Chapter 2347: Desperate Battlefield

BOOM!

The massive body of the Stoneback Gorilla crashed onto the desert floor after Thunderlord struck it with a powerful shot from his Mana Cannon while it was still airborne.

HISSS!

The muzzle of the Mana Cannon sizzled, radiating intense heat left behind by the previous shot. It was the strongest attack Thunderlord could currently muster.

Thunderlord straightened his posture, removing the Mana Cannon from his shoulder before letting it rest beside him.

"Tsk! It finally fell," he clicked his tongue, staring at the enormous corpse of the Stoneback Gorilla lying not far away.

"If it had a little more Health left, we would’ve been in trouble," he muttered, recalling the intense chase during which he had been kiting the Stoneback Gorilla alongside Valtherion.

As the one dealing the most damage, Thunderlord had attracted most of the monster boss’s aggro, forcing him to bear the brunt of its pursuit while the others supported him with their respective attacks.

Throughout the chase, Thunderlord couldn’t afford to make even a single mistake. One wrong move could have put the entire group in serious danger, especially considering that the Stoneback Gorilla possessed not only tremendous physical attributes but also powerful elemental abilities.

Fortunately, speed wasn’t one of the Stoneback Gorilla’s greatest strengths, allowing Thunderlord to keep his distance and kite the monster boss without too much difficulty.

Valtherion, who was standing nearby, shook his head. "But we’ve consumed far too many Magic Crystals just to keep that Mana Cannon running."

Hearing this, Thunderlord couldn’t help but knit his brows. He knew all too well how much they had spent just to bring down the Stoneback Gorilla.

"If we can’t secure some worthwhile loot from the main boss, this entire raid will have been a huge failure," he muttered, his frown deepening.

He had expected the competition for the Semi-World Boss to be fierce, especially with so many powerful parties participating in the raid. Securing a share of the rewards would be anything but easy.

Shaking his head, Thunderlord glanced at the massive corpse lying before them. "Tsk! And this guy didn’t even drop anything."

"I guess the Semi-World Boss is the only one worth expecting loot from," Valtherion replied with a nod.

At that moment, the two noticed that the experts fighting the Steelfist Ape had also managed to bring down their opponent. The monster boss had been overwhelmed by attacks coming from every direction, leaving it with little room to fight back.

"Looks like the others have finished their side of the battle too," Thunderlord commented.

Valtherion, however, shook his head and pointed toward another battlefield. "No... that side isn’t finished yet."

Following his gesture, Thunderlord turned his gaze toward the ongoing battle between Isabella, Caroline, Divine Soul, and Solfang against the Ironhead Chimpanzee and its army of Battle Monkeys.

"Looks like even those guys are having trouble," Thunderlord chuckled, watching as the four fellow peak god-level experts struggled to deal with the monster boss and its army.

Valtherion, however, knitted his brows as he continued observing the battlefield. "It’s not that simple."

Squinting his eyes, he carefully examined the ongoing battle. Something about the situation felt wrong, though he couldn’t immediately put his finger on it.

"Those stone monkeys..." He paused, trying to identify the source of his ominous feeling before finally speaking again. "There’s something strange about them."

After all, it shouldn’t have been possible for these stone monkeys to give experts of their caliber so much trouble. There had to be a reason why even four peak god-level experts working together were struggling to deal with them.

Valtherion was still trying to figure out what that reason might be when something unexpected happened.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Without warning, the corpses of both the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape were suddenly swallowed by the desert floor, catching everyone nearby completely off guard.

A moment later, the two enormous corpses suddenly emerged from the desert beside the Ironhead Chimpanzee.

The sight left everyone present staring in disbelief, their eyes widening at the unexpected development.

"This..."

The experts couldn’t believe what they were seeing. More than that, an ominous feeling began creeping into their hearts as they witnessed the unfolding scene.

Their eyes widened even further when they saw the Ironhead Chimpanzee extend its arms and place both hands on the two enormous corpses before it.

A moment later, the monster boss began channeling its power into the fallen creatures.

The sight immediately sent a chill through everyone present, causing their expressions to turn grim.

"Damn! It’s planning to resurrect those two!" Valtherion shouted as he finally realized what had been so strange about the army of Battle Monkeys under the Ironhead Chimpanzee’s command.

The monster boss wasn’t merely summoning additional stone monkeys to replenish its army whenever the Players killed some of them.

It was also resurrecting the fallen ones.

Aside from those that had been completely disintegrated by Divine Soul’s black magic and those whose mana had been exhausted by Solfang’s Devouring Flames, most of the fallen Battle Monkeys had been brought back to life by the Ironhead Chimpanzee.

Combined with the additional stone monkeys it continued summoning, this meant that its army was growing rather than dwindling.

That was precisely why the four peak god-level experts had struggled to suppress the seemingly endless army despite their combined efforts.

Upon hearing Valtherion’s warning, the others immediately realized what was happening.

Unfortunately, there was little they could do to stop the Ironhead Chimpanzee from resurrecting the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape due to the distance between them and the monster bosses.

"Shit!"

"Can’t we do anything about it?!"

"After all the trouble we went through just to take those two down!"

"Are we really going to stand here and watch them get resurrected?!"

The surrounding experts immediately understood the gravity of the situation, especially after experiencing the strength of the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape firsthand.

...

"Solfang!" Divine Soul shouted upon realizing what was happening.

WHOOSH!

"Don’t order me around, Old Guy. I’m not your subordinate!" Solfang clicked his tongue in response.

Even before Divine Soul called out to him, Solfang was already moving at incredible speed, sprinting straight toward the Ironhead Chimpanzee while tearing through the Battle Monkeys blocking his path.

Unfortunately, reaching the monster boss was far more difficult than it appeared.

The Battle Monkeys surrounding it were considerably stronger than the ones the four experts had been fighting, making it extremely difficult for Solfang to break through their defensive formation.

He had been trying to reach the Ironhead Chimpanzee ever since he found himself trapped on this battlefield. After all, it was common knowledge that eliminating the summoner was usually the key to defeating an army of summoned creatures.

However, the Ironhead Chimpanzee was no easy target.

Aside from commanding its troublesome army, the monster boss itself possessed formidable attributes, only slightly inferior to those of the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape.

Even if Solfang managed to reach it, defeating the monster boss would be another challenge entirely.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Solfang continued carving a path toward the Ironhead Chimpanzee, slaughtering every Battle Monkey unfortunate enough to stand in his way.

However, reaching the monster boss seemed almost impossible.

More Battle Monkeys swarmed him from every direction, seemingly willing to sacrifice themselves just to slow his advance.

ROAR! ROAR!

Not long afterward, a pair of thunderous roars suddenly reverberated across the battlefield.

"Tsk! I still couldn’t make it, huh?"

Dozens of meters away from the Ironhead Chimpanzee, Solfang couldn’t help but click his tongue as he watched the two monster bosses slowly rise from the desert floor.

The Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape had been successfully resurrected!

Solfang immediately retreated, fully understanding that he couldn’t afford to face all three monster bosses by himself.

...

Meanwhile, Valtherion and Thunderlord, who were arguably the two Players most familiar with the Stoneback Gorilla, couldn’t help but wear grim expressions upon seeing the monster boss resurrected.

Even from a distance, the two could sense that the Stoneback Gorilla was considerably stronger than it had been when they fought it earlier.

The other experts who had previously fought the Steelfist Ape noticed the same thing upon seeing the monster boss rise once again.

Valtherion also began to understand why Isabella and Divine Soul had struggled so much against the Battle Monkeys.

The stone monkeys weren’t simply growing stronger as the battle progressed. They were also improving their combat capabilities every time they were resurrected.

If the same principle applied to the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape, then everyone was in serious trouble.

However, before the experts could completely lose hope, they suddenly noticed something unusual about the Ironhead Chimpanzee.

The domineering pressure it had previously exuded had noticeably weakened.

A moment later, they saw the monster boss collapse onto its knees before rapidly absorbing the surrounding mana.

Even its ability to summon additional Battle Monkeys had slowed down considerably, while the resurrection of the fallen ones appeared to have come to a halt.

"That boss has entered a weakened state after resurrecting the other two!"

The experts immediately understood what had happened, and a glimmer of hope returned to their eyes.

"Quick! Target that bastard before it can recover!"

"Open a path for Solfang and the others!"

"Throw everything you’ve got at it! Take it down!"

The experts immediately responded to the sudden development, shifting their attention toward the weakened Ironhead Chimpanzee.

They all understood that they couldn’t afford to let the monster boss recover if they wanted to win this battle.

However, just as they were preparing to launch their assault, the Stoneback Gorilla and the Steelfist Ape moved to stand before the Ironhead Chimpanzee.

Rather than immediately charging toward their opponents, the two monster bosses positioned themselves between their companion and the approaching experts.

It was as though they intended to protect the Ironhead Chimpanzee until it had fully recovered.

......