Hunter Hunted (3)

As Adrian prepared to confront the Minotaur, an unexpected system prompt popped up before his eyes. He had heard about such prompts from his teammates, but it was his first encounter with one.

'A quest, huh?' Adrian mused as he expanded the quest. 'I was going to kill the Minotaur either way, but I won't say no to additional rewards.'

--

You have received a new quest!

Quest Title: The Dungeon's Challenge

Quest Level: Rare

Quest Commissioner: The Mother Who Loves Her Plants

Objective: Hunt down the Minotaur within the Dungeon of Fury.

Quest Description:

Greetings, Adventurer! The time has come for you to face a challenge unlike ever before. It might be a difficult challenge for a first-timer, but the Mother hopes for your victory!

Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to confront and defeat the Minotaur, putting an end to the chaos it has unleashed in the dungeon.

Task: Confront and defeat the Minotaur in combat.

Rewards:

- 2000 Experience Points

- Rare Crafting Material: Minotaur's Horns

Bonus Rewards (for optional challenges):

- 2000 Bonus Experience Points

Penalty for Failure:

- You will suffer a temporary debuff, reducing your stats by 30% for 24 hours.

- The Dungeon's curse will haunt you, attracting other hostile creatures for the next three days.

Time Limit: This quest must be completed within 10 hours.

Caution:

The Minotaur is a formidable opponent, and preparation is vital. If you don't want to be bonked into the Nether. Although the sight would be pretty hilarious, Mother wishes the User would prove themselves against a Minotaur and earn her trust. 

Will the User accept the quest? [Yes/No]

--

As the option to accept the quest blinked before his eyes, Adrian found his attention elsewhere. 

"Who is this Mother?" Adrian scratched his head. 

While he had heard about the quest prompts before, he had never heard about anything like a commissioner or a [Mother Who Loves Her Plants]. 

Adrian thought he was seeing things and shook his head before rubbing his eyes. Yet even after that, the prompt remained unchanged. 

"I can think about this later," Adrian hastily accepted the quest and prepared for the fight. "If I waste more time, the army might get here before I can defeat the Minotaur, and everything will get fucked."

Adrian lifted his crossbow and aimed for the Minotaur's neck. But as he did, the beast heard the sound of a bow getting notched and blindly swung its Broadsword with sluggish speed. 

The speed wasn't slow, but since Adrian had been fighting Ratlings, the Minotaur's speed felt relatively slow to him. Despite that, Adrian shot the arrow at the Minotaur's neck. 

But the low whistling sound of the arrow alerts the creature. Even though the weakened and blind monster couldn't dodge the attack, he exchanged the area impact, taking a hit on the palm of its left hand instead of its neck. 

"Damn it!" Adrian cursed under his breath. 

Since he came straight to the dungeon after looting Victor's workshop, he was running low on arrows and only had four left. The negligible number of arrows was why Adrian aimed for a vital spot. 

However, the Minotaur seemed aware of Adrian's intent and, even though blind, instinctively protected its neck. 

"This isn't going to be as easy as I thought," Adrian sighed, aiming for the beast again. 

This time, Adrian aimed for the beast's heart. However, the Minotaur turned sideways, and the arrow hit it right below its ribs. While the Minotaur saved its heart, the pain was still too much for his weakened self to tolerate.

If only the creature had been in its prime, its fur would have been impenetrable by a flimsy crossbow. But in its weak and malnourished state, it had to shed a considerably, revealing its skin to the opponent. 

"YES!" Adrian exclaimed, punching the air and preparing another arrow.

After seeing the Minotaur's reaction, Adrian grew overconfident and stepped in a bit too close so that his arrows could deal with a more devastating attack on the Minotaur. 

However, the Minotaur, blind, hungry and in pain, began thrashing around unpredictably. As the beast wildly swung his blade, Adrian got caught in the storm of the beast's swings.

Adrian tried dodging the attack like before, but he forgot to take his surroundings into account and got backed into a corner, with his back against the dungeon's walls. 

"FUCK!" Adrian tried to duck, but the blow came sooner than expected, hitting him in the upper arm. 

A pained cry escaped Adrian's mouth as he clutched his arm. Thanks to the Ogre's skin and Minotaur's weakened strength, the wound wasn't too deep, but the force of the blow made Adrian slam against the wall. 

Enraged and desperate to get some distance from the Minotaur, Adrian blindly shot an arrow at the creature from his injured arm. Thankfully, the arrow didn't miss, hitting the beast in the knee. The creature stumbled in pain, but its swings became even more erratic.

The change in the attack pattern was enough for Adrian to create some distance from the beast. Just when Adrian thought he was safe, out of nowhere, the Minotaur's sword slashed through the air, narrowly missing Adrian's face.

"How the hell did the bastard get so close?"

Adrian was positive he had created quite a bit of distance from the Minotaur, but then he noticed the bizarre sight before him. Since he had hurt the monster's knee, it switched, and now he was using his hands to run along with its uninjured leg while wielding the sword in its mouth. 

Just like Adrian, it seemed the Minotaur refused to die. It wasn't surprising as the creature was known for its tenacity. 

The instructor, Sir Gerald, who trained Adrian and his group, always said they should be as tough as a Minotaur. Funny enough, the instructor ended up dying in a mission to defeat a Minotaur.

"Just die already, damnit!" Adrian cursed, pushing away the thoughts from his past. 

Without wasting more time, Adrian fired another bolt, hitting the Minotaur's shoulder. The creature bellowed, bewildered from the continuous attacks, yet refused to yield. 

Adrian used the opportunity to retreat, clutching his bleeding arm. With only one arrow left, there wasn't much he could do anymore. But he knew the Minotaur wouldn't let him go.

"A fight to the death huh? Have it your way then."