Chapter 32 – Fighting The Minotaur

One of the two beasts was a huge minotaur measuring at least 4 meters, holding an axe in his right hand. His left arm had been ripped off, but the blood had stopped flowing from his wound. The other was a tiger of 3 meters surrounded by darkness, limping slightly with one of his shoulders bleeding.

Kieran turned his gaze to Anna, inspecting her wounds.

'She's fighting those two at the same time? There's no other Bronze rank to help her?'

"Can I help you with them?"

"You're just an Iron rank. You can't do anything against them."

Anna watched the movements of the two beasts. They walked slowly toward her as if they wanted to play with her.

Kieran observed the two beasts approaching, the minotaur seemed to be the weaker of the two, and with all these injuries, he thought he could hold it back even with the little crystal essence he had left.

"You won't be able to take care of these two simultaneously. Are any other Bronze rank cultivators coming to help you?"

"..."

He watched her expressions, but nothing appeared on her face, as if nothing could reach her.

"You badly injured that minotaur. Even if I can't kill it, I can at least hold it while you take care of that tiger."

Looking at him, Anna replied in a cold voice. "Do what you want."

A smile appeared on his face before he took his lycan form.

Anna raised her hand, and spears of ice appeared around her. Her gaze focused on the tiger. She lowered her hand, sending one spear of ice after another.

At the same time that Anna lowered her hand, a black blur passed next to her. Without any fear, Kieran threw himself on the minotaur.

A shadow was cast over him as he reached him, raising his head, a giant axe descending on him.

Turning his body to the side, he dodged the axe before throwing his arm forward. His sharp claws pierced the shoulder of the minotaur, only to leave a small wound on it.

'This guy's body is even tougher than the stone golem.'

The minotaur swung again at him without giving him any time to think.

Undoing his giant transformation, he quickly rolled under the axe before stepping away from the minotaur. Just this simple exchange had shown him the difference in physique between him and the minotaur. Although the minotaur was injured all over his body and even lost an arm, he would have a hard time inflicting a fatal injury to him with what was left of his crystal essence.

Seeing Kieran walk away, the minotaur glared in his direction before running wildly at him.

While Kieran occupied the minotaur, Anna threw spear after spear toward the tiger, trying to lure it as far away from the minotaur as possible.

The tiger dashed, hiding in the shadows before attacking her by surprise.

A claw shrouded in shadow fell on her.

Spears of ice erupted from the ground crossing in front of her to protect her, circulating the crystal essence through her ability. She created a more powerful spear that pierced the tiger's ribs.

*roars*

The tiger roared in pain, the spear had pierced it from side to side, blood flowing from his wounds.

A black crystal essence emanated from the tiger before it faded into the shadows.

Anna scanned all around her with her crystal essence but couldn't detect the slightest trace of the tiger.

Shadows suddenly rose all around her, the tiger emerging from one of them, scratching her arm before hiding again in a shadow.

The tiger's shadow flashed around her, leaving mark after mark all over her body, a puddle of blood forming under her feet.

The tiger watched her from the shadows, breathing heavily, with her body looking weak and about to collapse. His gaze sharpened as Anna's knees began to give out. He rushed at her.

A pair of shadow-filled claws plunged straight for her throat.

Spears of ice appeared below the tiger piercing it and blocking it in place. Anna got up at this moment, not seeming injured.

*roars*

The tiger struggled to free itself from these spears of ice without any success.

Anna raised her hand slightly, a spear appeared beside her.

Lowering her hand, the spear pierced the tiger through the head, its eyes slowly dimmed as no more signs of life came from it.

'I used too much crystal essence to kill it, I have to finish the minotaur quickly before recovering.'

She quickly ran back to the minotaur when her footsteps stopped. The sight in front of her left her in shock.

***

A little earlier.

Kieran was still fighting with the minotaur, dodging and turning around him to attack with his claws, leaving only superficial wounds on his tough skin.

The minotaur was swinging his axe in all directions, trying to touch Kieran, who moved too fast for him. His axe could not reach him, hitting only air.

The minotaur suddenly stopped in his step, its head turned towards the injured area, which was still being evacuated.

He began to advance in the direction of the injured, no longer paying attention to Kieran.

"Wait!"

Kieran was lost. He didn't expect the minotaur to change targets like that.

He jumped towards it, slicing its neck but leaving only a small wound. The minotaur did not stop for a second and continued on its way.

He kept attacking the minotaur relentlessly, but it didn't even glance at him.

Kieran felt anxious as the minotaur moved closer to them every second that passed.

He thought about all he could do, he didn't have enough crystal essence left to use Crystal Essence Claw, but nothing else came to his mind when he remembered what Darvell had told him about using his abilities differently.

'Giant's transformation greatly increases my strength. If I can concentrate the ability on a single part of my body and use all the crystal essence I have left, I might hurt it badly.'

As Kieran was thinking about how to use his ability to harm it, the minotaur suddenly turned and swung its axe at him.

Kieran canceled the giant transformation to dodge the axe coming at him. The minotaur kicked forward as the axe passed over his head, colliding with Kieran's chest.

"Argh!"

His body was pushed 10 meters back, feeling immense pain as he tried to get up. He had trouble breathing, a coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, and blood started to flow along his lips.

*footstep*

The minotaur advanced slowly, his eyes seething with contempt as he closed in on Kieran.

Gasping for air, Kieran's body throbbed with pain, and he coughed up blood, desperately trying to regain his breath. Every movement was a struggle as he fought to rise, but the relentless footsteps of the minotaur thundered in his mind, urging him to move.

"Move! Move!" Kieran screamed in his mind, willing his body to respond. The minotaur loomed over him, casting a chilling shadow, and Kieran could feel his heart pounding in his chest. The minotaur raised his axe high above his head, ready to deliver a devastating blow.

'Move, move, move, move!!!'

His eyes sharpened, he quickly raised his body before extending his left arm towards the axe, he activated his giant transformation ability on his left arm.

His body became unbalanced, his lycan form was reduced to 2 meters in height, and his left arm had grown as tall as the entire rest of his body. Every muscle composing him was exacerbating under the effect of his ability.

The axe made contact with his arm penetrating deeply until it stopped short of reaching his shoulder.

Quickly undoing the giant transformation, the axe fell to the ground, Kieran sent his crystal essence through his legs before leaping towards the minotaur.

Using the giant transformation on his right arm, he tensed every muscle in his arm, transmitting all the crystal essence he could find in his spiritual world inside his claws, he swung its arm towards the minotaur's throat. All his crystal essence was used in this single attack.

The air hissed as his claws sliced through the air until he felt a slight resistance, then nothing, his body fell behind the minotaur, and just after him, something fell to his side before he lost consciousness.

A golden light shone in his right eye, disappearing slowly.

*footstep*

Footsteps approached him before stopping.

Anna stood in front of him, staring at him in shock.

Kieran's left arm was cut in half, and his sternum looked sunken.

Next to him was the body of the decapitated minotaur, its head had rolled a little further, and a huge claw mark was at the level of its neck.

Anna couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"He looks like he's just 18, and he's not even at the peak stage of the Iron rank, yet he managed to kill a Bronze rank beast... A middle stage Iron rank was able to kill a Bronze rank beast..."

Anna lowered herself to Kieran's side, with a cold glow in her eyes, as a layer of ice covered her hand.

"Miss Anna! Do you need any help?"

Several members of the Whisper of Life ran towards her.

"That won't be necessary," she said, enclosing Kieran's arm in ice to prevent him from bleeding out before carrying him to the injured area for treatment.

***

In another part of the battlefield, Alexei stares at the corpse of the Horned Flame Bear, which had a huge gaping hole in the middle of its chest.

He breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. To get rid of this Horned Flame Bear, he had to use most of his crystal essence to create a water dagger composed of ten others.

He quickly called a scout from his aurora collar.

"How is the situation?"

"Two Bronze ranks managed to cross the front lines until they reached the injured area."

"What?! Why didn't you tell me before?!"

"Officer Anna took care of the two bronze ranks, the situation is settled."

'Anna, did?'

"How about the others?"

"Two Bronze rank beasts run away before we can finish them. All the other bronze ranks have died under the hands of the other guilds. Within an hour, the horde of crystal beasts should be finished."

"Fine, I'll help the front lines. Call me if there's a problem."

"Yes, sir!"