Lucius' heart pounded against his chest as he saw the tragedy about to unfold before him. He was too far away to intervene, and Whisper was inside protecting Maryanne, so he could not direct the mythical creature to use his shadows to save the fallen soldier. As the hoof descended to within inches of Tiber's head, the soldiers sharp instincts kicked in, and a blast of white mist erupted from the edge of his sword. Instead of targeting his enemy, as he had when using the talent against Lucius, the shockwave was instead directed toward himself.

A trail of spit was ejected from Tiber's mouth as he blasted himself backward with his own attack, narrowly avoiding the painful death that loomed above him. Rolling across the ground several times before regaining his footing, as he slid backward creating two lines through the leafy floor with his feet before stabbing his sword into the earth to halt his momentum. Tiber looked back toward his enemy with clenched teeth, shaking his head to try to clear away the dizziness.

The Minotaur started to chase, but Lucius had gotten close enough to use his new combination of Piercing Throw and Dimensional Manipulation. He aimed for the back of the creature's knee, sending Matriarch's Fury streaking through the air like a lightning bolt.

Through effort, you have raised Piercing Throw to level 2.

The [Extraordinary] blade sank into the beast's flesh without resistance, like a hypodermic needle puncturing the soft skin of a child, lodging itself in the joint of the knee at the exact moment the Minotaur put its weight down on the leg to step forward. A sickening crunching sound could be heard as bone and cartilage ground against the sturdy metal, causing the creature to lose it's balance and fall forward. It's remaining eye widened in shock as it watched the ground grow larger as it approached its face.

The monster thrust its hands forward, catching itself in a pushup position on the floor. But the moment its hands touched the ground, a shiny bronze shoulder slammed into the side of its face like a freight train—Roland had rejoined the fight. The shoulder strike left the creature too disoriented to rise as Lucius and Tiber closed in from opposite sides.

Tiber displayed his formidable strength and agility, leaping into the air and bringing his blade down on the Minotaur's remaining eye, while Matriarch's Fury embedded itself in the uninjured knee to finish off it's mobility. Lucius felt a flood of healing entering his body, stacking on top of the benefits from Roland's ability that remained inside him.

The Minotaur clumsily swatted at the humans with its free hand, then raised the broken tree it was wielding and slammed it against the ground. The impact triggered its ability, forcing all three combatants to retreat to avoid the spreading wave of earth.

With a few moments of reprieve, the beast attempted to rise, but upon realizing it was both blinded and immobilized, it let out a deafening bellow. Lucius took a step back, holding his weapon tightly as he felt a powerful magical energy gathering within the monster's body. He watched with furrowed brows as a dripping wet lump of new flesh sprouted out from the bloody stump where its tail had once been. The bubbling and expanding mass grew into a full-length replacement for the missing limb. The same regenerative process was occurring on its eyes as well as all the other injuries they had risked their lives to inflict.

"Shit!"

Garrick fired an arrow toward the rapidly healing eyes of the Minotaur, but the creature reacted to the noise and turned its face away from the sound in time. The arrow struck the back of the beast's head and was stopped by the creature's thick skull, barely even lacerating a small piece of skin. When the archer realized the beast had returning to full strength, he hesitated, clenching his fist tightly around his longbow before shouting down toward his companions.

"We're gonna end up dead before we can put this bastard down! We need to escape!"

It had become clear that this was an unusually strong enemy. The sheer size and strength, combined with its ability to regenerate crippling wounds, made the Minotaur an exceptionally tough foe. Roland glanced over at Tiber for direction when he heard Garrick's words, only to see his leader shaking his head. Tiber advanced once again toward the freshly healed monster as he gave Garrick his answer.

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"No! I won't risk fleeing through the forest blind—not until we are out of options! We just need to land a killing blow. It can't regenerate if it's already dead!"

Lucius remained silent as the soldier's discussed the situation, though inside he agreed with Tiber's conclusion. If they attempted to escape and ran into another powerful creature in the forest, they could end up surrounded and forced to fight both the Minotaur and the new enemy at the same time.

Lucius let his stealth fall away for a moment as he shouted toward the leader of the soldiers.

"If you're willing to draw its attention, I might be able to land a killing blow!"

Tiber narrowed his eyes, shifting his gaze to Lucius before swiftly returning it to the enemy. He looked back just in time to avoid the wave of earth racing toward him, rolling on the ground after jumping over the attack as he responded.

"Do it!"

Lucius nodded and gave one more instruction before fading from sight with his aspect.

"Keep it under the trees!"

Lucius raced behind the monster, attacking with Piercing Throw as rapidly as he could to stack Assassinate. The three soldiers watched as Lucius' attacks failed to really harm the enemy again and again. Doubt slowly spread across their faces—it appeared as though Lucius was either not able to do what he said or intentionally delaying. An angry scowl grew on Garrick as he watched his leader narrowly avoid the massive tree limb being swung at him like a baseball bat. The Minotaur's attack barreled past, blowing Tiber's hair and clothes from the strong gust that followed.

Garrick continued trying to harass the monster with arrows, his frustration mounting. He was already exhausted from overusing his talent, so he was left with mundane attacks that were incapable of harming the beast. The feeling of helplessness only fueled his rage as he turned his ire on Lucius with a snarl.

"What the hell are you doing? You tried that attack ten times already—it's not working!"

Garrick's complaint fell on deaf ears, and his bearded face turned red as he watched Lucius continue using the same useless attack, completely ignoring him. Now Garrick was convinced they were being tricked. Maybe the kid was using the Minotaur to take revenge on them for what had happened earlier.

Meanwhile, Lucius continued stacking his Assassinate bonuses as the Minotaur chased Tiber and Roland around the area. He only stopped when he saw that the soldiers were beginning to become exhausted. If he did not finish things soon someone would end up dead.

"Tsk. That will have to be enough," Lucius whispered under his breath as he bent down and shot up off the ground toward the tree in front of him.

Swiftly leaping between limbs as he climbed, rising higher until he could see the top of the Minotaur's head as it chased the soldier's around below him. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the right moment to strike.

The beast seemed to decide that it needed to change tactics, walking over to a nearby tree in order to create a second weapon. Unfortunately, it chose the same tree Lucius was climbing. When the young man saw the monster lift its thickly muscled leg up to kick the trunk, his eyes opened wide in disbelief. When the hoof slammed into the trunk and the tree began to fall, Lucius was force to leap through the open air, grasping onto a nearby limb as he fell. The branch broke under the weight of his descent, releasing the sharp scent of fresh pine into the air around him. Luckily the broken limb had slowed him down enough that he was able to easily cling onto the branches below, narrowly avoiding an embarrassing plunge back to the ground.

Tiber darted behind the distracted creature as it focused on the tree, but when he attempted to land a blow on the monster's flank it's newly regrown tail lashed through the air, stopping him from getting any closer. The Minotaur soon finished crafting its weapon, turning back toward the soldiers as it wielded a massive staff in each hand. The beast used the two weapons to strike at the ground one at a time in an alternating rhythm, sending wave after wave of earth surging toward Tiber and Roland.

The increased density of the attacks, combined with the mounting exhaustion of the men, caused them to make mistakes. Roland missed his mark and was soon trapped in a wave of earth for a second time. This time however, the creature wasted no time exploiting the man's vulnerable state, charging toward him as it raised one weapon up high with a cruel smile. Roland pulled his body from the layers of earth, but not before the Minotaur arrived above him. The blood drained from the bald mans bronze face as he looked up at the beast's wicked grin. It was too late.

"No!"

Garrick shouted, reaching out his free hand desperately as he watched the horrifying reality unfold. As the Minotaur stood with one hand raised up high above Roland, seconds passed by silently. Roland looked up in confusion as the stiff muscles on the creature's arm slowly relaxed, and the heavy weapon tumbled harmlessly from it's fingers. Suddenly the figure of a young man could be seen on the shoulders of the beast, his two hands clenched tightly around the handle of a sword that was buried up to the hilt in the Minotaur's head.