{Hrrooonnhhrrooonnh!!!}

[Krrrrrrrrack] [Krrrrrrrrack]

{Hrrooon!!}

[Baroom!!]

“Its broken through!!”

“Hold the line! We have to buy enough time for the woman and children to escape!”

The man’s booming, commanding voice barely managed to prevent everything from devolving into chaos. These men were old farmers and amateur hunters, not soldiers and seeing the minotaur’s fist poking through the gate was a horrifying sight. While a handful of men ready to lie down their lives, the majority of them were moments away from fleeing with their tails between their legs. After several sleepless nights spent awaiting their own demise, it wouldn’t take much to set these men off.

And who could blame them?

For the last four days, a minotaur has terrorized their small village, tearing through their field as it slowly chipped away at their gate. At any other time of the year, they would’ve packed up left when they realized they couldn’t slay the minotaur. However, the crop was still two weeks away from being ready, and the village lacked the supplies necessary for them to reach Grerton.

At least, their supplies wouldn’t last if they attempted to take the entire village with them. There was a reason those younger than their third decade were going along with those that were fleeing the village.

As these men readied their makeshift polearms and bows as they watched the beast’s massive arms rip through the remains of the southern gate. A strange sense of calmness overcame the man when the reality of the situation set in. They found solace in the fact that they, at the very least, their deaths would spare their families from a slow and painful death.

“Holdfast! To the last man!”

{Hrrooonnhhrrooonnh!!!}

[Baaroomm!!]

The gates were tossed aside like rags, and the moment they’d dreaded finally arrived. The monster had finally broken through.

There was silence. No one moved a muscle as the minotaur stomped its way into the village. Its muscular arms were twice as thick as a man’s leg, and its hooves left deep imprints into the ground. Despite most of the injuries being scarred over, fresh blood dripped down the monster’s left shoulder. Though small, those droplets offered the men hope, they might be able to kil⎯

{Grooorrrnoon Hroroonn!}

However, those hopes were immediately dashed when minotaur attacked one of the houses in a fit of rage. Each of the monster’s punches placed a new hole in the structure. When it came upon the support beam, the minotaur snapped the support like a twig, bringing the whole house down with a tremendous crash.

“”Gyauun””

“I don’t want to die!!”

“Save me!!”

“Shut up, you’re gonna draw its attention.”

{Hroroon!!}

All of the panicked shoutings finally clued the minotaur into the men's existence. There was no chance for an order or warning to be given, not that they would’ve done any good anyway. In the span of a single monster, lowered its posture and charged the men with its massive horns.

Some grasped their weapons with trembling hands, while others closed their eyes and awaited the inevitable.

However, a moment passed.

Then another.

Then another.

“GrooHrorn!!”

“What in the world?”

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The men were left awestruck at the spectacle before them. In-between them and minotaur stood a single helmeted man, his eyes wholly concealed by a discolored visor attached to the helmet.. engulfed in a golden aura. Somehow the man had managed to grab hold of the minotaur’s horns and stop its charge.

The stranger turned his head toward the men and uttered a single statement with a playful smile on his lips.

“Unless you want to die, get out of the way.”

The men wasted no time in their compliance.

◆◇◆◇◆◆◇◆◇◆

My boots dug into the ground as monster tried to break free. Honestly, my hold on its horns wasn’t the best they could’ve been, but this was way different from any terrae alces.

Aiyana had been chewing my head off ever since the monster broke through the gate.

Once the men were at a safe distance, I released my hold and rolled to the left. I heard a loud crash as I leaped to my feet and reached for a sword that wasn’t there. It must’ve fallen at some point.

{Hrooroon!!}

Unfortunately, the beast managed to pull itself from the wreckage of the house it’d crashed into before I could find the missing sword.

“This complicates things, but… Come and get me” I taunted the strange monster as I positioned myself in front of the destroyed gate.

{Hrrongorn!!}

The beast charged me with reckless abandon.

“At least it’s not the horns this time.” I lowered my stance, brought my left hand and leg forward, and waited for the hit to come. The village and the fleeing men were all placed in the back of my mind focused on the task at hand.

{Horrongon!!}

The monster opened with a straight right punch when it got within striking range. A

Straight punch. It wasn’t a faint, or a false opening. It wasn’t a set up for another attack or anything. Aiyana would never use an attack so easy to read.

I waited until the fist was right in front of my face before I leaned my upper body to the left. When the beast’s forearm pass where my head used to be, my right arm shot out and coiled around its extended arm as I pulled back my left hand.

Let’s see what one could do.

Before the monster could react to the situation, I smashed my fist into his box-like snout. A sharp rush of pain shut up my arm as the sound of my pointer finger breaking was overshadowed by the thud my punch created on contact.

The golden light flared up as I released my hold on the beast’s arm and took two leaps back. I could taste the blood in my mouth, but it was a small price to pay for silencing pained shout. My opponent was bleeding profusely from its nose and unsteadily rocked on his feet. He was dazed but not out of the fight.

A finger was enough to stagger the beast, it was a testament to the monster’s durability, as fragments flew off boulders at this level.

“Hmm, those months punching rocks is paying off.”

Based on these results three or four should be more than enough to finish this guy off, but we need to drag this out a bit more.

““Aggghhh!!””

Shouts drew my attention towards the house in the rear of the village. A few of the men from before managed to gather up enough courage to attack the staggered monster. That wouldn’t have been a bad thing a few moments ago, but they failed to notice that their target had regained his footing.

I suppose a few of them dying would keep the rest of them out of the way. The leaders of the doomed charge realized their mistake and tried to retreat when the monster righted itself, but it was too late. As men stumbled over each other, the beast let its fist fly.

“Geisai!! Tnerruc ruoy tsniaga gniog yllof eht seimene enim wohs. Revir ythgim a fo ecrof eth htiw ekirts dna lliw ym hguoht rehtag, retaw fo stirips.”

Without turning around, I caught the item that had been thrown at me as a gush of water flew by my head. I didn’t even wait for Aiyana’s spell to hit it’s target before I started running. The sword left its sheath just as the men were swept away by the current.

{Groonhh!!}

I stabbed the blade deep into the monster guts and hit the dirt to avoided the revenge hit. After enjoying the taste of the dirt for a moment, I rolled away before the incoming hoof could stomp on my head.

Leaping to my feet, I saw that Aiyana was already on the attack. At some point, she’d managed to stick three of her daggers into the monster’s chest. She was already in the middle of another chant even while she dodged the monster’s ineffective flailing.

Before the monster could bring its left fist down on Aiyana’s head, I stepped inside the monster’s reach and knocked its arm aside with a forearm strike.

{Groooooooogh!}

I felt something in my arm snap, but the golden aura immediately eased the pain. The monster wasn’t as lucky. The strike bent it’s arm the wrong way, and now it simply hung off the end of the monster's elbow. Not willing to waste the opening, Aiyana finished her chant and sent two narrow streams of water into the monster’s eyes.

{HARRRROOOOOOOOOGHH!!} The monster arced its head towards the sky as it bellowed.

“Up, together.”

At her command, I grabbed her by her dagger belt and tossed her into the air. While she was up there, I grabbed hold of the sword embedded in its gut and guided it through to the other side.

Aiyana landed in a crouch as the monster’s body hit the ground. Blood and viscera escaped the new smiles we gave the beast on its neck and stomach.

Even if it were still alive, it would wish it was dead.

“You were supposed to wait until I lead the monster out of the village.” I made sure that she was the only one that could hear me, but Aiyana didn’t reply.

When I looked at her, she stared back at me with cold eyes.

Was something wrong? Though she was a little pale under her hood, she didn’t seem hurt, and my golden aura had already passed.

She walked up to me and readjusted my helmet without a word. After a quick pat down, she turned on her heel and started walking toward the drenched men she’d saved.

“Aiyana…?”

Aiyana stopped for a moment and looked back at me.

“Never again.” She said nothing else and resumed her purposeful walk towards the men.

I was left standing in the pool of blood that had gathered at my feet.