Vlad was slowly starting to believe that this system was out to get him. He could accept fighting Ethereal hunters and nearly dying to them. He could also accept being transported to the Underworld where he had to deal with skeletons and Ghosts that attempted to turn him into an undead monster like them. However, the situation he found himself in right now, he refused to acknowledge.

It’s one thing where the system told Vlad that he needed to deliver the silver bow to the King of the Underworld, that being Hades. It’s an entirely other situation altogether when the system forgot to mention that not only did he have to avoid the undead, but he also needed to face off against one of the most dangerous and notorious monsters in Greek Mythology!

It’s not like Vlad was up against some random dog or wolf monster. He was encountering one of the most infamous monsters from the Mythos. A creature that was so popular that it made appearances in comics, TV shows, and movies. And Vlad was currently standing before such a being. Even if he was in a simulation and he wasn't going up against the real Cerberus, just the thought of encountering such a beast like this would make anyone fear for their life.

The three heads of the Cerberus growled in unison; their tones low yet powerful. Vlad felt his entire body rumble along with the rest of the ground as if he were experiencing another earthquake. He couldn’t help but gawk at the three-headed monster, shocked at what he just witnessed. His entire body trembled from just its growl. Just what the hell was he supposed to do against this thing?

Vlad’s knees buckled, preventing him from moving. Whether it was because of fear or shock, he didn’t know nor cared at the moment. His current concerns relied on the Cerberus, and how he was supposed to take it down.

He raised his hand as it and the rest of his body trembled with fear. “E-easy now…” he said, though his tone was laced with begging. “Nice doggy…n-nice…Cerberus?”

In response to this, the Cerberus snarled, their six red eyes glimmering with anger. Vlad flinched in fear, clearly understanding the current situation he was put in.

Could he even be able to hurt this thing? Vlad’s hand trailed over to his dented chest plate, still feeling it pressing against his ribs, immediately reminded that his armor ended up like this after the Cerberus bumped into him.

“Yeah, this isn’t going to work…” He muttered, scanning his surroundings.

He then glanced over behind the monster, noticing the entrance to Hade’s palace. There was another set of metal gates, and there was nothing else guarding the entrance aside from Cerberus. That meant there was a chance. A small yet manageable chance to fulfill his mission without conflict. He remembered that his main goal wasn’t to fight monsters. It was to deliver the bow.

Vlad now had a new goal. A simple one. Get past the Cerberus, and then get through the gate. That shouldn’t be so difficult.

Vlad quickly adjusted himself, preparing to run for his life. Just then, the Cerberus did the same thing, lowering its body in a pouncing stance. Its giant paws dug into the ground as its six eyes glared in his direction. The moment his eyes locked on with theirs, his blood froze and fear gripped at his heart. Sweat profusely beaded down his face while his heart pounded like crazy, threatening to burst out of his chest at any moment.

It was now or never. With his enhanced body thanks to his Divine Hunter Blessing, he should be able to at least outrun the Cerberus for a little bit. Just long enough for him to reach the gate and get through it. As long as he got inside the castle, he was safe.

Vlad then made his first move, kicking off the dirt yard and sprinting around the Cerberus. The three-headed guard dog took action as well, charging at him at full speed. The monster was fast, as it easily closed the distance between them in mere seconds. Vlad’s eyes widened at the sight, before he ducked his head, immediately dodging one of their jaws snapping at him. He then rolled across the ground, doing his best to avoid getting eaten.

Just then, the Cerberus raised its paw. Vlad saw it cast a shadow over him before rapidly descending, the shadow getting bigger as it did. Putting all of his power into his legs, he hastily leaped forward as the paw smacked the ground, causing a minor shockwave that propelled Vlad forward before crashing into the dirt. Thanks to his armor, he managed to mitigate the damage he would’ve received if he didn’t have them.

With a light groan, he quickly pushed himself off the ground and rushed for the gate. At the same time, the Cerberus was on his tail, slowly gaining on him with each step it took, causing a minor quake in the process. The monster snarled aggressively, displaying its hostility toward Vlad. But, he didn’t pay attention and simply kept moving forward, ignoring the monster altogether.

“Just get to the gate. Come on!” He muttered, running with all his might. Looking ahead, Vlad could see his goal as he slowly got closer to it. His only salvation was so close in his grasp.

He soon made it to the front gate of the castle. His hands frantically grabbed onto the metal gate before attempting to push it open. He forced his palms on the gate before pushing with all his might, using his entire upper body to get the gate open. But instead of hearing the creepy yet sweet sound of the creaking metal, there was an abrupt metallic rattling as if something was stuck in place. That was when Vlad realized that the gate wasn’t budging.

“W-what…?! No! Why is this…?!” Vlad panicked questioning what was happening, only for another blue panel to appear before him. And what he read wasn’t very helpful.

[To open the gates, you must retrieve the key.]

“Huh?!” Vlad shouted confusion and shock plastered all over his face. “What do you mean I need a key?! What the hell is this crap?!”

The roar of the Cerberus quickly got Vlad’s attention as he whipped around, watching as the monstrous guard dog got closer to him. His back against the gate, he desperately tried to think of a plan to dodge the Cerberus, only for his instincts to take over momentarily as he planted his leg on the gate. He flexed them then leaped forward toward the Cerberus. However, instead of attacking, Vlad landed on the ground and slid under it.

Once he was behind it, Vlad attempted to leap back to put some more distance between them but was caught off guard as its tail suddenly whipped around and swatted him, sending him flying. He crashed and tumbled on the ground, kicking up dirt and scraping his body on rocks and whatever else that was littered there. He attempted to get back up but was too much in a daze to move properly. His whole world was swirling around as if he took a ride on some spinning rollercoaster. Vlad then looked up, for a moment, to see the Cerberus as it turned around to glare at him.

That was when he saw something. An interesting piece of metal dangling around the middle head of the Cerberus. With his heightened sight, Vlad zoomed in on the item, only to realize that it was a key. It was an old-timey key at that with a bit and bow. And the moment he saw the item, he immediately knew what the previous message panel meant. To open the gate, he had to get the key from Cerberus himself.

Vlad made a pained, yet disgruntled groan before pulling himself off the ground. “This fucking system…doesn’t make anything easy, does it?” He patted himself down and brushed off the dirt clinging to his body before turning his attention back to the Cerberus. More specifically, the key dangling around one of its necks.

For some reason, Vlad wasn’t all that surprised that he was forced to fight the three-headed beast. He figured that the system was responsible for this, knowing that he would attempt to run toward the entrance to the castles instead of having a death match with the hound of the Underworld. So, what does it do? It puts the key around the monster’s neck and tells him “You want to complete the mission? Then fight to the death!”

Vlad let out an exasperated groan. “This system is starting to get on my nerves right now.”

The three-headed hellhound positioned itself in another pouncing stance, prepared to lung at Vlad once more. He reacted in kind, gripping his spear while getting into a fighting position. Despite looking ready for battle, his hands were sweaty, making his grip on his weapon loosen a bit. Vlad took a few deep breaths while keeping his eyes trained on the Cerberus. He doubted that he could kill the monster, but what else could he do? It was obvious that the system wanted Vlad to fight this thing, so he was left with no other choice.

The Cerberus leaped at Vlad, rearing all three heads in his direction, determined to have one of them take a bite of the divine hunter. With his spear, Vlad rushed toward the monster, meeting it halfway in their assault. The middle head snapped its jaw at Vlad, making him jump to the side to avoid it. The left head, which he jumped in the direction of, quickly did the same, opening its maw to devour him. Vlad slid under the head while bringing his spear up, digging the spearhead into Cerberus’s body. The weapon barely pierced the monster’s body, to where not even half of the blade was plunged in. Before he could push his weapon any deeper, he looked over and saw its paw closing in on him.

He rolled away, watching the massive paw slam into the ground, making a small dirt crater in the process. Before he could relax, Cerberus slashed its other paw at him, determined to turn him into minced meat for dinner. Vlad leaped back to avoid it, but barely so as its claw cut through his chest armor and made direct contact with his body, tearing through a chunk of armor and flesh like it was butter.

“A-agh!” Vlad grunted in pain, rolling on the ground before laying on his back, wheezing, and groaning from his wound.

He reached down and touched his chest plate that got torn up before feeling some liquid seep out. Glancing at his hand, he saw a red liquid stained on it with the rich smell of iron assaulting his nostrils. Despite the pain in his abdomen, Vlad felt more enraged than anything.

Stolen novel; please report.

“You…mother-fucker!” He roared, his eyes now glaring at the Cerberus. He felt more obligated to kill the Cerberus now after what just happened.

The Cerberus growled and charged at him again. Vlad was prepared this time, readying his spear. Instead of jumping away from the monster, he had a different plan this time. The Cerberus got to Vlad and raised both paws, standing on its hind legs, and smashed them to the ground. He lunged forward, leaping over the double paw combo. Landing on its legs, he rushed up one of the limbs, closing in on the three heads of the Cerberus. With his spear, Vlad then slashed at the Cerberus’s middle head, hitting its snout and eyes. As the beast howled in pain and rage, he landed on their back, allowing him to go all out in his attacks.

Vlad raised his spear and continuously slashed at the Cerberus’s body, cutting all over it as much as he could. Although his blade barely managed to cut through the skin, slashing it multiple times allowed him to cause some more damage than usual. The monster quickly noticed that he was on their back and started shaking its body as if it just got out of a bath. Vlad was getting rocked back and forth, quickly losing his balance, and fell off. While rapidly descending to the ground, he saw Cerberus raise one of its paws once more over his body as it was also rapidly plunging toward him.

Vlad couldn’t move out of the way in the air, and he wasn’t going to have enough time to avoid it before getting turned into a pancake. But, that didn’t mean that he didn’t have a plan. With his spear, Vlad pointed it at the paw of the Cerberus. And without doing anything else, he let fate decide. The moment his back collided with the ground the paw was crashing down upon him. As it did, its foot pressed against Vlad, nearly crushing him before the guard dog pulled back while howling in pain.

On his spear, thick red blood trailed down, coating his weapon and hands while dripping down on his face. Despite the dog’s blood painted on him, Vlad couldn’t help but sigh with relief…but it only lasted for a few moments before something bad happened.

“Aagh!!” He roared in pain, feeling a burning sensation from something piercing his leg. Turning his head toward the source, Vlad’s face went pale when he saw the right head of the Cerberus biting down on his leg.

Due to how massive Cerberus’s heads were, his leg was no different than a frail stick, in terms of both size and durability compared to the jaws of the monster. The right head dug deeper into Vlad’s leg, making him let out an agonizing groan. He could feel the monster gnawing directly at his bone, easily piercing flesh and muscle to get there. It wouldn’t be long before the Cerberus closed its mouth a little harder and snapped his leg in half like a chicken bone.

“Y-you…bastard!” Vlad snarled, aggressively raising his spear and driving it into the hellhound’s eye. “Get the hell off me, dammit!”

The right head of Cerberus reeled back in pain, but not without pulling Vlad with it. He felt his muscles getting stretched to their limits, practically tearing at the seams. Even when he screamed in pain, the Cerberus didn’t let go until it flung him up in the air. Blood sprayed out of his leg and rained down along with Vlad. He flailed his arms around, attempting to move away from the monster, but it was futile as he descended into the jaws of death.

Instead of getting eaten whole like Vlad feared, he experienced something worse. As soon as Cerberus’s middle head snapped its jaw, it fiercely bit into his shoulder, completely piercing through it like it was nothing. A searing pain shot across his entire shoulder and arm while he wailed out loud. He was in so much agony that he felt like passing out. His eyes rolled back while the Cerberus continued to gnaw on his shoulder blade, thrashing him around like a chew toy. This was the most horrific and painful thing he’d ever experienced before in his life.

Although Vlad didn’t look like it, he has been through some painful experiences. If he wasn’t fading in and out of consciousness, he could’ve counted at least five times he suffered immensely from his intense training from Chloe’s father. The amount of hell he endured while under his teachings gave him nightmares to this day. And yet, at this very moment, he was now in the most pain he’d ever been since his birth.

The other two Cerberus heads tried to get their turn to chew on Vlad’s body, but before they could, the middle one tossed him away, making him tumble on the ground like a ragdoll as he went limp. Vlad laid on the ground, his whole body twitching in pain and blood profusely leaking out of his body. While lying there, his mind raced, attempting to come up with a plan to get out of this mess. But how could he? His body was a mangled mess and he was both externally and internally bleeding. He doubted he could last several more minutes or even seconds before dying from blood loss if the Cerberus didn’t kill him first.

Vlad looked over at his wounded shoulder and arm, noticing the massive hole as blood copiously seeped out the wound. The entire chest piece that protected his shoulder was wrecked, standing no chance against the jaws of a mythical creature like Cerberus.

There was barely enough flesh on his limb keeping it attached to the rest of his body. It was practically on only a few strands of meat if that much. He was afraid to move his arm, fearing that straining his muscles anymore would rip them apart, completely severing his arm in the process. Despite the pain he felt in his shoulder joint, he couldn’t feel the rest of his arm. It seemed that the Cerberus managed to sever enough of his nerves to keep his pain receptors from transferring to the rest of his limb.

“F-fuck…” Vlad wheezed before coughing up some blood.

Judging from how shallow his breathing was along with severe pain in his chest, he might also have a collapsed lung. After getting hit in the chest and also chewed out by Cerberus, this was an expected result. If anything, Vlad was lucky that it was only this bad since it could’ve been a lot worse if that mutt decided to position his teeth closer to his chest.

Still…Vlad couldn’t help but feel slighted.

In his painful haze, something started to swell within him. A blazing force that slowly built up as Vlad questioned the unfairness of this entire situation. Why was he going to die like this? Why was he thrust into such a situation as his whole world was coming to an end? Was he not meant to win this? Was he destined to fail and die a horrible death? Just what the hell kind of path was he forced into?!

While lying on the ground, a fuse finally broke within Vlad as primal rage and bloodlust overwhelmed his mind. Amid such rage boiling within him, he felt the warm energy from before pulse violently, surging through his entire body, filling it with more raw power than ever before. Vlad’s body tensed and twitched as he clenched his hand into a fist, causing his mangled shoulder to throb in pain. But he didn’t care. Between the warm energy pulsing throughout his body and the deep seething rage he felt along with the adrenaline pumping through his body, the pain was practically nothing.

At that moment, something within Vlad snapped and his mind was filled with only one purpose; To kill his enemy. Driven by this one pure instinct, Vlad took action. He forcibly willed his body to move, shifting himself to his side before pushing himself off the ground. Even when his entire body was laced with pain, he swallowed it down and ignored it, making himself move through sheer force of will.

As he groggily stood up, Vlad glared in the direction of the Cerberus, his eyes seeing completely red. “Hey, you fucking mutt,” He viciously snarled at the monster, picking his spear up while pointing at it. “We’re not fucking finished yet! You hear me?!”

The Cerberus turned and glared in Vlad’s direction, growling at him while revealing their sharp and menacing teeth. The monster then howled and charged at him. Vlad roared in response, taking a single leap forward, and lunged at his opponent, his mind devoid of all things except the urge to brutally slay the monster before him. Blood trailed behind him from his wounds, almost forming a crimson cape fluttering on his back as he charged toward his opponent like a soldier on a battlefield.

The hellhound made the first move, driving its middle head toward Vlad to chomp down on him. Vlad quickly pulled his spear back and thrust it inside its mouth, piercing the roof. Just as the middle head closed its mouth to eat him, the spear got in the way, keeping it open while also digging the spearhead deeper into the roof. The middle Cerberus howled in pain, shaking its head to try and get the weapon out of its mouth while blood sprayed all over the place.

Vlad ignored the middle head and jumped out of its mouth, leaping toward its next victim, the left head. He pulled his fist back and gave the left Cerberus a vicious right hook to the face, using all his strength and knocking its head to the side, giving it a bad case of whiplash in the process. He wasn’t done, as he quickly latched onto the creature and climbed on top of its skull. With both of his hands fully clenched, Vlad wailed on the left head of Cerberus, pounding down on its skull like it was a drum. With each punch, he could hear its cranium slowly crack as the left head growled and groaned.

Just as he was about to slam his fist into its head again, the right head showed up before opening its jaw to eat Vlad. It managed to get him in its mouth, but before it could chomp down and chew him to pieces, he pushed its jaw open, keeping it from closing. He planted his feet on its tongue, slightly sinking into it while holding up the roof of its mouth. Vlad’s muscles strained, a wave of pain coursing from his shoulder. His left arm that bore the injury was shaking under the pressure and pain, close to giving out if this prolonged any further.

But that didn’t stop Vlad. If anything, the pain in his shoulder reminded him of what this mutt did to him. And that only pissed him off even more. He repositioned himself and moved closer to its teeth, latching onto its two canines. Vlad gripped them both tightly before pulling them with all his might. A loud creaking sound as if the bone was being bent to its limit could be heard as the two fangs were slowly being pulled from the Cerberus’s gums.

“Die, fucker!” Vlad yelled, pulling both canines from its mouth, a loud snap reverberating throughout the yard as blood spurted out the cavities.

The right head reeled back, roaring from the pain. Vlad used that opportunity to jump out its mouth while keeping the two large fangs in his hands. They were practically half his size and just as thick. Vlad soon landed back on the middle head of the Cerberus, an insidious plan forming in his mind.

He raised both canines in the air and slammed them down on its skull. The middle Cerberus bellowed, shaking its head. But the worst has yet to come. With both fangs lodged into its skull, Vlad leaped in the air. Once he was close to landing, he poured a lot of power into his landing and stomped both of his feet on one of the incisors. The impact caused it to dig deeper into the monster’s head, as blood spurted out from the wound.

All three Cerberus heads roared, stumbling on the ground. Vlad wasn’t sure why, but it seemed as if he had done enough damage to one of the heads, that the other two would feel it. He mentally took note of that before setting his sights on the last fang. Putting more power into his legs, Vlad once again jumped in the air, this time several feet higher than last time. And as he descended, instead of stomping, he clasped his hands together and brought them down on the incisor. Thanks to his enhanced strength, he believed he had more than enough power to drive the fang into its skull.

And he did. The moment he made contact with the tooth, his attack propelled it down like a bullet, drilling through its head and shot out from the bottom of its jaw, crashing several inches into the ground. Vlad witnessed a massive hole that went all the way down to the bottom, allowing him to see the dirt yard through it.

As for the Cerberus, its entire body wobbled around, stumbling as if it lost balance. Aside from the middle head, the other two weren’t making any noise. Not even a whimper. Suddenly, the entire body collapsed on the ground, kicking up a dust cloud. All three heads slumped down like dolls with their strings cut off. Vlad waited for a few moments, curious as to what had just happened. Only to conclude that the Cerberus was finally dead.

[Cerberus has been defeated! Error! Due to Player being in a Trial, no EXP can be obtained!]

He breathed heavily while staring down at the monster, his hands shaking all the while. He then clenched tightly before letting out a roar from the bottom of his soul, howling at the sky like an animal, his primal urge to win and kill his enemy finally satisfied. A roar so loud that the entire realm of the Underworld could hear him, and tremble at the sound.

It was at this moment that Vlad, for the first time, had tasted true victory against all odds.