Gideon tried to roll to push the Swift Tail Monkey sitting on his chest away, but the monkey had pinned both his hands making it hard for him to roll.
He looked at its eyes which were full of rage and madness as it saw many of its kin being killed by the humans within a minute the battle began.
Gideon closed his eyes and turned his head to the left so he would not see the nails that would pierce his face and readying himself for pain that would come.
TING … THUD
Ah .. Ah .. Ooh
He all of a sudden heard a sound of steel hitting flesh close to him and the weight on his chest disappeared. He also heard something fall next to him and a monkey started to scream in pain which was too close than other monkeys that were fighting.
He did not feel the pain he was waiting for.
He opened his eyes and looked to his side to see a round heavy shield had fallen next to him with the monkey he was fighting a meter away from him with blood oozing from its nose screaming and rolling on the ground.
He looked to his other side to see the security guard assigned to protect him was fighting four Swift Tail Monkeys together with his short sword and no shield. His blue uniform already had a few scratches on his body with blood dripping from them.
He shook his head to get the mind clear of his thoughts, stood immediately and stabbed his short sword at the screaming monkey's mouth, silencing it permanently.
He kicked its lifeless hand gently and turned towards the security guard who looked like would need help to handle the monkeys he was fighting and needed a minute to use the medical syringe to enhance his healing to heal his injuries quickly.
Gideon picked the shield and rushed towards the security guard to distract at least one of the monkeys that would reduce the pressure on him to handle the rest, but before he could get close to him, another monkey came at him out of nowhere. He dive rolled to his front to dodge its arms that came towards his neck.
He rolled awkwardly twice to stabilise himself as the shield was heavy for him to get a smooth landing of the dive roll he just performed.
He looked at the security guard who was looking at him, locking their eyes for a second. The security guard raised his hand towards Gideon in a grabbing gesture.
Gideon threw the shield to him as soon as he saw that, as he also saw a monkey tried to use the distraction of the security guard to poke his neck with its sharp nails.
BANG
The security guard grabbed the shield and swung it horizontally, hitting the monkey in the nick of time, sending it flying about 5 meters away and continued to fight against the other 3 monkeys.
Gideon immediately stood up and swung his short sword horizontally, blocking another swipe from the monkey he just dodged.
This Swift Tail Monkey looked a little different than the ones he had already fought. Its tail and nails were longer and the fur was having a mixture of dark and light brown while the previous ones he fought had plain light brown fur.
He blocked an attack with the flat side of his short sword that was aimed at his hip and felt the force of the attack still moved through the sword and entered his hands making him feel a little worried.
He was not sure if he could handle this monster, let alone kill it.
It was also faster than the other monkeys which made him focus mostly on blocking and dodging than attacking which made him wonder if it was a Tier-1, level-1 monster as that is the Spirit Energy level he could sense from it.
His sword got tangled with the monkey tail when it jumped over him and slapped the back of his head with a force that made him stumble to the front a meter before he could stop himself from falling.
He was surprised by this unexpected change in its attack strategy which was focusing mainly on his lower body. He shook his head as he felt dizzy.
He touched the hood that came along with the armor to see if he was bleeding to feel the smoothness of the fabric armor and to give a little pressure to ease the pain he was feeling.
Giving him no chance to recover, the monkey again leaped on him aiming his eyes which were not covered by the armor. He dodged at the nick of time, barely avoiding getting blinded. He could see the nails that were just an inch away from his face and fell on the ground while he stared at the monkey that was playing with him like a lion playing with a cat.
He gripped his hands on the wooden hilt of the sword, trying to get back into the fight, but the monkey did not give him the time to relax and again came at him faster than before.
He rolled to his left side and tried to get out of the jumping range of this monkey as he was being toyed by it which made him feel frustrated and he was starting to get scared that he might do something stupid that he might not get a chance to regret.
He was unable to find any weak spots in the Swift Tail Monkey's defence and couldn't land a single hit on it as it was too fast and strong. He wanted to end the fight soon so he could get some rest, at least for a minute or two before he could start fighting again, but this was harder than any fight he had fought before.
It was not just the battle he fought against the monsters from the previous two tasks or in a safe place like school while training, but also the sparring matches he had fought against fellow students who were far more intelligent than monsters.
This Swift Tail Monkey is getting on his nerves making him feel anxious.
Swoosh … Thwack
Gideon heard the sound of an arrow flying past him and blinked for a moment. He heard the arrow hitting something and opened his eyes to see the monkey that was playing with him for the past 5 minutes slide to the ground with the arrow piercing one of its eyes.
He immediately turned to his back to see a female security guard with a lean longbow in hand lowering it while looking at him with a hint of disdain on her face which she immediately concealed before turning around to look for someone who was in need of help.
He looked around to see most of the adventurers had completed their fights and were resting under a tree or watching others fight, especially the security guards who have been trained to fight.
He immediately realized that the security guard who was charged with protecting him was fighting 4 Swift Tail Monkeys at once and turned only to see him slouched under a tree with his eyes closed. He relaxed a little after seeing his chest moving up and down indicating that he is still alive and breathing.
Gideon heaved a sigh in relief, walked close to him which made the security guard open his eyes and look around vigilantly, then noticing that it was the kid he was charged to protect. A smile appeared on his tired face which made him wince in pain.
Gideon looked down to see a gash near the security guard's waist which was bleeding, but also closing at a speed visible to the eyes. He had used one of the Medical syringe distributed to them before they embarked on this mission.
Gideon sat next to him resting his back on the tree mumbling "Thanks for saving me." to which the security guard snorted. "I should be thanking you, kid. I couldn't have handled the monkeys without my shield. You returned it to me when I needed it the most."
"Then, why did you throw it"? Gideon asked. "To protect you. That is my duty." He said with a smile which made Gideon widen his eyes in surprise.
He knew only a few in the world would think performing their duty is more important than their life, and it looked like the security guard sitting next to him is one of them.
Gideon now realized why Jaanav ordered this Tier-2, level-1 security guard to protect him rather than having other stronger ones to do so.
If he dies, Jaice will be angry and might cause more damage than good to them which wouldn't be much, but they need the scouting to make sure they could complete the mission soon.
The battle only lasted for 15 minutes and the Swift Tail Monkey troop was exterminated and a few had fled into the mountain range after noticing that they are being decimated. Not because of intelligence, but of survival instincts.
Caw .. Caw … Caw
Jaice cawed in panic sending the information she had just gathered from above.
"A pack of Ironfang Wolves are coming towards us." Gideon said to the security guard who looked as if he was facing death hearing what Gideon said.