Jaco’s heart thumped rapidly inside of his chest. He could practically hear the rush of blood within his ears as his perspective shifted. For those few precious moments it took for him to ready the arrow, he felt a sense of oneness with his surroundings.

It was then that time seemed to slow down. As Jaco readied his weapon, his quickly moving hands were now barely at a snail’s pace. Far off down the street, the Minotaur was going equally slowly as it still reached for Sam.

Yet at that moment, it all just felt so… far away. Not just in the literal sense of physical distance, but more than that. While Jaco’s hands were still manipulating the crossbow, his mind had gone somewhere else.

His attention squarely fell onto the aura that surrounded him. That had always been surrounding him from the moment they entered the city’s perimeter. But it was only now that he truly focused on it. And as he did so, he could feel its presence at a level far deeper than he ever had with Mana.

The energy in the air was like an untamed beast, doing as it pleased as it spread around. But at his call, it snapped to attention. No longer a wild animal, but a dog ready to instantly respond to its master’s command. The Devil’s Essence within the air synergized with the power inside the Druid’s body. Or rather, with the power inside the Blight Warlock’s body.

Since obtaining his Secondary Class, this was the first time Jaco had entered the city. And unlike the area surrounding it, where the Devil’s Essence was barely present, here it was dense everywhere. To that aura, the two regular people accompanying him were just strangers, outsiders. But here and now, as he called upon its power, it gladly embraced that Hell-Touched part of him like a lost son who had finally managed to make his way back home.

The half-second before he pulled the trigger, Jaco felt one last sensation. Hidden underneath his gloves, the blackened tips of his fingers felt warm and filled with unbridled might. And at the edge of his vision, there was an update to a golden screen that was still hanging in the air.

Current Charge: 100/100

Then his finger pulled the trigger. There was a loud crack as the crossbow released all the tension in its string. But that sound was almost immediately muffled by a far louder bang as the arrow shot out. A sonic boom echoed throughout the ruins as the butt of the crossbow slammed into the young man’s shoulder. He just grunted from the impact that would have easily ripped off the arm of any pre-System human. That bit of pain was enough to ground him.

Jaco slowly blinked as he lowered the crossbow. His trancelike state was now broken as his mind fully returned to reality. The entire thing had only actually lasted for maybe two or three seconds, yet it had felt stretched out to be much longer than that.

However, the Druid didn’t get to reflect any further on the experience as his arrow shot through the air. With the boom that had come from the moment it was fired, the projectile had broken past the sound barrier and now flew at a literally supersonic speed.

The arrow blitzed through the air as it flew true. And along with it came the benefit of moving faster than sound itself, for the second the Minotaur heard the boom of it being fired, it would have naturally then looked in Jaco’s direction. But that predictable movement was never made. Because before the sound actually reached its ears, the arrow had already found its mark dead-on in its left shoulder.

A secondary boom echoed through the area, one even louder than the first. An explosion of both intensely hot fire and pure force blasted out from where the arrow had landed. Had it been omnidirectional, the sheer force would have been more than enough to also blast away Sam and Evelyn. But the vast majority of power behind the impact was fortunately restrained to just its initial direction. Even then, however, the two of them were still knocked back several feet.

Aside from them, three things went flying off in separate directions. One was the Minotaur, as the concussive blast shot off its feet and sent it flying backwards. Another was its axe, as the monster’s grip on it was lost, which allowed it to get sent off in a different direction. The third and final object had shot directly toward the ground and smacked into it with a wet thud. It being the Minotaur’s entire left arm, save for the upper part that had been entirely destroyed by explosion.

The Demidemon eventually crashed into a pile of rubble. A large cloud of dust and debris erupted in all directions from the site. But as the dust began to settle, Jaco could tell even from a distance that their foe wasn’t immediately getting back up. Which, considering its toughness, was already an amazing sign.

The final result of the Explosive Arrow plus the full power of the Hell Crossbow was more than pleasing, with the karmic revenge of blasting the Minotaur away just the cherry on top. But before he preemptively celebrated their victory, Jaco managed to catch himself.

There hadn’t been a notification from the System to confirm the kill. Not yet, anyway, even as a few seconds had already passed since the massive strike. Something that only meant that the Minotaur was still alive and their battle wasn’t concluded.

“Finish it off, now!” Jaco yelled. He then quickly turned into a hawk to start flying back over there. At the same time, his words were enough to snap his two companions out of their shock.

They had both heard about his first fight with the Minotaur in the fortress. About how it transformed and gained a massive increase in speed while sacrificing power. Most troublesome was that even though the transformation didn’t actually heal its wounds, it would allow it to keep fighting for a while longer. That was something they had to prevent at all costs, especially since the two of them were already exhausted.

Evelyn was naturally the faster one to react and start moving. She became a living blur as she closed the gap that had been created by the Minotaur being blown away. The large monster was still heavily wounded and clearly in a daze. Buckets of blood were pouring out from where its arm used to be.

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Even past the missing limb, more of its body was in pretty bad shape. From the angle of the fiery explosion, half of its face was deeply burned. Most of the skin was still bubbling from the sheer heat that it had been exposed to. But past all the blood and concrete dust, bits of white could even be seen from where sections of its skull were now exposed.

The damage went all the way up to one of its eyes, which was currently closed. Though judging from the burn marks that surrounded it, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume the eyeball itself was also potentially ruined. The other eye, however, was still open on the mostly undamaged side of the Minotaur’s head. The gaze of the red eye was unfocused, and remained so even as the human woman rushed straight for it.

Evelyn knew that her blade had a hard time against the Demidemon’s tough flesh. But she pinned her hopes on the thought that not every part of its body would be equally strong. The eyes were a potential weak point that would have been difficult to hit just a minute ago during the middle of combat. While the monster was vulnerable, she focused straightaway on exploiting that.

Her blade plunged straight into the Minotaur’s open eye. It hadn’t reacted up to the moment the tip of the sword stabbed into it, but as soon as it had plunged in, the Minotaur loudly bellowed with pain. Even as its body shook in agony, Evelyn remained solely focused on her task. She just pushed her own full body weight into her sword, doing everything she could to dig even deeper in. If she could just make it all the way through and pierce straight into the brain…

Yet the Demidemon’s status as a Level 49 being wasn’t just for show. Even while in a heavily injured state and being actively stabbed in a weak point, it still wasn’t so easily put down. Upon being hit by the arrow and blasted backwards, it had been forced to let go of the axe held in its remaining hand. But an unarmed Minotaur was still more than a threat with just its bare hands.

Even with the concussion of the century, its own survival instincts were enough to get it into action. Evelyn did feel the shift in its remaining arm, but she intentionally ignored it. She simply continued to redouble her single-minded efforts and keep attempting to make the needed final push into the monster’s brain matter. However, Agility was her main Stat in the end, not Strength. So despite her best efforts, it simply fell just shy of what was necessary to finish off their enemy.

The Minotaur’s arm then slammed straight into her side. Evelyn let out a gasp as all the air was knocked out of her lungs. There was an audible crack, as even the haphazard swipe was enough to fracture at least a couple of the redhead’s ribs.

Both her hands had been pushing against the top of her sword’s pummel, rather than directly holding onto it. So with the blow, she was easily knocked away. Evelyn then of course tried to get right back up, but failed. She gritted her teeth as pain flared up from her side, and was barely able to take in even a sucking breath.

The Minotaur blindly waved its arm about some more, but then stopped as it felt no impact. Its hand then reached for the sword still stuck in its eye. With how large the monster was, the blade almost looked like a metal splinter in between its fingers, one which it then ripped straight out. With that done, it began to struggle in an attempt to lean forward and fully dislodge itself from the rubble.

In the time that passed, Jaco had already managed to close a large chunk of the gap. It didn’t take him much longer to reach the point where he believed the Minotaur was now at the edge of his elemental Ability’s range.

He had watched as the wounded monster threw Evelyn aside. Now, after it had just torn the sword from its eye, the air around it started to turn hazy with steam. Knowing what was soon to come, Jaco had prepared to step in. Yet right before he channeled the Mana for a long-range attack to disrupt the monster, he stopped. For just before he could do so, it looked like an intervention on his part wouldn’t be necessary.

For right when the Minotaur managed to sit up, Sam now stood directly before it. Her entire body was rigid with pure focus as her already-raised wand aimed at one spot. The Minotaur couldn’t see her with both eyes now blinded. And as it snorted, it only found blood clogging its nostrils.

It had no idea what was coming as the Mage then unleashed everything she had. From her wand, a highly condensed bolt of pure Mana shot straight for the same eye Evelyn had stabbed. From a distance, Jaco could barely even make out the physical Mana bolt, as it was only the size of an olive. But his gut told him that it was by no means weak, and was in fact the most highly condensed spell he’d ever seen from Sam.

Almost like a bullet, it flew straight into the Minotaur’s eye socket. And just a moment later, its entire body spasmed as it fell back onto the pile of rubble. Though its death throes didn’t last very long. Because just a few short seconds later, it finally went completely still.

And this time, the System provided all the confirmation they needed.

EXP Earned!

Level Up!

Level 44 to Level 45

Level Up!

Level 45 to Level 46

Two Levels? Huh, I’ll take it, Jaco thought.

He didn’t quite understand how the System handled a split of Experience. Mostly because it hadn’t really been relevant for the vast, vast majority of his battles. But while he certainly had contributed the most in terms of actual damage, it hadn’t been him to actually land the killing blow. So if that person was the one who got the majority of Experience Points, he figured that getting two Levels for himself was still pretty good.

The Druid then landed beside his companions and shifted back into his regular form. He first looked over at Evelyn, who was sitting on the ground and currently looking off to the side with a focused stare. Likely looking at her own System notifications, if Jaco had to assume. Evelyn then closed her eyes, and began to deeply breathe in and out. As she did so, the pain in her grimace seemed to decrease by several degrees.

Considering that she’d taken a pretty heavy hit just a little bit ago, even her doing that much meant a pretty fast recovery. Considering her own performance, she too must have gained her own fair share of Experience. Perhaps she had just invested the Unspent Points gained from any Levels into Endurance to give herself a restorative second wind. Bursts of investment in the Stat did seem to have that effect on one’s current condition. That idea was why Jaco had kept around his own stockpile of Unspent Points, anyway.

His attention then turned his other companion on this mission, Sam. The one who had officially killed the Minotaur was thus likely to have reaped the largest reward. The Mage was still heaving. When she turned to him, her face was clearly slick with sweat. But her expression was that of a hero, a triumphant grin with bright eyes.

“That was way too fucking close. But at least it was worth it in the end. Because I just got the notification for unlocking my Class Evolution!” Sam cheered.

Jaco smiled, and was about to congratulate her. He knew that Sam had been Level 25 just before the fight, meaning that at the very minimum, she had just gained five Levels. But before he actually said anything, something caught his attention. The Druid focused on it for a moment, and frowned upon realizing what it was.

“Army of undead, coming from all directions. Get ready, because it sounds like a massive horde, and it won’t be long until they’re right on top of us. Sorry, Sam, they’ll be here long before you have the chance to look through your options. But don’t rush it, they shouldn’t be too high-Level,” he said.

Sam grimaced, but nodded in understanding. Also hearing him, Evelyn opened her eyes and got back up to her feet. The massive blasts from just earlier had almost definitely been the thing to attract them. And now before they had time to celebrate their victory, it was again time to fight.