handle.

  Even if Freddy was unordinary…he would have needed to be the absolute top 1 percent of F Grades in existence to actually kill the beast approaching him without special means or circumstances at play.

  Perhaps if this was the deep ocean and Freddy met it there he would have a far higher chance…but like this? Impossible.

  The Gorilla was firmly an E Grade existence.

  It was restricted a bit for the purpose of being a deterrent…but E Grade was E Grade.