Jasmine is supposed to return to my path once she was done inspecting that side of the labyrinth.

While I continued to walk through the narrow path of the labyrinth, I noticed the end of the passageway led to a dead end.

But a large Minotaur spawned right in front of me.

"Woah!" I exclaimed. I didn't expect the Minotaur to appear before me.

But that wasn't all, multiple logs around the same height as me appeared from the ground, a few inches from the wall.

The logs of wood were arranged in rows and were about fifty in number.

Each log has about six to seven sharp, pointed metal spikes protruding from the logs and spinning at an uncontrollable pace.

'Hehe....' I couldn't help but smile to myself, knowing that one wrong move, and I'm dead.

The Minotaur appeared a lot different from the other two we've faced before now.

It was clad in armor and carried a large axe with fresh crimson blood trickling down its edges as it roared while dashing toward me.

The edge of the axe glowed in an eerie crimson hue at a temperature beyond five hundred degrees.

[Minotaur: Level 4.]

[HP: 35/40.]

"Hey big guy, how about we settle this rationally with you dropping that axe and hugging one of those wooden spinning spikes, huh?"

I tried to make a compromise with the big guy holding a death axe, but it didn't look interested in negotiating.

We've been fighting for almost three minutes now.

The edges of the death axe neatly slashed several spinning spikes on the ground while it tried to cauterize me.

Weirdly enough, it's been aiming for my heart for quite some time now.

"C'mon, this isn't Sleepy Hollow you know,"

Well, not that I care.

Although, I've been attempting to stall the Minotaur, hoping Jasmine would return to me to act as my vanguard.

Now, I'm beginning to worry about what's keeping her waiting until now.

I do hope she's alright because the bronze sword I am equipped with is on the verge of breaking down.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

The strength of this Minotaur is unlike any other I have faced before now.

"Mooo!!!" The Minotaur swung its axe, I added strength to my feet and used my sword as a shield.

But the sword couldn't withhold the impact and cracked into countless pieces.

'F·ck!! What do I do? What do I do?'

I frantically searched around, hoping I can find something of use to me.

An object with a white sheen sparkled in front of me.

I had sighted it a while ago, but I can't help but think it could be of use to me.

I took various steps back to provide distance between me and the Minotaur.

Not only that, but I grabbed a number of rocks from the ground and aimed straight at the Minotaur's eyes with my slingshot.

The rocks hit its horns, head, and face.

This provided me with the chance I needed.

For quite some time, the Minotaur has been avoiding my arrows.

'But not this time,'

"Take this," I released the arrow, which flew straight to the Minotaur's abdomen.

-3

It whimpered in pain.

Well, I guess anyone would. A few meters lower, and it would have hit its little brother.

Not that I can see if it had one.

The Minotaur roared and dashed towards me.

I had limited arrows in my quiver and I did not want to waste my arrows.

I dashed towards the Minotaur as well, abandoning the thoughts of waiting for Jasmine to get here.

It aimed for my head once again, but I slid between its feet.

'Seriously, what's with this guy aiming for my head alone.'

While gliding, I shoved the two arrows I held in both hands into the Minotaur's feet, releasing a squelching sound as the arrowheads pierced into the Minotaur's flesh.

-3

-3

It dropped to its knees with a cry of pain.

"Yes! An ingot silver," I rejoiced, hoping what I had in hand was enough to do what I had in mind.

Looking around, the spinning spikes had several blood stains on the logs.

This means others had been here before me, but those guys were unable to take this guy down, seeing as how the ingot silver was still here.

Besides, the axe of the Minotaur still had blood dripping from its edges when I got here.

I summoned the system to view my status and glanced at the number of gold coins I had left.

"65 gold coins, huh,"

I scanned through a bunch of crafting recipes to buy what I needed.

[Ding!! A silver sword recipe has been purchased by you, ]

[Ding! Crafting recipe! Silver sword recipe: Ingot silver (x1), Wolf claw (x1), Wolf fang (x1), Minotaur horn (x1).]

The Minotaur turned in rage, raising its axe over its head and striking it down diagonally.

The silver sword was crafted in time to act as a shield.

*Clang!!* Sparks caused by the friction of both swords colliding brightened up the dark labyrinth passageway we were in.

The collision surprised the Minotaur, and it went back three steps.

I stooped to the Minotaur's ankles level before striking the ankles of the Minotaur.

-2

-2

The Minotaur dropped to its knees before me.

With a swift swing of my sword, I aimed towards the joint of its arm that was holding the death axe.

-4

The arm fell to the ground, still holding the death axe tightly

The Minotaur rose to its feet, but I deftly attacked its flanks while avoiding to get hit with the spinning spikes.

I hurriedly grabbed its death axe and swung it, cutting its armor in two and opening its gut, scattering entrails all over the ground.

But the Minotaur had numerous figures left in its HP.

I tightly grabbed the death axe and cleaved the beast in two.

-3

-3

The last digits floated above the beast before disintegrating into pixels.

[Ding! Dead. You have killed a Minotaur. 40 damage was inflicted on target HP. Dropped item: 9 gold coins. You have gained 20 exp.]

_______

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.