"Rumble."
Zhan Dundun, who was leisurely floating along the river, had his attention drawn by a loud noise.
Looking up, he saw a giant monster standing on a high mountain by the bank. Even from thousands of meters away, he could see its ferocious eyes.
The creature resembled a human but was covered in fur, possessing eight arms and an unusually long waist. It was perched on a peak by the riverbank, its body obscuring half the mountain.
At that moment, it broke off a section of the peak with one of its hands and hurled it directly at Zhan Dundun.
However, because Dundun's bamboo raft was moving incredibly fast, by the time the peak landed, the raft had already traveled far, missing its target. The peak fell into the river with a tremendous roar, kicking up enormous waves.
Many ferocious beasts that had been following the raft in the water quickly fled, not daring to linger.
Zhan Dundun was also startled and hurriedly urged his raft forward, wanting to escape the area. After all, the monster was clearly not someone to trifle with.
But Zhan Dundun was a step too slow. The monster lunged forward, directly reaching into the river to grab him.
A colossal hand blotted out the sky. Zhan Dundun dared not remain on the raft any longer. He immediately retracted it, leaped, and jumped towards the opposite bank.
But it was clear that the monster had already marked Dundun as an amusing toy and wouldn't let him go so easily.
Its massive body straddled the wide riverbank, and two of its hands reached out to seize Dundun. Its huge head was bald and hairless, its face pitted and scarred, like a demon. Coarse nose hairs protruded from its enormous nostrils, each like a steel bristle. Its massive mouth dripped with viscous saliva, emitting a suffocating stench. Its immense teeth were uneven, stained with blood, flesh, and countless insects and ants.
A glance was enough to make Dundun nearly vomit. What kind of monster was this? He had no desire to fight it at all, only focusing on fleeing.
However, the monster not only had eight arms but also a pair of thick, powerful legs. Like a frog, with a slight exertion, the ground shook and split, and it leaped up with incredible speed. Its eight arms swung wildly, clearing away everything in its path.
Although Dundun was not slow, escaping from the monster's grasp seemed almost impossible.
Sensing his predicament, Dundun stopped fleeing. He turned back and let out a massive roar, revealing his true form: a panda over ten meters tall. He clenched his fists and charged at the monster.
With a deafening "boom," the entire forest seemed to tremble.
The immense collision sent both sides flying back a considerable distance, but it was clear that Dundun had the disadvantage. In terms of pure strength, Dundun was no match for the monster before him.
As the monster was sent flying, it was also enraged. It let out a hoarse roar, lowered its body to the ground like a giant lizard, and using all its limbs, lunged at Dundun, who had just regained his footing.
Before the monster was even close, a strong gust of wind swept past, carrying a foul stench.
Dundun now regretted not learning some ranged attack skills from Liu Nanfeng. This thing was too smelly; he might be suffocated before being killed.
But it was useless to think about that now. Both his paws glowed with a dazzling golden light as he met the attack with grasping claws. This time, he didn't choose to collide head-on but used skill. He grabbed one of the monster's arms with one hand and lunged for its throat with the other.
Mana surged, and countless streams of energy formed a massive vortex around his body. The wind-borne monster was like a current in the river, unable to affect him and instead had most of its force deflected.
Unlike the unintelligent monster, he was a thinking panda.
However, he only had two hands, while the monster had four. For a time, they fought fiercely, and countless trees around them were destroyed in their struggle.
Although both were tough and thick-skinned, they still sustained injuries.
The monster had an arm ripped off by Dundun, while Dundun endured dozens of punches from the monster, leaving his waist, back, and shoulders bloody and mangled.
Dundun knew that if this continued, he would definitely lose.
After all, he was just a peace-loving panda whose hobbies were eating, drinking, and sleeping. The monster, on the other hand, could survive in such a harsh environment and dominate the area. Its combat endurance, habituation to injuries, fighting spirit, and more, were far superior to his.
But escape was out of the question.
The only way was to kill it, so...
At this moment, before Dundun could unleash his full abilities, a colossal club descended from the sky. The club was immense.
The monster was crouched low and was directly struck by the club, turning into a pulp with a "bang." Blood splattered everywhere, like a torrential downpour.
Startled, Dundun retreated rapidly but was still a step too late, getting drenched.
A giant monkey descended from the air, shaking the earth.
The giant monkey picked up its massive club and let out a roar to the heavens.
An invisible wave of energy spread out, causing nearby lurking beasts to flee immediately. Those with weaker constitutions were directly shaken to death.
Dundun also felt his head buzz, and he cursed inwardly, "Just as one dies, another, even fiercer one appears?"
Just then, the giant monkey spoke, its deafening voice asking, "Little fatty, why are you alone?"
Dundun was stunned for a moment, then his face lit up with surprise.
"Boss Zhang?"
"What? Haven't seen you in days, and you don't recognize me?" Zhang Xinwu asked with a smile, transforming into human form.
"How... can you be so..." Dundun suddenly felt an urge to cry.
Only then did he notice that he was covered in blood and reeking.
Where the monster had been smashed, a pool of blood had formed, attracting countless flying insects from the jungle.
"Let's go."
Zhang Xinwu grabbed Zhan Dundun by the arm and leaped lightly, taking him away quickly.
He wasn't afraid of the beasts in the jungle but of the flying insects and ants.
As they left, a black cloud flew over. Seconds later, the cloud dispersed, and the blood pool had completely dried up, leaving only the monster's corpse lying in the deep pit.
After they left, a swarm of insects and ants crawled out from the soil. In mere seconds, the monster was reduced to a skeleton. A gust of wind blew, and the bones turned to dust, vanishing completely into the heavens and earth.
"Want to eat some?"
Zhang Xinwu offered the roasted meat in his hand to Zhan Dundun.
Seeing the bloody roasted meat in Zhang Xinwu's hand, Dundun, who had just cleaned himself, felt his stomach churn, almost making him vomit again.
"Alas, a child like you, why did you have to get involved in this mess?" Zhang Xinwu sighed.
Then he began to gnaw on the roasted meat in his hand.