43. Ace Vs Dark Minotaur.

"Wow! Gold coins? Well, at least it's better than nothing," I shrugged at the sight of the battle log.

Although, I'm sad it didn't drop its death axe

Still, I couldn't believe I handled a Minotaur on my own.

"Hehe..... Wait until Jasmine hears about this,"

Then a prompt appeared before me.

[Ding! Dead 4/5.]

"Woah! Four kills?"

"Then it means Jasmine was fighting against a Minotaur on her own too?"

"Yep! I'm amazing, aren't I?" Jasmine appeared behind me with a massive smile on her face.

"Hmm," She hummed, then added. " I was wondering why you didn't come to find me, I guess you were busy with a Minotaur as well,"

But before I could reply, a golden barrier appeared between us, separating us from reaching towards each other.

It felt solid to the touch, almost like glass, but no matter how hard I tried to break it, it won't budge.

'But why is this thing separating us from each other?'

I pondered, but a spine-chilling roar sounded from behind me.

"Woah!!" The dead end of the passageway collapsed, revealing a path that looks like the center of the labyrinth.

The Minotaur roared once again, trying to intimidate the hell out of me.

And I have to admit, it is working.

My hands trembled a bit. The sound of the Minotaur filled my heart with dread.

With just the sound alone, I could instinctively know that this Minotaur was a lot different from the rest I'd fought before now.

My legs shook at the thought of this being my last moment before my journey comes to an end.

No matter how hard I tried to move, my feet were rooted to the ground.

It appears only one is allowed to face the last Minotaur.

'How convenient,'

That is what I would like to say, but with a beast having a heart-piercing roar as this Minotaur, I'm better off anywhere else but here.

*Knock*

Jasmine knocked the barrier behind me. I turned towards my rear to see her smiling as she sent a few words of encouragement my way.

"You can do this. I believe in you,"

Alright, now you see why she's amazing, right?

No man in his right mind wouldn't want to succeed after hearing those words.

Those words alone filled me with an indescribable feeling of serenity and fearlessness.

A kind I had never experienced before.

With a deep breath, I turned towards the sound of the Minotaur.

"What was I thinking, cowering before a monster in front of a beauty," I stumped towards the entrance of the final Minotaur's room.

The room was spacious, with the Minotaur itself, blending in with the darkness of the room.

[Ding! Enhanced Perception skill has been activated.]

Even with the perception skill being activated, everywhere remained pitch black.

I moved closer, towards the center of the room, hoping the image of the Minotaur would be a lot clearer now.

Instead, A wide circular flame ignited at the center of the room, almost as though a fuel trail had been left behind before now.

The Minotaur roared once again, and there it was, standing before me in the center of the ring of fire.

Using the flame as my source of light, I could see the Minotaur now.

It was seven feet tall, but a lot bulkier than the previous ones.

It had black vein-webbed skin and a pair of long and pointed horns.

Its arms were huge and bulky with a huge mass of muscle, reaching up to its neck.

The lower part was that of a black bull with a tail to complement it as well.

Its eyes glowed in a crimson hue, reflecting the amount of bloodshed it had caused with its massive hands.

I swallowed a massive chunk of saliva before saying. "What am I doing here? I should be finding another way to destroy the barrier rather than facing this monstrosity,"

'I can't do this. There's no way I can,'

Words of defeat began to creep into my mind.

Well, why wouldn't it?

This much was expected, after looking at the monster's HUD.

[Dark Minotaur: Level 5.]

[HP: 50/50.]

NOTE: HUD:- Heads-up display.

"How in the hell am I going to handle a level 5 beast?"

Turning back wasn't an option anymore. The aura seeping out of the beast was far more intimidating than anything I had faced before.

A fleeting image of both Sofia and Alice swarmed into my mind.

'Alright, now it's time to get serious,'

I slapped my cheeks and yelled to motivate myself. "I can do this,"

But the Minotaur cared little about me trying to hype myself up.

Just outside the ring of fire were four pillar dart traps.

These four pillar dart traps had the heads of a gargoyle carved on a pillar with the height of the pillar being about the belly button of an average man.

I moved sideways slowly with the circumference of the circular flame.

The Minotaur moved in the opposite direction as both of us kept our eyes locked on each other without losing focus on the other.

'It seems the Minotaur is a lot smarter than the ones before now,' I thought to myself.

'And it's a bit annoying as well.'

Even though the Minotaur's body was made of a huge mass of muscles, it appears it knew how to use its head as well.

I picked a few rocks and fired them with my slingshot.

But the Minotaur slapped the rocks away just before they could contact it.

"Alright, reducing the Minotaur's HP slowly is out of the question,"

Aside from the huge Minotaur's intimidating build, the Minotaur had a couple of brass knuckles in its hand.

The ring of fire roared behind me and the Minotaur.

Then it rises to the top of the room, with the flame beginning to assume countless thin threadlike shapes connected at the top.

Now the ring of flame resembled a flaming birdcage.

But as I was looking at the top of the flaming bird cage, the Minotaur rushed towards me.

_______

The total number of players currently in the game: 78,000.

The number of deceased players: 5.

The total number of deceased players: 2,000.

(A/N) :- I doubt anyone noticed the previous chapter had the same number of deceased players as this one.