Chapter 37: Dragons
The group of humans fought valiantly against the demonic Minotaur with all they had. Nonetheless, their attacks, no matter how devastating, could not pierce the rock-hard skin of the monster.
Their weapons would simply slide off it on impact. Even those with long-ranged abilities found their attacks futile against the monster.
Blake, who was the leader of this cohort, bit down on his lips hard as he swung his large sword at the back of the morbid beast, coating the weapon with a yellow-like energy and then striking with his full force.
Just as he had expected, his weapon simply sparked off the stone Minotaur, leaving only a small dent on it’s skin.
"Useless," he growled, watching the Stone Minotaur sharply turn to face him with a far more furious demeanor than before.
It threw its massive balled fist downward, plummeting to crush Blake. The attack was slow, and easily, Blake leapt out of the way, letting the fist crash into the ground with tremendous force, leaving a deep crater on impact.
He took a few steps back to escape the monster’s range. ’How the hell are we supposed to beat something like this?’ he complained inwardly, tightening his grip around his sword’s hilt in resentment.
He watched his team throw everything they had at the monster, only to infuriate it further. It was clear—they would be killed by this creature. ’Should I just run the other way? They’ll buy me time—’
As the suggestion came to mind, he quickly ushered it out, knowing even if he managed to escape this monster, what assurance did he have that he wouldn’t meet another while running?
So far, this was his best chance to win—or at least die trying. With renewed resolve, he readied himself to yet again jump into battle with all he had and—
"What?!" Blake’s eyes shook in their sockets, his breath hitching at what he saw—or at least what he thought he had seen.
Passing by him like a blur was a humanoid being, having a large demonic head with three treacherous curved horns sticking out of it. It wore dark, torn-up human clothing, which was strange, and raced toward the Minotaur with feral speed.
"What is that?" Blake asked in a panicked tone, unable to fathom just what was going on.
His team soon noticed the approaching figure while still engaging the Minotaur and were instantly stunned, wondering just what was advancing toward them.
Even the Minotaur was no exception to this awe-inducing display, hesitating at the sight.
What sort of being was this?
"Move!" the horned being yelled out at the last moment, breaking the tense silence between the group and the Minotaur. In a swift motion, it bent its knees and lunged forward at the beast, landing a devastating kick to its jaw—quick and strong enough to make the mighty creature stagger a few feet back.
Seeing this display of strength, the cohort backed away, moving out of the battle’s reach to regroup with their leader, Blake.
"Blake, what the hell is that?" one of them asked, tension heavy in his voice.
"Yes, is it a monster?"
"Why is it helping us?"
The atmosphere grew thick with unease within the group as they had just witnessed the monster they struggled to even scratch get sent back by a single kick.
However, Blake was not concerned whether it was a crater beast or not. Deep within, what stirred his curiosity was whether, after this being dealt with the Minotaur... would they be next?
---
Meanwhile;
Drake stood before the massive rock Minotaur, the bulky, impenetrable form of the monster seeming to tower down on him. Despite how many hits he had landed on the creature, its armor-like skin proved to be impervious.
’If only I had a sword to cut through it,’ Drake thought, acknowledging the pain in his balled fists which throbbed from constantly striking the Minotaur.
The stone Minotaur opened its maws and let out a guttural roar, charging forward at Drake—mindless and filled with rage, an attack that could easily be dodged.
’It’s mindless... questionable how it even got the D-rank, if not for its thick armor.’
Drake placed a hand under his chin, continuing to think leisurely, ignoring the Minotaur that was already upon him, raising its right arm up with a balled fist before plummeting it down toward his skull to crush it.
And then, below Drake’s boots, a dark pool spread outward—and out came Kyvern, just in time to catch the enemy’s attack.
The primordial dragon, now larger and more ferocious than before, intercepted the Minotaur’s strike. It opened its mighty maws and sank rows of razor-sharp teeth into the shoulder of the Minotaur.
The creature shrieked in pain, realization of its mistake creeping into its mind like a venomous infection. Attempting to pull away, it jerked its hand backward violently in hopes of breaking free, but Kyvern did not budge—its hold on the gruesome crater beast was impossibly strong.
The Minotaur resorted to using its other fist to pound down on the dragon’s face. However, it soon stopped, pulling its hand back from the unscathed scales of Kyvern.
Instead, it was the one to get hurt—plates of its armor-like skin falling from its fists.
There was no escaping this hold with that arm.
The Minotaur broke into another desperate act of escape, attempting to tear its entire arm off. However, before it could, another dragon sprang out of the dark pool—smaller than Kyvern but large enough to clamp onto the Minotaur’s second arm, restraining it and forcing another ear-piercing shriek from its throat.
Drake let out a low chuckle, which, processed through his mask, sounded more like a demonic snarl. "How primitive."
With that, a final dragon emerged from the shadow, projecting upward in a quick motion with its singular target being the head of the morbid beast. In one swift strike, it tore it off, sending a rain of dark azure blood splattering across the ground.
{You have killed a Crater Beast}
{You have successfully used necromancy on the beast}
Drake dismissed his other two dragons—all but Kyvern, who immediately let the body of the Stone Minotaur collapse to the ground.
"Now, let’s see," Drake murmured in curiosity, raising his hand. To his command, a pool of darkness formed below his feet, and out of it rose a green-armored copy of the Minotaur, kneeling before him in submission.
’It looks a little better than the shape I met it in,’ Drake thought, running a hand through his hair and yawning, apparently famished from the battle.
He had left five slots empty for a situation as this, to add stronger monsters to his arsenal.
Kyvern, beside Drake, nudged him a few times with its head, then growled.
"Fucking betrayer, eat the core if you want!" he replied reluctantly.
Kyvern happily rubbed its head against Drake’s clothing before hurrying to the Minotaur’s corpse, ripping it apart slowly to retrieve its core.
Drake waved off the Minotaur copy, dismissing it, and then turned his attention to the cohort standing at the side of the cave, watching him in utter awe.
This was an unfamiliar look—one he wasn’t used to.
Why were they all so shocked? Was it the surprise that he had killed the Crater Beast? Or the gruesome sight of incapacitating it with his dragons? Or maybe... it was seeing a dragon act so childishly.
Well, Drake couldn’t wrap his mind around it, so he said the first thing that came to mind, stunning the entire group even further.
"Who has food? I’m starving."