To the east of Magnolia Town lay a forest, neither too big nor too small.
Usually, the townsfolk of Magnolia rarely ventured in, as rumors claimed monsters dwelled deep within. Thus, the forest remained quiet and undisturbed most days.
But today?
That calm was shattered.
"Aaaaaaaaahhh—!!!"
"Help meeeee!"
"Big bro, I get it, I'm sorry, okay?! I swear I'll never interrupt you and your girl again! Just let me go!!"
Piercing screams split through the air, scattering birds in all directions.
In the forest, Ur was dashing through the underbrush in full panic, his expression one of pure terror.
Behind him, a hulking blue-furred ape monster was in hot pursuit. Its eyes glowed crimson with rage, low snarls rumbling from its throat—an image of savage frustration.
The ape's movements were swift and agile, and in this dense forest, it was practically in its element.
Even so, it still couldn't catch Ur.
Because while Ur might not have been faster, his movements were bizarrely evasive. Using unpredictable shifts and feints, he continually managed to slip out of the monster's grasp.
Frustrated by its inability to catch him, the ape's fury only grew. It roared, its snarl echoing through the trees, voice dripping with indignation and pent-up rage.
And then, it got even faster.
Seeing that, Ur's face twisted like he'd just swallowed a mouthful of dirt.
"Come on, man…"
He'd already been in this forest for three days.
The past few days had gone relatively smoothly. Although he'd encountered a few low-level monsters, he always managed to spot them early and avoid detection.
But this morning, things had gone sideways.
"Bro, could you just stop chasing me already?! I swear I didn't mean to! How was I supposed to know you had a thing for 'early morning romance', huh?!"
"Besides! You can't even entirely blame me for this!"
"If your taste wasn't so... weird, I might've noticed something was up!"
Ur shouted over his shoulder as he ran for his life.
Honestly?
He felt like he'd just been royally screwed by fate.
He'd been on high alert these past few days, knowing monsters lurked in the woods. Unless they were especially good at hiding, he usually spotted them before they got too close.
What he didn't expect was that this particular monster would be so…adventurous.
Like, fine. You wanna do your thing with your partner. But couldn't you choose a more obvious location?
A cave. A bush. Even a random clearing would've worked!
But nooo, this gorilla had to hang from the vines for its "romantic moment."
"What now? You turn into a monster and suddenly have to show off your core strength too?!"
"ROOOAAR!!"
Far from calming down, the ape only grew more enraged by Ur's words. Its howls echoed through the trees, guttural and primal.
If someone had walked by, they'd probably assume it'd just been cheated on.
Crack!
Suddenly, Ur heard a sharp snap behind him.
He glanced back, just in time to see the monster tear an entire tree out of the ground and hurl it at him.
Boom!
Ur dove into a forward roll, just barely dodging the flying log as it crashed into the earth behind him, spraying dirt and splinters.
"ROOAAAR!! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!"
Seeing Ur look so pathetic, the ape monster roared with delight, beating its chest repeatedly like a tribal warlord high on adrenaline.
This wasn't just a dumb beast. It had intelligence and power.
Realizing that tree-throwing was effective, it abandoned chasing and switched to pure bombardment.
Crack!
Another tree came sailing through the air as effortlessly as if it were a stick.
"SON OF A—!"
Ur finally snapped, letting out a curse as another tree came whistling toward him through the air.
Naturally, he picked up the pace.
In this world, mages didn't have strict power rankings. But by Ur's standards, this ape monster was at least equivalent to a B-Class mage.
Which was way out of his league right now.
Still, Ur had to admit.
The Kuga Combat Technique's escape tactics were no joke.
He couldn't beat the ape in a fight, but with his evasive movements and decent physical conditioning, the creature couldn't land a hit on him.
Not only that, Ur had begun to grow accustomed to the monster's attack patterns, and his evasive maneuvers were becoming more refined by the minute.
"Honestly, big guy—I love the look on your face when you can't stand me… but still can't hit me!"
Ur called out mid-dodge, grinning like a brat who'd just pulled the ultimate prank.
Ape Monster: "?????"
"ROOOOOAAAAAR!!"
That did it.
The ape's rage exploded once more. Whatever calm it had begun to recover… gone. Its bloodshot eyes burned with pure fury, as if it were ready to cry tears of rage.
It rampaged harder than ever.
But alas, it was all in vain.
Before they knew it, this insane game of ape vs. troll-mouthed human had gone on for over half an hour.
After half an hour of non-stop tree-yanking and throwing, even the monster's arms began to ache.
It was just about ready to give up when suddenly, a familiar figure appeared in front of Ur.