Chapter 16 - Minotaur, Future Goal

An echoing roar went through the entirety of the forest and both Darius and Ashe heard it perfectly.

It was close to them, close enough that the two of them were scared out of their minds. Normally, it wouldn't have been a problem as Ashe was more powerful than any beast in this region.

However, Darius had just used his [Life Steal] on her and she was looking feeble, having only enough energy to walk. She couldn't even run without falling down.

"What was that?" asked Darius, worried.

He knew that the beast who had just roared was close to them, and he obviously didn't want to fight against it, especially when Ashe was feeble and weak.

"Not sure, but we better stay away from it. From the sound of it, it's probably one of the strongest beasts inside this region," muttered Ashe, in a low tone.

She didn't want the monster to hear which was why she almost whispered just now.

Darius releasing that also adjusted his tone of voice as he quickly went ahead and hid behind one of the trees which were close to them.

"Come quickly," he said as he held her hand basically dragging her behind a tree.

Then, Darius kept looking around, trying to see if that beast was getting closer than it already was.

*Stomp*

*Stomp*

He started hearing some steps on the ground which were caused by the monster.

Understanding that the steps were right beside him, he looked in that direction right away as he wanted to see what this monster even was.

Ashe, who was right beside him, had been faster than him as she was already looking in the direction of that sound, and the expression on her face wasn't comforting.

"Darius," she said as she nudged him on the arm. "We need to stay hidden, there's no way you can beat that monster, it's way too strong for someone like you."

Darius looked at her with raised eyebrows as he really thought that she was underestimating him. In fact, she probably did because of how she perceived him.

However, he wasn't anything like the past Darius. He had lived as an assassin in the past, and he had trained his body and fighting techniques a lot in the past too.

So, when he heard her say that he wouldn't be able to win against the monster which was creating shockwaves on the ground by simply walking, he was kind of insulted.

However, he understood the reasons for her saying that as she ignored all of what he had just thought of.

Wanting to prove her wrong, he glanced in the direction of all that sound to see if she really was underestimating him.

'Oh, yeah no she's right,' thought Darius as he saw a monster that was at least 10 feet tall.

But it wasn't only tall, its body was one of a bull and his body was as muscular as one. On its head, there were also two dangerous weapons which seemed composed of bones.

'Wait, what monsters did she say were in a D-Rank Danger Zone?' thought Darius, remembering their past conversations.

'Gobliins, wolves, and... wait what was it again? Oh, yeah minotaurs,' thought, Darius as he finally understood what that monster even was.

In fact, it was surprising that he hadn't found out what it was before that as he had seen any movies on Earth with those beast inside them and he had to say that they looked pretty much the same as how they were portrayed in movies.

One thing was sure if the minotaur were to spot them, they would be in a load of danger.

Then, as Darius kept thinking of a way to get out of this situation, he stepped on a small branch which caused a really small noise.

However, that noise was loud enough for the minotaur to look in their direction instantly.

Darius who had just seen this was panicking as he didn't want the minotaur to go after them as they had no chance of getting out of there alive.

Ashe who was watching the minotaur getting closer and closer to the tree which Darius and her were hidden behind also started sweating a little, but then she remembered something.

Minotaur don't have the greatest eyesight and mostly depend on their hearing to move around, they can actually only see one meter in front of them, which meant that they could both get away from the tree they were hiding behind and carefully go away.

Seeing that Ashe was slowly moving away from the tree, Darius did the same thing as he couldn't imagine her wanting to fight this thing.

He thought that she must have a reason for doing so recklessly.

She was the one who was experienced here after all. She was the B-Rank Awakened, not him.

Then, as the two of them slowly started moving away from the tree, Darius kept looking in front of him, as he didn't know what was going to happen with the minotaur.

As he did so, he noticed that the minotaur had not once looked in their direction as he was simply searching around the tree which they had just been.

'Holy shit, we're lucky,' thought Darius.

He couldn't believe that the Minotaur wasn't able to see them as they were only a couple of meters away from him.

Then, they continued getting further and further away from it, reaching a good distance away from it, Darius decided that it was a good time for him to ask a question.

"What was that? Why didn't come after us?" asked Darius, however, the only answer he received was to close his mouth.

"Stop talking, it could still hear us from here," she whispered as she kept looking at the minotaur which was at least one kilometre away from them.

Darius nodded, and continued to follow her as quietly went toward their home.

There was one thing that Darius had promised himself while fleeing, and it was that he would be winning against that beast before joining the Royal Academy.