Strongest Nova: Path of Vengeance

Chapter 290: Gorilla

Stanley got ready to fight, but the gorilla seemed to see the other man first and ran for him.

"No!" the man screamed. "Aaah! Don’t—"

The gorilla grabbed the man by the leg and started swinging him around to kill him. He stomped on him, slapped him around the trees, and flung him around, all the while the man continued crying out in terror.

His stretchy body did not stop him from taking damage it seemed. In the end, the gorilla pulled on the man’s head, stretching it to the most it could, and ripped it in two.

The man died with his head torn from his torso.

"What the fuck!" Red couldn’t help but cry out.

The gorilla turned toward them, and Red’s eyes widened in shock. "What do we do? It’s coming for us," she cried.

Stanley watched the gorilla with a weird look on his face. ’Isn’t this the guy I fought on my first night?’ he thought.

He remembered the guy that had woken up the next morning. He wasn’t a bad person as far as Stanley could remember.

Stanley dropped the knife in his hand and went to fight the gorilla. He easily dodged each of the gorilla’s attacks and punched it whenever he could in places that wouldn’t cause serious injury.

He just needed to get the man to fall unconscious.

Within 5 attacks, the gorilla was already staggering, and with a few more attacks, it couldn’t move. Stanley kept it going and within a few more hits caused the gorilla to fall unconscious.

The gorilla fell to the wet ground, splattering mud all over Stanley.

"Wow! You... you are strong, Blue," Red said as she slowly moved forward. "Is it dead?"

"No, just unconscious," Stanley said.

Just as he spoke, the body of the gorilla shifted, slowly turning back into the body of a human in the black suit.

"What?" Red shouted out loud. "It was a man?"

The old woman walked toward them. "Is it safe now?" she asked.

Stanley looked around, trying to see if he could spot the person in the trees, but he saw nothing. "Maybe," he said. "But we need to remain vigilant just in case."

As he said that, a loud explosion shook the ground.

* * * * * *

A woman jumped from tree to tree and jumped down from it once she was far enough from the fight. She slipped down to the ground and started running away faster now.

"What the fuck was that? How could we lose so easily?" the woman asked herself.

She staggered as she walked. She had been hit by the splinters of the exploding tree, and she bled.

’Where did my bow go?’ she wondered as she walked away. Her thoughts were in disarray. She quickly stopped worrying.

Just as she thought she got far enough to be safe, she tripped over something and ended up landing on a pile of rocks.

The next second, her body was blown into bits in an explosion.

* * * * *

"What was that?" Red asked, looking around. The sound of the explosion still echoes in the forest. "Where did that come from?"

"That direction," the old woman pointed. "I think."

"Explosion... the rocks?" Stanley questioned. "It is far away, so we won’t have to worry about it."

"Yeah, forget about that," Red said and walked toward the unconscious man on the ground. "Let’s finish off our enemies and go to sleep."

She was about to ram her dagger into the man’s heart when Stanley stopped her mid-stab.

Red looked up. "What?"

"Don’t kill him," Stanley said. "He didn’t know what he was doing."

"What?" Red gave a scoff. "Do you know him or what?"

"I beat him once before," Stanley said. "He changes to gorilla only when in danger. He’s not a bad person himself."

"It’s a kill-or-be-killed situation, Blue. We can’t afford to take a chance," Red said.

Stanley still didn’t take his hand away. "Funny, he said the same thing," he said. "Also, while I agree that it is a kill-or-be-killed situation, he did not intend to kill us. He doesn’t have control over himself."

"And how can you be certain?" the old woman asked.

"Because if he did, he would have run away instead of trying to kill me after how our fight went about a week ago," Stanley said. "Let’s just wait and see."

Red grumbled a little and shook her hand away. "Alright, I’ll agree. But only as thanks for saving us. Let’s hope you are not wrong now."

Stanley nodded.

After a bit of a cleanup of the surroundings, Stanley brought the man into their small tent and tied him from head to toe so that he couldn’t move even if he was up.

After that, it was time for them to go to sleep.

Stanley stayed up for a while in watch and then slept when it was the old woman’s turn to watch.

By the time Stanley woke up again, the outside was bright with sunlight. He slowly got up and saw the man staring listlessly at everyone.

"Oh, you’re up," Red said with a yawn. "You were right, I guess."

"It really is you," the man said softly. "You let me live again. Thank you."

"No need to thank me," Stanley said.

The man was still in his blanket, wrapped and tied up.

Stanley looked closer at the man, through his unkempt hair and weeks-old beard, and realized that the man was younger than he looked.

He was in his late 20s or early 30s at best.

"You have no control over what you do when you are a gorilla, do you?" Stanley asked. "Will you tell me why you did it?"

"Someone was chasing me through the river," the man said. "I was nearly dead, so I had to, even if I didn’t want to. Even if... the man most likely died."

"How do you turn back into a human?" Red asked. "Usually, I mean."

"I... don’t know," the man said. "Most of the time, I rampage so much that someone has to knock me down, and then I become a human again. I have no control over what I do when I’m a gorilla or how I can stop it."

"That is why I chose to become a participant in this damn place," the man said softly. "My whole life, I’ve lived in fear of hurting others unwittingly. I want to change that."

"I came here hoping that would change, but I might not have that chance, it seems. You are a bit too strong, so I have no chance of winning," he said.

"We’re going to win it all together," Red said proudly.

"Together?" the man asked with a surprised look. "Do you think the competition holders will accept this?"

"We don’t care," Red said. "We will defeat everyone else and then not fight each other."

"What if they decide to kill you all?" the man asked.

"And have no winner?" Red scoffed. "You have to think about the entertainment too. They’re not going to let that happen."

The man gave a thoughtful look and looked at the two of them. "While I can’t say that is a foolproof plan, it does sound somewhat plausible,’ he said. "Do you mind if I join too?"