As a Soul Reaper, I have seen quite a few scary things, things that would give grown men nightmares and monsters that desire nothing more than the destruction of everything. Most of them I have to fight as they usually feed on wayward souls. That doesn't mean I'm not scared, those things are always terrifying but I usually have ALL my abilities to deal with them.

With Touch of the Reaper disabled and no way to teleport away reliably, this was one of times I felt true terror. Laying semi helpless on the ice, feeling woozy and staring up at a pissed off undead minotaur, who remembered that I had cut off its arm. That got added to the list 'Times I Thought I was Going to Die'. It made it all the way to number 3, right under the incident with corrupted cute white rabbits that had ripped the jugulars out of 6 high ranked adventuring parties before it was killed. And just above that time my mother caught me peeking at the neighbour's wife, when they moved the bathtub to the back garden that one summer.

I rolled a few times to put distance between myself and the minotaur as it took a huge step towards me. I managed to get to my feet when I bounced into the air suddenly, it was accompanied by the sound of the world crying, or at least that's what I told myself. It was more like an incredibly loud wham that shook the area around me. I looked back to see the minotaur must have missed me by inches when it slammed its axe into the ground. Even more of the road was turned to pointy rocks or gravel from the impact.

I stumbled the first few steps as I was still a little woozy and everything was in the process of spinning. I couldn't use Etheric Step anymore, otherwise I'd be unconscious for a few hours when I reappeared. Instead, I quickly cast mage hand and pulled my scythe towards me, I felt resistance and looked to see it was stuck under the severed arm. Something green wiggled on the arm and I felt the scythe loose a little. I realised that the green was the Small Winged Wyrm that Clair had charmed, it was still stuck in the minotaur's grip even after the arm had been severed.

The minotaur must have seen me looking past it as it also turned to look at the trapped Wyrm. 2 balls of goop splashed into the minotaur but it didn't notice or, more likely, it didn't care, its gaze was fixed on the trapped Wyrm. Wham. One second the injured Wyrm was struggling against the thick boney fingers, the next it was hidden under the flat of the minotaur’s battleaxe. I winced as a small green orb floated up through the battle axe and into my Soul Lantern. As the minotaur lifted up its axe I used Mage Hand to pull my scythe towards me, it flew at me like a missile and I caught it out of the air.

I took a quick second to look past the minotaur to see what my party was doing. Harold was set up and ready to block the swings from the battle axe, Taylor had cleared the ice away and fired an ice bolt at the minotaur, they looked like they were running on empty though. Clair was knelt on the ground and I winced, it looked like she was suffering spell feedback. Raven was nowhere to be seen but that was a good thing, her sneak attacks dealt a lot more damage.

I needed to get over to them, I had the spare mana potions for Taylor, aside from cutting off the minotaur's arm, they had dealt the most damage. I could feel that Man on the Job was masking my presence a little but I had attracted too much attention from the minotaur so it wasn’t fully veiling me. This was evident when it turned its empty eyes on me again, I could feel its hatred crashing on me like a tsunami crushing a seaside village. I took a few steps back and got into a defensive stance. I didn’t like my chances of blocking or parrying a blow but I could dodge and if I was lucky, I might actually survive.

Harold banged his shield and activated his taunt skill, the minotaur to snap its head in his direction. I sighed in relief as Man on the Job fully veiled me, my relief lasted until the large battle axe whistled towards Harold. He ducked down behind his shield which deflected the large weapon, there was a mighty gong that rang out as the axe bounced off the shield and the shockwave of the impact pushed him backwards a few feet, thankfully he managed to stay on his feet.

The minotaur's arm came up to swing the axe again and I took my chance.

I dashed forwards pushing my Dexterity to the limit, Combat Grace activated and my footsteps grew surer and I moved faster over the unstable and cracked ground. It was like I was gliding over the ground like a famed Grim Reaper. I made sure to stay out of the minotaur’s direct line of sight and stuck to its blindspot. An ice spike blasted through the minotaur's ribs sending a shower of bone out its back just as I launched my attack. I watched the ice spike fly straight at my head and my Danger Sense activated but there was nothing I could do, I turned Etheric as the ice spike flew through my head. I winced as I felt the intense cold that radiated off the spike, then it was gone.

I twisted my arms and started a powerful rotation of my scythe as well as casting Empower Attack. I had done this before and had managed to cut a large border in half with the attack, if I connected with any part of the minotaur it was going to be severed. A savage grin spread over my face as I imagined the look on Raven's face when I showed her the kill notification.

A large cloven hoof lashed out and kicked me in the chest, the hoof was so large that it practically covered my entire chest. I cried out in pain as I felt a few of my ribs crack and had all the air driven out of me. I flew backwards, faster than I had approached the minotaur, I cried out a few more times as I bounced and rolled along the cracked ground. While I didn't know what it looked like at the time, Raven told me later that I looked like a sack potato that was hurled down a steep hill. I felt even more bones break as I slammed into the collapsed stone pillar.

I must have passed out as I didn't remember falling to the floor but when I opened my eyes and sound returned to my aching head, I was laying face down on the ground trying and failing to catch my breath. I tried to lift myself up but my arms refused to move, I wiggled my fingers to make sure that the arms were still attached. They were thankfully. I wiggled my fingers more purposefully and cast Lesser Regeneration on myself. I screamed again as quite a few of the broken bones reknit themselves, I would never get used to the feeling and pain that went along with magically fixing broken bones without holy magic. When my arms were able I dipped a hand into my bag of holding and pulled out a health potion. I slammed it like an alcoholic having a drinking contest with a sailor. I winced and coughed up blood as my ribs unpunctured my lungs and went back to being a rib cage. I almost collapsed to the ground but to keep myself occupied I checked my health status.

Health: 112/1500

A standard health potion, the only type of health potion we carried, healed people for 100 health instantly. Lesser Regeneration healed 5 health per second once the spell was cast. That meant I only had 2 HP after hitting the pillar, my pale face went even paler. I'd almost died.

I slammed a second potion and winced at the foul taste that told me I'd drunk the potion too quickly after the last one. I looked around for my scythe and saw that it was laying near where I had been kicked. I cast mage hand and used the spell to carefully picked up my scythe, I slowly brought it to me making sure not to attract any attention.

The minotaur was swinging its battle axe at Harold and had stopped paying attention to me, I watched Harold deflect a swing and to my shock I saw his shield bend a little. The purple Winged Wyrm kept shooting its globs of goop at the monster and Taylor was firing ice spikes whenever they could, they seemed to annoy the minotaur more than anything. Clair was releasing an endless barrage of arrows but they didn't seem to be doing much and half the arrows flew through the gaps in the skeleton were there was no flesh.

Raven appeared 20 feet in the air and fell from the sky, I guessed that she'd stayed in the alcove where the archers were and was only now making her first strike. She descended like hunting hawk, plummeting toward the minotaur who was completely unaware, her daggers lashed out as she fell behind the minotaur. The undead monster roared in what I hopped was pain, Raven turned and dived to her right as a hoof lashed out at her, she rolled and popped up still standing behind the minotaur. She lashed out with her daggers again striking at its right leg, again the monster roared in pain before swinging its battle axe around in a low circle. Shadows rose up and engulfed Raven seconds before the battle axe swung through them, the shadows dissipated revealing thin air. Harold banged on his shield with his sword and the minotaur roared at him in frustration. It raised the battle axe up over its head to bring it crashing down on him when it's right leg gave way and it crashed to its knees.

Taylor, Clair and the purple Small Winged Wyrm unleashed everything that they had at the prone minotaur, Harold stood ready in case it had any hidden surprises it hadn't revealed. The monster roared in outrage as is slowly got back to its feet, I saw that it tried to put as little weight on its injured right leg as it got to its feet. I grimaced as it got to its feet, the grip on the battle axe had changed as the second it swung the axe I realised things had taken a turn for the worst. Its injury had taken most of the strength out of its swings, instead it focused on the speed of the attacks. Harold's shield rang out again and again and again as 3 quick strikes hit it in the same time it had take for 1 swing previously. I checked my health before checking the minotaurs'.

Health: 370/1500

Skeletal Minotaur

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Health: 5000/24000

Mana: 50/100

I hate high level monsters, they always took so much to take down and if the didn't have enough health to rival a city wall, they had more evasion skills than most armies put together. The minotaur was evidently the former by the amount of punishment it was taking, yet it was still able to keep on fighting and if a swing managed to connect it would still kill someone outright. I was just thankful that the minotaur didn't come back with the ability to cast spells, if it was able to, I didn't think we would have lived long enough to regret picking the fight.

I shook my head, I needed to play to my strengths. I had recklessly charged the monster and attempted to use my strength to overpower it, I was not the strongest person in my party so it should have been obvious that I wouldn't overpower a minotaur, let alone an undead minotaur. Stealth was my strength, I had class abilities that made me almost impossible to detect yet I had ignored them. I was tempted to think about why I had disregarded them but now was not the time.

"Soul Reaper, not Barbarian." I said to myself reproachfully.

Man on the Job had been forcefully deactivated when the minotaur had kicked me, thankfully Right Clothes for the Job had stayed active and more than likely saved my life when I hit the stone pillar. I reactivated Man on the Job and I felt my presence fade into the background as the ability shrouded me, I let the aura from Man on the Job billow out but I made sure that its effects were only felt within 10 feet of me. The vice like grip I had on my scythe loosened as I took a few deep calming breaths, I felt my class abilities resonate with my soul and I opened my eyes.

Slowly and calmly I walked out onto the broken ground, the undead minotaur swung its battle axe viciously at Harold who kept ducking behind his shield to avoid the blows. I picked my way across the ground making slow but stead progress, I wanted to break out into a run when Raven appeared above the minotaur again, she began to fall down again but shadows consumed her as the battle axe swung at her. She appeared on the ground rising up from the minotaur's shadow, she lashed pit with her daggers again striking the same leg she'd hit before. Once again shadows engulfed her as she dodged a hoof that flew at her, I let out a breath as the hoof passed through the shadows and didn't connect with Raven. I looked over the Taylor and saw Raven slump to the ground and I winced, I guess she must have been clipped by the hoof after all.

My resolve solidified and my cautious steps became firm strides and I passed the worst of the broken ground. Sweat began to form on the back of my neck as I got closer and closer, I could feel anxiety dragon lings forming in my stomach. I had walked through lots of battlefields collecting the souls of the fallen but I had almost died from this monster once already, now I planned on getting within 10 feet of the beast. As I got closer I could feel the wind rush past me as the battle axe whistled above me before crashing against Harold's shield. When I finally reached the monster I felt it attempting to resist the aura from Man on the Job, I was worried for a second that it would resist but after a second I saw its swings slow down.

The aura Man on the Job could create had a few different effects that I could change between, most of them made it uncomfortable to be in the aura or helped keep me undetected by making people's perception of me fuzzy. The effect I pushed out now was the sense of indecisiveness, it was the most insidious effect the aura had. It would make those affected by it question if they were doing the right thing. Not an existential crisis level of indecision, more like a lingering doubt that would grow the longer they were exposed to the aura. Most of the time I used it to give me time to run away from a fight, in a fight like this it was enough to shift the status quo.

I stood behind the minotaur on the balls of my feet ready to dodge any hoof coming my way. I saw the minotaur's head tilt and turn slightly, I suddenly realised that it was looking for me, it could sense that it was being effected by my aura but could find me. I had never been more thankful that Man on the Job was such an overpower stealth ability as I was now. Harold realised what I was doing as the monster took a step backwards and turned its head to look at where I had impacted the fallen pillar. Harold yelled something I didn't hear and pressed the attack, he dodged the minotaur’s swing by rolling forwards, he sprang to his feet and swung at the monsters left leg. His strike didn't do any real damage but it did cause it to refocus on him instead of searching for me. Taylor dual cast ice spike aiming for the monster's chest and both of them connected blasting a few bones out of its back. Raven appeared in the air in front of the minotaur and she must have triggered an assassination skill of some sort, I watched as she blurred forwards and exploded through the monster.

More bone shards exploded out of the monsters back, I covered my face as I was showed I them. I was yet again thankful that it was an undead skeleton and not a living flesh and blood minotaur else I'd be covered in so much gore. The minotaur wavered from the barrage of attacks, it staggered back a few steps and I spotted my opportunity. I quickly cast Empower Attack as I brought my scythe down in a diagonal slash, the slash connected with the original cut Raven had made on its right leg, the same place where most of Raven's strikes had landed.

When Touch of the Reaper was working I could cut through almost anything, the ability had other effects and some nasty visual effects that were a little gruesome, however the ability to cut through anything was incredibly useful. When my attack landed it was almost like having Touch of the Reaper working again, bone parted as my scythe cut through the incredibly thick femur. I put a little too much force into the slash as it bounce off the ground and smashing into the back of its left leg. The monster roared as the bone fell away and clattered to the ground, it must not have realised as it spun around to face me except it now didn't have a right leg to support it.

The minotaur crashed to the ground with a loud bang, sand and loose rocks were flung up into the air from the impact. My Danger Sense activated and I had the sudden urge to leap into the air, trusting my instincts I jumped as high as I could. The giant battle axe burst through the cloud of debris the wind had started to blow away, it passed through the spot I had been standing in a few seconds before. As I landed back on the ground the I felt my Danger Sense activated again and I threw myself to the side just before the battle axe slammed into the ground.

I took my eyes away from the axe as the monster roared in anguish, I looked up to see Raven standing on its neck, her daggers glowed a sickly purple colour before she plunged them repeatedly into its skull. The attack was so swift and vicious it didn't have time to defend itself before she'd managed to sever its head completely. Notifications began to fill my vision as Raven help up the head in victory.

You have slain a Skeleton Minotaur Level 50, as this creature is recognised by your class as a foe, you do not receive any penalties. You have earned 100xp.

Your skill Acrobatics has increased to level 6. You have an increased amount of control of your movements while in the air.

Your skill Lesser Regeneration (minor) has increased to level 10 (max). You now regain more health from the spell at a reduced mana cost.

I sighed in relief and let my aura dissipate, I also deactivated Man on the Job since I didn't need to remain hidden. Lesser Regeneration was still active and I quickly checked my status.

Name: Luca Piel

Class: Soul Reaper level 10

Xp to next level: 1475/1500

Health: 970/1500

Mana: 308/2500

Stamina: 270/2750

I gawked at the xp to the next level, I only needed 25 more xp. I never managed to get xp from fighting even when I was part of a party, the usual xp sharing didn't work unless my class considered the creature as a foe. This however felt like a cruel joke, it had taken 10 years to reach level 10 and I was distraught that I was so close to level 11 but was 2 skeletons away from getting a new ability. I hoped that this one wouldn't have as strict restrictions like all of my other class abilities.

I know I should have been ecstatic about the increase in my Acrobatics and Lesser Regeneration but they were overshadowed by the xp needed to my next level. I cast Detect Evil to see if there were any other skeletons I could use to quickly get the xp to level up but unfortunately they were all dead. My shoulders slumped in defeat and I walked over to Taylor who was healing Harold.

"Luca, you need healing?" Taylor gestured as they finished healing a cut on Harold's face.

"Yes please, hoof hit hard." I replied, a few seconds later pure bliss flooded my body as Taylor healed all my troubles away.

Raven came up carrying the minotaur's decapitated skull and thrust it towards me, it still had some of the purple goop from the Small Winged Wyrm covering it, the left side was almost completely gone, the bone had caved and cracked from Raven assassination skill. I looked at her in pure confusion as to why she was giving it to me.

"I want put in bag." She gestured with one hand.

I shrugged not seeing a reason to deny her the trophy, I held open the bag of holding and marveled as it expanded to allow the skull to fit inside. I still think it'll be a while before I get used to being able to do that, when half of the skull had passed the mouth of the bag, the rest just disappeared. I hoped that there was some sort of compartmentalised storage so that goop didn't leak onto anything else, the last thing I wanted was for the viscera or whatever it was leaking on our food rations.

"We rest here, then we go one." Harold decided and we all nodded.

Rest time after a fight was always important, everyone was coming down from the adrenaline rush from the battle and prone to making hasty or rash decisions. We all took a few minutes to reset ourselves, I sat down and meditated letting my mana and stamina replenish faster. My mind replayed the fight and I thought over what I could have done better and realised that I had been callous, when the ice spike made me phase I should have backed off. Also my reliance on Etheric Step as well had been a big hindrance, without the ability to teleport I had almost been killed. The problem had stemmed from my over usage of the ability when crossing the stone pillars, it had been petty to show up Raven like that and the consequences were evident. I needed to be more cautious and thoughtful when using my abilities, I had known there would be a fight and I'd still used Etheric Step constantly rather than my own strength to cross the pillars.

I stayed in my meditative state going through everything including the ambush on the road to Bridalford. I had lots of things I could improve upon and I still had large areas that I needed to train to cover my weaknesses and flaws. I wasn't sure how long I stayed meditating but when Harold nudged me back to reality, Clair had fetched the horses and everyone was getting ready to mount up again. I eyed the horse as I approached it, something about the way I was looking at it must have spooked it because for the first time ever it didn't attack me.

"Let's find this bastard." Taylor gestured.

We all nodded in agreement and continued on the road through Wyrm Territory.