Jordan stared back at the Minotaur, the burning corpse of the cleric emitting a… unique smell. He had a feeling this section boss wouldn’t be detectable through Nature’s Credit, the skill only detecting creatures 3 levels above him or lower. That being said, how could something this massive be so fast?

The monster towered over him, at least 12 feet tall, and was bulging with unnatural muscles covered in a thick layer of brown fur. Steam poured from its nose, and the burning body of the cleric exploded as its hands erupted in flames. Though this all intimidated Jordan, what had scared him the most was the beast's speed.

Jordan had been fighting with Harry not even a minute before, the cleric’s gauntlet soaring just past his head. In the moment he had dodged, Jordan had managed to pull off the right gauntlet from Harry’s wrist and violently shoved him as hard as he could. The distance between them gave Jordan the time to aim his bow again, but Harry recovered quickly and charged headfirst back into the battle. As he prepared another strike with his remaining gauntlet, he stopped moving.

He tried as hard as he could, but he couldn’t move.

Jordan smiled and jogged over to Harry as he tried to move to no avail. “What is happening, ranger?” He said in a surprisingly soothing, feminine voice. The sound of his voice surprised Jordan so much that he stumbled in the sand momentarily.

“Whoa… sorry that caught me off guard. I’ll give you the summary. I put a paralysis additive on you when I took off the first of these” Jordan said, as he ran up to Harry and took his remaining gauntlet. He pointed to his wrist and Harry looked down to see a yellow paste-like substance on his wrist. He scowled underneath his mask, feeling a small amount of movement return.

Jordan put both gauntlets on, forming fists and pounding them together. “This looks fun, it’s probably not for me in the long run but I love trying new things. Sorry, you have to be out of commission in the next 5 seconds, can’t have you moving. If you ever stop being a mean thief we should hang out, I don’t know any other elves, just birds” Jordan said, which he followed by throwing several consecutive punches. Harry fell to the ground, bruises immediately forming on his face.

As the cleric lay unconscious on the ground, Jordan began forming his plan to take out Joshua. Bryn had already used his last smokescreen, so Jordan knew he needed to try to take advantage of it and finish the gunslinger quickly.

The moment he finished that thought, he looked up to see the Minotaur tear the unconscious cleric in half like he was a piece of paper. No blood poured as the flames that engulfed the Minotaur's hands immediately cauterized any wounds. This creature was massive, but it was able to appear in front of him in a matter of seconds.

The battle with the other party had distracted both Bryn and Jordan, and the beast was fast enough to take advantage of their lack of awareness. In an instant, it dropped the cleric's body and dashed at Jordan.

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Too fast. Way too fast.

That was all Jordan could think as he attempted to sidestep away from the beast’s charge, but his reflexes failed him as its punch cracked into his shoulder. He felt it pop out of place, and the screaming pain on his skin indicated he had received a serious burn. As he fell to the ground, he immediately gathered himself and began his run to the other side of the room.

This was not plan A as far as Jordan and Bryn were concerned. The Minotaur was the boss of the section they were assigned and was not something they could kill easily. They had originally planned to clear out the rest of the dungeon and set up the battlefield to their advantage as they had done in previous missions.

As Jordan felt the searing pain in his shoulder and the image of the 2 halves of Harry played in his mind, he knew he had to be decisive.

He could feel the fiery eyes of the vicious creature staring at his back, and Jordan tried to narrow his focus on his immediate objective to distract himself from the pain. That strike had been excruciating, but it showed this section boss’ size was deceiving: its strength is speed not power.

Not that Jordan could deliver any strike nearly as powerful as the one he just received, but he could survive a couple more of those.

He heard the hooves of his pursuer behind him and braced for another painful hit when he heard a bang and the Minotaur letting out a demonic scream of pain. Jordan peered over his shoulder and saw Joshua firing at the beast, the blue den crackling around his boots increasing in volume around him. As he continued to take shots, the bullets began glowing with den as well. After the 3rd one hit its leg, the Minotaur turned to Joshua, steam exiting from its snout.

The monster dashed at the gunslinger, and with blinding speed crashed into the platform. After the cloud of sand settled, Jordan could see he had gotten lucky. Joshua lay pinned against the wall behind the treasure chest by the Minotaur horn. The creature had pierced his chest, and blood flowed from his mouth like a bursting dam.

As he stared at the beast with hatred, his metal arm raised the rifle to its chin and fired. A burst of ice exploded from the rifle, and the beast flung its head back in shock. It appeared to Jordan that Joshua used similar additives to him. The Minotaur tossed him to the ground with a flick of its neck and stood completely still. The lack of movement was early until a mountain of steam began pouring from the ice covering the Minotaur's head. After a few seconds, the creature was unfrozen and again turned its attention to Jordan. It looked to the corner of the room where it saw its target, standing with his bow aimed. It snorted confidently and took off toward its target with menacing swiftness.

Once the beast began its run, Jordan dumped his remaining den into the convergence circle he now stood over. “Thanks, Uncle Josh, I might not have had the time to get here if it wasn’t for you,” he said as he aimed the only arrow he owned that was painted black.

Bryn looked at Jordan with as much confidence as he could have in this situation. He knew the math worked out, that Minotaur would have to be at least as strong as the true vampire from their first quest to survive this. But seeing a creature with that terrifying of a presence was entirely different from reading numbers on paper.

Since they began working together, Jordan and Bryn had been at a disadvantage compared to traditional adventuring parties. They lacked firepower and had considerably more potion expenses just to allow Bryn to participate in the field. Due to these weaknesses, they made up for it the best they could. They budgeted well, took on jobs every day, and had nightly hour-long meetings where they discussed strategy and tactics. They had worked together so much they had developed an unspoken chemistry, which is why Bryn knew he didn’t need to tell Jordan what that circle did.

He had originally planned for Jordan to take out the cleric and come to the circle to finish Joshua, but this worked too. Jordan would just need to use his secret weapon to provide the extra firepower needed to finish a section boss.

As the den poured into the circle, green lighting crackled around Jordan. The black arrow he had nocked began to be surrounded by the electricity as well, and Jordan used his Relaxed Hand Skill to force his hand to steady despite his dislocated shoulder. The sand around him began to rise off the ground as the air itself hummed with the energy of the Long Range Convergence Circle, a design Bryn had picked specifically for him. Jordan smiled at his friend’s thoughtfulness and released the arrow at the inferno charging toward him.

The arrow flew through the air with a mixture of green and black lighting, exploding in a blinding vortex of den as it hit its target perfectly.