23. New Skill.

The Minotaur noticed how I winced in pain while holding my broken leg, and it rushed toward me.

It opened its wide mouth to try and bite my neck, but I panicked when I noticed this.

Instead I sought to protect myself by using my arm.

Then, the Minotaur pierced its teeth straight into my arm, munching it ferociously as though it were the sweetest food it had ever tasted.

"Aghh!!"

-2

Beads of crimson liquid splattered onto my face.

The scene of my blood splashing everywhere around me and a giant monster masticating my flesh made my yell wane as I felt my consciousness fading away from me.

-1

-1

Red negative digits kept floating from the top of my head.

[HP: 6/10.]

With the rate at which my HP was dwindling, it looks like it won't be long before it reaches zero.

'No! Don't give up!' I yelled internally.

Then I tried to locate where the bronze sword fell, but the squelching sound of cold steel piercing deep into the eye of the Minotaur made me forcefully open my weakened eyes.

*Squelch!!*

*Growl!*

-3

[HP:25/40.]

The Minotaur roared, unlike nothing it had done before now, releasing my arm in the process.

'Jasmine?'

She was the one who feebly thrust her sword into the Minotaur's eye.

She was exhausted as I was but still, she endured the pain she felt all over her body to help me.

"Ace!! Do it now!" Jasmine yelled while twisting and plunging the blade deeper into the Minotaur.

-3

I stretched my arm wider to grab the bronze sword on the floor before jabbing it straight into the Minotaur's neck.

-3

-3

-3

Now it looks like the Minotaur was impaled from two different sides.

[HP: 13/40.]

Sounds of someone choking could be heard from the Minotaur as it desperately tries to stay alive.

Its left eye, which was the only one still okay, turned towards the Minotaur's right side, where Jasmine currently was.

It launched its human-like arm, which had extraordinarily long claws, towards Jasmine's left thighs, which happened to be where it had clawed her a few minutes ago.

She screamed because it kept inserting its long claws into the exposed cuts on her thighs.

-1

[HP: 3/10.]

But the Minotaur didn't stop there, it stretched its left arm and aimed toward my right leg before grasping onto it.

"Argh!!"

Its hand clamped my leg to the point where I could hear my bones cracking to the sheer force it applied to my leg.

-1

[HP: 5/10.]

But still, something in me wanted to avoid giving up so easily.

I yelled with mixed feelings of anger, pain, fear, and determination which I used to grab hold of my sword with both hands.

I stole a glance toward Jasmine to see her yelling as well while shoving the blade deeper.

But my pride as a man didn't allow me to be outdone by a girl.

The yelling rose higher in pitch, with veins popping out from my forehead and bulging from my arms as well while I used that momentum to steadily drag the blade diagonally from the Minotaur's neck to its chest.

-3

-3

-3

Being attacked from two directions, the Minotaur's HP depleted within seconds.

This made its hands, alongside its body, disintegrates into pixels.

Then, an item from the Minotaur dropped on top of my stomach while I lolled on the ground, with the battle log following right after.

[Ding! Dead! You've killed a Minotaur. 28 damage was inflicted on target HP. Dropped item: Minotaur horn.]

"I guess this means, the kill was registered as mine," I muttered, and even I couldn't hear what I was saying.

'Was it because I inflicted the most damage on the Minotaur,' I mulled, but my depleting HP directed my attention away from it.

[HP: 4/10.]

I stored the item in my inventory even though I felt this might be my last adventure.

Currently, I am lolling on the ground, staring at the vast blue sky, but every part of my body hurts a lot.

'Doesn't this world have birds flying in the sky?' I wondered while staring at the sky, but I could feel my eyelids feeling too heavy to keep me awake.

I recalled hearing the chirping sounds of birds this morning, but I didn't see any of them to be precise.

[HP: 3/10.]

"Ace!! Ace!!"

Jasmine kept yelling something at me as I weakly turned my gaze toward her.

My left arm hurts the most, and I was too scared to take a look at it.

Although, I also felt too tired to look at it as well.

Then, images of Sophia and Alice smiling together without anyone else around them flashed through my mind.

'Why do I even bother so much to stay alive until the last day when both Sophia and Alice don't even know I exist anymore? They're better off living their lives without me,'

Negative thoughts began to flow into my mind.

Maybe it was because this was the first time I had been injured physically in the game.

'Anyway, I'm too sleepy to think about it right now,'

[HP: 2/10.]

"Stay with me, Ace!" Jasmine yelled.

'What is she saying? I can't hear a thing. Just let me take a five-minute break, that's all I'm asking,'

[HP: 1/10.]

*Slaps!!* Jasmine slaps my cheeks.

'Ouch! Can't a man take a five-minute break,' I commented inwardly, while my forehead creased as a reaction to Jasmine's slap.

Jasmine gave no thought to my expression, and simply resumed what she had been doing before she slapped me.

"Read this!!" She yelled, but I still couldn't understand what she was saying. It sounded inaudible, just like every other thing around me.

But she held something like parchment paper with various inscriptions written on it. I still could not understand it, but the top of the paper had "First Aid Skill" written in bold.

Soon the words glowed, and a notification popped up to me.

[Ding. New Skill (First Aid skill) Acquired.]

[Acquired skill: First Aid skill.]

[Level requirement: Level 1.]

[Effect:: Allows all wounds and injuries to lead to a direct deduction of 1 HP every ten minutes.]

[Required Attributes: STR (1), DEX (1), and STA (1).]

[Note: With the fundamental knowledge of all things relating to First Aid now known to you; you shouldn't worry too much about losing your HP as fast as before.]

__________

The total number of players currently in the game: 78,778.

Number of deceased players: 22

The total number of deceased players: 1,222.

___

A/N:- I hope you recall that every player and monster's HP drops to zero before they disintegrate into pixels.