The Eighth Courtyard wasn't especially large. At full speed, Shun could reach the grove where the Iridescent Fruit grew in no time.
Pushing forward and out of the ravine, a relatively open stretch of grassland spread before his eyes.
And the sight upon that grassland was… overwhelming.
More than twenty Doro Kingkong—each bulkier than the one he'd fought earlier—were massed across the field, pounding their chests and letting out thunderous roars. The instant Shun appeared, they all noticed him; a forest of scarlet eyes snapped toward the uninvited human in perfect unison.
Farther out, more hulking shapes stirred between the trees.
Clearly, what he saw here was only part of the troop.
"Yo, planning a full-nest sortie, huh?"
Even faced with that terrifying lineup, Shun showed not a hint of tension; if anything, interest brightened his gaze. "Good. Saves me the trouble of hunting you down one by one."
His eyes flashed, skimming the troop.
He knew the rule: catch the king to catch the thieves. But to pick out the commander who barked the orders amid a seething troop required sharp observation.
Doro Kingkong were quintessentially social creatures. Their hierarchy was, in some ways, stricter than many human tribes—clear lines of dominance and obedience, and the entire troop followed its leader without question. That leader often differed from the others even in outward form.
The perception granted by Food Honor spread out from him.
Shun's keen gaze skimmed past the agitated mass, filtering out those bulky but blindly roaring grunts.
Finally, his sight locked onto a figure toward the rear ranks.
There stood a particularly eye-catching Doro Kingkong.
It was larger than the rest, but its coat stood out most—unlike the others' dark green or dark red fur, this leader's hair shone an uncommon silver-white. In the sunlight it looked as if a sheet of quicksilver flowed across its back—impossible to miss.
It didn't pound its chest like the others. It stood still, composed. Twin golden eyes—wise and imperious—coldly assessed the intruder, as if weighing Shun's threat level.
"So that's the troop's leader… the 'Silverback,' huh? Just like the dossier said."
A smile tugged higher at Shun's lips. "Found the main act. Everything gets easier from here."
Tame the leader, and the rest follows.
Even as Shun sighted the "Silverback," the troop's fury boiled over. The closest Doro Kingkong loosed a berserk roar. Four arms—the same arms that could flip a 10-ton tank like a toy—lashed through the air like a crashing tide as they charged him en masse.
The moment the Doro Kingkong tide engulfed him, Shun finally moved.
He didn't retreat. He met their frenzy head-on.
"Food Honor—Pressure Point!"
With a low growl, Shun ghosted into the rolling wave of muscle and knuckles.
He didn't choose to clash head-to-head; instead, he treated the encirclement as a perfect chance to sharpen his pressure-point technique.
His silhouette threaded through the forest of swinging limbs—light as wind, precise as a surgeon's blade. The hyper-acuity of Food Honor let him see the flow of energy inside each Doro Kingkong—their pulsing nodes, lit up in his mind's eye.
His fingers became afterimages, always slipping past lethal blows at the last possible instant to tap those nodes with pinpoint accuracy.
So effortless—only a true master of Food Honor could pull this off.
One by one they collapsed. Horror and confusion filled their eyes; they couldn't fathom what this human had done to them.
In moments, more than ten Doro Kingkong lay neutralized on the grass. The once-crashing offensive faltered.
Shun moved like water—smooth, unbroken. With each exchange, his precision and speed grew visibly, honed in real combat.
"As expected—nothing teaches like a live fight."
He nodded inwardly, but his focus never left the Silverback in the rear.
Seeing its subordinates fall so easily, a glint of gravity passed through those golden pupils. Yet a king's pride could not be challenged.
It unleashed a sky-rending bellow and lunged. The silver bulk exploded forward like a chariot, its four colossal fists shrieking as they tore the air—then came crashing down with monstrous force.
"Hold on, weren't the files saying the Silverback wasn't much of a fighter? This one's ferocious!"
Surprised but unshaken, Shun gathered his will and snapped for a narrow opening, spearing a finger at a vital acupoint beneath the Silverback's ribs—
"Hm?"
The instant his fingertip touched flesh, something felt off.
The Silverback's musculature was denser than a normal specimen's—and it instinctively flexed, shifting the target point by a hair!
The strike still froze its movement for a heartbeat, a flare of numbness racing along its frame—but it wasn't enough to put the beast down.
"Raaah!"
Stung, the Silverback's fury spiked. One of its other fists whipped in from a wicked angle, smashing toward Shun's flank the moment after his strike landed.
Thud!
Shun brought up his forearm in time, but the force blasted him back several meters. His arm tingled, briefly numbed.
The leader's punch packed a terrifying wallop.
An ordinary human would've died on the spot.
"Interesting. Definitely not your average grunt!"
Eyes sharper than ever, Shun pushed Food Honor to its limit. Fine-grained perception washed over the Silverback again—and there it was, buried deep beneath that iron-corded back musculature: a subtler, more central node.
"So that's it. That's the weak point."
He surged forward anew.
With nimble footwork he lured the Silverback into a flurry, drawing out the tiniest flaw.
When both of its fists slammed into the earth and its bulk pitched forward for a blink, Shun moved.
"Now!"
He spiked his speed, slipped past the whipping arms, and flashed to the Silverback's rear flank. Index and middle fingers joined, his whole body's ki and intent concentrated into that point—then he drove the strike home into the hidden node.
"Food Honor—Pinpoint Pressure Point!"
This time, the effect was night-and-day.
"Ugh!"
A strangled, pained grunt broke from the Silverback. Its massive frame shuddered, and its charge halted as if frozen in time.
Bullseye.
Locked where it stood, the Silverback kept those unwilling golden eyes fixed on Shun.
With their king subdued, the remaining Doro Kingkong plunged into panic and chaos. They circled Shun and the toppled Silverback, roaring in agitation—but none dared step closer.
(End of Chapter)
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