Gaston's head snapped back towards the sound, only to see a severely injured Blue Ape lay face-down on the ground.
After seeing that it remained motionless, most likely dead, he finally noticed the arrow in it's back, and he turned his attention towards the only member of their crew that knew how to use a bow, Siegbert.
Locking eyes with Siegbert, who only slightly nodded his head at him, Gaston wanted to thank him for saving his life.
They had all saved each other at some point during their time here, so it wasn't too big of a deal, but it was rare for the person being saved to be Gaston.
Even after they caught up to him in cultivation, Gaston's wealth of fighting experience made him the strongest of the bunch.
Especially given the fact that despite all the fighting that they had done since they have arrived here, they have never really had a real battle.
Every encounter went similarly to this, with them scrambling to end everything as quickly as possible, in order to avoid the enemy's reinforcements.
Naturally, this was because they had been mentally scarred by the one and only time they weren't fast enough.
The time Gaston tortured the Blue Ape Leader for information, their first encounter with these creatures.
It was in large part due to this event that they were still being hunted down by the Blue Apes several months later.
If only they had been a little faster, if only they didn't leave the tortured corpse at the scene, if only...
As the saying went, once bitten, twice shy.
Even though the Blue Ape's never, to their knowledge at least, figured out that it was humans that they were chasing, they were still extremely persistent in their endeavor of catching the thing that tortured one of their own.
Given the relationship between the human race and the other civilizations, if the Blue Apes ever got to know that the creatures that tortured one of their own in their own territory were humans, Gaston and the others figured that it would be far from as simple then as it was now.
The only reason the chase so far was limited to newly promoted Qi Refining Stage Blue Apes, was because their decision makers still probably thought that they were chasing some strange monster.
That's why the task of hunting them down was being treated as a way to provide experience to their weakest members.
This was also the reason why Gaston and company worked so hard to leave no survivors and avoid enemy reinforcements at all costs.
If they were ever discovered, even a simple high-level Qi Refining Blue Ape would be enough to leave them helpless.
After looking over Siegbert's shoulder however, an extremely solemn expression appeared on Gaston's face.
The Blue Ape with cuts all over it's body was madly running towards Siegbert, with a white glow beneath it's feet that was all too familiar to Gaston now.
It was this same magic technique that put him in real trouble just a few seconds ago.
The problem now was, that after dealing with the Blue Apes for months on end, they had gotten very familiar with them.
Yet now, all of a sudden they ran into two Blue Apes that displayed the same new magic technique, leaving them vulnerable to accidents due to underestimating the enemy.
That wasn't all that Gaston was worried about however.
If stronger Blue Apes were starting to hunt them now, then does that mean that their reinforcements...
Thinking along these lines, Gaston had a feeling that they were in real trouble this time around.
Without even giving Siegbert a warning, Gaston abruptly bent down to grab the spear that the Blue Ape that was sneaking up on him dropped.
Then, he quickly rose and spun towards Siegbert, using what remained of his cultivation energy into magically strengthening the tip of the spear, he threw it over Siegbert's shoulder with all that he had.
"Siegbert, duck!"
"Boom!"
Immediately after warning Siegbert, the explosive boom of the spear being thrown resounded throughout the battlefield.
The spear flew so fast that despite the fact that the Blue Ape had made itself faster with the help of their new magic technique, it was still helpless.
Flying right over Siegbert's shoulder, and accurately landing on the Blue Ape behind him, the spear tore through it's chest and continued to carry the Blue Ape forward, before a third of the spear embedded itself and the Blue Ape deep into a tree, 5 meters away from where it struck it.
"Argh!"
Before he could see his teammate's reaction, he felt something bite onto his right leg, causing him to yell out in pain.
Immediately looking down, he saw that with an arrow still in it's back, a spear-wide hole in it's shoulder, and a cut to the stomach so deep that it almost tore it in half, the Blue Ape was still alive!
'Persistent bastard. You just don't die, do you?'
Part annoyed and part impressed by the Blue Ape's will to fight to the death, Gaston nevertheless was ruthless in his actions.
Grabbing ahold of it's head with both of his hands, he used all his strength in one explosive motion to twist it's head.
"Crack!"
Even without cultivation energy to support him, he was still strong enough to break the Blue Ape's neck.
He wanted to take a deep look at this opponent of his that almost ended up killing him despite it's condition, but his earlier discovery prevented him from wasting any more time on it.
Looking over the rest of the battlefield, the rest of Gaston's crew lived up to his expectations.
Nicolaus had successfully killed his target in one-on-one combat, making that his second kill of the ambush.
Hasso was also in the process of delivering the final decisive blow to his target right as Gaston glanced over.
It was only Ruben that was once again a problem.
This time however Gaston could excuse him, or rather he would have to whether he wanted to or not, as even he and Siegbert were caught off guard by their familiar foes suddenly revealing something different.
The trouble was not that Ruben was in danger, but that the last remaining Blue Ape was running away from him, and he was not able to keep up!
Leaving a Blue Ape that had seen them alive was not an option, and perhaps realizing this as well, Siegbert immediately started chasing after it.
Before Gaston could issue any orders, far out into the distance, the faintest sound of footsteps could suddenly be heard!