LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 135 “The Minotaur.”
Chapter 135
“The Minotaur.”
[Warning! The user has entered the room of the boss of the thirteenth floor of the dungeon!]
Only the sound of her own footsteps reached her ears as the soles of her boots stomped on the grit that the wall had become as her eyes traveled across the wide open space stopping at the rectangular platform resting in the middle surrounded by four large stone columns and then at the four statues of kneeling Minotaurs decorating each of the four corners of the roofless room.
In the center of the platform, surrounded by infertile earth and atop a stone altar, rested a small gray portal from which Kalysto could not feel mana emanating from it. And in front of the imitation portal, a red-skinned Minotaur lay with one knee on the ground as if greeting a king. With a huge axe clenched tightly in his fists, along with a huge mace prostrate beside him on the cold ground.
The huge creature opened his glowing eyes, his black pupils resting on it as his sclera seemed to glow with a light of its own.
The Minotaur grunted as he began to move, and the dust accumulated on his muscular body fell to the ground.
Two seconds later, he was already upon her.
The edge of his axe was near Kalysto’s unsuspecting neck, so much so that she barely had time to react.
Oh, shit! She thought as she jumped back, trying to put some distance between them. Ice daggers!
But the Minotaur didn’t give her time to escape, and ran after her, attacking her again with his axe.
Kalysto blocked the attack, but the force of the attack shattered her daggers and the ice fell into pieces, crashing against her chest. And she had to turn her body to dodge the edge of the mighty axe.
Then she stretched out her right hand and, pointing it at the Minotaur’s flank, she conjured:
“Blades of water! Blades of ice!” But none of her attacks seemed to do him any harm.
Instead, it only seemed to enrage him.
And instead of continuing to hold the axe with two hands, the Minotaur released one of them and with one swipe hurled Kalysto fifteen meters further, sending her crashing into the opposite wall.
The stone cracked, leaving a mark on the massive wall, but not big enough to break it completely.
Pain spread throughout her body and a pair of notification windows appeared to her left.
[Passive skill Pain Resistance has been activated.]
Shit! Why do these monsters always have to be so resistant?... What do they feed on to be so strong? Magic spinach?... Where the hell do I get some?... Inspect!
[Name: N/A
Race: Minotaur (Elite)
Level: 27
HP: 33,999/34,000
MP: 200/200]
Fantastic! Just what I was missing! Another monster with much higher HP than mine! She thought with irony.
“Perfect aim! Ice arrows! Water arrows!” After launching the arrows and while the Minotaur eluded them with great skill thanks to his sharp axe, Kalysto had to continue conjuring faster, trying to overcome the speed with which her new enemy was moving. “Multiple targets! Ice spear! Duplication!” But the muscular, red-skinned beast dodged her spear with ease. “Perfect aim! Ice stakes! Duplication!” She had barely thrown them when he had already dodged them and lunged at her, and when the blade of the axe was barely two centimeters from her forehead, she shouted: “Tundra!”
Everything within a five-meter radius of her froze. From the wall behind her back to the muscular monster in front of her. And a pair of signs appeared before her.
[Warning! User has less than 10 MP left. Please wait a few minutes before attempting to use any skills again or your health will be severely affected.]
That was close! She thought, then worried that she hadn’t received any notification informing her of his death. And doubt settled in her at the possibility that this monster, like the tenth floor boss, was also resistant to ice.
With her breathing quickening and her heart still pounding hard against her chest, she opened her inventory and pulled out a mana stone.
I’m going to have to talk to Hanna and increase my stone collection, or I’m going to run out of backup before long! She worried as the usual dizziness of running out of mana overwhelmed her. Come on, Kalysto! Focus! Absorb!
Three windows opened before her, one blue and two violet.
[The passive skill Mental Defense has been activated.]
Liar! She thought after reading the blue notification and couldn’t help but feel disappointed to know how unassertive that system could be. I think it’s best to ignore all their notifications from now on.
[The skill Mental Defense has been activated].
[Does the user wish to absorb this mana crystal?]
[YES/NO]
“Yes!”
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 4500 MP!]
Kalysto let out a prolonged sigh as she began to rise, but the soft cracking of the ice caused her to halt all her movements as she watched in horror as the ice cracked completely and the Minotaur broke free from its prison.
“Fire blast!” She immediately conjured as the Minotaur let out a powerful war cry and she leapt away from him.
[The user is under the attack of the skill ‘Fear’ and her defense dropped by 50%, as well as all her stats.]
[The skill ‘Mental Defense’ has withstood the attack and all stats have returned to normal.]
Kalysto ignored the collection of windows that opened to her left and concentrated on the blast of fire that erupted from her mouth.
But her attack did not work as she had hoped.
Does this thing also have fire resistance?
She realized with some apprehension.
And although her fire didn’t work against the Minotaur’s tough skin, the axe overheated enough so that the metal that began to melt burned the hands of that beast, making it scream and drop his powerful weapon to the ground.
Inventory!
As soon as the window opened, Kalysto pulled out two swords and leapt onto the monster’s back and thrust them between its shoulder blades, but they barely pierced his skin.
She then pulled out two daggers with penetration stats, and repeated her attack, burying them in the back of its neck.
The Minotaur elbowed her, knocking her to the ground. But the pain didn’t register in her mind, beyond a discomfort that forced her to cough a couple of times as she regained some air in her lungs after turning her body, falling into a crouch and avoiding crashing to the dirt floor.
“Lightning!” she conjured, unloading what mana she had left into her attack. And with her inventory still open, she pulled out another mana crystal.
[Does the user wish to absorb this mana crystal?]
[YES/NO]
“Yes!”
[Congratulations! The user has acquired 5000 MP!]
“Water creation!” She shouted and squirted a stream of water with each of her hands, directing them towards the mouth of her snarling enemy, who was still trying to remove the two swords and two daggers that she had almost completely buried in his body. “Earth manipulation!” She continued, placing the palms of her hands on the dirty ground and softening it under the thick feet of the Minotaur, making the same now wet and swamp-like earth sink beneath him, leaving him buried up to his hips.
It was just at that moment that she thought she could finally give herself a break, as she waited for her skills to finish cooling down and she could use them again.
She then pulled out her bow and, after doubling back a couple of times the only arrow with penetration stats she had left, she launched four of them into both of the Minotaur’s eyes, making it scream.
“Duplication!” She conjured about ten more times and after keeping the original arrow in her inventory to avoid getting confused, along with her bow. Then she continued her attack, preventing the Minotaur from escaping her trap despite his constant attempts. “Telekinesis! Multiple targets! Perfect aim!” she chanted and launched the ten arrows at her enemy’s chest.
[The skill ‘Telekinesis’ has been raised to level 2!]
She then repeated the process four more times, covering the monster’s face, chest, and arms with arrows.
[The skill ‘Telekinesis’ has leveled up to level 3!]
[The skill ‘Telekinesis’ has risen to level 4!]
And as she complained from the pain and struggled to get out of the swamp she created for him, she tried to use the telekinesis skill to lift the axe.
But try as she might, it didn’t work.
Maybe the axe is too heavy and I should level up the skill a bit more first. Then she ran up to the platform where he had been resting when she entered, grabbed the mallet with both hands and threw it hard in the direction of her enemy.
“Telekinesis!” she conjured up, changing the trajectory of the mace, and causing it to strike the nape of the reddish beast’s neck right against the handle of the two daggers half-buried in its skin, driving them all the way in. She then made sure to throw the mace away from him so he couldn’t use it against her, as a sharp headache welled up behind her eyes.
But despite the pain, she didn’t stop.
“Water creation!” After drenching him properly, she continued, “Lightning! Duplication! Duplication! Duplication! Duplication!” And after dedicating herself to multiplying the arrow with penetration stats once more, she launched fifty more at the creature. “Telekinesis!”
[The skill ‘Telekinesis’ has been raised to level 5!]
And as blood ran down the enemy’s arms, torso and head, bleeding out little by little, she let out a stunned roar as Kalysto ran to where he had left the axe, and after pulling out the remains of what was left of her tattered shirt after the encounter with the specters, she wrapped the handle with the cloth and raised the axe.
[The user is under the attack of the skill ‘Fear’ and her defense dropped by 50% as well as all her stats.]
[The skill Mental Defense has withstood the attack and all stats have returned to normal.]
Kalysto leapt against the monster’s back, burying the sharp axe against its hard skull.
The silence seemed to last for a few seconds as she could hear the crazed pounding of her heart roar against her chest. She let out a long exhale as she felt the force leave her body at the same time as the expected notification appeared before her.
[You’ve gained 3000 experience points!]
[The boss of the thirteenth floor of the dungeon has been defeated!]
And before the next notification came out, and the others were transported to the same room, she took out a vial of holy water and quickly drank it.
[User has gained 300 bonus experience points for participating in defeating the boss!]
[The user has acquired +2 strength points, and they have been added to her stats!]
[The user has acquired +5 stamina points, and they have been added to her stats!]
And as the others began to be teleported to where she was, the portal appeared behind the corpse of the boss and Kalysto hurriedly pulled the axe out of his skull and stored it in her inventory, along with the mace.
“Let’s go to the next floor,” she muttered wearily and after making sure everyone was okay with a quick glance, then stepped through the portal.
The next six floors were a little easier.
Or at least it was until Gideon, tired of her taking most of the experience points, started protesting right after she killed the boss on the nineteenth floor, almost three hours later.
“Hey, stop giving the final blow to all the monsters you encounter! We want to earn bonus points too!” Gideon complained as he saw how strong she had become with each floor they climbed.
“Gideon’s right! I want to level up too!” Edward complained.
“Then get out of the tower and get your own prey. And stop whining like three-year-olds or I’ll stop helping you escape out of this tower!” She growled, annoyed at all the time she had wasted with the continuous breaks they kept asking for since it was impossible for them to run as fast and as far as she did.
And although she heard them protesting against her back, she ignored them, too tired of fighting for hours and having to put up with them when she might as well take out the hearthstone that would take her back to her room in the fairy kingdom, and get it over with.
Just a little longer and we will be far away from the kingdom of Balsahty. And we will all be free... well them, I still have a contract to fulfill. And for a few moments, she felt envious of them and for the freedom they would have, although she was well aware that she could not complain about the good treatment that the queen and her people gave her.
I miss Tsuki. She couldn’t wait to run with him again through the fairy forest as the wind kissed their faces and her new pet got excited at each new discovery. I’ll try to bake him cookies as an apology when I get back. She promised herself.
[Warning! User has entered the twentieth floor of the dungeon!]
Darkness greeted her.
“Be vigilant and don’t let your guard down!” She told them. But no one responded. So she turned around, facing the portal she had just entered, but there was no sign of the portal.
Nor of any of the other heroes.
Did they separate us again? She thought. I hope it won’t take me so long to find them this time.
And after letting out a long sigh, she looked around, but there was nothing but darkness and a tense silence.
Inventory! She tried to summon it, but again her systems stopped working and she frowned in annoyance. Blue would be expected to fail, but how the hell did they manage to block the violet as well?
And after waiting a few seconds for the rest of the group to arrive as well, she was about to begin conjuring when a familiar silhouette, illuminated by a dim light, appeared before her.
And her world crumbled into a thousand pieces.
“...Mom?”