"Corner a Desperate Enemy and Leave a Way Out" is one of the military strategies put forth by Sun Tzu.
Sun Tzu was a Chinese philosopher who laid out guiding principles for achieving victory in warfare.
Among the theories he advocated was one called "An army must be left an escape route," which states that when encircling the enemy, you must always leave at least one gap open for them to flee.
If you completely block off every possible escape, your opponent has no choice but to steel themselves and fight to the death. It is the classic psychology of a cornered rat attacking even a cat.
By deliberately leaving an escape route open, the enemy falls into a passive mindset of "we can always retreat if things go south," thereby abandoning the option of fighting with their full strength.
"GRAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Uwah! Uwah!"
The plains were burning.
Scarlet flames surged forward like living creatures, driving the giant apes that inhabited the land into a corner.
The apes scrambled out of their nests, fleeing in the direction where the fire was weakest.
Already, numerous companions had been swallowed by the inferno, but there was no time to spare a thought for them.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
"Uwahhhaaaa!"
The apes — the Crazy Apes — knew that this was no natural fire.
They were clever and cunning. They understood the creatures known as humans, and they knew of magic as well.
This was magic fire. Humans had invaded their territory.
The Crazy Apes knew that it was humans unleashing the flames, yet they fled without putting up a fight. They were well aware that enemies lay beyond the fire, but in this situation, fighting back was the furthest thing from their minds.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Just a little further.
Just a little more, and they could escape the flames and break free.
A fierce thirst for life. They were starving. They wanted to eat anything and everything.
Plants, animals, monsters, humans... anything at all. The Crazy Apes' instincts screamed at them to tear into anything they could get their hands on.
"Ooh-ooh! Ooh-oooh!"
If they made it out of here, they would definitely eat humans.
They had attacked and eaten humans a few times before, but the creatures had so little fat that there was barely any satisfaction in it... However, taking revenge on the ones who had attacked them by devouring every last one didn't sound half bad.
Driven by their wild hunger, they would storm right into the humans' territory.
The Crazy Apes clung to their desperation to survive and their uncontrollable appetite, running relentlessly in the direction where there was no fire.
"That's far enough."
"Ooh-ooh...!?"
But then — without warning, the ground beneath their feet gave way with a sickening crunch.
A massive hole had suddenly opened up in the earth, swallowing the Crazy Apes whole.
Sharp stakes pierced the bodies of the Crazy Apes that fell into the pit. The bottom of the trap was lined with an abundance of wickedly pointed stakes.
"You did exactly as we planned — that was helpful of you. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to die just like that."
"Grr...!"
The Crazy Apes, their flesh impaled on the stakes, looked up from the bottom of the pit. Standing there was a single human. A young man. He was slender too — hardly worth eating.
Doubt crept in: could someone that weak have really built this thing?
"Ooh-ooh!"
A trailing Crazy Apes leaped, trying to jump over the hole.
It lunged at the human, attempting to sink its teeth in — but another human kicked it down into the pit.
"I won't let you!"
The newcomer was a woman even leaner than the first man.
The woman delivered a whip-like kick at the Crazy Ape—easily three times her own weight—and smashed it down into the bottom of the pitfall.
"["
"Thunder Cannon"
"]"
Thunder erupted from the man's hand and pierced the Crazy Ape that had stopped at the edge of the pit.
Crazy Apes fleeing the flames surged into the pitfall on their own momentum.
Those that noticed the hole at the last second tried to stop or leap over, only to be cut down by the woman's kicks or the man's magic.
"Hel... p..."
"Hm?"
"He... lp... me..."
At the bottom of the pit, skewered on a stake, the Crazy Ape desperately squeezed out the words to beg for its life.
It looked up at the human as if pleading for mercy, begging for compassion.
"Help me... help me..."
"Human words... how did you learn them?"
But the man's eyes grew even colder.
He glared down at the Crazy Ape with the hatred one reserves for an unforgivable enemy, his killing intent palpable.
"You learned them from the humans you killed and ate, didn't you? You devoured them as they begged for their lives?"
"Hel... p..."
"That's enough. You're repulsive."
A slash of wind erupted from the man's hand.
The razor-sharp blade severed the head of the Crazy Ape, which had been barely clinging to life at the bottom of the pit, killing the creature outright.