Chapter 65 - The Minotaur

<p>I race to the top of the hill, Eniyala trailing behind me, and the two men behind her. When I reach the top, I get a clear view of the scene a few miles out, and freeze as I try to compute it. Eniyala catches up a few seconds later, and enters a state of disbelief like mine. "It's an Illusion or something, right?" She asks me.<br/><br/> Down the hill we're on, several groups of giant Bulls make their way down towards the smoldering town. The protective wall has a gaping portion of it chopped down, where the occasional group of Bulls, Goblins, and even a stray Boar or two will enter. Several fires rage inside the walls, and though the rising smoke and flames block our view of any people, but every so often a small explosion will begin a new fire as it steadily spreads across the rest of the town. "Fuck."<br/><br/> "It's not near a gate, so they might not have known or had time to prepare," Eniyala notes slowly through her stupor.<br/><br/> Lynsel and Yorun eventually catch up, seeing for themselves what is happening. The faint glow from the fires and slowly setting sun throws the light oddly on Yorun's face; it looks like he's almost smiling.<br/><br/> Shaking it off, I turn to Eniyala. "I'm going to help," I state flatly, and before anyone can respond I'm already dashing down the hill, my sword appearing in my hand. My Instincts ring like alarm bells as I approach the closest group of Bulls, alerting me to the feeling Eniyala is following behind.<br/><br/> 'We don't have time for these,' I think as I get within reach of the Bulls. 'Fine.'<br/><br/> Running a rotation of Critical Sight, I take out two Bulls at a time, severing one or two legs to incapacitate and disallow them from attacking my party members. More messages flow as I blow past a few more groups, and I don't have to look to know Eniyala is finishing off the ground beef.<br/><br/> In less than a minute, I'm down to the flat plains, and only two more groups stand between me and the hole in the wall. The Bulls trudging towards the town are visibly growing more rowdy: the front Bull of the closest pack to the town even rears on its hind legs to roar loudly. However, the second the front legs of the oversized cow touch the ground, its back legs buckle.<br/><br/> Well, the one remaining back leg, that is.<br/><br/> It roars in denial as it crashes into the ground. "Fuck you too," I mutter, nearing the destroyed wall. A chime notifies me of a Level Up, and with the Level Up I had received (but forgot to check) from the robber meant I was now Level 17. "That's not what's important now."<br/><br/> Ding!<br/><br/>[The user defeated over 100 enemies in less than 5 minutes.<br/> This achievement forcefully rose one or more stats.<br/> +2 AGI, +2 INT, +1 DEX, +1 STR]<br/>[New Stats taking effect in 3…]<br/><br/> I swipe the message away after skimming it, hopping onto some of the rubble of the wall to survey the new surroundings. "Hopefully I won't need the new Stats…'<br/><br/> Before, Estraia was a quietly bustling town. Nowhere near as busy as Galeise, but that made it much cozier.<br/><br/> Now, it looked desolate, with the only sound being the crackling of the flames. A few mechanical horses lay in pieces scattered by the walls, the broken pieces of wood and smashed fruit and vegetables the only hint left of the food cart they were pulling. But the truly harrowing part was the sheer number of bodies.<br/><br/> Several younger, lifeless faces laid strewn about, their equipment suggesting they had been Adventurers. Just behind them were more mature faces and the official plated armor of the Estraian guards, whose remains were in much worse shape, as if whoever or whatever did this took a bit longer to tear them apart. Their frozen, horrified looks only solidified this theory.<br/><br/> Past the main bloodbath, and the part that made my skin crawl, was the face down civilians who had clearly been trying to escape. <br/><br/> As my Instinct was heightened from the new Stats, it helped me begin to piece together what had happened. 'I didn't know higher Instinct could help this much,' I thought as images painted themselves in my head.<br/><br/> 'One enemy. All cut marks are the same. Either using giant scythe, axe, or spear… from the angle of the cuts and the splatters of blood reaching up to the second story, they're probably two — no, two and a half times my size. Guards were trying to allow civilians to escape after the Adventurers were decimated. Guards and civilians were played with like toys.'<br/><br/> The more I saw, the stronger the headache I was beginning to feel, so I shut my eyes tightly for a moment. As the pain drains away slowly, I hear Eniyala's panting as she finally catches up, but there's only one thought in my head.<br/><br/> 'Whatever it is is going deeper into town.'<br/><br/> I begin walking forward. "Check for survivors, and ask what happened. I gotta go find whatever this thing is."<br/><br/> "Wait!—" Eniyala calls, but I'm already sprinting off again. "Shit."<br/><br/> As I follow the trail of destruction that spreads outward from the curving main road, I kill the few Goblins and Boars I see, rarely stopping for more than ten seconds to do so. As I'm about to follow trails of blood and rubble around a sharp corner, I skid to a stop to check my faintly vibrating Manaphone.<br/><br/>{Eni: found adventurer couple. they said it's a minotaur. at least lv 35. healing them then ill catch up, wait 4 me.}<br/>{Eni: please.}<br/><br/> "Sorry," I mutter softly, shoving my phone back into the pocket of my metal chestplate, which clicks to lock shut again. Taking a deep breath in, I round the corner, just in time to have to shield my eyes from the force of another small explosion.<br/><br/> When the dust clears, I see the back of a horribly scarred monster, coarse tufts of dark black fur jutting from any patch of unmarred skin it has left. Its hulking size is so large that to look at the bloody messes of corpses lying about it, it has to hunch its back severely. Its only clothing is ragged pants with tattered ends that barely reach past its knees, and I catch a glimpse of three scalped heads of human hair on the ragged belt. Just like the muscled Boars I could now defeat easily, the entire body of the monster is pure muscle, aside from the small hooved feet. Its hands are unnaturally large, gripping an Eldwood tree trunk that had a huge, glowing purple axe head at its end. I could see hooflike, bony material coming out of the knuckles and back on those hands. "Even a punch is lethal."<br/><br/> As it stands facing the town hall building, it lifts its head towards the sky. I see the classic bull ring in its nose and tiny horns by its eyebrows. A loud, harsh laugh shakes the ground from even where I'm standing, before the monster proceeds to speak.<br/><br/> "Bwahaha! For such weaklings, the look on these puny humans' faces sure is entertaining! I want more!"<br/><br/> 'Monsters can speak?!'<br/><br/> Quickly, I activate Analyze+ to see his stats.<br/><br/>[Name: Named Monster Beheem]<br/>[Age: 2 months]<br/>[Lv: 39]<br/>[* Warning! Much Higher Level! *]<br/>[Race: Boss-Level Minotaur]<br/>[Health: 124/131]<br/>[Mana: 69/81]<br/>[Stamina: 116/131]<br/><br/>STR: 71 MAG: 12<br/>AGI: 16 DEX: 9<br/>VIT: 42 INT: 22<br/><br/>ACC: 12<br/>DEF: 56<br/>POW: 17<br/><br/>[Skills: Weapon Projection+ (Axe) (Legendary), Higher Intellect (Ultra Rare), Greed (Ultra Rare), Partial Magic Immunity (Super Rare), Heavy Bullrush (Rare), Bash+ (Uncommon), Bound+ (Uncommon)]<br/><br/>[*Note: Uh-oh, we got an attribute!*]<br/>[Attribute(s): Dark]<br/>[*Note(2): Use that higher AGI and run!*]<br/><br/> "… Dammit."<br/><br/> The beast drops his axe into the ground, rolling his shoulders out to prepare to cut down the town hall. As he lifts his axe back up, I lower my stance to attack, but a young voice from his right causes both of us to freeze.<br/><br/> "I won't let you hurt anyone else, you ducking moonster!"<br/><br/> 'No.'<br/><br/> The minotaur turns to face a small boy with navy blue hair and a rectangular shield standing protectively in front of his injured father. A fiery look sits in his eyes as he refuses to back down.<br/><br/> "Bwahahaha!" the minotaur roars, clutching his round, scarred belly with his left hand, his other resting on the 'handle' of his axe. "You're so puny, it's not worth my time."<br/><br/> Raeki growls. "I'm not a poo knee! You're stronger than me, but my best friend beats people stronger than him all the time! The only person he loses to is my Sis!"<br/><br/> A strange feeling clogs my throat. "No, run," I want to say, but my mouth isn't moving properly. 'I have to do something.'<br/><br/> "Very well, I'll strike you down too, child," he replies, lifting his behemoth weapon off the ground with one hand. Raeki lifts his shield, and a kite shield-shaped sigil forms on his rectangular one, reinforcing it. At the same time, gold bands appear, locking down onto his arms, legs, and waist. "Fortify! Enhance!"<br/><br/> Behind him, Gaslion is clearly agitated at Raeki's refusal to evacuate or run, but in desperation he moves his fingers of his only hand a hair. His mouth moves, and I can vaguely make out "Ignios Stand."<br/><br/> Above the boy's head, two curved rows of six flaming spears each form from their respective sigils, before flying forward at the wannabe Beastman's head. He swipes up in a wide arc, cutting through eight of the spears easily, and backhanding the last four with the hooved pieces coating his skin, knocking them off course and causing mini bursts of blue flame behind him as they land. <br/><br/> Gaslion grits his teeth, but Analyzing his Mana I see he's running on empty. 'The beast even gave HIM a run for his money?'<br/><br/> He spots me from afar, giving me a pleading look. "Help."<br/><br/> But I can't. I'm riveted to the spot, hoping desperately that Raeki will move, get away.<br/><br/> But he doesn't, and Beheem grips his purple axe with both hands and slams it into the corner of his shield. I feel my mind accelerating as my heartbeat picks up pace. 'No, slow down, I can't…'<br/><br/> I watch the ends of Raeki's shield begin crumpling like paper, moving like jelly in slow motion. It finally begins splitting, and horror fills my body as the edge of the axe digs into his shoulder and begins driving down along with the dark red liquid that is his blood.<br/><br/> It was only then I can finally move, and I fly forward like a Wind bullet shot from a gun, closing the distance instantly and focusing on the handle of the weapon.<br/><br/> "Raeki!!"</p>