The Evolved Minotaur

"I-It's an evolved monster!" Liam yelled with all the remaining air that he could muster from his lungs. Sharp and crushed, his broken rips had been forcibly plunged deeper into his chest, barely avoiding his vital organs. Still, with the huge amount of damage to his weak and frail body, he would most certainly die if not healed within the next few moments. Even after increasing his strength, which in tail improved his endurance, he was weak; the weakest among the weak.

"Shit!" the surrounding awakened fell into disarray, along with their unbreakable formation. Moments later, the devil Minotaur roared once more and charged like a savage beast at Liam's crushed body. Frightened by the terrifying roar that resounded within the cave, the petrified low-ranked awakens looked to see the embodiment of fear striking down at Liam's crushed body.

They paid no more mind. "He's only baggage, we should take this opportunity to attack while it's focused on him" the leader of the group, Gaurn Wastmun, hastily called out. Scared, Frightened, Petrified, Terrified, Crying, Liam did not want to die yet he was forced to watch the large wooden bat get larger and larger as it came crashing down on his position.

"Dammit" he howled in excruciating pain, forcing his crushed and shattered arm, putting every ounce of energy and strength into that one move. When the bat landed, he was barely able to block it with his arm, yet with the impossible pain that assaulted his mental condition and with his arm being mutilated, he couldn't afford to do the same again.

Luckily, the other awakened jumped into the battle just in time. As the wind whistled within the cave, echoes of warfare came too. CRASH. BANG. Mere seconds after Liam was able to save his life by the skin of his teeth, the red Minotaur was being bombarded by continuous attacks while it's companions had been obliterated by the mages who soon joined in on the battle.

[Injuries are severe. Skill: Regeneration Lvl1 can be bought for 200 coins.

Do you wish to buy Skill: Regeneration?]

Seeing the familiar box appear before his eyes was heavenly and caused him to sigh in relief before bellowing from his crushed jaw "Yes". The awakened surrounding were too focused to hear him shout while sending a continuous barrage of meticulous attacks.

It took only two minutes for the system to return Liam to perfect shape. Though the cost of the skill was rather heavy in his current stage.

'I hope I'll be able to earn skills in the future, instead of having to buy them with all my coins'

[Remaining Balance: 0 Coins]

"Oh for fuck sake" seeing his empty balance was like a dagger pierced into his heart as he knew that now, the system would no longer aid him. As long as he had no coins, he couldn't use the system to increase his stats or obtain new skills.

Putting his negative thoughts aside, with his disfigured body returned to it's perfectly healed state, he charged into battle to aid his group. Battle cries echoed throughout the cave to the point where, if there were more monsters waiting around the corner, the other monsters would certainly hear them. It's rage growing stronger and stronger as the red eyes the Minotaur possessed became even more demonic, it's decisions were soon clouded by it's ever growing temper and it began to swing it's terrifying bat aimlessly, side to side.

"Get him!" As an opening appeared, one of the awakened that had a speed-related ability charged in with a sword in his grasp and swung at the large beast. At this point, only 9 of the original 18 members of the group were still alive. When the sword hit the Minotaur, it was only able to dent the beast before it was flung into the air. While the hope the awakened once saw was discarded before their eyes, their joyous expressions turning to that of utter horror, the sword was snatched mid-air. The awakened who grabbed the flying sword swung down as fast as heaven's lightning and sliced the devil Minotaur's body in half, all the way down to it's torso. Blood spattered relentlessly across the room, covering the awakened in the colour of crimson. Yet, instead of disgust, they celebrated their survival and looked with incredulous eyes when seeing the awakened who killed the beast was none other than Liam Smith, the weakest among the weak.

[Hidden Quest Complete: Slay the Evolved Minotaur

Rewards: 100 Coins

Punishment: Hell's Prison]

When looking at the screen before him, he was ecstatic yet he also held a look of confusement and a tinge of fear when inwardly questioning 'What is Hell's Prison?'.

Putting the strange punishment to the back of his head, he continued to celebrate how he was able to defeat the great beast, in addition to the 100 Coin reward he had gotten. Although, the thought if hidden quests that could bring him punishment without him even knowing, silently frightened him in the back of his mind.

"To think the weakest of the weak was able to defeat the evolved monster" Julius, the speed-related awakened who had lost the sword, called out.

"I don't get it. He doesn't seem that weak" another awakened replied with a pondering gaze.

"Perhaps he had himself a bit of luck and found out his ability or something. I can tell you that the rumours are true, though. I had him in my group before and using the word 'useless' would be an understatement.

"Are you alright? Do you need me to hea-" Eve stopped and looked at the completely healed, in perfect shape, Liam and asked "What...Where are your wounds? You were half-dead just a minute ago?". Her confused expression and look of suspicion caused Liam to slightly tremble as he quickly looked for a plausible excuse.

'Dammit. I totally forgot that the more I use my abilities, the more people will notice. How am I supposed to explain the system when I don't even understand it myself'

"umm...that's. Well..."