The Minotaur roared again before taking another glance at the human invaders of its cave. After that it started to walk towards them.

Every step was accompanied by loud noises and the shaking of the cave.

Sam turned to his comrades " We might be able to reach the staircase without killing the boss. Let me face the Minotaur first, I have the strongest defense after all! I should be able to buy time for you to reach the exit."

Sam grabbed both of his shields and stepped forward. He was scared but as the only member specialized in defense he had to play the role of a tank.

' This thing is too fucking big! It might even kill me with one strike.' Sam felt cold sweat on his back and his hands shaking.

The boss monster arrived in front of him and instead of wasting time it immediately slashed at Sam, who hid behind his Roman shield while pressing his shoulder against it.

The strike connected and Sam lost his footing, therefore flying through the cave for ten meters.

Sam crashed on his back, holding his breath because of the intense pain. His shoulder felt numb and the Roman shield had already a long crack.

Sam stood up with difficulty and looked around to see if his comrades had already reached the exit.

To Sams surprise they were still at the same place. Jack and Nissa had each knocked an arrow, ready to shoot Drogan while Kain stepped next to Sam with the greatsword in his hands.

Kain looked at Sam and said " We won't let you be the bait. We fight together and we die together!"

Sam was thankful but didn't say a word and only nodded. He threw the damaged shield away and took one from the earlier killed lizarmen.

" Don't let yourself get hit Kain, or you might be killed instantly! The earlier impact nearly broke my bones despite defending with my shield!" Sam spoke and raised his shield to continue the fight.

" Try to attack it from behind while it focuses on me. Jack, you two shoot everything you have. Use all your available skills and aim for weakpoints like the eyes!" Sam shouted to the two archers.

They immediately started shooting and Kain sneaked around Drogan while Sam shouted at the Minotaur to draw its attention.

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Drogan swung the axe another time from overhead but Sam didn't try to defend anymore. He instead took two steps sideways and evaded the massive weapon.

Kain appeared and attacked the back of the monsters knees but he had to retreat when the Minotaur slapped at him with its free hand.

He was covered by the incoming arrows of their archers. Jack was swearing after repeatedly missing the eyes of Drogan, so he activated his skill and finally wounded one of the boss monsters eyes. Unfortunately the arrow wasn't able to penetrate the brain.

Drogan roared in pain and anger and changed its attention on Jack.

Sam had anticipated this and moved to block the path. Kain also used the distraction and appeared behind the Minotaur again. He used all of his power this time and wounded the back of one of its knees which resulted in the Minotaur kneeling down on one knee.

More arrows hit the monsters body, some without much effect, while others hit its face, wounding it quite a bit.

Kain approached again but was smacked aside this time. He was lucky that he had only been hit by the hand and not the axe.

He hit the cave wall and passed out on the ground.

Meanwhile Sam attacked the legs of the boss monster with his spiked shield. He stabbed the side of the already injured leg multiple times before he quickly evaded the battleaxe.

Sam and his group had successfully crippled the monster making it unable to stand up.

The archers had to stop their shooting a few minutes later. All of their arrows were either destroyed, or were stuck in Drogans body.

They couldn't retrieve them, so they ran over towards Kain to check on his condition.

Sam retreated and made some distance between himself and the Minotaur. He relaxed after seeing it being unable to follow. It somehow tried to crawl but without much success.

Sam looked at his comrades and the monster and thought.

' I won't be able to kill the boss with this spiked shield. Jack and Nissa are out of ammo and Kain is still unconscious. What to do? Simply leaving?

No! Now that the monster is nearly dead I have to kill it and level up!'

Sam looked around. His eyes stopped at the location they had placed their luggage.

He saw the two spears they had taken from the lizardmen. They were made of the same black material as the shields.

Sam went over to grab them. They were around 1,7m long and really light. He returned to the Minotaurs front and threw one spear at its head, precisely towards the uninjured eye.

The head of the axe appeared in front of the monsters face and blocked Sams spear.

Sam retrieved the bounced off spear and threw it again. Drogan repeated his action and lifted the axe to block. At this moment, Sam used his full power and threw the spear at the Minotaurs exposed chest. It hit perfectly, only his strength wasn't enough and the spear didn't reach the heart.

Minotaur Drogan roared again but Sam had already started to approach it. He picked up the fallen spear and threw it at the still roaring Drogan with full force.

The boss was still howling in pain, therefore didn't notice the incoming spear. It hit exactly where Sam had aimed. Drogans throat got pierced and after the shocked monster ripped out the spear, its blood started to pour out of the critical wound.

Drogan let go of the battleaxe and pressed both hands against the wound, however the blood couldn't be stopped.

The boss monster stopped moving shortly afterwards and a familiar red screen appeared in front of Sam.