17 Conflicting Elements

When Rasz found himself laying on the ground after he was sent flying by the swinging force of the bull-headed man's heavy hammer, facing the gleeful face of his monstrous attacker, he had since then resigned to his fate of being a dead man. Even though he had summoned <Earth> to absorb the impact from hitting the tree and landing on the ground, Rasz had still been exposed to the brunt of the attack from the heavy hammer.

Even now Rasz could still feel the blood roiling in his chest forcing him to throw another mouthful of blood. The pain had also spread all over his torso, a repercussion from the heavy force of the hammer slamming hard on him. If one were to lift up his shirt, they would probably see a really bad bruise had formed on his body, especially on his chest area.

Back then, he had been really glad to know that, at the very least he had kept Mia safe when he had told her to remain hidden behind the tree. All Mia needed to do was wait until the bull-headed man had returned to his stone cave before leaving the area. The Löwe Shield will definitely keep her safe until she left the Beast Forest. The only regretful thing was that he had not managed to fulfill his promise to send her to the Dream Star Shop. That itself might have been a blessing in disguise since surely Mia was better off than having to deal with that mischievous devil.

Just then, Rasz heard a noise coming from the dense forest, in the same direction where he had left Mia moments ago.

"Mia..." He knew that Mia had purposely done that to save him. Rasz's heart began to fill with dread.

Thus, as the bull-headed man stomped off towards the direction of the dense forest, Rasz quickly turned his wounded and shaking body slowly facing down on the ground, and then pushed up hard as he tried to get himself off the ground, but failed.

"Mia..." Rasz called out once again.

In his desperation, Rasz summoned <Lightning> using the Elemental Glove and shot it towards the bull-headed man. A strip of white light can be seen flashing towards the bull-headed man and striking it, but the creature didn't as much as flinch at the attack. Rather, it seemed like it was annoyed.

Just as the bull-headed man wanted to turn back towards the source of the annoyance, a female's voice shouted from the dense forest, drawing its attention, "Hey, you ugly cow! Why don't you come and get me, rather than going after a wounded person?! Or is your weight holding you back for you to come stomping over?" Mia taunted the bull-headed man. She tried hard to make herself sounded contemptuous.

The creature bought through her ploy and completely ignored Rasz half-crawling on the ground. For the bull-headed man, it didn't matter who it went after first, it'll definitely get the both of them in the end. Besides, the young man in the green cloak pretty much had one foot in the grave already being that injured. It can always come back to smash the bones in his body later. The bull-headed man was clearly still feeling revengeful about what had happened before.

Seeing that the creature stomping off once again towards Mia's direction, Rasz summoned <Fire> this time and shot at it, while shouting, "Hey, aren't you gonna finished me off first?!" Rasz still hasn't given up on trying to save Mia, even though he knew that she was being as persistent about his safety as he was of hers.

However, rather than buying Rasz's words like it did Mia's, the bull-headed sneered at him instead as something dawn on its mind. Looking at the Bestial being's expression, Rasz turned pale as he realized he had just signed a death warrant for Mia by being persistent like this.

"MIA!!! Run!!! Just run away right now!" screamed Rasz

The bull-headed then turned its attention away from the despairing Rasz. It once again stomped off towards the dense forest, and towards where it had seen the young woman. All the while, a gleeful expression was plastered on its face as it knew how important Mia was to Rasz.

******

"Mia..." Rasz said full of misery as he punched the ground with his fist.

"I need to get to her, right now!" shouted Rasz in his mind.

He reached into a hidden pocket on his shirt by his chest and took out a single black pill. Without any hesitation, he put it inside his mouth and munched down on it. After Rasz swallowed the pill, nothing happened for the first few seconds, but then suddenly his brows scrunched up as his expression turned into one of extreme pain. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails ended up cutting through the skin of his palms, thus drawing thin streaks of blood. Then, Rasz started to roll around on the ground, while screaming and shouting in pain.

After a minute went up, Rasz who had previously barely able to turn himself around had managed to stand up straight on his two feet, as if the last scene where he had been hit squarely on his chest with the bull-headed man's heavy hammer had never happened.

Without wasting any time, Rasz picked up his fallen Magic Sword and rushed towards the direction where Mia was surely now fighting for her life against a monstrous bull-headed creature which was at least 7 times her own weight.

******

THUNG, THUNG, THUNG!

The bull-headed man kept on its rampaging madness since the time when it had first scented Mia behind that big tree. It had slung its heavy hammer on its back. Then, using its sharp horns that could pierce through human skin as easily as if it was a paper, it had endlessly struck on the invisible protective wall that had projected out from the Löwe Shield, upon the bull-headed man's mad charging.

As scared as Mia was, she kept on holding out the shield that was strapped on securely on her right arm as steadily as she could, while crouching low on the ground. She had been in that position ever since she first heard the sounds of thumping of hooves on the soil as the bull-headed man came stomping into the forest. She had kept herself hidden behind the same big tree that Rasz had left her, but somehow, the Bestial being still knew where she was even though she had never shown herself to it - even during the time when she had drawn its attention away from Rasz before.

Scenting her presence behind the tree, the bull-headed man had come charging right through the tree trunk, surprising Mia completely as she borne witness to the monstrous strength of the creature right in front of her eyes. The Löwe Shield had kept her safe then, protecting her behind an invisible and unbreakable sturdy wall.

Just then, coming from her left side, she heard the sound of someone running towards their direction, and as Mia poke her head out to look from behind the shield, she saw that it was Rasz. Even though she was puzzled to see that the heavily injured Rasz, had managed to not just get up, but running as well, without showing the slightest signs of ever being hurt, Mia was really glad that he had come for her.

Instead of heading towards Mia right away, Rasz kept on sprinting towards the bull-headed man's direction. As he began to close in on the being's position, the Elemental Glove worn on his right hand, glowed blue and red at the same time signaling the summoning of <Wind> and <Fire>. Rasz enveloped himself in both of the elements. With the help of <Wind> he became as fast and as brutal as the turbulent storm, and while holding out Eisen Blue in front of him with the power of <Fire> focusing itself around the blade, Rasz has made himself a spear of wind and fire.

The spear attack charged straight towards the bull-headed man, who was taken by surprise by the sudden intervention. It had only managed to cross its muscled arms in front of itself when the attack reached it. The powerful attack had forcefully pushed back the bull-headed man a few meters from Mia's spot.

Before the energy of the attack had fully died out, Rasz ran towards Mia and quickly fell into a one-knee position behind the Löwe Shield along with Mia behind the shield's protection. Mia turned to face Rasz and had just begun to speak when she heard the sounds of mad stomping came towards them. Then, she felt the vibrations coursing through her arms as something hard and heavy struck the shield's invisible wall.

As it turned out, even the powerful attack coming from the two most compatible elements didn't as much as put a scratch on the bull-headed man. Other than the strong blade of the Eisen Blue, any of the elemental magic attacks that Rasz's had used so far, didn't even bother the bull-headed man. Rather, it seemed to cause it to become even angrier.

"Elemental magic attack doesn't seem to work on this thing. I need to strike on it directly with the Magic Sword," mumbled Rasz to himself.

When Mia heard Rasz's words, she realized that Rasz had no idea what kind of creature he was truly facing. Without turning around, she said one word to the young man behind her, "Water."

"What?" asked Rasz as he was pulled from his thoughts of planning for his next actions, by Mia's single word.

"Water element will work against this creature," said Mia.

"Water?" Rasz shook his head against Mia's suggestion. "Minotaur is an Earth element creature. Water and Earth elements can be quite unpredictable against each other. So-"

"Sarangay."

"What?!" shouted Rasz as the bull-headed man mad charging became even more vicious. He could barely hear anything that Mia said now.

"THIS THING IS A SARANGAY! Not a Minotaur!" shouted Mia

When Rasz had a puzzled look on his face, Mia continued to say loudly, "Sarangay is not the same as conventional Minotaur! Different breeds — cousins!"

Rasz still had the same puzzled look on his face, but at the same time, he was also urging Mia to continue with her explanations. All the while, the protective invisible wall from the Löwe Shield was still being continuously pounded hard.

"Minotaur is smaller and man-like! Confined in a maze, but Sarangay is free! Minotaur is a bull, Sarangay is a carabao! Really big, really strong! Far vicious and smarter!"

Mia then turned towards the creature about to slam towards their direction once again. She was directing her gaze at the colorful gemstones on its ears. Then, turning back to face Rasz, she shouted, "Those worn gemstones are a clear indication of what it is!"

Rasz became silent for a few seconds to consider what Mia had said, and then shouted back at her, "Even if it is a Sarangay-!"

"IT IS!"

"-It is still a Minotaur! EARTH ELEMENT! Water might not work!"

"Sarangay dominantly Earth element, but with subtle Fire element in its blood! Its nose was emitting smoke, right?! SO, WATER WILL WORK!" clarified Mia in a loud voice.

"Earth and Fire are absolutely out. Wind might work against Earth, but it will backfire if I use it against Fire. Lightning usually doesn't work against Earth and more or less as strong as Fire, so totally useless. Then, there is Water. True it is unpredictable against Earth, but in this case, since the Bestial being is both an Earth and Fire creature, and Water is undefeated against Fire, Water will surely work! Just like Mia had said," these thoughts quickly ran through Rasz's mind.

Rasz simply stared at the young woman in front of him for a moment, a silent question flashed through in his eyes at Mia's knowledge about the bull-headed man — the Sarangay — as she had called it.

However, it was only for a moment, as he knew that any questions will have to come after they managed to defeat the Bestial being.

"Mia, sorry, but I'll need your help with defeating this Mino- this Sarangay," whispered Rasz loudly onto Mia's ears. Since, he now knew that the Sarangay, was a creature with quite a high level of intellect, he didn't want it to be able to hear their plans on defeating it.

Thus, Rasz continued to relay the whole plan to Mia...