Chapter 39: Minotaur VS Hobgoblin
The savage hobgoblin came crashing through the locked gate.
Breaking the lock and the chains that had been maintaining the gate locked for the hour that the trio spent in the pumpkin patch. The hobgoblin roared as he stepped inside the patch. His putrid smell filled the room and poisoned the persons who were inside of it.
"He found us," April said as she readied herself in a fighting stance. Not carrying any weapon at the moment. Strictly hoping to use her fists to defend herself against the towering and powerful foe.
"We have to protect Junk while he is still developing his cultivation path with the pumpkin entity," September explained.
"We? You want 'us' to protect Junk? How are 'we' supposed to do that? I don't know if you correctly remember, but I got my ass handed to me earlier by him as he made me his bitch. Which I didn't exactly dislike… Even though he isn't as handsome as someone such as Junk… The point is, he defeated me earlier. Easily. Aren't you the one who hunted and imprisoned him in the first place, Sep?" she asked.
"I did. A long time ago," she replied to the elvish girl.
"Then, why don't you do it all by yourself. You are a strong-ass witch. You can take him down," April encouraged her. She was right in a lot of ways. September was supposed to be a talented and powerful witch. Meanwhile, April hadn't been able to do much against the hobgoblin during their first battle. If she ended up on her own, history would most likely repeat itself, and she would be defeated. It was not as if September was of much support earlier.
"As a matter of fact, I can…" she said, smiling and nodding. She readied in a fighting stance as well. She wasn't anywhere as worried as April was, but she still decided to point the tip of her leaf scepter in the direction of the towering and muscular creature in defense. The hobgoblin couldn't be taken lightly at all.
"Well, go right ahead. I'll watch you perform all your fancy tricks and spells as you take him down without any effort. And don't bail on me this time. Understood?" She was deeply worried about this.
"It's not as simple," September corrected her.
"How is that not simple? What do you mean?" she asked her.
"Even though this creature is pretty strong, he's still a low-rank hobgoblin. If I use any of my spells on him, he is probably going to suffer too much and die, right here on the spot," the Autumn witch explained to her Spring friend.
"How is that an issue? Kill him. Kill the hobgoblin," she said.
"We don't want to do that. As I already told you, he is a low-rank hobgoblin. He is still relatively pretty young. I was sort of hoping to train him a bit and to make him grow. That was why I was keeping him as my prisoner. Well… As one of my 'loyal' subjects here at the crypt," September went on to explain to her.
"Are you kidding me? Kill this one, and we can hunt you for a new one at some point. Why are you always like this?" she asked.
"Always like what?" September was too serious and cold to understand what the green-haired elvish girl meant. To her, keeping this young and growing hobgoblin, full of potential, was a bit more important than keeping herself, her partner, and Junk safe.
"Fine. If you are not going to do anything about it. I'll do it!"
"You'll do what exactly?" September asked her, frowning.
"I'll take care of this hobgoblin myself and defeat him. Don't worry! I'll do my best not to kill him, but I can't promise anything. Actually, the worst that I can probably do to him is to tickle him based on our previous encounter," April said as she stepped forward. The towering monster had been staring at both of the two beautiful women ever since he entered the pumpkin patch. He stayed at the entrance of the room for the longest time. Observing them. Blocking the exit. His focus was fully switched to April after she stepped forward and ultimately decided that she was the only one who could do this. If September wasn't going to do anything for fear of losing her precious little hobgoblin, she was going to do something about it and hold the fort. April was indeed going to protect Junk. No matter what. She only had her fists at the moment, which meant that she was probably going to die. Especially with September (who was supposed to be her friend) apparently losing her mind and becoming colder and colder. September didn't seem to care too much if anyone lived, save for the hobgoblin. It was better for April to forget about her. At the very least for now, as she wasn't doing much.
"April. What do you think you are doing?" she asked her.
"What do you think it looks like to you?" she replied.
"You… Ready… For… Round… Number… Two…?" the hobgoblin grinned at the elvish girl as he was towering over her. She slowly stepped closer toward him. He didn't move a single muscle.
"You bet," she was sweating like hell. She didn't know what she was doing. She began feeling that this was like the worst idea ever.
"I… Won't… Be… As… Soft… With… You… This… Time…"
"You are going to be even harder? How is that possible?" April feared the worst.
She was terrified.
However, this time, before she knew it, the hobgoblin suddenly moved and charged at her. He threw a punch at her. Meaning to savagely knock her out with one deadly blow.
"April! Careful! Look out!" September tried intervening, but it was too late, the punch had already been thrown at her. She was going to get hit any second now. It was too late for her.
Except it wasn't...
The Minotaur rapidly surged behind April and successfully blocked the punch of the hobgoblin that had just been thrown at his precious elvish girl.
Boom!
It felt like a rumble of thunder had boomed into the room. Bones collided against bones. The hobgoblin didn't believe what he was seeing. He was left speechless with his mouth wide open. His eyes were veiny and bloody following the intense shock. One instant, the Minotaur was unconscious and useless, the other, he was back on his feet, ready for action, casting a huge and vast shadow over the body of April, protecting her. The showdown between the two monsters had begun. No ladies were going to be hurt today. Not on Junk's watch. April finally re-opened her eyes. She looked up and realized that she was still alive. She felt the presence of the beast looming over her. His shadow being cast all around her. She was surrounded by the Minotaur. He was on top of her, and she witnessed everything unfold before her eyes in marveling slow-motion. The scene which evolved all around her was something she had never thought she would ever see, let alone be a part of it. For a short moment, she thought that either one or both of the two monsters would physically be entering in contact with her. Hurting her in the process. But nothing like this ever happened. Junk was here to make sure none of this ever happened to her, and so he could make this situation much, much better.
However, even though she had been rescued from this terrible blow from the hobgoblin that would have been absolutely fatal to her, she wasn't completely out of the woods just yet. The battle between the two colossal beasts had only just begun, and she had to get the hell out of the way if she desired to remain alive. And sadly for her, Junk couldn't fight the hobgoblin and keep her safe forever at the same. She had to move out of the way. Fortunately for her, the former Witch Queen, September, was here for her. Standing not too far from the area where the showdown between the two monsters occurred where the two of them broke the bones in their fists during the horrible collision, she perfectly knew it was her moment to strike and play her card. September moved her leaf scepter in the air and prepared herself to cast a new spell. She quickly pointed the tip of her scepter in the direction of her green-haired partner, and a red beam of magical energy suddenly came out of her mystical item. The beam swiftly reached April and spun around her, taking her into some kind of magical whip. Then, when the beam was correctly wrapped around her, September pulled on her and brought her back to her. April didn't understand what was happening to her as she was suddenly pulled out of this dangerous situation. One moment, she was at the heart of the battle. On the brink of getting violently murdered by the hobgoblin. The other, she was safe, wrapped in the arms of September. Slightly more away from the battle. However, this didn't mean that any of what was happening between the hobgoblin and the Minotaur was done for that matter.
Far from it. The battle continued. Junk took a serious advantage at first as he punched the face of the other monster a dozen times. Attempting to capitalize on the fact that he was a bit less tired than the monster was. The hobgoblin had been a prisoner here for quite some time now. He had been roaming the crypt ever since he escaped. Junk had just rested a lot through the pumpkin cultivation process he had been part of in this patch. But even then, this added wisdom he had been a part of wasn't enough to defeat the hobgoblin with the dozens of punches he had made him suffer through.
The next moment, the hobgoblin struck back by kicking Junk right in the groin. His armor sadly didn't protect him quite enough. The kick was too powerful and sent him flying backward. Nearly fell down on the ground. Got ahold of himself right before falling on his back like a turtle. He ultimately ended up down to his knees. He tried getting up as soon as possible, but the task was much harder than he originally thought it was going to be. The armor was incredibly heavy, on top of himself being so heavy as well. He still tried getting up as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, the hobgoblin didn't hesitate one bit. He ran up to the Minotaur who was still on his knees and violently punched him right in the face. Over and over and over. Ultimately punching him at least twenty times in the face. Rendering him all beat up and bloody. Sooner rather than later, he stopped trying to get up. He had come to think that this might have been useless. He remained on his knees.
"Junk! We have to do something to help him!" April shouted.
"..." September showed absolutely no emotion.
Come on, Junk. You can do it. Otherwise, I'll have to kill him, the witch internally thought to herself.
"I cannot wait to get the girls after destroying you," the hobgoblin said, mocking Junk. Hearing this, the Minotaur opened his eyes again for the first time since the twenty savage punches that rendered him bloody as hell.
April! He thought.
"Say goodnight," the hobgoblin said to him, right before attempting to hit him with his strong knee. Right to the face. However, at the last moment, right before he could hit him with his knees, something changed with his armor. All of a sudden, it began moving by itself. Something appeared in the back of his head. His helm! His helm moved and surrounded his head. Covering it. The hobgoblin's knee hit him. The helm successfully blocked it.
"What?" the creature was confused.
"Let me tuck you to bed," those were the last words Junk said before swiftly grabbing the hobgoblin's leg, pulling on it, causing him to slip to the floor where he could have access to his throat. He held it. Crushed it. Ripped his throat out.