20. Minotaur.

His heart kept beating faster than it had ever done before.

The Minotaur continued to chase them from behind. It was a lot faster and nimble than Ace had expected.

Somehow, Ace managed to meet up with the girl as they both tried to broaden the distance between them and the Minotaur.

A few minutes passed and currently, they hid behind a tree where the Minotaur wouldn't be able to easily find them.

The height of such a monster was still far more intimidating than he had imagined.

Ace placed his hands on his knees while panting heavily. He could feel his heart about to explode out of his chest.

Furthermore, Ace could see why Tim wanted him to add some meat to his bones.

His physique needs a major improvement, and this was a topic he'll need to address very seriously to last longer in the game.

He poked his head from behind the tree to see if the Minotaur could still be following them or if it had already found them, but the girl's laughter caught him by surprise, allowing him to suddenly gaze in her direction.

"Haha..... That was awesome. I didn't think I would make it, but I did," She panted, placing her hands underneath her bosom as she tried to steady her breathing while she was panting heavily as well.

Then she drifted her gaze towards Ace.

"Hi, What's your name? Mine is Jasmine," She said while cautiously checking to see if the Minotaur was nearby.

"It's nice to make your acquaintance?" She asked with a giant smile on her face.

'Seriously?'

'You are saying this to me now?!!'

Even though it was sudden, Ace decided to act maturely by replying to her.

"Ace....." He replied, then the Minotaur mooed. The land trembled as the sound pierced into their ears.

It was a lot louder than it had been doing while searching for them because now it had finally found them.

"Oh shucks!" Ace exclaimed.

"Hehe..... Alright, you take the right while I'll take the left path. May the best man or woman survive. I hope it is me….he-he," She giggled, then delved into her back pocket to grab a key before tossing it up and catching it back while it was still in midair.

"I can't ignite it until the bull is far from here," She mumbled to herself.

"Now wait for my signal," Jasmine said aloud, intending for them both to wait until the Minotaur reaches a specific distance in front of them.

'Is this girl insane?'

Ace looked towards her with his eyes vividly filled with mixed emotions of anger, exhaustion, and shock.

Then he heard the Minotaur launching itself headfirst toward them.

'F**k it. This girl is weird, and I'm out of here,'

Ace turned towards his right and ran as if his life depended on it, not caring or waiting for Jasmine's signal.

He heard Jasmine yelling something about it not being time for him to run, but she gave up trying to stop him and ran in the opposite direction.

Luckily for Ace, the rampaging Minotaur followed her instead of him.

The bull might be huge, but it was quick with its feet, and it didn't take long for him to hear the screaming Jasmine from his rear.

Ace instinctively turned back to see the Minotaur, lifting Jasmine by the throat.

She struggled to fight back to release herself from its clutches, but the Minotaur threw her straight into the tree in front of it, and Jasmine became lifeless upon impact.

She didn't respond as the Minotaur ambled towards her before bending down to grab a lifeless Jasmine by the foot.

'Serves her right.'

'She must have been insane to think this was all fun and games.' Ace thought.

'She might be around my age, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't be able to comprehend the kind of situation we find ourselves in this world.'

'With what she said earlier, she admitted she did something to enrage the Minotaur, and I can't allow whatever she did to implicate me as well.'

'I have to make myself scarce as soon as possible.' He concluded.

"Wait a minute!!" Ace exclaimed, halting his speed to the bare minimum.

"A key?" Ace wondered, turning back abruptly to recall he saw Jasmine holding a car key that might have belonged to the truck he saw earlier.

She also made mention of ignition and taking the bull far away from her.

She must have had the intention of leading the Minotaur away from the car and then somehow coming back to ignite the truck before zooming off.

Some weird and funny ideas made their way to his mind, but Ace swiped them away Immediately and continued running once again.

"But there were snacks in the truck," Ace said, turning back once again and staring as the Minotaur dragged Jasmine's body away towards the hill.

"I must be insane to think this is going to work," The idea was beginning to sprout from deep within his mind once again.

Ace knew he could always use a rock to break through the rearview mirror of the truck to grab the snacks in the back seat, but he wanted the key Jasmine had.

This wasn't a movie where the smugglers place their hands beneath the steering wheel to grab a pair of wires and spark them together to ignite a car.

This was real life, and the truth is, he didn't know anything about that. It was the only car he had seen so far, and he didn't want to cut or pull the wrong wires, which could add unanticipated problems to the vehicle.

If he doesn't utilize the chance in front of him now, the Minotaur will take Jasmine's body away.

Or worse, her body could disintegrate with the key alongside it.

Either way, he needed to get to the keys before it was too late.

A part of him suspects that if there's a truck, then there must be a City nearby and if there is a city, then there must be more snacks and consumables scattered around the city.

And the truck is the fastest way out of this forest.

He couldn't afford to sleep another night in this forest. He had to get the key and get himself out of here.

"I guess I must be just as insane as her to do this," Ace muttered softly before yelling toward the Minotaur.

__________

The total number of players currently in the game: 78,876.

Number of deceased players: 62

The total number of deceased players: 1,124.